Saving Seafood

Massachusetts vs. Alaska fish fight over Russian imports

February 24, 2022 — A proposal by Alaska’s two U.S. senators to ban seafood imports from Russia has met resistance in the form of Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

On Feb. 9 , Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, both R-Alaska, filed S.3614, the U.S.-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act, which seeks to respond to Russia’s embargo of American fish and other seafood products that was put in place after the U.S. with a reciprocal ban.

Sullivan sought to have the bill approved in the Senate by unanimous consent. However, Markey objected to the bill, saying it could create unintended consequences for U.S. seafood importers.

“I have heard from seafood processors in my home state with concerns about potential sudden effects of a new immediate ban on imports on their workforce, including hundreds of union workers in the seafood processing industry,” said Markey. “And that would be right now.”

Sullivan noted that Massachusetts processors handle a large amount of Russian pollock, and suggested that product could be sourced from Alaska instead.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

American Seafoods appoints new CEO, COO

February 23, 2022 — American Seafoods Group, one of the largest at-sea processors of Alaska pollock and Pacific hake in the world, announced it has appointed Einar Gustafsson to take over as CEO from Mikel Durham.

The company announced the shift on 18 February, as Durham announced she was stepping down and that was looking forward to “taking a break and spending time with family.” Durham was hired in 2016 and helped turned around the company’s operations after previous debt issues. She also led the company as Bregal sought a suitor for its stake – an effort that has thus far been unsuccessful.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Glaciers’ retreat could open new Alaska salmon habitat

February 22, 2022 — Melting glaciers in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia could open up new habitat for Pacific salmon – conceivably almost equal to the length of the Mississippi River – by 2100, under one scenario of “moderate” climate change.

But, on balance, a warming climate will continue to take a negative toll on salmon populations on the U.S. Pacific coast.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

ALASKA: Bycatch task force works to refine mission ahead of November deadline

February 17, 2022 — The governor’s task force to review the effect of bycatch in Alaska fisheries is working to organize against its tight timeline for submitting recommendations to state and federal policymakers. It also has to balance commercial and subsistence interests.

Bycatch is when fishing vessels catch something they’re not targeting. It could be tanner crab caught in a black cod pot, or halibut scooped up in a pollock trawl net. It’s been an incendiary issue in Alaska’s fisheries for decades. Now, as stocks of crab, salmon and halibut decline, trawl fisheries have come under fire for their role, which represents the vast majority of incidental catch in and around Alaska.

The governor’s office took notice. Gov. Mike Dunleavy established a task force to review bycatch late last year with a deadline of November to submit its recommendations.

But during that time, the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force also has to establish its own priorities, break into subcommittees, and decide what it’s going to focus on before its mandate expires in just nine months. And there’s a lot of information to sort through already as it plays catch-up.

Read the full story at KSTK

Alaska fisherman’s photos could be first visual evidence of North Pacific right whales in the Bering Sea in winter

February 17, 2022 — Josh Trosvig is the captain of the Cerulean, a 58-foot boat currently fishing for cod in the Bering Sea, about 80 miles northeast of Unalaska.

On a sunny day earlier this month, while he was waiting for the tide to change, he said he spotted something that looked like a large tote bobbing on the surface of the water, about 300 feet from his boat.

It turned out to be a group of whales.

But not just any whales.

“I’ve seen a lot of whales — thousands, tens of thousands in my 35 years of fishing out here,” Trosvig said. “But this was unique. I’ve never seen whales feed like that.”

Trosvig didn’t know it at the time, but the whales he was watching were North Pacific right whales. They’re critically endangered. And scientists say Trosvig is likely the first person to take photos and video of the whales feeding in the Bering Sea in the winter.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

While Chignik fishermen wait on 2018 relief funds, some look beyond the fishery to survive

February 16, 2022 — Aloys Kopun sat in the small harbormaster’s office in Chignik Bay last July as a few boats gently bobbed in the harbor’s turquoise water.

“When we were fishing like we normally fished here, the whole harbor was always plump full,” he said. “As you can see, now, we had hardly nobody in here. And everybody’s gone tendering or went to other areas to fish, or some of them went broke.”

Kopun fished in Chignik, on the Alaska Peninsula, for decades before becoming the summer harbormaster.

He said the harbor used to be so full that it had a waiting list for boats to dock there. But last summer, it was almost empty. Significantly fewer boats have returned since the Chignik sockeye run failed in 2018. Fishermen who depend on the salmon closed out that season without making a paycheck.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Alaska’s US senators want ban on Russian seafood imports

February 16, 2022 — Alaska’s U.S. senators have filed a bill that would prohibit the country from accepting seafood imports from Russia.

Republican U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski filed S.3614, the U.S.-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act, on Wednesday, 9 February. The bill seeks to respond to Russia’s embargo of American fish and other seafood products that was put in place after the U.S. and its allies placed a series of sanctions against Russia over its takeover of Crimea in 2014.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Report assesses Alaska communities as locations for seaweed processing facilities

February 15, 2022 — The U.S. grows less than one-hundredth of one percent of the world’s $6 billion seaweed market, but Alaska has the goods to grow into a major contributor.

A new report assesses the pros and cons of six communities as locations for seaweed processing facilities to assist companies interested in operating in Alaska. It was compiled by McKinley Research Group for the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which has played a central role in keeping Alaska seaweed in the resource development spotlight. Many believe the fledgling industry can top revenues of $100 million in little over a decade.

The six study communities were evaluated based on three categories: availability of seaweed supply, costs of doing business, and partnership opportunities.

So far, Kodiak leads all other regions in terms of supply, energy costs, water and sewer costs, resident labor, property taxes and shipping, with Craig and Ketchikan in the Prince of Wales Island region a close second.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Cook Inlet fishermen are gearing up for weak sockeye and king runs again. They worry about the future of the fishery.

February 14, 2022 — A weak run is again forecasted for Upper Cook Inlet sockeye, continuing a trend of poor runs that has fishermen worried about the future of the fishery.

“It unfortunately may be a harbinger of the future,” said Ken Coleman, a setnetter and vice president of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen’s Association, which represents eastside setnetters. He’s among the commercial fishermen disappointed with the report released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Monday.

The forecast projects a run of 4.97 million sockeye in 2022. About 2.97 million of those fish, the forecast said, will be available for harvest by all users.

The forecasted run is weak by historical standards. The inlet’s 20-year average is about 6 million fish.

But runs over the last few years have been below that. The sockeye run in 2020 was so bad that the U.S. Secretary of Commerce declared it a disaster, along with several other Alaska fisheries.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

 

North Pacific Council Opens Reallocation Issue For Halibut Charter vs Commercial Fishermen in Alaska

February 11, 2022 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council took action yesterday that reopens the specter of “uncompensated reallocation” from commercial fishermen to charter operators in Alaska. The Council adopted a Purpose and Needs Statement to analyze a revision in the halibut Catch Sharing Plan (CSP) that would increase the halibut charter sector allocation by taking from the halibut longline fleet without compensation.

The possibility of that triggered strong testimony from both charter operators and halibut fishermen — over 130 written comments and 70 public testimonies, the majority of which were opposed to any notion of uncompensated reallocation. The commercial sector, many of whom had helped create the CSP a decade ago, made the case that the CSP is working as planned. Charter fishermen countered that their business models don’t work under these continued low levels of halibut abundance. Charter operators in Area 2C are constrained from allowing their clients to catch two halibut a day. Area 3A charter operators can offer two halibut, but are under size restrictions as well.

Low levels of halibut abundance impact all stakeholders, and commercial skippers pointed out that their investment in quota shares over the years has lost value as abundance declines but the loan payments are still due.

Read the full story at Seafood News