fisheries – Fishermens News

Alaska Yellowfin Sole Faces Lowest Harvest in Decades

4Dec

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Alaska Yellowfin Sole Faces Lowest Harvest in Decades

Online trade publication Tradex reported Dec. 2 that Alaska’s yellowfin sole fishery is facing one of its lowest harvests in decades, which is expected to drastically reduce supply and the ability to meet the demand for this fish. The article recommends that potential buyers put their orders in as soon as possible so that when produce becomes available they have a chance to acquire it. Current harvests are at about 85,000 metric tons, a 25% drop from last year and 45% below the 154,000 metric tons landed in 2022. The last time harvests dropped below 85,000 metric tons was in 2000. Between 1998 and 2010, the average annual harvest was about 94,000 metric tons. According to Tradex, Russia's five-year average harvest of flounder, which is predominantly yellowfin sole, is about 90...

Study: Conservation Alone Can’t Ensure Sustainable Snow Crab Fishing Goals

27Nov

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Study: Conservation Alone Can’t Ensure Sustainable Snow Crab Fishing Goals

A study released by Purdue University on the impacts of climate change on the global snow crab fishery concludes that given the uncertainties induced by climate change, conservation strategies alone are not sufficient to ensure sustainable fishery goals. The research, led by Jingjing Tao and released by the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics, was published in the online publication Natural Resource Modeling on Aug. 5. The study estimates snow crab harvest functions using climate change indicators with unbalanced panel data of snow crab production from the eastern Bering Sea off Alaska, the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, the Sea of Japan and the Barents Sea, impacting Norway and Russia. Despite years of efforts by the Alaska Department of Fish and ...

Commercial Dungeness Crab Season Put On Hold for 3 Calif. Counties

27Nov

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Commercial Dungeness Crab Season Put On Hold for 3 Calif. Counties

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has put the Northern California commercial Dungeness crab season for Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties (Fishing Zones 1 and 2) on hold until Dec. 1. State fish and wildlife officials said in Nov. 25 announcement that the opener was being delayed because crab meat quality tests could not be conducted due to high domoic acid concentrations in crab collected at Northern California port locations. The agency also said that additionally high numbers of humpback and blue whale were observed in these fishing zones, creating an elevated entanglement risk. The commercial Dungeness crab fishery delay in Fishing Zones 3 through 6, which constitutes the rest of the California coast, is scheduled to continue due to the presence of hum...

Tail End of Big Crab Cohort Prompts Lower GHL for Kodiak Tanner Crab Fishery

20Nov

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Tail End of Big Crab Cohort Prompts Lower GHL for Kodiak Tanner Crab Fishery

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists have set a guideline harvest of 560,000 Tanner crab for the 2025 season, down significantly from 2024. Based on 2024 Kodiak District survey results, the Eastside and Southeast sections exceeded regulatory thresholds necessary for a 2025 commercial Tanner crab season, agency officials said. The Kodiak District commercial Tanner crab season is scheduled to open at noon on Jan.15, unless delayed by inclement weather. Since the guideline harvest level is less than 5,000,000 pounds, the regulatory pot limit is 20 pots per vessel. The Chignik District is to remain closed for the 2025 season. ADF&G said that abundance must be sufficient to provide for a minimum GHL of 200,000 pounds before a commercial Tanner crab fishery may occur. ...

20Nov

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NOAA Fisheries Plans to Enhance Seafood Import Monitoring

NOAA Fisheries on Nov. 14 introduced a new plan to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing while at the same time strengthening the sustainability of seafood, and globally addressing forced labor issues. The announcement came in the wake of a comprehensive review of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) completed in November 2023, involving over 7,000 stakeholders, including seafood industry professionals, foreign governments, researchers and civil society groups. “Our goals are to strengthen the U.S. domestic seafood industry by promoting fair trade practices in the global seafood supply chain while building capacity to maintain and grow the program,” NOAA Administrator and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Richard Spinard said. “Once im...

Calif. Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Delayed to Protect Whales from Entanglement

30Oct

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Calif. Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Delayed to Protect Whales from Entanglement

California’s 2024 commercial Dungeness crab fishery, which had been scheduled to open Nov. 15, has been delayed due to a high abundance of humpback whales and large number of recent entanglements in fishing areas. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Oct. 25 that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line would not open as scheduled in Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 due to the aforementioned issues regarding whales. CDFW said that it anticipates the next risk assessment will take place on or around Nov. 15, at which time the agency’s director will re-evaluate risk for the Dungeness crab fisheries. That risk assessment is expected to inform the potential for a statewide commercial fishery opener on Dec. 1, as well as the pot...

NOAA Fisheries’ 5-Year Plan Focuses on Boosting Seafood Economy

9Oct

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NOAA Fisheries’ 5-Year Plan Focuses on Boosting Seafood Economy

NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, announced in early September, outlines the agency’s focus on boosting the domestic seafood economy and enhance the resilience of the seafood sector in the face of climate change over the next five years. NOAA Fisheries officials acknowledged that while the domestic seafood industry enhances public health and nutrition, creates jobs, and helps build a climate resilient food strategy that’s facing many challenges, including putting the domestic supply of sustainable seafood at risk. “The Implementation Plan is where the rubber meets the road,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It outlines the specific actions to achieve the goals we laid out in the strategy to support our nation’s seafood sector a...

2024 Alaska Aquaculture Report Highlights Accomplishments

2Oct

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2024 Alaska Aquaculture Report Highlights Accomplishments

A report on Alaska aquaculture released Sept. 27 by NOAA Fisheries highlights key achievements in research, sustainability and community-driven projects contributing to growth of the industry in Alaska over the past fiscal year. Alaskan aquaculture, a relatively young industry, includes seaweed and invertebrate farming, with oysters, mussels and three types of kelp -- sugar, ribbon and bull – as the primary species. The aquaculture accomplishments report details how NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Region Aquaculture Program engaged in projects to support sustainable development of Alaska's aquaculture industry. NOAA Fisheries works with partners to improve and expand opportunities to promote sustainable marine production of shellfish and seaweed in Alaska. The Alaska Aquaculture Progra...

Chinook Bycatch Shutters Central Gulf of Alaska Whitefish Fishery

2Oct

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Chinook Bycatch Shutters Central Gulf of Alaska Whitefish Fishery

An unprecedented bycatch of some 2,000 Chinook salmon prompted NOAA Fisheries to shut down the whitefish fishery in the Central Gulf of Alaska on Sept. 25, leaving some 50,000 tons of pollock in the water and presenting the makings of economic disaster for Kodiak. Salmon are a prohibited species catch in the whitefish trawl fishery. Two trawlers that caught the bycatch in their nets immediately stopped fishing when they realized the bycatch and alerted the other 17 boats in the fleet to avoid the area, so based on available information, those vessels were compliant with federal regulations, NOAA Fisheries officials said. NOAA Fisheries was continuing to evaluate the data as it became finalized by the observer program to determine if additional in-season management actions were...

Western & Central Fisheries Commission Challenged Over Tuna Fishery Management

25Sep

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Western & Central Fisheries Commission Challenged Over Tuna Fishery Management

A global non-governmental initiative committed to openness and accountability in international fisheries decision making is challenging the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to uphold U.N. Fish Stocks Agreement obligations. An organization called Accountability.Fish, with employees in six countries, issued a statement from Reykjavik, Iceland on Sept. 7 expressing concerns over the alleged lack of transparency within the Fisheries Commission, which governs nearly 60% of the world’s tuna supply. The WCPFC Secretariat said in an email response to the allegations on Sept. 20 that while challenges remain, the evidence suggests that the Fisheries Commission is largely meeting its conservation goals, benefiting both the environment and the communities reliant on these vi...