Issue: June 2024

All razor and bay clam harvesting was closed coastwide in Oregon on June 6, the state’s Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced. The closure was due to historic high levels of the marine biotoxin Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) are elevated in both razor and bay clams along the entire Oregon coast. PSP is a natural marine biotoxin produced by some species of microscopic algae. PSP levels have been increasing, leading to multiple closures in several shellfish species since May 23, according to the ODFW. As of June 6, Oregon’s agriculture department has closed the following commercial fisheries: Tillamook Bay: oysters. Netarts Bay: oysters. Umpqua bay: oysters. Coastwide: razor clams and bay clams. The Department of Agricul...

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) has formed a partnership with Holland America Line to educate the cruise line’s employees on the species, benefits and responsible fishing practices of the Alaska fishing industry. Through the partnership, which was announced May 7, ASMI is offering the cruise line’s dining and galley staff a short online digital course on Alaska seafood species, health benefits, fishing methods and the state’s overall sustainability practices. The “Seafood U” training for Holland America Line’s culinary teams began earlier this year in advance of the cruise line’s 2024 Alaska season. Some 2,500 shipboard team members working on six ships are to undergo the training, according to ASMI. “With this new step, Holland America Line has committed to not only ser...

Alaska legislators on May 12 approved creation of a task force to make policy recommendations to help the state’s struggling commercial fishing industry. It is to be modeled after another legislative task force created over 20 years ago to help the salmon industry at a time when harvesters were facing the impact of low prices and competition from farmed fish. The resolution by the House Special Committee on Fisheries, and sponsored by the Alaska Senate Finance Committee, acknowledges the economic distress for harvesters in danger of being without markets and the number of seafood processing facilities for sale, closing or planning to shut down for a portion, or all of, the 2024 fishing season. The task force is to be composed of eight members, with the state senate president serving as ...

Legislators have rejected Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s nomination of conservative radio talk show host Mike Porcaro to serve on the state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. In a tie vote on May 7, state legislators just said no to keeping Porcaro on as an CFEC commissioner, a post he has held since his appointment last summer. Porcaro, who has never fished commercially and has no ties to the commercial fishing industry, said he did not ask for the job but was willing to accept it when the governor’s office offered it. When he was nominated for the $136,000 a year post in August of 2023, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner issued a statement describing Porcaro as “longtime Alaskan and successful business owner with comprehensive knowledge and participation in Alaska’s business, nonprof...

Longtime maritime industry figure Douglas Dixon, who was the former general manager and director of Pacific Fishermen Shipyard in Seattle, has died. Dixon died recently after a short battle with cancer, his friend Bill Forslund told Fishermen’s News May 4. “Unfortunately my friend Doug headed to the hospital in late March with an unknown malady and was quickly diagnosed with cancer that had spread pretty much all over his body,” Forslund said. Another friend, Nathaniel Howe, said that during his lifetime, Dixon was an “unrelenting advocate for the marine trades, both in Pacific Fishermen Shipyard and in youth outreach and workforce development.” “He was instrumental in the Ballard Maritime Academy program at Ballard High School and certainly in the Youth Maritime Training Association...

NOAA Fisheries has denied a request to institute a zero cap on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea, saying the petition did not meet the criteria necessary for emergency action. The decision, announced on April 18, was in response to a petition submitted Jan. 17 by five Native Alaska tribal entities asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to close the Bering Sea pollock fishery, which opened on Jan. 20, to ensure there was no bycatch of Chinook salmon in the fishery. The petition was signed by the Association of Village Council Presidents, Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association and Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The petitioners also asked the Commerce Department to urge the North Pacific Fishery ...