Saving Seafood

Community-supported fisheries rush to pivot models as coronavirus cuts off restaurant clients

March 27, 2020 — With restaurants across the country shuttered COVID-19 outbreak restrictions, the seafood supply chain in most regions has grinded to halt. Fishermen are stuck with their catch left unsold and their boats tied up.

Legislators in Massachusetts and Alaska have called for urgent support for the fishing industry, but fishermen are stuck fending for themselves in the meantime. For fishermen and businesses focused on direct marketing and selling their catch locally, this means quickly pivoting their businesses to adjust to consumer needs during the pandemic.

Tele Aadsen of Nerka Sea Frozen Salmon in Bellingham, Wash., has been hustling nonstop to earn what she can since dining rooms were closed on March 15 and restaurants were limited to takeout and delivery options. Practically overnight, 90 percent of the company’s clients were lost.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay fishermen urged to delay travel as communities, industry formulate COVID-19 plan

March 27, 2020 — This summer 48.95 million sockeye salmon are forecast to run in Bristol Bay, but with the coronavirus pandemic rapidly expanding in the United States, non-local fishermen are urged to delay traveling to the region while processors, local government leaders and other stakeholders work to formulate a plan to prosecute the fishery in the wake of COVID-19.

On Thursday, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, which represents the Bristol Bay drift gillnet fleet, issued its first COVID-19 advisory to the fleet asking that non-local Bristol Bay Fishermen delay travel to the region until at least May 1 and listed the state mandated quarantine protocol for anyone who does travel to Alaska from out of state.

“You do NOT want to be the outsider photographed or seen around town in public spaces if this situation turns for the worst. Such actions could quite literally jeopardize your business, your fishing career, and even personal health. Do not risk it, and make sure your crew does not place your business at risk either,” the BBRSDA advisory said.

Read the full story at KTUU

Coronavirus strains preparations for 2020 sockeye season in Bristol Bay, Alaska

March 27, 2020 — Alaska issued a mandate late on Monday, 24 March, qualifying the state’s commercial fishing industry as “critical infrastructure,” a move that frees up the Bristol Bay fishery to move forward with preparations for the 2020 season.

But uncertainty looms as the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery discusses how it might bring nearly 12,000 non-resident workers into remote western Alaska amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska fishing industry grapples with fallout from coronavirus response

March 26, 2020 — Like almost all industries and institutions across Alaska, the novel coronavirus pandemic is shaking up the fishing industry.

With restrictions changing almost daily and cases spreading across the United States, fishermen are still fishing, but the normal seasonal progression of the industry is likely to hit some rough waters.

Travel in and out of Alaska has dropped after federal and state advisories against it, and questions are hovering about how seafood processors and fishing vessels will find the employees they need for upcoming seasons. Demand for seafood has fallen in restaurants after sweeping closures, and large numbers of layoffs may affect demand as workers scale back their expenses after losing incomes.

Status-quo industry events have been disrupted, too. Hiring events have been postponed or canceled; the North Pacific Fishery Management Council cancelled its April meeting, and Kodiak’s annual ComFish exposition has been rescheduled for Sept. 17-19 due to concerns about gatherings where the COVID-19—the name for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus—could be spread. As of March 24, Alaska had reported 42 cases of the illness in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna, Ketchikan, Sterling, Seward, Juneau and Palmer.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Highlighting Women in Electronic Technologies: Part 1

March 25, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Electronic monitoring and electronic reporting technologies are being developed to support science-based management decisions in commercial and recreational fisheries. NOAA Fisheries is working with fishermen and industry organizations, fishery management councils, and many other partners. We will improve the timeliness, quality, cost effectiveness, and accessibility of fishery-dependent data by integrating technology into fishery reporting and monitoring programs. Learn about nine women from around the country that are helping shape the future of electronic technologies in U.S fisheries.

Julie Bonney

Owner and Executive Director
Alaska Groundfish Data Bank, Inc.
Kodiak, Alaska

Julie Bonney was born and raised in Colville, Washington, a small logging and farming community in eastern Washington. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Puget Sound and her master’s in environmental science from Drexel University. In 1984, Julie moved with her husband to Kodiak, Alaska. In the early 1990s, Julie reached out to the then-owner of Alaska Groundfish Data Bank (AGDB), Chris Blackburn, for advice about joining the observer program. As a mother of three young children, Julie soon realized that being an at-sea observer was not feasible. Instead, Chris offered Julie a job as an analyst. She continued to work there and eventually bought the business. 

Julie and her company have been involved in three electronic monitoring projects since 2007.  First, AGDB tested at sea electronic monitoring for vessels that participated in the Central Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) Rockfish Limited Access Privilege program in 2007 and 2008. The results of this project showed that observer coverage was similar in cost to monitoring with cameras. Currently, AGDB is involved in two projects:

  • The Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) for pelagic trawl pollock fishing using electronic monitoring (EM) for compliance monitoring in both the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea pollock fisheries.
  • EM as an audit tool so that fish ticket counts of salmon reported by processors can be used in the catch accounting system to inform the hard Chinook salmon cap for the rockfish fishery in the CGOA (1,200 fish).

Within her current role, Julie enjoys problem solving and working with fishermen and processors. She also enjoys improving fishery management in collaboration with the trawl sector and NOAA Fisheries personnel.

“As a woman in fisheries, you must demonstrate your capacity and be one of the smartest people in the room. Have the confidence and be strong-willed enough to step outside traditional roles. Women have the ability to think more globally and be more multidimensional which is essential to solve our fishery problems since the fishing industry is so complicated and multilayered.  As a mother and a woman, I tend to mother my membership (some of the people I work for actually call me ‘mom’).”

Read the full release here

Buy Local Fish

March 25, 2020 — Local and domestic sources of wild American seafood shipped to you or available locally for pick-up. The top listing is all domestic seafood suppliers who will ship anywhere in the country. Below that, find listings for all local suppliers by state. Both are listed in alphabetical order.

Don’t see your company? Submit your info here.

Find more community supported fisheries and local direct marketers at Local Catch.

*All suppliers are listed based on information submitted by the suppliers themselves and have not been endorsed, verified or vetted by National Fisherman.

SHIPPED TO YOU

Atlantic Sea Farms
Saco, ME

Fresh-frozen and fermented Maine kelp
Delivering to the Continental U.S.
Food Service and Retail available!

Contact: Jesse Baines
(207) 807-9185
jbaines@atlanticseafarms.com
atlanticseafarms.com
89 Industrial Park Road, Saco, Maine 04072

Product List:
Ready-Cut Kelp
Kelp Cubes
Fermented Seaweed Salad
Sea-Chi
Sea-Beet Kraut

Bristol Bay Wild
Sitka, AK

Bristol Bay sockeye

Delivered anywhere, click for local deliveries and pick-ups

Contact: Lilani Estacio
lilani@bbrsda.com
(907) 677-2371
P.O. Box 6386
Sitka, AK 99835
find.bristolbaysockeye.org

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Halibut Fishermen Face Flattened Market, Firesale Prices

March 24, 2020 — The Pacific halibut fishery opened on March 14 amid little fanfare and flattened markets.

The first fish of the eight month season typically attracts the highest prices and is rushed fresh to high-end buyers, especially during the Lenten season. But that’s not the case in this time of coronavirus chaos, when air traffic is stalled and seafood of all kinds is getting backlogged in global freezers.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Alaska’s halibut season gets rocky start under transportation constraints and global competition

March 24, 2020 — The Pacific halibut fishery opened on March 14 amid little fanfare and flattened markets.

The first fish of the eight-month season typically attracts the highest prices and is rushed fresh to high-end buyers, especially during the Lenten season. But that’s not the case in this time of coronavirus chaos, when air traffic is stalled and seafood of all kinds is getting backlogged in global freezers.

Alaska’s share of the 2020 halibut catch is about 17 million pounds for nearly 2,000 fishermen who own shares of the popular flatfish. A week into the fishery, fewer than 50 landings were made totaling just over 262,000 pounds and, as anticipated, prices to fishermen were in the pits.

Earliest price reports at Homer were posted at $4.20 to $4.40 per pound, Kodiak prices were at $3.25 for 10-20 pounders, $3.50 for halibut weighing 20-40 pounds and $4 for 40-ups Prices ranged from $3.75 to $4.00 at Yakutat and $3.50 “across the board” at Wrangell, according to Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.

The highest prices of $5.00, $4.75 and $4.50 were reported at Southeast ports that have regular air freight service, although they are expected to drop by $1-$2 per pound, according to a major buyer.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska’s 2020 commercial halibut season begins with lower catch limits

March 20, 2020 — The 2020 Pacific halibut season in Alaska got underway on 14 March, with overall catch limits some 9 percent lower than they were last year.

Regulations for the season were adopted at last month’s annual International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) meeting in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and were put into effect immediately. These rules are applicable to both the commercial and sport fisheries in Alaska.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Conservationists Say Salmon Fishing Plan Imperils Whales

March 19, 2020 — The government allowed salmon fishing in Alaska at rates its own reports said will push endangered Southern Resident killer whales closer to extinction, environmental groups claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Salmon born in the rivers and streams of Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia migrate to the Pacific Ocean and through the Gulf of Alaska, home to a major troll fishing fleet. In southeast Alaska, 97% of the Chinook salmon fishermen harvest were born elsewhere. The fish they take never make it back to their home waters, where they could have been dinner for the 72 remaining Southern Resident killer whales – a genetically distinct group of orca that are starving due to a lack of their main prey.

“It is reckless and irresponsible for NOAA to approve this harvest, these salmon don’t belong to Alaska, they belong to Southern Resident killer whales, indigenous peoples, and fishing communities down the coast,” Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy’s executive director, said Wednesday in a press release.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service