Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska’s “Imploding” Fishing Industry Has Shed 38,000 Jobs

October 16, 2024 — Falling revenue and rising costs have hit Alaska’s fishing industry hard, according to a new study by NOAA Fisheries. In an economic review requested by fishermen and processors, NOAA found that profitability dropped by half from 2021-23, and wholesale prices dropped by a quarter in 2022-23. This left the Alaskan seafood industry with a total direct loss of $1.8 billion in 2022-3 and the loss of about 38,000 jobs.

“For many Alaskans the decline of their seafood industry affects their pocketbooks, presents food security concerns, and impacts their way of life, sense of place, community, and identity,” NOAA noted. “In the face of evolving climate-driven impacts to ecosystems and fisheries in the region, these recent market disruptions undermine the capacity of all segments of the seafood industry and associated fishing communities to be resilient and survive in fisheries.”

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

ALASKA: Bering Sea snow crab fishing to resume, but at an ultra-low level to encourage repopulation

October 16, 2024 — After a two-year hiatus forced by low stocks, the Bering Sea snow crab harvest is back on.

The decision to reopen the harvest, announced on Oct. 4 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, is based on signs of recovery in the crab populations. The official harvest opening was Tuesday.

Signs of recovery are modest, and so is the allowable catch. The harvest is limited to 4.72 million pounds, a level that is a far cry from the 45-million-pound quota used in the 2020-21 season and similarly large quotas in earlier years.

This season’s total allowable catch is the smallest in the history of the fishery, said Mark Stichert, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Kodiak-based management coordinator for groundfish and shellfish harvests.

The department sets catch limits based on information gleaned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

As Stichert describes it, the department’s decision to allow a “small, conservative fishery” for snow crab was the product of a careful balancing act.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

 

ALASKA: What determines total allowable catch? Fish and Game breaks the equation down

October 16, 2024 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game hosted its annual Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab Industry Meeting on Friday.

Topics included Fish and Game’s formula for determining the total allowable catch (TAC) for certain crab seasons this year.

The meeting specifically focused on what those in the industry call the big three: Bering Sea crab stocks (which included Bering Sea snow crab), Tanner snow crab, and Bristol Bay red king crab.

“The public might not agree with some of the decisions that our group makes,” ADF&G researcher Ben Daly said. “Our aim for these meetings is at least to provide that level of transparency so they understand the thought process that the department goes through.”

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

Environmental group seeks limits on Alaska trawling

October 15, 2024 — The international advocacy organization Oceana is pushing for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to take action on trawling. The nonprofit released a statement Oct. 7 calling on the council to limit trawling in the Bering Sea and Alaska fisheries, saying it is a threat to sensitive seafloor habitats.

Trawling involves dragging a large fishing net behind a boat to collect fish. It’s big business: the trawl fishery targeting Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea is the largest fishery in the nation. Critics say trawl gear used in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea makes contact with the seafloor, damaging marine ecosystems.

Ben Enticknap, a scientist and campaign director for Oceana, expressed concerns about the practice, saying trawling “risks damaging sensitive habitats.” He called on the council to impose measures to ensure the gear stays off the bottom.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Multiple groups urge seafloor protections from pelagic trawling

October 15, 2024 — A diverse group of harvesters, conservation entities and others are calling on federal fisheries managers to do more to protect seafloor habitats from midwater trawl nets they say are dragging the bottom of the ocean floor.

Midwater, or pelagic, trawling — used to catch schooling fish like pollock, is supposed to be fished in the water column rather than on the seafloor. For this reason, pelagic trawling is allowed in most conservation areas closed to bottom trawling — a form of fishing where nets are purposely dragged on the seafloor and damage corals, sponges and other living seafloor habitats in the process.

An analysis by the National Marine Fisheries Service indicates that 40% to 100% of the width of pelagic trawl gear fished in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea has been in contact with the seafloor, and that these nets, which range from 50 to 190 yards wide, are dragged for miles.

After hearing extensive testimony during their October meeting in Anchorage, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) called for a special meeting to be held Feb. 3-10 at the Egan Center in Anchorage for an initial review of chum salmon bycatch in these waters. The fishery council is to further consider pelagic trawl seafloor impacts at its June 2025 meeting in Newport, Oregon.

Read the full article at the Cordova Times

ALASKA: Alaska’s seafood industry lost $1.8 billion last year, NOAA report says

October 11, 2024 — A variety of market forces combined with fishery collapses occurring in a rapidly changing environment caused Alaska’s seafood industry to lose $1.8 billion from 2022 to 2023, a new federal report said.

The array of economic and environmental challenges has devastated one of Alaska’s main industries, said the report, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And the losses extend beyond economics, casting doubt on prospects for the future, the report said.

“For many Alaskans the decline of their seafood industry affects their pocketbooks, presents food security concerns, and impacts their way of life, sense of place, community, and identity. In the face of evolving climate-driven impacts to ecosystems and fisheries in the region, these recent market disruptions undermine the capacity of all segments of the seafood industry and associated fishing communities to be resilient and survive in fisheries now and in the future,” the report said.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: St. Paul seafood processing facility unlikely to reopen for surprise snow crab fishery

October 11, 2024 — Alaska processor Trident Seafoods announced Monday that it probably won’t be processing crab in the Pribilof Island community of St. Paul this season.

That comes after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s decision to reopen the snow crab or opilio fishery after a two-year closure. The state’s announcement on Friday surprised many fishermen.

It was also a surprise to Trident. Shannon Carroll is the company’s Alaska director of public affairs and fisheries development. On Monday, he told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that Trident wasn’t expecting the opening.

“To be frank, we never imagined, even a few weeks ago, being in this position,” he said. “And I want to be clear that it’s not a signal that we’re pulling out of St. Paul or pulling out of crab.”

Harvesters will have roughly 4.7 million pounds of snow crab to catch this season. That’s just a sliver of what they’ve historically harvested.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: At U.S. House debate in Kodiak, candidates differ on future of Alaska fisheries

October 10, 2024 — A two-hour debate on Alaska fisheries issues turned contentious in its final moments as Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich criticized incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola over an ad stating that a Begich victory would mean “our fish are gone.”

The exchange was the lone heated issue between the two frontrunners in Alaska’s U.S. House election, which will decide one of only a few tossup races in the 435-seat House of Representatives. With the House closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, the winner of Alaska’s race is likely to help decide control of the House overall.

Tuesday’s debate was largely cordial and included an at-times-technical discussion of fisheries policy.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Environmental group seeks limits on trawling

October 9, 2024 — The international advocacy organization Oceana is pushing for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to take action on trawling. The nonprofit released a statement Monday calling on the council to limit trawling in the Bering Sea and Alaska fisheries, saying it is a threat to sensitive seafloor habitats.

Trawling involves dragging a large fishing net behind a boat to collect fish. It’s big business: the trawl fishery targeting Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea is the largest fishery in the nation. Critics say trawl gear used in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea makes contact with the seafloor, damaging marine ecosystems.

Ben Enticknap, a scientist and campaign director for Oceana, expressed concerns about the practice, saying trawling “risks damaging sensitive habitats.” He called on the council to impose measures to ensure the gear stays off the bottom.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Alaska’s crab catch expected to rise with announcement of higher TACs

October 9, 2024 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has released its total allowable catch (TAC) figures for the state’s fall and winter crab fisheries, with higher levels set for several key commercial species.

The Bering Sea red king crab TAC was set at 1,048 metric tons (MT), or 2.3 million pounds, up from the 2023 TAC of 975 MT (2.2 million pounds), with the season set to open 15 October. The TAC closely followed the recommendations of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (NPFMC) crab plan team, delivered in September 2024.

Read th full article at SeafoodSource