Monday, March 26, 2012
JAPANESE GHOST SHIP FROM TSUNAMI
A Japanese fishing boat from last year's tsunami was spotted off the Canadian Coast. A surveillance plane spotted the "ghost ship" about 160 miles off the coast, and issued a warning to mariners.
– UPI.com
More:www.upi.com
Forget the spa, more women choose fishing and hunting
Women are opting to learn outdoors skills at "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman"-type workshops in 40 states.
– Seattle TImes
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
The cents and sensibility of catch shares
An East Coast Editorial on the management technique's pros and cons so far.
– Cape Cod Day
More:www.wickedlocal.com
Salmon stocks on the West Coast could be the largest in years
With higher volumes of salmon, both commercial and recreational fishing should have longer seasons and better catches.
– The World, Coos Bay
More:theworldlink.com
Fuglvog doing his time
Arne Fuglvog, the former congressional aide convicted of a federal fisheries violation, is serving his five-month prison sentence.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Responsibly-sourced tuna takes bigger market share
A Greenpeace Survey reveals the results
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Are dam removal advocates telling the truth?
Their true motives may not actually be fish and other “endangered species,” this story says.
– Siskiyou Daily News
More:www.siskiyoudaily.com
Will Cordova's economy be stunted by changes to federal work exchange laws?
Cordova mayor weighs in on the J-1 Visa Program's impact on local seafood processors
– The Cordova TImes
More:thecordovatimes.com
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
ARCTIC DRILLING DANGEROUS
As the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly obvious, the Arctic has gained particular attention as being one of the most vulnerable places to the influence of increasing temperatures and changing conditions.
– Arctic Institute
More:www.thearcticinstitute.org
More drilling, more Coast Guard
"We're not here for Shell, we're here to ensure a safe commerce transportation system."
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Drilling and Exxon Valdez
Seeking approval to build the Trans Alaska Pipeline back in the 1970s, government and industry promised the people of America that oil would be shipped safely from Alaska, and "not one drop" would be spilled.
– Cordova Times
More:www.thecordovatimes.com
Columbia gillnet season delayed
Washington and Oregon officials agreed to delay the start of gillnetting for spring Chinook salmon for a week to allow more wild winter steelhead to clear the lower Columbia River and move into the tributaries.
– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian
More:www.columbian.com
Fisherman pens book about storms
The latest book by Francis E. Caldwell, a retired commercial fisherman now living in Port Angeles, compares the extreme weather conditions of an area off the coast of Ketchikan, Alaska, to a serial killer.
– Port Angeles, Wash., Peninsula Daily
More:www.peninsuladailynews.com
Alaska fisheries research funding
Red and blue king crab from waters around the Kodiak and the Pribilof islands, seals and king salmon in Bristol Bay, and sea otters in Southeast are the subjects of more than $1 million in research being funded by Alaska Sea Grant during the next two years.
– SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Festival director denies accusation
The former director of the Commercial Fishermen's Festival in Oregon is disputing accusations that he stole more than $11,000 worth of money, memorabilia and items belonging to the organization.
– Albany (Ore.) Democrat Herald
More:democratherald.com
Backgrounder: Sacramento Delta
The delta is the most important, and contentious, area for water in all of California.
– Independent Voter Network
More:ivn.us
Scientists: Don't weaken fisheries law
Pressure on the federal government to reject private sector efforts to water down the Fisheries Act mounted as a letter endorsed by 625 scientists warned Prime Minister Stephen Harper against any move to weaken Ottawa's most potent tool to protect the environment.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
NATIVES ADVERTISE AGAINST SITKA FISHERY
One of the ads claims that that's enough herring to cover a football field in 20 feet of the silver fish.
– KCAW, Sitka
More:www.kcaw.org
Crab deckhand dragged down
A 49-year-old deckhand on a fishing boat was killed off the San Mateo County coast on after he became entangled in fishing line and was swept overboard.
– San Mateo Daily Journal
More:www.smdailyjournal.com
Making money in squid
As the sun sets over the ocean, the six crewmen on the Cape Blanco are starting a long night's work off the far side of Santa Catalina Island, putting on orange slickers and hard hats to fish for the milky white mollusks that have become California's most valuable catch.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
SE Tanner catch grows
Southeast Tanner crab fishermen landed their biggest catch in over a decade last month.
– KFSK, Petersburg
More:www.kfsk.org
Aleutian golden allocation grows
The Alaska Board of Fisheries voted to up the Aleutian Islands golden king crab allocation by five percent.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Saving 'ghost' ship
"It's amazing that it survived, that's it's still right side up. I think it's inspirational for the Japanese people. It's a testament to their boatbuilding."
– Vancouver Province
More:www.theprovince.com
Fishing, not timber, fuel Southeast
Only 200 private-sector jobs in Southeast Alaska are tied to logging. Compare that to the 7,300 or more fishing and seafood industry jobs.
– Capital City Weekly
More:www.capitalcityweekly.com
Fishing clean for pink shrimp
Bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) have been part of the Oregon pink shrimp fishery for more than a decade, but this season the entire Oregon shrimp fleet will use the cleanest, most effective BRDs yet.
– KPIC, Roseburg, Ore.
More:www.kpic.com
Fisherman indicted for sewage
A federal grand jury has indicted a Kodiak man on charges of dumping pollutants from his vessel into the harbor at St. Paul.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Coastal management bill stalled
With less than three weeks remaining in the legislative session, it's looking unlikely lawmakers will pass a bill to re-establish the Alaska Coastal Management Program.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Acidification: Bad news for Alaska fisheries
"Ocean acidification has the potential to significantly impact the health and productivity of Alaska's oceans."
– Alaska Marine Conservation Council
More:www.akmarine.org
Thursday, March 29, 2012
POLLOCK A ENDING
Crews are going home, roe has been auctioned off, and industry players are already looking ahead to what B season will bring.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Botulism risk prompts FDA action
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in a complaint filed by the Department of Justice, is seeking to stop the processing and distribution of fish products at a California company because of a risk of botulism and other food hazards.
– FDA
More:www.fda.gov
More details about crabber death
"When they pulled him up, his arm was still wrapped in the rope."
– Half Moon Bay Patch
More:halfmoonbay.patch.com
Sporties want sturgeon gillnets gone
The Coastal Conservation Association is asking Washington and Oregon to end gillnetting in the 9.5-mile sturgeon summer sanctuary in the Columbia River just downstream of Bonneville Dam.
– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian
More:www.columbian.com
Too many steelhead in Columbia
There was no commercial fishery on Tuesday, after it was determined that too many winter steelhead made up the bulk of the test fishery catch.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Help for young Alaskan fishermen
The Alaska State House unanimously passed a bill to increase Alaskan ownership of Alaskan fisheries by enabling a larger number of state residents to secure the level of financing necessary to purchase limited entry commercial fishing permits.
– Alaska Native News
More:alaska-native-news.com
Sportie cuts in south-central
Biologists are worried because of "low king salmon abundance over recent years, a below-average outlook for the upcoming season, and uncertainty over how quickly king salmon abundance may rebound."
– Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
More fighting over MSC flap
The decision by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and at least eight major salmon buyers to pull out of the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainability certification program has caused a bit of a flap in the industry, including allegations by ASMI that MSC is making false accusations regarding the causes and implications of the action, and push-back by ASMI to counter the claims.
– Homer News
More:homernews.com
Canada Natives win
In an apparent victory for native fishing rights, the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to re-examine a B.C. ruling that members of five First Nations have the right to make a living selling the fish they catch in their traditional territory.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.canada.com
Fishing groups against Pebble Mine
Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay announced today that 77 commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have sent a letter to the EPA urging the Obama Administration to protect Bristol Bay, its epic salmon runs, and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them.
– Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay
More:fishermenforbristolbay.org
Friday, March 30, 2012
U.S. BOOTS CANADIAN ALBACORE FISHERMEN
The U.S. government has suspended a 31-year-old agreement that allowed Canadian vessels to fish for tuna in American waters.
– CTV
More: www.ctv.ca
Chain to shun unsustainable fish
Beginning this Earth Day (April 22), Whole Foods Market will no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in its seafood departments.
– Whole Foods Market
More: media.wholefoodsmarket.com
B.C. trawlers, enviros agree
Environmentalists and the ground-fish bottom trawl industry announced a landmark agreement on ways to limit the effect of trawl nets on sensitive corals, sponges, and deepsea habitats on the B.C. coast.
– Vancouver Sun
More: www.vancouversun.com
Cook Inlet kings down
Sport and commercial fisheries within the Northern Cook Inlet area will be managed conservatively during the 2012 season in response to low king salmon abundance over recent years, a below-average outlook for the upcoming season, and uncertainty over how quickly king salmon abundance may rebound.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: community.adn.com
New SE Chinook allotment
Chinook all-gear harvest levels were 294,800 in 2011, some 221,800 in 2010, and a decade-low of 170,000 in 2008.
– Juneau Empire
More: juneauempire.com
Feds now own pirate ship
A federal judge in Anchorage signed this www.scribd.com forfeiture decree for the Bangun Perkasa, a suspected high-seas driftnetter authorities seized and took to Dutch Harbor last year.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Tsunami debris moving faster
Debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami will likely wash ashore sooner than originally thought.
– The Oregonian
More: www.oregonlive.com
Tsunami debris in Alaska
Debris from the Japan tsunami is beginning to wash up on shorelines around Prince of Wales Island.
– KRBD, Ketchikan
More: www.krbd.org
More smelt in Cowlitz River
This time of year, smelt larvae and adults are coursing through lower Columbia watershed.
– Longview (Wash.) Daily News
More: tdn.com
New entrant in AK rockfish suit
Fishermen's Finest Inc. is seeking to intervene in the lawsuit major Kodiak processors have filed against the federal government over the new Central Gulf of Alaska rockfish catch shares program.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Bristol Bay sockeye resilient
The resiliency of Bristol Bay's sockeye salmon resource was outlined in detail during the first day of the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference in Dillingham.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org (scroll down)
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week: Fish and Game reduces limits for two popular sportfishing rivers in Kodiak, a Southeast village corporation is seeking a federal takeover of the Chatham Strait fisheries, and the Sitka Tribe protests a dramatic increase of the Sitka sac roe herring (/say that five times fast/) guideline harvest level. All that and more golden king crab to go around, coming up on the Alaska Fisheries Report.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More: www.kmxt.org