Saving Seafood

NPFMC Vacancy Announcement: Finance Officer/Admin Support

March 21, 2017 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

NPFMC is looking for a Finance Officer/Admin Support person to join our team. This person would be responsible for a variety of financial and administrative tasks in support of the activities of the Council and its staff, including budget preparation, grant reporting, accounts payable, travel and expense accounting, payroll, property, subcontracting, and other financial/administrative functions. Likely distribution of duties is 65% Finance related and 35% Administrative support.

The Council offices are located in Anchorage, Alaska

Full job description available on our website.

  • Minimum AA degree in accounting or finance, and minimum of 5 years similar professional experience in private, nonprofit, or governmental organization
  • This position is non-federal but subject to U.S. General Schedule federal equivalent, plus Alaska COLA/locality pay.
  • Application period closes April 15.

Send cover letter (statement of interest) and resume with three references to david.witherell@noaa.gov.

Commercial disasters declared for nine West Coast fisheries

March 21, 2017 — The Commerce Secretariat determined that nine salmon and crab fisheries in Alaska, California and Washington experienced commercial failures, which will enable fishing communities to seek disaster relief assistance from Congress, NOAA Fisheries Division reported.

The decision was taken by US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker due to the fact that in recent years, each of these fisheries experienced sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass due to unusual ocean and climate conditions.

The fisheries deemed to have experienced commercial failures are the following:

  • Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fisheries (Alaska/2016)
  • California Dungeness and rock crab fishery (California/2015-2016);
  • Yurok Tribe Klamath River Chinook salmon fishery (California/2016);
  • Fraser River Makah Tribe and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sockeye salmon fisheries (Washington/2014);
  • Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay non-treaty coho salmon fishery (Washington/2015);
  • Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe South Puget Sound salmon fisheries (Washington/2015);
  • Quinault Indian Nation Grays Harbor and Queets River coho salmon fishery (Washington/2015);
  • Quileute Tribe Dungeness crab fishery (Washington/2015-2016);
  • Ocean salmon troll fishery (Washington/2016).

“The Commerce Department and NOAA stand with America’s fishing communities. We are proud of the contributions they make to the nation’s economy, and we recognize the sacrifices they are forced to take in times of environmental hardship,” said Samuel D. Rauch III, deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs, NOAA Fisheries.

Rauch stressed their commitment to helping these communities recover and achieve success in the future.

Read the full story at Fish Information & Services

Trump’s budget cuts rattle nerves in Alaska

March 17, 2017 — Massive cuts could be in store for the agencies and people who provide the science and stewardship to preserve and protect our planet.

The budget proposed by President Donald Trump that starts in October puts on the chopping block the agencies and staff in charge of fisheries research and management, weather forecasting, satellite data tracking and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Trump called the cuts a tradeoff to “prioritize rebuilding the military” and to help fund the border wall with Mexico.

The Washington Post broke down a White House memo to the Office of Management and Budget last week that showed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would lose 26 percent of its budget; its satellite data division would lose 22 percent of its current funding.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Weather Service would each face a 5 percent cut.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal

ALASKA: Scientist Puzzled Over Declining King Salmon Runs

March 15, 2017 — The statewide study of king salmon decline has not yielded any definitive conclusions. The results of the three-year study of the incidental catch of Chinooks showing up in the state’s commercial salmon fisheries ended with no real information about kings headed into the Bering Sea.

Kyle Shedd is a fisheries geneticist with the Marine Conservation Laboratory at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He says that the genetic study of incidental catch of kings showed that most of the fish caught were not Alaska king salmon, but ones headed south to British Columbia and even further south down the west coast of the U.S.

“The vast majority of Chinook salmon incidentally harvested in commercial fisheries, and also caught in the sport fisheries, were from southern stocks, so British Columbia and the West Coast of the United States. Very few of them were Alaska.”

Read the full story at KYUK

Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan say no to Coast Guard cuts proposed by White House

March 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Alaska’s Republican senators won’t support proposed major budget cuts for the U.S. Coast Guard, they told the White House Office of Management and Budget in a letter following reports of major cuts in President Donald Trump’s draft budget.

Several national outlets have reported on a draft White House budget request to Congress that includes $1.3 billion cut from the Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget. The Coast Guard cut is reportedly aimed at helping pay for a wall on the southern border shared with Mexico.

Alaska Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were the only three Republicans among 23 senators to sign the letter. The rest were Democrats.

Cutting into the Coast Guard budget could mean a far lower chance of bolstering the dwindling U.S. fleet of icebreakers, at a time when shipping traffic is increasing in the Arctic. Senators warned this is not the time to “kick the can down the road” on the Coast Guard’s aging fleet.

“We strongly urge you to refrain from any such cuts. The Coast Guard budget has suffered a steady decline since 2010, which resulted in negative impacts to Coast Guard missions, infrastructure, delays in necessary recapitalization efforts, and has generally constrained Coast Guard operations,” the senators wrote in a letter to OMB Director John Mulvaney.

Sullivan’s office was involved in crafting the letter, which was ultimately released by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

Reduced catch brings record prices for crab

March 10, 2017 — Alaska crabbers are hauling back pots from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices for their efforts.

The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, which are taken through the ice near Nome, are paying out at a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region.

Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the highest price ever for fishermen, averaging $10.89 per pound. That catch quota of eight million pounds was down 15 percent from the previous season.

The Bering Sea snow crab fleet has taken 80 percent of its 19 million pound quota, down by nearly half from last year. That’s pushed market prices through the roof, topping $8.30 a pound at wholesale in both the US and Japan, compared to over $5.50 per pound a year ago.

Alaska produces only about 10 percent of the world’s snow crab, with most of the pack by far coming from Eastern Canada, followed by Russia.  On the snow crab menu front – McDonald’s has begun testing a new snow crab sandwich in several San Francisco Bay locations. If it’s a hit, the sandwich could advance to nearly 250 outlets this year.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: Path forward after Kodiak sockeye genetic study unclear

March 9, 2017 — A revelation that a large portion of sockeye harvested by Kodiak commercial seine fishermen originate in Cook Inlet may change the way the fisheries are managed, but no one’s quite sure how yet.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently completed a multi-year study taking genetic samples from sockeye harvested in the Kodiak Management Area seine fishery, about 70 miles southwest of Homer in the Gulf of Alaska. The study, which spanned the years between 2014 and 2016, found that a significant percentage of the sockeye harvested in that fishery were of Cook Inlet origin in two years, up to 37 percent in one year.

Cook Inlet fishermen have long theorized that Kodiak fishermen catch some Cook Inlet fish, but the study has provided hard data, at least for those years. The data, first presented at the Kodiak Board of Fisheries meeting in January, is the first time a mixed-stock analysis was conducted on Kodiak sockeye fisheries and was originally requested by the board as part of a longtime project to study stock composition in the Kodiak Management Area to further develop the management plans.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Clarion

NSF announces new long-term ecological research sites off Alaska, New England coasts

March 9, 2017 — National Science Foundation (NSF) grants will support two new Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. Scientists will conduct research along the Northeast U.S. continental shelf and in the northern Gulf of Alaska, regions known for productive fisheries and abundant marine resources.

The new LTER sites were each awarded $5.6 million over five years, adding to 25 existing LTER sites in ecosystems including the open ocean, coral reefs, deserts and grasslands. The complex food webs in these regions are affected by human activities, short-term environmental variability and long-term ecosystem changes.

“The new LTER sites will bring new locations, technologies and scientists to the challenge of understanding our coastal oceans,” says Rick Murray, director of NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. “The sites are in areas where there’s much recreational and commercial fishing, and both sites are in the midst of significant environmental changes.”

Read the full story at EurakAlert

NPFMC April 2017 Agenda

March 7, 2017 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Council will begin meeting the week of April 3, 2017 at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, AK.

The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. Documents will be posted through links on the Agenda. The deadline for public comments is 5:00 pm (AST) Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Submit comments to npfmc.comments@noaa.gov.

As crab prices soar across Alaska, McDonald’s tests new snow crab sandwich

March 6, 2017 — Crabbers are hauling back pots from the Alaska Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices.

The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, taken through the ice near Nome, are paying a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region.

Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the highest price ever for fishermen, averaging $10.89 per pound. That catch quota of 8 million pounds is down 15 percent from last season.

The Bering Sea snow crab fleet has taken 80 percent of its 19 million pound quota, about half of last year’s. That’s pushed market prices through the roof, topping $8.30 a pound at wholesale in both the U.S. and Japan, up 50 percent from last year.

Alaska produces only about 10 percent of the world’s snow crab, with most of the supply coming from eastern Canada, followed by Russia.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News