salmon – Page 7 – Fishermens News

NPFMC Urges Pollock Industry to Reduce Bycatch, Declines to Impose Restrictions

22Jun

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NPFMC Urges Pollock Industry to Reduce Bycatch, Declines to Impose Restrictions

Federal fisheries managers have acknowledged the ongoing crisis in Alaska salmon stocks, and have opted to respond with additional research and a request to the Pollock industry to institute immediate measures to reduce chum bycatch during the summer fishery. At its June meeting in Sitka, Alaska, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council requested a discussion paper on chum salmon bycatch building on the previous analysis, which was performed in 2012. But for now, the council has opted not to impose new restrictions that would impact the Pollock trawl vessels whose bycatch of chum salmon in 2021 reached 546,043 fish. Additionally, the Pollock industry was asked to report back at the end of the B season on how bycatch reduction efforts worked. During the meeting, the council...

Melting Glaciers Likely to Boost Healthy Salmon Spawning Habitat: Study

15Jun

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Melting Glaciers Likely to Boost Healthy Salmon Spawning Habitat: Study

Dramatic increases in the melting of Alaska’s massive glaciers in the midst of global warming reflect a silver lining for wild salmon, but once the melting has concluded, such benefits will likely not be realized, according to Peter Westley, a fisheries researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Westley highlighted recent work led by colleagues at Simon Fraser University that quantified the rich bounty of salmon habitat currently hidden, but soon to be revealed, by rapidly melting glaciers. The current rate of melting glaciers in Alaska is much higher than salmon have experienced in a long, long time, said Westley of UAF’s Salmonid Evolutionary Ecology & Conservation (SEEC) Lab. Currently, glaciers are helping cool the waters and create new habitat for wild salmon, ...

Demand Remains High for Limited Commercial Catch of Copper River Salmon

1Jun

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Demand Remains High for Limited Commercial Catch of Copper River Salmon

Consumer appetites remain high for limited pounds of Copper River king and sockeye salmon, which are fetching up to $114.95 a pound and $79.95 a pound respectively in some retail markets, data show. Fishmongers at Fred Meyer seafood counters in Anchorage said there was a lot of interest in those fresh Copper River sockeye salmon fillets at $35.95 a pound. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game anticipates the next opener for the Copper River will be Thursday, June 2. To date, ADF&G has cancelled two of five potential openings. ADF&G biologist Jeremy Botz in Cordova said Chinook salmon so far have come in above anticipated numbers and there is now room for optimism for keeping a regular commercial fishing schedule. Veteran Copper River harvester Bill Webber said state f...

Hybrid NPFMC Meeting Scheduled for June 9-14 in Sitka, Alaska

11May

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Hybrid NPFMC Meeting Scheduled for June 9-14 in Sitka, Alaska

Final action on Central Gulf of Alaska rockfish adjustments is on the agenda for the hybrid June meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, set for June 6-14 in Sitka, Alaska. Other major issues on the agenda include a Crab Plan team report on Aleutian Islands golden king crab and adopting alternatives for the snow crab rebuilding plan analysis, initial review of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific cod small boat access and trawl electronic monitoring committee report, plus a review of the observer program annual report for 2021. Discussions on salmon research reports on Chinook and chum stock status from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Department of Fish and Game are also on the agenda, which is online at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details...

California Agencies Partner to Support Salmon in Drought Conditions

11May

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California Agencies Partner to Support Salmon in Drought Conditions

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say that the drought having a significant impact on the state’s water supply is also putting the state’s salmon at serious risk. To that end, California’s Water Resources and Fish and Wildlife departments are collaborating through shared projects, funding and research efforts to identify challenges facing salmon and to promote salmon health and survival. These projects include restoring critical habitat for salmon and other fish species, improving salmon migration corridors to and from the ocean, and increasing monitoring efforts to better track fish populations and devise new strategies to improve their status. In April, DWR and CDFW staff began work to remove vegetation from a key migratory path for adult spring-run Chinook s...

Navy Responds to Plea Against Gulf of Alaska War Games in Spring 2023

11May

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Navy Responds to Plea Against Gulf of Alaska War Games in Spring 2023

Joint military exercises in the Gulf of Alaska, which take place every other spring on the eve of the Copper River commercial salmon fishery, are already drawing fire from entities concerned about adverse impact on the area’s fishery and environment in the spring of 2023. While the actual scheduling of the Northern Edge war games will be determined by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, opponents of holding these exercises in May are asking the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Northwest to cease holding the event in May of 2023. The Copper River District has been experiencing below average harvests for several years and when it opens for 12 hours on Monday, May 16, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is expected to take a conservative management approach for the start o...

27Apr

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Drop in Overall Alaska Commercial Salmon Harvest in 2022 Forecasted

Run forecasts and harvest projections published this month by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game say that the ADF&G expects a decrease in commercial salmon harvests in 2022. The total commercial salmon harvest of all species is projected at 160.6 million fish, including 310,000 Chinook salmon, a record 74 million sockeye salmon, 3.6 million coho salmon 67.2 million pink salmon and 15.4 million chum salmon. Compared to 2021 commercial harvests those projected 2022 commercial harvests are expected to yield 94.2 million fewer pink salmon, 16.9 million more sockeye salmon, 0.8 million more coho salmon and 2.2 million more chum salmon. The Alaska all-species salmon harvest for 2021 totaled nearly 235.0 million fish, about 44.7 million fish more than the preseason foreca...

20Apr

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State Biologists Brace for Alaska’s Copper River Salmon Opener

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists for the Copper River District, with a commercial 2022 forecast of 716,000 sockeyes and 211,000 coho salmon, say that they’ll issue their first announcement from the department’s Cordova office between April 30 and May 7. The fishery is expected to open in mid-May. The total Copper River Chinook salmon run forecast of 40,000 fish is below the 10-year (2012-2021) average of 46,000 fish and the commercial harvest is also expected to be below average. The 2022 sockeye salmon harvest forecast is 38% below the same 10-year average of 1.15 million fish. Biologists said that based on the recent poor Chinook and sockeye salmon production, a conservative management approach would be implemented at the start of the season. The conserva...