Monday, September 13, 2010
King crab abundance down
The stock assessment for Alaska's richest shellfish harvest, Bristol Bay red king crab, is out. And it's disappointing.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
'Deadliest Catch' boat burns
Seattle fire investigators are trying to figure out what started a three alarm fire onboard the 100-foot Arctic Dawn, which was featured in the first seasons of the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch."
– KING, Seattle
More:www.king5.com
Alaska ponders subsistence appeal
The state has a month to consider whether to appeal a decision dismissing charges of fishing in excess of subsistence-use salmon permits against state Sen. Albert Kookesh.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Commercial cod fishermen gets probation
A fisherman has been sentenced to four years' probation after pleading guilty to Lacey Act violations.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Fraser fishery nearly over
Although the gillnet fishery closed Tuesday on the Fraser River and Friday in Johnstone Strait, troll and seine fleets can continue to catch sockeye for a few more days.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Putting fish ahead of farmers?
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carley Fiorina on Friday told San Francisco Bay area tea party supporters that Sen. Barbara Boxer is putting endangered species ahead of farmers.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:www.sfgate.com
Enviro wants more protection for dogfish
Sharks, including dogfish, cannot cope with heavy commercial fishing. This is because they are slow to mature and reproduce and populations struggle to recover when too many are taken.
– Helium.com
More:www.helium.com
Comment on Cook Inlet coalmine
A call is out for public comments on a request to extend exploration permits for what would be Alaska's largest coal mine.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Sickened Alaska fishermen medevaced
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter rescue crew medevaced a 28-year-old male reportedly suffering from shellfish poisoning aboard the fishing vessel Miss Michelle in Kupreanof Strait 15 miles northwest of Kodiak Saturday at 6:45 a.m.
– Coast Guard press release
More:www.piersystem.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Huge Fraser run no guarantee 
Although seeing the rivers run red with salmon once again is cause for celebration, we can't say this signals a reversal of the declines in Fraser River salmon populations that have been occurring over the past two decades.
– Tillsonburg (Canada) News
More:www.tillsonburgnews.com
Fraser run big help to some U.S. Indians
This year's Fraser River sockeye salmon run is shaping up to be a historic one, which is big news for the Swinomish Tribal Community.
– Seattle P-I
More:www.seattlepi.com
Treaty salmon battle remembered
The banks of the Puyallup River are quiet now. But 40 years ago, this was the scene of a violent struggle by Indian people encamped to defend their treaty fishing rights against hundreds of law-enforcement officers, many armed.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Warmer sea forces walruses ashore
Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in Northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Scientists watch for El Niña
Water experts are closely watching the emergence of the opposite trend – La Niña – a shift that increases the chances of a dry year ahead for much of California.
– Woodland, Calif., Daily Democrat
More:www.dailydemocrat.com
Shore-based aquaculture in B.C.
Agassiz-based fish farmer Bruce Swift has come a long way from his first foray five years ago trying to sell his tank-raised coho salmon to local restaurants.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Seminars set for trawl ratz
NOAA has scheduled informational workshops concerning groundfish rationalization on the West Coast. Each workshop will cover the application process, quota shares/pounds account management, observers, catch monitoring, and economic data collection.
For a schedule and more information:www.nwr.noaa.gov
More habitat to be protected in Oregon
The Bonneville Power Administration plans to spend more than $125 million over 15 years to protect at least 16,880 acres of fish and wildlife habitat in the Willamette Valley.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Alaska longliner kills rare bird 
A short-tailed albatross died as a result of being caught on a longline fishing hook in Alaska in what is believed to be the first recorded death of one of the endangered birds by a U.S. commercial fishing vessel since 1998.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com
Globally, fisheries worth $246 billion
Fisheries around the globe generate a whopping $246 billion in annual revenues, according to a new study that for the first time tallies the value of all the indirect industries linked to the lucrative but fragile resource.
– CBC
More: www.cbc.ca
Nationally, U.S. fisheries down
Despite unmatched natural assets, America's heavily-regulated fisheries continued to underperform in global competition, with landings down a bit more in 2009, according to the annual report of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
– Gloucester (Mass.) Times
More: www.gloucestertimes.com
Gillnetting … in Montana?
If fish and wildlife managers decide to use gillnetting as a method of lake trout removal in Flathead Lake, they will undoubtedly look to a project at nearby Swan Lake for guidance.
– Flathead (Mont.) Beacon
More: www.flatheadbeacon.com
Fisherman innocent in cutting seine
A Kodiak jury returned a not guilty verdict in the case of a Kodiak fisherman accused of intentionally cutting the net of another fisherman by running his boat over it.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More: www.kodiakdailymirror.com
More on Alaska subsistence charge
You might have heard that state Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, recently won dismissal of a charge that he took an overlimit of subsistence salmon. We now have the written ruling from the judge.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Skipper guilty in cod poaching case
Thomas Millman, 73, owner of the fishing vessel Four Daughters, pleaded guilty to four counts of illegally taking fish in closed waters. He was fined $117,000 and sentenced to four years probation.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More: www.kmxt.org
Fraser run only a blip
Scientists studying a 20-year decline in the Fraser River sockeye run say this year's miraculous abundance of fish is likely a blip and not a sign the fishery's problems are over.
– Vancouver Sun
More: www.vancouversun.com
Loans for greener engines
Applications are being accepted at the Alaska Division of Investments for an expanded program of low-interest loans to help commercial fish harvesters switch out old, inefficient boat engines for new, fuel-saving models.
– Dutch Harbor Fisherman
More: www.thedutchharborfisherman.com
Thursday, September 16, 2010
CG terminates Alaska fishing voyages 
A boarding team from the Ketchikan-based Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet terminated the voyage of two commercial fishing vessels for safety violations during a boarding in the Gulf of Alaska Monday, escorting them to King Cove.
– SitNews, Ketchikan
More: www.sitnews.us
Groups oppose Frankenfish OK
Food & Water Watch and a coalition of consumer, environmental, fishing and animal welfare groups sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insisting that it discontinue its approval process for AquaBounty GE salmon.
– California Progress Report
More: www.californiaprogressreport.com
Juneau fishery biologist honored
Juneau fisheries biologist Bob Piorkowski has been recognized by the American Fisheries Society (AFS) for his early work in "bridging oceanography and marine science with riverine fisheries management."
– Capital City Weekly, Juneau
More: www.capitalcityweekly.com
Canada protecting shark
The gentle ocean giant known as the basking shark — pushed to the edge of extinction — has become the first endangered marine fish species to be granted legal protection under Canada's Species at Risk Act.
– Vancouver Sun
More: www.vancouversun.com
Report: Overfishing can cause hunger
The drop in catch size due to overfishing in the waters of the world's poor nations could feed 20 million malnourished people, according to a new analysis by researchers at the University of British Columbia.
– Vancouver Sun
More: www.vancouversun.com
Arctic icecap continues retreat
A report shows this summer's Arctic sea ice melted to the third-lowest level since satellite monitoring began in 1979, continuing a trend of habitat loss for walrus, polar bears and other ice-dependent marine mammals.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com
Testing Unalaska emergency towing system
Yesterday, the tug boats Gyrfalcon and James Dunlap responded to a distress call from the Shell Oil motor vessel Nanuq. Don't worry, though. It was just a drill.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More: www.kucb.org
Natives get more time on Fraser sockeye
The First Nations fishery has been given another chance to catch its quota of Fraser River sockeye.
– Vancouver Province
More: www.theprovince.com
Sharks killing California sea otters
A record number of shark-bitten sea otters were found last month along the state's Central Coast.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More: www.sfgate.com
Friday, September 17, 2010
More bird trouble for Bering Sea longliners
The cod fleet has taken another endangered short-tailed albatross as bycatch.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy’s blog, Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
West Coast tsunami danger lurks
More than six years after the Indian Ocean tsunami shocked the world with its deadly power, communities along the West Coast of the United States remain ill-prepared for a similar event, concludes a report from the National Academies of Science.
– Seattle Times
More: seattletimes.nwsource.com
Will she or won’t she?
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who narrowly lost the Republican primary to challenger Joe Miller, is expected to announce today whether to wage a write-in campaign in the general election.
– Anchorage Daily News
More: www.adn.com
Politics on The Rock
A Kodiak commercial fisherman jumps into the race for the Alaska Legislature.
– Kodiak Daily Mirror
More: www.kodiakdailymirror.com
The latest roundup from Kodiak
Global seafood value, Alaska’s salmon season, Bristol Bay king crab assessment and more.
– The Alaska Fisheries Report with Jay Barrett, KMXT radio in Kodiak
More: www.kmxt.org
Caution urged after huge Fraser sockeye run
Despite the largest run in almost 100 years, sockeye are facing threats ranging from climate change to poisons pouring into streams from storm runoff, the Cohen Commission of Inquiry heard this week at a Victoria forum.
– Times Colonist
More: www.timescolonist.com
Will the light stay on in Oregon?
The Umpqua River Lighthouse has buoyed many mariners’ spirits by guiding them through the night. But the U.S. Coast Guard is thinking of switching it off.
– The World of Coos Bay, Ore.
More: www.theworldlink.com
