Saving Seafood

California, Oregon governors request salmon disaster declaration

May 26, 2017 — California Gov. Jerry Brown and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called on the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Thursday to declare a federal fisheries disaster due to this year’s unprecedented low number of ocean salmon, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The disaster declaration would allow Congress to appropriate relief funds to aid losses sustained by the salmon fishing fleet in California and Oregon. North Coast representatives including state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) had asked Jerry Brown to request a disaster declaration earlier this year after the Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended restricting salmon fishing off the coasts of California and Oregon.

Ocean salmon fishing for Klamath River salmon is completely closed this year after the council predicted the lowest return of spawning Chinook salmon on record at about 12,000 fish.

Tribes, fishing organizations and North Coast representatives praised the governors’ requests on Thursday.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

MAST Open House & Technology Expo Begins May 24 In Hueneme, California

May 19, 2017 — The following was released by The Port of Hueneme:

Each year, the Port of Hueneme hosts the MAST (Maritime Advanced Systems & Technology) Open House & Expo to foster ideas, innovation and leading edge technologies for the advancement of ports and the maritime environment. In attendance and exhibiting their technologies are representatives from some of the region’s most cutting-edge companies, plus marine scientists, maritime industry experts, and academic leaders.

When: Wednesday, May 24 

  • 9:00 am – Networking and Registration
  • 10:00 am – 12:00 pm – PRESS ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND (Press Interviews and Great Photo Opportunities) (Press welcomed throughout the Day) 
  • 10:00 am – 6:00 pm – Exhibits, Demonstrations and Panel Discussions
  • 10:45 am – 12:00 pm – STEM and High School Students arrive for demonstrations
  • 3:45 pm – Social Reception – VIP Speakers and ABCANZ Military Visitors

Where: Port of Hueneme | 333 Ponoma Street, Port Hueneme

Highlights: Over 100 students expected to attend; cutting-edge technology demonstrations; great photo opportunities. Press encouraged to attend at 10:00 am.

Who: Each year, the Port of Hueneme hosts the MAST (Maritime Advanced Systems & Technology) Open House & Expo to foster ideas, innovation and leading edge technologies for the advancement of ports and the maritime environment. In attendance and exhibiting their technologies are representatives from some of the region’s most cutting-edge companies, plus marine scientists, maritime industry experts, and academic leaders.

Students are invited to participate in the morning to observe technologies and demonstrations in the MAST Open House as well as meet with real- life industry pros to discover maritime industry career paths during the Maritime Career Exploration Day fair.

What: MAST fosters leading edge technological innovation and integration in a port and maritime environment. The MAST Lab joins a federated network of leading academic, research, test and evaluation, in-service engineering and operational centers to further expand the region’s ability to provide solutions to national security challenges.

Features of MAST: 

  • Multiple exhibits sharing exciting new technologies and areas of research
  • Relevant technology demonstrations and collaborative opportunities
  • Subject matter expert panels and facilitated discussions
  • Collaborative interchange between public and private sector stakeholders
  • An entry point for business and industry partnerships with education

Read the full release here

Read the full schedule here

US legislators push for fisheries disaster relief in federal spending bill

April 28, 2017 — Congressional and White House negotiators made progress Tuesday on a must-pass spending bill to keep the federal government open days ahead of a deadline as President Donald Trump indicated that U.S. funding for a border wall with Mexico could wait until September.

“We’re moving forward on reaching an agreement on a bipartisan basis,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said, adding that he hoped that an agreement to fund the government through September can be reached in the next few days.

But a big stumbling block remains, involving a Democratic demand for money for insurance companies that help low-income people afford health policies under former President Barack Obama’s health law, or that Trump abandon a threat to use the payments as a bargaining chip. Trump’s apparent flexibility on the U.S.-Mexico wall issue, however, seemed to steer the Capitol Hill talks on the catchall spending measure in a positive direction.

Arriving in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said he will not be leveraged into supporting “bad policies” such as funding for a border wall, increased military spending and cuts to Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies.

“I am not going to vote for a government funding bill that includes overreaching poison pill provisions,” Huffman told the Times-Standard. “If we have a clean government funding bill, I will support it. But I am not going to be bullied into supporting bad policies in a sort of hijacking exercise with government funding.”

Huffman and a bipartisan group of 16 other legislators are urging congressional appropriation committees to include fisheries disaster funding in the spending bill for fishing fleets in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, which includes the California crab fleet and the Yurok Tribe salmon fishing fleet.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Eureka Times-Standard

Congress working to prevent government shutdown; fishery disaster funds up in the air

April 26, 2017 — Congressional and White House negotiators made progress Tuesday on a must-pass spending bill to keep the federal government open days ahead of a deadline as President Donald Trump indicated that U.S. funding for a border wall with Mexico could wait until September.

“We’re moving forward on reaching an agreement on a bipartisan basis,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said, adding that he hoped that an agreement to fund the government through September can be reached in the next few days.

But a big stumbling block remains, involving a Democratic demand for money for insurance companies that help low-income people afford health policies under former President Barack Obama’s health law, or that Trump abandon a threat to use the payments as a bargaining chip. Trump’s apparent flexibility on the U.S.-Mexico wall issue, however, seemed to steer the Capitol Hill talks on the catchall spending measure in a positive direction.

Arriving in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said he will not be leveraged into supporting “bad policies” such as funding for a border wall, increased military spending and cuts to Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies.

“I am not going to vote for a government funding bill that includes overreaching poison pill provisions,” Huffman told the Times-Standard. “If we have a clean government funding bill, I will support it. But I am not going to be bullied into supporting bad policies in a sort of hijacking exercise with government funding.”

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

More California sea lions are dying because of poisonous algae blooms

April 20, 2017 — During an average year, rescue workers at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach may encounter one pregnant sea lion suffering from domoic acid poisoning — a potentially deadly illness that occurs when the animals eat fish that have been feeding on toxic algae.

In the last two weeks however, the center has recorded 14 sea lion deaths due to domoic acid poisoning.

“Other rescue facilities are also seeing the same animals,” center spokeswoman Krysta Higuchi said. They’re “all over the place.”

In 2007, the last time the problem was this severe in Southern California, 79 sea lions died from domoic acid poisoning despite efforts by the center to rescue them, Higuchi said.

State officials have issued warnings against eating mussels, clams or whole scallops harvested recreationally in Santa Barbara County.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Whale show returns to California’s coast, and it’s amazing

April 14, 2017 — Whale breath smells like fermented Brussels sprouts.

When you’re on the sea and pick up a whiff of that unmistakable aroma, even if only for a moment, it can feel like a 110-volt jolt.

It can mean only one thing: They’re close … real close.

For a few seconds one spring day out of Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay, that smell filled the air around us. We were in a Zodiac inflatable in 60 feet of water off Moss Beach. My fishing partner, Jim McDaniel, turned to me and said, “Do you smell that?”

Before I could answer, a gray whale emerged 30 feet from us, its back jutting through the surface, and then let loose from its blow hole. With a loud whoosh, a misty stream of water rocketed into the air.

The shock of the whale so close — it felt as if he could have capsized us — probably cleared all the cholesterol out of our bloodstreams.

Right on schedule, the whales are back, same time, same place.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

Fisheries Managers Cast Doubt on Sardine Survey Methods

April 13, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Fishing for Pacific sardines in California has been banned for the third consecutive year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Monday afternoon in Sacramento to close the fishery through June 30, 2018, because the population limit of 150,000 metric tons wasn’t met.

Researchers estimate that only about 87,000 metric tons of the oil-rich fish are now swimming around off the coast.

The decision blocks commercial fishers in San Pedro, Long Beach and elsewhere across the West Coast from anything other than small numbers of incidental takes. While sardines don’t command the high price of California shellfish, their plentiful numbers and popularity make them one of the state’s most-caught finfish.

But fishery managers say there’s reason to believe sardines are much more plentiful than studies have found.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center Deputy Director Dale Sweetnam said the acoustic-trawl method that researchers use to estimate the number of sardines is flawed.

The count is done from a large NOAA ship that surveys the entire West Coast by sampling schools of fish, and then bounces sound waves off of them to create a diagram that estimates the size.

But the ship is too large to go into harbors or coastal areas where sardines like to congregate.

“There are questions about the acoustic detector being on the bottom of the ship — how much of the schools in the upper water columns are missed by the acoustics,” Sweetnam said. “Also, the large NOAA ship can’t go in shallow waters, but most of the sardine fishery is very close to shore.”

The fisheries service will soon employ a California Department of Fish and Wildlife plane, along with drones, to survey coastal areas for sardines.

“It will take some time because we’re going to have to determine a scientific sampling scheme,” Sweetnam said. “We’re starting this collaborative work with the fishing industry to extend our sampling grid-lines to shore.”

However, environmental activists cheered the decision to close the sardine fishery for a third season.

Oceana, a worldwide conservation advocacy organization, blames the sardine population decline on overfishing.

“Over the last four years we’ve witnessed starved California sea lion pups washing up on beaches and brown pelicans failing to produce chicks because moms are unable to find enough forage fish,” said Oceana campaign manager Ben Enticknap.

“Meanwhile, sardine fishing rates spiked right as the population was crashing. Clearly, the current sardine management plan is not working as intended and steps must be taken to fix it.”

Industry representatives, however, argue that fishers are reliable environmental stewards and that they are just as eager as environmental activists to protect the long-term survival of marine species.

California fishers were able to replace sardine takes with increased numbers of squid in recent years. This year, promising anchovy stocks and other fish may keep the industry solvent.

California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner-Steele said fishermen are frustrated.

“Fishermen are just ready to pull their hair out because there’s so many sardines and we can’t target them,” Pleschner-Steele said. “I’m relieved that the Southwest Fisheries Science Center acknowledges problems with the current stock assessment and has promised to work with the fishermen to develop a cooperative research plan to survey the near-shore area that is now missed. Unfortunately, this does not help us this year.”

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

West Coast Sardine Fishery Closed for Third Straight Season for Low Abundance

April 13, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Pacific Fishery Management Council announced the continued closure of the Pacific sardine directed fishery through June 30, 2018. This is the third annual closure in a row for this fishery.

Council members heard from scientists that the abundance forecast for the 2017- 2018 season, scheduled to start July 1, was significantly below the 150,000 metric ton threshold for a directed fishery. They also considered testimony from fishery participants and environmental groups before reaching a decision to close the directed fishery.

Small amounts of sardines may be taken incidental to target fishing on other stocks, and a small harvest amount was allocated to the Quinault Indian Nation along the mid-Washington coast.

“This represents a real hardship for coastal communities that depend on sardines and other coastal pelagic species. However, there are signs that the sardine population is increasing, so we’re hopeful there will be some fishing opportunity for next year,” said Council Chair Herb Pollard.

Sardines are subject to large natural population swings associated with ocean conditions. In general, sardines thrive in warm water regimes, such as those of the 1930s, and decline in cool water years, like the 1970s. After reaching a recent year peak of about one million metric tons in 2006, the sardine biomass[1] has dropped to an estimated 86,586 metric tons in 2017.

The Council takes a precautionary approach to managing Pacific sardines. When the fish are abundant, more fishing is allowed; but as the stock size declines, the amount of allocated to harvest decreases. When the biomass is estimated at or below 150,000 metric tons, directed commercial fishing is shut down.

Although directed commercial fishing will close, the Council will allow up to 8,000 tons of sardines to account for small amounts taken as incidental catch in other fisheries (such as mackerel), live bait harvest, Tribal harvest, and research.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Tougher sea lion control law introduced in Congress

April 12, 2017 — The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, introduced April 8 by U.S. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR), aims to “clear up inefficiencies and red tape to allow more effective management of alarming predation levels by California sea lions on Columbia River spring Chinook and other species.”

If approved by Congress and the president, the legislation will authorize states and tribes to remove a limited number of predatory sea lions. It allows active management of the growing Columbia River sea lion population and removes a requirement that individual sea lions be identified as preying on salmon before they can be removed.

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) five-year review, sea lion management actions are needed in the Lower Columbia. The service stated, “…predation by pinnipeds [sea lions and seals] on listed stocks of Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead, as well as eulachon, has increased at an unprecedented rate. So while there are management efforts to reduce pinniped predation in the vicinity of Bonneville Dam, this management effort is insufficient to reduce the severity of the threat, especially pinniped predation in the Columbia River estuary (river miles 1 to 145) and at Willamette Falls.”

A limited removal program has been in effect since 2011 but the NMFS review concluded that the current program doesn’t do enough to protect endangered salmon. Last year, approximately 190 sea lions killed over 9,500 adult spring Chinook within sight of Bonneville Dam. This represents a 5.8 percent loss of the 2016 spring Chinook run a quarter mile of Bonneville Dam alone. NOAA Fisheries Service also estimates that up to 45 percent of the 2014 spring Chinook run was potentially lost to sea lions in the 145 river miles between the estuary and Bonneville Dam.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

Letter calls for approval of fishery disaster funds

April 6, 2017 — A bipartisan group of congressional representatives sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Wednesday urging them to include disaster relief funds for nine West Coast crab and salmon fisheries in a government spending bill this month.

“The closures of commercial and recreational fisheries along the West Coast during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 fishing seasons caused severe economic hardship in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California,” the letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer states.

The House and Senate are set to vote on a government spending bill in the coming weeks that they must pass by midnight April 28 to prevent a government shutdown.

California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) is among the 17 members of Congress who signed the letter. Huffman is asking Congress to approve millions of dollars for the North Coast crab fleet and the Yurok Tribe. In January, the former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker issued disaster declarations for nine fisheries along the West Coast, which allows Congress to appropriate relief funds.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard