Monday, September 1, 2008
No News - Happy Labor Day
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin: Raising her money
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hasn't raised a lot of money in her political career, it turns out, but both fishing and the Republican Party have been good to her.
The LA Times has found that she raised most of that -- $1.36 million -- in 2005 and 2006, when she was running for governor. She hasn't raised any money since taking office in December 2006 because her state's laws don't permit any trolling until next May.
Her single greatest source of support: The Republican Party, with $75,000. People involved in the fishing industry have donated at least $70,000. The governor's husband is a commercial fisherman.
People listing their business as real estate have donated $46,000, attorneys at least $30,000, and lobbyists $9,800.
Palin, who supports opening a part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development (a move, remind you, which McCain opposes, while he pushes for off-shore drilling), has collected about $13,500 from people involved with oil firms. – The Swamp, Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau, DC
www.swamppolitics.com
Sarah Palin: Raising McCain’s money
The McCain campaign raised more than $10 million in the two and a half days after Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was named as the vice presidential running mate, bringing the total raised in the month of August to more than $47 million, campaign officials tell ABC News.
The final, official figures are expected to be reported in the next few days, but the amount appears to be a record for the McCain campaign, almost twice as much as it has raised in any other single month.
"We're still counting," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.
"We were blown away," said one top McCain official. "She has energized our base and when we see the money flowing like that we know we have a hit," said the official.
As a result, the official said, Palin will be asked to spend at least 80 per cent of her time raising money between now and the election. – ABC News
www.abcnews.go.com
Opinion: It’s wise to close Arctic to fishing
In an uncertain world buffeted by climate change and economic turmoil, Alaskans can take confidence in a strong and sustainable sector of our economy.
Fisheries are a major economic engine for Alaska. It is the state’s largest private sector employer and generates $5 billion in annual economic activity.
Alaska produces more than half the seafood landed in the United States. We have seven of the top fishing ports in the country and if we were our own nation, Alaska would rank among the top ten in seafood landings.
What is even more impressive is that we have accomplished this with a conservation record that is second to none.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages fisheries in federal waters, is widely recognized as a leader in ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries.
For 30 years, the council has never set harvest levels above the amount its scientists recommend. Alaska has no overfished stocks of fish. There are strict controls on harvest, and to ensure compliance, the fleet is monitored by the U.S. Coast Guard, National Marine Fisheries Service and one of the world’s largest observer programs.
The council has adopted ecosystem-based management measures such as protections for forage fish — critical for the survival of fish, marine mammals and seabirds. The council has closed more than 400,000 square nautical miles to bottom trawling or other fishing activities to protect corals and other habitats.
Nothing is perfect, of course, and there is need to continue to improve management to meet new challenges. One of those challenges is reducing bycatch — the unwanted catch of non-target species like Chinook salmon by the Bering Sea pollock fishery.
Across the years, the council and pollock industry have initiated numerous measures to reduce and control bycatch, such as an in-season program to move the fleet away from high bycatch areas and gear modifications that allow salmon to escape their nets.
Despite these efforts, the Chinook bycatch went from 67,000 salmon in 2005 to more than 120,000 fish last year. Could it have been due to changes in salmon migration in response changing ocean conditions or changes in the numbers of salmon in the high seas? Scientists can’t say for certain what the causes were.
Fortunately, the bycatch rate is significantly lower in 2008. Through June, the Chinook bycatch stood at just 16,000, a 77 percent reduction from the previous year. But the industry recognizes that more needs to be done.
The pollock industry is redoubling efforts to reduce salmon bycatch, including additional gear modification experiments and cooperative research with NMFS scientists to determine if temperature and depth indicators could be used to avoid areas where salmon congregate.
Another concern is the effect of climate change on the Arctic and the possibility of commercial fisheries entering an area already under environmental stress.
At the urging of Alaska’s fishing industry, the council is developing a plan to close commercial fishing in the U.S. Arctic until we better understand the effects of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and the communities that depend on these marine resources.
Once the Arctic plan is in place, fishing closures off Alaska will total more than 650,000 square miles, an area five times larger than the entire U.S. national park system.
This has sparked a growing international effort for similar measures throughout the Arctic.
Last year, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution by Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, that directs the Secretary of State to initiate negotiations to achieve this goal. Meetings sponsored by the European Union next month will kick off this international effort and that’s good news for Alaska.
Fisheries are a crucial part of Alaska’s way of life and an economic base for coastal communities and the state. Our fishery management system is recognized as a model for the nation, employing ecosystem-based management principles driven by science.
In today’s changing world, we need to work together to improve the science and conservation programs so Alaska’s fisheries will continue to be the sustainable foundation upon which subsistence, personal use, recreational and commercial users can all rely. – David Benton of Juneau is executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, representing harvesters, processors, and coastal communities involved in Alaska’s groundfish and shellfish fisheries. He is a former deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, writing in Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
newsminer.com
Firm opens to sell West Coast trawl industry
Ocean issues can generate ripples, underlying riptides, or ripping waves of controversy, and commercial fishermen often get caught in the middle of these controversies. The trawl fishing industry, in particular, has what many supporters believe is an “image problem” in terms of how others view them and the impact of their fishing methods on ocean habitat.
Using a grant from the Bandon Submarine Cable Council located in Charleston, Ralph Brown, a Brookings-based trawl vessel owner with 25 years of commercial fishing and fisheries management experience, and Shelly Eaton, a marketing and communications specialist, have teamed up to promote the West Coast trawl industry. Working as Eaton-Brown Marketing & Communications, the pair is busy developing “a targeted educational campaign,” gathering “accurate, vital information” about trawl fishing and its importance to coastal communities.
“I worry that people are going to think the entire industry is in trouble because of the news about salmon,” said Brown, who has immersed himself in fisheries management, working with or as part of the Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council, Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC), and other governing bodies for many years. “To me, the future of the trawl fishing industry looks pretty good.”
That might sound somewhat far-fetched to some folks, given the difficult times the industry has endured, especially during the past decade, most notably in 2000, when the federal government declared the groundfish fishery a disaster.
Since then, Brown noted, conservative management by the PFMC and changes made by the those involved in the trawl industry “have resulted in fish stocks that are rebuilding, and an industry that has adapted to new standards of environmental responsibility.”
Currently, 258 boats ranging in length from less than 40 feet to more than 300 feet are based along the West Coast. Some fish close to home ports in Oregon, Washington, and California, delivering their catch to local plants for processing and marketing. Others travel to Alaska to fish, but -- Brown noted -- “bring money back to spend in their home ports.”
Brown said Newport experiences “considerable (economic) impact” from fishing in Alaska, along with landings outside of trawling -- in particular Dungeness crabs -- that “are nearly as important” to the local economy as trawling. Almost half the value of commercial fishery landings at Newport is derived from fish caught while trawling and fish caught by trawl boats in other non-trawl fisheries.
Annual haul for Newport, based on 2006 data, is $44.3 million, with the fisheries and related businesses providing 1,456 jobs. For the entire Oregon coast, revenues reached $128.1 million, and provided 4,074 jobs.
What's most bothersome to Brown and others is the public perception that trawl fisheries are simply devastating the ocean environment.
Eaton said their campaign aims to “demonstrate that the trawl fishing fleet is and has been environmentally responsible by using and developing fishing gear and techniques that are not harmful to the ocean environment.” A groundfish management system in place since 1982 has proven successful at protecting fish stocks and habitat. Created under the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act, the PFMC limits the number of vessels, and sets annual fleet fishing quotas, individual vessel limits, gear regulations, closed areas, and fishing seasons. Of the 82 species in the groundfish fishery management plan, only seven are considered overfished.
Brown said the term overfishing is commonly misused and misunderstood.
“It does not mean the species is threatened with extinction,” he said. Magnuson-Stevens defines it as “a rate or level of fishing mortality that jeopardizes the capacity of a fishery to produce the maximum sustainable yield on a continuing basis.” Put simply, it means taking too many fish to allow them to recover to levels adequate to continue fishing. Brown called it a “production definition” that has nothing to do with “threatened” or “endangered” listings under the Endangered Species Act.
In fact, the seven groundfish species considered as overfished “are under rebuilding plans, and stock levels are rising,” Brown added. Large sections of coastal waters are already closed to trawl fishing and other types of fishing to protect low abundance stocks and habitats. – Newport News Times
www.newportnewstimes.com
Sea cucumbers fished out off India
Sea cucumbers, once an important commercial marine product found in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar off the coast of Tamil Nadu are facing extinction due to indiscriminate fishing and over-exploitation.
The marine creatures which were found in abundant numbers in the 1980s and 1990s have virtually become extinct, raising calls for their protection because of demand in international markets, and their nutritional and medicinal value.
Scientists from the Central Marine Fishery Research Institute (CMFRI) said that the the number of sea cucumbers could be revived through resource enhancement technologies like sea ranching, joint conservation efforts and the tools of biotechnology. Research on this high-value marine product was discontinued in 2001, after a total ban under the Wild Life Act, 1972. – Financial Express, India
www.financialexpress.com
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Turning oil rigs into fish farms
My colleague David Baker blogged a couple of weeks ago about a new Bush administration program to turn old offshore oil drilling platforms into facilities for wind or wave power.
That plan sparked protests from environmentalists worried that the administration is just trying to let oil companies off the hook financially for cleaning up their drilling sites.
But there's another aspect to the plan that has gotten less public attention -- the possibility of turning the oil platforms into large-scale fish farms.
The proposal by the Minerals Management Survey, the federal agency in charge of offshore drilling, would also allow uses such as aquaculture.
On the surface (no pun intended), turning oil rigs into fish farms is an intriguing idea. It's re-using an existing resource; and it could help increase our food supply at a time when many wild fish populations are dwindling. Yet marine experts say there are potential pitfalls here too.
Ocean-based fish farms often release large quantities of fish waste, antibiotics and growth stimulants into the surrounding waters. And farmed fish invariably escape into the ocean, where they may crowd out their wild cousins, spread new diseases, or interbreed with wild fish and produce offspring that aren't hardy enough to survive.
And looking over the past eight years, environmentalists have no confidence that the Bush administration will handle the old oil rigs in a way that avoids such problems.
"This proposal is an absolute crock -- a huge handout to the oil industry so they don't have to take down those rigs," said Tom Worthington, co-owner of Monterey Fish Market. "They're just trying to get the oil companies out of the job of taking those rigs down."
"There's a real potential for aquaculture, but the way the Administration is doing it is backwards," said Zeke Grader, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "They should be developing aquaculture on land (like catfish farms in land-based ponds).... The ocean is not ready for prime-time aquaculture." -- Ilana DeBare , writing forThe San Francisco Chronicle
www.sfgate.com
More Chinook show up in Columbia, no fishing
BONNEVILLE -- Fall Chinook returns remain exceptionally strong two weeks following a controversial decision to close the Buoy 10 recreational fisheries to Chinook retention.
Coho counts also have climbed a little in recent days, following last week's decision by Washington and Oregon to end the Buoy 10 coho season before Labor Day.
Chinook passage at Bonneville -- 146 miles upstream from the river mouth -- began to spike on Aug. 21, the very day fisheries managers voted to end the season. Through Aug. 21 only two daily tallies had exceeded 1,000, and just barely.
Then on Aug. 22 the count jumped to 2,955, then 8,364 Aug. 23 and 14, 913 on Aug. 24. The count Aug. 25 dipped to 11,261 and totaled 5,619 on Aug. 26 and 5,006 on Aug. 27. The total count through Aug. 27 was 61,840. In the second half of last week, a new surge began. More than an additional 56,600 adult Chinook passed the dam between Aug. 28 and Sept. 1.
Meanwhile. a larger than anticipated catch on Aug. 27 forced fishery managers to rescind a planned Aug. 29 night Lower Columbia mainstem commercial fishery. Aug. 27's overnight catch totaled an estimated 4,600 salmon, well over the 3,500 that remained on the gillnet fleet's allocation for August. In the fleet's most recent previous fishery -- Aug. 19-20 -- only 844 Chinook were harvested.
The August allocation -- based on the expected adult fall Chinook return to the river -- totaled 13,800 fish. In seven outings gillnetters caught an estimate 14,285 Chinook.
In setting the fisheries, Oregon and Washington managers had anticipated that the commercial fishers would catch 3,500 or fewer Chinook during the two planned outings last week. The overharvest could result the gillnetters September allocation being reduced. – Chinook (Wash.) Observer
www.chinookobserver.info
Sarah Palin had broken fishing regulation
In 1993, Sarah Palin used a drift gillnet to harvest salmon from the Bristol Bay area without an annual permit. Palin pleaded guilty to the Criminal Negligence charge. Palin also had a case dismissed where she was charged with fishing without a photo ID. The case was filed 6/28/93 and was disposed 8/25/1993. The jurisdiction was the Third Judicial District-Dillingham. [Alaska Criminal History Records, Case # 3DI-93-00249CR0001; Alaska Criminal History Records, Case # 3DI-93-00217CR0001] – Huffington Post
www.huffingtonpost.com
Dungeness poacher fined
A Surrey man caught harvesting Dungeness crab illegally has been fined $7,000 and forbidden to crab for one year.
Dinh Ly Hoang was handed the penalties June 5 in Surrey Provincial Court, following a Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigation sparked during an Aug. 9, 2007, license inspection of the vessel CEE GEE 1 off Roberts Bank.
Fishery officers at the time noticed that 326 of 688 Dungeness crab on board the commercial boat were either female or too small to harvest. – Peace Arch News
www.bclocalnews.com
Anglers still harassing Sacramento system Chinook
Fishermen are targeting salmon returning to spawn in the American River and other Central Valley streams, despite a virtual ban on all salmon fishing this year.
Even worse, some anglers are using a technique called "flossing," intended to hook salmon in the body, fin or face. The method is considered unethical by many fishermen. It appears to slip through a loophole in regulations designed to protect salmon.
"They're traumatizing these big fish," said Alan Weingarten, a state Department of Fish and Game warden who has observed the practice on the American River.
He said flossing is also happening on the Feather, Yuba and Sacramento rivers.
Flossing is generally done for sport; most fish are returned to the river. Yet game regulators are upset that salmon are being harassed.
"We need to leave these fish alone," he said, "but I don't think Fish and Game was very fortunate in the way the regulations were crafted."
Rules adopted in May ban anglers from keeping salmon from Central Valley rivers. The unprecedented emergency rules followed predictions of the worst salmon run in history this fall.
Commercial and recreational salmon fishing at sea are also banned.
However, officials did not ban catch-and-release salmon fishing. They urged anglers in a July 2 press release to "use a very conservative approach" and "refrain from any catch-and-release fishing that specifically targets salmon."
Flossing, intended to hook salmon when they are most vulnerable, hardly heeds that message, said Bill Lowe, a Fair Oaks fly fishing guide. He said salmon now returning to spawn could be harmed even by routine fishing pressure.
"I believe they shouldn't be fished, period, especially in the dire situation we are fighting now," said Lowe. "If people are fishing to them, they are harassing them."
Salmon returning early to spawn typically wait until conditions are right by hovering in deeper water just downstream of rapids. Sometimes they wait in groups. Salmon don't eat during their spawning run, but constantly open and close their mouths while parked, to breathe and clean their gills.
Flossing is designed to take advantage of this behavior:
• The angler uses a long leader attached to the end of the main body of line, at least double the normal length at between 8 and 20 feet. It's weighted at one end, with a hook at the other.
• A colorful bead or piece of yarn is attached to the leader just above the hook. This ensures the rig meets the legal definition of a lure, and the angler can claim he is targeting steelhead (though few are in the rivers now).
• The leader is then cast across the river below a rapid where salmon are parked. As he reels the hook in, the angler banks on odds that the weighted leader will pass through a salmon's open mouth. When he feels that resistance, he sets the hook.
What happens, said Lowe, is that the line whips through the salmon's mouth and slams violently into its body – usually the face or head. Sometimes the hook tears off chunks of flesh or leaves gaping wounds. After the salmon is reeled in, removing the hook may leave a wound that can weaken fish. And though most fish are returned to the river, Lowe said, the trauma often causes the salmon to release its eggs or sperm on shore. – Sacramento Bee
www.sacbee.com
Thursday, September 4, 2008
McCain: Sarah not a fish felon
Besieged with questions about Sarah Palin's background, John McCain's campaign wants to make one thing emphatically clear: She's not a felon.
In 1993, Palin pleaded no contest to a charge of failing to register as a set gillnet permit holder. Such a license must be obtained in Alaska for commercial fishermen to use the underwater netting frequently designed to catch salmon.
At the time, Palin said she simply forgot to change the nature of her registration from a member of a fishing crew to an actual permit holder.
But the offense was inadvertently entered into an Alaskan district court as a felony.
The issue first arose in 2002 during Palin's gubernatorial race when some opponents seized on the charge. That year, Palin obtained an official letter from the Clerk of the court in Alaska's Third Judicial District.
"I am writing to advise you the data has been corrected in court records and on the state of Alaska's website to reflect your conviction as a violation," Cindy Roque wrote in a letter McCain's campaign shared with Politico.
According to court documents also shared, Palin, whose husband works seasonally as a commercial fisherman, was fined $1,000 and placed on probation for a year pending no further violations of fishing regulations. – Politico, DC
www.politico.com
Oregon governor changes marine reserve plan
The state of Oregon has surprised sport and commercial fishers by changing the rules on its marine reserves plan a month before site proposals are due to the Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council.
At the recent OPAC meeting in Garibaldi, officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the state will allow less restrictive marine protected areas in addition to marine reserves, which are completely off-limits to all extractive activities.
"It was a major surprise," said Frank Warrens, an OPAC member from Portland. "The governor's original instructions to OPAC were to come up with nine or less marine reserves. He did not mention anything at all about marine protected areas. ... This is a whole new wrinkle."
Gov. Ted Kulongoski has asked OPAC to recommend by November up to nine marine reserve sites within the state's three-mile territorial sea where all fishing and other extractive activities would be prohibited. Marine reserves are touted as a way to preserve biodiversity and advance scientific research. Site proposals are due to OPAC by the end of September.
But up until last month, the state's plans did not include marine protected areas, where some fishing activities such as salmon trolling and crabbing would be allowed.
Now, it appears marine protected areas are needed in order to meet the governor's mandate of creating marine reserves that are large enough to provide ecological benefits without causing significant economic harm to coastal communities.
Ed Bowles, fish division administrator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said some groups designing site proposals were having trouble meeting the governor's dual mandate, and allowing marine protected areas should help the process.
"MPAs are not an alternative to marine reserves or a replacement," he said. "They would simply be considered as a complement to marine reserves if the economic impacts constrain the size or boundaries of proposed sites to the point that the ecological objectives aren't likely to be met." – Pacific Fishing columnist Cassandra Marie Profita, writing in The Daily Astorian
www.dailyastorian.info
Food service giant agrees to end fish fraud
After a two-year investigation, the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum reached a settlement with Sysco Food Services – West Coast Florida Inc. on Wednesday.
The investigation began in response to allegations that Tampa Bay area restaurants were advertising grouper on menus but serving less expensive fish.
As part of the settlement, Sysco must take steps to determine the authenticity of its fish supply. If tests reveal a different species of fish or there is any other cause for doubt, Sysco cannot market the product as grouper.
In 2006, the attorney general dispatched investigators to collect samples for DNA analysis from more than 20 restaurants.
The Division found that 17 of the restaurants were substituting alternate species. Sysco supplied products to 14 of these 17. – Tampa Bay Business Journal
www.bizjournals.com
Kodiak sockeye runs weaker than normal
Kodiak’s late sockeye run is coming to a close, and overall numbers are disappointing, commercial area biologist Jeff Wadle of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.
“It’s pretty much winding down now,” Wadle said.
He said sockeye wasn’t forecast to be as weak as it has been, but the south end of the island, forecast to be moderate, actually came in slightly better than expected.
“Sockeye has been pretty variable around the island this year,” Wadle said. “Some of the systems did very well. The south end of the island around Alitak did pretty well this year.”
Wadle said pink salmon escapements were as weak as forecast this year.
“We were able to keep it closed just long enough to get our minimum escapements, but just barely,” he said. “The pink forecast, which is typically a little low compared to what the harvests are, was actually right on this year, unfortunately.”
According to Fish and Game, chum salmon returns appear strong, with daily harvest tracking above the recent 10-year average.
Wadle also said he expected coho runs to be stronger than they have been this year, but it’s not too late for that to happen. – Kodiak Daily Mirror
www.kodiakdailymirror.com
Wind power permit sought for west Vancouver Island
UCLUELET — A Vancouver-based company is applying to the provincial government for five permits to investigate the potential for ocean energy off Tofino and Ucluelet.
Fred Olsen, Marine Renewables Ltd., is asking the Integrated Land Management Bureau to approve four of the sites, located south west of Amphitrite Point, and one site, located directly west of Cox Bay.
According to its website, the company is involved in wind, tidal, wave, solar and hydro-electric power. – The Westcoaster, Tofino, B.C.
www.westcoaster.ca
Friday, September 5, 2008
Rumors: Another cut in pollock catch
The Dutch Harbor rumor mill is churning again. After what appeared to be a poor pollock B Season, the dock talk indicates there will be another substantial cut in the allowable catch.
This year’s allowable catch reflected a 27 percent cut from 2007. Rumors speculate that, for 2009, there could be a 20 percent reduction below this year’s allowable catch.
There’s been nothing official. – Pacific Fishing
Competition from Russian pollock?
The Russian Pollack Association has entered the full assessment process for certification to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) global standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries.
On the table are stocks in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.
"We are proud that the Russian Pollack Association is one of the first Russian fisheries to enter assessment for certification to the MSC standard,” said German Zverev, president of the Russian Pollack Association.
The Russian Pollack Association is a non-profit organization that assists in developing market relationships between its 29 member fishing companies and potential customers. Association members catch approximately 54 percent of the Western Bering Sea pollock quota and 59 percent of the total quota for the Sea of Okhotsk.
These Russian Pollack Association quota holdings mean a total potential catch in 2008 of 700,000 metric tonnes of pollock across the fisheries being assessed.
By comparison, all American Bering Sea pollock sectors were allowed 974,471 metric tonnes this year. – Press release
Willamette dredging to help fish?
In recent months, a small but vocal group of people in Salem and Albany have promoted the idea of dredging the Willamette River. Ironically, this effort has been run through a Soil and Water Conservation District.
Dredging proponents have put forward the idea that tearing up the river bottom in the Willamette's main channel can somehow improve river habitat and reduce the potential for flooding.
These folks have seldom mentioned their real goal which is to deepen the Willamette for the benefit of large cruise boats and large pleasure craft. They have also tried to link the idea of dredging at boat ramps where gravel can accumulate to their wider dredging or "channel maintenance" goal for the whole river, making the case that dredging isn't allowed today.
Well, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they continue to issue permits to dredge gravel at boat ramps along the Willamette so people can still get out on the river in boats.
Unfortunately, the idea of dredging the mainstem Willamette is one that might have been expected a few decades ago but really doesn't belong in any discussion related to river health in 2008. Those who study rivers and how they function understand the importance of allowing rivers to deposit gravel and move it around. This is a natural occurance and happens along the Willamette seasonally in many places.
This natural river action provides habitat for native fish and can help cool the river in some areas. While the U.S. Army Corps might have periodically dredged the river decades ago, this practice has declined for good reason — it is not good for river habitat, and the Willamette's era of commercial travel in large vessels with deeper drafts from Salem to Eugene is largely a thing of the past. …
If those promoting dredging the mainstem river truly care about flooding, their effort would be better spent working to reconnect old side channels and floodplain areas where these areas can reduce the speed at which flooding occurs, and can reduce the overall height of a given high water event. Such restoration action allows the river to increase its absorptive capcacity, and provide rich new areas for fish and birds. …
Let's not impede the good work for the river that is occuring today by repeating past mistakes. -- Travis Williams, executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper, writing in the Salem Statesman Journal.
www.statesmanjournal.com
Hedging may help you handle fuel costs
You’ve probably heard of hedging, but you probably have no idea how the strategy — when applied to fuel costs — might help the profit positions of commercial fishermen.
In this month’s issue of Pacific Fishing, Jim Harvey, a money manager with offices in Seattle, Spokane, and Anchorage, explains the strategy.
You can see his article on line at www.pacificfishing.com. Click on “Fuel Hedging” in the section featuring selections from our September issue. Then, while still on line, order a subscription to the magazine.
