Monday, September 6, 2010
Happy Labor Day. There's no stories.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Adak Seafood: The latest chapter
Loyal Deckboss readers know we've followed fairly closely the feisty lease dispute between Adak Seafood and its landlord, Aleut Enterprise.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
Fraser River sockeye closed
British Columbia's near record salmon run is being closed to commercial fisherman too early, one Conservative MP says.
– CTV, Canada
More:www.ctv.ca
Fraser sockeye please Bellingham
After three years of negligible catches in what used to be the region's biggest commercial fishery, local fishermen are loading their boats with a near-record run of Fraser River sockeye salmon this year.
– Bellingham Herald
More:www.bellinghamherald.com
Klamath reg irks dam owner
A suite of regulations for the Klamath River could be adopted by the state today, but the owner of four dams on the river is going into that hearing fighting against strict provisions proposed to clean up the polluted waterway.
– Pacific Fishing contributor John Driscoll, writing in the Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Kodiak salmon winding down
The salmon season is winding down in Kodiak Island waters, but the salmon keep coming in. The catch on Sept. 1 brought the season's total harvest to 11 million fish.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
FDA says frankenfish OK to eat
The effort to win federal approval of genetically engineered salmon received a major boost Friday when the Food and Drug Administration released an analysis that deemed the fish safe to eat and unlikely to harm the environment.
– L.A. Times
More:articles.latimes.com
Editorial: Protected area agreement notable
After hundreds of hours locked in discussions most of them didn't want to have, regional representatives involved in the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative performed an impressive feat of negotiation by putting together a single plan for areas restricted to fishing and gathering off the Northern California coast.
– Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Authorities: Don't worry about Yukon River turbine
Fish have no reason to fear a turbine generator in the Yukon River near the village of Eagle.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Alaska fisheries: A week in review
New king salmon bycatch rules for pollock draggers, a tender goes down after hitting an iceberg, and a new owner and a new name for the old Harbor Crown cannery in Unalaska. All that, and the continuing legacy of Ted Stevens.
– Alaska Fisheries Report
More:www.kmxt.org
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Oregon looks at three more reserves
The state is considering three more areas on the Oregon coast to be designated as marine reserves.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Fishermen like Alaska's sea lion stance
Commercial fishermen who participate in the groundfish fisheries in Alaska thanked Governor Parnell for taking a strong position on the Endangered Species Act regarding Stellar sea lions.
– SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Canadian seiner capsizes, no one hurt
Five commercial fishers escaped uninjured when their seiner capsized in Seymour Narrows Sunday evening, just one of several incidents involving fishing boats over the Labour Day weekend.
– Canada.com
More:www.canada.com
Ocean Beauty promises Petersburg return
Ocean Beauty Seafoods will resume full operations in Petersburg next year. That's according to company officials who point to early indications of a strong pink salmon return.
– APRN
More:aprn.org
Fisherman charged in weir 'assault'
An Anchor Point fisherman who troopers say launched logs, trees and other debris down the Anchor River in hopes of sabotaging a state Fish and Game Department weir has been charged with felony assault with a "dangerous instrument."
– Anchorage Daily News
Read More:www.adn.com
Change focus on Fraser inquiry
Fishermen coming in to the docks, boats packed to the gunwales with their delicious silver bounty, were wide-eyed with wonder at the huge schools of sockeye swimming up river to spawn. Some practically begged to have the sockeye fishery – closed to protect coho now heading into the river – extended.
– Vancouver Province
More:www.theprovince.com
Klamath water standards OK'd
State regulators on Tuesday unanimously approved a series of measures meant to improve the often terrible water quality in the Klamath River.
– Pacific Fishing contributor John Driscoll, writing in the Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Global salmon farm output growing
Marine Harvest, the world's largest salmon farmer, said global supply will return to growth next year after shrinking because of a deadly virus in Chile.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:www.sfgate.com
Hood Canal dead zone feared
Severely low oxygen levels in southern Hood Canal have created conditions that could lead to a massive fish kill, experts say.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
FDA: Frankenfish is safe to eat
(Editor's note: This is an article we promised yesterday. It got lost, primarily because of pilot – meaning my – error. We'll try it again. Don)
A genetically modified salmon which grows twice as fast as normal is completely safe for human consumption and poses little risk to the environment according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
– The Independent, U.K.
More:www.independent.co.uk
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Dutch Harbor still a top U.S. port
For two decades, the port of Dutch Harbor has been number one in landings. And now, for the 21st consecutive year, it's come out on top again, according to an annual report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov (Scroll down about a third of the way.)
Farmed salmon organic? They hope not
Over 40 U.S. and Canadian organizations have said that a Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) proposal to label farmed salmon as organic does not adhere to the principles of organic food.
– Food Navigator
More:www.foodnavigator-usa.com
Fraser catch: 2.1 million sockeye
Fraser River commercial fishermen have caught a wealth of 2.1 million sockeye salmon but have been told to stop now to conserve scarce coho and steelhead.
– Vancouver Province
More:www.theprovince.com
B.C. pol irritated over Native catch
A British Columbia Conservative MP slammed his own government, saying that commercial fishermen are being "tied to the dock" during the biggest sockeye salmon run in nearly a century while First Nations keep fishing.
– Edmonton Journal
More:www.edmontonjournal.com
NOAA concerned over N. Pacific shark
NOAA's Fisheries Service has designated the eastern North Pacific basking shark a "species of concern" because it has suffered a dramatic decline in population despite decreasing fishing pressure.
– NOAA
More:www.eurekalert.org
Massachusetts may follow Alaska lead
The hope of a new state bill passed last month is that Massachusetts seafood — including local cod, scallops, oysters and lobsters — will one day be as recognizable to consumers as Alaskan salmon and Maine lobster.
– Marshfield (Mass.) Mariner
More:www.wickedlocal.com
N. Pacific fishermen aid tiny island
North Pacific fishing groups are leading an ambitious effort to save a South Pacific fishing town named Robinson Crusoe.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Homer Tribune
More:homertribune.com
Kodiak fisherman on Northern task force
A long-time Kodiak resident and environmentalist has been appointed to a newly created task force to consider northern water issues.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Opinion: Don't blame farms for sockeye woes
For years, we've been led to believe by wild-eyed environmentalists and their media cheerleaders that the science is clear, that wild salmon on our coast are on the verge of extinction and that sea lice and disease from fish farms are to blame.
– The Vancouver Province
Read More:www.theprovince.com
Friday, September 10, 2010
Oops!
The fishing vessel Barren Island rests on its port side after grounding with reportedly 3,000 gallons of fuel in its tanks at the grids in Wrangell.
– Coast Guard press release
More:www.piersystem.com
Sockeye boom up and down the coast
After years of scarcity, the rivers of the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest are running red, literally, with a vast swarm of a salmon species considered to be in crisis.
– AFP
More:www.google.com
Investigation: Seiner aims at whales
Fisheries and Oceans is investigating a reported close encounter between a U.S. commercial fishing vessel and a pod of killer whales near Cape Mudge last week.
– Canada.com
More:www.canada.com
Did whales cause PWS herring collapse?
Whales, not oil, may be to blame for herring's decline in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:alaskadispatch.com
Governor salutes fishing companies
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell named recipients of the 2010 Governor's North Star Awards for International Excellence. Two Alaska seafood companies took the honors for export excellence, the Seafood Producers Cooperative based in Bellingham, Wash., and the Anchorage-based Coastal Villages Region Fund.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
News you knew: Halibuts harvest down
Commercial fisheries have had to continuously bring in less halibut over the last several years.
– Juneau Empire
More:www.juneauempire.com
Alaska sues to allow offshore drilling
The state claimed Thursday that the Interior Department illegally halted offshore drilling in Arctic waters, even though the department said there's no such moratorium in place.
– Juneau Empire
More:www.juneauempire.com
Alaska fish report
New Atlantic Salmon Frankenfish moves closer to getting FDA approval; Norton Sound fishermen have a banner year; and from the No Surprises Department: Unalaska/Dutch-Harbor is still the top fishing port.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Activist: Salmon farms not off the hook
Well, this was predictable. One good year and salmon feedlot proponents and some columnists are trying to lull the public into looking the other way. But we are not simple-minded.
– Activist Alexandra Morton, writing in the Vancouver Province
More:www.theprovince.com
More study into lethal Columbia sea lions
NOAA's Fisheries Service is reviewing how to deal with sea lions that feast on imperiled salmon at Bonneville Dam east of Portland.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
