Tag: fisheries

Salmon Fishery Disasters Declared by Commerce Secretary
24Apr By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Salmon Fishery Disasters Declared by Commerce Secretary

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on April 19 announced the determination of two 2021 and 2022 salmon fishery disasters in Alaska and one in Puget Sound. They include: the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s 2021 Puget Sound fall chum and coho salmon fisheries, the 2022 Kuskokwim River salmon fishery and the 2021 and 2022 Upper Cook Inlet East Side setnet salmon fishery. The determination came in response to requests from the late Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Chairman Jeromy Sullivan and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Raimondo’s office evaluates fishery resource disaster requests based primarily on data submitted by the requesting official. Each request must meet specific requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. For example, there must be ec...
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Dutch Harbor Holds Top Commercial Fisheries Landings Honors
24Apr By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Dutch Harbor Holds Top Commercial Fisheries Landings Honors

The latest data compiled by the federal fisheries officials show in that in 2022 the Port of Dutch Harbor in Unalaska, Alaska ranked again as first in the nation for seafood landings, while the Port of New Bedford, Mass. maintains its status as first in value of deliveries. The annual “Fisheries Economics of the United States Report,” released by NOAA Fisheries April 4, shows among the nation’s 20 top ports that 613.5 million pounds of seafood, with a value of $159.9 million dollars were delivered to the Port of Dutch Harbor in 2022. The value of 88.4 million pounds of seafood delivered at the Port of New Bedford came to $443.2 million. Eight other Alaska ports, plus two from Oregon, one from Washington state and one from California also made the list of top 20 ports in the count...
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Emergency Action on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch Denied
24Apr By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Emergency Action on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch Denied

NOAA Fisheries has denied a request to institute a zero cap on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea, to ensure no bycatch of Chinook salmon in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, saying the petition did not meet criteria necessary for emergency action. The decision, announced by NOAA Fisheries on April 18, was in response to a petition submitted Jan. 17 by five Native Alaska tribal entities, asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to close the Bering Sea pollock fishery, which opened on Jan. 20. The petition was signed by the Association of Village Council Presidents, Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association and Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The petitioners also asked the Commerce Department ...
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Proposal to Extend Marine National Monument Would Impact Western Pacific Fisheries
27Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Proposal to Extend Marine National Monument Would Impact Western Pacific Fisheries

Fishing community advisors attending the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) meeting in Honolulu expressed concern over U.S. plans to extend the Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument and potentially the Pacific Remote Islands with sanctuary regulations. They told the Fishery Management Council last week that such a move would result in fishing area closures and destabilization of foreign seafood imports on market dynamics. “The tuna industry is the only industry we have, the government relies on the canneries,” Gene Pan, an American Samoa Advisory Panel member, said. “You are stopping us from fishing, but not the Chinese. Without the people, there is no Samoa.” “Without the StarKist cannery, we cannot continue to sustain our cultural heritage and k...
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NOAA Fisheries Requests $1.1B Budget for 2025
27Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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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 triba...
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NOAA Fisheries Slates Virtual Listening Sessions on Aquaculture
21Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NOAA Fisheries Slates Virtual Listening Sessions on Aquaculture

NOAA Fisheries has announced virtual listing sessions for the West Coast and Alaska in March to help the agency plan better for the future of its aquaculture program and the potential impact of constraints on achieving its aquaculture goals. The West Coast virtual session is to be held from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific Standard Time on March 1 and the Alaska session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Alaska standard time. The link to register for the West Coast session is http://tinyurl.com/2c569p3c. For the Alaska virtual session, visit http://tinyurl.com/5b9hswns. A date for the Pacific Islands virtual session is still to be determined, according to NOAA Fisheries.
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Alaska Board of Fisheries Plans Final Action on Hatchery Production Issue
14Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Alaska Board of Fisheries Plans Final Action on Hatchery Production Issue

Final action on a proposal to reduce hatchery production of pink salmon is scheduled to be heard at the next meeting of the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which is scheduled for Feb. 23-March 5. The board took testimony on Proposal 43 during its meeting in Homer, Alaska from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1, and received additional written testimony in advance of the Anchorage meeting, which is being held at the Egan Convention Center. According to Board of Fisheries Executive Director Art Nelson, Proposition 43 is slated for discussion by Group 6 of the board’s committee on March 2, with final action set for after further deliberations on March 3. Proposition 43, proposed by the Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee, calls for reduction of overall hatchery production of pink salmon to...
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SPRFMO Adopts New Monitoring Standards
14Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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SPRFMO Adopts New Monitoring Standards

Members of the New Zealand-based South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), while meeting in Manta, Ecuador from Jan. 29-Feb. 2, adopted U.S. proposals to boost observer coverage and combat labor abuse in South Pacific fisheries. NOAA Fisheries said that the U.S. delegation, including members of the State Department, offered proposals to continue strengthening management and monitoring of the squid fishery in the South Pacific. According to NOAA Fisheries, the fishery has been the focus of claims of rampant illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in recent years. U.S. efforts led to adoption of a comprehensive high seas boarding and inspection program last year, a program that has increased opportunities for monitoring the fleet. NOAA Fisherie...
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9th World Fisheries Congress Convenes in Seattle March 3-7
7Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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9th World Fisheries Congress Convenes in Seattle March 3-7

Some 1,500 fisheries delegates from around the world are expected to convene in Seattle from March 3-7 for the 9th World Fisheries Congress (WFC), to discuss perspectives on research, emerging issues and governance related to fisheries science, industry, conservation and management. WFC officials say they’ve already received more than 1,200 oral and poster presentations from 70-plus countries for the meeting. Plans are for major topics of discussion to range from bringing back salmon from the brink and road maps for incorporating new methods into science-based fisheries management to dam removal as a river restoration tool at the water-energy-food nexus. The session on bringing salmon back from the brink, organized by Gary Morishima of Quinault Management Center, in Bellevue, ...
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Commerce Department Allocates Millions of Dollars for Fishery Disasters
31Jan By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Commerce Department Allocates Millions of Dollars for Fishery Disasters

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has announced the allocation of over $42 million to address fishery disasters in among other places, Alaska, California, Oregon and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Yurok Tribes fisheries from 2017 to 2023. “With these allocations, it is our hope that these funds help the affected communities and tribes recover from these disasters,” Raimondo said in Jan. 29 statement. The allocations include $1,594,841 for the 2022 Alaska Yukon River salmon fisheries; $1,648,366 for the 2018 and 2019 California Red Sea Urchin fishery, $7,050,722 for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Oregon Chinook salmon fisheries; $1,218,502 for the 2017 and 2019 Muckleshoot Indian Tribe coho, chum and pink salmon fisheries; and $405,778 for the 2020 Yurok Tribe Chinook salmon fisherie...
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