Monday, August 12, 2013
CHINOOK PLENTIFUL ON NUSHAGAK
Yet the biggest king salmon fishery in Bristol Bay continues to buck the trend as the Nushagak River completes a three-year king rebound unmatched by any other major Alaska waterway.
– Jerzy Shedlock, reporting in Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
Fed dollars for B.C. harbors
The sector's gross domestic product in B.C. was valued at $102.3 million in 2011.
– Times Colonist, Victoria
More: timescolonist.com
Fishermen sue over Puget Sound
State water pollution rules are based on outdated and incorrect data about how much fish people eat.
– eNews Park Forest
More: enewspf.com
Foreigners in processor plants
Both Murkowski and Sen. Mark Begich are seeking to re-instate a special visa program that allows foreign students to work in Petersburg's seafood processing plants.
– Joe Viechnicki, reporting for KFSK, Petersburg
More: kfsk.org
Gunner Knapp to institute
A man who is well known to commercial fishery stakeholders across the state of Alaska has been chosen to head a research institution within the University of Alaska system.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Tender still leaking oil
The large fishing tender that sank in late June in the mouth of a major sockeye producing river in Bristol Bay is still leaking fuel as responders attempt to get the last of the fuel off the vessel.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Japan radiation: Don't worry
Alaska fishermen and fish consumers shouldn't be concerned about the new disclosures of radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean near the site of the hobbled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.
– Nathaniel Herz, reporting for the Anchorage Daily News
More: adn.com
Setnetters turned down
Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi has denied a motion sought by an advocacy group for East Side commercial setnetters in Cook Inlet for more fishing time during the height of the salmon run.
– Margaret Bauman, reporting for the Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Skeena sockeye short
The First Nations food fishery and the recreational fishery are the latest victim of the low Skeena River sockeye returns.
– Shaun Thomas, reporting in the Northern View, Prince Rupert
More: thenorthernview.com
Oregon tender aground
The owner of the 65–foot fishing tender, Fate Hunter, is working with Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Valdez and State of Alaska personnel to minimize environmental impact from the grounding and refloat the vessel.
– Coast Guard
More: piersystem.com
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
SCATHINGLY BRILLIANT IDEAS
This meeting cycle includes statewide Pacific cod, Chignik finfish, Lower Cook Inlet finfish, Kodiak finfish, Upper Cook Inlet finfish, and statewide king and Tanner crab.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Silvers into the Nushagak
The coho run to the Nushagak River is coming in stronger than anticipated, resulting in liberalized fishing time for commercial fishermen and an increased bag limit for sport fishermen.
– Mike Mason, reporting in KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
BC sockeye dismal
Salmon returns, especially for highly prized sockeye, have been declining for decades and it looks like 2013 is offering no respite.
– Steve Mertl, reporting in Daily Brew
More: ca.news.yahoo.com
Fight over Trinity River water
This action is in response to a lawsuit filed by the Westland Water District and others in California's Central Valley, demanding this water for their future crops, regardless of impacts on salmon or coastal fishing communities depending on those salmon runs for their livelihoods.
– Enews
More: enewspf.com
Releasing lab king crab
In a few weeks, thousands of baby red king crabs, each no larger than half a pinky fingernail, will make their way into the waters off of Kodiak Island, months after their births in the carefully regulated tanks of a local laboratory.
– Suzanna Caldwell, reporting for Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
CG hoists fisherman
The aircrew safely hoisted and transported the crewmember of the fishing vessel Ruth M, who was reportedly experiencing stroke-like symptoms, to emergency medical personnel in Cordova for treatment.
– Coast Guard
More: piersystem.com
Air Force hoists fisherman
A Royal Canadian Air Force crew was called out to rescue a commercial fisherman on Sunday night.
– Amy Judd, reporting for Global News
More: globalnews.ca
CDQ pays out
"We had a monster weekend with commercial fishermen delivering more than 250,000 pounds of salmon up and down the CVRF region," said Morgen Crow, CVRF Executive Director. "The real people are receiving real dollars from our commercial operations that are paid for by the Bering Sea."
– Coastal Villages
More: coastalvillages.org
Sportie's effect on Kenai
But rarely discussed is the effect of sports fishing on kings that have reached their spawning beds in the river.
– Roy Huhndorf, writing in the Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
PROTECT STREAMS FROM MINES
Last week, the Parnell Administration ruled a wild salmon stream in Cook Inlet was "suitable" for large-scale coal strip mining.
– Rob Ernst, writing in the Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Cal salmon lose in court
A U.S. District Court judge in Fresno halted water releases meant to prevent a fish kill on the lower Klamath River, granting a temporary restraining order sought by farmers in the San Joaquin Valley who filed a lawsuit against the federal government last week.
– Kimberly Wear, writing in the Eureka Times Standard
More: times-standard.com
Defends dumping salmon
The captain of a seine boat that dumped pink salmon during an aboriginal fishery in Johnstone Strait said he is the victim of federal policy and that he takes care not to waste salmon.
– Larry Pynn, reporting for the Vancouver Sun
More: vancouversun.com
No sockeye, eat pinks
Salmon fans needn't fret over this year's record low Fraser and Skeena river sockeye returns. There are still plenty of pink fish in the sea.
– Jessica Barrett, reporting for the Vancouver Sun
More: vancouversun.com
CG loss worries Petersburg
Borough Mayor Mark Jensen sent a letter to Sen. Mark Begich this month voicing concern that the cutter Anacapa could be replaced by larger vessels planned for other Southeast ports.
– Joe Viechnicki, reporting for KFSK, Petersburg
More: alaskapublic.org
Seward medevac
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, forward deployed to Cordova, medevaced an injured fisherman from a fishing vessel 50 miles southeast of Seward Tuesday.
– Coast Guard
More: uscgnews.com
Evicting sea lion
The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to wait and see if an aggressive sea lion in Petersburg's harbors will move on, if fish scraps are no longer available.
– Joe Viechnicki, reporting for KFSK, Petersburg
More: kfsk.org
Exploring the salmon forest
Every native fish species of Southeast Alaska thrives here with the salmon — steelhead, Dolly Vardens, bull trout, rainbows, grayling, whitefish, and the region's largest population of cutthroat trout.
– Hal Herring, Field and Stream magazine
More: fieldandstream.com
Wild salmon price improving
The Food and Agricultural Organization, which is part of the UN, reports that the price index for wild fish nearly doubled between 1990 and last year. During the same time-frame, the price index for farmed fish increased by one fifth.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Sail on Bristol Bay
Each boat would have to have an engine because I want us to get where we're heading by sail, drift by sail, and fish by sail, but maneuver by engine so that we're not a nuisance to the powered fleet.
– Christina Whiting, reporting for Bristol Bay Times
More: thebristolbaytimes.com
Thursday, August 15, 2013
FRASER DEADLY TO SALMON
Fraser River temperatures remained at record high levels, greater than 69 degrees F, over the weekend and are forecast to remain at elevated levels for the next week.
– Pacific Salmon Commission
More: psc.org
Trident to Georgia
Seattle-based Trident Seafoods is planning a $41 million value-added processing plant in Georgia.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Two SE vessels aground
The Coast Guard says two fishing boats ran aground overnight in southeast Alaska waters.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: adn.com
Good Sam in albacore fleet
The engine of their fishing vessel, the 60-foot Sea Princess, blew a hole in the hull of the boat while they were albacore fishing in the Pacific Ocean about 85 miles northwest of Coos Bay.
– Amy Moss Strong, reporting in the Coos Bay World
More: theworldlink.com
Telephoned sport halibut meeting
The new scheme is now being reviewed by NOAA in Washington, D.C., and halibut charter skippers aren't much happier about this plan than the old one.
– Craig Medred, reporting in Alaska Dispatch
More: alaskadispatch.com
Salmon infest lower Columbia
The Lower Columbia River from Bonneville Dam clear down to the mouth near Buoy 10 is starting to fill up with salmon and steelhead.
– Mark Yuasa, reporting in the Seattle Times
More: blogs.seattletimes.com
Kings slam door on setnetters
After nearly two weeks of waiting for late run Kenai River king salmon to enter the river in high enough numbers to ease restrictions, setnetters were told the river was 29 fish shy of meeting the lower end of the escapement goal.
– Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Cal trawling agreement
While often natural enemies in the wild, environmentalists and fishermen have negotiated the outline of a deal to reopen a historic trawling fishery off the Santa Cruz coast.
– Santa Cruz Sentinel
More: santacruzsentinel.com
Salmon runs ebbing
Alaska salmon catches are poised to blow past the pre-season forecast of 179 million fish due to a plug of pinks that is coming in stronger than expected.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Capital City Weekly, Juneau
More: capitalcityweekly.com
Water ruling stuns fishermen
With 272,000 salmon predicted to return to the Klamath River this fall, Tuesday's news about a temporary restraining order that halted the release of cold water down the Trinity River hit sport, commercial, and tribal anglers like a fist to the jaw.
– Kenny Priest, reporting in the Eureka Times Standard
More: times-standard.com
Friday, August 16, 2013
PIZZA AD DISSES HALIBUT
The ad, in case you have no desire to waste the next 30 seconds of your life, declares, "No one's coming up with a world-changing idea over halibut. No way."
– Meredith Shiner, reporting for Roll Call, Washington, D.C.
More: hoh.rollcall.com
See the ad: youtube.com
Pinks pile in
Alaska's preliminary commercial salmon harvest reached 186,202,000 fish, leaving the preseason forecast of 178.8 million salmon in the dust, as the humpy catch alone soared to over 139 million and appeared heading for a record.
– Margaret Bauman, reporting for The Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Meet the fisherman I
If you want to see the guy who caught that fish you're eating, you're in luck.
– Valerie Hurst, reporting for KATU, Portland
More: katu.com
Meet the fisherman II
It's called Fish Trax Marketplace and it's as good as meeting the fishermen who landed the catch.
– Lori Tobias, reporting for The Oregonian
More: oregonlive.com
Change for the better
Back then, if a fisherman accidentally caught too many of an overfished species, he was forced to dump the excess in the ocean.
– Joe Pennisi, writing in the San Franciso Chronicle
More: sfgate.com
Wasting B.C. salmon
But a video shot by a conservation group in British Columbia shows seine boat crews kicking salmon across decks, or waiting for fish to stop moving before picking them up and throwing them overboard.
– Mark Hume, reporting for The Globe and Mail, Toronto
More: theglobeandmail.com
B.C. fishing's bad apples
A video released by environmentalists to highlight wastage in the pink salmon fishery is not representative of the commercial seine fleet and contains inaccuracies and exaggeration, a senior official with the B.C. commercial fishery industry said.
– Larry Pynn, reporting in the Vancouver Sun
More: vancouversun.com
No more setnets
Nets remain dry in the East Side setnet fishery where fishermen learned that the fishery will be closed for the last regularly scheduled fishing period of the season.
– Rashah McChesney, reporting in the Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
Loans for B.C.'s Oil Coast
B.C. businessman David Black has been forced to seek Canadian lenders to build his proposed oil refinery near Kitimat at the insistence of the Chinese bank that would act as the main financier.
– Jeff Nagel, reporting for the Terrace (B.C.) Standard
More: thenorthernview.com
Newport fish festival
The Newport Fishermen's Wives is hosting the Newport Wild Seafood Weekend festivities on Saturday, Sept. 7. Dock walks, fresh seafood, an education booth, bay cruises, vendors, raffles, prizes, and more. All bay-front festivities are set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, Port Dock 5.
More: newportfishermenswives.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, two boats go down in Southeast in separate incidents just hours apart this week; Skagway is seeing a good king run, but that doesn't help the Canadians, and pink salmon just keep rolling in.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More: kmxt.org
