Tuesday, November 27, 2012

FARMERS SUE – ABOUT WHALES?

Complaints by two farmers in California's Central Valley have sparked a U.S review of whether southern resident killer whales should be removed from the endangered list.

– Victoria Times Colonist

More:timescolonist.com

Washington gillnet plan

A proposed plan to restructure salmon and sturgeon fisheries on the lower Columbia River is now available for review on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) website.

– WDFW

More:wdfw.wa.gov

Oregon gillnet plan

The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is inviting public comment on a proposal by Gov. John Kitzhaber to restrict commercial salmon gillnet fishing on the lower Columbia River.

– Columbia River Business Review

More:crbizjournal.com

Diving into sewage

Perhaps more than any other person, I have observed the damaging effects that the discharge of untreated sewage through outfalls off Clover and Macaulay Points.

– Victoria Times Colonist

More:timescolonist.com

A bunch of whales

Killer whales have never been seen before in the previous three decades of the survey.

– Alaska Public Radio

More:alaskapublic.org

Fuel off stricken tug

After a week of harsh weather, responders were finally able to remove fuel from a tug that grounded off the Alaska Peninsula.

– KUCB, Unalaska

More:kucb.org

Chinook hatchery discussed

A plan aimed at establishing a hatchery king salmon return to Frederick Sound near Petersburg is gathering local support.
 
– KFSK, Petersburg

More:kfsk.org

Aleutian history

The Dora, the Starr, the Western Pioneer, the Snowbird, the Aleut Packer, the Pribilof, the Coastal Trader: These are all familiar ships to old Aleutian hands in the coastwise and fishing trade between Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

– Alaska Dispatch

More:alaskadispatch.com

 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

If you hit Fish Expo today in Seattle you'll see Mat Jackson, Mike Jackson, and Bob Kantola in the Grunden's booth (721). They seemed friendly and presentable on Tuesday. You'll always see folks in the Pacific Fishing booth (626). They seemed friendly – although somewhat less presentable.

 

Oceans changing fast

The Worlds Ocean's are changing, and not for the better.

– The Guardian

More:guardianlv.com

Fewer icebergs

A new study says Alaska's Columbia Glacier should break off far fewer icebergs in about eight years.

– KTOO, Juneau

More:ktoo.org

No more permit stacking?

If the local fish and game advisory committee for the Nushgak River region has its way that system will go away.

– KDLG, Dillingham

More:kdlg.org

Hefty fines for water violations

The Environmental Protection Agency has fined four Alaska seafood processing vessels for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

– KUCB, Unalaska

More:kucb.org

ASMI photo contest

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is seeking Alaska's help to promote Alaska seafood species around the world with a photo contest.

– Juneau Empire

More:juneauempire.com

What killed Lady Cecelia?

On Sept. 9, the U.S. Coast Guard and FDS Marine International LLC, found the wreck of the Lady Cecelia lodged in the mud 317 feet under water, 20 miles west of Willapa Bay, Wash.

– Daily Astorian

More:dailyastorian.com

Food chain link hurt

Scientists years ago figured out that a group of tiny snail-like sea creatures crucial to marine food webs may one day be an early victim of changing ocean chemistry.

– Seattle Times

More:seattletimes.com

 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Today is the last call to visit Fish Expo 2012 and meet, among many presentable folks, the JetBlue/Cargo guys. That would be Matthew Gray, Mike Bonnett, and Carl Shipsky of Booth 629. And as for the woman: She's Amy Majors, a full-time commercial fisherman and regular columnist for Pacific Fishing, which is directly across the way from JetBlue at Booth 626. Meet them all just around the corner from the Alaska Pavilion.

 

Bad news for Columbia gillnetters

The Washington and Oregon fish and wildlife commissions will be voting on proposals to make sports fishing the priority on the main stem lower Columbia and to gradually move gillnetting primarily to off-channel locations.

– Vancouver Columbian

More:columbian.com

Stop Alaska observer plan

Alaska fishing groups want the state's congressional delegation to intervene over a federal program that will put observers on a portion of commercial halibut boats next year.

– Juneau Empire

More:juneauempire.com

Boats sink, fined

The state Department of Ecology last week handed down fines against owners of two boats that sank last year in San Juan County waters.

– San Juan Journal

More:sanjuanjournal.com

Support Chinook research

Gov. Sean Parnell has proposed to expand the state's king salmon research budget by about 68 percent, a request that deserves favorable treatment from the Alaska Legislature during work on the coming year's budget.

– Fairbanks News Miner

More:newsminer.com

Dolphins back in tuna?

WTO is threatening to turn back the clock to the days when tens of thousands of dolphins were killed each year "in a tuna fishing free-for-all."

– Kansas City Star

More:kansascity.com

Hagfish slime in fashion

From Canada's University of Guelph comes the interesting news that fashionistas of the future may find themselves sporting fabrics derived from fish slime.

– Clean Technica

More:cleantechnica.com

Bristol Bay down next year

State biologists studying the nine river systems of the Bristol Bay watershed are predicting a run of 26.03 million sockeye salmon in 2013, with a forecast range of 17.30 to 34.76 million fish, and a harvest of 16.6 million reds.

– Cordova Times

More:thecordovatimes.com

Line may have led to death

Testimony in a second round of hearings into a fishing vessel that sank off the Washington coast, killing four people, has raised the possibility that the boat got tangled in crab pot lines.

– Anchorage Daily News

More:adn.com

New player in Unalaska

Unalaska's smallest processing plant is now a major player in the Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery.

– KUCB, Unalaska

More:kucb.org

 

Friday, November 30, 2012

 

Jeff Osborn and Paul Piercey were on hand representing Dock Street Brokers as Fish Expo ended Thursday. (One geographic quibble: Why is Dock Street actually on Ballard Avenue?) They'll be back for the 2013 edition. So will Pacific Fishing. We'll be at Booth 634 only 51 weeks from now. See you then.

 

 

Astoria gillnetters up in arms

The fight to save gillnet fishing jobs should be brought directly to Salem.

– Daily Astorian

More:dailyastorian.com

Five corpses on fishing skiff

The open wooden vessel that washed ashore on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan with the decomposing corpses of five men aboard was probably a North Korean fishing boat.

– Japan Times

More:japantimes.co.jp

Salmon back in San Joaquin

Through this project, nearly 95 percent of the San Joaquin's water was diverted for commercial agricultural use, effectively reducing 60 miles of the river to a lifeless gulley.

– Napa County Register

More:napavalleyregister.com

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week: More groundfish boats are going to have observers on them come the new year, Surimi prices are well up in Japan, and the governor wants to almost double the amount of state funds that go to Chinook salmon research. All that and a plan in Petersburg to boost survival of hatchery king salmon is gaining support.

– KMXT, Kodiak

More:kmxt.org

Japan to pay for tsunami debris

Japan is providing $5 million to the U.S. to help with collection and disposal of marine debris from its March 2011 tsunami disaster.

– Anchorage Daily New

More:adn.com

Tsunami app predicts debris

Lurking off the west coast of North America is a massive field of waterlogged possessions, swept out to sea after last year's devastating Japanese tsunami.

– Victoria Times Colonist

More:timescolonist.com

New player on Bristol Bay

Silver Bay Seafoods recently purchased eight acres on the Naknek River to construct a high-volume, state-of-the-art freezing and processing facility.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting on his blog: Deckboss

More:deckboss.blogspot.com

Oregon to wait for Dungeness

This year, the crab around Charleston are already meaty enough to fish, but the crab directly north and south of here need more time.

– Coos Bay World

More:theworldlink.com

Another harbor dredging ban

The Port of Bandon, along with other small ports along Oregon's South Coast, are pulling out all stops to get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fund dredging, but those pleas are mostly falling flat.

– Coos Bay World

More:theworldlink.com