Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Suggested catches of Pacific halibut decrease this year

January 29, 2018 — As expected, catches of Pacific halibut will decrease for this year, and likely into the foreseeable future.

Following an increase in catches last year for the first time in several decades, the International Pacific Halibut Commission on Friday set a “suggested” coastwide catch for 2018 at 28.03 million pounds, a 10.7 percent reduction. Alaska’s share could be 20.52 million pounds, a drop of 2.1 million pounds from 2017.

The numbers could decline further, as for the first time in memory since the IPHC began its oversight of the stocks in 1923, the six commissioners were not able to agree on catch allocations for the eight halibut fishing regions.

Halibut catch limits are determined by summer surveys at more than 1,200 stations from Oregon to the Aleutians.

“There was agreement that the general halibut stock is in decline, but no consensus on what the catches should be. Due to this impasse, the commissioners made suggestions for 2018 for their own countries,” said Tom Gemmell, executive director of the Juneau-based Halibut Coalition.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Science and accountability urged in fisheries management

Behnken: no one wins if the resource loses

September 1, 2017 — Fisheries and conservation advocates for coastal communities are urging that greater accountability and conservation measures be included in reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

“Both fishermen and managers understand that in the long run no one wins if the resource loses,” veteran harvester Linda Behnken told Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, during a field hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard on Aug. 23 in Soldotna. “As Congress works to strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Act to support community based fishermen, we firmly believe that maintaining productive fisheries through resource conservation is step one in that process …   The heightened emphasis on resource rebuilding that was central to the last reauthorization is still essential to long term resource health and we ask that Congress recommit to conservation goals,” she said.

Behnken, a harvester for more than 30 years, longlines for halibut and black cod and trolls for salmon with her family out of Sitka, which ranks 15th of all domestic fishing ports in the value of commercial landings. She is the president of the Halibut Coalition and executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.

Behnken also asked the committee to address challenges faced by young fishermen and the growing impact to rural communities of lost fishing access.

Read the full story at the Cordova Times

ALASKA: Fleet consolidation and loss of fishing jobs a hot topic at MSA hearing

August 28, 2017 — Timed to coincide with the 25th annual Kenai River Classic invitation-only fishing derby, Senator Dan Sullivan brought his Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard to Soldotna on Wednesday for a hearing on the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Congress periodically reviews the Act, giving lawmakers a chance to fine-tune or make changes where needed. One theme was addressed by many of the dozen invited experts who testified.

Fleet consolidation is a predictable outcome of limited access privilege fisheries, or LAPs in the acronym-filled parlance of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA. A limited access fishery is one that has been privatized in some way. For example, in the Bering Sea, the crab fishery was rationalized more than 10 years ago, resulting in a fleet today that is just a fraction the size it was before privatization. That’s because when the owners of boats also became the owners of crab quota, they could buy or lease that quota, and one boat could do the fishing of many. Some put the loss of crewman and skipper jobs from the year before rationalization to the next at over 900.

“In Alaska, the problem is now too few fishermen, not too few fish,” Linda Behnken of Sitka said. Behnken testified on behalf of the Halibut Coalition and the Longline Fishermen’s Association.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media