Saving Seafood

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

Federal judge dismisses Alaska trawlers’ lawsuit that sought to overturn halibut limits

November 14, 2024 — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn new halibut bycatch limits on deep-sea trawlers that fish in federal waters off Alaska.

The lawsuit was filed by Groundfish Forum Inc., a Seattle-based trawl trade group, after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a rule that reduces halibut bycatch limits for many trawlers when there are fewer halibut in Alaska waters.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in charge of implementing the rule, moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in favor of the agency on Nov. 8. Undercurrent News, a trade publication, first reported on the ruling.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

My Turn: Charting a course toward seafood independence for Alaska’s vulnerable food systems

November 8, 2024 — As a commercial fisherman based in Sitka and the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), I’ve spent decades navigating Alaska’s challenging waters and the headwinds facing our fishing communities. Alaska’s coastal residents are resilient, but they are up against a new magnitude of challenges. The loss of fishing access and community-based processing capacity, along with a dearth of local markets for seafood, are straining once vibrant fishing economies up and down our coastline.

I recently contributed to a fisheries access report commissioned by the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT), which highlights the outmigration of fishing access in Southeast Alaska. Communities with historically robust local fishing fleets now see few active vessels based in town. This trend is acute in communities such as Kake, which has lost its local processor — and with it, a viable market for resident fishermen. Through interviews and in-person engagement, ASFT’s report found that a common concern among fishermen was the loss of a local fish buyer. When this happens, resident fishermen often sell their permits or abandon fishing altogether. The double blow of losing a local buyer and having to relinquish fishing rights has driven many families away from long-standing communities and hometowns, resulting in the closure of schools and businesses, weakening the viability of fishing as a way of life.

Right now our fishing communities need federal support to pursue economic resilience and seafood independence. That’s why I’m grateful to Rep. Mary Peltola for introducing the Domestic Seafood Production Act (DSPA), alongside Reps. Troy Carter (D-LA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR). By investing $90 million, DSPA will help stem the loss of fishery access, support the development of localized markets, secure coastal fishing livelihoods, and ultimately foster prosperous fishing communities.

Read the full article at Juneau Empire

ALASKA: Invasive green crabs reach Alaska, threatening fisheries

November 7, 2024 — The invasive European Green Crabs that have wreaked havoc on clam fisheries in Maine and the West Coast have now reached Alaska, where they could threaten subsistence, personal use, and commercial fisheries, including salmon.

“I worry about the salmonids,” says Tammy Davis, Invasive Species Program coordinator at the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game (ADF&G). “I don’t have any evidence that they are competing for food at certain life stages, but the green crabs tear up the eelgrass that provides vital habitat for juvenile salmon and their prey, and in an already stressed ecosystem, having another stressor can affect the whole food web.”

So far, the green crabs are far less abundant than they are in Washington State, but Davis notes that Southeast Alaska has the kind of real estate green crabs like. “In Southeast Alaska, we have an estimated 19,000 miles of coastline and much of it is suitable habitat for green crabs.” She adds that many of the islands and passages of the Southeast archipelago have estuaries with eelgrass meadows protected from heavy surf, providing food and protection for green crabs.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Silver Bay Seafoods acquires two facilities from Rodger May, forges partnership with APICDA on False Pass operations

November 7, 2024 — Silver Bay Seafoods is acquiring Alaska-based seafood processing facilities in Dillingham and Port Moller, along with fishery support sites in Dillingham and North Naknek – formerly owned by Peter Pan Seafoods – from Rodger May.

May submitted a USD 37.3 million (EUR 34.5 million) winning bid for the facilities – along with other assets of Peter Pan Seafoods – in late September after the company entered receivership in April 2024. At the time, Silver Bay competed directly with May to purchase the assets. Following May’s winning bid, creditors to whom Peter Pan Seafoods owed money argued in court that the receiver should have sold the facilities to Silver Bay.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource