Monday, October 24, 2011

EXPECT JAPAN DEBRIS IN THREE years


Debris from the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 has turned up exactly where scientists predicted it would after months of floating across the Pacific Ocean. Finding and confirming where the debris ended up gives them a better idea of where it's headed next.

– MSNBC

More:www.msnbc.msn.com

 

Alaska Natives against trawling

Delegates to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention today passed two resolutions of interest to the commercial fishing industry.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More:deckboss.blogspot.com

Body found in commercial crab gear

Two commercial fishermen made a grisly discovery Sunday morning, pulling up a body in full scuba gear caught in their crab trap in Burrard Inlet.

– 24HoursVancouver

More:vancouver.24hrs.ca

Cold bars Bering Sea fish

Scientists say a pool of cold water in the northern Bering Sea has been a locked door to the northward migration of pollock and cod, the fish harvested for America's fish sticks and fast food sandwiches.

– Seattle P-I

More:www.seattlepi.com

Pebble to be site of super clash

Mining on this scale, in such a sensitive area, has generated an epic clash that is playing out in Alaska politics, economic sectors, and local communities, and drawing in partisans all over the world.

– Alaska Native News

More:alaska-native-news.com

Anti-Pebble vote taken to court

The issue is quickly going back to court, where a judge in Anchorage will hear arguments Nov. 7 on the legality of the ballot measure.

– Sacramento Bee

More:www.sacbee.com

Fish farm disease worries Senate

The U.S. Senate has approved an amendment calling for an investigation and "rapid response plan" to prevent the spread of the ISA virus reported in wild sockeye in British Columbia.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More:deckboss.blogspot.com

B.C. fish farmer to plead guilty

Marine Harvest, a large Norwegian-based producer of farmed salmon, intends to plead guilty to a 2009 case of having "incidental bycatch" at two of its facilities near the north end of Vancouver Island in the Broughton Archipelago.

– Victoria Times Colonist

More:www.timescolonist.com

Crescent City Harbor low on cash

The Crescent City Harbor is in a dire cash flow situation as bills for ongoing tsunami repair projects are received — and this is just the beginning.

– Crescent City Triplicate

More:www.triplicate.com

Why scientists fear fish farm disease

To understand why scientists were so alarmed last week to see a potentially lethal fish virus surface in two sockeye, consider what happened in South America in 2007.

– Seattle Times

More:seattletimes.nwsource.com

 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Let us kill sea lions


Debris from the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 has turned up exactly where scientists predicted it would after months of floating across the Pacific Ocean. Finding and confirming where the debris ended up gives them a better idea of where it's headed next.

– MSNBC

More:www.msnbc.msn.com

Alaska rejects anti-coal mine plea

The state of Alaska rejected a petition seeking to declare state lands within the Chuitna watershed as unsuitable for coal mining.

– Anchorage Daily News

Read More:www.adn.com

'Critical habitat' for smelt

When the Obama administration set aside "critical habitat" for smelt last week it included the Columbia River and many of its tributaries near Portland. It didn’t include smelt-heavy sections of the ocean, where the small but significant "forage fish" spend 95 percent of their lives.

– Bend Bulletin

More:www.bendbulletin.com

Stay calm over fish farm disease

State officials say there is "no reason to panic" and that Alaska salmon are "relatively safe" from a deadly fish virus that has appeared for the first time in Pacific waters.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch writing for SitNews.com, Ketchikan

More:www.sitnews.us

Aground near Charleston

A 50-foot fishing vessel ran aground early Sunday just north of the entrance of the Coos Bay.

– Coos Bay World

More:theworldlink.com

State sells off pirate ship’s catch

An Alaska business has purchased the roughly 30 tons of squid and 30 shark carcasses that authorities confiscated from a vessel suspected of illegal fishing.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Pebble backers won’t contest election

The group promoting a mine project near the headwaters of Bristol Bay will not contest the outcome of a vote aimed at the Pebble mine.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Klamath report now available

NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources recently released the third annual Klamath River Basin Report to Congress. The Magnuson-Stevens Act required NOAA Fisheries to develop a recovery plan for Klamath River coho salmon in 2007 and submit annual reports to Congress beginning in 2009.

– NOAA

Read the report:www.nmfs.noaa.gov

Frankenfish may harm a green reputation

Allowing an American company to produce the eggs of genetically-modifed salmon on P.E.I. would hurt the Island's reputation as a green province, environmentalists warn.

– CBC

More:www.cbc.ca

Help!

Fish Wrap succeeds or fails on one thing alone: Numbers. Although we have the highest possible quality readership – each of you represents physical perfection, impeccable manners, and exquisite taste – we need more subscribers. Do us a favor: Get one person to become a subscriber.

The process is easy: Send an e-mail with first and last name, plus the e-mail address, to circulation@nwpublishingcenter.com. That’s it!

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

REASONS FOR DEADLY SINKING


Watertight doors left open on an overloaded fishing vessel during a storm likely caused the boat to sink off the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

 


No charges against pirate crew

A NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman says she doesn't expect charges to be filed against the crew of a ship suspected of illegal fishing.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

NOAA pays for E. Coast monitoring

In a preliminary response to Sen. John Kerry's comprehensive reform agenda for the New England fisheries, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco announced a commitment to continue paying the multi-million dollar cost of at-sea monitoring for commercial fishing boats.

– Gloucester (Mass.) Times

More:www.gloucestertimes.com

Disease shocks fish farmers

The detection in B.C. sockeye of a virus that is lethal to Atlantic salmon has sent a shock wave through British Columbia's fish farming industry, where annual sales of $250 million and some 3,000 jobs are at risk.

– Globe and Mail, Toronto

More:www.theglobeandmail.com

Another source: Tsunami debris coming

Up to 20 million tons of tsunami debris floating from Japan could arrive on Hawaii's shores by early 2013, before reaching the West Coast, according to estimates by University of Hawaii scientists.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Fish migration on Deschutes

Sometimes the return of one adult salmon or steelhead is more exciting than runs of hundreds or thousands. That's the situation this year in Central Oregon's Deschutes River Basin.

– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita, reporting for Oregon Public Radio

More:ecotrope.opb.org

Fish kill in Portland

The Coast Guard and state regulators are investigating an oil spill at a Port of Portland soda ash export terminal last week and the subsequent death of some 300 fish.

– The Oregonian

More:www.oregonlive.com

Derelicts stymie Alaska ports

A 120-foot landing craft called the Sound Developer sank in Cordova's harbor three winters ago, leaving it broken in parts and leaking whatever hazardous fuels were aboard.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Fish radiation monitoring

Greenpeace Japan urged the government to come up with strict rules requiring that fish products bear labels showing the radioactive materials they contain.

– Japan Times

More:www.japantimes.co.jp

 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

ADFG: FISH FARM DISEASE RISK LOW


The smolts were not exhibiting any outward signs of infection. Research on Salmon Anemia Virus indicates that the risk to Alaska's salmon stocks is low.

– ADF&G

More: www.adfg.alaska.gov

 


Denby Lloyd seeks Kodiak job

A former commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is seeking to become the fisheries analyst for Kodiak Island.

– Anchorage Daily News

More: www.adn.com

NW hydro dam breached

With a massive charge of TNT detonated at the base of Condit Dam, the White Salmon River roared back to life.

– Seattle Times

More: seattletimes.nwsource.com

Nuke leak bad, but no danger

France's nuclear monitor said that the amount of caesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen. But, confirming previous assessments, it said caesium levels had been hugely diluted by ocean currents and, except for near-shore species, posed no discernible threat.

– Vancouver Sun

More: www.vancouversun.com

Some farmers oppose frankenfish

New Brunswick's salmon farming industry says it is strongly opposed to the production of genetically modified salmon, distancing itself from what it labels a "controversial and untested product."

– New Brunswick Business Journal

More: nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com

Training new processing leaders

Middle management employees from seafood processing plants around the state of Alaska will gather in Kodiak for a leadership workshop sponsored by the Fisheries Industrial Technology Center.

– KMXT, Kodiak

More: www.kmxt.org (scroll down)

No ID for diver found in crab gear

The autopsy results are in but North Vancouver police are no closer to identifying the remains or cause of death of a scuba diver pulled from the waters of Burrard Inlet.

– North Shore Outlook, British Columbia

More: www.northshoreoutlook.com

Cucumber diver dies

On 10/24/11 at 0530 hours, John Robert Pugh Jr., 35, of Juneau, was in the vicinity of Funter Bay on the west coast of Admiralty Island on a 21-foot skiff working as a deckhand in a sea cucumber fishery opener that was scheduled to start at 0800.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss

More: deckboss.blogspot.com (scroll down)

Cleaning Cordova derelict

The Coast Guard awarded a contract to remove the source of pollution from the sunken landing craft Sound Developer in Cordova to Global Diving and Salvage, Inc. out of Anchorage and Seattle.

– Coast Guard

More: www.d17.uscgnews.com

Seminars on ocean acidification

Want to learn more about Ocean Acidification, and what impact it is (already) having on Northwest fisheries? Three opportunities next month:

• Tune in to KUOW's Weekday with Steve Scher show at 10 a.m. on Nov. 8 for an interview with NOAA scientist Dick Feely and former U.S. Congressman Brian Baird.

• Attend Dissolving Before Our Eyes: The Acidification of Our Oceans, and Why It Matters To All Of Us, with Bill Dewey, Dick Feely and Brian Baird, at Town Hall Seattle Nov. 8th.
– Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com

• Attend for Washington Sea Grant's Symposium on Ocean Acidification, Nov. 9 at the University of Washington. Free, but registration required.
– More: www.wsg.washington.edu

 

Friday, October 28, 2011

GOODBYE TO POLLOCK B

As of Saturday, 77,000 metric tons of fish remain unharvested. That's about 10 percent of what the fleet's allowed to take this fall. Both the catcher vessels and factory trawlers have reduced their effort substantially.

– Pacific Fishing columnist
Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska

More:www.kucb.org

More fish fraud

A Consumer Reports investigation reveals that more than one-fifth of 190 pieces of seafood bought at retail stores and restaurants in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut were not what they claimed to be – either mislabeled as different species of fish, incompletely labeled, or misidentified by employees.

– PR Newswire

More:www.marketwatch.com

Saving smelt: What about the ocean?

When the Obama Administration set aside "critical habitat" for smelt last week it included the Columbia River and many of its tributaries near Portland. It didn't include smelt-heavy sections of the ocean, where the small but significant "forage fish" spend 95 percent of their lives.

– Longview Daily News

More:tdn.com

More words about Klamath plan

As the most recent round of public hearings on the Klamath dam removal environmental impact report nears an end, both supporters and detractors of the project have had an opportunity to have their long-standing comments added into the record.

– Eureka Times-Standard

More:www.times-standard.com

U.S. budget cuts to hurt Alaska

There is a fiscal reckoning coming to Washington, D.C., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski wants Alaskans to be ready.

– Alaska Journal of Commerce

More:www.alaskajournal.com

Craft aground, DWI

Police arrested the captain of a landing craft for suspected drunken driving after the 53-foot vessel ran aground at the Anchorage small boat harbor.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:www.adn.com

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week, we have a follow-up on the salmon virus found in British Columbia wild stock; a former fish and game commissioner wants to be Kodiak's fisheries advisor, and New Zealanders share their tricks for turning leftover fish parts into useful stuff. All that and why is Sen. John Kerry so mad at Jane Lubchenko?

– KMXT, Kodiak

More:www.kmxt.org

Boat in trouble off Grays Harbor

The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the crew of a 50-foot fishing vessel, which was taking on water near Grays Harbor, Wash.

– Daily Astorian

More:www.dailyastorian.com

Salmon disease threat not bad

Scientists and fishermen are following news of a deadly fish virus found in British Columbia salmon. It's a scary situation, but it may not be as bad as it sounds, at least for now.

– KSKA, Sitka

More:www.alaskapublic.org

Indians, rafters disagree

Condit Dam was destroyed on Wednesday. That means salmon should be returning soon to the base of Husum Falls, upstream from where Condit recently blocked the White Salmon River.

– Oregon Public Broadcasting

More:news.opb.org


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