Saving Seafood

Alaska’s total commercial salmon harvest this year was ultra-low in both quantity and value

December 2, 2024 — The number of Alaska salmon harvested by commercial fishers was the third smallest since all-species records began in 1985, and the value to harvesters, when adjusted for inflation, was the lowest reported since 1975, state officials said.

Additionally, the 450 million pounds of salmon that the total harvest contained was the lowest on record, officials said.

The totals come from a preliminary recap of this year’s salmon season issued on Nov. 18 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Only 101.2 million salmon were harvested this year, less than half the 232.2 million harvested last year, the department reported. The money paid to fishers for their catches, known as ex-vessel value, totaled $304 million, down from $398 million last year, the department said,

The poor results from this year’s salmon harvests are part of a multitude of troubles in Alaska’s seafood industry, a key economic sector in the state.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: The current state of Alaska fisheries

November 27, 2024 — The state of Alaskan fisheries was discussed at this year’s Pacific Marine Expo. The panel featured Senator Gary Stevens, president of the Alaska State Senate, Jeremy Woodrow, executive director of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and Nels Ure, deputy director of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay.

Senator Stevens began the discussion, highlighting the Alaska Seafood Task Force, comprised of four senators and four representatives, which was established to address industry challenges. “We’re facing enormous problems in the state of Alaska right now in the fishing industry,” Stevens said. “We will introduce legislation in mid-January, which will then go through committees in both the House and Senate,” he noted, emphasizing the importance of finding solutions for fishermen, processors, marketers, and impacted communities.

Stevens highlighted difficulties faced in communities like King Cove and the Pibilofs that have lost their processing capabilities. To combat these issues, the task force is exploring incentives for innovation, improved marketing, and tax credits for value-added equipment. “Processors, fishermen, and communities are all in the same boat,” Stevens said, underlining the need for collaboration.

Jeremy Woodrow of ASMI discussed Alaska’s position in the global seafood market. He stressed the importance of capitalizing on opportunities created by the U.S. ban on Russian seafood imports, which has opened a $450 million market gap. “This is our number one opportunity right now, to sell more Alaska seafood to more Americans,” Woodrow said.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska 2024 salmon season tanks in both total catch and value

November 27, 2024 — Alaska’s 2024 salmon fishery saw double-digit declines in both catches and value. Just over 101 million salmon were harvested across Alaska, a 56% decrease from the more than 232 million fish caught in 2023.

Fishermen’s paydays also took a big hit, with the total salmon value at $304 million. That’s down nearly 24% from $398 million last year.

Those numbers are from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) preliminary harvest and value figures for the 2024 Alaska Commercial Salmon Fishery.  

It gets worse.

Alaska’s 2024 all-species catch of 101 million fish weighed in at 450 million pounds—the third lowest on record for total fish harvested and the lowest on record for total pounds harvested since 1985. For ex-vessel value (dockside), adjusted for inflation, the estimate of $304 million was the third lowest since 1975.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska seafood processing workers made more money in 2023, but there were fewer of them

November 25, 2024 — Alaska seafood processors hired fewer people in 2023 but paid them more and relied more on nonresidents to fill the jobs, a state analysis shows.

The employment trends are what would be expected in an industry struggling to find workers, said Dan Robinson, the state economist who wrote the analysis for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s monthly magazine.

“I do think the reason for that is just they’ve had to work harder to get workers and to pay workers more to come there,” said Robinson, the department’s research chief and author of article in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Judge dismisses lawsuit that opposed halibut bycatch regulations

November 25, 2024 — In a recent decision, the United States District Court in Alaska ruled against a Seattle-based fishing trade group, Groundfish Forum, which challenged new federal rules affecting new limits on halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

The National Marine Fisheries Service developed the regulations after a 2021 recommendation by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to limit bycatch from the groundfish fleet. Proponents say the limits protect halibut populations from the trawl group, which accounts for more than half of the halibut bycatch in the area.

Groundfish Forum, which represents a group of large trawl catcher-processors, filed a suit to stop those limits. They said the rules change the way halibut bycatch is managed, tying the cap to the abundance of halibut in the area: when halibut populations are high, the cap stays steady. But if populations dip, the cap goes down, by as much as 35%.

The fishing group said this puts an unfair burden on their sector, while other fisheries in the region aren’t facing the same constraints. They also said the proposed cap is unrealistic because it’s too strict to implement, which they claim violates conservation laws.

Read the full article at KUCB

ALASKA: Alaskan crabbers uncertain recovery, push for resilience

November 21, 2024 — The future for Alaskan crabbers remains uncertain as the fleet grapples with mounting costs, economic challenges, and an unpredictable recovery for crab stocks. As industry leaders gather at the Pacific Marine Expo (PME), the conversations are centered not just on the fisheries themselves but also on the resilience of the fishing communities and the lives that depend on them.

Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers (ABSC), and Gabriel Prout, a veteran Alaskan crab fisherman, illuminated the uphill battle facing the crab fleet. While relief programs do exist, many have proven ineffective, leaving the industry without a reliable safety net. “The disaster relief process is a disaster within itself,” Goen stated bluntly. “It takes so long for funds to reach the people who need them that by the time they do, the significance is lost.”

The landscape for Alaskan crabbers has always been challenging, but recent years have intensified these struggles. Financial institutions familiar with the regional fisheries provide some hope. “The banks are so regionalized within Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, they are relatively familiar and aware of the fisheries that they are directly supporting when they provide these loans,” noted Prout. “So, there’s a little bit of working room.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Top U.S. ports for a quarter century

November 21, 2024 — For the 25th consecutive year, Dutch Harbor, AK, and New Bedford, MA, ranked as the top U.S. fishing ports for volume and value in 2022.

Nationwide, commercial landings that year were 8.4 billion pounds valued at $5.9 billion, down by 2.6 percent and 11 percent ($632 million), respectively.

Those are two of the top takeaways from the annual Fisheries of the United States report released this month by NOAA Fisheries. The data show a downward press almost across the board from Covid-driven impacts as the global pandemic waned in 2022.

The easy-to-read, 23-page report provides a national snapshot of U.S. commercial fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing, imports and exports, market trends, and per capita consumption.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: A statewide task force is trying to stop the spread of highly invasive green crabs in Southeast Alaska — and they need your help

November 20, 2024 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls European green crabs one of the most invasive marine species in the world. They are widely blamed for the collapse of the softshell clam industry on the East Coast. Now, the species has been wreaking havoc up the west coast of North America.

“We’re kind of on the front lines with the invasion here,” said Ian Hudson. Hudson coordinates the Metlakatla Indian Community’s green crab program.

Metlakatla is the southernmost community in Southeast Alaska. Locals there had been worried about green crabs for years. The tiny, invasive crabs were first found in San Francisco in 1989 and have been marching north ever since. States like Oregon and Washington have spent millions of dollars trying to protect their lucrative shellfish industries but still, green crab populations there are booming.

Read the full article at KRBD

Alaska salmon recertified to MSC standard after independent adjudicator rejects NGO concerns

November 18, 2024 — The salmon fishery in the U.S. state of Alaska has received recertification to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard after an independent adjudicator rejected objections from conservation groups.

MSC recently announced the Alaska salmon fishery’s fifth certification, marking 25 years the fishery has been engaged with the certification standard.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Federal judge dismisses Bering Sea trawl fleet’s challenge to stricter halibut bycatch limits

November 18, 2024 — A federal judge in Alaska has dismissed a legal challenge filed by the Bering Sea bottom-trawl fleet against stricter halibut bycatch limits.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved a new halibut bycatch quota system in December 2021 based on annual surveys of the valuable flatfish. Instead of fixed limits, the new abundance-based system means that when halibut stocks are low, bycatch caps can be cut by up to 35%.

The lawsuit challenging those caps was filed by Groundfish Forum Inc., a Seattle-based trade association representing five companies and 19 bottom-trawl vessels. The association argued that it was unfairly targeted, and that the new bycatch limits could result in significant economic losses.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News