Monday, June 11, 2012
BRISTOL BAY FISHING UNDERWAY
Commercial fishing is underway in Bristol Bay but only in the eastside districts.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:kdlg.org
Good news from Cordova
The sockeye catch has now surpassed 1 million fish.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com (scroll down)
Halibut bycatch cut
After four days of contentious hearings, federal fisheries managers voted to reduce the bycatch of halibut caught by trawlers and certain other commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Alaska by 15 percent.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
Study surveys otter damage
Sea otters are expanding throughout Southeast Alaska and dining on crab, sea cucumbers, geoduck clams and more as they go.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Morgan writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Ocean Beauty idles P’burg plant
Ocean Beauty idled the Petersburg plant before, in 2010, in expectation of a low pink return.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com (scroll down)
W. Coast sardines doing just fine
But in reality, this important fishery is doing just fine thanks to existing precautions.
– Monterey Herald
More:www.montereyherald.com
Sitka fish in Galesburg, Ill.
What the founder of Sitka Salmon Shares calls “a small frontier outpost in the middle of nowhere” and Galesburg are now linked by a love of good food, as well as a philosophy that embraces healthy living, social interaction and support of small business.
– Galesburg, Ill., Register-Mail
More: www.galesburg.com
Shocked fisherman medevaced
A Bering Sea fisherman who suffered a major electrical shock and heart complications has been medevaced from his ship by the Coast Guard and flown to Dillingham.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Army ship grounded in Kodiak
The landing craft Monterrey was then intentionally grounded in front of town.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
MOVING YOUR PRODUCT UPSCALE
It's in Vancouver that the spot prawn has become a superstar ingredient, receiving top menu billing for its local, seasonal, and sustainable appeal, not to mention its sweet, lobster-like flavor and firm texture.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Stay alive
The video shows two crewmembers becoming trapped as the boat disappears underwater.
– Cannon Beach Gazette
More:www.cannonbeachgazette.com
Little harm from grounded vessel
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has revised downward the amount of diesel fuel spilled from the U.S. Army Reserve landing craft Monterrey, which was intentionally grounded after hitting a charted rock, just off shore of downtown Kodiak.
– KMXT
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Fishing down, unemployment up
Unemployment in Unalaska more than doubled in April, coinciding with the wind-down of a major fishing season.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Medevac near Chignik
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak personnel this morning medevaced the captain of the fishing vessel Providence after he injured his hand near Chignik.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Debris: Invasion of alien species
And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come.
– Fox News
More:www.foxnews.com
Marketing village salmon outside
But for one Yukon Kuskokwim Delta fish buyer, there is a clear goal: marketing Kuskowkim River salmon to areas outside Alaska.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Fine upheld in B.C. protest fishery
B.C.'s high court has upheld a $300 fine for illegal fishing against B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins for his participation in a decade-old protest fishery on the Fraser River.
– Maple Ridge (B.C.) News
More:www.mapleridgenews.com
Harper: A Canadian George Bush?
Harper is eliminating the DFO program that monitors contaminants in our oceans.
– Huffington Post
More:hwww.huffingtonpost.ca
Another view of halibut bycatch
Tracy Chandler of F/V Topaz in Kodiak had some thoughtful remarks about an article we linked to on Monday. It concerned the reduction of halibut bycatch by the trawl fleet.
Read her response:Trawl Objection
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
IRE OVER ANTI-GILLNET VOTE
A campaign targeting gillnetters takes class war to the Columbia River.
– Willamette Week
More:www.wweek.com
Dippers yanked off Copper River kings
All king salmon caught in dip nets must be released immediately. The closure is for the rest of the season.
– Fairbanks News Miner
More:newsminer.com
Grounded and oozing oil
The 174-foot Army vessel Monterrey remains grounded on Puffin Island, surrounded by containment boom to limit the spread of any diesel fuel from the vessel.
– Coast Guard
More:www.uscgnews.com
Russian salmon MSC certified
The NE Sakhalin Island pink salmon fishery on Russia's east coast has been awarded Marine Stewardship certification.
– MSC
More:www.msc.org
S. Africa fears loss of MSC cert
South Africa's commercial hake trawl fisheries could lose their Marine Stewardship Council membership next month, cutting the industry off from the lucrative European market and jeopardizing about 5,000 jobs.
– Business Day, South Africa
More:www.businessday.co.za
Port Orford tries ag plan
Will the smashing success of Community Supported Agriculture carry over to fisheries in Oregon?
– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita reporting in Ecotrope, Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:ecotrope.opb.org
Kodiak salmon season begins
Kodiak Area Management Biologist James Jackson says it's still too early to tell what's hot and what's not, and he describes a lot of the fishing at this point in the season as "average."
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Kuskokwim subsistence fishery closed
Weeklong salmon fishing closures went into effect Sunday for subsistence fishers on the Kuskokwim River.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Coal will hurt fish
A report on the Morrow Pacific coal export project concludes the project will have "unavoidable" impacts to Columbia River fish during dock construction and coal transportation on barges and ships.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita reporting in Ecotrope, Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:ecotrope.opb.org
Tsunami foam coming
Federal officials say it's likely that much of the foamlike material that is littering beaches in Southwestern Washington and Oregon is some of the first debris from Japan's calamitous 2011 tsunami to show up on U.S. shorelines.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Thursday, June 14, 2012
NEARING OPILIO CATCH LIMIT
As of Wednesday morning, fishermen have less than 1 million pounds of snow crab left to catch.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Proposed marine park devastating
The commercial fishing industry says it's devastated by plans to create the world's largest marine park network.
– ABC Rural
More:www.abc.net.au
Anti-gillnet crowd wrong
And we found at least 11 states besides Oregon that allow commercial gillnetting.
– The Oregonian's PolitiFact
More:www.politifact.com
Sea otters spreading
Sea otters are expanding throughout Southeast Alaska and dining on crab, sea cucumbers, geoduck clams, and more as they go.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Capital City Weekly
More:www.capitalcityweekly.com
Copper River kings low
Commercial harvesters have topped the 1 million mark in their harvest of the famed Copper River sockeye salmon, while the Chinook harvest remains below average.
– Alaska Native News
More:alaska-native-news.com
Copper River sockeye featured
Fresh Copper River sockeye salmon will be the showcase ingredient at the first ever Whole Foods Fishmonger Face-Off at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Beth Poole, writing for Copper River/PWS Marketing Association
More:hosted-p0.vresp.com
Helping imperiled vessel
Coast Guard aircrews and a good Samaritan fishing vessel crew responded to a 70-foot landing craft taking on water more than 100 miles south of Cordova.
– Coast Guard
More:www.uscgnews.com
Single fish float back home
A fish farm float that was lost from Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, in the March 2011 tsunami and later found on an island off Alaska was delivered to its owner.
– Japan Times
More:www.japantimes.co.jp
Waiting for Kodiak fish
Biologist James Jackson says it's still too early to tell what's hot and what's not, and he describes a lot of the fishing at this point in the season as "average."
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Zach Malone passes
Zack Malone, an employee of Highland Refrigeration in Seattle for five years, passed away on June 10, two days after his 26th birthday.
More:Help Malone Family.com
Friday, June 15, 2012
FAMILIES HURT BY CHINOOK SHORTAGE
Families that rely on Chinook for food yearlong have had to make sacrifices and fish less and less.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Lice problems in Scotland farms
A report published by the Salmon and Trout Association claims to include evidence of widespread failure to control sea lice in the Scottish salmon farming industry.
– FishNewsEU
More:www.fishnewseu.com
Are you poisoning consumers?
If people won't pay sufficient attention to activists' agenda, then rattle 'em at the dinner table.
– Huffington Post
More:www.huffingtonpost.com
Tainted Korean shellfish
The Food and Drug Administration is urging food distributors, retailers and food service vendors to remove from the market oysters, clams, mussels and scallops imported from South Korea because of possible contamination with human waste and norovirus.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, the trawlers in the Gulf will see a 15 percent reduction in allowable halibut bycatch; to err is human, but to hit Error Island could get you arrested; and the biggest freaking crab you'll never get to eat.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Readying to move grounded vessel
The U.S. Army Reserve is preparing to move the landing craft Monterrey.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Acidification on West Coast
About one-third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) humans pump into the atmosphere eventually diffuses into the surface layer of the ocean.
– Wired
More:www.wired.com
No fishing job, then suicide
A California man with unrealized dreams of working in the Alaska fishing industry stole a taxicab, drove through security at the Port of Anchorage, and jumped to his death from a fuel tank.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
EPA clobbers American Seafoods
American Seafoods Company LLC and Pacific Longline Company LLC have agreed to phase out the use of ozone depleting refrigerants, implement a comprehensive leak detection and repair program aboard a number of their vessels and pay a penalty to resolve federal Clean Air Act violations.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
New Coos Bay port chief
The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay commissioners selected David Koch as the organization's new CEO.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com