Saving Seafood

US Environmental Protection Agency begins investigation of tire chemicals harming salmon

November 8, 2023 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will investigate 6PPD-quinone, a chemical found in most tires that is toxic to salmon, under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The action is in response to a petition brought by environmental group Earthjustice on behalf of the Yurok, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Puyallup Tribes to ban the use of 6PPD in and for tires. While the EPA didn’t outright ban the chemicals, it has granted the tribes’ petition and will issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for 6PPD and “initiate additional data gathering activities.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

EPA plans to limit or eliminate salmon-killing tire chemical found in preliminary Alaska sampling

November 6, 2023 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin the process to limit and possibly eliminate a chemical commonly used in car tires, after scientific studies found that the chemical — commonly known as 6PPD — is fatal to salmon.

The EPA announced its regulatory plans Thursday, answering a petition from three Native Tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut also supported the petition.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Alaska seafood harvesting jobs decline as fish crashes, pandemic and other factors take toll

November 3, 2023 — Alaska fish-harvesting employment declined in 2022, a continuing yearslong slide caused by a variety of factors, according to an analysis by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Employment for people harvesting seafood dropped by about a quarter from 2015 to 2022, according to the analysis, published in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends, the department’s monthly research magazine.

The industry lost ground compared to other sectors of the Alaska economy, the analysis found. Seafood harvesting accounted for 7.3% of Alaska jobs in July of 2021, but only 5.7% of Alaska jobs were in seafood harvesting in the following July. Fishery work is highly seasonal, and July is the peak month for it.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Alaska Symphony of Seafood: Showcasing the Best of Alaska at Pacific Marine Expo

November 2, 2023 — The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) is set to take the Main Stage at the Pacific Marine Expo on November 9 from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. to celebrate the 30th year of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood. This annual competition is for commercial-ready, value-added products made with Alaska seafood. The Symphony presents an exciting platform that supports companies investing in product development that helps to further promote new products and competitively position Alaska seafood in national and global markets.

Peter Pan Seafood was deemed the 2023 Grand Prize Winner by creating a recipe of Wild Caught Alaska Salmon with Ribbon Kelp Chimichurri. Michael De Caro previously shared with National Fisherman about his process of creating the recipe.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Conservationists to sue NOAA Fisheries after killer whale deaths in Alaska

November 2, 2023 — The Center for Biological Diversity is planning to sue NOAA Fisheries following the revelation that nine killer whales have been killed during commercial fishing operations in the Bering Sea so far this year.

In October 2023, NOAA Fisheries announced that ten killer whales had been taken as bycatch by groundfish trawlers operating off the coast of Alaska. Only one of the whales survived the encounters.

Read the fool article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: North Pacific Council’s science committee voices concerns over chum bycatch plan

November 1, 2023 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting held at the Anchorage Hilton in October was not just one meeting – it was three meetings. In addition to the council itself, there was a meeting of industry stakeholders called the Advisory Panel, and a meeting of scientists called the Scientific and Statistical Committee – or SSC.

This fall the council tasked the SSC with reviewing a 120-page preliminary analysis of Bering Sea Chum Salmon Bycatch Management, and providing input on the “relative scientific uncertainty of management options.”

As KCAW’s Robert Woolsey reports, the committee of university, state, and federal scientists found a few things that were relatively uncertain.

At its October meeting the North Pacific Fishery Management Council  examined some potential management measures intended to reduce the amount of chum salmon caught by trawlers fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea. Many of those chum salmon – referred to as “bycatch” – may have been intercepted on their way to the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and other large river systems of Western Alaska, where chum salmon populations have crashed.

The council believes broader forces may be at work in causing chum salmon declines. The preliminary analysis prepared by the council’s scientists states that “declines in chum salmon populations appear to be driven by warmer water temperatures in both the marine and freshwater environments.”

Scientific and Statistical Committee member Dr. Ian Stewart, with the International Pacific Halibut Commission, had reservations about relying too heavily on temperature data.

Read the full at KCAW

ALASKA: Alaska’s snow crabs suddenly vanished. Will history repeat itself as waters warm?

October 31, 2023 — Garrett Kavanaugh grabs a fistful of freshly cooked crab and stuffs it into his mouth, a giant smile on his face, as his feet brace against the rolling sea beneath the deck of his boat.

“Oh yeah,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about.”

As the deck of his 58-foot-long boat rolls on the swells of the Gulf of Alaska, Kavanaugh, 24, cracks another crab leg between his tattooed fingers.

Long months of preparation and anticipation have led to this moment, as Kavanaugh and his three-man crew celebrate the first taste of the Dungeness crabs they’ve hauled up about 50 feet from the sandy ocean bottom off Kodiak Island.

In Alaska, last fall’s shocking collapse of the snow crab fishery shows that conditions for sea life can and are rapidly changing, even in ecosystems that have fed Indigenous people for thousands of years.

So far, this Alaska Dungeness crabbing season is off to a good start. But nothing is certain in these warming waters, where a new study concluded the snow crabs died out because the unusually warm water made their metabolisms run faster, causing them to starve. The study also found that many cod, which traditionally prey on young crabs, had left the area for the colder waters of the northern Bering Sea, “which rarely occurs.”

Read the full article at USA Today

ALASKA: High Liner, Ocean Beauty, Trident, E&E Foods enter 2024 Alaska Symphony of Seafood contest

October 31, 2023 — High Liner Foods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, and E&E Foods are among the competitors entering the 2024 Alaska Symphony of Seafood.

The event, organized by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation since 1994, is a competition for commercial-ready, value-added products, with the goal of promoting new products made from Alaska seafood. The product entries will compete for prizes in eight categories: the Grand Prize, Salmon Choice, Whitefish Choice, Seattle People’s Choice, Juneau People’s Choice, Bristol Bay Choice, Best Packaging and Best Grab & Go in addition to the categories of Retail, Food Service, Beyond the Plate, and Around the Plate. The first-place winners from each category, plus the Bristol Bay Choice award winner, will receive booth space at the 2024 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., entry into the SENA Seafood Excellence Awards, and airfare to and from the event.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource