Issue: May 2022

As the climate warms, with some fisheries in decline as others rise, all options are still on the table for Bristol Bay as long as effort continues to protect the habitat, manage harvest responsibly and help each other, according to a fisheries researcher who has studied the bay’s fisheries for over two decades. The message was delivered March 24 to participants at the Bristol Bay Sustainability Conference in Dillingham by Daniel Schindler, a fisheries researcher and professor at the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “Some Bristol Bay stocks are likely to decline, offsetting the increases that could occur in other stocks,” he said. “It’s difficult to predict though. That is part of the message that has come out of looking at the last century of data, that...

On Feb. 25, Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the re-opening of eight restricted areas that had been closed to fishing since 2007. The re-openings were effective immediately. This follows a similar action from nearly three years ago, when four of the 12 total Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas (BFRA) were reopened for both commercial and non-commercial fishing of Deep-7 bottomfish species, among Hawai‘i’s most popular fish for consumption. In its presentation to the BLNR regarding the reopening, the agency’s Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) said it “believes that opening of all 12 of the BFRAs (four opened as of July 2019), will not adversely affect the overall sustainability of the Main Hawaiian Island (MHI) Deep-7 fishery, and will be a benefit to local...

The West Coast Seafood Processors Association has joined with the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay to seek grant funding for a feasibility study that would evaluate opportunities to construct a multi-user byproduct recovery center on port property. Among the goals of the proposed multi-user facility, according to the association and port, would be supporting the local and regional seafood processing industry by reducing capital and operational costs associated with treating wastewater from the individual processing facilities. The project also would create opportunities to recover organic material and improve the sustainability of wastewater treatment. The aim—to identify ways to treat the material, allowing it to be re-used rather than sent to landfills. Due to increased regulat...

NOAA Fisheries veteran Jon Kurland has been named by the agency as the new regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Region, succeeding Jim Balsiger, who is retiring after 21 years in that post. Kurland’s tenure began March 27 as head of the agency’s regulatory and management programs for fisheries, marine mammals and habitat conservation, including managing about 105 employees and 20 contractors and other affiliates. The Alaska regional office is located in Juneau, with field staff in offices in Anchorage, Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. Kurland’s staff works with its counterpart, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, in science-based stewardship of living marine resources and their habitats in the waters of the North Pacific and Arctic oceans off of Alaska. “Alaska’s waters support ...

Working with the government of Samoa, crews from the U.S. Coast Guard vessels Juniper (WLB 201) and Joseph Gerczak (WPC 1126) conducted security patrol operations in Samoa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) throughout February to protect fisheries and other natural resources. The crews helped fill the operational presence needed to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing while Samoa’s Nafanua II patrol boat is out of service. “We always look forward to assisting our partners in the region,” Cmdr. Jeff Bryant, the 14th District’s chief of enforcement, said. “The United States offered to assist the government of Samoa by providing security and sovereignty operations in Samoan waters due to the absence of their patrol boat.” The cutters have been underway in Oceania supporting Ope...

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has set Jan. 1, 2022 as the control date should it consider a limited-entry structure for the state’s growing commercial market squid fishery in the future. This means that if the commission decides to change from an open access to limited entry fishery in the future, only commercial fishermen participating before Jan. 1 of this year could be considered for permits allocated based on historical participation. Commercial market squid is a relatively new fishery for Oregon, but is growing in popularity, leading to concerns about the resource’s sustainability. Also during its February meeting, the commission directed Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff to come back with a proposal to prohibit light boats in the fishery beginning in 20...

A U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement boarding team discovered illegally caught fish about 12 nautical miles northeast of Kodiak, Alaska on Feb. 19, officials said. The crew of Coast Guard cutter Bailey Barco, homeported in Ketchikan, Alaska, boarded the 38-foot fishing vessel Competition and discovered 18 halibut and one lingcod onboard that were retained while the season was closed. The crew seized the catch; those aboard the Competition crew are suspected of violating three regulations—possession of halibut during a closed fishery, operating beyond three nautical miles with an expired radio beacon hydrostatic release and not having a current commercial fishing vessel safety examination. The cutter crew transferred the seized catch to NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement in Kodiak,...

Officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Marine Enforcement Division said March 1 they’ve seen an uptick in the number of commercial Dungeness crab cases in North Coast waters in the past few months. Since Dec. 9, 2021, there have been seven cases regarding possession of undersize crabs by commercial crab fishermen, according to the CDFW. “Commercial Dungeness crab fishermen are expected to measure their entire catch and keep only crabs that are equal to or greater than 6 ¼ inches, which is slightly more than the required 5 ¾ width required of recreational crabbers,” officials said in a statement. “There is a provision in the law to authorize possession of no more than one percent of the catch to be undersize.” In all seven cases, citations were written, t...

The Seafood For Heroes program, organized and managed through the Napa Seafood Foundation, is using donations from seafood companies to provide healthy meals to first responders in Ukraine through the World Central Kitchen. The program, established in the early days of the global COVID-19 pandemic, initially allowed participants to give back to first responders and health care workers on the front lines. “When COVID hit, we got together as a group and said, ‘What can we do?’,” explained The Food Group CEO Mark Cotter, a board member for the Napa Seafood Foundation. Cotter said the original idea was to help healthcare and frontline workers laboring under difficult conditions, along with the struggling restaurant industry. The program provided money and ingredients for meals to restaura...

An agreement has been reached between environmentalists and the operators of the Electron hydroelectric project on the Puyallup River to preserve safeguards for threatened Chinook salmon steelhead and bull trout. The deal was announced in March after a coalition of conservation groups sued over the facility’s illegal killing of the threatened species. According to the Eugene, Oregon-based Western Environmental Law Center, the agreement keeps the project from operating until and unless operators can address the project’s impacts to federally protected native fish that are threatened with extinction. The Puyallup Tribe separately sued the dam operator over the same issue, and is said to be considering next steps in its lawsuit. The tribe is also a party to a suit brought by the United ...