Saving Seafood

ALASKA: City of Adak Asks Court for One-Year Stay to Keep Plant Open for Cod A Season

November 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Last week the city of Adak asked a federal court to stay their order from last March — until January 1, 2021 — so the city’s only processing plant can operate during the Pacific cod season next year.

The March 2019 court decision agreed with plaintiffs representing the Bering Sea bottom trawl fleets that target flatfish, mackerel and cod, that Amendment 113, setting a 5,000 mt cod set-aside for remote villages in the Aleutian Islands, was not compliant with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The court vacated Amendment 113 and instructed the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to work on an amendment that would comply with the legislation in specific areas.

The Council took up the issue, beginning an arduous process of analysis, developing alternatives, and public comment that will take at least another 18 months.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Adak plant, central to the economy of the 350-resident community, began an ambitious effort to find a pathway that would allow the set-aside to continue while the Council worked on corrections to a new amendment. But their efforts fell short, whether it was a plea for emergency action or language in new federal legislation for a temporary fix, last summer.

Even though the Council asked industry sectors to work together for a solution that could keep the Adak plant viable, there was no longer any authority providing a separate allocation for Adak, and little incentive to find an industry-based workaround.

In addition, all fleets targeting Pacific cod in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands were well aware of the recent situation for cod stocks. Recent scientific assessments indicate the biomass is increasing in the northern Bering Sea and decreasing in traditional areas. Was the biomass moving north? How fast? Could the fish be crossing over to Russian waters? The ‘race for fish’ nature of the BSAI fishery made even the previously acceptable 5,000 mt set-aside — now vacated and available to anyone — more valuable than it was a few years ago.

Last Wednesday’s Memorandum in Support of Defendant-Intervenors’ Motion for Limited Relief From Judgment and Indicative Ruling included declarations of support from Adak as well as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Golden Harvest plant owner Jason Ogilvie, the Adak School District, and other private enterprises that rely on the winter operations of the plant.

City Manager Lyle Lockett noted that without continuous operation of its sole fish processing plant, Adak will see cascading economic impacts causing irrepairable harm to the community, including the city stopping subsidies to the school district, the medical clinic, the library, the gymnasium, and the community center.
“Shutting down the City Hall building would force all of these services to scramble to find a new location on the island, perhaps in private residences, which would be disruptive and likely expensive for Adak’s residents,” according to the memorandum.

Adak’s only school serves 19 students, 13 whose parents are employed directly or indirectly through the Adak plant. If enrollment drops to 10 or less, the state of Alaska’s subsidies stops and the school shuts down.

Both the crab and cod fleets that deliver to Adak would have no option other than Dutch Harbor to deliver their catch to — a 450-mile one-way trip.

The request asks the court to respond by January 10, 2020, ten days before the A season begins next year.  The motion supporting the stay was filed while the original decision is under appeal, and would be subject to that ruling if it came before.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Sen. Cantwell Language to Improve Legislation Getting Fisheries Disaster Aid to Fleets Passes Committee

November 15, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is determined to improve the process through which the nation’s fishing fleets survive fisheries disasters. Earlier this week, her provisions to reform the process passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Cantwell is a ranking member of the committee.

In September, Cantwell highlighted issues with the current process, including small business charter fishermen being excluded from the 2016 Coho fisheries disaster, an event that cost Washington State an estimated $100 million.

Cantwell’s provisions would expand and protect Tribal eligibility for fisheries disaster assistance and require charter fishermen to be included in economic relief.

“This legislation will help improve the federal fisheries disaster management program that impacted fishermen in coastal communities so that they will get financial relief faster,” Cantwell said. “As we all know, fisheries issues impact lots of different aspects of our community. But certainly the commercial and recreational fishermen deserve to be compensated as well, and with communities on our Pacific Coast that are very dependent on charter activities, I want to make sure, in the case of a disaster, that they too can apply and receive funding.

“The Coho disaster impacted Tribes, commercial fisherman, charter and recreational fisherman… but not all groups received adequate funding from NOAA,” Cantwell said at the September hearing. “In a shift from previous policy, the administration determined that the charter fishermen should not be included in the economic determination. Thus, I believe Washington did not receive adequate funding for this disaster.”

Cantwell is no stranger to the issues facing West Coast and Alaska fishing fleets. In 2015, she introduced bipartisan legislation to create a national ocean acidification monitoring strategy to prioritize investments in ocean acidification sensors to areas that need it most. In 2018, she worked with colleagues in the House and Senate to secure $200 million in federal funding to help communities with declared fisheries disasters. She has also fought to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from harmful mining and opposed drilling off the coasts of Washington and Oregon.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Gorton’s, riding high on celebrity chef partnership, launches new products

November 14, 2019 — After growing sales and awareness of its brand via a partnership with a celebrity chef and the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), Gorton’s is unveiling new products that appeal to millennials and other key demographic groups.

Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Gorton’s partnered with restauranteur Antoni Porowski, star of Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” earlier this year to create new recipes for Gorton’s and buzz for wild Alaska pollock. GAPP helped fund the partnership with a portion of USD 1 million (EUR 909,000) from its North American Partnership Program, which awarded 12 seafood suppliers in its second round of funding.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sen. Cantwell Language to Expand Tribal Eligibility, Include Charter Fishermen in Fisheries Disaster Process Passes Committee

November 13, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Provisions introduced by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to reform the federal fisheries disaster process passed the committee today. Cantwell’s provisions would expand and protect Tribal eligibility for fisheries disaster assistance and require charter fishermen to be included in economic relief.

“This legislation will help improve the federal fisheries disaster management program that impacted fishermen in coastal communities so that they will get financial relief faster,” Cantwell said. “As we all know, fisheries issues impact lots of different aspects of our community. But certainly the commercial and recreational fishermen deserve to be compensated as well, and with communities on our Pacific Coast that are very dependent on charter activities, I want to make sure, in the case of a disaster, that they too can apply and receive funding.”

In a September hearing, Cantwell highlighted the failures of the current disaster process by discussing the 2016 Coho salmon fishery disaster, which impacted fisheries throughout Washington state.

“The Coho disaster impacted Tribes, commercial fisherman, charter and recreational fisherman… but not all groups received adequate funding from NOAA,” Cantwell said at the September hearing. “In a shift from previous policy, the administration determined that the charter fishermen should not be included in the economic determination. Thus, I believe Washington did not receive adequate funding for this disaster.”

Throughout her time in the Senate, Cantwell has prioritized working on issues that impact the fishing industry. In 2015, she introduced bipartisan legislation to create a national ocean acidification monitoring strategy to prioritize investments in ocean acidification sensors to areas that need it most. In 2018, she worked with colleagues in the House and Senate to secure $200 million in federal funding to help communities with declared fisheries disasters. She has also fought to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from harmful mining and opposed drilling off the coasts of Washington and Oregon.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s remarks at today’s hearing is available HERE and audio is HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s opening statement at a September Commerce Committee hearing is available HERE, audio is HERE, and a transcript is HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses at the September hearing is available HERE, audio is HERE, and a transcript is HERE.

Alaska’s 2019 salmon season by the numbers

November 13, 2019 — Alaska’s 2019 salmon season was worth $657.6 million to fishermen, a 10% increase from the 2018 fishery.

Sockeye salmon accounted for nearly 64% of the total value, topping $421 million, and 27% of the harvest at 55.2 million fish.

Those are the lead takeaways in a summary from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that reveals preliminary estimates of salmon harvests and values by region. The final values will be determined in 2020 after processors, buyers, and direct marketers submit their totals paid to fishermen.

Pink salmon were the second most valuable species, representing 20% of the total dockside value at $128.6 million and 62% of the harvest at just over 129 million fish.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Southeast Alaska winter king salmon landings up from last year but still below average

November 13, 2019 — Southeast Alaska’s winter troll season for king salmon has gotten off to a little better start in 2019.

Commercial landings and number of fish caught are up from last year. However, both still lag behind five and 10-year averages for this point in the season.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign was the opening price of $12 per pound. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Grant Hagerman says that’s the highest starting point on record.

“At this time last year the price had increased over the first month and it was just under 12,” Hagerman said. “So it’s pretty similar to last year. But starting out at $12 is the highest that we’ve had on record.”

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Federal habitats to protect whales would reach to Alaska

November 12, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed creating critical habitat sites to protect humpback whales that will extend to waters off Alaska, officials said.

The habitats are focused on the feeding areas of groups of humpback whales and include the area off Juneau, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday.

A critical habitat does not establish a sanctuary or preserve, said Lisa Manning, an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the fisheries service. Manning conducted a public presentation about critical habitats at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau last week.

“It does not affect recreational activities. It does not affect private lands,” Manning said. “It only affects federal activities.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times

ALASKA: Increase in observer fees has people in the fishing industry questioning how their dollars are being spent

November 11, 2019 — In Kodiak’s Dog Bay harbor Jake Everich is puttering around the galley of his trawler, the Alaskan. He bought his boat in March to fish for rockfish and pollock around the Gulf of Alaska. It’s just under 75 feet — a relatively small operation.

Everich is among the fishermen affected by a recent decision from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to increase observer fees from 1.25 to 1.65 percent of their catch value. When he sits down at the little galley table with his cup of coffee, he doesn’t seem worried the fee hike will put him under.

“I would say for my own business, no, it’s not that tight that,” he said. “You know, 0.4 percent isn’t gonna put me into bankruptcy.”

He’s clear that he doesn’t speak for all vessel owners when he says that. In an average season Everich’s gross is about half a million dollars, so the bump to observer fees means an extra $20,000 out of his profit margin.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Marine Heatwave in the Pacific Shrinks from “Blob” in Size, Retreats Farther Offshore

November 11, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The vast marine heatwave that spread warm temperatures across the northeast Pacific Ocean late in the summer and fall of 2019 has declined in size and pulled back from the West Coast, possibly reducing its immediate impacts on coastal ecosystems.

It has declined to about half the size and intensity it displayed in August. However scientists caution that the heatwave designated MHW NEP19a remains two to three times the size of Alaska and still retains enormous amounts of heat in the upper layers of ocean. It remains one of the top four or five largest heatwaves on record in the North Pacific in the last 40 years.

“What we are seeing now is a smaller heatwave that is farther offshore, but there is still a very large span of the Pacific Ocean that is much warmer than usual,” said Andrew Leising, a research scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) in La Jolla, California. Leising has developed criteria to detect and gauge the size and magnitude of marine heatwaves. “The question is, where does it go from here? That’s what we’re watching now.”

The edge of the heatwave is now about 1,500 kilometers (about 930 miles) from the West Coast, but still envelops much of the Gulf of Alaska. It no longer so closely resembles the enormous earlier marine heatwave known as “the Blob” that affected much of the West Coast through 2014 and 2015, causing reverberations through the food web.

Low salmon returns to many West Coast rivers in the last few years have been linked to the Blob, which reduced the availability of food when the salmon first entered the ocean as juveniles.

Read the full release here

NOAA proposes humpback whale habitat protections

November 11, 2019 — NOAA’s fisheries division, the National Marine Fisheries Service, has proposed creating a number of critical habitat sites ranging from the Channel Islands in southern California to the Bering Sea, including the waters off Juneau.

The critical habitats, created with the aim of protecting the feeding areas of three separate groups of humpback whales, or Megaptera novaeangliae, will not affect anything except for federal agencies seeking to use those waters for other purposes, said Lisa Manning, an official with NOAA. Her presentation to the public on the proposed habitats was held at University of Alaska Southeast on Thursday evening, and was attended by more than 30 people.

“A critical habitat does not establish a sanctuary or preserve. It does not affect recreational activities. It does not affect private lands,” Manning said. “It only affects federal activities.”

The proposed habitats, which cover 175,182 square nautical miles in total, are the traditional feeding areas of three of the 14 major humpback whale distinct population segments (DPS), Manning said. The three groups that come to Alaska and California to summer and feed spend the rest of their time west of Mexico, west of Central America and east of Taiwan respectively. These three groups are currently threatened, and protecting their feeding areas may help them to regain their footing, Manning said. Some of these groups may number 2,000 whales or less.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire