Monday, May 24, 2010
Letter: Don't buy SE Alaska Dungeness crab
Please do not participate in the sale or purchase of Dungeness Crab caught by commercial fisherman during the summer in Southeast Alaska.
– Lloyd Gossman, writing to SitNews, Ketchikan.
More:www.sitnews.us
Forget Europe markets, switch back to Japan
Whether it's fish or timber, oil or minerals, people around the world are aggressively selling into the same markets as Alaska. And for seafood, world currencies – which play a big role in sales – are topsy-turvy from one year ago.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Another prognostication of fishery’s end
The UN's top environment official has echoed warnings that commercial fishing could be destroyed within 50 years.
– BBC
More: news.bbc.co.uk
Charleston Memorial Day to honor the fleet
Memorial Day activities in Charleston will include the annual blessing of the fleet and memorial service. The service will take place at 10 a.m. Monday, May 31, at the Charleston Fisherman's Memorial Garden, near the Charleston Marina boat launch.
– Coos Bay World
More: www.theworldlink.com
Coast Guard: Togiak mariner rescued
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew conducted a medevac of a 24-year-old crewman from the 338-foot tender Alaska Packer in Togiak Bay 300 miles northwest of Kodiak Friday.
– Coast Guard press release
More: www.piersystem.com
Coast Guard: Imperiled Oregon fishing boat
The Coast Guard assisted a fishing vessel taking on water approximately 10 miles west of Depoe Bay, Ore., Saturday.
– Coast Guard press release
More: www.piersystem.com
Coast Guard: Alaska boat voyage terminated
The Coast Guard Cutter Hickory terminated the voyage of the 43-foot Homer-based commercial fishing vessel Ambition due to safety issues following a boarding nine miles off of Sand Point Thursday.
– Coast Guard press release
More: www.piersystem.com
Coast Guard: Columbia River grounding
The Coast Guard responded to a 648-foot container ship aground in the Columbia River near Kalama, Wash., Sunday.
– Coast Guard press release
More: www.piersystem.com
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Exchange rates vital in selling our seafood
Alaska seafood competes in a tough global market, and currency values in other countries play a big role in customer sales.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, reporting in FishFactor
More: www.sitnews.us
Salmon doomed because of B.C. ‘cowardice’
At least as important as the science is the complete lack of political will to tackle head-on the continuing decline of B.C.'s iconic fish species.
– John Fryer, writing in the Vancouver Sun
Read more: www.vancouversun.com
Krill abound off California
Krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean and one of the linchpins in the marine food chain, are back in vast swarms off the Bay Area coast. It was their disappearance four years ago that led scientists to predict a collapse of salmon, which then was compounded by losses of juvenile fish at water pumps.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More: www.sfgate.com
Cookbooks mirror Northwest fisheries
“We ate stewed clams and clam chowders and all manner of oysters: creamed oysters on toast, oysters in a chafing dish, pan-roasted oysters, broiled oysters on toast, oyster soups, oyster omelets and a rice-and-tomato-based concoction dubbed ‘a substantial oyster dish.’”
– Seattle Times
More: seattletimes.nwsource.com
Fisheries disaster proclaimed in Gulf
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Monday declared a fishery disaster in the Gulf of Mexico because of the economic impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on fisheries in the region.
– CNN
More: news.blogs.cnn.com
Lawyers arrive with the oil
Southeast Louisiana's mostly grounded, commercial fishermen say they've been approached by lawyers since the BP oil spill but some of them are reluctant to participate in lawsuits so early in the disaster.
– The Louisiana Weekly
More: www.louisianaweekly.com
Governments aren’t policing high-seas fishing
As the United Nations meets to discuss the state of high seas fisheries management, two independent, peer-reviewed studies reveal that ineffective international management is undermining the future of high seas fisheries, fish populations and the health of marine ecosystems.
– PR NewsWire
More: www.prnewswire.com
Help wanted
Pacific Fishing columnist Anne Hillman in Unalaska has been promoted to manage the public radio and television stations there. That means she won’t have time to file monthly columns for Pacific Fishing.
So, we’re looking for a new columnist to report about Dutch Harbor.
If you know of someone who might be interested, send an e-mail to donmcmanman@gmail.com
Thanks.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
‘Deadliest Catch’ skipper wants to dance
Captain Sig Hansen of "Deadliest Catch" fame aims to take his sea legs to another TV reality show: “Dancing with the Stars.”
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in Fish Factor
More: www.sitnews.us
Report: Coho should stay on threatened list
Oregon coastal coho salmon remain at moderate risk of extinction from the continued decline of habitat in the rivers where it begins and ends its life, and should stay on the threatened species list, federal biologists said Tuesday.
– Business Week
More: www.businessweek.com
Salmon net pens to be moved in Puget Sound
Net pens used for rearing Atlantic salmon near Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island will be relocated across Rich Passage to Clam Bay near Manchester.
– Klitsap Sun
More: www.kitsapsun.com
Fishermen say oil makes them sick
Some Louisiana fishermen affected by the massive oil spill in the Gulf — including some hired by BP to help in the cleanup — are reporting cases of debilitating headaches, burning eyes and nausea, and some industry and public officials are pointing the finger at chemical dispersants as the cause.
– Fox News
More: www.foxnews.com
Ocean trash: Oyster farm rope
Season after season, one of the many kinds of plastic trash that beach cleaners find is short lengths of three-strand yellow polypropylene rope. In a typical beach clean-up day, people will pick up thousands of pieces, most less than 18 inches long.
– Chinook Observer
More: www.chinookobserver.com
Ocean trash: California toilets
Over 300 discarded toilets, along with other unusual garbage, have been discovered at a reef off California's Malibu coast that is populated by fish, lobsters and sea urchins.
– Discovery.com
More: news.discovery.com
Togiak winding down after better harvest
The big Togiak herring sac roe fishery is all but done for 2010.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Hake plant to open in B.C.
A local fish-processing plant will open this year despite rumours stating otherwise, says Ucluelet’s mayor.
– WestCoaster
More: www.westcoaster.ca
California farmers win one in court
Central California farmers won more water for their parched fields Tuesday when a federal judge temporarily loosened pumping limits meant to protect native salmon.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More: www.sfgate.com
Thursday, May 27, 2010
More Exxon Valdez money in pipeline
As followers of this blog know, lawyers for plaintiffs in the epic Exxon Valdez oil spill case have been laboriously paying out the winnings since late 2008.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Shell smoothes worries about Alaska drilling
Shell Oil, hoping to put distance between the oil gushing from a BP rig into the Gulf of Mexico and its own pending Arctic project, sent a top executive and engineer to Capitol Hill this week to convince decision-makers that the company still be allowed to drill exploratory wells off Alaska's northern coast.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
What about B.C. oil plan?
Even as the world watches the Gulf of Mexico with growing horror, the Canadian government is pursuing a major oil pipeline/supertanker project that puts us at risk of our own made-in-B.C. disaster.
– MP Nathan Cullen, writing in the Victoria Times Colonist
Kodiak disagrees with fish rep focus
The Kodiak City Council doesn’t agree with how the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) representative has been used by the Kodiak Island Borough. – Kodiak Daily Mirror
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:www.kodiakdailymirror.com
Is farmed fish organic?
A couple of years back, there was an effort by our state congressional delegation to secure "organic" classification for wild Alaskan salmon. This effort was unsuccessful, largely due to the argument that wild salmon feed out in the waters and their food cannot be controlled or monitored.
– Izetta Chambers, Bristol Bay MAP agent, writing in the Bristol Bay Times
More:www.thebristolbaytimes.com
Salmon prices heading higher
Reports coming out of Japan say sales prices for Bristol Bay sockeye salmon are likely to start at around 600 yen per kilo in Japan, compared to about 575 yen last year. In dollars and pounds, that equals just over $3 per pound at wholesale, up from $2.88 a pound in 2009. The current price of Bristol Bay sockeye in Japan is $3.36 a pound for 4-6 pounders.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, reporting on Fish Radio
Friday, May 28, 2010
Fishing is fine – in Alaska
There was a time when California's coastline bristled with fishing boats hauling up salmon and other fish by the millions, filling processing plants that employed thousands of people who turned the slippery captives into canned tasties.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More: www.sfgate.com
Alaska delegation blasts drilling moratorium
Alaska's congressional delegation on Thursday blasted President Barack Obama's decision to delay offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, saying the move will cause more delays and could have big economic consequences.
– Juneau Empire
More: www.juneauempire.com/
Shell vows to stay in Alaska
Shell Oil said it has no plans to leave Alaska, despite the Obama administration's decision Thursday to postpone until at least next year the company's exploratory drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Editorial: Help Oregon coho now
After falling far down the list of public priorities, the prospective return of fisherman/governor John Kitzhaber gives fresh impetus to the Oregon coastal coho restoration.
– The Daily Astorian
More:www.dailyastorian.com
Judge’s rule endangers Sacramento salmon
West Coast fishermen, shut out of fishing for the past two years altogether and granted a 2010 commercial fishery so tiny that most will simply sit it out, fear that a Tuesday night ruling by Fresno-based judge Oliver Wanger could be a serious disaster for the Sacramento River’s fall-run chinook (‘king’) salmon resource.
– Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations press release
More:www.indybay.org
See you on Tuesday
We’ll be observing the long Memorial Day weekend. Fish Wrap will next appear on Tuesday, June 1.
Have a peaceful holiday.
