Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Proposal for state buyback of Cook Inlet setnet permits advances in Legislature

March 12, 2021 — Legislation aimed at easing tensions and fishing pressure in one of the state’s most popular fisheries is already on the move this session after dying in the COVID-shortened session last year.

Without objection, the Senate Resources Committee advanced Sen. Peter Micciche’s Senate Bill 29 to the Finance Committee March 8; the bill authorizes the state to buy back nearly half of the upper Cook Inlet setnet permits on the Kenai Peninsula from any members.

Micciche, a Soldotna Republican who was also selected Senate President earlier this year, said during a March 3 Resources hearing that the plan for the state to voluntarily repurchase permits from East Side Cook Inlet setnetters was initially drafted by a group of sport anglers and commercial harvesters “who have struggled to work together for many years and now feel like they have a solution moving forward.”

Resources chair Sen. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage, noted that public testimony on SB 29 generated nearly 30 mentions of support, primarily from East Side setnetters, and no opposition, which was a contrast from prior attempts to move similar legislation.

“We’re finally at the end of our rope. Fishing families that have been fishing the East Side of Cook Inlet for generations are at the end of their rope,” Micciche said to the committee. “We want some of those fishing families to remain viable and give those that choose to be bought out an opportunity to move to other fisheries or to retrain for another line of work.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Feds approve $50m pandemic relief for Alaska’s fishing sector

February 26, 2021 — Alaska’s plan to pay out nearly $50 million to the fishing industry for pandemic relief has been approved by the federal government.

That’s after two major revisions and more than 200 public comments from every industry sector.

“It really was a balance between getting the funds out quickly and developing a spending plan with the input of affected fishery participants,” Alaska Department of Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner Rachel Baker told CoastAlaska.

Final details were released on Thursday. Commercial applicants will need to show that the COVID-19 pandemic caused them at least a 35% loss in revenue last year. Applications will be accepted during a two-month window that opens March 1. Payments could come as early as June.

Baker says a major change to the final plan now excludes commercial permit holders who live in other Pacific states like Washington and Oregon.

“Non-Alaska resident commercial harvesters who fish up here but live in a state that received a CARES Act allocation must apply to their state of residence,” she said. “They’re not eligible to apply to the state of Alaska for a funds.”

Read the full story at KFSK

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 scallopers manage with covid quarantines, but clams stay in the sand

February 3, 2021 — Alaska scallopers fished on a guideline harvest level of 277,500 pounds of shucked meat for the 2020-21 season. That’s up from the GHL of 271,300 pounds from the year before. Harvests, however, have been declining, and the 2019-20 landings of 224,765 pounds were the lowest since the 1993-94 season.

Scallops mature into the fishery at 4 years old, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducts population surveys in rotating areas each year, according to Andrew Olson, an area management biologist, in Yakutat. Of the management areas lying in the waters offshore of Yakutat, Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, Dutch Harbor and Bristol Bay, the area near Yakutat has maintained the highest GHL in recent years. The GHL for the Yakutat in the 2020-21 season had been set at 145,000 pounds, shucked.

Like many other fisheries, covid caused some ripples in this year’s season, primarily with lining up observers for the two vessels that fish the scallops in a cooperative harvest agreement. As per federal regulations, the scallopers operate under 100 percent observer coverage. This year that meant quarantining the observers before they boarded. After that, the season went off without a hitch and fishing began.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Forecast predicts another poor sockeye season

January 26, 2021 — Upper Cook Inlet fishermen should expect another below-average sockeye salmon run this year.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasts a return of 4,370,000 sockeye to Upper Cook Inlet in 2021, according to a report released Friday.

Brian Marston, Fish and Game’s area manager for UCI commercial fisheries, says the projections aren’t surprising.

“We have seen lower-than-average runs, or right around the 4.3 million mark, which is what we’re predicting this year,” he said. “So it’s not too different from recent numbers, but it is below average.”

The inlet’s 20-year average is nearly 6 million sockeye. But runs over the last few years have been lower.

Read the full story at KDLL

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