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Summary for January 25 - January 29, 2010:

Monday, January 25, 2010

Alaska fishermen pick favorite life jacket

The results from last year's personal flotation device study are in. Researchers from
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health interviewed 400 fishermen
who used four different gear types – trawls, crab pots, longlines and gillnets. Two hundred of them tested different types of PFDs for a month.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More: www.publicbroadcasting.net/kial


What’s behind anti-gillnet initiative

Like a methodical poker player suddenly switching to "all-in," the region's largest and potentially most influential player in sport salmon fishing is shoving all its chips forward in the gill-net gamble.

– The Oregonian

More: www.oregonlive.com/sports

CG rescues three fishermen in Southeast

A Coast Guard 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Station Juneau rescued three people at Point Coke near Holkham Bay in Southeast Alaska Friday. Coast Guard Sector Juneau command center watchstanders received a distress call over VHF-FM Channel 16 at about 4:24 p.m. from the crew of the 55-foot Petersburg-based fishing vessel Alaska Adventure reporting their vessel was aground.

– Coast Guard press release

More: www.piersystem.com/go

Tropical whale wandered into Puget Sound

Biologists found no obvious signs of trauma on the body of dead whale that washed ashore on a South Sound beach this week thousands of miles from its typical ocean range.

– The Olympian

More: www.theolympian.com/breakingnews    

Navy training in Gulf of Alaska worries some

The Navy has proposed an increase of training activities, including two 21-day periods this summer, which would involve active radar and the introduction of new weapons and sonar training.

– Cordova Times

Read more: thecordovatimes.com/article 

B.C. First Nation to appeal fish ruling to Supreme Court

A First Nation near Prince Rupert, B.C., vows to fight a recent B.C. Appeal Court decision on commercial fishing rights by filing for a Supreme Court of Canada hearing.

– National Aboriginal News

More: www.firstperspective.ca    

Alaska pilots found in wreckage near Sand Point

Searchers Sunday found the underwater wreckage of a plane that crashed near Sand Point with two bodies still strapped inside, troopers say.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: community.adn.com/adn  

SE halibut charters say businesses are doomed

Businesses that take tourists and others out for a day of halibut fishing in Southeast Alaska are facing dire times.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More: deckboss.blogspot.com

Dock catches fire in Unalaska

Black, foul-smelling smoke billowed from the APL dock around 5 p.m. on Friday. Witnesses say the fire started when a crew from Magone Marine was working on dismantling the fallen crane.

—Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More: www.publicbroadcasting.net/kial      

Tuesday, January 26, 2010  

Ocean temperatures second highest on record

The global ocean surface temperature was the second warmest on record for December, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

– NOAA

More: www.noaanews.noaa.gov

 

SE fishermen continue to fight B.C. mine

A bankruptcy filing by a mine company proposing to run a hoverbarge on the Taku River laid the controversial request to rest for the time being, but fishermen and environmentalists who fought the proposal are not sitting on their heels.

– Juneau Empire

More: www.juneauempire.com

For an even better article, check out February’s Pacific Fishing.

Ketchikan fishing boat saved from flames

The Ketchikan Fire Department responded to a report of a boat fire on float 8 Bar Harbor, behind Bar Harbor Restaurant on Saturday. The commercial fishing vessel Sable had heavy smoke venting from the open cabin door and also from a starboard window on the rear of the cabin.

– SitNews, Ketchikan

More: www.sitnews.us

Seafood company founder dies

Here's news of the death of Lloyd Cannon, founder of All Alaskan Seafoods.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More: deckboss.blogspot.com  

Oregon seafood center may open again

The shuttered Seafood School in Astoria could be getting a second chance. Leaders at the Duncan Law Seafood Consumer Center are looking into a partnership with Clatsop Community College that could revive the school that closed last November for financial reasons.

– Coos Bay World

More: www.theworldlink.com/articles

Oregon commercial abalone diver guilty of poaching

The only person to have been issued a commercial abalone permit on the West Coast has been convicted and sentenced for poaching the highly valued shellfish.

– Salem Statesman Journal

More: www.statesmanjournal.com

Yukon kings topic at Board of Fisheries meeting

The Alaska Board of Fisheries will meet for six days in Fairbanks starting Tuesday, and the big issue will be Yukon River king salmon.

– Fairbanks News Miner  

More: newsminer.com

Halibut update

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is meeting this week in Seattle. Members are expected to vote on 2010 harvest recommendations on Friday morning. We’ll report the outcome with a special Fish Wrap shortly after the vote.

 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

What you’re missing

Here are a few headlines from February’s Pacific Fishing magazine.

  • Congress safety bill would cost fishermen a bundle
  • B.C. mine continues to poison Alaska salmon stream
  • North Pacific council divides Gulf cod
  • Halibut allocation to be better in the future
  • Endangered listing could kill B.C. groundfish fleet
  • Trident lays out plans for Cordova
       


Target dumps farmed salmon, to buy Alaskan

Target Corp., the nation's second-largest discounter after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Tuesday that it pulled all farmed salmon from its stores as it looks to be more environmentally conscious. The retailer said it will no longer carry farmed salmon in its fresh, frozen or smoked seafood sections. The move impacts national brands and the chain's own Archer Farms and Market Pantry brands, which will now use wild-caught Alaska salmon.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

Foes of halibut charters called ‘commies’

Along the Alaska coast, the federal government is preparing to put hundreds of mom-and-pop fishing companies out of business in 2011, and the state of Alaska remains strangely silent.

– Alaska Dispatch

More: www.alaskadispatch.com/voices

Decisive action needed now for B.C. sockeye

Bravo to D.C. Reid for his recent article: "2009 decisive for B.C. salmon." He paints a grim picture of the crisis facing the west coast salmon fishery.

Decisive action is needed now, before salmon goes the way of the east coast cod stocks.

– Victoria Times Colonist

More: www.timescolonist.com/opinion

Humboldt County approves Klamath pact

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to formally become a party involved with the removal of several Klamath River dams.

– Eureka Times-Standard

More: www.times-standard.com

Dutch dock fire extinguished

The Unalaska Fire department reports that Friday evening's fire at the APL dock started when some minor hot work for the crane dismantling caught a small amount of foam insulation on fire. The fire spread rapidly along the highly flammable foam and created large amounts of smoke. However, it was quickly extinguished and no one was injured. The fire only damaged the crane, which was already being demolished.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More: www.kucb.org

Shrimp’s dirty little secret

Americans love their shrimp. It's the most popular seafood in the country, but unfortunately much of the shrimp we eat are a cocktail of chemicals, harvested at the expense of one of the world's productive ecosystems. Worse, guidelines for finding some kind of "sustainable shrimp" are so far nonexistent.

– AlterNet

More: www.alternet.org/food

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Nervous fishermen await halibut
council vote

Alaska fishermen are gathered in Seattle this week with
others from the Northwest region and Canada for the annual meeting of the international commission that manages
halibut.

– Juneau Empire

More: www.juneauempire.com

Fish Wrap to report halibut vote

Expect a special Fish Wrap message at noonish Friday, reporting allocation decisions for 2010 by the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

New NW measures would further protect leatherbacks

You’ve probably never spotted a leatherback sea turtle in Oregon, as they rarely come on shore and there are only an estimated 5,000 of the endangered reptiles worldwide.

– Eugene Register-Guard

More: www.registerguard.com

Arguments over Yukon Chinook at Fish Board

A standing-room-only crowd greeted the Alaska Board of Fisheries on Tuesday, the first day of a six-day meeting being held in Fairbanks to address the decline of king salmon in the Yukon River.

– Fairbanks News-Miner

More: newsminer.com

Cook Inlet beluga listing resolution proposed

Anchorage Republican Rep. Charisse Millett filed a resolution Wednesday asking the Legislature to oppose the proposed federal designation of critical habitat in Cook Inlet for beluga whales.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

Seats to open on North Pacific Council

Two members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Sam Cotten of Eagle River and Duncan Fields of Kodiak, will see their three-year terms expire in August.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More: deckboss.blogspot.com

B.C. court prohibits more fish farms this year

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that fish farming will not be allowed to expand in B.C. waters until at least December.

– The Tyee, British Columbia

More: thetyee.ca

CG searches for sailor off container ship

The Coast Guard on Wednesday searched for a 26-year-old Myanmarese crewmember reported to have fallen overboard from the 792-foot container ship Cap Gilbert approximately 450 miles south of Adak Island Tuesday. The search later was called off.

– Coast Guard press release

More: www.piersystem.com

 

Friday, January 29, 2010

Copper River forecast looking better

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has posted its 2010 salmon forecast for Prince William Sound and the fabled Copper River, and the numbers look decent.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More: deckboss.blogspot.com

 

Wine grape growers mad over water for salmon

Grape growers in Northern California's cool, fertile Sonoma County wine region are stomping mad at a new plan to limit the amount of water vineyards can pump from local rivers and streams to protect crops from frost—a proposed regulation meant to safeguard coho salmon, a species on the brink of local extinction.

– Monterey Herald

More: www.montereyherald.com

Unalaska finishing design for small boat harbor

The designers of the new small boat harbor are in the final stages of public comment collection and design. The designers and the construction team, PND engineers and Pacific Pile and Marine, presented the current design modifications to city council.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More: www.publicbroadcasting.net

Proposed B.C. oil port worries neighbors

On September 25, 2009, two hours out of Kitimat in the Douglas Channel, the freighter Petersfield suffered complete gyroscopic failure, lost steering, took a turn to starboard and struck a rocky outcrop across from Grant Point. The 26 crew members suffered no injuries and the 187-metre freighter was able to extricate itself from the rocks and return to Kitimat. Despite extensive damage to the bulbous bow, no cargo was lost.

– Northword magazine, B.C.

More: northword.ca

Also see the January issue of Pacific Fishing magazine.

Eroding village wants to revive global warming suit

One of Alaska's most eroded villages wants to revive a lawsuit that claims greenhouse gases from oil, power and coal companies are to blame for the climate change endangering the tiny community.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

Village opposes Alaska drilling plan

A North Slope village united with some of the heaviest hitters in the environmental community to challenge a plan by Shell Oil to drill off Northwest Alaska this summer.

 – Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

First aid at sea course in Seattle

Washington Sea Grant and Port of Seattle Fishermen’s Terminal are cosponsoring a Coast Guard-approved First Aid at Sea course for commercial fishermen and recreational boaters on March 23.

More: www.wsg.washington.edu

NMFS studies bird-paravane interaction

With funding from the National Cooperative Research Program and the NMFS Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program, a pilot study on seabird interactions with paravanes was conducted in August.

– Alaska Fisheries Science Center

More: www.afsc.noaa.gov

Biologist still fighting salmon farms

After eight years of studying fish farms and sea lice, Alexandra Morton has some ideas on the recent disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from B.C waters.

– Hope (B.C.) Standard

More: www.bclocalnews.com