Monday, May 6, 2013
SLOW START FOR CAL TROLLERS
Fish wholesalers at Pillar Point Harbor are currently paying $7.50 a pound for fresh salmon.
– Half Moon Bay Review
More: hmbreview.com
Fish stocks face new threats
Fish stocks off the U.S. coasts, restored to health over the past four decades by cooperation among competing interests and careful management, are threatened anew by warming and increasingly acidic waters.
– Washington Post
More: washingtonpost.com
Unanimity over bycatch
For many years, individual fishermen and groups have come before the council and asked that bycatch be lowered.
— Anchorage Daily News
More: adn.com
Gillnet ban comment
A plan to revisit recently adopted Columbia River salmon harvest rules — which aim to phase out commercial use of gill nets on the mainstem and provide a bigger share of fish to recreational fishers — has been pushed back by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to allow additional time for public input.
– Coast River Business Journal
More: crbizjournal.com
Orford to teach the trade
The program coordinator for the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team is investigating how to implement a Community Fishing Association in his town to help younger fishermen learn the trade – both the fishing and business ends – to replace others as they retire and keep fishing permits and quotas in the area.
– Curry Coastal Pilot
More: currypilot.com
King Cove skipper ID'ed
A fisherman who died after ending up in the water on Friday has been identified by the state Troopers as 46-year-old Marvin Love Jr, of King Cove.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More: kucb.org
Who gets the money?
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has an interesting analysis on its website looking at the "salmon value chain."
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Volcano explosions
Multiple explosions were detected Saturday morning at the remote Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Just a Pebble reminder
Folks on all sides of the fight over the proposed Pebble Mine are commenting about the new version of the EPA Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment. Here's how you can too.
To read a 23-page executive summary of the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, click on: Summary
Submit your comments to: Comments
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
JUNEAU HERRING NORMAL
Sitka Sound herring spawn measured close to the 10-year average for spawn miles.
– Juneau Empire
More: juneauempire.com
Kuskokwim herring fishery?
For the first time in several years, there will likely be a commercial herring fishery in the Kuskokwim Bay area.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Togiak herring wait
Conditions are getting more favorable but the herring biomass has yet to arrive in the Togiak District.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Banning Frankenfish
Opponents in Congress are proposing a bill that would ban GM salmon completely.
– Digital Journal
More: digitaljournal.com
Green fish boat
Blue North, a Seattle-based fisheries company operating in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, is announcing plans for what it calls "one of the world's most environmentally friendly" fishing vessels.
– Seattle Times
More: seattletimes.com
Salmon near beginning
It might still feel like winter in some parts of the state but Alaska's 2013 salmon season will officially get underway on May 16, when the first runs of reds and kings are scheduled to arrive at Copper River.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More: sitnews.us
Volcano still erupts
Cleveland Volcano continues to be active, with two additional blasts shaking the volcano on Sunday evening, and Monday morning.
– AlaskaPublic.org
More: alaskapublic.org
Arctic sea life endangered
Climate change is affecting the Arctic Ocean in ways that may deal a severe blow to marine life and people.
– Nunatsiaq Online, Canada
More: nunatsiaqonline.ca
Cod quota cut for Cape Cod
Cod quotas for Cape Cod fishermen have been slashed 61 percent on Georges Bank and 77 percent in the Gulf of Maine.
– Wicked Local, Cape Cod
More: wickedlocal.com
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
PIRATE FISHING HURTS YOU
While illegal fishing is responsible for about 20 percent of wild fish catches worldwide, we still have no effective way to keep illegal fish products off US shelves.
– WWF
More: prnewschannel.com
Sporties' get it wrong
"I think it is important to understand that KRSA has drawn conclusions from our report that we ourselves did not make and with which we do not agree.
– Homer News
More: homernews.com
Fish farm disease
A provocative documentary shows how diseases from farmed salmon based in Canada can threaten wild salmon along the Pacific Coast.
– San Francisco Chronicle
For the video: blog.sfgate.com
Frankenfish factory
The facility, which is owned by an American company AquaBounty Technologies, stands on the verge of delivering the first genetically modified food animal—a fast-growing salmon—to supermarkets and dinner tables.
– MongaBay.com
More: mongabay.com
Scientists told to be useful
The government says the council traditionally was a supporter of business, but has wandered from that in recent years — and will now get back to working on practical applications for industries.
– CBC, Canada
More: cbc.ca
Pebble study flaws
With two big studies out on the proposed Pebble Mine, there's been a fight over whether work by the Pebble Partnership or the Environmental Protection Agency is more credible.
– Alaska Public Media
More: alaskapublic.org
Seymour Canal herring
Southeast gillnetters headed to southern Admiralty Island for the upcoming Seymour Canal herring fishery.
– KFSK, Petersburg
More: kfsk.org
No Stikine king subsistence
It looks like there won't be a Chinook subsistence fishery on the Stikine River this year.
– KSTK, Wrangell
More: kstk.org
Hands off Yukon kings
Following a disastrous year for king salmon runs on Alaska's Yukon River, fishery managers have decided, months earlier than usual, to announce fishing prohibitions for 2013.
– Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
B.C. tanker traffic
The issue of increased oil tanker traffic in B.C. coastal waters isn't going away with just over a week to go in the provincial election campaign.
– Vancouver Sun
More: vancouversun.com
Klamath irrigation
"Now if there are shortages of water in the basin, people can request that newer more junior water rights are shut off so older water rights can be satisfied."
– OPB, Oregon
More: opb.org
Thursday, May 9, 2013
BRISTOL BAY PERMITS UP
The value of Bristol Bay drift and set gillnet permits has been inching upwards in recent months.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Unknown fishery: Shrimp
The Oregon pink shrimp fishery was the first fishery in Oregon certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council and the first shrimp fishery anywhere dubbed sustainable.
– The Oregonian
More: oregonlive.com
Stocking Cal salmon
State Department of Fish and Wildlife officials released 3 million juvenile salmon at the mouth of the American River in Sacramento.
– Modesto Bee
More: modbee.com
Blame enviros for everything
Murkowski attributed everything from U.S. national debt to terrorism on environmentalists.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More: alaskapublic.org
Community supported fisheries
Commercial harvesters have expanded deliveries of Gulf of Alaska seafood from Alaskans Own Community Supported Fishery to Anchorage this year, with monthly offerings also arriving to subscribers in Kodiak, Juneau and Sitka.
– Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Grants to Alaska fisheries
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded a new round of grants from its Fisheries Innovation Fund.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Seafood means jobs
Seasonal jobs grow from 3,000 in December to more than 20,000 during their peak in July or August each year.
– KTOO, Juneau
More: ktoo.org
Puget Sound oil spill corps
The Washington Department of Ecology has given its final approval of the Washington State Maritime Cooperative's umbrella oil spill readiness plan that covers more than 1,600 commercial vessels that transit Puget Sound and Grays Harbor.
– KBKW, Grays Harbor
More: kbkw.com
Friday, May 10, 2013
BRISTOL BAY IS HUGE
The fishery supports a significant number of jobs in the four West Coast states, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, and the total value of Bristol Bay salmon product exports in 2010 was $370 million, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the total value of all U.S. seafood exports.
– Fishermen for Bristol Bay
Executive summary: fishermenforbristolbay.org
Flaw in Pebble Mine study
Members of a science panel sponsored by the Pebble Partnership are criticizing the Partnership's own research.
– Alaska Public Media
More: alaskapublic.org
Sitka herring about average
Sitka Sound herring spawn measured close to the 10-year average for spawn miles.
– Juneau Empire
More: juneauempire.com
Protect Cook Inlet fishing
Commercial fishing is an important occupational opportunity in our region of Alaska.
– Homer News
More: homernews.com
Fine for illegal fish
As part of a plea agreement with the Sitka district attorney's office, the 32-year-old White was fined $4,000 with $2,000 suspended – he'll have to pay the other half of the fine if he breaks fish regulations again.
– Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
Gearing up for Copper River
The season's first Copper River fish will attract the usual media hoopla – helicopters whisking salmon from the fishing grounds to awaiting planes, ready to fly them to eager restaurateurs and retailers in Seattle and other regions.
– Seward Phoenix Log
More: thesewardphoenixlog.com
Free life vests
Under the scheme, every fisherman in Scotland with the correct mandatory certification will have the opportunity to apply for the latest PFD – and get it for free.
– Fish Update
More: fishupdate.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this, we look westward for our fishy news. In Togiak, the only thing missing is the herring, while just around the corner there's renewed interest in Kuskokwim Bay herring. Fishermen in Quinhagak are doing their part to preserve the might king salmon, and a small processor in Unalaska is going world-wide.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More: kmxt.org
