Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Fisheries managers announce first 5 openers of 2024 Kuskokwim salmon season

May 28, 2024 — With another heavily restricted salmon fishing season just around the corner on the Kuskokwim River, federal managers have announced the first round of June gillnet opportunities for federally-qualified subsistence users.

All chinook, chum, and coho salmon caught may be retained during the following Kuskokwim River mainstem openers:

Set gillnet:

• Monday, June 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

• Thursday, June 6, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

• Monday, June 10, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: As Alaska salmon season opens, Silver Bay’s CEO assesses grim times

May 16, 2024 — The opening of the famed Copper River fishery – it starts this year on May 16 – traditionally marks the beginning of a new commercial salmon season in Alaska.

Rather than excitement, however, much of the industry feels apprehension, anxiety, and even anger. Since last year, we’ve seen a procession of negative and worrying developments, leading some to question the future of the salmon business.

Alaska’s seafood industry is floundering due to factors including glutted markets, unfavorable currency exchange rates, post-pandemic consumer shifts, food inflation, and weakness in other important fisheries such as pollock.

Based on preliminary data, prices paid in 2023 to both fishermen and processors were historically low for salmon and pollock, according to a recent analysis prepared for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI).

In recent months, we’ve seen extraordinary events, including the implosion of legacy processor Peter Pan Seafood and a selloff of Alaska plants by industry titan Trident Seafoods. Other processors have cut back operations. Some Alaska fishermen are wondering if they’ll have a market this year.

Could this be another season of discontent?

Certain forces suggest relief might be on the way. For one thing, the Alaska salmon harvest is expected to be much smaller this year at 136 million fish compared to 232 million in 2023. The catch of sockeye, the most valuable species, is projected at 39 million fish, well below last year’s 52 million. A smaller harvest could help clear salmon inventory and bolster ex-vessel and wholesale prices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is buying huge volumes of Alaska salmon and pollock, supporting the struggling seafood industry.

The Alaska Legislature is putting together a special task force to address the industry’s problems – problems that could hurt Alaska coastal communities. And legislators are weighing an infusion of up to $10 million in additional support for ASMI. The marketing agency is pursuing new initiatives involving retail heavyweights such as Costco and Walmart, and in Japan, is supporting industry efforts to develop ready-to-eat convenience store products utilizing off-grade or No. 3 salmon.

Coming into this season, processors, in particular, face tremendous financial pressure – and high expectations.

Today, we offer the first of three conversations with top Alaska processing company CEOs.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

Pacific Fishery Management Council approved three options for ocean salmon season

May 16, 2024 — The Pacific Fishery Management Council has approved three options for ocean salmon seasons starting May 16, 2024.

“The level of fish that the council that measures all the fish that are out in the ocean and in the river system, so those numbers didn’t add up to the level that’s needed to have a healthy sustainable fishery,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Public Information Officer, Steve Gonzalez.

Read the full article at KRCR

ALASKA: Scientists point to disease, warming waters to explain Chinook decline in Yukon River

May 15, 2024 — Research on declining populations of chinook salmon on the Yukon River have led scientists to a theory that combines the stress of warm water and the damage of disease.

As salmon runs on the Yukon River continue to decline, most notably that of chinook salmon, those that rely on the fish have faced “hardship [and] lots of cultural loss,” said Keith Herron, a masters student in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) at UAF.

While these fish have historically been a staple of the Yukon diet, run sizes have decreased in return from the ocean but researchers have also “seen a difference between estimates when they’re counted when they enter the river and when they go into Canada,” explained Herron. “Those estimates do not match and there’s like 40,000 fish potentially missing and there’s been no harvest.”

Herron and others in the field have already noticed the impact of warming waters on species across Alaskan waters. Notably this includes crabs and other salmon species. Some have seen population crashes, while some simply declined and others might be moving north towards cooler water.

Read the full article at Newscenter Fairbanks

ALASKA: Southeast Alaska not ready for a hatchery-only king fishery, study finds

May 13, 2024 — Should Southeast Alaska have a hatchery-only king salmon sports fishery? Researchers recently tried to answer that question as a possible solution to a declining number of wild kings.

Chinook or king salmon are the largest and most valuable salmon species. They’re sought-after by sport, commercial, and subsistence fishermen alike. But in recent decades, their harvest has become more restricted as populations plummet. A recent study considered if a new Southeast fishery could help – one that allows sport fishermen to keep only hatchery king salmon and release wild ones.

“And an important question there is could this actually be done within the current management context? And is this something that is desirable for folks in Alaska?” asked Anne Beaudreau, who led the study, which took about a year.

Beaudreau is an associate professor with the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. The study was initiated and funded by the Alaska delegation of the Pacific Salmon Commission. Members asked the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to explore the possibility of a hatchery-based sports fishery, and the state then contracted with the university.

As part of the study, Beaudreau helped run several public meetings throughout Southeast. Dozens of people participated.

“We heard a lot of concern brought up at these meetings,” she said.

Read the full article at CoastAlaska

$7 million to be distributed for Oregon salmon disaster relief

May 6, 2024 — The Oregon Spend Plan will designate over $7 million in disaster funding for commercial fishermen, processors, and others in the fishing community after the salmon fishery’s value declined by millions between 2017 and 2020. The relief is now ready for public review. The disaster funds are in response to the 2021 disaster declaration for the fishery for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

In Oct. 2021, Oregon’s then-Governor Brown submitted a meticulous request to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for a catastrophic regional fishery disaster declaration under section 315 of the Magnuson-Stevens Management Act. The request was based on a comprehensive analysis of the poor performance of Oregon’s Ocean commercial salmon fisheries south of Cape Falcon, which resulted from reduced allowable catches of Klamath and Sacramento fall Chinook, anomalous ocean conditions, and spatial shifts in ocean distribution of these migratory species.

Finally, on Oct. 10, 2023, the Secretary of Commerce decided on eligibility for the 2018-2020 Oregon ocean chinook salmon fishery. The funds were appropriated through the 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. The funds are intended to be used for activities that restore the fishery or prevent a similar failure in the future and assist fishing communities affected by such failure.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: Alaska lawmakers, residents ask feds to limit how much salmon industrial trawlers catch

May 1, 2024 — U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Alaskan Natives and family-owned fisheries are looking for a sea change in the fishing rights battle between local fishermen and industrial trawling fishing operations after a federal council recently denied a tribe-approved reduction in chum salmon catches.

In Western Alaska, local communities are experiencing a marked decrease in salmon populations. The reasons for the decline remain a subject of intense debate between industry executives, conservation experts and subsistence communities. Many residents point to the Seattle-based trawler fleets operating in the Bering Sea, which, while fishing for pollock, inadvertently capture large numbers of chum salmon as bycatch.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees the regulations for fish caught in federal waters, recommended an annual bycatch total of 100,000 − well above the 22,000 limit the advisory council sought in a motion April 8. The pollock industry already has a hard cap restricting its take of Chinook salmon

Read the full article at USA Today

ALASKA: The federal government is assuming management of salmon fishing in parts of Alaska’s Cook Inlet

May 1, 2024 — Commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the federal waters of Cook Inlet will resume this summer, but under new management by the federal government, according to a rule made final this week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, is taking over what had been state management of salmon in inlet waters designated as the federal exclusive economic zone, located more than 3 miles offshore.

The new rule goes into effect May 30.

Until now, the state had managed salmon fisheries in both state and federal waters of the inlet. But the switch in management was ordered by federal courts, as a result of litigation stretching back a decade.

The United Cook Inlet Drift Association, or UCIDA, which is made up of commercial salmon fishermen, sued the federal government in 2013 for failing to develop a salmon harvest management plan for the federal waters of the inlet. The National Marine Fisheries Service, rather than developing a Cook Inlet salmon plan, had deferred to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which since statehood has managed salmon harvests throughout the inlet in both state and federal waters.

The UCIDA lawsuit took issue with state management decisions and argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service was failing in its duties. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016 ruled in UCIDA’s favor.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

CALIFORNIA: What’s being done to save California salmon as populations continue to decline?

April 24, 2024 — From the Sacramento River to the coast, salmon populations have struggled to survive, and fishing for salmon in California has been canceled for the second season in a row, marking the third season in the state’s history a fishing ban has been in place. The heart of the problem: dams and climate change.

Local business impacts

The 2024 season cancelation was announced on April 10, after the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) acted unanimously to recommend the closure of California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon fisheries through the end of the year, repeating recommendations made in 2023 to close the fisheries.

This decision is a blow to salmon industries and fishermen like Rickey Acosta as many struggle to find alternatives.

“Without salmon season we’re forced to figure out new species to fish for areas that we are fishing at different times of the year and what it’s caused is an effort shift not only for myself but for all of the other boats,” Acosta said.

Acosta owns and operates Feeding Frenzy, a sportfishing guide company that takes people out on the waters of the Sacramento River and Pacific Ocean to fish.

Read the full article at CBS News

CALIFORNIA: California lawmakers request disaster declaration after state’s second straight salmon season cancelation

April 23, 2024 — More than 20 federal lawmakers from California have called on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to declare a fishery disaster following the closure of the state’s salmon season for the second consecutive year.

Earlier this month, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to close the 2024 commercial Chinook salmon fishery from the northern coast of the U.S. state of Oregon to the Mexico border. That closure is expected to go into effect in May.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource