Issue: May 2023

Regional Update: Mexico’s West Coast Fisheries

Regional Update: Mexico’s West Coast Fisheries

The Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, is the body of water south of Southern California that separates Mexico’s Baja California peninsula from the country’s mainland. It’s one of the more productive and biodiverse marine ecoregions in the world and a bustling area for commercial fishing. And although there are plenty of legitimate, law-abiding anglers earning a living fishing in the waters, there’s also a number of bad actors who make money by illegally trafficking some fish species to sell them on the black market. In the U.S., much of the news disseminated about crime in Mexico focuses on land activity, the country’s cartels also have a hold on some of the illicit activity that occurs offshore. However, like with land-based crime, Mexican authorities are waged in a...

Spill Response: High-Tech Techniques Help More Efficient, Safer and Productive

Above the surface or underwater, oil and hazardous material spill response and recovery in marine environments is making strides, thanks to technological advances and equipment upgrades, resulting in safer and more efficient work. Autonomous systems are gaining traction, helping increase safety and productivity. Drones are helping make the job more efficient and practical. Skimmers, containment vessels and collection systems are showing promising improvements in both volume and recovery. Crane barges and other supporting craft utilized in responding to incidents are showing strength and maneuverability in recent case studies. Staying on top of technological advances goes hand in hand with responding to environmental incidents. To learn more about recent developments, Fishermen’s News r...
Trident Seafoods At 50:  A Company with Humble Beginnings

Trident Seafoods At 50: A Company with Humble Beginnings

Trident Seafoods Corp., the nation’s largest seafood company, is marking its 50th year in 2023, an industry giant spawned from the dreams of a young man whose first job in Alaska was shoveling shrimp for $1.47 an hour. The size and scope of Trident Seafoods today “was never our ambition,” said Chief Executive Officer Joe Bundrant, the son of company founder Chuck Bundrant. The elder Bundrant, a Tennessee farm boy, had heeded his parents’ advice to get a college education, but dropped out after a year and a half and headed for the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1962, his son said.  He’d seen the adventure film “North to Alaska,” so when he ran out of money, young Chuck headed for Alaska and got the job shoveling shrimp in the town of Adak. From there he went to Kodiak and landed a job on ...
Alaska Native Salmon Set Gillnetters in Norton Sound Brave Fierce Conditions

Alaska Native Salmon Set Gillnetters in Norton Sound Brave Fierce Conditions

Kyle is a young commercial fisherman from an Alaska Native salmon fishing community in Norton Sound. He learned how to fish from his dad, who is also his captain. They manually set nets and haul catch by hand, like many salmon set gillnetters. And like many fishermen, Kyle has close calls from time to time in Alaska’s Bering Sea, with wild weather in the remote wilderness. Like the time a half-hour trip for firewood turned into a two-day, 30-mile trek home after their 24-foot skiff was swamped. Still, Kyle doesn’t always wear a life jacket. “Once I’m getting to a point when I’m my dad’s age, that’s when I’ll have a life jacket on every day,” he said. Research led by Leann Fay, Ph.D., recently gathered knowledge and lessons through interviews with members of this unique fishery to und...
The ‘30×30 Campaign’ — What and Why?

The ‘30×30 Campaign’ — What and Why?

As the just released—and very alarming—2023 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report verifies, there is an across-the-board and strong scientific agreement, now supported by hard data from several independent sources, that the world as a whole is right on the precipice of another Great Extinction Event, triggered by climate change. The current widespread decline in biodiversity is powered by insatiable human population growth and development that is devastating the natural environment. That, coupled with nearly 200 years of world industrialization that has already thrust fossil-fuel generated carbon dioxide as well as atmospheric methane (which is 21 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide) up to levels well beyond the poi...