Monday, October 21, 2013
FISHERMEN RESCUED AFTER VESSEL FIRE
The crew of the 59-foot Kodiak-based longliner Western Venture were picked up from their life raft by the Aleutian Beauty, after their vessel caught fire Sunday morning.
– KMXT
More: kmxt.org
Rehearing denied in sea lion case
Back in July, you'll recall, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against the state and industry groups who sued over fishing restrictions imposed in the Aleutians to protect endangered Steller sea lions. This week, the court denied a petition for rehearing.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss.
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Cod catch increase considered
Alaska's Board of Fisheries is considering changes to the commercial Pacific cod fishery in Cook Inlet, but Kenai Peninsula residents have mixed views on the proposals.
– Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
BOF focuses on Bristol Bay
Earlier this month the Alaska Board of Fisheries set the schedule for the round of meetings that will be held in late 2015 and early 2016. As KDLG's Mike Mason reports, that includes the next meeting focused on Bristol Bay.
– KDLG
More: kdlg.org
Second oarfish beaches in CA
Another rare oarfish, a serpent-like sea creature, was discovered in Southern California for the second time this week, this time along the coast of San Diego County.
– NBC Southern California
More: nbclosangeles.com
Rare saber-toothed whale beaches in CA
For the second time this week, Southern California has seen a rare sea beast washed ashore, far from home waters.
– CNN
More: cnn.com
Fish hooks not guilty in dolphin death
None were circle hooks recently adopted by Hawaii longline fishermen, under a rule issued last year by the National Marine Fisheries Service, to prevent the accidental snagging of dolphins.
– SF Gate
More: sfgate.com
Kenai fishermen perform songs, poems
It's the third year that fisher poets — mostly local folk so far — have gathered on the Kenai Peninsula to celebrate their common experiences as commercial fishermen.
– Homer News
More: homernews.com
B.C. processors laud EU pact
"The Canada-Europe Trade Agreement will enable our producers to fulfill their potential and expand into new markets," says Chris Sporer, Executive Director of the Seafood Producers Association of British Columbia, the largest organization of wild seafood processing companies on Canada's Pacific coast.
– PR Newswire
More: prnewswire.com
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
BOAT FIRE RESCUE VIDEO RELEASED
Here's some awesome Coast Guard video of yesterday's boat fire and rescue in the Bering Sea.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More: deckboss.blogspot.com
Cook Inlet cod fishery unchanged
Alaska's Board of Fisheries left the Cook Inlet Pacific cod fishery unchanged, although other areas of the state will see increased state waters harvest in the future.
– Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
No answers in CA beachings
Scientists have no answers as to why two of the largest bony fish known to man washed ashore in Southern California in the span of a few days.
– NBC San Diego
More: nbcsandiego.com
Single extinction could impact fisheries
A species of one of the world's tiniest creatures, ocean plankton, is heading for extinction as it struggles to adapt to changes in sea temperature. And it may take local fisheries with it.
– The Fish Site
More: thefishsite.com
Gulf fisheries suffer spill's effects
The entire fishing industry is being hit, with catches down and shrimp and shellfish being discovered with disgusting deformities.
– Grist.org
More: grist.org
Fish die-off in OR river
State officials are looking into why thousands of fish became stranded and died after they lowered the level of the Deschutes River southwest of Bend.
– KGW.com
More: kgw.com
Study: eat fish for better semen
A study suggests men who are hoping to start families may want to pay attention to what they eat.
– CNN
More: thechart.blogs.cnn.com
Researchers test undersea Wi-Fi
A deep-sea Internet has many applications, the researchers argue, including linking together buoy networks that detect tsunamis to deliver a more reliable warning system. It may also help collect oceanographic data and monitoring pollution.
– Fox News
More: foxnews.com
Fate of sunken oil rigs debated
Despite an unlikely consensus that the decommissioned rigs create prolific ecosystems, a law enacted more than 30 years ago requires that many of these platforms be ripped from the ocean floor.
– Discovery News
More: discovery.com
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
LUST LACK LIMITS JAPANESE MARKET
Japanese people aren't having enough kids to sustain a healthy economy.
– Max Fisher writing for the Washington Post's World View
More: washingtonpost.com
Wrong! Japan is still lusty
Right now, Japanese people are having sex. Not all the Japanese people at once, mind you. But it's going on as you read this. Forget what you've recently heard about the country's bedroom habits, because it's just not true.
– Brian Ashcraft, writing for Culture Smash
More: kotaku.com
ASMI vs. Walmart
But the move quickly set drew a reaction from customers, as WalMart and others said they would no longer buy Alaskan salmon without the independent check.
– New York Times
More: nytimes.com
Cosmetics for farmed salmon
A PhD project carried out at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science has examined the unwanted discoloration, or melanin "black spots," of muscle fillets from farmed salmon.
– Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, quoted in Physorg.com
More: phys.org
Record-breaker for Alaska salmon
Alaska's 2013 Salmon harvest will be one for the record books, and the Southeast harvest was more valuable than that of any other part in the state.
– Matt Lichtenstein, reporting for KFSK, Petersburg
More: kfsk.org
Saving Western Venture crew
Anyone who has plied the waters of Alaska can attest to the many dangers facing mariners, and the rescue of five crewmen aboard the fishing vessel Western Venture on Oct. 20, has cast new light upon the importance of being prepared and the benefit of a Coast Guard presence in the Aleutian Islands.
– Shawn Eggert, writing for the Coast Guard in the Hauling Gear blog
More: blog.haulinggear.com
Burned vessel likely sank
The U.S. Coast Guard says a 59-foot longliner that burned Sunday in the Bering Sea has likely sunk.
– Rosemarie Alexander for KTUU, Juneau, and Jay Barrett of KMXT, Kodiak
More: kmxt.org
Pebble company talks
Northern Dynasty Minerals held a conference call with reporters and investors Monday shortly after learning that their partner in the Pebble Mine project was pulling funding and support for the project.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Talking Pebble in Congress
On Thursday the proposed Pebble Mine and the EPA's "Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment" were front and center during a committee hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG
More: kdlg.org
Fish Board to handle sunken tender
The Board of Fish agrees to look at fixing a hazard to navigation in the Ugashik River.
– Mike Mason, reporting on KDLG
More: kdlg.org
Thursday, October 24, 2013
BOOM TIMES ON SQUID
For the fourth year in a row – and with the fastest time ever since modern regulations began in 2005 — California's squid-fishing fleet hit its annual limit early, with the more than 100 permitted boats landing about 118,000 tons of the slimy species known as Doryteuthis opalescens by Oct. 18, nearly six months before the season ends on March 31, 2014.
– Santa Barbara Independent
More: independent.com
Killer bananas
Your average banana in the grocery store emits more radiation than fish tested off the West Coast.
– Tampa Bay Times
More: tampabay.com
UFA eyes Fish Board appointments
It's been a hotbed of controversy over the balance among gear-group, subsistence, and sport representatives.
– Ed Schoenfeld, reporting for KCAW, Sitka
More: kcaw.org
New group against Pebble
Its biggest investor is gone and its staff and contractors have been cut to the bone, but the Pebble copper and gold prospect is drawing fresh heat from a newly formed organization made up of old adversaries of the mine project.
– Lisa Demer, reporting for Anchorage Daily News
More: adn.com
Eastern sea lions unthreatened
The eastern population of the Steller sea lion will be taken off the threatened species list.
– Mark Theissen, reporting for wunderground.com
More: wunderground.com
Non-Alaskans holding more permits
A new report indicates that more and more non-residents hold commercial fishing permits in Alaska.
– Mike Mason, reporting for KDLG, Dillingham
More: kdlg.org
Huge dam coming on hard
Plans for the proposed Susitna Dam — and ecological research required for licensing it — are hurtling forward at breakneck speed.
– Sarah O'Neal, reporting for the Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More: peninsulaclarion.com
B.C. chandlery closes
One of Ladner's most recognizable waterfront landmark businesses will be downsizing in November, as Massey's Marine Supply will close its retail store.
– Adrian MacNair, reporting in the South Delta Leader
More: southdeltaleader.com
Grays Harbor salmon
State Fish and Wildlife would like anglers input on how to manage the Grays Harbor salmon fisheries.
– Mark Yuasa, reporting in the Seattle Times
More: seattletimes.com
Paper charts disappearing
In the United States, NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, which creates and maintains the nation's suite of over a thousand nautical charts of U.S. coastal waters, announced major changes ahead for mariners and others who use nautical charts.
– Net News Ledger
See more at: netnewsledger.com
Friday, October 25, 2013
ALASKA CRABBERS GO TO WORK
The Bering Sea crab fleet was ready to head to the fishing grounds over the weekend beginning Oct. 18 after the government shutdown and unissued licenses stalled the Oct. 15 start of the crab season.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, reporting in the Alaska Journal of Commerce
More: alaskajournal.com
Tanner fishermen out of luck
The situation was even worse for small boat crabbers at Kodiak and the Westward region who learned there would not even be a tanner fishery come January.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, reporting in the Seward Phoenix Log
More: thesewardphoenixlog.com
Duel with observers
"We don't want them on the boat. We feel as though they're out there to kind of shut us down."
– A skipper as quoted by Jennifer Levitz in the Wall Street Journal
More: stream.wsj.com
PWS humpie count could rise
A preliminary report on the Prince William Sound salmon season puts the total harvest at 96.2 million fish, but state fisheries biologists said Oct. 22 that the postseason revision would boost that number with an increased humpy harvest.
– Margaret Bauman, reporting in The Cordova Times
More: thecordovatimes.com
Woman remembers fatal voyage
Five men died, but the lone woman on board, Eileen Lorenz, survived. It was the eve of her 18th birthday.
– Christine Lyon, reporting for North Shore News (Vancouver, B.C.)
More: nsnews.com
Gunning for Cal sea lions
One of the sea lions was found injured on Broad Beach on October 10, and later died at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro.
– Chris Clarke, reporting for KCET (Los Angeles)
More: kcet.org
Unalaska law & order
Two men had indeed been fighting in the parking lot over "fisherman stuff."
– Unalaska Police Blotter, reported in the Bristol Bay Times
More: thebristolbaytimes.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, federal workers are back to work, which means crab fishermen are, too. The government shutdown may impair research on an emerging fishery, and five well-prepared fishermen are safe after their boat burns in the Aleutian Islands. All that, plus spawn-on-kelp; yeah, it's exactly what it sounds like.
– A bunch of public broadcasters assembled by KMXT, Kodiak
More: kmxt.org
No danger of tsunami
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer says there's no danger of a big wave hitting coastal Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, or California.
– Ed Schoenfeld, Coast Alaska News, as carried by KFSK, Petersburg
More: kcaw.org
New Bering fisheries
The Alaska Board of Fish voted to set up two new state-managed fisheries in the Aleutians at their meeting in Anchorage this week.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Lauren Rosenthal, reporting in KUCB, Unalaska
More: kucb.org
