Issue: March 2023

Mounds of plastic waste polluting the ocean and washing up on Alaska’s coastal shores will see new life as plastic construction materials in a plan Patrick Simpson has devised, right down to conversion into plastic lumber and bricks in rural fishing communities. For nearly 30 years, Simpson has used knowledge honed from an education in computer science at the University of California, San Diego to tackle needs of the commercial fishing industry, from sonar systems for fisheries stock assessment and monitoring marine mammals to producing food grade wild Alaskan salmon oil. Then in 2005, Simpson, who grew up in a fishing family in Cordova, Alaska, became focused on the prospect of turning vast quantities of myriad plastics polluting the ocean and washing up on rural Alaska shores into co...

Financial support from local governments, nonprofits and the seafood industry is pouring in to help Southeast Alaska salmon trollers, a small boat hook and line fishery, battle litigation that would bring their summer and winter commercial troll fisheries to a halt. The fishery, which provides a substantial number of harvesting and processing jobs, contributes significantly to the economy of Southeast Alaska. The litigation was brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle, which contends that an end to the trollers summer and winter fisheries would benefit Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales, for whom these salmon are a diet staple. According to the WFC, the government has failed to address the impact of Alaska’s Chinook harvests on these killer whales. The WFC...

A large section of the Taku River watershed in northwest British Columbia has been established as an indigenous protected and conserved area (IPCA) by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, in response to concerns over adverse impact from mineral extraction and climate change. The salmon-rich watershed, which covers 6,949 square miles or 1.8 million hectares, is the largest watershed on the Pacific Coast of North America inaccessible by road. The Taku River Tlingit First Nation, in Atlin, BC said its intent is to protect fisheries and wildlife vital to their health and cultural wellbeing. They invited those interested in mineral extraction to work with them on any plans for mineral exploration and development within the managed areas of the IPCA. The Taku River Tlingit have historically ...

New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes that NOAA’s Search and Rescue satellite-aided tracking beacons helped in the rescue of 397 people in the United States in 2022, including 275 individuals rescued in 80 incidents at sea. And so far in 2023, another 22 lives have been saved, including 21 people involved in eight incidents at sea, the report said. NOAA operates the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) System around the world and around the clock, to detect and locate people in distress. Mariners, aviators and recreational enthusiasts can all access the satellite system in an emergency using a portable radio transmitter called a 406-distress beacon, a device that can send an SOS signal from anywhere on earth, at any time, including under...

Trident Seafoods marked its 50th anniversary on Jan. 31, a date coinciding with what would have been the 81st birthday of founder Chuck Bundrant. Bundrant appears in this photo with his son Joe (left), now chief executive officer of the vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company. Today, Trident Seafoods remains a privately held firm with global operations and some 9,000 employees worldwide, partnering with over 5,400 independent harvesters and their crews. Photo courtesy of Trident Seafoods. 

New NOAA Fisheries research exploring the impact of unprecedented losses of sea ice on the northern Bering Sea ecosystem has identified a decline in high-fat copepods that are an important food source for many predators, and expansion of smaller zooplankton with warming waters. From fish to whales, nearly every predator in the sea eats zooplankton or eats something that does, notes the study led by research oceanographer David G. Kimmel, with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. The study concludes that this altered prey field may have contributed to ecosystem-wide impacts on fish, seabirds and marine mammals. The shift to smaller, more nearshore zooplankton may have contributed to dramatic impacts on commercially harvested fish, protected seabirds and marine mammals in r...