Saving Seafood

NOAA Appoints Dr. Robert Foy as New Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director

November 1, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA announced the appointment of Dr. Robert Foy as the new Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. In this role, he will oversee the agency’s work to monitor the health and sustainability of fish, marine mammals, and their habitats across nearly 1.5 million square miles of water surrounding Alaska. He will direct scientific research to support and sustain some of the world’s most valuable marine resources, including commercial fisheries for Alaska pollock, red king crab, and sablefish in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. He will also oversee agency research in the Aleutians, a 1,200-mile long island chain full of marine life, and in the Arctic Ocean, home to marine mammals including bowhead and beluga whales, and bearded and ringed seals.

“I am pleased to announce Bob as our new Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director,” said Dr. Cisco Werner, Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries. “With his unique expertise and strategic mindset, he will easily build on the great work already underway at the Center with a focus on advancing the Center’s fisheries and marine mammal research, and the development of new technologies.”

As Center Director, Dr. Foy will oversee nearly 500 employees and a number of facilities, including:
  • The main facility in Seattle.
  • Research laboratories in Juneau and Kodiak, Alaska, and Newport, Oregon.
  • Field stations in Little Port Walter, St. Paul Island, and St. George Island, Alaska.

Dr. Foy will assume his new role on November 11, 2018. He will work out of the Science Center’s Auke Bay Lab in Juneau.

Dr. Foy is an experienced leader and a recognized expert in Arctic and sub-Arctic issues and research. He was the director of the Alaska Center’s Kodiak Lab for the past 11 years. He has co-authored more than 60 scientific, technical, and stock assessment papers. They focused on the distribution, biomass, and physiological or ecological response of marine species to environmental forcing in the sub-Arctic and arctic regions of Alaska. He also directed the crab data collection on the annual Eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey. These data support stock assessments for 10 crab stocks valued at roughly $500 million.

Read the full release here

An act of cod: Alaska-based fleet gets a gift from Board of Fish

October 24, 2018 — Alaska’s inshore cod fishery got a significant upgrade at the state’s Board of Fisheries meeting on Friday, Oct. 19.

The board voted 6 to 1 to increase the fleet’s allocation from 6.4 percent of the total Bering Sea cod quota to 8 percent with an annual increase of 1 percent until it tops out at 15. The Under Sixty Cod Harvesters, a trade group that represents about half of the statewater fleet, had been lobbying to get up to 10 percent and were pleasantly surprised with the 15 percent allocation.

The fishery of pot-cod boats under 60 feet started in 2012 with 1.2 percent of the total Bering Sea cod share. Proponents of the increase argued that the Alaska Constitution mandates development of the state’s resources, prioritizing fisheries with low-impact gear.

“We applaud this board for recognizing how important these open-access statewater fishing opportunities are for our community-based fishermen, and for the young fishermen coming up in the industry,” says Todd Hoppe, president of the Under Sixty Cod Harvesters.

Opponents of the increase largely represent stakeholders in the federal fishery, from which the quota will be siphoned to expand the statewater quota. That includes the freezer-longliner fleet, which has about 50 percent of the quota, and the catcher vessels, which have 21.5 percent.

The move comes at an especially tough time for these historic stakeholders in Bering Sea cod.

“There’s very little recruitment showing up in the stock, and a big chunk of that stock is moving to the north,” says Brent Paine, executive director of the United Catcher Boats, a trade group that represents about 50 trawlers, ranging from about 80 to 130 feet.

Paine expects the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to cut the TAC by 20 percent this year, on top of about 16 percent last year.

“So you get that reduction combined with this statewater increase, and now it’s starting to hurt the federal participants,” Paine says. “It’s tough to get a fair shot [at a state meeting]for federal participants because we’re second-class citizens. The statewater fleet walks into the Board of Fish and says, ‘We’re Alaskans; this is an entry-level fishery… Give us the fish.’ And that’s what happens.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Ups and downs for Alaska cod and pollock

October 19, 2018 — Quotas for next year’s groundfish fisheries reflect ups and downs for Alaska’s key species — pollock and cod — and the stocks appear to be heading north to colder waters.

The bulk of Alaska’s landings come from waters federal waters. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council reviews stock assessments for groundfish each October, sets preliminary catches for the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, and updates them as new data become available.

If the proposals get the go-ahead in December, the Bering Sea pollock TAC will increase slightly to nearly 1.4 million metric tons, or over 3 billion pounds of pollock.

For Pacific cod, the Bering Sea TAC could be reduced to 350 million pounds, a drop of 64 million pounds from this year.

The cod numbers might change as a result of big differences between the 2017 and 2018 survey results in southeastern and northern waters, where large numbers of fish appear to be migrating. Over the year, the cod biomass dropped 21 percent in the southern region but increased 95 percent in the northern area.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay king crab fishery set to open with a record-low quota

October 16, 2018 — Bering Sea commercial crabbing starts this week, with the smallest quota for Bristol Bay red king crab in more than 30 years at 4.3 million pounds, a 35 percent decrease from last year’s 6.6 million pounds.

The last time there was such a low number was in 1985, at 4.1 million pounds, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Ethan Nichols in Unalaska.

Nichols expects fewer boats fishing this year, with fishermen combining quotas onto one boat that otherwise would have been fished by two vessels.

At least there is a red king crab season, despite earlier fears of a complete cancellation, according to Unalaska Mayor Frank Kelty.

“We wish it was more, but we’re happy there’s a king crab season,” said Jake Jacobsen, executive director of the Seattle-based Intercooperative Exchange, which negotiates prices for the crab fishing fleet.

The season will open Monday with red king crab, followed by snow crab toward the end of the year.

On a brighter note, the snow crab quota of 27.6 million pounds is up 45 percent from last year’s 19 million, according to Fish and Game.

And there will be a Tanner crab fishery in the western district, which wouldn’t have happened two years ago.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Largest Pacific cod catchers look to hook investor for fleet renewal, not sell up

October 12, 2018 — Clipper Seafoods and Blue North Fisheries’ shareholders are looking for an investor in a combined business to help finance a renewal of the fleet, but not for anyone to take a majority stake, sources familiar with their thinking told Undercurrent News.

The owners of Clipper and Blue North, the two largest US Pacific cod longline companies, are looking for an investor to come in and take a significant share of a combined company, “even up to 49.9%”, as one put it, but they’re not interested in getting out of the business. Part of the reason for seeking investment is fleet renewal, sources told Undercurrent.

In late August, Undercurrent reported the two had brought in Zachary Scott, a Seattle, Washington-based mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, to advise on a possible sale. Sources said a full sale could be a possible outcome, depending on the price, but it is not the preference of the shareholders, who want to stay involved.

Zachary Scott, which did not respond to a request for comment from Undercurrent, has sent an information memorandum on the combined companies to over 30 trade and investor players, sources said.

Dave Little, the main shareholder in Clipper, and Michael and Patrick Burns, who control Blue North, all pioneers of the longline fishery in Alaska, did not respond to a request for comment from Undercurrent.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Bering Sea Pacific cod move north as survey sees fewer fish in east

October 10, 2018 — As was the case recently with pollock in Alaska’s southeastern Bering Sea, US government scientists found a surprising result when they surveyed Pacific cod stocks this summer: a large number of fish apparently moved north.

Staff at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Center are in the process of developing stock assessments that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will use in making allowable biological catch (ABC) and total allowable catch (TAC) levels for Pacific cod in the Bering Sea for 2019.

However, one key input that will figure into the model that NOAA is making to estimate the Pacific cod biomass — the results of the 2018 southeastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey — has declined significantly.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Alaska snow crab TAC increased by 47%

October 5, 2018 — The harvesters of snow crab in Alaska’s Bering Sea have received the good news they anticipated just days before their next season is set to begin. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has set their total allowable catch at 12,620 metric tons, a 47% increase over the 8,600t TAC permitted in the 2017/18 season.

The season begins Oct. 15 and closes on May 15 or May 31, depending on the subdistrict.

There was much optimism about the coming TAC for snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) given the stock assessments delivered roughly a week ago to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, as reported by Undercurrent News.  A survey had shown a biomass of 198,400t of mature male snow crabs, a 136% increase over the 84,000t found in 2017. That’s the largest it’s been since 1998, the Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report noted. Also, there are 165,000t of females, up 55% from the 106,800t found in 2017.

The SAFE report also noted earlier high estimates of recruitment.

The new TAC is much better news than the TAC that ADF&G delivered before the 2017/18 season, which represented a decrease of 12% over the 2016/17 season (9,800t), and the 2016/17 season TAC, which was half of what was allowed during the 2015-16 season.

The new TAC breaks down this way: 24.8 million lbs for the individual fishing quota; and 2.8 million lbs for the community development quota.

“A higher quota for snow crab this year could have significant market implications,” said the Pacific Seafood Processors Association in a statement about the new TAC.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Alaska snow crab stock assessment bodes well for coming TAC

September 27, 2018 — The US state of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) could announce catch limits for its Bering Sea crab fisheries as soon as next Tuesday. And, based on the latest stock assessments delivered to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), the snow crab harvest looks to be a big improvement.

But catch limits for red king and Tanner crabs aren’t likely to be so great.

ADF&G staff have been meeting this week via teleconference to discuss the recommendations contained in the 43-page “Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report for the King and Tanner Crab Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Regions”. The paper, which addresses the health of 10 different Alaskan crab stocks, was compiled by the NPFMC’s 14-person crab plan team, a group that includes a combination of federal and state agency officials as well as some academics.

The NPFMC is set to begin meeting early next week in Anchorage, Alaska, where its Science and Statistical Committee (SSC), a similarly composed group, will make its recommendations, which can be expected to closely follow those of the SAFE report, Mark Stichert, ADF&G’s regional shellfish management coordinator, told Undercurrent News.

It’s unusual for the NPFMC to disagree with its SSC, though it will also likely hear from an industry panel, he said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Alaska crab report: King and tanner crab stocks drop as snow crab rebounds

September 27, 2018 — It was a mix of good but mostly bad news for Bering Sea crabbers at this month’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting. The results from the summer trawl surveys showed “substantial” drops in numbers of king and tanner crab. Conversely, the snow crab stock appears to be on a big rebound.

The news was presented last week in the annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for the North Pacific council.

For red king crab in Bristol Bay, numbers of mature males dropped more than 40 percent from last year, and mature females were down 54 percent. Even worse, the survey continued to show no sign of younger red king crab coming into the fishery.

“We haven’t seen recruitment in years,” said Bob Foy, director of the NMFS lab at Kodiak and leader of the council’s crab plan team.

In the report, the team noted that “it feels that the rather unusual environmental conditions in the eastern Bering Sea this year (e.g., elevated bottom temperatures, lack of a cold pool) and the model’s poor fit to the 2018 survey data increase the uncertainty associated with this stock and warrant additional precaution.”

The red king crab catch last year at Bristol Bay was 6.6 million pounds, a 20 percent drop from 2017.

For tanner crab, the number of mature females dictates the fate of a fishery and those numbers declined 70 percent in the eastern fishing district, continuing a trend over several years.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fishing industry at odds with environmentalists over changes to U.S. fishing laws

July 30, 2018 — Fishermen and environmentalists are at odds over a suite of changes to U.S. fishing laws that was approved by the House of Representatives, and the proposal faces a new hurdle in the Senate.

The House passed changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 42-year-old set of rules designed to protect fisheries from over-harvest, on July 11, largely along party lines. Environmental groups have derided the changes as antithetical to the purpose of the act, which many fishermen and conservationists credit with saving seafood stocks such as New England sea scallops and Bering Sea snow crab.

Supporters of the House bill and several commercial and recreational fishing groups have said the changes merely provide managers with flexibility and refocus the Magnuson-Stevens Act on sound science.

The big question is whether a bill will also pass the Senate before the midterm election. No bill has been proposed yet, and the election could bring changes that make it more difficult for such a bill to pass.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Los Angeles Times