Saving Seafood

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

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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

PFMC: June 19-25, 2019 PFMC Meeting Notice and Agenda

May 16, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and its advisory bodies will meet June 19-25, 2019 in San Diego, California, to address issues related to groundfish, coastal pelagic species (CPS), salmon, Pacific halibut, highly migratory species, enforcement, habitat and administrative matters. The meeting of the Council and its advisory entities will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Mission Valley, 7450 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108; telephone, 619-297-5466.

Please see the June 19-25, 2019 Council Meeting notice on the Council’s website for meeting detail, schedule of advisory body meetings, our new E-Portal for submitting public comments, and public comment deadlines.

Key agenda items for the meeting include Council considerations to:

  • Adopt Final Pacific mackerel Harvest Specifications and Management Measures for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Fisheries
  • Review Salmon Rebuilding Plans and Consider Adopting Final Plans for Sacramento River and Klamath River Fall Chinook and Preliminary Plans for Strait of Juan de Fuca, Queets River, and Snohomish River Coho for Public Review
  • Adopt Final Mitigation Measures for Seabird Interactions in Groundfish Fisheries Pursuant to the 2017 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion
  • Initial Scoping of Issues and Adoption of a Process for Developing Groundfish Harvest Specifications and Management Measures for 2021-2022 Fisheries
  • Adopt Final Groundfish Inseason Adjustments for 2019 as Necessary to Achieve but Not Exceed Annual Catch Limits and Other Management Objectives
  • Final Adoption of Criteria for Triggering Allocation Reviews

Seafood subscription box sets up shop on the Oregon Coast

April 22, 2019 — The subscription box business model is on the rise, even on the South Coast, with Port Orford Sustainable Seafood, a sea-to-online store business.

Jayme Halasz and her family are getting hooked on their subscription.

“I love the idea of having super fresh seafood and i love the idea of it coming straight from the boat itself,” said Halasz

This is her first month after seeing it on Facebook, and she says she’ll order more.

This is the company’s first Coos Bay pick up location at Coos Head Food co-op.

Michael Baran and fellow program manager, Kean Fleming, say it’s a community supported fishery model, in business for 10 years and operating on a subscription basis for six years.

“You’re supporting a fishing heritage that’s existed for a long time and you’re directly supporting commercial fisherman,” said Baran.

Each pack even shows the angler and their vessel.

Customers can create an online account, log into the online store, select their fish and pick it up at a designated location near them.

The minimum buy-in is $100 that can be used on items like Rockfish to Pacific Halibut, ranging from $12-$30 per pound depending on fishing efforts.

Read the full story at KATU

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule: Framework 58 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

April 19, 2019 — The following was published by NOAA Fisheries: 

We are seeking public comment on an action that would revise catch limits for seven groundfish stocks for the 2019 fishing year (May 1, 2019 – April 30, 2020), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2018.

For the commercial groundfish fishery, quotas are increasing for Georges Bank cod (+15%), Georges Bank haddock (+19%), witch flounder (+1%), and Georges Bank winter flounder (+6%), but are decreasing for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder (-50%), Gulf of Maine winter flounder (-1%), and Atlantic halibut (-3%).

Framework 58 would also:

  • Exempt vessels fishing exclusively in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area (i.e., in international waters) from the domestic groundfish fishery minimum fish sizes to allow them to better compete in the international frozen fish market.
  • Extend the temporary change to the scallop Accountability Measure implementation policy for the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder to provide the scallop fishery with the flexibility to adjust to current catch conditions while still providing an incentive to avoid yellowtail flounder.

In this proposed rule, we are also announcing:

  • Required adjustments to the 2019 quotas for Gulf of Maine cod because the quota was exceeded in 2017;
  • Proposed management measures for the common pool, the US/Canada Area, and special management programs for fishing year 2019;
  • A proposed extension of the annual deadline to submit applications to lease groundfish days-at-sea between vessels from March 1 to April 30 (the end of the fishing year); and
  • Changes to the regulations to clarify that vessels must report catch by statistical area when submitting catch reports through their vessel monitoring system.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

The comment period is open through May 6, 2019.

Questions?
Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, at 978-281-9103

Science on your side: The trappings of fish fraud

April 18, 2019 — Seafood fraud and mislabeled seafood is a permanent topic in the sustainable fisheries space and has been driving the demands for product traceability. Since 2011, Oceana has led the discourse on fish fraud by publishing sixteen reports on the subject.

Oceana Canada’s 2018 report exposed some important shortcomings in the Canadian seafood system and offered constructive, achievable mandates for reducing seafood fraud domestically, but the study collected data from a biased sample and only presented results that supported a narrative of rampant fraudulence.

Oceana collects seafood samples at restaurants and retail outlets, DNA tests them, then matches the DNA results to government labeling guidelines. The sampling focused specifically on cod, halibut, snapper, tuna, salmon and sole because these species historically, “have the highest rates of species substitution.” This nonrandom sampling is consistent with previous seafood fraud studies from Oceana.

Of the 382 seafood samples tested in Canada, 168 (44 percent) were found to be mislabeled.

None of the red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), yellowtail or butterfish tested was appropriately labeled. Tuna was mislabeled 41 percent of the time, halibut 34 percent, cod 32 percent and salmon 18 percent.

Fundamental to the interpretation of the Oceana Canada 2018 study’s results is the understanding that the samples were selected to find fraud, not to measure the actual extent of fraud across the entire seafood supply chain. Oceana disclosed this in the report. However the press release it issued for this report, and subsequent headlines from other news sources, such as “At least one quarter of the seafood you buy is a lie” from the site IFL Science, created a different narrative.

Aside from the sampling criticisms, the analysis of specific species was especially flawed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Hilcorp delays Cook Inlet seismic work

April 11, 2019 — Hilcorp will delay a planned seismic survey in Lower Cook Inlet this summer until after the peak of the summer season.

The Houston-based company had planned to conduct a 3-D seismic survey in federal waters off Homer, where it holds leases on 14 federal oil and gas lease tracts. The seismic survey would have covered eight of the lease blocks, according to a survey plan the company submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

However, a number of snags held up the process. The company says the delay is in part due to holdups during the lengthy partial federal government shutdown, which spanned the new year and lasted more than a month.

Hilcorp also says it will delay its planned work until after the height of the fishing and tourist season. Those two industries are primary drivers of the economy in Homer and the surrounding area. Homer attracts tourists from all over the world each summer, many of whom come to fish for the region’s famously abundant Pacific halibut. A large commercial fleet based in Homer and the surrounding communities also fishes for halibut between March and November and for Pacific salmon during the summer season.

Hilcorp external affairs manager Lori Nelson did not give a precise date when the company plans to take up the seismic work again, but that the company understands that “the waters of Lower Cook Inlet are a shared resource.”

“We are actively engaged in discussions with our contractor to delay the survey,” she said in an email. “Our commitment to keep the community’s interests and concerns at the forefront will continue as we work to revise our schedule and work plan.”

Read the full story at Anchorage Daily News

What is seafood fraud? Dangerous and running rampant, report finds

March 7, 2019 — If you order a filet of snapper at a restaurant, you probably expect to be served snapper. But a new report suggests there’s a strong chance you’ll be getting something else.

Oceana, a marine conservation nonprofit with a recent history of studying seafood mislabeling, today published a new report on the state of seafood fraud in the U.S.

They found that 20 percent of the 449 fish they tested were incorrectly labeled. Orders of sea bass were often replaced by giant perch, Alaskan halibut by Greenland turbot, and Florida snapper by lavender jobfish, to name a few.

Oceana made headlines in 2016 by publishing a report finding massive seafood fraud on a global scale. Since then, NOAA created the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), to track 13 species deemed at high risk of being fraudulently sold or sourced illegally.

None of the 13 SIMP monitored species were sampled.

“We wanted to highlight that there are other species other than the high-risk species,” says Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana and one of the report’s authors.

Read the full story at National Geographic

ALASKA: North Pacific council to study catch-share proposal for cod trawlers

February 22, 2019 — As pressure continues to build on Pacific cod landings in the Bering Sea, the US’ North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) is taking a hard look at the number of trawl vessels and offshore processors there, Alaska Public Radio reports.

A year after federal regulators dramatically cut the quota in the Gulf of Alaska, trawlers say the congestion is causing a race for the fish.

“You got kind of a perfect storm going on here: You have more and more vessels entering a fishery, you’ve got less fish available to be caught, and now this year in 2019, we ended up with a 13-day season,” Brent Paine, executive director of United Catcher Boats, is quoted as saying. “Four years ago, it never even closed.”

The NPFMC has taken up a request from Paine and others to study a catch share plan for trawl catcher vessels, splitting up the sector’s landings between individual boats before the season begins. A scoping paper is due from its staff later this year.

Such a management structure, which is already used by halibut and pollock fisheries, would limit the number of vessels that can participate in the fishery and reduce competition, the article notes. A specific date range would determine historical participation and therefore who gets shares and how many.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

IPHC to investigate ‘chalky’ halibut among research plans

February 14, 2019 — After years of hearing concerns from fishermen about the prevalence of “chalky” Pacific halibut, the International Pacific Halibut Commission is planning to gather information for an investigation into it.

Chalky halibut are fish that, when cut open, have a stiff, chalk-textured flesh as opposed to the normal pale and tender flesh. Chalky meat is not dangerous to humans but is not desirable and thus costs the fishermen at the dock.

Dr. Josep Planas, who heads up biological research for the IPHC, noted plans to gather information about chalky halibut from stakeholders this year before moving forward with designing a study on it.

“What we plan is to initiate this project by collecting information from stakeholders on the incidence of chalky flesh and trying to understand the conditions that lead to its development,” he said. “We would love to get any information from any stakeholders on this topic.”

Chalky halibut is not a new phenomenon; fishermen and researchers have been seeing it for decades.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

International Pacific Halibut Commission sets US, Canadian catch limits for 2019

February 6, 2019 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission last week agreed on catch limits for the Pacific halibut fishery which runs from California to Alaska, according to KBBI.

In 2018, the IPHC, the public organization responsible for managing the  U.S. and Canadian West Coast halibut fisheries, was unable to agree on quotas for the season, and as a result the quota remained the same as the 2017 season. Before last year, the last time the United States and Canada could not come to a quota agreement was nearly a century ago.

The main sticking point for the negotiations was the amount of halibut that Canada was allowed. Recently, Canada has taken about 20 percent of the catch. A U.S. proposal during the negotiations suggested that the number be closer to 12 percent this year, and a compromise was reached at 17.7 percent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source