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Alaska’s Seafood Industry Faces the Blob

November 5, 2018 — Challenging statewide salmon harvests have dominated head­lines, with record-high sockeye production in Bristol Bay being the state’s primary saving grace. However, salmon are not the only fish in the sea keeping the state’s fisheries afloat, with many fishermen relying on groundfish, herring, and miscellaneous shellfish to make ends meet. Some fishermen use alternative fisheries as a way to balance their portfolios, while others focus entirely on a single target species ranging from Dungeness crab to sablefish. “In a typical year, Alaska’s most valuable fisheries [measured by value of harvest] include salmon, pollock, Pacific cod, crab, halibut, and black cod,” says Garrett Evridge, an economist with McDowell Group, an Alaska-based research firm.

In 2017, salmon was the most valuable fish group. Harvest of all five salmon species totaled more than $781 million in ex-vessel value, the amount paid to fishermen for their catch. However, Evridge notes that 2018 has been a disappointing year for many salmon fisheries, a statewide concern.

“Salmon across the state have come in weaker than forecast, particularly in the North Gulf of Alaska,” says Bert Lewis, the Central Region supervisor of the Division of Commercial Fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). “In the region I work, we saw some of the lowest returns of sockeye salmon in recent history with the exception of Bristol Bay, where we had the biggest run on record.”

The sockeye salmon harvest is estimated to be 37 percent of the recent ten-year average, making it the smallest since 1975—all other smaller harvests date back to the 1800s.

The “blob”—a warm water anomaly that washed into the Gulf of Alaska in 2015—is thought to be the culprit. With most sockeye salmon spending three years in the ocean, those returning this year initially swam out into warmer waters, which researchers speculate disrupted the food webs that support the salmon, decreasing their survivorship and resulting in poor returns this year.

“That concept is supported by the record return we saw in Bristol Bay, with close to 65 million sockeye returning that, in 2015, came out into the Bering Sea, which did not have this warm-water anomaly,” Lewis says.

However, poor harvests weren’t limited to sockeye: Chinook, chum, and pink numbers all came in low.

“In the Southeast, total salmon harvest will be about 30 percent of the recent ten-year average, due primarily to poor pink salmon run, since pink salmon usually make up most of the harvest,” says Steve Heinl, a regional research biologist for ADFG in Southeast.

“Pink salmon harvest is 19 percent of the recent ten-year average and the smallest since 1976,” Heinl says. “Pink harvest will be less than half of the harvest in 2016 [18.4 million fish], which spurred a formal declaration of disaster.”

Levels are well below ADFG’s forecast of 23 million pink salmon, though only slightly below the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast of 10 million to 23 million.

As of late August, chum salmon harvest to date was 69 percent of the recent ten-year average; Chinook harvest was at 30 percent of recent ten-year average; and coho harvest was on track to be lowest in thirty years, says Heinl.

Though state numbers are low, harvest success varied dramatically among systems. In Southeast, there were excellent Sockeye runs at Chilkoot Lake and Redoubt Lake, which stood in stark contrast to poor runs in places such as Situk River, where the fishery was closed for most of the season.

Read the full story at Alaska Business

 

Report confirms dismal state of salmon fishing on Alaska Peninsula

October 26, 2018 —  Commercial salmon fishing on the Alaskan Peninsula, Aleutian Islands and the Atka-Amlia Islands this year was a far cry from the 2017 season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) confirms in a summary of the harvest numbers published Oct. 24.

Commercial harvesters in the region caught 3.7 million sockeye salmon, 48% fewer than the 7.1m caught in 2017, according to ADF&G. There were also far fewer pinks (805,639 in 2018 vs. 21.8m in 2017) and chum (1.2m vs. 2.0m in 2017) caught.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Snow crab prices not melting any time soon

February 6, 2018 — The snow will eventually melt in the US state of Alaska and the Maritime provinces of Canada, but you better get used to the high prices of snow crab because they are sticking around for a while.

A global shortage of the species is expected to continue for a third straight year in 2018, thanks to a combination of reduced catches across North America and continuous demand in Asia, a panel of speakers suggested at a conference in Miami, Florida, last month.

There will be about 104,000 metric tons of snow crab available, down 10% from the more than 114,000t landed worldwide in 2017 and 76% below the 150,000t landed in 2015, based on data shared during a shellfish panel at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC).

The result: Five-to-eight ounce packages of legs and shoulders are selling for $8 per pound wholesale in the US.

It’s leading seafood dealers in the US to more often offer their clients less expensive substitutes.

Brian Cooper, a partner at Sea Trek Enterprises, an East Greenwich, Rhode Island-based importer of crab and scallops, told Undercurrent News that his company normally sells anywhere from 200 to 300 loads (1,000 cases each) of snow crab each year. But he’s skeptical about matching that number in 2018 and is increasingly promoting rock crab, a species most often found in Washington State’s Puget Sound. It’s popular in Asian markets.

“You can’t charge $20 for a buffet at a Chinese restaurant and put an $8 snow crab in there,” he said. “That’s not going to work.”

Lobster, shrimp, or even chicken and beef could also be used as replacements on menus, said one large seafood restaurant executive at the GSMC event.

“It’s easier to take things off a menu than to put them back on,” he added.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fishermen forced to share pounds in herring fishery

February 1, 2017 — New restrictions are being put into place for the upcoming spawn-on-kelp herring fishery in Southeast Alaska to address a declining population. For the first time, fishermen are required to share spawning structures with several others. KFSK’s Angela Denning reports:

The spawn-on-kelp fishery allows fishermen to catch herring near Craig and Klawock and put them into floating net pens called pounds. Blades of kelp are also put in there for the herring to spawn on. The eggs are then sold to Asian markets.

Scott Walker is the Area Management Biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Ketchikan. He’s been helping manage the spawn-on-kelp fishery since it began in 1992.

“We have been seeing throughout Southeast Alaska right now a downturn of herring stocks,” Walker said.

Read the full story at KFSK Community Radio

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