Monday, June 21, 2010
Blame Alaskans for B.C. salmon woes
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute admits it has received "lots of private foundation money" from billion-dollar funds such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust to help fight B.C.'s fish farms and pressure stores and restaurants to boycott their products.
– Financial Post, Canada
More:www.financialpost.com
Kenai fish harvest enrages anglers
An Alaska Department of Fish and Game effort to catch and sell several thousand salmon netted near the mouths of the Kenai and Kasilof rivers to fund a department program has enraged Kenai Peninsula sport fishing advocates.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Gulf oil has little impact on seafood prices
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is pushing up prices for shrimp and oysters from those waters but having limited impact on the larger U.S. seafood industry.
– Wall Street Journal
More:online.wsj.com
Exxon oil remains in Prince William Sound
An estimated 21,000 gallons of spilled oil remains in Prince William Sound two decades after the initial devastation, scientists with the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council report.
– New York Daily News
Read more:www.nydailynews.com
Yukon kings late … or missing
The Yukon River's king salmon run is definitely late, and it remains to be seen if its size will be sub-par for the third year in a row.
– News-Miner, Fairbanks
More:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
California coho decimated
Coho salmon in Southern Humboldt County's Mattole River are at a breaking point.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent John Driscoll, reporting for the Eureka Times-Standard
California farmer kills coho
NOAA's Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation served a $115,500 Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) to Green Pastures Valley, LLC in Sonoma County, for allegedly killing endangered coho salmon with vineyard practices in 2008 and 2009.
– NOAA press release
More:www.nmfs.noaa.gov
Cal protected area plan misunderstood
The MLPA is making California a world leader in ocean protection by creating a network of marine protected areas that spans the entire state.
– Beth Werner is the outreach and MLPA coordinator at Humboldt Baykeeper, writing in the Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Crab ratz writer wanted
Pacific Fishing is looking for someone to write an essay about the crab rationalization process in Alaska waters. We already have the view of a surviving skipper, and he thinks the outcome generally has been good. We'd like an opposing view, but from someone who hasn't been quoted much in the past. If you'd like to write, contact us atdonmcmanman@gmail.com. Thanks.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Blame Alaskans for B.C. salmon woes
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute admits it has received "lots of private foundation money" from billion-dollar funds such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust to help fight B.C.'s fish farms and pressure stores and restaurants to boycott their products.
– Financial Post, Canada
More:www.financialpost.com
Alaska salmon fishermen poised
State biologists predict a statewide commercial catch this season of 138 million salmon — 143,000 Chinook, 45.8 million sockeye, 69.1 million pinks, 18 million chums and 4.4 million coho.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
Editorial: Don't sap Alaska to fight gulf gusher
Alaskans are rightly wary of the Coast Guard's call for a nationwide inventory of oil spill-response resources. The fear is that the ongoing Gulf spill will strip Alaska of its own response capability, so painstakingly built up and maintained in the decades since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
In WWII, Canadian fishermen protected coast
For the first two years of the Second World War, the best defense on the Pacific coast came from a group of volunteers known as the fishermen's reserve.
– Victoria Times Colonist
California stocks millions of salmon
Millions of baby salmon have been released into Northern California waterways to help the struggling fish recover from population declines.
– Coos Bay World
More:www.theworldlink.com
Wild salmon best for health
To your health: Salmon, particularly wild Alaskan salmon, have higher levels of omega-3 fats than the farmed fish and Alaska is working hard to maintain the sustainability of its wild fish.
– The Atlantic magazine
More:www.theatlantic.com
Canada spends on Yukon fish
The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) today announced that the Yukon Department of Environment will receive an investment of $93,000 over two years to further develop the fish habitat model and monitoring system that assist with the regulation and monitoring of placer mining.
– Canadian government press release
More:www.earthtimes.org
Portland firm recalls shellfish
Portland Shellfish Company, Inc. is expanding this voluntarily recall to include the Meat Without Feet private label food service (two pound bags), pack of ready to eat frozen lobster claw and knuckle meat.
– FDA press release
More:www.fda.gov
Alaska fish jobs: Down, then up
Fish harvesting jobs in Alaska have shown two distinct trends over the past nine years. From 2000 to 2002, employment numbers fell dramatically; then through 2008, fishing jobs stabilized and recovered a bit.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch
More:labor.alaska.gov
Help wanted
The editors of Pacific Fishing magazine plan to start a regular podcast in a few weeks, and we need your help: We're looking (or listening) for a musical theme. It needn't be long nor complex. We'll be happy with a simple tune on the guitar. But it must be original and performed by you. As for pay? Figure priceless publicity for your musical skills. If you're interested, let us know atdonmcmanman@gmail.com.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Antitrust lawsuit filed against Oregon seafood gian
Frank Dulcich transformed Pacific Seafood Group from a minor Portland fish distributor to perhaps the dominant seafood player in North America. But a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Dulcich built his billion-dollar empire on the backs of fishermen.
– The Oregonian
More: www.oregonlive.com
Shellfish poisoning suspected in Alaska fisherman's death
A Haines commercial fisherman has become the second Alaskan in less than a week to die from a suspected case of paralytic shellfish poisoning, state health officials said.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Aquaculture set to boom
Officials and researchers say fish farming, known as aquaculture, is set to become the world's main source of seafood over the next 20 years.
– Reuters
More:www.msnbc.msn.com
Kodiak fish processor is looking SHARP
Island Seafoods has been picked as the second local processor to receive the SHARP award for workplace safety.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More:www.kodiakdailymirror.com
How oily are Unalaska harbors?
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is putting Dutch Harbor and Iliuliuk Harbor on a "pollution budget."
– KUCB radio
More:www.publicbroadcasting.net
Listening to salmon seiners in Petersburg
Southeast Alaska's commercial purse seine fleet had its first salmon opening of the summer over the weekend.
– KFSK radio
More:kfsk.org
Should a krill fishery be certified as sustainable?
The Marine Stewardship Council's decision to certify a Norwegian company's Antarctic krill harvesting has drawn fierce criticism from conservationists and undercut the MSC's image.
– New York Times
More:www.nytimes.com
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Protection plan unveiled for Columbia, Snake River fish
Dam modifications and habitat restoration in tributaries are part of a three-year, $525 million federal plan released Wednesday to protect endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead.
– Tri-City Herald
More:www.tri-cityherald.com
Cotten, Fields keep seats on North Pacific Council
The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced its appointees to the nation's regional fishery management councils.
– Details on the Deckboss blog
More:www.deckboss.blogspot.com
Pacific Seafood vows to fight fishermen suit
Antitrust claims "are completely without merit," says Craig Urness, the company's general counsel.
– Newport, Ore., News-Times
More:www.newportnewstimes.com
Bidding for defunct Unalaska processing plant closes
The sealed auction for the Harbor Crown seafood plant is over, but the results remain under wraps.
– KUCB radio
More:www.publicbroadcasting.net
Alaska fishing industry supports Gulf counterpart
A Juneau-based nonprofit, the Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission Inc., is sending a $10,600 donation to Louisiana to support efforts to create a watchdog committee for the Gulf of Mexico oil industry.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing on his Deckboss blog
More:www.deckboss.blogspot.com
Ottawa's Arctic shipping registration rules kick in July 1
The Canadian government has put the world on notice that ships entering the country's Arctic waters soon will be subject to new mandatory vessel-tracking rules aimed at preventing terrorist activity and pollution while improving search-and-rescue capabilities.
– Canwest News Service
More:www.nunatsiaqonline.ca
Opinion: On gillnets and marine protected areas
"The saddest thing of all is that the MPA crowd has managed to dupe an ignorant public into thinking the fish are all dead and that they are coming to the rescue."
– Santa Barbara Independent
More: www.independent.com
Friday, June 25, 2010
What motivates fishermen
People who fish for a living pursue top profits, not necessarily the top predators in the food web, a new research analysis finds.
– University of Washington report
More:uwnews.org
Kodiak man featured in anti-smoking commercial
The footage was shot on the floats of St. Paul Harbor aboard the fishing vessel Charlyda.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More:www.kodiakdailymirror.com
