Monday, July 30, 2012
PINKS IN BRISTOL BAY
The sockeye salmon season is basically over in Bristol Bay, and in the Nushagak district fishermen are shifting over into a pink salmon fishery.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:alaskadispatch.com
One fisherman rescued
A Coast Guard Station Ketchikan 47-foot Motor Life Boat and crew rescued a fisherman Sunday morning when his fishing vessel began sinking while under tow to Ketchikan from Gardner Bay.
– Coast Guard
More:uscgnews.com
Alaska catch at 50 million
Commercial catches of wild Alaska salmon rose to 50 million fish in the third week of July.
– Cordova Times
More:thecordovatimes.com
No help for Cook Inlet setnetters
Here's the official summary from yesterday's emergency Board of Fisheries meeting on the Cook Inlet setnetters.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Chum denied Yukon villagers
More than 2 million chum salmon have been counted swimming up the Yukon River this summer, the biggest run in years.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:adn.com
End seen for Kenai run
A recent pulse of sockeye salmon through the lower Kenai River is good news for people fishing the area, but official expect the numbers to drop considerably next week.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:adn.com
Valdez vs. Sea Hawk Seafoods
Here's an Alaska Supreme Court opinion that seems to very much favor the city of Valdez in a dispute with Sea Hawk Seafoods.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss (scroll down)
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
No one dies in sinking
The Coast Guard is investigating the sinking of the fishing vessel Mary Kay near Dixon Entrance.
– Coast Guard
More:uscgnews.com
Adak to keep jet service
Earlier this year, it looked like Adak was going to lose jet service as part of cutbacks to the federal Essential Air Service program. It turns out they might keep it after all - at least for a little while.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Shell cuts back on drilling
Shell has modified plans for drilling in the Arctic this summer. Shell spokesman Curtis Smith says lingering sea ice and logistical challenges are shrinking their window for work.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.alaskapublic.org
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
COOK INLET WARS RAGE ON
The fish wars on the Kenai Peninsula rage on, with the sport fishing industry taking steps to prevent more commercial fishing in August.
– KTUU, Anchorage
More:ktuu.com
Cook Inlet drifters doing OK
For Cook Inlet overall, the cumulative harvest reached 3,686,000 salmon of all species, including 3,140,000 reds, 244,000 chum, 239,000 pink, 60,000 silvers, and 2,000 kings.
– Cordova Times
More:thecordovatimes.com
Skipper chases crew with shotgun
Two people aboard a commercial fishing boat were forced to leap onto the bow of an RCMP boat in remote North Island waters, a dramatic escape from the skipper, allegedly high on drugs and armed with a loaded shotgun, who had earlier threatened to kill them.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:timescolonist.com
Not all dams need to go
A more balanced approach would be identifying dams we can live with, and dams we can live without.
– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian
More:columbian.com
SE trollers come up short
Southeast's Alaska commercial troll fleet came up well short of the targeted catch of king salmon in a nine day opening early this month.
– KFSK, Petersburg
More:kfsk.org
Review of CDQ program
The six nonprofit corporations split roughly ten percent of various fish quotas and collectively own more than $700 million in assets.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Exxon Valdez heads for India
India's Supreme Court has allowed the Exxon Valdez, which caused one of the worst U.S. oil spills, to be dismantled in the country but required the owner to pay for disposal of any toxic materials found on the ship.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:adn.com
Europe looks at trawling ban
The European Commission proposed phasing out bottom trawling and bottom gillnetting among deep sea fishing fleets in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.
– Cordova Times
More:thecordovatimes.com
Watching boat stuck in the mud
The Michelle D, a fishing vessel based in Warrenton, ran aground, hitting pilings near the mouth of the Skipanon River and getting stuck in the mud.
– Daily Astorian
More:dailyastorian.com
Coos Bay port names leader
The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay promoted Kathy Wall to serve as chief operating officer, the position formerly held by Chief Executive Officer David Koch.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
CHARGES AGAINST SHOTGUN SKIPPER
Charges have been laid against the skipper who allegedly threatened to kill his crew while armed with a shotgun, sparking a dramatic high seas rescue.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:timescolonist.com
Body found on missing boat
The Coast Guard reports that it tracked down a missing fishing boat out of Half Moon Bay, the Sunrise, and recovered the body of one man inside the boat's cabin. His name has not been released. According to the Coast Guard, he was 70-years-old.
– Half Moon Bay Patch
More:halfmoonbay.patch.com
Gillnet ban won't help fish
Moreover, the measure won't save a single fish – not one. It simply reallocates the existing commercial fishermen's share of salmon and sturgeon to ... sport fishermen.
– The Oregonian
More:oregonlive.com
Recall of Alaska smoked salmon
This misleading label implies that consumers may keep the fish in conditions that could in actuality allow for the growth of Clostridium botulinum, which produces botulinum toxins that attack the human nervous system, leading to paralysis.
– Food Safety News
More:foodsafetynews.com
Sonar counts Kenai Chinook
The good news is that, with continued biological research, data analysis, and the implementation of improved technology, sonar scientists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are confident they now have the best data ever produced on Kenai River king salmon abundance.
– Redoubt Reporter, Kenai
More:redoubtreporter.wordpress.com
Measuring noise effects on whales
For the past two summers, she and a group of interns from all over the world have looked at vessel noise and its impact of humpback whale communication.
– KFSK, Petersburg
More:kfsk.org
Togiak sockeye plentiful
Almost all of the factors indicate a successful sockeye run and fishery in the Togiak District this season.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:kdlg.org
Alaska readying for tsunami debris
Gov. Sean Parnell has signed an administrative order to deal with marine debris washing up on Alaska's shores from the Japanese tsunami in March 2011.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Tsunami dock going away
A famous chunk of ocean debris will be removed from the Oregon coast, starting Wednesday.
– Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:news.opb.org
Coal trains and your business
The 1997 study found the polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coal dust affect genes in the fish, but concluded that more study was needed.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita reporting in Ecotrope, Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:ecotrope.opb.org
Thursday, August 2, 2012
COOK INLET SETNETTERS GET BREAK
Setnet fishermen were thrown a lifeline when the state fisheries board rejected a petition from Kenai River sport fishermen that would have left the setnet fishermen sitting on the beach for the remainder of their season.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:adn.com
Alaska catch nears 60 million
Alaska's statewide salmon catch was approaching 60 million fish by July 27 and is heading towards a total of 132 million salmon this summer. That's down from 177 million fish taken in 2010. The shortfall stems from an expected drop in pink salmon catches. Managers project a 70.2 million pink catch this summer, a drop of 40 percent.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch
More fish stats:adfg.alaska.gov
Fish pass removed dam
Just months after the 108-foot tall Elwha Dam was removed, salmon and steelhead are already returning to the restored habitat.
– Tacoma News Tribune
More:thenewstribune.com
Europe eyes end to deep trawling
The European Commission has proposed new measures to regulate fishing for deep-sea species in the North-East Atlantic.
– The Fish Site
More:thefishsite.com
Senate hearing in Kodiak
Next Monday's hearing will focus on the nation's need for a robust United States Coast Guard presence in Alaska as the nation begins to pursue expanding opportunities in northern waters.
– Lisa Murkowski' Office
More:murkowski.senate.gov
Delay in frankenfish measure
U.S. Senator Mark Begich decided this week to pull his frankenfish bill from immediate consideration by a Senate committee.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:kdlg.org
Ranchers and salmon get along
Its conciliatory aims remain unchanged: Improving areas for migratory fish to reproduce, while making sure ranchers can stay in business.
– The Oregonian
More:oregonlive.com
State starts CDQ review
The community development quota groups, or CDQ groups, were created in 1992 to bring impoverished Western Alaska communities into the lucrative Bering Sea fisheries.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:kucb.org
Fishing of yore: Oregon
Here's a timeline for fishing in the state of Oregon from Oregon Public Broadcasting:opb.org
Memorial for fisherman
More than 130 fishermen have lost their lives trying to make a living on the waters of California's Central Coast over the past 70 years, a sad footnote to the rich maritime history of the area.
– Monterey Herald
More:montereyherald.com
Friday, August 3, 2012
SINKING CLOSES ALASKA FISHERY
The Coast Guard planned to inspect the waters off western Chichagof Island on Friday morning, after the Thursday sinking of a 50-foot seine boat. A sizable oil sheen after the incident forced an emergency closure of the area's purse seine fishery.
– KCAW, Sitka
More:kcaw.org
Trawler delivery irks Sitkans
A Sitka-based seafood processor is taking heat from locals after purchasing trawl-caught fish.
– KCAW, Sitka
More:kcaw.org
PenAir to shun villages
More than a half-century after getting started in the air taxi business, PenAir wants to stop service to small villages and towns in Bush Alaska and focus instead on larger hub communities.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:adn.com
Klamath deal: Fact and fiction
Full water allotments went to farmers in the Upper Klamath this year, which left little water for salmon and the birds in the Nation's first wildlife refuges.
– Eureka Times Standard
More:times-standard.com
Packer fined for slow paperwork
Alaska Glacier Seafoods Inc. in Juneau was fined $500, with $250 suspended, for failure to submit fish tickets to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in a timely fashion.
– Juneau Empire
More:juneauempire.com
Alaska tsunami debris website
Gov. Sean Parnell signed an Administrative Order to facilitate a continuing timely and effective response by state agencies to marine debris from the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
– SitNews, Ketchikan
More:sitnews.us
Big cuts in NE cod
The Northeast commercial groundfishery is facing an economic abyss in 2013, based on the first hard but unofficial calculations of catch limit cuts that loom beginning next May 1.
– Gloucester Times
More:gloucestertimes.com
Morro Bay honored
Morro Bay is recognized for its innovative work with commercial fishermen, The Nature Conservancy, and other coastal communities to rebuild the town's fishing industry in a more sustainable fashion after many of the West Coast's fisheries collapsed a decade ago.
– San Luis Obispo Tribune
More:sanluisobispo.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, Cook Inlet setnetters finally get a break; there'll be no Frankenfish Bill this year in Congress; Southeast kings come up short, while the Copper River sockeye run is nearing a record.... and crewmen: if you think your skipper is tough on you, wait till you hear the story of the shotgun-toting Canadian fishing boat captain.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:kmxt.org