Monday, July 8, 2013
WE'LL MAKE YOU A STAR!
We got a note from the casting producer of beer commercials. He's looking for fishermen to be in a new ad campaign.
His words: "A new TV ad campaign for Busch Beer, which will feature REAL hard-working Americans in the TV commercial (NOT ACTORS) from a couple of cities around the U.S. We have chosen to spotlight Seattle as one of the very few cities we are focusing on.
"The campaign will highlight the sweat and toil that so many Americans give at their jobs every day. The idea is that hard work deserves a reward and after a good day's work, these people have earned it."
Deadline is Wednesday.
Casting notice: pilgrimstudios.com
Bristol Bay report
The Bristol Bay Fisheries Report includes details on the commercial fisheries closures in the three eastside districts and an update on how things are looking to the west in the Togiak District.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Wesley's salmon roundup
It's pretty clear now we'll finish with a lackluster catch this year at Bristol Bay, with the peak of the sockeye fishery now past.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Skeena River fishing doubtful
Commercial fishermen on the North Coast were dealt another blow with word that the 2013 Skeena River sockeye season is anything but a certainty.
– Northern View, Prince Rupert
More: thenorthernview.com
Fisherman dies in winch
A Homer based fisherman from Wisconsin died after becoming entangled in an anchor chain and pulled into a motorized winch.
– Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Alaska D-crab season cut
The season length is based on the projected total catch from the first week of crabbing, which started up June 15.
– KFSK, Sitka
More: kfsk.org
PWS boat grounded
Coast Guard officials are monitoring the salvage of the 65-foot fishing tender Hana Cove after the vessel was intentionally grounded on Culross Island in Prince William Sound.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: adn.com
Adak continues to fish
Even with the big Icicle plant's surprise closure in April, commercial fishing continues on a smaller scale in Adak.
– Dutch Harbor Fisherman
More: thedutchharborfisherman.com
Farm lice lab slapped down
Scientists fear there could be a reluctance to report a deadly fish virus after the first lab in Canada to say it was detected in British Columbia salmon was stripped of a special reference status by an international agency.
– Vancouver Sun
More: vancouversun.com
Salmon on e-bay? No sale
Despite 880 views, no individuals were prepared to bid up an entire hefty salmon with no notice.
– Seattle Times
More: opb.org
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
BRISTOL BAY ENDING
Egegik fishermen did get an eight-hour opener Monday, but the Ugahsik and Naknek Kvichak districts have remained closed. The total Bristol Bay run through Sunday was 18,955,709.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
CG studies PWS grounding
The Coast Guard is investigating a grounding the led to a fuel spill in the western Prince William Sound.
– KCHU, Valdez
More: alaskapublic.org
Oops! Fish not 200 years old
The rockfish caught near Sitka last month was not 200 years old, but a different fish caught near Ketchikan was over 100 years old.
– KTOO, Juneau
More: ktoo.org
Beached 'bomb' was Russian
They're usually filled with incendiary material, like napalm or thermite.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More: kucb.org
Contaminated salmon dumped
State pollution regulators say 27,109 pounds of salmon were contaminated as a result of the sinking of the fish tender Lone Star in the Igushik River, south of Dillingham.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Commenters oppose Pebble
More than 360,000 Americans urged the EPA to save 14,000 American jobs by protecting Bristol Bay from the construction of a massive open-pit gold and copper mine that would threaten our nation's salmon industry with up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste.
– SitNews, Ketchikan
More: sitnews.us
Farmers say they're off the dole
Over nine quarters of public reporting by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans on grants and contributions, members of the BC Salmon Farmers' Association accounted for just 0.22 per cent of the funding given to fisheries in Canada.
– FishNewsEU
More: fishnewseu.com
Landlocked salmon farm begins
Nova Scotia's first land-raised salmon could be on the market by next summer.
– CBC
More: cbc.ca
Klamath task force
The governor and members of Oregon's congressional delegation have created a task force to find solutions to the water problems of the Klamath Basin.
– Times Standard, Eureka
More: times-standard.com
A life on the Columbia
More than seven decades later, the once-booming Columbia River commercial fishing industry is struggling for survival in the midst of extended political and environmental disputes, but Holland is still an active part of the tradition and trade of gillnetting.
– The Longview (Wash.) Daily News
More: tdn.com
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
GILLNET BAN NOW THE LAW
The new rules for fishing on the Columbia River became law Monday.
– Daily Astorian
More: dailyastorian.com
Big vessel leaves yard
The Northern Leader, the largest commercial fishing boat built in the Northwest in the last two decades, left its moorings at J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Co., headed to Seattle for some brief final outfitting.
– Tacoma News Tribune
More: thenewstribune.com
Anger over B.C. crab closure
The tasty, hence lucrative, Dungeness crab is off-limits in B.C.'s northern coastal waters this month, and the region's crab fishermen are exceedingly, well, crabby about it.
– Toronto Globe and Mail
More: theglobeandmail.com
No sheen from sunken tender
Divers on the scene of the sunken tender Lonestar have reportedly made progress sealing vents that could have been leaking fuel into the Igushik River.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Seine rep on Washington commission
Inslee also appointed Robert Kehoe of Seattle to a vacant at-large position for a term that runs through Dec. 31, 2014.
– About WDFW
More: wdfw.wa.gov
Free transfers to Nushagak
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has waived the transfer restriction into the Nushagak District.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Northern-most salmon
Kotzebue Sound hosts the furthest north commercial salmon fishery in Alaska.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Dipnetters can't take kings
Dipnetters participating in the personal-use fishery at the mouth of the Kenai River will be prohibited from retaining king salmon.
– Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Bad boy convicted
Scott Steer was convicted in Provincial Court at Nanaimo of numerous charges under the Fisheries Act, including the possession or sale of illegally-caught sablefish and halibut, landing fish without validation, and failing to maintain the electronic monitoring system of a fishing vessel under his command.
– Vancouver Province
More: theprovince.com
Wave energy in Oregon
Several developments have recently unfolded related to renewable marine (wave) energy on Oregon's coast.
– Coos Bay World
More: theworldlink.com
Thursday, July 11, 2013
ALASKA CATCH CLIMBING
Wild salmon harvests were reaching toward 39 million fish by the second week of July, with harvests slowed in the Copper River and Bristol Bay, and retail prices remaining steady as salmon harvests elsewhere statewide continued to increase.
– Margaret Bauman, writing for the Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Bristol Bay 'fairly dreadful'
We're now well past the traditional season peak at Bristol Bay, and the catch stands at a fairly dreadful 13.7 million salmon.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Evil fish pirates
Fishing was a form of trans-national organized crime with links to piracy, human trafficking ("modern-day slavery"), the smuggling of migrants, drugs, corruption, and piracy.
– Business Report, South Africa
More: iol.co.za
Kwik'pak tracing program
Kwik'pak Fisheries Yukon River salmon buyers across the country can validate their purchases and track their fish from the river to the shelf thanks to a traceability program that serves as a worldwide model.
– KYUK, Bethel
More: alaskapublic.org
Competing with seals
He now has to compete with seals for fish, and it's the seals who have a clear advantage.
– WGBH, Boston
More: wgbhnews.org
Adding value to salmon
Seldovia Wild Seafood already is producing a salmon-based dog food and packaging it at a plant in Anchorage.
– Homer News
More: homernews.com
Bristol Bay tender leaking
The sunken fishing tender in the Igushik River is apparently still leaking fuel, and the commercial fishing closures in the area will stay in place for the time-being.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Fishing evolves fish
Fish that spawn earlier might be less fertile, grow less after they've reached sexual maturity, and could become more susceptible to other non-human causes of death.
– Ars technica
More: arstechnica.com
Pinpointing salmon streams
One of the studies under way is trying to figure out where kings and reds are hanging out in the water just before they return to the rivers.
– KDLL, Kenai
More: alaskapublic.org
Protect salmon early
The assembly largely agreed that some form of proactive protection of salmon rearing waters was needed now, while most of the runs are still healthy.
– Homer News
More: homernews.com
Friday, July 12, 2013
FISHING DEATHS
Two fishermen perished on Independence Day in the Bristol Bay region following a calamitous week for Alaska fishermen with several fatalities on the same day and two tender accidents during the week.
– Carey Restino, Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
Bristol Bay surge
The sockeye harvest in Bristol Bay took a sharp turn upward but the harvest is still a couple of million short of the pre-season forecast.
– Mike Mason, KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Tender still leaking
The sunken fishing tender in the Igushik River is apparently still leaking fuel, and the commercial fishing closures in the area will stay in place for the time-being.
– Mike Mason, KDLG, Dillingham
More: alaskapublic.org
Artisanal salmon fisheries
"But if we carve out a small portion of these fisheries and regulate them differently, lower the cost of entry for small-scale fishers but require that the catch be marketed locally, we would be taking a huge step toward improving food security across the state."
– University of Alaska Fairbanks
More: thetundradrums.com
Suit to protect Puget rockfish
The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service over the agency's failure to protect habitat for endangered rockfish in Puget Sound.
– Center for Biological Diversity
More: enewspf.com
Alaska CDQ changes
Alaska's six community development quota fisheries groups, most of whom are satisfied with the status quo, have been advised by the state's congressional delegation that they must be united in requesting any allocation revisions.
– Margaret Bauman, Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Alaska villagers losing food
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Subsistence 2010 Survey, in Marshall 46 out of 85 households indicated that 23 percent of their diet was king salmon, next to 17 percent being moose.
– Nick Andrew, Tundra Drums
More: thetundradrums.com
Video: Fishing in remote Alaska
Toby Sullivan has been setnet fishing the shores of Uganik Bay on Kodiak Island since 1983.
– Alaska Public Org
More: alaskapublic.org
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, it's been a tough month for salmon tenders, with one submerged upside down and two more hitting the rocks; salmon tracking is underway as part of the plan to figure out what's wrong with Cook Inlet king salmon, and, with apologies to Dr. Seuss, "One Fish, Two Fish, Young Fish, maybe not so old fish."
– KMXT, Kodiak
More: kmxt.org
Learning to release halibut
A new collaborative project involving the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, the charter fishing industry, and Alaska Sea Grant aims to increase the survival rate of Pacific halibut caught and released in sport fisheries.
– Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com