Saving Seafood

Commercial fisheries report: Alaska salmon reigns as the top finfish in the nation

February 25, 2020 — According to NOAA’s annual report on commercial fisheries landings, production and value, the top five species in order of value are:

  • Lobster at $684 million
  • Crabs at $645 million
  • Salmon at $598 million
  • Scallops at $541 million
  • Shrimp at $496 million

Alaska produces the overwhelming majority of our nation’s wild salmon landings (more than a third of which comes from the imperiled Bristol Bay region), topping out at just over 650 million pounds of salmon worth $595 million in 2018. That means Alaska salmon alone takes that same spot as the top-value finfish in the nation.

Alaska pollock, which helped lock in Dutch Harbor as the top port by volume for the 22nd year running, is the sixth most valuable species on the list at $451 million in value for 3.4 billion pounds landed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New Study Shows Pacific Cod Eggs are Highly Vulnerable to Changes in Bottom Temperature

February 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The 2013 to 2016 marine heatwave—known as “The Blob”—is the largest warm anomaly ever recorded in the North Pacific. In the Gulf of Alaska, scientists have connected low numbers of Pacific cod larvae, juveniles, and adults to loss of spawning habitat. This occured during and immediately following the heatwave. Compounding the ecological loss is the significant economic impact on the second most valuable commercial fishery in Alaska. The fishery experienced large reductions in their annual catch limits in 2018 (a 58 percent cut) and a fishery closure in 2020.

“We combined results of laboratory studies, stock assessment model output and survey data to help us better understand what happens to Pacific cod in warm and cold years,” said Benjamin Laurel, NOAA Fisheries biologist and lead researcher for this new study. “We found that the recent three-year heatwave and return to similar conditions in 2019 potentially had the greatest effect on spawning habitat for the years we had available data (1994 to 2019).”

Water temperature is an important component of fish habitat. Temperature influences every stage of a fish’s life. During the first year of life, fish eggs are particularly sensitive to changes in environmental conditions.

Laurel and colleague Lauren Rogers determined that Pacific cod eggs have a narrow optimal range for hatching success, only 3-6º C. This is much narrower than other related species like walleye pollock and Atlantic cod.

“Early life stage distribution and survival may set biogeographic boundaries and limit productive capacity for fish stocks,” added Rogers. “Pacific cod are unique among cod species; they only spawn once in a season and have eggs that adhere to the seafloor. Pacific cod females can actually place their eggs in habitats with temperatures that optimize hatch success. However, during these warm years, it may have been more challenging to find suitable habitat because the warmer water temperatures extended into the ocean depths.”

Read the full release here

Gulf of Alaska cod exemplifies commitment to sustainability

February 19, 2020 — Recent headlines discussing a potential suspension of the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification for Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod have included some misleading and even inaccurate depictions of the status of the fishery. As the client for both MSC and Responsible Fisheries Management certifications for all Alaska Pacific cod, Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation feels it is important to provide necessary context and clarification.

Most importantly, all Alaska Pacific cod is currently certified under both the MSC and RFM programs, with only a small percentage (6 percent or less) of the commercial harvest under review in 2020 by the certification bodies. Alaska’s Pacific cod fishery is split into three primary commercial fishing regions — the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska — which will account for about 78 percent, 16 percent, and 6 percent of the 2020 harvest, respectively. Only the Gulf of Alaska harvest is under review and subject to a potential change in certification status. The Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands produce 343 million pounds of Alaska Pacific cod, and recent surveys from these fisheries show abundant populations.

To say that sustainability certification and fisheries management standards are complicated is an understatement. Yet every aspect of fisheries management in Alaska is based on the best available scientific data, effective management practices, and a precautionary approach designed specifically to sustain the long-term health of the species and ecosystem. In Alaska, we are now challenged by the fact that climate or environmental changes are often the key drivers in fisheries health and management. This makes our investment in and commitment to federal surveys, annual stock assessments, monitoring, and catch accounting data even more important.

Adherence to our robust management systems, even when climate-driven events necessitate a fishery closure, is the strongest demonstration of Alaska’s sustainable fisheries.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Russia-Alaska seafood trade remains a one-way street benefiting Russia

February 19, 2020 — Lost in the headlines about the hits to seafood sales from the Trump administration’s trade war with China is another international barrier that’s been going on far longer.

In August 2014, Russia placed an embargo on all U.S. food products to retaliate for sanctions the U.S and other Western countries imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. The ban included Alaska seafood, which at the time accounted for more than $61 million in annual sales to Russia, primarily pink salmon roe.

But here’s the bigger hurt: For the nearly six years that the embargo has been in place, no corresponding limits have ever been imposed on Russian seafood coming into the U.S.

At first, Alaska seafood companies and the state’s congressional delegation made some “tit for tat” noise about imposing a ban on Russian seafood. But in fact, the value of Russian imports has grown nearly 70% since 2014 — and it all comes into the U.S. almost entirely duty-free.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska Sea Grant Deadline for Fellowship Program is Tomorrow

February 14, 2020 — The Alaska Sea Grant Program wants to remind soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students interested in the science and policy that applications for their 2020 state fellowship program must be in by tomorrow.

Six positions are available — Alaska Sea Grant Mariculture Fellow, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region, National Park Service, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the United States Geological Survey.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ALASKA: Pebble offers mitigation plans while opposition condemns preliminary EIS

February 14, 2020 — One week ago, the Pebble Partnership unveiled a draft plan for mitigating the potential impacts of a proposed copper and gold mine in Southwest Alaska. The company says that just under 5 square miles of wetlands would be affected, with nearly 70% of that land facing irreversible changes. To combat the side effects of opening the mine, Pebble is focusing on three strategic projects related to it’s impact on the region – which is home to the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

“In our review of some other projects up here, we looked at creative ways that we could, within the watershed, improve upon upon fish habitat and water resources within the areas that we will affect,” said Mike Heatwole, a spokesperson for the Pebble Partnership.

The three specific areas that Pebble plans to address will be: Improving the water treatment facilities in Newhalen, Nondalton, & Kokhanok- Clearing roughly 7 miles of coastline on the western side of the Cook Inlet- and improving accessibility for over 8.5 miles of salmon habitat to compensate for the streams expected to be affected by the mine.

Days after the publishing of Pebble’s mitigation plans, the preliminary version of a final environmental impact statement drew criticism from multiple groups who stand in opposition to the mine. Many of these organizations feel that the ACOE has rushed the process, ignoring important data and research regarding the impacts that the mine could have on Bristol Bay’s salmon.

Read the full story at KTUU

ALASKA: Pebble sees signs in new federal report that mine will secure key approval

February 13, 2020 — A new version of a federal environmental review for the proposed Pebble mine has angered the mine’s opponents and encouraged its developer.

The Army Corps of Engineers will use the final review to decide whether to give the controversial mine a key permit it needs before it can be built.

The Corps had provided the report to several cooperating agencies involved in the review process, such as state and federal agencies and tribal governments. The Anchorage Daily News obtained an executive summary of the Corps’ preliminary final environmental review that was leaked to reporters.

The report could foreshadow what’s to come.

Tom Collier, chief executive of developer Pebble Limited Partnership, is pleased. He said the report’s release, and its major conclusions, indicate the company will see a decision in its favor by mid-2020.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

HOMER NEWS: Cook Inlet commercial fisheries feed Alaskans

February 13, 2020 — Alaska is salmon country, where fish feed our communities in every way — sustenance, work, recreation, art, faith, family, tradition and culture. For us, second- and third-generation commercial fishermen raised on Cook Inlet, salmon is a complex livelihood and identity built on all of those things.

We are proud to wield the skills our fathers taught us, and proud that we are able to venture onto an unruly ocean and return with food for our communities. That is the core purpose of commercial fishing: the movement of healthy protein from the ocean to the people.

An incredible industry has grown around it, reaching from riverbed to global marketplace. But our first duty is as local harvester, as small business owners bolstering the food security and economic stability of coastal Alaska.

In Cook Inlet, commercial fishing provides essential coastal livelihoods through hundreds of small locally-owned businesses, and thousands of jobs in the harvesting, processing and marine trades sectors. Additionally, 79% of Cook Inlet fishermen are Alaska residents.

Read the full opinion piece at the Homer News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay seal suit: Endangered listing could disrupt Pebble Mine permit

February 13, 2020 — On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reportedly conceded that there may be a new hurdle on the horizon for Pebble Mine permitting.

On Feb. 6, the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking Endangered Species Act protection for Lake Iliamna harbor seals, one of only two harbor seal populations living exclusively in fresh water, whose population now numbers about 400, according to the center.

“Alaska’s unique and imperiled freshwater seals need federal protection,” said Kristin Carden, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Pebble Mine threatens the very survival of the Iliamna Lake seals and the fish species they depend on to survive. Even if the mine is stopped, climate change will drive these rare and beautiful animals toward extinction.”

Subsistence hunters in the region harvest lake seals. The center advises that its lawsuit would not interfere with subsistence hunting or fishing by Alaska natives. Whether it may affect commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay remains to be seen.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fish dip: Commission cuts Pacific halibut quotas based on sex study

February 12, 2020 — As expected, the International Pacific Halibut Commission set quotas down for 2020 at its annual meeting in Anchorage last week.

Quotas for Pacific halibut will be reduced by just over 5 percent this year as a result of declining stocks. Alaska’s share of the 36.6 million pound total catch is 28.13 million pounds for all user groups. The halibut fishery will open on March 14 and close on Nov. 15.

Industry leaders predicted late in 2019 that the fishery had maxed out its value proposition and likely would not be able to expect a higher dock price to make up for a lower quota.

Read the full story at National Fisherman