Saving Seafood

Murkowski: Fight against Frankenfish isn’t over

May 4, 2018 — AquaBounty may have won federal approval on April 26 for a genetically engineered salmon facility in Indiana, but they won’t be able to produce GE salmon there, says Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

The Alaska Republican’s comments on May 1 came in the wake of Federal Drug Administration approval of an application for an AquaBounty salmon facility in Indiana last week. The company began developing genetically engineered salmon in 1996 and received an FDA approval in 2005 to sell it for human consumption.

Murkowski said the fight against “Frankenfish” is not over and she would continue to push for clear labeling of the product if it is to enter into the U.S. marketplace and for proper oversight.

Genetically engineered salmon currently are evaluated under the FDA’s New Animal Drug Application, a program intended to oversee antibiotics and medicines used on animals and livestock.

Read the full story at the Cordova Times

 

Market Grows for Community Supported Fisheries Bringing Expanded Benefits to Fishermen

May 3, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Fishermen from every coastal state in the nation are expanding markets for their catch through community supported fisheries (CSF), a way to get fresh-caught fish into the hands of discerning customers who also want to know more about how and where the fish were caught, and even who the fisherman was.

The growth of CSFs, modeled largely after community supported agriculture (CSA), has been impressive. The first one began in Port Clyde, ME, in 2007 as an effort to revitalize a small village’s fishing legacy. Port Clyde Fresh Catch sold shares in the early days and subscribers got whatever the small (about a dozen vessels) fleet caught that season.

Today Port Clyde has a retail store, website, and drop-off locations for customers to pick up their fish or purchase without becoming a member.

The largest CSF in the country is Cape Ann Fresh Catch out of Gloucester, with over 700 members. This week, they are featuring “wicked fresh” spring scallops for $20/lb. But if you want something else, go online or to their retail store for smoked fish, fresh fish & shellfish, baked goods, and their own line of prepared foods.

While the structure of the 30-plus individual CSFs in the U.S. may differ — some sell shares or subscriptions, others have evolved to processing plants and storefronts — they all operate with three goals in mind: environmental stewardship, economic stability, and social improvements.

In the case of two Alaska-based CSFs, those goals are also the core mission of the organizations that formed the CSF. The oldest of the two, Alaska’s Own, is part of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association based in Sitka. All profits from Alaskans Own go directly towards supporting fishery conservation research, initiatives to keep fishing access rights local and ensure new entrants to the fishery are able to buy in.

Alaskans Own will deliver fish to their CSF cities of Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Seattle or will ship anywhere for custom orders.

The Alaska Marine Conservation Coalition, based in Anchorage, formed Catch 49 four years ago and so far are uniquely focused on Alaskans only. Many Alaskans would never have access to Norton Sound red king crab, Kodiak tanner crab or Prince William Sound spot prawns without Catch 49. The CSF delivers to a designated site in Anchorage, Fairbanks or Homer, about two weeks after the ordering period closes.

“Although the program is quite consumer focused, we have had a high level of interest from foodservice operators in Alaska,” Catch 49 spokesman Cassandra Squibb said in an interview with IntraFish earlier this year. All profits go towards AMCC’s fisheries conservation efforts.

The process is usually pretty simple. As the Port Orford Sustainable Seafood CFA says: “You Join. We Catch, Package and Deliver. You Enjoy.”

The reason fishermen in central Oregon created a CSF is a familiar story on both coasts.

The large traditional buyers still operating in the area bought fish from the fleet but shipped it elsewhere. “We set out to pay a fair-trade price to local fishermen for their fish, to process the fish right here in Port Orford and to pay processing employees a fair wage,” the CSF explained on their website.

“We wanted to sell Port Orford fish in Port Orford, and to provide high-quality, sustainable, traceable fish to Oregonians.

“In the beginning, we marketed fish at a handful of retail outlets, several high-end restaurants, and farmers markets. CSF members are closer to the communities that catch and process their local seafood. It encourages sustainable fishing practices, and it strengthens relationships between fishermen and consumers.

“The ocean is a public resource – it’s as much yours as it is mine.  Fishermen are just licensed agents to access seafood for you,” they said.

As with most CSFs, additional information on where the fish was caught, what gear was used, the name of the vessel and information on the skipper and crew is provided. Indeed, knowing each step in the supply chain and offering a much shorter delivery from dock to kitchen, is a key advantage to CSFs.

Another key is the ‘custom’ nature of CSFs — every fish is brought on board with care, the beauty of the environment and the responsibility commercial fishermen feel as stewards of it is described and photographed by people who obviously love what they do. Recipes are offered along with stories of the family.

There are now more than 420 locations across the nation where individual fishermen sell their catch.

Local Catch, a network of CSFs supporting the sustainability concept, offers an interactive map to find CSF delivery locations in Canada and the U.S. Among the hundreds shown is one in Wibaux, so far east in Montana it’s almost North Dakota.

It’s a delivery spot for Cedar Plank Seafoods, a family fishing operation out of Petersburg, AK.

The connection between a CSF delivery station on a ranch in eastern Montana and a third-generation fisherman from Petersburg entails a long-ago grandmother’s visit to Washington’s San Juan Islands, bringing Alaska salmon from her brother back to Wilbaux to serve during the annual cattle branding. Then decades later her granddaughter helps to host pheasant hunters at that ranch, meets hunters who fish in Alaska and who eventually invite her up for a season, where she, a little later, meets the fisherman who will become her husband from Petersburg.

Exactly the kind of story CSF members love to hear.

This story was originally published on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.

 

Senators Feinstein, Harris introduce bill to ban drift nets in California

April 30, 2018 — A bipartisan bill to ban controversial drift net fishing off California’s coast was introduced Thursday by Democratic California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, along with West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.

The nets, which can be more than a mile long, are intended to catch swordfish but end up trapping dolphins, sea lions and a host of other marine life, many of which die.

“The use of drift nets to target swordfish harms too many endangered or protected marine animals and should be phased out,” Feinstein said in an emailed statement. “It’s unacceptable that a single California fishery that uses this type of drift net is killing more dolphins and porpoises than the rest of the West Coast combined.”

Large mesh drift nets are already banned in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, as well as off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii, according to Feinstein. Additionally, the United States is a signatory to international agreements that ban large drift nets in international waters.

Read the full story at the Orange County Register

 

Funding for Alaska’s commercial fisheries division in good shape, with $300K going to chinook project

April 30, 2018 — A shuffle in some funding leaves Alaska’s commercial fisheries division in good shape to manage the resources and target important projects across the state.

At first glance, the $69 million operating budget for FY19 appears to be down slightly from last year’s $72.3 million, but that’s not the case.

“Most of that difference is a sort of ‘cleanup’ in authority we no longer had funding for, such as the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund, test fishing and some interagency items. The rest is due to (a) $1.1 million shortfall in Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission revenue, which was made up from other department funds,” said Scott Kelley, commercial fisheries division director.

Added to the budget was a nearly $1 million unrestricted increment offered by Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan, which got the nod from Alaska lawmakers.

The extra money will be distributed among 11 projects in four regions: Southeast, Central, Westward and the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim, or AYK.

 The biggest project focuses on research to help determine the causes of declining chinook salmon.

“It’s a $300,000 project for a juvenile chinook marine survey in the Bering Sea,” Kelley said. “Almost the first thing I get asked at meetings around the state is what’s going on with king salmon. That project looks at the early marine survival, which is where we think these mortality events are most affecting the species. It’s the only project in the state that really gives us a first look at what’s going on there.”

Other projects back on the funding track include Southeast and Togiak herring research, westward salmon weirs, Southeast sablefish research and Prince William Sound Tanner crab.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Rubio, Murkowski Introduce Bill to Promote U.S. Shark Conservation as a Global Model of Sustainability

April 27, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the Office of  Senator Marco Rubio:   

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act (S. 2764), bicameral legislation that recognizes the sustainable and economically-valuable fishing practices of U.S. shark fishermen and promotes U.S. standards for shark conservation and humane harvest. U.S. Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL) has introduced similar legislation (H.R. 5248) in the House.

“Sharks play an important role in maintaining the health of the ocean ecosystems for which Florida is known for,” said Senator Rubio. “Sharks are already sustainably and humanely harvested in federal waters per U.S. law, providing sustained economic benefits to coastal communities through fishing, trade, and tourism. This bill will help promote those same standards for sustainable and humane shark harvesting among our global trade partners as well. This bill protects international shark populations as well as the fishermen in Florida and throughout the U.S. who continue to fish by the rules.”

“While the practice of shark finning is already banned in U.S. waters, we do have a small population of fishermen who legally harvest whole sharks for their meat, oil, and other products,” said Senator Murkowski. “This legislation sets a strong policy example for global nations that wish to prevent shark finning in their waters, while respecting the cultures of communities that rely on subsistence, protecting the rights of American fisherman that operate in the legal shark fisheries, and supporting the efforts of shark conservationists. Together, we can find solutions to protect our fisheries, our communities, and our marine ecosystems, worldwide.”

“Fishing is a long-standing profession and treasured American pastime,” said Representative Webster. “We must pursue conservation, while balancing the needs of the industry and recreation. This bill recognizes the sacrifices American fishermen have made to rebuild and sustain our shark populations. It encourages other nations wishing to export shark products to the United States to adhere to the same high standards for conservation and management.”

Specifically the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act would:

  •  Create a shark conservation and trade fairness certification for nations wishing to import shark products to the U.S.;
  • Prohibit the importation of shark products originating from any nation without a certification, and the possession of such products in the U.S. with limited exceptions for law enforcement, subsistence harvest, education, conservation, or scientific research;
  • Update the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act to reflect the U.S. commitment to promote international agreements that encourage the adoption of shark conservation and management measures and measures to prevent shark finning that are consistent with the International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks;
  • Direct the Secretary of Commerce to include rays and skates into the seafood traceability program to ensure that shark products are not smuggled into the U.S. falsely labeled as rays and skates, two closely related groups.

View the release in its entirety here.

 

North Pacific Fishery Management Council June Agenda

April 26, 2018 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:   

The Council will meet June 4-11, 2018 at the Best Western Convention Center in Kodiak, Alaska.  The Agenda and Schedule are available, as well as the list of documents for review. Public comments on all agenda items will be accepted until 12 noon (Alaska time) on Friday, June 1, 2018.

Other meeting information follows:

  • Submit and review comments at comments.npfmc.org
  • Public comment deadline is June 1, 2018 at 12 noon (AST)
  • Alaska Airlines discount code: ECMZ244

IFQ Outreach Meeting

The Council will hold a public outreach session concurrent with its June 2018 meeting in Kodiak, Alaska. The session will be Tuesday, June 5, from 5:00-6:30 pm in the Pavilion Room, and will provide an open forum for stakeholders to give insight on the present state of the halibut and sablefish IFQ Program and provide direction for future actions that might be considered by the Council and its IFQ Committee. The Council is particularly seeking input on issues related to entry level opportunities and rural participation in the fishery.

More Information is available here

 

Alaska: Cook Inlet bait herring and smelt net big payouts for few participants

April 25, 2018 — Two commercial fisheries open each spring at Upper Cook Inlet that attract little notice and few participants, but each pays big bucks to fishermen.

The first is a food and bait herring fishery that runs from April 20 through the end of May. The 150-ton quota is small compared to most of Alaska’s other herring fisheries, but the payout is far higher than all others.

“They get $1.00 to $1.50 a pound, or $2,000 to $3,000 for a short ton, and the herring goes primarily into the halibut commercial bait fishery or the sport bait fishery,” said Pat Shields, regional manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Soldotna.

In contrast, the statewide average price for roe herring at places like Sitka, Kodiak or Togiak is just 12 cents a pound, and fishermen make between $100 to $350 a ton.

The Cook Inlet herring fishery serves a small, local market provided by 10 to 20 fishermen. The fish is captured in gillnets by 10 to 20 salmon setnet fishermen who are trying to get some money to start the season, Shields explained. The herring are frozen and sold throughout the year and the demand far exceeds the supply.

Shields speculates the price is so high because there are so few bait herring fisheries in the state — two in Southeast, one at Kodiak and Dutch Harbor.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Making a better “hot dog of the sea”

April 24, 2018 — When people think of Alaska seafood, salmon and halibut come to mind. But the state also produces a lesser-known fish product sought after all around the world: surimi, the base for imitation crab.

Now the guy who helped establish surimi in America — more than 30 years ago — is on a mission to improve how it’s made.

Tyre Lanier is a food scientist at at North Carolina State University, where he’s been since the 1970s. He has a background in the science of hot dogs.

So, working on seafood initially was a bit of a stretch for him.

“I started off trying to make hot dogs out of fish believe it or not,” Lanier said. “Then I heard about surimi.”

Or as Lanier refers to it, “the hot dog of sea.”

For thousands of years, surimi seafood has been part of Japanese cuisine. Sometimes referred to as kamaboko, it comes in a variety of flavors and shapes.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Radio

 

Alaska: Pebble protesters rally in Anchorage as Army Corps gets input on environmental review

April 20, 2018 — A crowd of 200 people or more rallied outside a convention center in Anchorage Thursday to protest the Pebble copper and gold prospect and what some said was an attempt by federal regulators to silence them.

The demonstration was held outside the Dena’ina Center. Inside, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took public input on what areas to consider in its environmental review of the project, such as air quality, salmon habitat or noise levels.

A Corps official said the agency’s goal was taking as much input as possible, not silencing critics of the proposal.

The gathering was the biggest protest against the project since developer Pebble Limited Partnership filed a plan with the Corps in December in hope of one day receiving permission to build the mine.

“Wrong mine! Wrong place,” the throng shouted between speakers, echoing the words on many of the blue T-shirts handed out by Save Bristol Bay, a consortium of groups opposed to the mine.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Bristol Bay advocates argue against Pebble in D.C.

April 20, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Anti-mine advocates with the Bristol Bay Native Corp. made the rounds in Washington, D.C., this week to get a word in with regulators and lawmakers about the ongoing permit process for the proposed Pebble Mine.

The visit came as the a round of public events wrapped up in Anchorage Thursday.

The group’s members said that they aren’t happy with the way the Army Corps of Engineers is running the show, but that they have confidence that the Environmental Protection Agency and Alaska’s congressional delegation will help them stand in the way of the potential gold, copper and molybdenum mine that they worry will poison headwaters of the Bristol Bay salmon fisheries.

The will-they-or-won’t-they saga of the Pebble prospect has run on for more than a decade, with no sign of a permit application until December. Now the anti-Pebble advocates, including Bristol Bay salmon fishermen and a slew of environmental groups, are arguing that the process is going to fast.

The Trump administration’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, initially balked at a watershed assessment crafted under the Obama administration, but put the decision-making document back on the table earlier this year.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News