Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Anchorage startup aims to get more seafood into the mouths of babies

November 24, 2020 — Lightly seasoned salmon strips, made mostly from Bristol Bay reds, are the third product made by Bambino’s Baby Food of Anchorage that is aimed at getting more seafood into the mouths of babes.

“I always kind of giggle because it’s not going to be just for the little ones. I’m sure mom and dad and elder brother or sister are going to be gnawing on those as well,” said Zoi Maroudas, Bambino’s founder and operator. “I also wanted to honor our indigenous families and traditions and share how natural, nutrient-rich omega strips can be so good for a little one to enjoy. Instead of a cookie or cracker, a frozen salmon strip.”

“Seeing our community and friends near and far now having the option to find Pivsi (Inupiaq for “dried fish”) at Bambino’s is very exciting and a healthy new option for kiddos,” said Lars Nelson, president of TRIBN construction company at Utqiagvik, and parent of six.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Next year’s SE pink salmon harvest could be closer to average

November 24, 2020 — Next year’s catch of pink salmon in Southeast Alaska could come in a little below average, although that would be an improvement following several years of weak returns.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting a harvest of 28 million pinks in the region next summer. Andy Piston, the department’s pink and chum salmon project leader for Southeast, said that would still put the catch a little below the recent 10-year average.

“That forecast for 28 million harvest for 2021, that’s actually for an odd year that’s quite a bit below what we’ve seen in most recent years with the exception of 2019,” Piston said. “And in 2019, the parent year for 2021’s return, that was the first year in a long time where we saw a really poor odd-year harvest.”

Pink salmon spawn two years after they’re born. Southeast has been in a cycle of weak returns for even years but better numbers in the odd years. This year’s catch wound up at eight point one million pinks (8.1 million), roughly the same harvest from two years ago. The region hasn’t seen catches that low since 1976.

Fish and Game’s forecast is based in part on trawl surveys that catch young pinks heading to sea each year. Those are conducted in partnership with NOAA Fisheries researchers in the northern panhandle.

Read the full story at KFSK

After a summer of pandemic disruptions and poor salmon runs, Alaska fishermen await more federal relief money

November 23, 2020 — Many of Alaska’s commercial salmon fishermen faced a summer of poor fish runs and market impacts driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government relief money has helped fishermen, and the state is finalizing a plan for how to spend another $50 million in federal dollars for the industry.

For some fishermen, it can’t come soon enough.

“The season was, it was almost a complete loss,” said Mike Webber who gillnets for salmon on the Copper River and in Prince William Sound. “Meaning the return numbers were down very low. We went almost a month without a fishing period this year.”

Webber sells some of his fish to processors, but a lot of it gets marketed directly to individual customers and restaurants. And, while he saw strong individual sales:

“Bottom line, we lost pretty much all of our restaurant markets,” said Webber.

Read the full story at KTOO

Russian and American Scientists say warming water is pushing Bering Sea pollock into new territory

November 20, 2020 — In a new study, scientists have linked warming Arctic temperatures, changing wind patterns and shifting currents to movement of commercially valuable Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea.

The Bering Sea has seen the loss of a summer cold water barrier in recent years, which used to keep pollock from spreading out and moving north.

But while scientists are seeing drastic shifts in pollock movement patterns, further research needs to be conducted to know what the changes mean for communities like Unalaska and Dutch Harbor and the billion-dollar pollock industry.

“This research is really critical because pollock are a key ecological component of the Bering Sea shelf food web supporting the largest commercial fishery in the U.S. by biomass,” said Robert Foy, NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center director. “To get an accurate assessment of pollock abundance so that resource managers can set sustainable catch limits, we have to be able to understand pollock distribution, which certainly looks different under a warm water regime.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Pacific cod in Marine Stewardship Council limbo: Gulf of Alaska fishery meets standard, but eco-label still suspended

November 20, 2020 — The Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Pacific cod fishery will be recertified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard after a 15-day review period starting Thursday, but the area’s actual MSC status remains in limbo while regulators determine the health of the stock.

Certifier MRAG released a draft final report on Thursday recertifying a slew of Alaska whitefish fisheries, including Alaska pollock, and among the areas that received recertification was the GOA Pacific cod fishery.

However, the group’s certification remains in “suspension” pending a decision to allow directed fishing on the stock, MRAG Americas Director of Fisheries Certification Amanda Stern-Pirlot, confirmed with IntraFish.

The MSC suspended the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod fishery certificate in April after National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries researchers made the decision in 2019 to close the area to harvesting after research found the available biomass would not likely be able to handle fishing pressure.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Rat-infested dorms, contaminated drinking water and wage theft: Lawsuit alleges nightmare conditions at Alaska seafood processing plants

November 20, 2020 — Hundreds of Alaska-based seafood employees were forced to endure filthy, unsafe working conditions — including rat-infested bunkhouses — and stiffed on wages daily, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle in October.

North Pacific Seafoods, Inc. shorted workers of wages owed last summer by requiring they punch a timeclock only after they donned and doffed protective gear, a lengthy process that involves rubber aprons, boots, multiples sets of gloves, hairnets, earplugs and other safety equipment, the lawsuit alleges.

Headquartered in Seattle, North Pacific Seafoods is a subsidiary of Marubeni Corp, a multi-billion-dollar Japanese conglomerate. The company will not comment on pending litigation, said Leauri Moore, vice president of human resources and administration. North Pacific Seafoods operates multiple processing plants in key Alaska fishing communities including Kodiak, Sitka, Togiak and Naknek. The company controls about 10 percent of the Alaska fisheries market, according to the lawsuit.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Industry Updates: Year in review, looking ahead to 2021

November 19, 2020 — Expo Online has teamed up with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations to bring you annual updates on West Coast and Alaska fisheries.

This year calls for a detailed roundup like none other we’ve seen — tariffs and covid-19 restrictions conspired to complicate the global marketplace.

Dan Lesh of McKinley Research (formerly McDowell Group) presents for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Pebble Partnership quietly submits mitigation plan amid political shifts opposing the mine

November 18, 2020 — The day after a record number of Americans voted in the Nov. 3 election, the Pebble Partnership submitted a plan for how it would mitigate damage to wetlands when building the country’s largest open-pit mine, completing one of the final requirements needed before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decides whether or not to issue a federal permit for the project.

Though the permitting process is intended to be science-based and apolitical, candidates for both the presidency and Alaska’s congressional seats addressed a mine that has become controversial as it sits at the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

In late August, one month after the Army Corps published the project’s final environmental impact statement, the Army Corps said the project could not be permitted as proposed and gave the Pebble Partnership 90 days to provide a compensatory mitigation plan. Before the company would submit its mitigation plan, undercover recordings would lead to the resignation of the company’s CEO, both Alaska senators would state their clear opposition to the project and then-candidate Joe Biden pledged that his administration would block the project.

Despite the string of public relations setbacks, the company maintains that it will be able to move forward with the project, but with a transition in the executive branch expected to bring tighter environmental regulation, the company faces several potential threats during the home stretch of its federal permitting process.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

Pandemic cut the Alaska salmon catch and fishermen’s paychecks – and will mean lower tax revenues for fishing towns

November 18, 2020 — Tamped-down prices due to toppled markets caused by the coronavirus combined with low salmon returns to many Alaska regions added up to reduced paychecks for fishermen and will mean lower tax revenues for fishing communities.

A summary of the preliminary harvests and values by the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game shows that Alaska’s total 2020 salmon catch came in at just under 117 million fish, a 44% decrease from last season’s haul of 208.3 million fish, and the 13th lowest on record.

The statewide salmon value of $295.2 million is a whopping 56% decrease from 2019′s $673.4 million, and when adjusted for inflation, it is the lowest value since 2006.

Sockeyes accounted for nearly 59% of Alaska’s total salmon value at $174.9 million and comprised 40% of the harvest at 46.1 million fish.

Pinks accounted for 51% of the statewide salmon harvest at 51.4 million and 21% of the value at $61.8 million.

Regional tallies compared to the 2019 catches and values reveal a clearer picture of the economic hits, which are down by half or more across the board.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska seafood industry rides stormy pandemic markets

November 18, 2020 — Dizzying swings in markets and consumer trends touched off by the coronavirus pandemic have forced the Alaska seafood industry to rethink its entire business model, from marketing to distribution to product mix.

Last week, professionals from across the industry and around the world convened on Zoom for a virtual installation of All Hands on Deck, an annual conference hosted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). Experts discussed the quick pivot the Alaska seafood industry made as foodservice industry fell off a cliff while grocery sales and e-commerce surged following the outbreak of the coronavirus inside the United States.

Read the full story at Seafood Source