Monday, December 12, 2011
ALEXANDRA CLAIMS CANADIAN COVER UP
An independent British Columbia researcher is accusing the Canadian government of covering up years of positive tests for the potentially deadly Infectious Salmon Anemia virus.
– Juneau Empire
More:juneauempire.com
Lower TAC for Bering pollock
After plenty of back and forth between regulators, industry representatives, biologists, and fishermen, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has capped the amount of pollock that fisherman can catch in the Bering Sea next year at 1.2 million metric tons.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
SF herring progressing
It's been about a month since the relatively small-scale season for fresh herring – only 10 permits to catch the fish were issued – opened.
– San Francisco Weekly
More:blogs.sfweekly.com
Frankenfish debate
Biotechnologist Alison Van Eenennaam and environmental scientist Anne Kapuscinski discuss the food safety and environmental concerns associated with transgenic fish.
– NPR
More:www.npr.org
Pebble opposition broadens
Opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s famed Bristol Bay region continues to mount, with some major seafood processors now wading into the anti-Pebble waters.
– National Resources Defense Council
More:switchboard.nrdc.org
TAC for Gulf of Alaska groundfish
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has set the 2012 total allowable catch (TAC) for Gulf of Alaska groundfish.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy writing in his blog: Deckboss
Canadian DFO braces for layoffs
About 400 Fisheries and Oceans employees across Canada are to receive letters from managers informing them their jobs will be affected as the department rolls out reductions from last year’s strategic review.
– Victoria Times Colonist
Stikine kings bounce back
Looks like Southeast Alaska commercial fishermen next spring will get a crack at those gorgeous Stikine River king salmon.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy writing in his blog: Deckboss
Blame big boats for crab strike failure
The price strike by Bay Area crab fishermen against seafood distributors broke this season along a historic fracture: the competing interests of local fishermen and larger boats from Northern California, Oregon and Washington that swoop to our coast and scoop up Dungeness crab every year.
– San Jose Mercury News
More:www.mercurynews.com
Tribe and hatchery supplementation
The tribe's hatchery "supplementation" strategy – steering much-maligned hatchery fish to wild spawning grounds – is highly controversial. But it has driven up fall chinook returns decimated by dams and habitat destruction.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
OREGON CRAB: $2.30
Last week, most of the Oregon Coast got the go-ahead for a commercial Dungeness crab season to start on Dec. 15. Now they have a price agreement in place as well.
–KCBY, Coos Bay
More:www.kcby.com
Can divers, otters coexist?
Sea otters are cleaning out valuable commercial fisheries in Southeast Alaska, and they have been at it for decades.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Copper River dip-netters limited
Dip-netters at Chitina next season will still be limited to one king salmon — assuming there are enough to go around — and they will still be classified as personal-use, not subsistence, fishermen. The dip netting season on the Copper River at Chitina will start later next year.
– Fairbanks News Miner
More:newsminer.com
Big springer run seen on Columbia
A very strong run of 314,200 spring chinook — the Northwest's premier salmon — is forecast to enter the Columbia River in 2012 headed for upstream of Bonneville Dam.
– Vancouver Columbian
More:www.columbian.com
Canada salmon health rules inadequate
Canada's fish health regulations are not stringent enough to prevent viruses from being imported to West Coast fish farms on Atlantic salmon eggs, says a former high-level provincial government fisheries biologist.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Canada can't take fish for granted
The availability of future Canadian fish stocks cannot be taken for granted, and parliamentarians must ask themselves some tough questions about the sustainability of the country's fisheries, says a new report from Canada's environmental watchdog.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.canada.com
Fishermen may influence pollock rules
After salmon, pollock is Alaska's most profitable fishery. It's certainly the state's most productive one, with fishermen harvesting a couple billion pounds of the fish annually.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Status of ribbon seal
NOAA's Fisheries Service is announcing the initiation of a new status review of the ribbon seal to determine whether the species warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act.
– NOAA
More:alaskafisheries.noaa.gov
Status of ribbon seal
NOAA's Fisheries Service is announcing the initiation of a new status review of the ribbon seal to determine whether the species warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act.
– NOAA
More:alaskafisheries.noaa.gov
Status of ringed, bearded seals
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service is extending by up to six months the final decisions on listing four subspecies of ringed seals and two distinct population segments of bearded seals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
–NOAA
More:alaskafisheries.noaa.gov
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
OCEANA WANTS LOWER CATCHES
A conservation group has sued federal West Coast fisheries managers, claiming they are letting fishermen harvest too many sardines and other small fish, while leaving too few in the ocean for salmon, whales and sea lions.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Anti-gillnet measure to be renamed
A recent decision by the Oregon Supreme Court sent a title for an upcoming ballot initiative back toAttorney General John Kroger's office to be renamed.
– Oregon Capitol News
More:oregoncapitolnews.com
Wandering black cod fisherman
A commercial fisherman from Oregon may believe that fish don't comply with imaginary boundary lines, but because designated boundaries are part of the nation's federal regulatory process for fisherman, 46-year-old Freddie Lee Hankins has found himself in hot water with the Feds.
– Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
Public radio tries to explain chums
But there's a green-and-purple oddball that tends to be more popular with biologists than fishermen.
– Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:news.opb.org
Anti-pirate fishing bill introduced
A bill introduced in Congress would prevent pirate fishing vessels from entering U.S. ports to offload their illegally caught seafood. This pirate fishing is often called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
– NOAA
More:www.state.gov
Fisherman search suspended
The search for a missing fisherman near Coos Bay's North Jetty has been suspended by the Coast Guard.
– KCBY, Coos Bay
More:www.kcby.com
Another Pebble Mine
The Pebble Mine is the most talked about and controversial proposed mining project in Southwest Alaska but it's not the only project being looked at. KDLG's Mike Mason has the story.
– KDLG, Dillingham
More:kdlg.org
Oregon groundfish seasons
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission set the 2012 groundfish seasons at its meeting in Portland.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
Stop cod fishing off New England?
Federal regulators are considering the unthinkable in New England: severely restricting — maybe even shutting down — cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine, from north of Cape Cod clear up to Canada.
– New York Times
More:www.nytimes.com
Quick golden king crab season
It was a quick season for the six boats that fished Eastern Aleutian golden king crab this year.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Canadian biologist in the fray
A lot of people were glad to see Bob Hooton retire.
– Globe and Mail, Toronto
More:www.theglobeandmail.com
Thursday, December 15, 2011
ANTI-PEBBLE ADS 'CRIMINAL'
Recently the anti-Pebble group has elevated its allegations of criminal wrongdoing.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Cordova derelict floated
Coast Guard personnel oversaw the successful relocation of the landing craft Sound Developer from the Cordova small boat harbor to the Ocean Dock Yard.
– Coast Guard
More:www.d17.uscgnews.com
Good conditions for D. crab opener
Blue skies, calm seas and an unprecedented opening price per pound of $2.30 made for a bright start this week to the 2011-2012 Dungeness crab season.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Charleston fisherman mourned
Friends and family of a well-known Charleston fisherman missing at sea since Monday say they feel a mix of shock and grief.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
Halibut charter bag limits unchanged
Homer and other Southcentral charter captains got some breathing room for 2012, with no changes in bag limits.
– Homer News
More:homernews.com
Sporties demand money
Four Northwest sport-fishing groups say Washington's governor's office is using $1.5 million in recreational dollars to subsidize commercial fishing in the state's 2011-13 supplemental budget.
– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian
More:www.columbian.com
Good forecast for upper Cook Inlet
Upper Cook Inlet is expecting another better-than-average salmon season in 2012, according to the forecast released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
– Homer News
More:homernews.com
Quota owners may be forced to crab
Owners who no longer have vessels that fish for crab still own crab shares. They lease those shares to active boats in exchange for part of the profits.
– KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Good news for Sacramento salmon
Salmon have flooded into state and federal fish hatcheries in the past month.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:blog.sfgate.com
Friday, December 16, 2011
CANADIAN FEDS HIDE FISH FARM DISEASE
Department of Fisheries biologists have told a federal inquiry that fish samples, dating back more than two decades have tested positive for a potentially lethal wild sockeye fish virus — but that fact wasn't publicly reported.
– CBC
More:www.cbc.ca
Tested positive for 25 years!
B.C. sockeye salmon have tested positive in a Fisheries and Oceans Canada lab for pieces of a virus known to kill Atlantic salmon, the Cohen Commission was told Thursday. It has been present in B.C. for at least 25 years, the inquiry heard.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Read the disease memo
A 2009 memo from Fisheries and Oceans Canada entered into evidence at Canada's federal Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of Fraser River Sockeye Thursday reveals that salmon at the AquaBounty facility in Prince Edward Island have tested positive for the Infectious Salmon Anaemia ISA virus.
– Living Oceans Society
Read the memo:www.livingoceans.org
World market flush with pollock
Both the United States and Russia raised their caps, and the result is that more 6 billion pounds of the fish are expected to be harvested by the end of the year.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Alexandra Gutierrez, reporting for KUCB, Unalaska
More:www.kucb.org
Good Sam at tragic sinking
The Patty AJ just happened to be about a quarter-mile from the fishing vessel Randi when disaster struck.
– Coos Bay World
More:theworldlink.com
End to Prince William Sound conflict?
Cordova District Fishermen United is proposing to resolve conflict issues between the commercial fishermen and charter boat operators on a voluntary basis, rather than possible mandatory closures in certain areas, says CDFU President Jerry McCune.
– Cordova Times
More:thecordovatimes.com
Following marine reserve fish
Now, scientists are trying to use the area to study the life cycle and patterns of fish, to try and get a better sense of how they live their lives.
– Public Radio International
More:www.pri.org
Befouled atmosphere and fish
In a new article published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from Stony Brook University demonstrate that "the fish are OK" belief ignores an important knowledge gap – the possible effects of CO2 during the early development of fish eggs and larvae.
– Environmental Protection
More:eponline.com
Huge herring forecast for 2012
An early number outlining how much herring the commercial seine fleet can catch is nearly 10,000 tons over last year's amount.
– KCAW, Sitka
More:www.kcaw.org
Kodiak Coasties back on the air
The Weather Channel has picked up two more seasons of the Al Roker-produced reality series Coast Guard Alaska.
– New York Daily News
More:www.nydailynews.com
