Saving Seafood

ALASKA: SalmonState releases statment regarding testimonies to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council

April 12, 2023 — After days of testimony and comments from hundreds of Alaskans over the course of its week-long April meeting, SalmonState views that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has failed to meaningfully address the issue of the pollock trawl fleet’s bycatch of chum salmon, king salmon, herring, halibut, snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, and many other species.

SalmonState claims that instead of recognizing the need to manage Alaska’s oceans as an ecosystem and accepting its own Salmon Bycatch Committee (SBC) and Advisory Panel’s (AP) recommendations for a range of measures to reduce chum salmon bycatch, the Council threw out the guidance of the advisory boards they charged with developing this very proposal and assigned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to start again from square one in proposing a cap. They say this decision postpones any meaningful action for this fishing season at the very least.

Read the full article at KINY

ALASKA: Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute aiming efforts at growing Southeast Asia, Latin America markets

April 12, 2023 — Facing higher tariffs and an unfriendly trading atmosphere, China is no longer a viable market for seafood from the U.S. state of Alaska. So the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the promotional board for Alaska seafood, is turning to Southeast Asia and Latin America as alternative options.

In late March, ASMI Global Marketing and Strategy Senior Director Hannah Lindoff told the Alaska House Fisheries Committee her organization has opened a regional office in Bangkok, Thailand, initiated a marketing campaign in Southeast Asia, and expanded its Brazil marketing program to cover the entirety of Latin America.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Three Alaska tribes sue over permits for Donlin Gold Mine

April 11, 2023 — Three tribes in the Kuskokwim River region of Southwest Alaska filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenging federal agency permits for the Donlin Gold Mine, billed as potentially the world’s largest open pit gold mine.

Project backers NovaGold and Barrick Gold Corp. began working in 2012 for permits to open a mine 10 miles north of the Kuskokwim River. In echoes of the Pebble Mine project vetoed in January by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Donlin opponents say the planned mine and its rock waste would pollute salmon spawning streams that flow into the Kuskokwim River.

Tribes suing to halt the proposed project are Orutsararmiut Native Council, Tuluksak Native Council and the Organized Village of Kwethluk, represented in court by the nonprofit environmental law group Earthjustice.

“Citing three fundamental flaws in the environmental and subsistence analyses and authorizations for the project,” according to a statement from Earthjustice, “the lawsuit challenges key authorizations of the massive open pit mine including a federal permit allowing thousands of acres of wetlands to be filled and a federal authorization granting access across federal lands for a 316-mile pipeline from Cook Inlet to the mine site.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

In unprecedented move, federal council takes no action on Cook Inlet salmon plan

April 11, 2023 — A federal council made the unprecedented decision to take no action on choosing a new fishing management plan for Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishing Friday, after it said it was left with no good options on a tight, court-ordered timeline.

That means management of the fishery will likely fall to the federal government — which council members and Cook Inlet fishermen warn could severely limit the fishery.

At its April meeting in Anchorage, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council was supposed to choose between several potential management plans to delegate management of the Upper Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishery. The council manages fishing in Alaska’s federal waters, which start three miles offshore.

But council members, audibly frustrated, said none of the options before them were viable.

“The court-mandated timeline has forced this council into a box that we find ourselves in,” said Andy Mezirow, a charter boat captain out of Seward who sits on the council. “For these reasons, I can’t support any of the alternatives before us today, and I hope the public notes that fisheries management on a tight court-mandated timeline does not allow us to do our best work.”

The council’s been trying to figure out what to do with the fishery for years, following a lawsuit from the United Cook Inlet Drift Association over management of the fishery.

In 2020, in response, the council voted to close a large swath of Upper Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishing. That area — called the exclusive economic zone, or EEZ — is where drift fishermen say they catch a majority of their fish. Kenai Peninsula fishermen and advocates showed up, en masse, to the 2020 meeting to object to the closure.

UCIDA sued, once again, to overturn the decision. The court sided with them last June and the state reopened the fishery just as the 2022 season was starting up.

That was a temporary fix. At its meeting this month, the council was supposed to choose a new fishery management plan, or FMP. It’s under court order to have a plan in place by 2024.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Proposed Bering Sea Marine Sanctuaries Topic of Roundtable Thursday After First Day of NPFMC

April 5, 2023 — This Thursday, after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s first day, a public roundtable discussion on two nominations for National Marine Sanctuaries in Alaska will take place from 5:30-7:30, Alaska time. Hosted by NOAA Fisheries, the discussion will cover the recently nominated St. George Unangan Heritage from St. George Island and Alagum Kanuux (Heart of the Ocean) from St. Paul Island, the two largest of the Pribilof Island group.

During this roundtable, NOAA will share information about the process for nominating and designating national marine sanctuaries and for attendees to share their perspectives and ask questions regarding the process and NOAA’s inventory of successful nominations.

Addition to the inventory does not guarantee that a nominated area will become a national marine sanctuary. National marine sanctuary designation is a separate public process that by law, is highly public and participatory, and often takes several years to complete.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

ALASKA: Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust Host Spring Fishermen’s Expo

April 4, 2023 — The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are hosting a Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO on April 4 and 5, from 9AM-1PM to provide educational workshops to new and experienced local fishermen. ALFA and ASFT welcome those interested in the fishing sector to attend.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Love at first fish

April 4, 2023 — The Sitka Sac Roe fishery got quite a romantic start on Wednesday, March 29.

Fisherman Pete Feenstra, who fishes on the F/V Noble Provider, hailed fellow fisherwoman and captain Brannon Finney from the F/V Alaskan Girl on the radio to propose.

Feenstra had quite the audience- the entire fleet, ADFG, local processors, and many from the town of Sitka tuned into channel 10 for the proposal.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska Department of Fish and Game releases Kuskokwim Bay salmon fishery announcement

April 2, 2o23 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) released an announcement on March 29, 2023. The advisory announcement notes that ADF&G does not expect to open any commercial gillnet fishing in Districts 4 and 5 of Kuskokwim Bay.

This news may not come as a surprise to commercial gillnetters in that region. Those fisheries have been closed for most years since 2016 because there hasn’t been a commercial buyer.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust host Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO

March 28, 2023 — The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are hosting a Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO on April 4 and 5, from 9AM-1PM to provide educational workshops and training to new and experienced local fishermen as well as others with interest in the fishing sector. During this EXPO all the workshops and presentations will be offered in a virtual format.

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are hosting a Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO on April 4 and 5, from 9AM-1PM to provide educational workshops and training to new and experienced local fishermen as well as others with interest in the fishing sector. During this EXPO all the workshops and presentations will be offered in a virtual format.

Read the full article at KINY