Monday, June 18, 2012
PACIFIC MORE ACIDIC
A new computer model developed in Switzerland shows that the pH of the ocean waters off the west coast of the U.S. will fall over the next four decades faster than previously thought.
– Phys.org
More:phys.org
Oregon’s anti-gillnet vote
This law, in my opinion, will drive these fishermen out of business because of the added costs they will endure.
– The Oregonian
More:blog.oregonlive.com
Bringing gillnets to Idaho
The Nez Perce Tribe in northern Idaho has approved a commercial fishing season allowing gillnets on the Clearwater River for spring Chinook.
– Missoulian
More:missoulian.com
No Chinook for subsistence
In most years by this time, those racks and smokehouses are filling up with king or chinook salmon, the main staple of the subsistence diet in Southwest Alaska.
– KTUU, Anchorage
More:articles.ktuu.com
More debris arrives
A marine-band radio, several life jackets and a battery made a long sea journey with a Japanese fishing boat that washed ashore at Cape Disappointment State Park.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
The making of an observer
My journey began when I saw an ad for “observers” to collect fisheries data for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
– University of Alaska
More:www.rsmas.miami.edu
By the numbers
Bristol Bay report: kdlg.org/1977
Port Moller report: kdlg.org/1979
Five fishermen rescued
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescued five fishermen forced to abandon their sinking vessel west of Kodiak.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Crescent City abalone war
“You're looking at close to $400,000 worth of abalone that died because of the lack of dredging.”
– Crescent City Triplicate
More:www.triplicate.com
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
CANADIAN BLOCKADE?
A few weeks back, we reported that Canadian fishermen were planning a blockade of U.S. boats heading north through B.C. waters. The blockade was to demonstrate disapproval of a U.S. decision to forbid Canadian fishermen from fishing for albacore in U.S. waters this year. Here's the latest from our source:
"I think things cooled off a bit as guys have to prepare for fishing. By the time things got sort of organized, it was too late. If talks are unsuccessful, they are mentioning a fall blockade at Seymour Narrows."
Gillnet ban is a resource grab
Urban/sport-fishing efforts to kill gillnetting are coming to resemble a traveling medicine show, with claims by proponents that are as unreliable as those made by old-fashioned tent-dwelling hucksters.
– Daily Astorian
More:www.dailyastorian.com
Tender intentionally grounded
Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Valdez is monitoring the 49-foot fishing tender Raidawn after it was intentionally grounded in Main Bay.
– Coast Guard
More:www.uscgnews.com
State plans for tsunami debris
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a state plan to address tsunami debris that reaches the state's coast from Japan but stressed that federal help is needed.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Farewell to the Goose
The Grumman Goose has served the region for the better half of a century, and it's the last World War II-era seaplane still in scheduled commercial use in Alaska.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Polar race to riches
As the rapidly melting ice unlocks commercial opportunities in shipping, tourism and oil and gas extraction, the world's largest economies are jockeying for control of the region.
– OilPrice.com
More:oilprice.com
Buoys to measure acid levels
Thanks to a nearly $3 million show of support from the state, high tech buoys will soon be measuring ocean acidity levels year 'round, and Alaska fishermen will play an important role in the research.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Rules for Oregon preserves
Oregon's departments of fish and wildlife and state lands have proposed administrative rules for new marine reserve sites at Cape Perpetua, Cascade Head, and Cape Falcon, limiting fishing and setting out other restrictions.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
New UFA officers
The United Fishermen of Alaska, the statewide umbrella association representing 37 commercial fishing associations, announces the reelection of Arni Thomson, executive director of the Alaska Crab Coalition to his third one-year term as president, Bruce Wallace to his second term as vice president, and new Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Hansen, executive director of Southeast Alaska Fishermen's Alliance – UFA.
More:UFA Board Changes
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
KINGS HURTING ON KENAI
Boy, do things sound awful on the Kenai River in terms of Chinook salmon returns.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com (scroll down)
Oregon crab price dives
The price of crab dropped dramatically in Charleston last week after several live-buyers who export crab to China suddenly left the Bay Area.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
Easier to kill sea lions
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it easier for Northwest states and tribes to kill California sea lions that eat salmon and other fish, including fish not listed under the Endangered Species Act.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Bristol Bay fishermen drop cards
This week marks the more-official start of the season: when all Bristol Bay commercial fishers must "drop their cards."
– FIS.com
More:www.fis.com
Sporty says you're killing resource
Despite monumental technology advancements, the returns of commercial fishing continue to diminish.
– PlanetSave.com
More:planetsave.com
Sporties are truth challenged
Urban/sport-fishing efforts to kill gillnetting are coming to resemble a traveling medicine show, with claims by proponents that are as unreliable as those made by old-fashioned tent-dwelling hucksters.
– Chinook (Wash.) Observer
More:www.chinookobserver.com
Sporties avoid bag limit
The captain of the boat said the angler's catch was legal because, he said, after limits have been reached by the passengers, it is permissible for them to keep fishing and catch the crews' limit of fish.
– Redding, Calif., Record Searchlight
More:www.redding.com
A dogfish 'plague'
A shark species described as "rabbits of the sea" are having an unwelcome population boom in Taranaki waters.
– Stuff, New Zealand
More:www.stuff.co.nz
Tribe trains for post-fishing jobs
In October 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the first part of a National Emergency Grant, approximately $3.4 million, to the Lummi Nation to help the 300 tribal fishermen affected by fishing industry layoffs in Bellingham.
– Indian Country Today
More:indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Cal commission votes for otters
The California Coastal Commission unanimously decided to give the green light to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's plans to end the failed sea otter translocation program — which was designed to transfer otters who swam south of Point Conception to San Nicolas Island — and extend protections for the threatened species to the entire Southern California coast.
– Santa Barbara Independent
More:independent.com
Thursday, June 21, 2012
REWARD FOR SEA LION KILLERS
The Humane Society of the United States has put up a $2,500 reward in hopes it will lead to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for shooting sea lions on the Oregon and Washington coasts.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Sea lion incidental catch
It had a flasher in its mouth and fishing line down its throat, with a hook through its esophagus.
– KCAW, Sitka
More:www.kcaw.org
Fisherman success in farm bill
A bipartisan amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill that would help commercial fishermen obtain disaster relief loans has passed the full Senate.
– LoanSafe.org
More:www.loansafe.org
Alaska Chinook returns worse
Initial king salmon returns were expected to be bad in Alaska this year, but it looks like those runs might be even worse than first thought.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
Ignoring tsunami debris
This country's record on preparing for natural disasters and subsequent relief efforts hasn't exactly been stellar. Just ask the folks in New Orleans.
– Daily Olympian
More:www.theolympian.com
No radioactive tsunami debris
Plenty of nasty stuff will undoubtedly wash up on Northwest beaches as waves of tsunami debris roll ashore over the coming months, but government officials and independent experts agree radioactive material is not likely to be a concern.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Bristol Bay: 50,000 sockeye
The total commercial harvest of sockeye in Bristol Bay so far this season is less than 50,000 sockeye.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:kdlg.org
Building new Crescent City harbor
Upon completion, the harbor will have 50-year protection, meaning it will be able to withstand the strongest tsunami that has a 2 percent chance of occurring in any given year (i.e. once every 50 years).
– Crescent City Triplicate
More:www.triplicate.com
New England fleet gets observers
New England fishing regulators moved to determine whether herring trawlers, with their massive nets and stunning efficiency, are wiping out Atlantic herring and doing lasting damaging to other struggling northeastern species.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Friday, June 22, 2012
FISH WARS OVER KENAI RIVER
The Kenai River closes to king salmon anglers Friday, and with commercial fishing set to begin Monday, tension is building over who's bearing the burden of king salmon conservation.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
Europe's tariff on cold water shrimp
United States senators from the West Coast have again asked the European Union to remove its tariff on cold water shrimp caught on the Oregon coast.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
Protest fishing over king salmon
Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seized 21 nets and more than 1,000 pounds of salmon along the Kuskokwim River yesterday. They also handed out 33 citations to fishermen protesting the subsistence King salmon closures.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Slapped over sustainability claim
France's advertising authority ruled that the French supermarket giant Intermarché must pull all advertisements that claim its deep-sea fish are sustainably caught.
– Fish Update
More:www.fishupdate.com
Australian preserve stuns fishermen
Australian commercial and recreational fishermen are complaining, too.
– New York Times
More:www.nytimes.com
Alaska plankton changes theories
A discovery of large blooms of plankton under sea ice off the coast of Alaska is forcing scientists to re-think their theories about the food web of the Arctic Ocean.
– Alaska Public Radio
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week: the Norton Sound red king quota is up, a dog who wouldn't abandon ship as it was going down near Kodiak was rescued by a Good Samaritan, and the struggle to subsist on salmon.
– KXMT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Oil to change Bering Sea
Oil and gas development is the Arctic is on track to happen this summer, but what does that mean in the long-term for Unalaska and the Port of Dutch Harbor?
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Science and Canadian fish law change
Three scientists from B.C. have used an internationally prestigious journal to launch an attack against changes to the federal Fisheries Act currently before the Senate.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Fishing part of farm bill
Two amendments that would provide relief to the commercial fishing … are part of the Agriculture Reform Food and Jobs Act of 2012.
– South Coast Today
More:www.southcoasttoday.com
