Saving Seafood

Outlook poor for 2021 Copper River, Upper Cook Inlet sockeye runs in Alaska

February 3, 2021 — Sockeye salmon forecasts for both the Copper River and the Upper Cook Inlet came in well below historical averages for the upcoming season, a blow to fisheries already reeling from poor runs and pandemic-related losses last season.

For the Copper River, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) predicted a total run of nearly 1.3 million sockeye salmon. That number would be 37.4 percent short of the most recent 10-year average of around 2.1 million sockeye, and comes on the heels of a 2020 sockeye season where Copper River fishermen scarcely put their nets in the water.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska predicts commercial herring harvest will fall short of annual limit

January 15, 2021 — In an unusual move, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game has set a large guideline harvest level for the commercial herring fishing in Sitka this spring, on the understanding that the fleet is not likely to hit that mark.

In a news release Monday, ADF&G announced a guideline harvest level — or GHL — of just over 33,000 tons for the upcoming Sitka sac roe herring fishery.

But that much probably won’t be harvested. In the same news release, Fish and Game predicts that the commercial harvest will likely not exceed 20,000 tons. Area Management Biologist Aaron Dupuis says the state arrived at that number after speaking to processors about the potential market demands.

“Just from our conversations, like what the individual markets want in terms of herring,” he said. “Part of the reason why we put that in the announcement was, I guess just to temper people’s’ expectations for what will likely get harvested in the fishery. “

Dupuis says 33,000 is already a conservative estimate. The GHL is reduced by 20% of what the state would typically allow from the forecasted population of fish, a mature biomass of 210,453 tons. Even so, he says the state is gearing up as usual for a fishery this year.

Read the full story at KTOO

Picks and pans for 2020 in Alaska’s seafood industry

January 5, 2021 — This year marks the 30th year that the weekly Fish Factor column has appeared in newspapers across Alaska and nationally. Every year it features “picks and pans” for Alaska’s seafood industry – a no-holds-barred look back at some of the year’s best and worst fishing highlights, and my choice for the biggest fish story of the year. Here are the choices for 2020, in no particular order:

Best little known fish fact: Alaska’s commercial fisheries division also pays for the management of subsistence and personal use fisheries.

Biggest fishing tragedy: The loss of five fishermen aboard the Scandies Rose that sank southwest of Kodiak.

Biggest new business potential: Mariculture of seaweeds and shellfish.

Most daring fish move: Fishermen in Quinhagak formed a cooperative of 70 harvesters to revitalize commercial salmon fishing in Kuskokwim Bay, including members from Goodnews Bay, Platinum and Eek. It’s the first fishery since 2016 when the region’s “economic development” group abruptly pulled the plug on buying local fish.

Biggest fish challenge: Getting whaled. Many fishermen say they can lose up to 75% of their pricey sablefish catches when whales strip their lines.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska’s commercial fishery managers appear to be spared big budget cuts next year

December 29, 2020 — As Alaska faces its toughest budget squeeze ever, the state’s commercial fisheries are set to get a bit of a breather. But it is due more to fund swapping than lawmakers’ largess.

For the commercial fisheries division, the largest within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the preliminary FY2022 budget released by Gov. Mike Dunleavy reflects a slight increase to $72.8 million, compared to nearly $68 million last year.

“I think we did really well this year,” said Sam Rabung, commercial fisheries division director, speaking last week at a United Fishermen of Alaska webinar. “Where we’re at right now, the legislature actually restored many of the cuts that we sustained in FY20 and the governor didn’t veto all of them so we got some funds back in FY21,”

“In a nutshell, we are being reduced $783,500 in general funds but to offset that, we are being granted $855,000 in increased authority for using what we call GFP, our general fund program receipts from commercial crew licenses,” he added. “We’ve been collecting more revenue from crew licenses every year than we have authority to use. It’s kind of like creating a piggy bank and it keeps building and that money rolls forward. We’re going to be able to utilize those funds now in lieu of general funds. So it’s pretty much a wash.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Pacific cod appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska after long heat wave

December 23, 2020 — Alaska coastal communities will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod.

The stock, which crashed after a multiyear heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska.

No cod fishery occurred at all this year in federally managed waters (from 3 to 200 miles out) where the bulk of the harvest is taken, and a catch of under 6 million pounds was allowed in state managed waters (out to 3 miles).

For 2021, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the federal cod catch at just over 38 million pounds and nearly 11.7 million pounds for the state. While it’s a bump up, managers caution that the stock remains very low.

“The state waters GHLs (guideline harvest levels) have gone up about two and half times since last year. While it’s good, we are still at a very low level of abundance, so that should be kept in mind,” said Nat Nichols, area groundfish manager for the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game at Kodiak.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska geoduck biomass is down, but sea cucumbers on the upswing

December 16, 2020 — This year, divers in Southeast Alaska will focus on a guideline harvest level of 523,500 pounds of geoducks and 1.75 million pounds for sea cucumbers, which is down from the 1.9 million-pound guideline harvest level (GHL) they saw in the 2019-2020 season.

Though the GHL appears to have come down from a year ago, the schedule of dive openings in areas that alternate every other year show that biomass is actually on the rise for cucumbers.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Sen. Murkowski “Disappointed” by Cook Inlet Closure, Supports “Long-Term Solution” for CI Fleet

December 14, 2020 — Two days after Monday’s decision to close the federal waters of Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishermen, Alaska’s senior Senator Lisa Murkowski called for “the need to collaboratively resolve tensions that have long persisted in Cook Inlet.”  The decision came at the beginning of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s December meeting.

The ‘historical tensions” the senator referred to have been between both commercial and recreational fishermen and between all fishermen and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Cook Inlet is home to Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, the nearby Matenuska-Susitna Borough, and the state’s most popular recreational area, the Kenai Peninsula. About two-thirds of the state’s population lives on or near Cook Inlet, which is accessed by the state’s only road system.

Read the full story at Seafood News

After a summer of pandemic disruptions and poor salmon runs, Alaska fishermen await more federal relief money

November 23, 2020 — Many of Alaska’s commercial salmon fishermen faced a summer of poor fish runs and market impacts driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government relief money has helped fishermen, and the state is finalizing a plan for how to spend another $50 million in federal dollars for the industry.

For some fishermen, it can’t come soon enough.

“The season was, it was almost a complete loss,” said Mike Webber who gillnets for salmon on the Copper River and in Prince William Sound. “Meaning the return numbers were down very low. We went almost a month without a fishing period this year.”

Webber sells some of his fish to processors, but a lot of it gets marketed directly to individual customers and restaurants. And, while he saw strong individual sales:

“Bottom line, we lost pretty much all of our restaurant markets,” said Webber.

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: Converging Forces Make For Worst Upper Cook Inlet Season in Decades

November 17, 2020 — Low prices, an oddly timed sockeye run and another year of very poor Kenai king returns combined to result in one of the worst Upper Cook Inlet commercial fishing seasons on record.

The 2020 Upper Cook Inlet harvest of roughly 1.2 million salmon was less than half the recent 10-year average harvest of 3.2 million fish and the estimated cumulative ex-vessel value of approximately $5.2 million was the worst on record, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game‘s Upper Cook Inlet Commercial Salmon Fishery Season Summary.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ALASKA: 2020 Salmon harvest in Southeast less than half of previous year’s

November 10, 2020 — Southeast Alaska’s salmon harvest was less than half of last year’s haul. That’s according to a preliminary report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game released on Monday.

Commercial fishermen in Southeast harvested just over 14.3 million salmon across the five species this year — almost 5 million chum salmon, 8 million pinks and 1.1 million coho. For sockeye, the harvest was about 373,000 and 200,000 Chinook.

That’s a drop in harvest for every species except Chinook — also known as king salmon — which increased by a few thousand fish this year. In other words, Southeast’s total salmon harvest was 19 million fewer fish than last year.

The preliminary ex-vessel value of Southeast’s 2020 salmon fishery was just over $50 million dollars. That’s less than half of 2019’s estimated value, and the third consecutive year that Southeast’s value paid to fishermen has dropped.

Read the full story at KSTK