Saving Seafood

DNA tests show commercial halibut catch 90% female, influencing catch limits being set this week

February 6, 2020 — For the first time in its 96 year history, the International Pacific Halibut Commission will be setting catch limits for halibut this week with the knowledge that the commercial fleet’s catch has been around 90 percent female, a notably higher proportion than previously thought.

“The Commission has long known that the directed commercial Pacific halibut fishery catches mostly female, but we’ve had indications over time that perhaps the fishery is able to capture even more females than we see on a set line survey relative to males,” said Ian Stewart, a quantitative scientist for IPHC.

Stewart works to develop the stock assessment for Pacific halibut, which IPHC commissioners use to set catch limits for the U.S. and Canada. Knowing what percentage of the catch is female is an important factor that could influence how the stock is managed and thus, what restrictions and limitations are put on fishermen. New data from the IPHC shows that the sex ratio of the commercial catch ranged from 81 percent female in some regions of the Gulf of Alaska to 97 percent female in some regions in the Bering Sea.

“For conservation purposes we track female spawning biomass. And in order to understand that we need to know not only how many females are out there, but how many we’re catching in a given year,” Stewart said.

Biologists with IPHC use setline surveys fishing the same gear in the same places with the same bait year after year to estimate trends in the population and collection biological information including size, age and sex.

Read the full story at KTUU

Northern Lights: The national seafood nexus

February 6, 2020 — For more than 30 years, Alaska has been the nation’s largest producer of seafood by volume and value. This status continues into a fourth decade, detailed in a recently published report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Focused on the 2017-18 period, the report describes the broad economic impact of the state’s seafood industry on a regional, statewide and national level, in addition to details about global competition, tax revenue generated by the industry, and other special topics.

Over the study period, an estimated 58,700 workers were directly employed annually in the industry with wages totaling $1.7 billion. Approximately 29,400 commercial fishermen participated in Alaska’s fisheries aboard more than 9,000 vessels ranging from small skiffs to large catcher-processors. Trawl, pot, longline, gillnet and seine gear types are the primary harvest methods in Alaska’s fisheries. About 26,000 processing workers were employed across Alaska in 166 shoreside facilities, with other processors active on vessels that harvest and process their catch. About 3,300 individuals worked at salmon hatcheries, managed fisheries, marketed seafood and provided other support services.

In addition to direct employment, additional impacts occur when industry participants purchase goods or services. For example, the welder repairing a gillnet vessel or the truck driver delivering fuel to a processing plant are indirectly supported by the industry. The seafood sector is also credited with impacts associated with local government services supported by seafood-related taxes or purchases in retail stores by processing workers, for example. Including all economic impacts, 37,700 full-time equivalent jobs, $2.1 billion in wages, and $5.6 billion in economic output (a measurement that captures all economic activity) is supported by the industry in Alaska.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Gulf of Alaska cod to lose sustainability certification by March, MSC confirms

February 5, 2020 — Pacific cod from the Gulf of Alaska is expected to lose its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) sustainability certification in the coming months due to a decline in the stock, according to the organization.

“The Gulf of Alaska Pacific Cod fishery is currently undergoing an expedited audit against the MSC fisheries standard following new information from the National Marine Fishery Service showing that the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod stock had declined to less than B20,” said MSC Senior Public Relations Manager Jackie Marks. “This resulted in closure of the federal Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod fishery by federal fisheries managers, effective January 2020. This information triggered an expedited audit of the fishery’s MSC certification status, which is currently being undertaken by the conformity assessment body.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Lawsuit Launched to Save Alaska’s Cook Inlet Beluga Whales From Harmful Oil Exploration

February 3, 2020 — Conservation groups Friday threatened to sue the Trump administration for approving oil exploration in Alaska’s Cook Inlet after new federal data found a dramatic decline in the area’s population of endangered beluga whales.

The formal notice of intent to file an Endangered Species Act lawsuit asks the National Marine Fisheries Service to revoke its authorization of oil and gas activities in the area until a new legally required consultation is completed.

The administration relied on higher beluga whale numbers when, in 2019, it approved rules allowing Hilcorp Alaska LLC to harm belugas and other marine mammals as it expands offshore oil and gas operations in Cook Inlet. But on Tuesday the Fisheries Service announced the population of whales was estimated at 279, a significantly smaller and more quickly declining population than the agency had thought.

“Since we pressed for listing the Cook Inlet Beluga whale as endangered in 2008, the drive for corporate profits and complacent government bureaucrats have conspired to stifle progress for this dwindling stock,” said Bob Shavelson, advocacy director for Cook Inletkeeper. “Hilcorp should do the right thing and abandon its plans for new drilling in Cook Inlet.”

Read the full story at the Alaska Native News

Alaska governor’s budget proposal would trim some fishery programs

February 3, 2020 — Cuts proposed by Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy to his state’s Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) next fiscal budget could be felt in a number of commercial fisheries, reports Alaska Fish Radio‘s Laine Welch.

Dunleavy, a Republican elected in 2018, has proposed nipping $1 million next year from the agency’s nearly $67m budget, of which $36m comes from state general funds, according to Welch.

That would mean the closure of an office in Southeast Alaska and the elimination of red king crab assessments. Cuts also are on deck for stock assessments for Southeast urchin and sea cucumber fisheries, which will likely reduce dive time, Welch reported.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Alaska seafood industry faces challenges beyond harvest cuts: its workforce

January 31, 2020 — Amid ongoing declines of salmon returns, restrictions on harvest and collapsing groundfish stocks, Alaska seafood industry experts are concerned about something else too: the workforce.

The Alaska seafood workforce, both on boats and on shore, is aging, and fewer young people are going into careers in the industry. While the graying of the fishing fleet is in part because of the high cost of entry for permits, boats and equipment, there is also a looming shortage in processing plant workers.

Jay Stinson, president of the Alaska Research Consortium, a research organization supporting fisheries and marine science in the North Pacific, told the House Fisheries Committee on Jan. 23 that about 75 percent of the state’s manufacturing workforce is in the seafood industry. However, those workplaces are changing from what they were a few decades ago, when unskilled labor dominated.

“(Processors are) moving from the old slime line, which was unskilled labor, to a technical skill set requiring computer sciences, robotic operators and programmers, maintenance people, things like that,” he said. “Those skill sets are in really big demand, but there’s no place in the state to get that training.”

While the University of Alaska has some courses in fisheries technology and skill sets that would be useful to processors, there is no training program that specifically focuses on those skills as related to the seafood industry.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

North Pacific Council to Hear From Alaska Charter Operators on Halibut Catch Limits

January 30, 2020 — This week the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC) will hear from eminent scientists about prioritized research in Alaska that is underfunded, ways to change data reporting that maintains “best science available” standards, how to best fund the all-important observer program in areas not yet 100% covered, how to balance bycatch with directed halibut fishing, and what will done about the sablefish overage from last year, among other agenda items.

The solidly-packed agenda is not unusual, but among those weighty issues, the one that has illicited the most comments from industry — 62 compared to 5 for the next most commented-on topic — was the halibut catch limit for Gulf of Alaska (Area 3A) charter operators.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Experts predict cod market will remain strong in 2020

January 30, 2020 — A panel of experts at the Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC), held last week in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.predicted the cod market will remain strong in 2020, thanks to relatively flat supplies and strong demand.

Global cod fisheries are expected to harvest just over 1.5 million metric tons (MT) in 2020, roughly the same amount harvested in 2019. As supplies remain strong but relatively stagnant, demand for the fish appears strong, with the price per MT in 2019 higher than at any other points in the past decade.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Ring of Fire lights up: Earthquakes near proposed Pebble Mine site

January 28, 2020 — This morning, residents in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region reported waking to a magnitude 3.6 earthquake near the proposed Pebble Mine site just before 6 a.m.

Earthquakes in Alaska are nothing new. But the rate of activity has increased. According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, 2018 and 2019 took first and second place for the most earthquakes recorded in the state: “With a total of 50,289 reported earthquakes, 2019 finished as a runner up to the record-breaking 2018. The earthquake depths ranged between zero and 165 miles.”

What does this have to do with mining and fisheries? Stay with me.

As we cannot yet predict seismic activity, we do the next best thing: Build to withstand earthquakes.

The 7.1 quake that hit Anchorage in November 2018, followed by a 5.7 aftershock and hundreds of aftershocks for days and weeks after, caused no fatalities. Why? Because we have engineered our lives and structures to survive earthquakes, especially in the Ring of Fire.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Breaking down Alaska seafood’s economic value

January 29, 2020 — Which Alaska region is home to the most fishing boats, and where do most of Alaska’s fishermen live?

Answers to those questions and many others can be found in the annual report Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry 2020 by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The report, prepared by the McDowell Group, gives a fishing snapshot by Alaska region, including employment rates and tax revenues, and breaks down the industry’s impacts to the nation and the world.

Here are some highlights:

The seafood industry contributed $5.6 billion in economic output to Alaska’s economy in 2017/2018, including harvesting, processing, and support sectors.

About 58,700 workers were directly employed by Alaska’s seafood industry, earning $1.7 billion in wages annually.

There were 29,400 skippers, active permit owners and crew who fished in Alaska, of which 16,319 (56%) were Alaska residents.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News