State and Local Archives - Page 4 of 829

ALASKA: Russian objection to U.S. territorial claims off Alaska complicates maritime relationship

April 9, 2024 — New U.S. claims to seabed territory off Alaska have run into an obstacle: an objection from the Russian government.

The Russian government, which has staked territorial claims to most of the Arctic Ocean, is challenging the U.S. claims made in December to sovereignty over 520,400 square kilometers of extended outer continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean – an area bigger than California — and another 176,330 square kilometers in the Bering Sea.

The U.S. does not have the right to make such claims because it is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Russia’s delegation argued at a meeting in Jamaica last month of the International Seabed Commission.

“We categorically reject the selective approach of the United States of America to the use of international law, with an emphasis on its rights and a complete disregard for obligations,” the delegation’s statement said.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the Russian objection is puzzling because the claims made in December by the U.S. State Department did not overlap any territory claimed by Russia.

The following was relased by the Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Western Alaska tribes, outraged by bycatch, turn up the heat on fishery managers and trawlers

April 8, 2024 — It’s been three years since a crash in king salmon populations forced an outright ban on fishing for them in the Yukon River. And barring an unexpected recovery, residents along the river won’t be allowed to fish for them again for at least seven more years, under a new international management scheme recently signed by Alaska and Canadian managers.

Earlier this spring, Maurice McGinty, a tribal leader from the village of Nulato, pulled out his last Mason jar of smoked Yukon king.

“We have no more now,” said McGinty, 80. He added: “They are pushing us, and our traditional way of life, into a hole.”

Imagine hearing and reading versions of McGinty’s story dozens of times, told by Indigenous people who live along the Yukon and another iconic subsistence river in Southwest Alaska, the Kuskokwim.

Read the full article at the Northern Journal

CALIFRONIA: With whales present, California wildlife department stops crab fishing to reduce entanglement threat

April 8, 2024 — With humpback whales heading back to their feeding grounds off coastal California and gray whales migrating north to Alaska, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it will close the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries in southern and central fishing zones including Monterey Bay to reduce the risk of entanglements.

Recently spotters with the department counted as many as 34 humpbacks in one day, said Ryan Bartling, a senior environmental scientists at the wildlife agency. The increased presence of whales observed by planes overhead and vessels on the water triggered the decision to close the fishing season on April 8.

“As it becomes summer, it is not uncommon to see dozens of groups of humpbacks foraging between Monterey Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones (near San Francisco),” he said.

With the closure, the wildlife department is also expected to examine new draft regulations for the fishery, which could set even stricter requirements for when crab fishermen can start fishing with lines and pots and when the season must end.

In former years, before a settlement that led to current regulations limiting the season when the giant mammals are spotted in larger numbers, Dungeness crab fishermen typically started in mid-November and pulled their traps in June. This season, they weren’t allowed to start until late January; fishermen have since pulled in 13 million pounds of crabs worth about $43.4 million.

Whales – and other animals of the sea – can get wrapped up in the lines that connect the pots catching crabs on the ocean floor to buoys on the water’s surface – in 2023, 27 whales were caught in fishing gear off the West Coast, five of which were wrapped up in California Dungeness crab gear, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records.

Read the full article at Santa Cruz Sentinel

CALIFORNIA: California’s salmon fishing season could face second year of total closure

April 8, 2024 — Fishing regulators are poised to potentially shut down California’s king salmon season for the second time in two years, and just the third time in history.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council kicked-off its annual meeting in Seattle, Washington where it will determine the upcoming season which normally begins in May. But still feeling the impacts of the recent drought which has decimated the salmon population, the council is considering either closing the season entirely, or allowing extremely limited fishing.

“For the second year in a row we’re looking at very likely a full closure,” anticipated Jared Davis, owner of the Salty Lady charter fishing boat in Sausalito.

Although California has seen two consecutive winters of heavy rains, the issue with the adult salmon has tentacles in the drought. Salmon are on a three-year life cycle and this year’s crop of adult fish were spawned in the grips of the drought. The complete closure of last year’s season was only the second full closure in history and hit the fishing industry hard.

Read the full article at NBC 4

ALASKA: Alaska tribes, fishing companies and fisheries testify about declining salmon populations

April 8, 2024 — Representatives from more than 100 Alaska Native tribes and villages, along with representatives of commercial fishing and fisheries, shared their concerns and ideas Saturday in downtown Anchorage over what many consider a crisis of declining salmon populations.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is gathering testimony to help shape possible federally-backed bycatch rules in the future. The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a letter to the NPFMC on March 29 about proposed management measures to reduce chum salmon Prohibited Species Catch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, as well as possible limits to the chum salmon bycatch.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Mixed Results as Commercial Bay Scallop Season Ends

April 6, 2024 — After a banner year for Vineyard commercial scallopers in the 2022-23 season, this winter’s bay scallop season was something of a cool-down for the notoriously fickle fishery.

Island fishermen harvested around 2,500 fewer bushels this year, though local scallopers and fishmongers say it wasn’t all bad news for the fishery, as a lower harvest on- and off-Island prevented the precipitous drop in scallop prices that occurred last year.

“It was good this year,” said Matteus Scheffer, who drags from the Anita Penny out of Cape Pogue. “This year, we were all getting our [daily bushel] limits pretty well, for the most part.”

Edgartown shellfish constable Rob Morrison described the harvest as “not bad by modern standards.”

“Scallops are one of those things where their abundance does seem to be cyclical,” he added.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

ALASKA: Silver Bay Seafoods taking over Peter Pan Seafoods’ Alaska operations

April 6, 2024 — Silver Bay Seafoods has acquired Peter Pan Seafoods’ seafood processing facility in Valdez, Alaska, U.S.A. and will operate its other Alaska plans in 2024.

The agreement, announced 4 April, will see Silver Bay operate Peter Pan’s Port Moller and Dillingham facilities for the 2024 season, and then acquire them after the season ends. With Peter Pan’s closure of its King Cove plant in January 2024 and no announcement that it will reopen by summer, the company will effectively have no physical plant remaining in the state of Alaska. Additionally, it has agreed to transfer the licensing for its Demmings, Humpty Dumpty, and Double Q canned salmon brands to Silver Bay.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Fish out of water story ends with 77,000 young salmon in the wrong water

April 4, 2024 — First, the good news. When a 53-foot fish tanker truck crashed and rolled upside down on an embankment next to a creek in northeast Oregon, its driver suffered only minor injuries. And as the truck came to a rest, its tank settled downhill, next to the water.

That last detail was crucial for the truck’s cargo: some 102,000 spring Chinook smolts, or young salmon, that had been raised in a hatchery. The truck overturned on a twisting road that mirrors Lookingglass Creek — and some 77,000 fish made it from the tanker into the creek’s fresh, inviting water, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But there is also bad news: 25,529 smolts died, recovered from the tanker and the bank of the creek. And the fish that survived are now living in the wrong waterway.

The fish had been raised at Lookingglass Hatchery to give a population boost to wild salmon in the Imnaha River, around 90 miles to the east.

Read the full article at NPR

NEW JERSEY: Research Funding Addresses Offshore Wind Impact on Marine Ecosystems

April 4, 2024 — State environmental officials and utility regulators announced plans last week for their coordinated Offshore Wind Research and Monitoring Initiative, earmarking nearly $3.7 million in funding for research projects that will help ensure ecologically responsible development of offshore wind.

“As we continue to pursue a 100% clean energy economy by 2035, it’s imperative that we not only protect the interests of our ratepayers but safeguard the vitality of our marine ecosystems as well,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. “The Research Monitoring Initiative is a crucial piece of our comprehensive efforts to responsibly develop New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry.”

The bulk of the monies awarded is to expand the bat and bird tracking system, according to N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Public Utilities officials. The collaborative effort is being led by the American Bird Conservancy with $1.3 million to grow the existing regional network, which tracks radio-tagged birds and bats, officials said.

“This funding will result in the deployment and maintenance of 10 new land based Motus receiver stations and 10 ocean buoy stations as part of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System in strategic locations throughout New Jersey and offshore,” state officials said. “The expansion will improve regional network coverage and provide baseline data to aid researchers in assessing species migration routes to and through New Jersey airspace and offshore wind lease areas.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

CALIFORNIA: California closing Dungeness crab season to protect humpback whales

April 3, 2024 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is closing most of the U.S. state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery on Monday, 8 April.

California’s zones 3, 4, 5, and 6, stretching from the Sonoma-Mendocino county line to the U.S.-Mexico border, will be closed at 6 p.m. on 8 April due to the presence of humpback whales in the area, with a 30-fathom depth constraint on traps going into effect in zones 1 and 2, which encompasses the rest of the state’s coastline north to the Oregon border.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource