Saving Seafood

Lawmakers push relief for West Coast seafood industry

March 2, 2023 — A bipartisan effort is underway to provide relief to local fishermen, seafood processors, and those facing food insecurity across the country.

Last month, lawmakers including Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting the purchase of West Coast seafood products for the USDA’s Section 32 program.

Section 32 began in 1935, purchasing surplus food products from farms and fisheries to go to food assistance programs and the National School Lunch Program.

Read the full article at KATU

OREGON: Oregon seafood industry feels economic hit from Russia’s continued war against Ukraine

March 1, 2023 —  The economic ripple effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine have been felt for more than a year. This includes Oregon’s seafood industry.

Before Russian forces invaded in February 2022, American exports of Pacific hake — or whiting — to Ukraine came to nearly $95 million worth of fish. But that market’s been gutted in wake of the ongoing hostilities.

“The war in Ukraine — compounded with various trade restrictions that we’ve been dealing with Russia — have just really put into jeopardy our biggest market for Pacific Hake,” said Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. “Which is really the bread and butter for a lot of seafood processors here on the West Coast.”

Read the full article at Herald and News

OREGON: Dungeness crab season opens this week on last sections of Oregon’s coastline — with possible caveat

February 2, 2023 — The final two stretches of Oregon’s coast will open for commercial Dungeness crab fishing this week. But there may be some restrictions.

The coastline to the north from Cape Falcon to the Washington border opens for commercial crabbing Wednesday, Feb. 1. The south coast from Cape Arago to the California border is set to open this Saturday, Feb. 4.

The commercial season was delayed this year due to crab with low meat fill and high domoic acid levels.

Read the full article at OPB

Oregon, California coastal Chinook Salmon move closer to Endangered Species Protection

January 27, 2023 — In response to a petition by the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity and Umpqua Watersheds, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined today that the Oregon Coast and southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Chinook salmon may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.

“I’m pleased that Chinook salmon in Oregon and Northern California are that much closer to being protected under the Endangered Species Act,” said Meg Townsend, freshwater attorney at the Center. “These giants among Pacific salmon are irreplaceable icons of the Pacific Northwest. Chinooks bring important nutrients from the ocean to our forests, feed endangered Southern Resident orcas, and are a source of food and admiration for communities up and down the coast.”

Chinook are anadromous, returning from the ocean to the freshwater streams where they were born to reproduce. The Oregon and California Chinook salmon populations contain both early and late-run variants, otherwise known as spring-run and fall-run Chinook salmon.

Spring-run Chinook salmon enter coastal rivers from the ocean in the spring and migrate upstream as they mature, holding in deep pools in rivers through the summer, and spawning in early fall in the upper reaches of watersheds. Conversely, fall-run Chinook enter the rivers in the fall and spawn shortly thereafter.

Read the full story at the Tillamook Headlight Herald

OREGON: Oregon Dungeness crab fishermen criticize repeated delay of season opener

January 17, 2023 — In an open letter to Caren Braby, the Marine Resources Program manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Dungeness crab fishers from Astoria to Port Orford lambasted the decision made by the Department to delay the opening of the Dungeness crab season along the entire Oregon coast.

The letter alleged that the decision flies in the face of the revised Tri-State Protocol, established to ensure that the Dungeness crab fishery remains sustainable and that the fishing communities of Washington, Oregon, and California continue to capitalize on this economic resource.

The letter, presented by captains Perry Kanury Bordeaux of Newport and Levi Cherry of Garibaldi, and bearing signatures from Dungeness crab permit holders who either own or operate fishing vessels that are 58 feet or less length, outlines in detail the struggles that have been imposed upon them as small vessel owners, upon consumers, and upon both the pelagic and benthic ecosystems by the unnecessary and extensive delay of the Dungeness crab season.

It also calls upon the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to make use of the revisions that allow for partial crab openers on the Oregon coast, revisions which fishers fought hard for, and points to the lack of transparency on the part of the Department in their decisions this season to not implement the accepted protocol.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Oregon Coast’s Chinook salmon among populations under review for endangered-species listing

January 17, 2023 — The National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, is considering a request from several environmental groups seeking to list two types of Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. One population lives along the Oregon Coast and the other farther south along the Oregon-California border.

Three environmental groups sent the petition last August showing that numerous threats have caused a sharp decline in spring-run Chinook salmon. Those groups are the Center for Biological Diversity, the Native Fish Society and Umpqua Watersheds.

Unlike fall-run Chinook, the spring-run salmon enter rivers still sexually immature and remain there through the summer.

“While they’re in the rivers in the summer there’s a lot more opportunities for factors that threaten the species, like pollution, hot water temperatures, habitat issues, to affect the species,” said Center for Biological Diversity senior attorney Meg Townsend.

Read the full article at OPB

Oregon, NorCal Chinook salmon move closer to endangered species

January 12, 2023 — The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Wednesday that the Oregon Coast and southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Chinook salmon may need protection under the Endangered Species Act.

This comes as a response to a petition filed by the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and Umpqua Watersheds back in August of last year.

The service said it will review whether Chinook salmon should be listed as an Endangered Species.

“I’m pleased that Chinook salmon in Oregon and Northern California are that much closer to being protected under the Endangered Species Act,” said Meg Townsend, freshwater attorney at the Center.

Read the full article at KATU

Dungeness crab harvest delayed off Washington, Oregon coast

January 11, 2023 — The key Dungeness crab harvest areas from Klipsan Beach, Washington, to Cape Falcon, Oregon, will not open until Feb. 1 because surveys found legal-sized males still lacked enough recoverable meat in their shells.

A policy group that includes the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife made the announcement late last week, The Seattle Times reported.

Read the full article at the Associated Press  

OREGON: Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season to see limited opening on Jan. 15

January 10, 2023 — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced that the state’s commercial crabbing season will see a partial opening on Jan. 15 from Cape Falcon in Tillamook County to Cape Arago in Coos County.

The news comes after more than a month of delays caused by dangerously high domoic acid levels and undesirably low meat levels among Dungeness crab populations in the Western Pacific. The commercial season will open from Cape Falcon to the Washington border on Feb. 1, per the tri-state protocol agreed upon by Oregon, Washington and California, as tested crabs in the region reportedly now meet industry standards. California’s Commercial crabbing season opened statewide on Dec. 31, 2022.

Executive Director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission Tim Novotny said the seasonal fishing delays aren’t ideal for the industry, but that the quality testing is crucial for maintaining consumer confidence year after year.

“Look, everyone wants to start Dec. 1,” Novotny said. “But the fishermen know that this process sets a high bar on purpose, so consumers know they’re getting the highest quality and safest product possible.”

Preferred Dec. 1 openings, which allow crabbers to set prices and get meat into markets during the holiday season, have become uncommon in recent years. The industry has seen one undelayed, coastwide opening since 2014.

Read the full article at KOIN