Monday, November 7, 2011
RETIRING SE SEINE PERMITS
Here's a reduction plan buyback organizers submitted to NMFS. They accepted bids on 67 permits, with the bids totaling $13.65 million.
– Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
More marine activity on Unalaska
The Carl E. Moses small boat harbor is reaching completion, and now a different project might be on the verge of starting up.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
How bad is salmon disease?
So, is there a fish crisis, or isn't there? In a word: maybe.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Cohen panel to look at salmon disease
The Cohen Inquiry, looking into the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon, will hold a special two-day session next month because of the possibility that a potentially lethal virus could be affecting wild salmon.
– Victoria Times Colonist
Read more:www.timescolonist.com
Cohen committee backgrounder
What is killing British Columbia’s salmon? And just where is the crime scene?
– Globe and Mail, Toronto
More:www.theglobeandmail.com
Bycatch trouble? Eat it!
Expanding people’s palates to include sometimes strange-looking fish caught in local waters promotes more sustainable fisheries.
– Audubon magazine
More:magblog.audubon.org
Pollution in fish standards
How much fish Washington residents consume is important because it helps drives water quality standards and pollution control.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Battle over Klamath dams continues
Disputes over removing four dams farther east on the Klamath and irrigation practices on the Scott and Shasta tributaries have catapulted the sparsely populated area to the center of a national debate over dam removal, farmers' rights and threatened salmon runs.
– Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight
More:www.redding.com
Mustang recalls flotation devices
Mustang Survival is voluntarily recalling all model number MD2010 and MD2012 inflatable Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) sold in the United States during 2011.
– Mustang
More:www.mustangsurvival.com
UFA backs coastal management program
The United Fishermen of Alaska has joined a growing number of coastal communities in adopting aresolution supporting reestablishment of an Alaska Coastal Management Program at its full board meeting in Homer.
– UFA
More:www.ufa-fish.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
ALASKA FISHERMEN WEALTHIER
Over the past six years average employment for Alaska commercial fishermen dropped slightly, but gross earnings were up – and that is a better measure of industry health.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Halibut charters within limits – finally
The halibut charter catch in Southeast Alaska fell within allocation guidelines for the first time in seven years.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Pollock B season closes
The pollock B season closed last Tuesday, and now the final harvest numbers are out.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Southeast does well with salmon
One dollar in three earned in Alaska's salmon harvest was earned in Southeast Alaska this year.
– Juneau Empire
More:juneauempire.com
Clashes at B.C. salmon probe
Participants in the Cohen Commission are clashing openly this week as they deliver final submissions and attempt to bolster their own cases while undermining their opponents.
– Globe and Mail, Toronto
More:www.theglobeandmail.com
Group opposed to ocean planning
The Administration's National Ocean Policy (and coastal and marine spatial planning) will jeopardize over 30 years of progress by creating another totally unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that could overrule the existing highly effective management process.
– Seafood Coalition
More:www.prnewswire.com
S. California's protected areas
About 11 percent of the Southern California coastline is about to go on lockdown, thanks to somewhat controversial new marine protected areas drafted by the state Department of Fish and Game.
– Top Blog Stories
More:blogs.laweekly.com
Cold Bay medevac
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a man from a 150-foot fishing vessel 60 miles north of Cold Bay.
– Coast Guard
More:www.d17.uscgnews.com
Big Alaska storm
A giant Pacific storm headed toward Alaska's western coast has the potential to cause major coastal flooding, serious beach erosion, heavy snowfall and widespread damage, according to the National Weather Service.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Yukon River numbers
Here are highlights from a Department of Fish and Game summary of the 2011 fall salmon season on the Yukon River.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Senators seek trawl cost cap
U.S. senators from Washington, Oregon and California joined together in sending a letter to the secretary of commerce (the agency that contains NMFS and NOAA) urging that West Coast fishermen's share of observer costs not exceed 20 percent in 2012, and that NOAA dedicate $3.9 million in FY12 to cover the remainder of observer costs.
– West Coast Trawlers Network
More:www.westcoasttrawlers.net
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
NO DEADLY SALMON DISEASE?
Fears that a deadly virus is infecting B.C. salmon appear to be unfounded, federal officials said Tuesday.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
'Megastorm' hits Alaska
Villages and towns across Alaska's western and northwest coasts braced Tuesday for a winter megastorm that the National Weather Service says could be among the worst on record.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Crew removed from crippled trawler
The Coast Guard has evacuated most of the crew from a 143-foot Seattle-based fishing vessel limping on one engine in the stormy Bering Sea.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Pollock allotment may go down
The National Marine Fisheries Service has posted its draft assessment of the Eastern Bering Sea pollock stock, and it proposes revising the allowable biological catch down to 1.08 million metric tons.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Coast Guard reality series begins
The latest reality television series based in Alaska will premier tomorrow night on The Weather Channel. Coast Guard Alaska follows crews from Air Station Kodiak as they train, work, and raise their families in the harsh environment of Alaska.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
NTSB wants safer fishing boats
The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the Coast Guard to address safety concerns within the U.S. commercial fishing industry.
– Tacoma News Tribune
More:www.thenewstribune.com
Oregon crabbers collect gear
Commercial crab fishermen along the Oregon coast have brought in 481 "lost" crab pots in a derelict gear recovery program sponsored by the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission since its inception in early May of this year.
– Cannon Beach Gazette
More:www.cannonbeachgazette.com
Alaska's third-most profitable year
This makes the 2011 harvest the third most valuable since 1975, behind the 1988 and 2010 harvests, respectively.
– FIS
More:www.fis.com
More Alaska open to drilling
The Obama administration cautiously offered up more areas in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska's coast to oil and gas drilling Tuesday, but didn't go far enough to satisfy Republicans pushing to greatly expand drilling as a way to create jobs and wean the country off foreign oil.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Humboldt Co. supports Klamath plan
Fisheries experts and Klamath River advocates agree – the single best action we can take to protect and restore our once-abundant Klamath fisheries is to remove the four lowermost dams on the Klamath River.
– Eureka Times Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Upscale seafood chain sold
Landry's Inc. owner, Tilman Fertitta, finally struck a $131.6 million deal to buy out seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's, ending a months-long pursuit that had seen the restaurant magnate go hostile with his bid.
– Reuters
More:www.reuters.com
Mustang recalls flotation devices
Mustang Survival is voluntarily recalling all model number MD2010 and MD2012 inflatable Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) sold in the United States during 2011.
– Mustang
More:www.mustangsurvival.com
Thursday, November 10, 2011
SOME TSUNAMI DEBRIS TO HIT SOON
The largest items swept out to sea following the Japanese tsunami in March could arrive on the B.C. coastline within days, oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer predicted Wednesday.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Bering storm hits
A giant Bering Sea storm with hurricane-force winds roared up the western Alaska coastline Wednesday, sending waves over storm barriers, knocking out electricity, flooding parts of some villages and leading to evacuations.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Weak Cal crab opener?
After a sub-par crab season last season, preseason quality test results for this year are looking weak for one of Del Norte's biggest economic drivers.
– Crescent City Triplicate
More:www.triplicate.com
Record value for pinks
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says this year's pink salmon harvest set an all-time record for value at more than $170 million.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Alaska Warrior crewman dies
A crew member was found dead aboard the fishing vessel Alaska Warrior early this morning.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Rebecca Irene safe
After weathering a stormy night, the fishing vessel Rebecca Irene is on its way back to Unalaska.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Klamath deal troubles
"At one point in time, we probably thought it would sail right through. Now we know it's going to be a long haul."
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Boot out B.C. salmon farms
The Cohen Inquiry is being urged to recommend the removal of ocean-based salmon farms from the B.C. coast – even if science has yet to prove the farms are to blame for the decline of Fraser River wild sockeye stocks.
– B.C. Local News
More:www.bclocalnews.com
Natives win but must pay $3 mil
Five first nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island are on the hook to pay a whopping $3-million-plus legal bill, even though they won their court case involving aboriginal fishing rights.
– PostMedia News
More:www.canada.com
Cal: Managing for salmon
California Trout and Trout Unlimited launched an outreach campaign to advocate for a science-based approach to managing the Central Valley's flood protection system including connected floodplains required for salmon recovery.
– SacBee.com
More:www.sacbee.com
Edmund Fitzgerald
It's been 36 years today since the ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a violent storm in eastern Lake Superior taking all 29 crew members with her.
– Bemidji Pioneer
More:www.youtube.com
Friday, November 11, 2011
DUNGENESS SEASON DELAYED
The opening of the ocean commercial Dungeness crab season from Point Arena, Calif., to the Canadian border will be delayed at least until Dec. 15.
– Daily Astorian
Bristol Bay salmon forecast
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting that the total sockeye run to Bristol Bay next summer will be larger than the actual run this past summer.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:www.kdlg.org
B.C. fisherman/drug smuggler
A Canadian fisherman and drug smuggler who escaped prosecution after authorities seized his boat and cargo of 2 ½ tons of cocaine off the Washington coast in 2001 is now suspected of trying to smuggle 400 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia by boat.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Big fish farmer wobbling
Billionaire shipping tycoon John Fredriksen's Marine Harvest ASA, the world's biggest salmon farmer, is grappling with a supply overhang that is weighing on profit and may trigger a breach of loan covenants.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:www.sfgate.com
Half-billion dollars and more in salmon
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated the value of this year’s statewide salmon catch at $603 million.
– Alaska Public Broadcasting
More:www.alaskapublic.org
B.C. court rules against Natives
A First Nation in British Columbia lost its bid to gain widespread access to commercial fishing rights in a Supreme Court decision Thursday.
– CBC
More:www.cbc.ca
Video: CG windstorm overflight
Coast Guard, FEMA and Alaska State Homeland Security and Emergency Management representatives over fly more than 15 villages along the western coast of Alaska in an HC-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Kodiak following a severe storm Nov. 10, 2011.
– Coast Guard
More:www.d17.uscgnews.com
Storm aftermath
The superstorm that tore across Western Alaska this week vanished to the north Thursday, leaving behind 37 communities reporting some combination of flooding, wind damage, power outages and evacuations.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Refer seminar still open
The Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and Integrated Marine Systems, Inc. will hold a one-day workshop in Kodiak on November 29.
– Sea Grant
More:seagrant.uaf.edu
B.C. fish business put to risk
Canada Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Keith Ashfield said this has been a difficult few weeks for the fishing industry in British Columbia.
– FishNewsEU
More:www.fishnewseu.com
Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week: Looking back, Southeast had the most valuable salmon catch this summer, AND we look ahead to next year's forecasts there and in Bristol Bay. Also, the halibut charter industry did NOT go over its quota this year. Those stories, plus, Vietnamese fishermen make Somali pirates walk the plank after retaking their boat.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
