Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska state representative calls for fishery disaster request after low pink salmon returns

September 19, 2024 — Alaska State Representative Sarah Vance is calling on the state government to request a federal fishery disaster declaration following low salmon returns in Prince William Sound, Kodiak, Upper Cook Inlet, Lower Cook Inlet, South Peninsula, and Chignik.

“The unprecedented low return of pink salmon has left many fishermen without income, while others are burdened with significant debt from this disastrous season,” Vance said in a letter to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy. “For those whose livelihoods depend on the salmon harvest, this is an economic crisis with profound and far-reaching impacts.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OPINION: It’s time to stop Russian interference in Alaska’s fishing industry

September 18, 2024 — From its rich history to its vibrant ecosystem and deep cultural identity, Alaska has always fascinated me. As a native Icelander, the communities and natural resources of Alaska have wowed me since my first visit. It’s profound beauty greatly reminds me of my home country.

From my work and travels in Alaska for more than two decades, one aspect is clear — the seafood industry is critical. With nearly 10% of the state’s population working in seafood and the industry generating more than $5 billion per year — this industry is the lifeblood of Alaska.

However, the Alaska seafood industry faces many challenges, including the impact of global climate change. Some of these obstacles are nearly impossible to overcome but one of them is solvable: stopping the Russian misinformation machine and the illegal flow of Russian seafood, while protecting America’s food supply.

Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Native communities in Alaska face crisis as integral way of life disappears: ‘I look at salmon as my ancestors’

September 17, 2024 – Native communities in Alaska are facing scarcities of salmon — an animal integral to their lives and cultures — as warming waters from an overheating planet harm these fish.

What’s happening?

BBC reported on the salmon shortages, which are being attributed to warming rivers and overfishing. While some salmon are migrating to cooler waters to the north, others are simply dying because of the heat.

Why are salmon shortages concerning?

The crisis is putting an immense strain on Native villages, the inhabitants of which have relied on wild salmon for subsistence and as an important cultural symbol for generations. Eva Dawn Burk, a Native Alaskan from the Nenana village in the Yukon, told BBC that half the state’s tribes are in a salmon crisis.

“You have so much respect for living beings as a Native person,” Burk told the publication. “I look at salmon as my ancestors, and then as my children and grandchildren. The salmon relatives and my relatives have been living in relation for all these years.”

Read the full article at TCD

ALASKA: Bristol Bay fishermen faced ‘more stagger than swagger’ this season

September 4, 2024 — Even though the final days of the sockeye salmon season in Bristol Bay hadn’t yet been fished, fishermen felt a mood swing reminiscent of last season in terms of what went into their wallets. To some, the prospects of fishing the Bay each season may come down to crunching out the cost of maintaining the commercial fishing lifestyle.

“I have a headline for this year’s Bristol Bay season,” texted a fishermanwho was running his boat toward the yard for dry dock storage. “More stagger than swagger as fishermen leave Bristol Bay.”

Last year it was the gut punch of low ex-vessel prices. This season’s base prices of 8o cents per pound among brick-and-mortar processors was slightly higher than last year’s 50 cents, and some of them bumped prices to $1.40 per pound for late fish in hopes of putting up a bigger pack. But for all sectors of the industry, the harvest volume just wasn’t there.

The total run forecast for the Bay in 2024 had been set at 39 million, which was down from the 10-year average by about a third. Of that 39 million, the harvest projections had been set at 25 million. This season’s harvest (preliminary) came in above the projections at 31.5 million.

As for the harvest breakdowns by district, the fabled Nushagak District hit 11.9 million. The Naknek-Kvichak District produced 9.1 million. Egegik came in at 5.1 million, with Ugashik District kicking in another 4.3 million fish.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Alaska lawmakers praise appeals court ruling allowing Southeast Chinook fishery to continue

August 30, 2024 — The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s attempt to close Chinook salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska, drawing praise from Alaskan lawmakers who called the ruling a welcome legal victory for Alaska fishermen.

“Although we’re not home yet, the most important thing right now is that Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery can continue,” U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. “This is a critical industry for Southeast Alaska that has minimal impact on the ecosystem, and the congressional delegation, state, tribal groups, and local environmental groups are all united in their advocacy to allow the fishery to resume.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

 

ALASKA: As Ketchikan Residents Take Stock After Fatal Landslide, Geologists Assess Stability

August 28, 2024 — The day after a landslide tore down a slope above downtown Ketchikan, killing a city worker and injuring three other people, officials warned shaken locals and thousands of cruise ship visitors to avoid the area.

The landslide hit around 4 p.m. Sunday, and a mandatory evacuation order remained in place for homes on several streets near the waterfront. One of the injured people was treated and released, while two others were admitted Sunday to Ketchikan Medical Center.

Read the full article at Seafoodnew.com

ALASKA: Petersburg Borough Assembly rebukes petition to put Gulf of Alaska king salmon on Endangered Species List

August 28, 2024 — Petersburg’s Borough Assembly voted unanimously to write a letter opposing a move to add Gulf of Alaska king salmon to the Endangered Species List.

In June, the National Marine Fisheries Service found that a petition to list Gulf king salmon as endangered warrants further scientific review. The Washington-based conservation group, Wild Fish Conservancy, authored the petition. The Fisheries Service’s finding is just the first major step in a longer regulatory process, but many say it could have far-reaching implications for Alaska’s fishing industry and coastal communities.

Read the full article at KFSK

Salmon will soon swim freely in the Klamath River for first time in a century once dams are removed

August 28, 2024 — For the first time in more than a century, salmon will soon have free passage along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history nears completion.

Crews will use excavators this week to breach rock dams that have been diverting water upstream of two dams that were already almost completely removed, Iron Gate and Copco No. 1. The work will allow the river to flow freely in its historic channel, giving salmon a passageway to key swaths of habitat just in time for the fall Chinook, or king salmon, spawning season.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

NOAA study links massive Bering Sea snow crab loss to climate change

August 23, 2024 — Scientists had previously linked the crash of the Bering Sea snow crab population in recent years to warming ocean waters. But a new study released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deepens the connection between human-caused climate change and the die-off.

Snow crabs are well suited for Arctic conditions. But Mike Litzow — the lead author of the report, which was published in the journal “Nature Climate Change” — said the southeastern Bering Sea is changing to more sub-Arctic conditions through a process called borealization. St. Matthew Island to the south, nothing north of 60 degrees’ latitude is included in the southeastern Bering Sea. It’s a process that’s also happening in terrestrial ecosystems in Alaska.

Read the full article at KMXT

Scientists have more evidence to explain why billions of crabs vanished around Alaska

August 21, 2024 — Fishermen and scientists were alarmed when billions of crabs vanished from the Bering Sea near Alaska in 2022. It wasn’t overfishing, scientists explained — it was likely the shockingly warm water that sent the crabs’ metabolism into overdrive and starved them to death.

But their horrific demise appears to be just one impact of the massive transition unfolding in the region, scientists reported in a new study released Wednesday: Parts of the Bering Sea are literally becoming less Arctic.

Read the full article at CNN