Saving Seafood

Peltola, 1st Alaska Native in Congress, Wins Full Term

November 25, 2022 — U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola has been elected to a full term in the House, months after the Alaska Democrat won a special election to the seat following the death earlier this year of longtime Republican Rep. Don Young.

Peltola defeated Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, as well as Libertarian Chris Bye in the Nov. 8 election. Results of the ranked choice election were announced Wednesday. Palin and Begich also were candidates in the special election.

“It’s a two-year contract,” Peltola told the Anchorage Daily News after her victory — a 55%-45% margin over Palin in the final tabulation round — was announced. “I will be happy to work for Alaskans again, as long as they’ll have me.”

Read the full article at US News

Senators Seek Disaster Declaration After Crab Season Cancelled

November 23, 2022 — Last month Bristol Bay king crab and Bering Sea snow crab season were cancelled after low population counts during the summer. This closure affected approximately 60 fishing fleets based out of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and results in a nearly $287 million loss. Now, senators from Alaska and Washington are seeking disaster relief to help fishing communities affected by this outcome.

The goal of fishery closures is to help diminished populations recover by not removing any individuals for a fishing season. However, what caused these populations to dwindle so dramatically is still unclear, and likely due to multiple causes. Stress from warming waters could cause populations to migrate, while certain types of fishing gear could damage critical crab habitat.

Read the full article at Forbes

Lawmakers push for federal assistance for fishermen following crab harvest cancelations

November 21, 2022 — U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell joined her Washington and Alaska colleagues urging Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to declare a federal fishery disaster for certain Alaska crab harvests.

The fishing industry is expected to take a tremendous hit next year following the cancelation of the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay snow and red king crab harvests.

This, as a result, will cause an estimated $287.7 million in economic losses for fisheries, according to a release from Sen. Cantwell.

Read the full article at KOMO News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay’s boom year

November 21, 2022 — The 2022 sockeye salmon harvest from Bristol Bay broke all records, a flood of fish that far surpassed the last record season in 1995.

“There’s been a lot of good years, but nothing like 2022,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, said at the Washington Maritime Economic Forecast Breakfast session Friday at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Disaster requests for Bering Sea crabbers highlight difficulty of getting financial relief to fishermen

November 21, 2022 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested $287 million from the federal government last month for fishermen impacted by the Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries closures. The current process of getting financial relief to fishermen is cumbersome and takes a long time, but Bering Sea crabbers are hoping the plight of the snow crab population might change the way financial relief is delivered to fishermen.

Gabriel Prout is a second generation Bering Sea crab fisherman from Kodiak; he owns the F/V Silver Spray with his dad and brothers. He said there’s one big problem with the current process for handing out fishery disaster funding.

“If you’re going to have a fishery disaster request program, you should be able to make it so the money is getting into the hands of those affected very quickly,” said Prout.

Right now, it takes years for money to reach skippers and their crews.

After a governor requests a disaster declaration, it needs to be approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce – and Congress needs to appropriate funding. The money goes through several agencies on its way to fishermen, who have to apply for a slice of it. And most fishermen have to figure out how to stay in business years before the money hits their bank accounts.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Alaska, Washington senators team up to seek disaster declaration for closed crab harvests

November 18, 2022 — Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators joined with Washington state’s two Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday to request an immediate disaster declaration to help fishers and fishing-dependent businesses and communities cope with an unprecedented shutdown of Bering Sea crab fishing.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington sent the request to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The senators asked the secretary to act “as quickly as possible” to invoke the disaster declaration provision of the primary law governing marine fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

“Many of these fishermen and businesses hail from both Alaska and Washington, and the impacts of these fishery disasters extend far beyond our states to consumers across the United States and the world,” the senators’ letter said.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News 

ALASKA: Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Launch GoFundMe After Snow Crab Closure

November 15, 2022 — Non-profit trade association Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers has launched a GoFundMe following the Alaska snow crab closure announcement.

“No one ever wants to face the day you’re on the verge of losing the job you love that shapes your identity, supports your family, and gives you purpose,” the fundraiser reads. “Unfortunately, Bering Sea crab fishermen are facing that day. Alaska’s Bering Sea snow crab fishery is closed for the first time in U.S. history and Bristol Bay red king crab is closed for the second year in a row.”

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced the cancellation of the snow crab season and Bristol Bay red king crab season in mid-October. The decision stemmed from trawl survey results, which found that the stock was estimated to be below the regulatory threshold for opening a fishery.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

ALASKA: Bering Sea crabbers make online appeal for support

November 11, 2022 — The Bering Sea crab collapse has thrown fishermen and their trade association into survival mode. A new online appeal is raising money to push for new crab conservation measures and federal fishery disaster aid to fishermen.

The Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Association started a GoFundMe web page this week, aiming for $50,000 in contributions to support “the small non-profit trade association advocating for crab fishermen who fish for king, snow, and bairdi crab,” the group wrote on the page.

“Since our formation in 2009, we have been funded by our fishermen directly. Now that our fisheries are closed, our fishermen do not have an income to support their own fishing businesses, let alone the trade association that represents them. This is why we are asking for your help.”

The emergency appeal is aimed at three priorities: maintaining the association’s advocacy role on science and conservation measures, working to secure federal fishery disaster assistance, and helping crab captains and crews idled by the shutdown.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Dunleavy, Peltola seek federal relief after failure of Alaska crab fisheries

November 11, 2022 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy has requested a federal disaster declaration and U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola has requested $250 million in relief funding after the failure of this year’s Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries.

Peltola asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the chair of the House Appropriations Committee to include relief funding for crab fishermen and the crabbing industry in Congress’ year-end appropriation bill.

Disaster relief funding could be available if Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo declares a fisheries disaster, and a day after Peltola’s request, Dunleavy formally requested that Raimondo declare a disaster.

Read the full article at Petersburg Pilot

Alaska’s salmon worth $720.4 million this year

November 11, 2022 — It looks like Alaska’s commercial salmon industry is pulling itself out of a pandemic rut. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released its preliminary statewide summary for the year Nov. 10. The harvests for all five salmon species in all fisheries equaled $720.4 million. That’s $76.5 million more than last year and $425.2 million more than two years ago.

2020 saw a low of $295.2 million – one of the worst on record.

Sockeye salmon made up approximately 66% of the state’s total value this year. Most of that is due to the record-breaking Bristol Bay fishery at nearly 69.7 million fish.

Read the full article at KFSK