Saving Seafood

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

ALASKA: Navigating Alaska’s stormy seas

October 9, 2024 — PETERSBURG, Alaska, is as picturesque a seaside town as any along the state’s maritime coast.

Its Scandinavian heritage is evident in its statuary and floral designs, while bald eagles soar above the strait separating it from a national forest.

Although it lacks space for the large cruise ships that flood Ketchikan and Juneau with tourists, it is perfectly situated for its sustaining industry: fishing.

Norwegian fishermen settled in Petersburg in the 1800s, drawn to its ideal location for pursuing salmon, crab and halibut.

Today, hundreds of vessels dock there, selling their catch to the town’s two major processors. These processors head and gut the fish before canning or freezing them for the journey to dinner tables across the world.

One of these plants, built over a century ago, is the town’s largest private employer.

Few know the industry better than Glorianne Wollen, a fisherman’s daughter who operates a large crab boat and serves as harbourmaster. From her small office, she has witnessed significant change over the years.

Read the full article at The Star

NOAA releases biological opinion suggesting salmon fishing can continue in Southeast Alaska

October 8, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has released documentation that will allow salmon fishing to continue in Southeast Alaska more than a year after a judge attempted to shut down commercial salmon harvesting.

In May 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled that a 2019 biological opinion used to authorize commercial salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska was flawed because it did not adequately consider how fishing would impact southern resident killer whales. In his opinion, the judge removed the fishery’s so-called take statement authorization, effectively ending any commercial salmon fishing operations in the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Chinook bycatch shuts down pollock fishery in Central Gulf of Alaska

October 8, 2024 — Commercial fishing for pollock in the Central Gulf of Alaska came to a halt on Sept. 25, leaving 50,000 tons of the whitefish in the water, when shut down by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to prevent exceeding the limit on Chinook salmon prohibited species catch (PSC). The action taken by Jon M. Kurland, regional administrator for the Alaska Region of NMFS, came after the captain of one of 19 trawlers fishing for pollock in the Central Gulf pulled up a net with an estimated 2,000 Chinook salmon.

The Chinook prohibited species catch in this pollock trawl fisheries is 18,316 Chinook salmon. As of Sept. 27, NMFS data indicated the PSC estimate for Chinook salmon in the central Gulf pollock fishery at 19,665 fish. In last week’s incident, the captain immediately notified the partner trawler he was fishing with and they both notified the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank of the bycatch. Both are local vessels based in Kodiak.

Total PSC estimates are calculated using verified information collected by observers.

“This was unprecedented,” said Julie Bonney, owner and executive director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank. “Over the last 20 years, there has never been that much prohibit species salmon taken in one tow of the trawlers fishing in the Central Gulf for pollock.”

Measures taken by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to minimize bycatch worked —but the cost to fishermen, processors and the city of Kodiak will be in the millions of dollars, Bonney said. The 19 trawlers had caught just 18,000 tons of pollock.

Closing down the fishery left 50,000 tons of pollock in the ocean, which will impact jobs of commercial fishing crews, processing company workers, and myriad businesses that are engaged with the fishing industry. Bonney said she even got a call from a Kodiak man whose company services vending machines in the processing facilities in Kodiak.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times