Monday, July 19, 2010
Sports group aims to kill Columbia gillnetting
The Coastal Conservation Association is a front for a part of the recreational fishing industry that has an oar in the water in the current attempt to kill the Columbia gillnet fleet, by both initiative and legislation, with the intent to gain access to the entire non-tribal harvest of Columbia River salmon.
– Tom Shafer, writing for a blog of The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Alaska's experience a warning for gulf
The Gulf of Mexico isn't dead because of BP's oil spill, but fishermen are fearful that a species may disappear from its waters like the Pacific herring did from Alaska's Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez disaster.
– Houston Chronicle
More:www.chron.com
Four vessels in distress off Kenai
Four vessels took on water Thursday night, including a 34-foot long commercial fishing boat that capsized 10 miles northwest of Anchor Point.
– Kenai Peninsula Clarion
One fisherman missing in Norton Sound
Shaktoolik villagers rescued two young men clinging to buoys after their fishing boat sank in Norton Sound on Friday, but another man is missing and presumed dead, troopers say.
– Tacoma News Tribune
Read more:www.thenewstribune.com
Bering Sea 'emptied' of fish
Commercial fishing companies have all but emptied the Bering Sea of fish, which are necessary not only for the ecosystem but also for the success of local businesses.
– Stevie Kimmet, writing in the Salem Statesman Journal
Read more:www.statesmanjournal.com
American Seafoods faces fine
American Seafoods International has been cited for 15 alleged “willful and serious violations”relating to its process safety management program at its processing plant in New Bedford, Mass.
– Food Production Daily
More:www.foodproductiondaily.com
Federal wash down permit plan suspended
Fishermen and other boaters can rest easier knowing they won't need a federal permit to hose off their decks.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
America's deadliest catch
Forget about those crabs that crawl around on the bottom of the Bering Sea.
It's the shrimp that inhabit the balmy waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Natives, feds to clash over B.C. salmon sales
Local first nations are bracing for a dust-up with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) over the sale of sockeye salmon along roadsides on reserve lands.
– Vancouver Sun
Read more:www.vancouversun.com
Earthquake in Bering Sea
A series of strong aftershocks in Alaska's Aleutian Islands region Sunday followed a powerful earthquake that shook the remote area, but officials said there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
– Yahoo
More:news.yahoo.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Bristol Bay catch down, prices high
It's pretty clear now that this season's catch of Bristol Bay sockeye won't reach the state forecast of 30.5 million fish.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
Banner year in B.C., so why feds' tactics?
It appears to be a cynical back-door approach by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to put pressure on the First Nations community to stop fishing for sockeye, despite a banner return to the Somass River this year.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Another author explains fisheries
Writer Paul Greenberg has been eating fish caught in local waters since he was a kid growing up in Connecticut. Most of the fish he caught himself — but occasionally, he would visit the fishmonger in his hometown and purchase wild fish, fresh from the sea.
– NPR
More:www.npr.org
Alaska scallop fishery on
In July a handful of boats drop dredges to scoop up Alaska weathervane scallops in waters stretching from Yakutat to the Bering Sea.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, written in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
BP and Exxon Valdez: A crude comparison
Like crude oil, scientific comparisons can be slippery. Most adult Americans remember the Exxon Valdez tragedy and rescue workers using dish detergent to clean heavily oiled birds.
– Juneau Empire
More:www.juneauempire.com
Canadian feds plan B.C. fish farms regulations
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans expects to spend upwards of $8 million a year on a new program to manage and police the British Columbia aquaculture industry, the department announced.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Comment on protected area registry
The feds have established a national system of marine protected areas, and has invited state and local governments to nominate areas to the U.S. system. You have until Aug. 5 to comment on the plan.
For more details: edocket.access.gpo.gov
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Voluntary Chinook catch limits
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is asking Americans fishing in the Yukon River to voluntarily reduce the number of Chinook salmon they catch.
– CBC
More:www.cbc.ca
Two distress calls in Alaska
The Coast Guard responded to two separate distress calls after receiving one from a crewmember from the Homer-based 58-foot fishing vessel Polar Star reporting they were taking on water 65-miles west of Kodiak and another from a crewmember aboard the Seward-based 38-foot charter vessel Aurora reporting smoke in their engine room 10 miles southeast of Seward Tuesday morning.
– Coast Guard press release
More:www.piersystem.com
Biologists hopeful about Fraser sockeye
It's beginning to look as if this season's spawning sockeye salmon returns up the Fraser River will not be a repeat of last year's disaster.
– Vancouver Province
More:www.theprovince.com
Troller sinks off Columbia River
The Coast Guard rescued a 53-year-old man from a sinking fishing vessel approximately 20 miles west of the Columbia River entrance Tuesday.
– Coast Guard press release
More, plus a video:www.piersystem.com
South African hake at Costco
Lonrho has implemented a comprehensive rollout of one of its sustainable fish product brands – Cape Hake Fillets – into U.S. retail giant Costco.
– Business Financial News Wire
More:www.bfnnews.com
Probe reopens in murder of crab fisherman
Alaska State Troopers are reopening an investigation into the stabbing death of a Maryland man 28 years ago outside a bar in Kodiak.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
End sockeye impasse in B.C.
Port Alberni is under the microscope again. This time, it's the uncrowned roadside salmon sales capital of the world.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Fairweather surveying Arctic
Responding to a request from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Maritime Pilots, and the commercial shipping industry, NOAA sent one of its premier surveying vessels, NOAA Ship Fairweather, to detect navigational dangers in critical Arctic waters that have not been charted for more than 50 years.
– NOAA press release
More:www.noaanews.noaa.gov
Chefs to visit Cordova
Cordova will serve as home base as a group of chefs from the nationally acclaimed Oceanaire Seafood Room tours the region, visits with fishermen processors and managers, and learns about salmon and other seafood harvested from the Copper River and Prince William Sound region.
– Copper River/PWS Marketing Association press release
More:copperrivermarketing.org
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Lampreys not totally despicable
Long, slimy and with rows of sharp teeth like a tiger shark, lampreys look like something out of a fisherman's worst nightmare.
– Redoubtreporter
More: redoubtreporter.wordpress.com
News still good for Fraser sockeye
First, the Early Stuart run, which is now well under way, appears significantly better than expected.
– Vancouver Province
More: www.theprovince.com
Atlantic salmon caught in SE Alaska
An Atlantic salmon that escaped from a British Columbia fish farming operation was caught recently in Southeast Alaska's Sumner Strait, reports Petersburg radio station KFSK.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com
Kodiak processor gets wind power
Island Seafoods plans to tout the plant's connection with sustainable energy on a new label.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com
Cordova thinks shipyard
City Council held a work session to discuss plans for continued expansion of the Cordova boat haul out and the council's vision for development of a full-service shipyard.
– Cordova Times
More: www.thecordovatimes.com
Feds to study Unalaska eagle complaints
Bald eagles line up like hoodlums along light poles in Unalaska, their heads shrugged into their shoulders, eyes scanning for food. They careen off cliffs, perch on bridges and playground equipment, and tussle over the leftover fish bits in beached nets.
– Dutch Harbor Fisherman
More: www.thedutchharborfisherman.com
Vancouver Aquarium certifies packer
Albacore tuna, sockeye and pink salmon canned by Delta's Raincoast Trading are the first retail products to bear the Ocean Wise sustainability logo.
– Vancouver Sun
More: www.vancouversun.com
Obama approves ocean planning effort
By executive order, President Obama has hit the go button for the creation of a political system for writing ocean and Great Lakes usage plans overseen by a new National Ocean Council.
– Gloucester (Mass.) Times
More: www.gloucestertimes.com
Food maven tours Alaska
On a tour arranged and paid for by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, I spent last week observing salmon fishing and processing in Anchorage and at remote places 600 miles to the southwest.
– Marion Nestle, writing in her blog for The Atlantic magazine
More: www.theatlantic.com
NOAA ship charting Bering
The Fairweather is spending July and August examining sea floor features, measuring ocean depths and supplying data for updating NOAA's nautical charts spanning 350 square nautical miles in the Bering Straits around Cape Prince of Wales.
– Arctic Sounder
More: www.thearcticsounder.com
Friday, July 23, 2010
Bristol Bay fishermen get 95 cents
Commercial fishermen in the famed Bristol Bay wild Alaska sockeye salmon fishery were heading home in late July with smiles on their faces, warmed by base prices averaging 95 cents a pound for the 28 million reds netted.
– Dutch Harbor Fisherman
More:www.thedutchharborfisherman.com
Natives interrupt California protected area hearing
North Coast tribal members again forced leaders of a meeting on the controversial Marine Life Protection Act in Fort Bragg to listen to American Indian concerns about infringing on traditional gathering.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent John Driscoll, writing in the Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
What was he thinking?
A man accused of ramming two humpback whales in the waters near Craig has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Fleet ready for golden king crab
We're three weeks away from the opening of the Aleutian Islands' commercial golden king crab fishery. The open date is Aug. 15.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.publicbroadcasting.net
Judge blocks Chukchi Sea drilling
A federal judge in Alaska blocked plans for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, ruling that the Interior Department did not adequately consider the proposal's environmental effects.
– Los Angeles Times
More:www.articles.latimes.com
Bobby T. ticketed
Alaska Wildlife Troopers have cited Juneau fisherman and lobbyist Robert Thorstensen, Jr. for fishing without a commercial vessel license.
– Alaska Report
More:www.alaskareport.com
Alaska fishing's death rate is lower
A new federal report says safety interventions addressing specific hazards in Alaska have resulted in a significant decline in the commercial fishing fatality rate, but more preventive measures are still needed in high risk fisheries.
– Bristol Bay Times
More:www.thebristolbaytimes.com
Prof challenges plankton theory
A new NASA-supported analysis published in the journal Ecology by Michael Behrenfeld, a botany professor at Oregon State University and a leading international expert in using remote sensing technology to examine ocean productivity, challenges a long-standing theory about the growth of phytoplankton in the world's oceans.
– Newport News Times
More:www.newportnewstimes.com
Gulf seafood prices soar
Handwritten signs inside the Coastal Restaurant here announce the bad news: "Due to the Gulf oil spill, we are unable to offer all-you-can-eat portions of oysters or shrimp."
– USA Today
More:www.content.usatoday.com
