Saving Seafood

Alaska lawmakers applaud Biden administration ban on Russian seafood imports

March 16, 2022 — State and federal lawmakers from Alaska are applauding the Biden administration’s decision to ban Russian seafood imports. It’s part of a series of escalating sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young released statements Friday welcoming the move.

Legislators at the state and federal levels have been calling for a Russian seafood ban for years. Kodiak Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens says the White House is finally paying attention to the issue.

“I’m really pleased the President has made this announcement, and I think it’s extremely important for Alaska and the Alaska seafood industry, you know, it’s been a totally unfair relationship in the past,” Stevens said.

Russia slapped an embargo on American fish and seafood products in 2014 in response to U.S. sanctions imposed over its annexation of Crimea.

Read the full story at KTOO

 

Protections sought for world’s most endangered whale

March 15, 2022 — A formal petition has been filed by conservationists to expand federal protection for North Pacific right whales. With only 30 individuals left, this makes the right whale the most endangered whale in existence.

Advocates say the petition, which calls to protect the whale’s migratory areas, will give them a fighting chance for survival.

Threats to the species continue to grow as shipping traffic skyrockets through Alaska, which is only expected to continue. In a press release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity, the group says that surging trans-Arctic shipping traffic is one of the many threats to right whale habitat, including climate change and melting sea ice that is expected to open shipping routes and increase the risk of vessel strikes.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

Opinion: What lessons can Alaska learn – and share – on Arctic fisheries?

March 15, 2022 — Although focus is increasingly placed on sustainability policies and blue economy models among Arctic nations, the systematization of structured transnational collaboration in the circumpolar north has been underdeveloped. Over the past three years, as one of its objectives, the AlaskaNor project has aimed to identify the economic and social effects of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in Alaska and North Norway in a comparative context and make this knowledge available for relevant stakeholders and decision-makers.

Through a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the status quo, challenges and opportunities of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in both Arctic regions, the project demonstrated that both Alaska and North Norway are strong frontiers in fisheries and aquaculture production, with outstanding economic performance on the global market. The project’s assessment aimed at helping both regions to develop platforms and networks for further interaction while achieving sustainable and diversified economies.

Knowledge exchange

With salmon production being an invaluable source of income and employment in both regions, there is potential for Alaska and North Norway to learn from each other’s practices, despite salmon industries being carried out in a fundamentally different manner. While finfish farming is forbidden by Alaska law, Alaska’s successful development of hatcheries and the management of salmon stocks could offer sustainability lessons to Norwegian businesses. In turn, North Norway’s highly profitable aquaculture could offer successful strategies for reaching and maintaining new markets. Groundfish fisheries management could also benefit from knowledge and best practice exchange, given that both regions are currently exposed to the impacts of climate change, including diminishing Arctic sea ice, ocean acidification and higher sea surface temperatures, all of which affect groundfish habitation, nutrition and migration patterns.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News

Opinion: Alaska task force investigating fisheries bycatch has a big, complicated task ahead

March 15, 2022 — Gotta give the Dunleavy administration credit for being the first to try to get to the bottom of one of Alaska’s most troubling fishing issues: bycatch.

The governor in November created the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force (ABRT) “to help better understand unintended bycatch of high value fishery resources in state and federal waters.”

He defined bycatch as “fish which are harvested in a fishery but are not sold or kept.”

The 13-member group will issue a final report based on those better understandings in November 2022.

“Once the structure of the task force is framed, it will be a good road map of how we can incorporate everyday Alaskans’ voices into the decision-making process,” said Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang in announcing the ABRT, “because they are the owners of these resources.”

Read the full opinion piece at The Anchorage Daily News

 

A Russian seafood ban will drive up prices, but it’s too soon to say if Alaska fishermen will benefit

March 14, 2022 — President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a national ban on some imports from Russia, including seafood. It’s a move intended to punish that country for its invasion of Ukraine, but the ban has ripple effects that could wash ashore in Alaska.

Russian seafood competes with Alaska products for shelf space and consumer attention, particularly pollock and crab. Officials here said Friday’s announcement could benefit the Alaska fishing industry.

But the effects may be limited to a few key sectors — the major Seattle-based trawlers that haul up millions of pounds of pollock, largely for export, and hard-hit Bering Sea crab fishermen. There will be some effect on salmon fishermen, experts say, but the embargo’s impact is less clear in that industry.

“It’s a big deal for crab,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. The group represents about 350 members, including 60 boats in Alaska’s crab fleet.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Millennial flexitarians and “fish-friendly parents” targeted in new Alaska pollock marketing campaign

March 11, 2022 — Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), a trade group that has made a concerted push to expand the market reach of Alaska pollock in the United States and globally, will spend nearly USD 800,000 (EUR 730,000) on a new marketing campaign.

At its early March meeting, the GAPP Board of Directors approved a nearly USD 4 million (EUR 3.6 million) budget that includes the organization’s first national sustained marketing campaign.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Despite Ukraine invasion, the U.S. and Russia are still working together to solve salmon mysteries

March 3, 2022 — Tensions continue to simmer between Moscow and Washington in the wake of Russia’s invasion of  Ukraine.

In many respects, the divide between East and West is deepening: Oil companies are canceling partnerships with Russian firms. State legislators are calling for the state’s sovereign wealth fund to dump Russian investments. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. would close its airspace to Russian aircraft.

But the United States and Russia are continuing to work together on at least one issue: salmon.

There’s a map scattered with orange, green, blue and red dots spanning most of the North Pacific above 46 degrees latitude.

Read the full story at KRBD

Seaweed, salmon and sablefish win big in Alaska seafood competition

March 2, 2022 — The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation celebrated its final round of prizes for the annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition in Juneau Thursday, Feb. 24.

The contest for new value-added products made from Alaska seafood is designed to propel product development that diversifies markets, improves utilization and reduces fish waste.

The winners will now head to Boston for Seafood Expo North America’s Seafood Excellence Awards in March.

“For the first time, we are especially proud to say that three of the Symphony’s first place winners are in the top 10 finalists in the Seafood Excellence Awards, a national competition,” said Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, based in Wrangell. “This demonstrates that the Alaska seafood industry is a national leader in product innovation and that the Alaska Symphony of Seafood is an excellent path to a national stage.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Paper finds hotter, drier conditions negatively impact salmon spawns

March 2, 2022 — A new paper published 15 February in Fisheries Magazine confirms that salmon spawns fared worse in hotter, drier conditions.

The new paper, “Premature Mortality Observations among Alaska’s Pacific Salmon During Record Heat and Drought in 2019,” found salmon had higher spawning success in glacier and snow-fed streams than in rain-fed streams in hot, dry conditions.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Ban on US purchases of Russian seafood opposed by some national food marketers

March 1, 2022 — Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. An eye for an eye.

“If they don’t buy from us, we shouldn’t buy from them,” Alaska’s seafood industry has grumbled since 2014, when Russia abruptly banned all food imports from the U.S. and several other countries. Then, as now, the faceoff stemmed from Russia’s invasion and subsequent takeover of chunks of Ukraine, which prompted backlash and severe sanctions.

Yet U.S. purchases of Russian seafood through 2021 have totaled over $4.6 billion and counting, according to federal trade data.

Alaska’s congressional delegation has finally taken first steps to end the trade imbalance. On Feb. 9, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan introduced the United States-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act of 2022 that would prohibit imports of any Russian seafood products into the U.S. until that country ends its ban on buying U.S. seafoods.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News