Monday, June 27, 2011

A SATISFYING SALMON SEASON SO FAR

We came into the summer expecting a huge commercial salmon harvest — about 203 million fish, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecast.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More:deckboss.blogspot.com

CG inspectors on Bristol Bay

Coast Guard personnel have conducted numerous safety compliance boardings across Western Alaska this week resulting in the termination of the voyages of two fishing vessels near Dillingham.

– Coast Guard

More:www.d17.uscgnews.com

Bering tug sinks, crew on barge

A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew rescued the four crewmembers of the tug Aries from their barge 109 miles east of St. Paul Island Sunday afternoon after the 68-foot tug sank in the Bering Sea.

– Coast Guard

More:www.d17.uscgnews.com

No Arctic fishery until more is known, Canadians say

A survey suggests that most Canadians back a ban on commercial fishing in the Arctic where experts warn melting sea ice and warming water could draw fishing fleets to the North within the next few years.

– CTV News

More:m.ctv.ca

New rules for state crab harvest

Recreational crab fishermen in Puget Sound are being awarded a bigger share of the state's harvest under new rules.

– The Seattle Times

More:seattletimes.nwsource.com

Coral study may influence fishing plans

Rockfish like it rough, Cherisse Du Preez discovered as she shone a light on the usually dark world beneath the ocean north of Haida Gwaii.

– Victoria times colonist

More:www.timescolonist.com

U.S. Addresses Sewage Discharge Violations In Unalaska

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a Clean Water Act complaint on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the City of Unalaska, Alaska, and the State of Alaska for long-standing and repeated Clean Water Act violations.

– Pollution Online

More:www.pollutiononline.com

AgriMarine to Rear Bluefin Tuna in Japan

AgriMarine Holdings Inc. the leader in floating closed containment technology for sustainable aquaculture, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Research & Development Agreement with Tokai University in Japan, for a project to rear Bluefin tuna on a commercial scale, using AgriMarine's proprietary solid-wall closed containment systems.

– MarketWatch.com

More:www.marketwatch.com

 

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

SEVEN ALASKA FISHERMEN HAVE DIED

The death of two Yakutat residents last week brings to seven the number of commercial fishermen killed this year in Alaska – and the season is just getting started. The fact that all seven lost their lives in open boats – and all were wearing life jackets – has caught the attention of agencies involved in marine safety.

– KRBD, Sitka

More:krbd.org

Canadian trollers yanked off the water

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has closed the troll fishery in the North Coast.

– CFTK, Terrace, B.C.

More:www.cftktv.com

Bristol Bay website has fans

We're enjoying the new website from The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA), launched just as the season kicks off.

– PerishableNews.com

More:www.perishablenews.com

Raising tuna on farms

AgriMarine Holdings Inc., the leader in floating closed containment technology for sustainable aquaculture, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a research and development agreement with Tokai University in Japan for a project to rear bluefin tuna on a commercial scale.

– MarketWire

More:www.marketwatch.com

Alaska fish guide is indicted

A 37-year-old Juneau fishing guide has been indicted by an Anchorage federal grand jury on charges of illegally trafficking in migratory bird and bear parts.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Fisheries and rural Alaska

A University of Alaska Fairbanks research team is studying ways to connect fisheries and processors with rural schools.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Work to raise sunken tug

The Coast Guard, State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and C&K Marine are working jointly to address the environmental impact and response efforts concerning the sinking of the 68-foot tug Aries.

– Coast Guard

More:www.d17.uscgnews.com

Alaska coastal management still alive

The Senate passed a bill extending the life of the Coastal Management program in a convoluted special session.

– Juneau Empire

More:juneauempire.com

Ballard memorial fundraiser on Friday

You are invited to the third annual Ballard Seafood Festival Kickoff Barbecue for Seattle Fishermen's Memorial on Friday.

More:www.brownpapertickets.com

 

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

FISHERMEN CITED ON BRISTOL BAY

Alaska State Wildlife Troopers have cited 26 commercial fishermen for illegal activities in Bristol Bay.

– Bristol Bay Times

More:thebristolbaytimes.com

 

Alaska permit prices soaring

Purse seine permits are up almost 40 percent over last year and gillnet permits 30 percent. Their value has been rising steadily since lows in the last decade, but this year's spike is exceptional.

– KFSK, Petersburg

More:kfsk.org

Cal albacore fishermen arrested

Two commercial fishing captains from San Diego pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally fishing for albacore tuna in Mexican waters without the permits required by Mexican law and an international treaty.

– L.A. Times

More:latimesblogs.latimes.com

Fiji albacore fishermen seek MSC nod

The Fiji Tuna Boat Owners Association has put the albacore forward for full assessment for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.

– Fiji Times

More:www.fijitimes.com

Congress fumes over Coast Guard

Congressional patience with the Coast Guard's bureaucracy is wearing thin. Lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with the service's inability to provide up-to-date budget and fleet plans and mission studies, and are seeking to compel the completion of a plan to recapitalize the aged icebreaker fleet.

– Navy Times

More:www.navytimes.com

'Gap' in Alaska offshore drilling data

In response to a request from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, the U.S. Geological Survey released the "science gap and sufficiency" report evaluating science needed to better inform decisions regarding oil and natural gas exploration and development in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska.

– SitNews, Ketchikan

More:www.sitnews.us

Klamath dam removal won't help salmon

Two major Klamath River water-sharing agreements, which will remove four dams in the basin, will not in itself be beneficial to salmon, an independent government panel found earlier this month.

– The Oregonian

More:www.oregonlive.com

Whale swims up Klamath River

A gray whale and her calf were swimming more than three miles up the Klamath River on Monday.

– Crescent City Triplicate

More:www.triplicate.com

Wandering gray while found in Mediterranian

When a 43-foot gray whale was spotted off the Israeli town of Herzliya last year, scientists came to a startling conclusion: It must have wandered across the normally icebound route north of Canada, where warm weather had briefly opened a clear channel three years earlier.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

MSC makes guide public

The Marine Stewardship Council has launched a new online tool to help shoppers find certified sustainable seafood, linking customers to businesses that use the MSC ecolabel on packaging.

– FishNewsEU

More:www.fishnewseu.com

 

Thursday, June 30, 2011

FORGET FEARS, EAT FISH

Just like the Meryl Streep commercial about Alar horrified new moms away from apples in the late 1980s, fear-mongering messages about mercury in seafood contribute to the woefully low amount of seafood women eat today in the U.S. The distinction is that seafood- and omega 3-deficient diets introduce measurable risks to health.


– Huffington Post

More:www.huffingtonpost.com

Selling shares of your catch

The Community Supported Fishery is itself an interesting project. If you'll forgive my simplified description, a cooperative of people buy shares, in advance, in the season's catch from a commercial fishing boat. They take the same risks in the season as the fishermen, and at the end receive their share of the catch.

– BCLocalNews

More:www.bclocalnews.com

Fighting sea lice with mussels

Researchers plan to test the effectiveness of using mussels to combat sea lice by placing a fully loaded mussel aquaculture raft at an undetermined salmon aquaculture site in Washington County sometime this summer.

– Bangor Daily News

More:bangordailynews.com

Deadliest now monstrous

Brothers Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, captains of the Homer-ported crab fishing boat Time Bandit of Deadliest Catch fame, are the subjects of a new Discovery Channel spinoff, Alaskan Monster Hunt.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Oceans' health critical

The state of the oceans can best be likened to a case of multiple organ failure in urgent need of intervention, suggests the most comprehensive analysis yet of the world's marine ecosystems.

– Reuters

More:www.reuters.com

Klamath: Will dam-less plan work?

A $1.4 billion project to remove four hydroelectric dams and restore habitat to return Chinook salmon to the upper reaches of the Klamath River amounts to an experiment with no guarantee of success, an independent science review has concluded.

– San Francisco Chronicle

More:www.sfgate.com

Klamath: Let science decide

U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar has until March 2012 to decide if removing 4 dams from the Klamath River and implementing a restoration agreement will increase fish populations and serve the public good.

– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita reporting in Ecotrope, Oregon Public Broadcasting

More:ecotrope.opb.org

N. Cal tribes may fish in reserves

The California Department of Fish and Game voted to allow traditional tribal gathering to continue in some of the proposed restricted areas recommended by North Coast stakeholders.

– Eureka Times Standard

More:www.times-standard.com

Salmon commish requests research ideas

The Pacific Salmon Commission's Northern and Southern Fund Committees, composed of representatives from the United States and Canada, have determined that up to approximately U.S. $3.2 million and U.S. $2.4 million respectively will be available for project funding in 2012 consistent with the goals and principals of the two funds.

– Pacific Salmon Commission

More:fund.psc.org

Who's guiding Fraser probe?

For months, lawyers have been sparring over an issue that has caused heated debate, led to personal aspersions being cast, and raised doubts in some minds about where the commission is heading.

– Globe and Mail, Toronto

More:www.theglobeandmail.com

 

Friday, July 1, 2011

Fête du Canada!

Yep, you heard right. French being spoken right here in Fish Wrap, or, as the Quebecoise would say, Enveloppez poisson (if Monsieur Google is to be believed). What we're celebrating today is Canada Day, observing an act that created Canada – albeit 91 years after folks south of the 49th meridian accomplished that feat in a far bloodier fashion. So, happy birthday, Canada! As for the United States, its birthday lands on Monday, and we will go even further than a simple anniversary salute. We won't work. So, celebrate on the appropriate day. We'll see you on Tuesday, July 5th.

Big chum bycatch by pollock boats

Chum bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery this B season is outpacing recent years.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More: www.kucb.org

Good Samaritans on Bristol Bay

Multiple good Samaritan vessels rescued and assisted three crewmembers of the 32-foot fishing vessel Horizon near Bristol Bay after their vessel started taking on water about midnight Wednesday.

– Coast Guard

More: www.d17.uscgnews.com

Aground in Bodega Bay

Coast Guard rescue crews from Station Bodega Bay responded to a 45-foot commercial fishing vessel that grounded in the Bodega Bay Harbor.

– Coast Guard

More: www.pacificareainfo.com

CG cutter skipper punished

Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, Commander, 17th Coast Guard District, awarded punishment to Lt. Matthias Wholley, who was found to have violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice Thursday during an Admiral's Mast.

– Coast Guard

More: www.d17.uscgnews.com

Judge upholds catch shares

A federal judge has sided with the government in a legal dispute over catch shares and fishing industry sectors brought by the state's two largest ports, Gloucester and New Bedford.

– Gloucester (Mass.) Times

More: www.gloucestertimes.com

Norton Sound herring

Norton Sound herring fishermen in June topped their own high mark set a year ago by harvesting herring with a record recovery of roe, the Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. announced today.

– Arctic Sounder

More: thearcticsounder.com

Frankenfish backers blame feds

A cumbersome and time-consuming federal regulatory process is stifling commercial investment in the development of genetically engineered animals for food.

– Dairy Herd Network

More: www.dairyherd.com

Polar bear judge blames global warming

A federal judge backed a finding by government scientists that global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week: Seven commercial fishermen have died already this year, prompting renewed emphasis on small boat safety; the challenges of tracking chinook with sonar, and tricking salmon for fun and profit.

– KMXT, Kodiak

More: www.kmxt.org

Natives, not others, have right to fish

In cross-examination at the Cohen Commission examining the decline of the sockeye salmon in the Fraser River, a senior official with Fisheries and Oceans Canada admitted that he believes non-native Canadians don't have a right to fish recreationally, but rather a privilege, and that he takes that attitude into negotiating rooms where he works with first nations leaders.

– Vancouver Sun

Read more: www.vancouversun.com


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