May 2024 – Fishermens News

OBI Shutters Alitak, Kodiak Island Plant

Salmon harvesters at Alitak, located in Lazy Bay on the southern tip of Alaska’s Kodiak Island, are reeling after an announcement from OBI Seafoods that its Alitak facilities would not be buying fish from setnetters or even providing normal services during the 2024 season. Operational costs have become unsustainable due to lower harvests, high tender costs and the cost of providing ice and other services, OBI COO Brian O’Leary announced March 11. OBI would be open to purchasing Alitak setnet fish only if the fish are taken to Kodiak, O’Leary said. Maintenance and retail services at the former Lazy Bay cannery are being halted, the company stated, adding that OBI’s Alitak facility also will not be open for services including ice, laundry, boat labor, garbage and showers. The fleet was...

Vessel Ditch Kits

People call them ‘ditch kits,’ ‘go bags,’ ‘abandon ship’ or ‘evacuation kits.’ No matter the name, having everything you would want for a sudden vessel abandonment will save you precious time. It also will give you a better chance of not getting entangled or entrapped in the vessel while looking for other items to take. It’s the same idea as having an emergency kit for your home or car. At sea your vessel is both your home and transportation when fishing. A prepared ditch kit can greatly increase your survivability if you have to leave the shelter of your vessel and enter into the hostile environment of the ocean. If you have a Coast Guard-approved life raft for your commercial fishing vessel, it should have many helpful items in it. Most of these items are designed to facilitate the ...

Pebble, State of Alaska, Back in Court Regarding Mine Defense

Two separate actions filed March 15 by Northern Dynasty Minerals (NDM) in federal district court in Alaska are challenging the federal government’s efforts to prevent the Vancouver, British Columbia mining firm from building a copper, gold and molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska. The litigation came on the heels of the state of Alaska’s lawsuit, filed March 14 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, asking for more than $700 billion in damages for state lands that the state contends were confiscated. The state alleges in its lawsuit that the federal government tied up 309 square miles of state land in Bristol Bay with new regulations, breaking its contract with the state in violation of the Cook Inlet Land Exchange of 1975 and the Statehood Act of 1953. NDM President and CEO Ron Thiessen...

Oregon Fishing Industry Members Call for Pause to Oregon Offshore Wind Development

A coalition of commercial fishers, seafood companies and others involved in the commercial fishing industry have sent a letter to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek asking that her administration try halting a planned federal government auction of offshore wind energy projects. In the letter, dated March 26, the more than 100 signatories said that the plan for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) should be put on hold until the state has completed its own offshore wind (OSW) potential assessment under legislation referred to as the Oregon Roadmap. “It is our opinion that BOEM moving forward with an auction in 2024 completely undermines the unique cooperation that has occurred through this preliminary roadmap consideration process,” the coalition wrote. “This threatens the important work in...

Alaska Legislature Boosts Payouts Available from Fishermen’s Fund

Alaska legislators have boosted from $10,000 to $15,000 the maximum payout allowed for crew injuries and disablement via the state’s Fishermen’s Fund. The fund, which predates statehood, is administered by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and is considered an emergency fund payer of last resort. The maximum payout amount was boosted in April. Clay Bezenek, a commercial salmon and herring gillnetter in Ketchikan who serves on the Labor and Workforce Development board, noted that demands on the fund are fewer than they used to be because commercial boat owners are more likely these days to carry medical insurance to cover their crew. Bezenek said the board supports any legislation that modernizes the fund. He recalled the days when the maximum payout was $2,500, ...

California’s Salmon Struggles

California isn’t within the commercial fishing industry’s epicenter, but it is a notable component of the industry as a whole. And currently the state, particularly the northern half, is experiencing a challenge that is literally an existential threat: struggling salmon populations. Salmon once thrived in the rivers that run throughout the state, but due to the construction of dams, they’ve been blocked from reaching many of the cold mountain streams where they once spawned. Additionally, multiple droughts in the state over the years and climate change effects have not helped. In fact, during some periods of the state’s massive drought from 2020-22, the water flowing from dams became so warm that it was lethal for salmon eggs, thereby further diminishing the potential supply of adult fis...

Feds Award ALFA $514,000 for Alaska Seafood Industry Decarbonization

A $514,000 federal appropriation has been awarded to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), with the money earmarked for clean energy transition options for vessel owners and shoreside businesses in Southeast Alaska. “This funding will allow us to lower fuel costs for our fleet and processing sector, reduce our industry’s carbon footprint and identify long-term renewable energy solutions for our fishing communities,” ALFA Executive Director Linda Behnken said. The association promotes sustainable fisheries and thriving fishing communities through policy engagement, collaborative research and education. It represents small-boat fishermen and works to ensure the long-term viability of Alaska’s fisheries resources. Efforts by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to secure the fund...

NOAA Fisheries Requests $1.1B Budget for 2025

NOAA Fisheries is seeking $1.1 billion to cover operations, research and facilities in 2025, down slightly from the $1.3 billion allocated to the agency by Congress for fiscal 2023 and roughly equal to the fiscal 2024 funds that Congress agreed to earlier in March. One of those budget priorities, the online publication SeafoodSource notes, is funding for Mitchell Act hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin, to help restore fish to that water body and protect biodiversity from offshore wind. The budget request notes that the additional funds are “part of the (Biden) administration’s commitment to prioritize the restoration of healthy and abundant wild salmon, steelhead and other native fish populations to the Columbia River Basin and honor the United States’ obligations to tribal nations.”...

Wash. Governor Nominates Conservationist to NPFMC Seat

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on March 22 nominated Becca Robbins-Gisclair, senior director of Arctic Programs for the Ocean Conservancy, to one of two obligatory Washington state seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. The governor said Robbins-Gisclair was his first choice, noting her work with Alaska tribes and grassroots organizations to protect a region that is on the frontlines of global climate change. She also serves as a domestic adviser for the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission and the Bering Sea Fishery Advisory Body, and has worked for several Alaska organizations as a natural resources adviser. Robbins-Gisclair resides on Coast Salish lands in Bellingham, Wash. In his letter of recommendation to NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Jane...

Gear Modification Tests Continue in Effort to Avoid Whale Entrapments

Researchers with the Alaska Seafood Cooperative (AKSC) revealed in early April that the Amendment 80 fleet is making progress in developing gear modifications to help that fleet avoid orca entrapments in the summer deepwater flatfish fishery in Alaska’s Bering Sea. Research work in the spring of 2024 is earmarked on testing possible net modifications to effectively block the net opening, to help prevent killer whales entering the net with minimal impact to catch rates for targeted flatfish, said AKSC science projects managers Sarah Webster and John Gauvin. They presented their research updates to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s meeting in Anchorage on April 4. AKSC is a group of catcher/processor fishing companies working to improve management of Bering Sea flatfish and...