Saving Seafood

In surprising move, Bering Sea snow crab fishery to reopen after 2 year closure

October 7, 2024 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday afternoon that Bering Sea fishermen will be allowed to harvest a total of about 4.7 million pounds of opilio, also known as snow crab, for the first time in two years. According to Fish and Game, estimates of total mature male biomass are above the threshold required to open the fishery.

The announcement comes as a surprise to many fishermen, after roughly 10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea over a span of four years, and Fish and Game closed the fishery in 2022. Recently, scientists have learned that the disappearance was likely due to ecological shifts, and there’s been little hope within the industry that stocks would recover anytime soon.

Read the full article at KUCB

ALASKA: While local herring are more affordable and accessible in Japan, some still look to Alaska for eggs

October 3, 2024 — It’s another fiercely cold March morning, and a dozen or so local fish processors are pacing back and forth in an icy, cavernous warehouse in Otaru. It’s Saturday, usually a day off for the folks who work at the Otaru Fishing Co-Op, but since it’s herring season they’re hosting an auction this morning. Every minute counts with herring, so they have to move these fish quickly.

The buyers circle each pallet stacked high with styrofoam boxes. One man lingers over a fish box, a cigarette dangling between his lips, trying to discern the quality. When the buyers are done looking, they go to a heated room next door with sofas and vending machines and wait.

Read the full article at KCAW

Federal permit for massive Alaska gold mine fails in court challenge

October 1, 2024 — A federal judge on Monday ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management should have considered a far more catastrophic spill of chemical tailings before approving the Donlin Gold Project in Alaska.

Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with a group of Native American communities, who challenged a final environmental impact statement that the two federal agencies prepared and that only looked at the possibility of a failure involving 0.5% of the total capacity of the 2,351-acre tailings storage facility to be constructed as part of the mining operation.

“The court finds that federal defendants violated [the National Environmental Policy Act] by failing to consider a larger tailings spill and by characterizing a catastrophic spill as a ‘worst case’ and declining to assess such a scenario on that basis,” Gleason wrote. “A spill of more than 0.5% of the tailings volume is reasonably foreseeable because a person of ordinary prudence would take one into account in reaching a decision.”

The judge didn’t agree that the final environmental impact statement fell short in evaluating the project’s potential impact on human health or the impact of river barges on rainbow smelt subsistence fisheries, as the plaintiffs argued, but agreed with them that it violated the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act by not considering the possible impact of a larger tailings spill on subsistence resources.

Read the full article at the Courthouse News Service

ALASKA: Draft plan published for disbursement of $11.5 million in 2021 and 2022 ESSN disasters

July 12, 2024 — A draft spend plan was published Tuesday, July 9 by the State Department of Fish and Game for the allocation of around $11.5 million in federal funds in response to a disaster determination for the 2021 and 2022 Upper Cook Inlet east side setnet fisheries.

A public notice from the department says that the National Marine Fisheries Service allocated $11,484,675 to address losses from the 2021 and 2022 fisheries. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce made the disaster determination in April, responding to an October request from Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The draft spend plan of those dollars by the department says that funds will be disbursed to achieve two objectives: to assist fishery participants harmed by the disasters and to improve fishery information to avoid or mitigate the impacts of future disasters.

The draft plan says that 62% of the money, around $7 million, will be dispersed to harvesters. Around $3 million will go to processors, $1 million to research, $300,000 to communities and $11,000 for program support.

Read the full article at the Peninsula Clarion 

New Evidence of Seasonal and Temperature-Driven Movement of Alaska Pollock across the U.S.-Russia Maritime Boundary

June 22, 2024 — Scientists placed specially designed moorings, equipped with sonar, on the seafloor to acoustically monitor pollock abundance and movements between U.S. and Russian waters. They found that a substantial amount of pollock travel between the two exclusive economic zones (EEZs) seasonally.

The study was conducted from summer 2019 to summer 2020. During this time, pollock moved southeast over the maritime boundary in winter as the sea ice formed. They were largely absent in late spring when ocean temperatures were near freezing and the sea ice was still present. They subsequently migrated northwest in late spring and early summer as waters warmed. The extent of the movement between EEZs) appears to be partially driven by water temperature.

When the moorings were deployed in summer 2019 the area was unusually warm. Following the winter migration into U.S. waters, conditions were cooler in summer 2020. Over the year of observations, 2.3 times more pollock moved into the U.S. EEZ in fall and winter then exited during the subsequent spring and summer. Scientists believe the cooler conditions in 2020 led to fewer pollock moving into Russian waters than had the previous year.

“There are some important implications for pollock management,” said Robert Levine, physical scientist and lead author on a new paper published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. “Our research suggests that in years when water temperatures are warmer than average, the proportion of fish moving across the boundary will be greater.”

Scientists suspect that continued warming in the eastern Bering Sea will increase the proportion of the pollock stock found in Russian waters. Currently, pollock support the top U.S. commercial fishery, which harvests more than 1 million metric tons annually.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

ALASKA: Rough Seas Ahead for Seafood Processing

June 11, 2024 — Not too long ago, Alaska’s salmon fishery was at a high. The record for the largest salmon run was set in 2018, and again in 2021, and again in 2022. It wasn’t just Bristol Bay; across Western Alaska, sockeye and pink salmon populations reached historic levels between 2021 and 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But all good things must come to an end.

The sockeye salmon run in Bristol Bay is forecast to be millions of fish short of the 2023 season, although the run is still supposed to be above the ten-year average, according to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

That’s not the only place in the state that will see lower numbers. A weak pink salmon run on Kodiak Island drove OBI Seafoods to close its seafood processing plant in Larsen Bay, according to CEO John Hanrahan. However, the company will keep its plant in the City of Kodiak open.

Read the full article at Alaska Business

ALASKA: Peltola sponsors a bill to limit salmon bycatch. The pollock industry calls it ‘unworkable.’

May 23, 2024 — Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola introduced two bills Wednesday that aim to deliver on one of her campaign themes: Reducing the number of salmon that the Bering Sea fishing fleet catches by accident.

One of the bills would curtail the use of fishing nets that scrape sensitive parts of the sea floor. It would require regional fisheries management councils to designate bottom trawl zones and limit that kind of fishing to those areas.

It also attempts to crack down on fishing gear that hits the sea floor but goes by a different name. Peltola said areas that are closed to bottom trawling off Alaska’s coast are too often open to pelagic trawling, which in theory means the nets are in the mid-water.

“I think 40 to 80% of the time, that ‘pelagic’ gear is actually on the bottom,” she said. “So I think that defining these terms and having a more accurate definition of what bottom trawl is, and the percentage of time that those nets are on the bottom, is really important.”

A second bill would increase the money available for a grant program that funds research and equipment to help fishing fleets reduce bycatch. That program would get up to $10 million per year, $7 million more than its current cap.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Commercial fisheries commission begins regulatory process to add dipnets to Cook Inlet setnet fisheries

May 23, 2024 — The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission has begun a process to add dipnets as a legal gear type for commercial set gillnet fishing operations in Upper Cook Inlet’s Central Region, which includes the east side setnet fishery.

The move follows the March approval by the State Board of Fisheries that added dipnets as a legal gear type for the fisheries and established regulations for their use. Before the gear can be used and the fishery opened, both the board and commission needed to approve dipnets in their regulations. The board approved the change in pursuit of options for “selective harvest with no termination of kings,” in the words of member Mike Wood.

According to an advisory announcement by the State Department of Fish and Game on May 16, the commission on the previous Monday issued notice of their proposed regulatory changes to begin a 30-day comment period.

Public comments on the changes, including regarding potential costs to users, the announcement said, can be mailed to the commission or submitted at 907-789-6170, dfg.cfec.publicquestions@alaska.gov, or the Alaska Online Public Notice System. Comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. on June 13.

Read the full article at Peninsula Clarion 

ALASKA: Alaska commercial fishers will only pay to register vessels once under pending bill

May 23, 2024 — Alaska’s commercial vessel owners will no longer be required to pay for registration with two separate state agencies, under a bill passed by the state Legislature.

House Bill 19, which creates the exemption for boat owners, passed the House and Senate on May 15 and is waiting for Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature.

If made law, as long as a vessel has a valid certificate of documentation from the U.S. Coast Guard and a vessel license through the state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, then the registration fee is waived. Currently boat owners pay a $24 registration fee at the Division of Motor Vehicles for powered boats.

When Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, introduced the legislation in committee last year, she said it addresses excess licensing fees from the DMV. She said that certain state laws created more hindrances for commercial fishers in Alaska and she wants to remove the duplication.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

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