April 13, 2021 — U.S. fishermen based in Kodiak, Alaska, have reported aggressive interactions with Russian navy ships and fighter jets while fishing in American waters. NBC News’ Kevin Tibbles speaks to one fisherman about fishing near Russian waters and encountering foreign naval war games.
Alaska scallopers manage with covid quarantines, but clams stay in the sand
February 3, 2021 — Alaska scallopers fished on a guideline harvest level of 277,500 pounds of shucked meat for the 2020-21 season. That’s up from the GHL of 271,300 pounds from the year before. Harvests, however, have been declining, and the 2019-20 landings of 224,765 pounds were the lowest since the 1993-94 season.
Scallops mature into the fishery at 4 years old, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducts population surveys in rotating areas each year, according to Andrew Olson, an area management biologist, in Yakutat. Of the management areas lying in the waters offshore of Yakutat, Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, Dutch Harbor and Bristol Bay, the area near Yakutat has maintained the highest GHL in recent years. The GHL for the Yakutat in the 2020-21 season had been set at 145,000 pounds, shucked.
Like many other fisheries, covid caused some ripples in this year’s season, primarily with lining up observers for the two vessels that fish the scallops in a cooperative harvest agreement. As per federal regulations, the scallopers operate under 100 percent observer coverage. This year that meant quarantining the observers before they boarded. After that, the season went off without a hitch and fishing began.
These collapsible pots are helping Alaska fishermen keep whales from pirating pricey black cod
October 23, 2020 — Lightweight collapsible pots prevent whales from pirating pricey black cod from longline hooks and give a break to small boats.
“Getting whaled” is so pervasive that fishery managers allowed black cod, aka sablefish, fishermen to switch from baited lines to rigid pots in the Bering Sea in 2008 and in the Gulf of Alaska starting in 2017. (Interestingly, killer whales rob the hooks in the Bering Sea, while sperm whales are the culprits in the Gulf.)
“The whale predation has just been so horrible,” said Frank Miles of Kodiak, owner of 58-foot and 78-foot fishing boats. “The last couple years I tried to do it with hooks, and it just got to the point to where we left tens of thousands of pounds of black cod unharvested because we were going backwards feeding the whales. You can spread your strings 10 miles apart, and you might get one or two skates up and they find you. And then they pretty much strip you blind.”
Analyses from federal surveys in 2013 showed that when killer whales were present during annual sablefish stock surveys, the whales removed 54% to 72% from the hooks.
ALASKA: Local and State Representatives Weigh in on Fisheries and Other Issues at Virtual ComFish
September 24, 2020 — Kodiak’s representatives at the state and federal levels Zoomed into ComFish on Sept. 18 and 19 to tout their work on fishing and other coastal issues.
U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, U.S. Rep. Don Young, state Rep. Louise Stutes and state Sen. Gary Stevens all spoke virtually via Zoom at the event.
ALASKA: In Kodiak, 26 new fisheries-related cases of COVID-19
August 7, 2020 — The recent rash of COVID-19 outbreaks in the seafood industry has spread to the Kodiak Island Borough.
The community had 26 non-resident cases “in a remote area of the borough,”the Kodiak Area Emergency Services Organization said Wednesday. They did not name the area.
All of the people who tested positive are nonresidents and work in the seafood industry.
ALASKA: Mandate restricts movement of fishing vessel crews
April 28, 2020 — With May just around the corner, Kodiak Island is gearing up for salmon fishing season, and captains and their crew from off-island will soon join local fishery participants.
However, a recent health mandate released by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which requires boat captains to implement new protective measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus, will restrict where crew members can go.
Mandate 17, which went into effect Saturday, affects independent commercial fishing vessels, defining them as “all catcher and tender vessels that have not agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan submitted by a company, association, or entity that represents a fleet of vessels.”
The new mandate adds screening and quarantine requirements for crew, and also limits their movement.
“I’m glad to see that the governor is focused on the protocols for the independent fishing vessels,” said Duncan Fields, the chairman of the Kodiak Salmon Work Group and a member of the Kodiak Economic Task Force. “I appreciate that the administration worked with the United Fishermen of Alaska Matt Alward to vet their plan and to receive input.”
Halibut Fishermen Face Flattened Market, Firesale Prices
March 24, 2020 — The Pacific halibut fishery opened on March 14 amid little fanfare and flattened markets.
The first fish of the eight month season typically attracts the highest prices and is rushed fresh to high-end buyers, especially during the Lenten season. But that’s not the case in this time of coronavirus chaos, when air traffic is stalled and seafood of all kinds is getting backlogged in global freezers.
ALASKA: Battered by a marine heatwave, Kodiak’s cod fishermen may not be fishing in the Gulf for much longer
November 22, 2019 — Sixty-year-old Frank Miles has fished for cod around Kodiak since he was a teenager.
“Started out at the age of 15, in an open skiff, back when salt cod was a staple,” he says. “I think I’ve missed one cod season in 44 years.”
Miles eventually graduated from an open skiff to a 58-foot pot and longline vessel called the Sumner Strait. He’s been around long enough to see fisheries cycle in and out, from the decline of king crab in the 80’s to the rise of groundfish like pollock, sablefish and of course, cod.
“If you look back just 10 years ago,” he says. “I mean, goodness, we used to fish eight months out of the year on just cod — me, personally.”
Anchorage talk will dive into ocean acidification’s impact on Alaska marine life
October 16, 2019 — Hundreds of fishery stakeholders and scientists will gather in Anchorage next week as the state Board of Fisheries begins its annual meeting cycle with a two-day work session.
The seven-member board sets the rules for the state’s subsistence, commercial, sport and personal use fisheries. It meets four to six times each year in various communities on a three-year rotation; this year the focus is on Kodiak and Cook Inlet.
The fish board and the public also will learn the latest on how a changing climate and off-kilter ocean chemistry are affecting some of Alaska’s most popular seafood items at an Oct. 23 talk and Q&A on ocean acidification in Alaska.
They may also be surprised to learn that only two studies have looked at salmon response to ocean acidification, and both were conducted outside Alaska.
Most of the research to date has focused specifically on crab and fish stocks, said Bob Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center at the NOAA Auke Bay lab in Juneau who will lead the Anchorage presentation.
Millions in pink salmon fishery failure funds to be distributed in Alaska
September 3, 2019 — Applications should now be in the hands of Alaska salmon fishermen and processors hurt by the 2016 pink salmon fishery failure.
NOAA Fisheries last month approved USD 56.3 million (EUR 51 million) in relief funds at Kodiak, Prince William Sound, Chignik, Lower Cook Inlet, South Alaska Peninsula, Southeast Alaska, and Yakutat.