October 2021 – Page 2 – Fishermens News

Sonoma County Hatchery Coho Salmon Relocated to Avoid Heat Stress

Some 4,000 California hatchery juvenile coho salmon were relocated from the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery at Geyserville in July and August to a conservation facility at a high school in Petaluma for rearing until conditions improve. A spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said on Aug. 23 that they are hopeful that drought and poor water conditions at Lake Sonoma will improve enough to allow them to truck the fish back to the hatchery before year’s end. Beginning in late spring, rising water temperatures at Warm Springs Hatchery increased the risk of heat stress and pathogen outbreaks. Scientists developed the relocation plan as a precaution to keep the hatchery coho safe. CDFW acting regional manager Stacy Sherman said the agency has a vested interest in seeing...

Bristol Bay Cannery Added to National Register of Historic Places

A historic salmon cannery on the shores of South Naknek in Bristol Bay, Alaska that operated almost continuously from 1895 to 2015, is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Diamond NN Cannery, established on the shores of South Naknek by the Alaska Packers Association and now owned by Trident Seafoods, began as a saltery in 1890. In 1895, the facility was converted into a cannery which went on to operate for over 100 years, according to Bob King, former dean of Alaska’s fisheries writers, who now lives in Juneau. Most of some other 60 canneries spread over the region for decades fell way short of that record of service, King said. “They fell apart, runs changed, the technology changes, they didn’t need as any canneries, but this is one of the earliest starting, l...

UFA Director Leaving to Become Lobbyist

United Fishermen of Alaska Executive Director Frances Leach is leaving the statewide umbrella group for commercial fishing entities at year’s end to begin a new career as a lobbyist in Juneau. Her new firm, CapitolCompass, is already signing up clients, but will not perform any actual work for them as a lobbyist or in strategic planning until after Jan. 1, 2022, she said. Her new website is www.capitolcompass.com. It’s a move that Leach, who grew up in a commercial fishing family in Southeast Alaska, said she is eager for. “I like being able to advocate, especially for things I am really passionate about,” she said. Even as a child she was always politically engaged she said, although she never wanted to be an actual politician. “I am very passionate about sustainability (in fisheri...

Salmonfest 2021 Proves a Pandemic Survivor

In the midst of a pandemic showing no sign of retreat, some 7,000 people gathered at Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik the first weekend in August to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Salmonfest, the three-day music festival supporting salmon related causes. The family-oriented festivities, with over 60 bands on four stages, featured a new main amphitheater with twice the space of the old one, to allow all those who wanted to space for social distancing while listening to top musicians, ranging from Greensky Bluegrass, Sarah Jarosz and The High Hawks to Con Brio and the Lowdown Brass Band. Along with vendors hawking art, jewelry, clothing, pottery and an eclectic array of food, Salmonfest 2021 featured the Salmon Causeway, where guests could learn from various conservat...

Sailing into the Unknown — Rough Seas Aheads

America’s commercial fishing families provide an invaluable service to all Americans. Often putting our lives at risk, we do so without unrealistic expectations. For the most part, we love what we do and prefer the dynamic and ever-changing ocean upon which we ply our trades. We are conservationists; we are aware of changes underway in our environment (often long before scientists and managers notice them) and constantly adapting to them; we are passionate and committed to providing the world’s citizen’s with a highly regulated, sustainable source of protein; we are essential workers; we are community members; we are engaged in the management of our marine resources; we are your next door neighbors; we are story-tellers, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. We are you....

The Loss of the Linda

I first started crab fishing in San Francisco in 1957. The next summer, I fished for salmon with my brother “Fooz” on the boat Garnet. It was a very poor salmon season, but we were able to keep food on the table for our families and put a little in the bank, too. I leased the boat Fairway for that crab season, then I bought the boat Linda, a 33-foot, San Francisco-made boat the next salmon season. It was an old wooden boat, but had a reputation as a good sea boat. It had a Lathrup Marine gas engine in it and ran well, but had a gear-driven 6 volt, 6 amp generator on it. That really does not put out enough for much more than keeping the engine running. And with an automatic pilot and running lights at nighttime, it was not enough. So come that crab season, I felt I could not go to San Fra...

Crab Prices Soar in Restaurants and at Markets

Menus at top seafood restaurants these days from Anchorage to San Diego boast gourmet entrees from sockeye and king salmon to Pacific halibut and cod, plus Dungeness crab and a variety of crab cake starters. But those looking for an entrée of Bering Sea red king crab legs will find their listings on some of the West Coast’s finest restaurants few and far between, because of soaring prices. It’s the highest price in the marketplace for king crab “and I expect this year’s (price) to beat last year’s,” said Jake Jacobs, executive director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange in Seattle. “Prices have been climbing. It has been a really strange market with (the) COVID (pandemic) going on and it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen,” he said. “Based on what the fishermen said I am optimistic....