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