May 2022 – Page 2 – Fishermens News

Gulf of California Fisheries – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Gulf of California, aka the Sea of Cortez, is the body of water below Southern California that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. It’s one of the more productive and biodiverse marine ecoregions in the world. But according to various reports, there are multiple issues affecting the region’s commercial fisheries including overfishing, the potential collapse of the tuna fishery and rampant organized crime that has managed to gain control of the entire seafood production chain. The Good As mentioned above, the Sea of Cortez is home to a very rich ecosystem and is considered one of the most diverse seas on Earth, as well an environment filled with natural beauty that has yet to be spoiled by man and industry. The region also has a long history as a com...

Pacific PARS Moves Forward and Takes on New Work

Last July, the U.S. Coast Guard announced the start of a Port Access Route Study (PARS) along the entire U.S. Pacific Coast (PacPARS). This is the first such all-encompassing Pacific Ocean study, although regional PARS were done in the past. There have been two recent important study developments. One, expected and procedural, was the close of the public comment period on Jan. 25. The Coast Guard received comments from 52 individuals and organizations. The comments present the top challenges and concerns, at least on the public side, that the USCG must confront as it starts the next phase of the study. The second development is something of a showstopper. On Feb. 25, the USCG announced a big change within PacPARS: that USCG District 11—which encompasses California, Arizona, Nevada, and U...

Maintaining Your Immersion Suit

Protect yourself and your crew by inspecting and maintaining your survival suits regularly Immersion suits have saved thousands of fishermen’s lives. Most fishing vessels on the West Coast and Alaska are required to carry them. They are your “parachute” if staying on the vessel is more dangerous than being in the water, but survival suits need attention and care. After the sinking of the F/V Wayward Wind, a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation revealed that corroded zippers on immersion suits most likely contributed to the deaths of three crewmembers. The suits were not fully zipped, allowing cold water to ﬂush in and out. Inﬂation bladders were not attached to all of the suits and none had lights. The NTSB concluded that the crewmembers may have survived if the su...

Seafood For Heroes Program Provides Meals for Ukrainian First Responders

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...

Alaska Togiak Herring Forecast is Robust

Alaska state fisheries biologists are predicting a 2022 mature herring biomass of 357,536 tons of sac roe herring at Togiak, the highest forecast since an age-structured assessment model was first used for the 1993 forecast. Under a 20% exploitation rate, the 2022 potential harvest is 71,507 tons in all fisheries and 65,107 tons in the Togiak sac roe fisheries, both purse seine and gillnet. Fishery managers said that due to the more normal cold winter, including ice, the first fishery would likely occur about the first part of May. The forecast is primarily due to the largest estimated recruitment of age-4 fish on record in 2021, preceded by another large recruitment event in 2020. These cohorts are projected to make up an even larger portion of the population in 2022 due to increasing...

USDA Awarding $50 Million in Grants to Support the Seafood Industry

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced an investment of about $50 million in grants to support facilities and vessels through the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program (SPRS). The funding, which was announced in mid-February and is to be distributed through state agencies, is to help defray costs incurred by seafood processing facilities and processing vessels preparing for, preventing exposure to, and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is funded as part of pandemic assistance provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. SPRS recipients include state agencies, commissions or departments responsible for agriculture, fisheries, wildlife, seafood, commercial processing or related commerce activities. West Coast an...

Coast Guard Cutter Stratton Returns to Alameda After Completing Operation Blue Pacific Patrol

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton returned to Alameda, California in March after a 20,348-mile patrol to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on the high seas and in partner nations’ exclusive economic zones. The Stratton crew worked with Pacific partner nations during its deployment, including Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the United Kingdom. During the mission, crew from the Stratton boarded 11 vessels and found 21 violations, according the USCG. Commander Steve Adler said that collaboration with partners and utilization of shiprider agreements gave them the ability to accomplish their mission to maintain regional stability and protect the fishing industry. “By bringing aboard shipriders from Fiji, we were able to patrol their exclusive...

Washington Seafood Processor Accused by DOJ of Distributing Bad Products

The United States Department of Justice in March filed a complaint to stop a seafood processor in Monroe, Washington, from what the DOJ said is the processing and selling “adulterated” seafood products. In a civil complaint for permanent injunction filed at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the DOJ alleges that Diane Zollinger, through her business, Felix Custom Smoking, violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by distributing impure ready-to-eat seafood products, including fish jerky and cold- and hot-smoked salmon. According to the complaint, Zollinger sells products directly to consumers from her business and at farmers’ markets. She also provides custom processing for commercial fisherman and other wholesalers. The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. Di...

California Closes Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery to Protect Humpback Whales

Because of two recent humpback whale entanglements that occurred off San Mateo County and in Monterey Bay involving California commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in early April closed the commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The closure, which affects Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the U.S./Mexico border) was effective at noon on April 8, nearly two months earlier than originally planned. All Dungeness crab traps were ordered to be removed from the fishing grounds by the closure date. “While this closure shortens the season for many fishermen, the RAMP (Risk Assessment Mitigation Program) regulations are designed to minimize risk and provide for a long-term viable fishery for all Californians,” the CDFW exp...

Thinking Clearly About Demolishing Dams

In the midst of the current regional debate over the fate of a number of dams, first off, to see why in many cases dam removal makes good sense, we should consider the current state of the nation’s aging dams. There are, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Inventory of Dams, approximately 84,000 dams in the nation providing a range of benefits that were built for a wide variety of purposes. This is a staggering number – almost one dam built in the U.S. for every day since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Yet no dam can exist forever. All have engineered lifespans, after which their reservoirs silt up, their concrete structures crack and deteriorate and they can catastrophically fail—endangering the lives, property and natural resources (including...