Bering Sea Archives - Saving Seafood

With 14.4 Million lbs. Caught, Halibut Fleet Reaches Half-Way Mark on Landings, Season

August 5, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) announced catches of 14.4 million pounds as of August 1, out of a total quota of 29.43 mlbs. That catch limit is distributed across the North American west coast from California to the Bering Sea.

In three areas — IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, 2B, and 2C, the annual limit is subject to various catch sharing plans between commercial, tribal, and sports sectors.

Area 2A’s commercial catch reached 494,583 lbs on July 1 and, with an allowable limit of 497,000 lbs., was closed for the rest of 2019. Fishermen in Washington, Oregon and California caught more than its overall quota during three 10-hour openers, one each on June 26, July 10 and July 24.

The 2A allocation for the commercial fishery south of Pt. Chehalis was 115.41 tons, or 254,426 pounds; fishermen caught 119.75 tons, or 264,000 pounds of halibut. Preliminary reports show the average ex-vessel price to Oregon fishermen this year was $4.57 a pound. The average ex-vessel price in July last year across all three states was $5.10 per pound, but that figure may include halibut caught in other fisheries as well.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council and IPHC are in the process of transferring management responsibility from IPHC to U.S. management – Council, NMFS and the states. Initial discussions about 2020 halibut management will be discussed at the September and November Council meetings in Boise, Idaho, and Costa Mesa, Calif., respectively.

While commercial fishing in Area 2A is closed, recreational fishing in all three states is still open. IPHC reported no landings for the sports sector in Area 2A (WA, OR, CA) as of August 1, 2019.

Area 4CDE has no catch sharing plan, but they are directly impacted by the incidental catch of halibut caught in bottom trawls that target flatfish. That catch, which has decreased over the years due to declining populations and efforts by the flatfish fleet to avoid halibut, is taken off the top in quota calculations at the beginning of the year.

Bycatch is included in the “total removals” metric, which is used for historical comparisons and includes subsistence, recreational, and research takes as well as bycatch.

In a recent broadcast, Laine Welch of Fish Radio reported that halibut fisherman turned broadcaster Jeff Lockwood is now tracking bycatch numbers into weekly reports on KBBI in Homer, the nation’s top halibut port.

“I thought this is kind of interesting. After years of being a halibut fisherman, everybody talks about and knows about halibut bycatch but none of us really knew what was going on,” Lockwood told Fish Radio.

The NOAA spreadsheets through July 13 noted that total halibut bycatch in other Alaska fisheries this year was about 4.8 million pounds of which 92 percent came from Bering Sea bottom trawlers.

So far the bycatch pace is ahead of last year. According to the weekly landings report for flatfish trawlers, 2019 trawl halibut mortality is 1,608 mt or 3.54 mlbs. compared to 1,385 mt or 3.05 mlbs for the same time period in 2018. In 2019, the catcher-processors account for 1,089 mt or 2.4 mlbs and catcher vessels for 519 mt or 1.14 mlbs, about the same ratio as 2018.

Overall, commercial fisheries took 61 percent of the halibut catch in 2018, recreational users took 19 percent, subsistence users took three percent, and bycatch by fisheries targeting other species accounted for 16 percent of the total catch limit.

The record low point on total removals was in 1977 with 34 mlbs. This year total removals are 38.61 mlbs, slightly lower than last year’s 38.78 mlbs and significantly lower than 2017’s 42.58 mlbs. The 100-year average for this fishery is 63 mlbs.

While all areas are around the halfway mark in catches of annual allocation, two fleets — those fishing off the coast of British Columbia and those fishing the Western Aleutians, are outpacing other areas by a slight margin. Each of those areas have landed 55% of their 2019 quota.

The season is two weeks past the half way mark. Halibut and sablefish season opened in most areas March 15 and will close in all areas, if not closed earlier, on November 14, 2019.

Individual areas, their quotas and actual catches are below.

Area 2A: landings to date .75 mlbs out of 1.5 mlbs 2019 quota

Area 2B: landings to date 3.27 mlbs out of 5.95 mlbs quota

Area 2C: landings to date 2.38 mlbs out of 4.49 mlbs quota

Area 3A: landings to date 5.03 mlbs out of 10.26 mlbs quota

Area 3B: landings to date 1.14 mlbs out of 2.33 mlbs quota

Area 4A: landings to date .5 mlbs out of 1.65 mlbs quota

Area 4B: landings to date .66 mlbs out 1.21 mlbs quota

Area 4CDE: landings to date .62 out of 2.04 mbls quota

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

New Bering Sea management plan to incorporate local and traditional knowledge

July 23, 2019 — For the first time in its more than forty-year history, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) will incorporate Traditional Knowledge from local communities into its core management plans for the Bering Sea region. Many believe Local and Traditional Knowledge will help the council better manage the complex ecosystem and bring new light to regional issues—such as the changing climate. KNOM’s JoJo Phillips reports:

The NPFMC has developed a new model, the Core Bering Sea Fisheries Ecosystem Plan, consisting of five strategic modules. Work has already begun on two of them: evaluating the impacts of climate change on fish species and beginning to use Traditional Knowledge in management of the region.

The NPFMC is one of eight councils in the United States responsible for managing the nation’s coastal fisheries, established when Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976.

According to NOAA spokesperson Julie Speegle, the National Marine Fishing Service and the Council quote, “work together to get the most out of our fisheries for food and economic well-being.”

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

NPFMC October Meeting Information/Call for Nominations

July 1, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The October Council meeting will be in Homer, AK at the Land’s End Hotel, September 30th to October 9th. For planning purposes, we are releasing a preliminary agenda and schedule which will be finalized in early September. Please be aware the Advisory Panel will start on TUESDAY OCTOBER 1, and the Council will begin on THURSDAY OCTOBER 3. Because of logistics, changes may occur with the scheduling of agenda items. Please call (907) 271-2809 if you have questions.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The Council is seeking nominations for membership for two taskforces to work on two Action Modules, or projects, that implement the Council’s Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP). The two initiated Action Modules are the following:

Climate Change Action Module: Evaluate short- and long-term effects of climate change on fish, fisheries, and the Bering Sea ecosystem, and develop management considerations.

LK/TK/Subsistence Action Module: Develop protocols for using local knowledge (LK) and traditional knowledge (TK) in management, and understanding impacts of Council decisions on subsistence use.

More information on the nominations HERE.

ALASKA: Council turns down petition sought to protect Adak processor

June 13, 2019 — The Aleutian Islands won’t be getting an emergency boost in quota for Pacific cod, despite stakeholders’ assertions that the processing plant in Adak needs it to survive the next season.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided not to approve an emergency petition from a group of Aleutian Islands stakeholders at its meeting June 9, instead taking a longer route through a discussion to look at the set-aside options for the area.

The petition had sought an emergency quota set-aside of Pacific cod, separate from the general Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands quota, to help sustain the shore-based plant and thus the community.

Adak, a small community on an island west of Unalaska that once housed a naval base, relies heavily on Pacific cod processing. The community there taxes fishery landings to pay for public services as well. In recent years, the shore-based processors have had to increasingly compete with larger companies’ catcher-processor vessels participating in the Bering Sea Pacific cod fishery.

The fishery has grown as well, and as the fishery is not under rationalization, fishermen have complained of an increasingly dangerous “race for fish” that makes the season shorter and shorter. In spring 2019, the Bering Sea Pacific cod “A” season lasted less than two weeks.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

As sea ice melts, fish are showing up farther north off Alaska. A federal fishing trip will investigate if they’re sticking around.

May 31, 2019 — Last fall, Adem Boeckmann, a commercial fisherman who lives outside Nome, pulled up some of the pots he uses to fish for crab on the ocean floor.

“Had 10 24-inch cod in each pot,” Boeckmann said. “I never saw anything like that.”

Cod, which is used in fish sticks and fish and chips, is caught in huge numbers by commercial boats in the Bering Sea. But not near Nome – typically, the fish is caught hundreds of miles south. Historically, the ecosystem where Boeckmann fishes has been centered on the ocean floor, without big populations of large fish.

Federal scientists are setting off on their own Bering Sea fishing trip this summer, to investigate whether observations like Boeckmann’s – bolstered by the government’s own previous findings – could be indicators of profound shifts in the ocean ecosystem driven by global warming. The results of the summer fieldwork could have major implications for the Bering Sea’s billion-dollar fisheries, as well as for Alaskans who live, hunt and fish along the Arctic coast.

“Is this part of an environmental shift, where with the warming, the northern Bering Sea is going to become a top-down system?” asked Lyle Britt, a federal fisheries scientist who will spend more than a month at sea this summer. “Or, is this more like an ephemeral trend that just happened because we had an unusually warm year, and things will reset? We don’t really know.”

The surveys are done by the Seattle-based Alaska Fisheries Science Center, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at KTOO

2019 Southeastern Bering Sea Shelf Bottom Trawl Survey Gets Underway

May 30, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On May 31 the Southeastern Bering Sea Bottom Trawl Survey will depart Dutch Harbor to collect data on the distribution and abundance of crab, groundfish, and other bottom-dwelling species in the southeastern Bering Sea. These data are used to estimate population abundances to manage commercially important species in Alaska. NOAA Fisheries has conducted this survey annually since 1975.

As we did last year, we intend to provide regular updates on water temperatures collected near the seafloor at all of our survey stations. When we conduct surveys for fish and other species, we also collect information about the environment in which they live — their habitat. For fish and other species water temperature is important. It affects their spawning, access to food, and growth rates.

We had another unusually warm winter and expect to see a reduction in the cold pool. The cold pool is a natural, thermal barrier created by melting winter sea ice. It tends to separate Arctic species, usually found in the northern Bering Sea, from commercially important pollock, Pacific cod and other species, typically found in the southeastern Bering Sea. Last year after a similar warm winter, a partial survey of the northern Bering Sea was conducted. Large numbers of pollock were found there.

Once scientists complete this year’s survey of the southeastern Bering Sea, they will move northward to conduct a full survey of the northern Bering Sea bottom-dwelling community. Additional surveys are planned in the northern Bering Sea using surface trawls and hydro-acoustics to monitor key components of the marine ecosystem and environmental conditions. Be sure to check back here for regular updates on ocean temperatures collected during the Bering Sea bottom trawl surveys.

The southeastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey will be conducted from approximately May 31 to August 2. The northern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey will be conducted from about August 3 to 25.

Read the full release here

Port of Seattle would sink without Alaska’s fisheries

May 24, 2019 — If not for Alaska’s fisheries, the Port of Seattle would not be what it is today.

How important is Alaska to its bottom line?

An economic report released this month by the Port of Seattle reveals that Seattle is home to about 300 fishing vessels and of those, all but 74 make their fishing living in Alaska. The Seattle-based boats harvest Alaska pollock, Bering Sea crab, flounders, salmon and many other high value species, and they vary in size from huge, 150 crew catcher-processors to much smaller seiners and trawlers.

In 2017, fishing vessels that moored at one of Seattle’s three terminals and operated in the Alaskan fisheries generated gross earnings of more $455 million, or nearly half of the gross earnings from Alaska’s fisheries. That represented 44% of all gross earnings from the North Pacific fisheries.

Boats fishing in Puget Sound and other Washington areas earned $26.6 million at the Seattle docks.

An estimated 7,200 jobs were directly associated with commercial fishing at the Port of Seattle in 2017. Of that, 5,100 jobs were on fishing vessels, of which all but just 200 operated in Alaska fisheries.

Read the full story at Alaska Fish Radio

6 Reasons Why Alaska’s Aleutian Islands are a Hot Spot for Sea Life

May 17, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Aleutian Island ecosystem supports a rich diversity of species found in few other places in the world. Such intense biodiversity, more typically associated with tropical rainforests or coral reefs, is especially rare at high latitudes.
A convergence of seas, storms, and volcanoes create the dynamic environment that supports incredible biodiversity. The Aleutians separate the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. They are whipped by notorious winds and battered by 50 foot waves. They form the 1,200-mile northern arc of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
NOAA Fisheries scientists continue to discover new species of fish and invertebrates in the Aleutians. Some Aleutian species show promise in medicine, including a potential treatment for cancer.
Whales, porpoises, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and seabirds live and feed in the Aleutian ecosystem. Some islands are important rookeries for seals and sea lions. Passages between islands are critical migration routes for endangered whales.
Not only a great diversity, but a great abundance of life thrives in seas surrounding the Aleutians. Overall Alaska is responsible for more than half of the nation’s seafood harvest.
The Aleutian Islands are home to Dutch Harbor, America’s biggest and busiest fishing port. Alaska Pollock is the highest volume fishery, but other important harvests include halibut, cod, rockfish, and crab.

Read the full release here

Vanishing Bering Sea ice threatens one of the richest U.S. seafood sources

May 16, 2019 — When ice failed to cover much of the eastern Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia in early 2018, oceanographer James Overland chalked it up to a freak chance. Then, it happened again this year, with late-winter sea ice falling to some of the lowest levels seen in at least 4 decades.

Now, scientists are studying whether this is the meteorological equivalent of drawing the ace of spades twice in a row, or another sign of the systemic changes sweeping the Arctic as a result of climate change. “I’m not ruling out that we really have a new regime over the Bering Sea,” says Overland, who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, Washington.

A lasting shift could dramatically transform a region with some of the nation’s most valuable fisheries and indigenous communities whose way of life relies on ice. Already scientists have documented changes in algae as well as zooplankton, fish, and seabird populations. The shifts are “a bit of a warning sign that these things can happen rather quickly,” says Robert Foy, the Juneau-based science and research director for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which is headquartered in Seattle.

Read the full story at Science Magazine

ALASKA: Optimism abounds in the Bering Sea crab fishery

May 14, 2019 — Bering Sea crabbers saw upticks in crab recruits during a good fishery for the 2018-19 season, along with strong prices.

The crab season opens in mid-October for red king crab, tanners and snow crab (opilio), and while fishing goes fast for red kings in order to fill orders for year-end markets in Japan, the fleet typically drops pots for the other species in January.

Crabbers said they saw strong showings of younger crab poised to enter the three fisheries. Only male crabs of a certain size can be retained for sale.

“For Bristol Bay red king crab, the reports were very positive,” said veteran crabber Jake Jacobsen, director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange, which represents the majority of Bering Sea crabbers. “I got a lot of reports from people saying they saw a lot of recruitment around, a lot of females and small crab, but some boats didn’t see any. So it depended on where you were. Overall, the catch seemed to go pretty fast and the fishing was good. It wasn’t scratchy at all for most of the boats.”

The price also was good. The red king crab fetched $10.33 per pound, up from $9.20 last season, for a catch of 4.3 million pounds.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News