Monday, January 4, 2010
Deadliest Catch deckhand arrested in bank robberies
Police say a man who appeared in the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch is wanted for three bank robberies in Oregon and has been arrested in Illinois.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com/front
Adak Seafood: The story keeps on ticking
When last we visited the subject of the Adak fish plant, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Anchorage had just approved a sale of the operation to an outfit called Adak Seafood. So, end of story, right?
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
The life of the wife of a commercial fisherman
Oregon fishing families stand a long, lonely watch.
– The Oregonian
More: www.oregonlive.com
Invasion of giant squid
Like a horror show picture, giant squid seem to be invading the coast. From Fort Bragg to Monterey, giant Humboldt squid have shown up in massive numbers.
– San Lorenzo Valley (California) Press-Banner
More: www.pressbanner.com
Top 2009 stories: Oregon Coast
Commercial fishing articles top Oregon Coast list of top 2009 stories.
– Curry County (Oregon) Reporter
More: www.currycountyreporter.com/news
Top 2009 stories: Columbia River
Homo sapiens aside, 2009 wasn’t so bad for other species. If fish could high-five or knuckle-bump, more than 33,000 coho salmon might have been seen celebrating this year about 185 miles east of Vancouver, just upstream of McNary Dam on the Columbia River.
– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian
More: www.columbian.com/news
Top 2009 stories: Wesley Loy’s Alaska picks
Now that we’ve clicked over to 2010, let’s review the Top 10 Alaska fish stories from the past decade.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Top 2009 videos: Coast Guard’s top Alaska videos
The U.S. Coast Guard 17th Coast Guard District has released its top five video compilations for 2009, highlighting the year's most compelling cases.
See them: www.piersystem.com
Kenai fishing guides form new organization
More than 50 professional Kenai River fishing guides have formed their own association.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com/news
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Limited entry proposed for charter halibut boats
NOAA Fisheries has announced a new fishery management program passed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that limits the number of charter boats in the guided sport halibut fishery in Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf of Alaska.
– NOAA press release.
More: alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/newsreleases
Kayaker photographs Alaska humpback whale frenzie
When you’re in a tiny kayak and a 40-ton giant of the deep decides he’s a bit peckish, the sensible option is to scamper as fast as your paddle can carry you.
– Daily Mail, UK
More: www.dailymail.co.uk/news
Cook Inlet Aquaculture fights for electrical service
We have a heck of a battle going on between Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association and its power provider, Homer Electric Association.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Oregon off-shore drilling moratorium expires
With the beginning of 2010, a three-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Oregon’s territorial sea is expiring.
– The World, Coos Bay
More: www.theworldlink.com/articles
Owner says Valdez tug spilled 6,410 gallons
A tugboat operator says as much as 6,410 gallons of diesel fuel spilled in Alaska's Prince William Sound when a tugboat ran aground on the same reef as the Exxon Valdez 20 years ago.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More: www.kodiakdailymirror.com
Letter: Commercial fleet taking too many fish
Alaska is the last frontier, where people value the pioneer spirit, independence and self-sufficiency. There is nothing more critical to this lifestyle than the ability of a family to feed itself. Subsistence and sport fishing deliver 100 percent of the benefits to Alaskans, whereas only a small percentage of commercial fishing goes to all Alaskans through taxes.
– Greg Hayes, a 20-year Alaska sports and subsistence fisherman, writing in the Juneau Empire
More: www.juneauempire.com
Letter: Other letter is wrong
In a recent letter to the Empire, Greg Hayes stated that 96 percent of all fish in Alaska are taken by commercial interests. This is a very misleading statement. Actually, about 70 percent of Alaska fish harvested are pollock, which are taken by trawlers.
– Commercial fisherman Bob Thorstenson Jr., writing in the Juneau Empire
More: www.juneauempire.com
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Vast area proposed for
leatherback turtles
The battle to save Pacific leatherback turtles from extinction prompted federal biologists Tuesday to propose designating 70,000 square miles of ocean along the West Coast as critical habitat for the giant reptiles.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More: www.sfgate.com
Halibut charter owners say NOAA rule will cost jobs
Aspiring charter boat captains will have to find someone willing to sell them a permit before taking clients fishing for halibut from the central Gulf of Alaska to Southeast Alaska as part of efforts to avoid overfishing.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com/news
Forecast disappointing for Cook Inlet
The Department of Fish and Game has posted its 2010 for Upper Cook Inlet sockeye, and it's not very appealing.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Where did SF sea lions go? Oregon
The San Francisco's famous colony of sea lions all but disappeared over the past month, baffling experts. But now large numbers of the animals have been spotted further north, off the coast of Oregon.
– BBC
More: www.oceanleadership.org
Coast Guard plucks man from freighter
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew safely completed the medevac of a 52-year old Filipino man from the motor vessel Hoegh Transit 250 miles southwest of Sitka about 6 a.m. Tuesday.
– Coast Guard press release
More: www.piersystem.com
More cod fisheries headed to MSC certificate
Sweden’s eastern and Baltic cod fisheries have started their assessment against the Marine Stewardship Council standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The Swedish fishery is the third Baltic cod fishery to enter assessment, following the Denmark eastern Baltic cod in August and the German eastern Baltic cod, which entered assessment in November.
– MSC press release
More: www.msc.org/newsroom
Schwarzenegger picks new natural resources chief
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday announced the appointment of Lester Snow as secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency.
Snow has over 30 years of experience working in public water resource management. Since 2004, he has served as director for the California Department of Water Resources. From 2004 to 2001, he was a principal in a water resource consulting company.
– California Governor’s Office press release
More: californianewswire.com
Reporter says new resources chief has been wrong
Snow has distinguished himself by presiding over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species as director of the Department of Water Resources. During his tenure, corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies exported the record water exports out of the California Delta that precipitated the collapse.
– Dan Bacher, writing in Indybay.org
More: www.indybay.org/newsitems
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Halibut charters seek cuts in commercial harvest
Charter-boat owners are floating a pair of proposals that would further reduce the commercial halibut catch. Longliners say the plans would put them out of business. The proposals go before the International Pacific Halibut Commission later this month.
– KRBD, Ketchikan
More: krbd.org
Oregon fishermen wonder about Sacramento run
What remains of the Oregon coast's salmon fishing fleet is largely dependent on Chinook salmon that are born and spawn in California's Sacramento River but mature in the ocean.
– The Oregonian
More: www.oregonlive.com/environment
In California, it’s too early to tell about Sacramento fish
State biologists will be crunching numbers and counting fish over the next several weeks in a process that will determine the quality of the West Coast salmon season this year. Early reports that poor adult salmon runs in the Sacramento River system foretell a bleak season have begun to circulate, but biologists are cautioning that it's far too early to tell.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent John Driscoll, writing in the Fort Bragg Times-Standard
More: www.times-standard.com
NW entries win in CG video competition
SEATTLE — Coast Guard units from the Pacific Northwest have been featured in five of the top 11 Coast Guard videos for 2009. Crews from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria were involved in all five of the rescues featured from the Pacific Northwest.
More: www.piersystem.com
Map of Oregon fishing grounds set for release
Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association will release a digital fishing grounds map this year to a South Coast stakeholders group as the state of Oregon moves forward with a proposed ocean plan. The comprehensive plan will cover everything from marine reserves to wave energy projects to fishing territory.
– Umpqua Post, Reedsport
More: www.theumpquapost.com
Few fret over Seattle Fishermen’s Terminal plan
A low public turnout and a low-key morning had Port of Seattle representatives feeling positive about a consensus between the port and the users of Fishermen's Terminal on the future of the terminal at a Jan. 6 open house.
– Ballard News Tribune
More: www.ballardnewstribune.com
New research targets opilio mortality
Researchers want to know how many of the female and sublegal male crabs that are caught during the fishery survive after being put back into the water. It is illegal to keep them.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More: www.publicbroadcasting.net/kial
Bering Sea opilio season begins
All of the rationalized crab fisheries, except one, opened Oct. 15. The traditional Bering Sea snow crab season however, opens in early to mid-January.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More: www.kodiakdailymirror.com
