Saving Seafood

As RFMOs waive observer requirements, NGOs caution against permanence

April 16, 2020 — As fisheries councils in the U.S. and abroad begin relaxing observer requirements in order to meet safety needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple NGOs have issued a joint statement cautioning against those relaxed requirements becoming permanent.

The letter comes as the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that it is suspending West Coast observer coverage, in response to a recommendation made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. The council suggested in a letter to the NMFS that the waiver could “match the duration of ‘shelter-at-home’ or similar orders by the governors of Washington, Oregon, and/or California.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Restaurant Closures Put Oregon Seafood Industry In Limbo

April 15, 2020 — Commercial fisherman Clint Funderburg should be on the ocean right now, catching Dungeness crab on his fishing boat, the Widgeon. Instead, he’s in his shop in Newport, and his boat is parked at the dock — likely until June.

When crab prices tanked a few weeks ago, he shifted gears to his off-season side gig. So, he’s building a refrigeration system for one of the many fishing boats that are stuck at the dock right now.

The coronavirus pandemic dealt its first blow to the West Coast fishing fleet back in January, cutting off lucrative live crab sales to China for the Chinese New Year.

From there, things only got worse as the virus spread across the globe and restaurants everywhere closed their dining rooms. This time of year, Funderburg would normally be getting $7 or $8 a pound for Dungeness crab. When it got down to just $2 a pound last month, he gave up.

“The company was starting to lose money,” he said. “We just quit fishing, called it a season. There are very few people left fishing. You know, you basically can’t hardly get rid of the crab. Normally, we would crab through May, and a lot of the guys do. Especially the smaller boats count on March, April, May to really make their seasons.”

Read the full story at OPB

Feds Looking at Protections for Spring-Run Chinook Salmon in Oregon

April 13, 2020 — A petition seeking to extend federal wildlife protections to spring-run Chinook salmon found along Oregon’s coast has merit and could warrant listing the fish under the Endangered Species Act, the Trump administration said Friday.

The spring-run salmon are the main food source for the Southern Resident killer whales, an endangered population of orca living in the Pacific Northwest.

Chinook salmon populations are also found in Washington state, Idaho and California.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) decision came after a 90-day review process and means the Chinook salmon could be listed as threatened or endangered pending an additional one-year in-depth analysis.

After the year-long study, the agency could determine that the salmon — scientific name Oncorhynchus tshawytscha — could be listed as a threatened or endangered Evolutionarily Significant Unit, or ESU, under federal law.

The process will allow scientists, commercial fishing representatives, wildlife advocates and others to submit additional information on impacts stemming from protecting the salmon population and its habitat under the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Coronavirus Restaurant Closures Upend Oregon Seafood Industry

March 26, 2020 — Oregon’s seafood industry is losing a major market as restaurant dining rooms across the country close to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus.

Seafood processors across the Northwest say they’re shifting gears quickly to make up for the loss in restaurant sales. They’re putting more seafood in the freezer and selling more to grocery stores.

Northwest seafood processor Andrew Bornstein said grocery stores are buying more seafood now because so many people are stocking up in response to statewide orders to stay home. But that doesn’t mean his business isn’t taking a big hit.

“Does the increase in grocery make up for a lack of restaurant business? No, not even close,” said Bornstein, who manages Bornstein Seafoods. the company has seafood processing plants in Astoria, Oregon, and Bellingham, Washington.

Read the full story at OPB

PFMC: Notice: Salmon hearing public testimony

March 24, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

If you are attending the Salmon Hearings via webinar and plan on giving verbal testimony, please fill out our virtual comment card before the hearings begin.

The links below will take you to the specific meeting information and links to that specific public comment form:

Reminder:

In advance of the meeting, please reference the following materials and video to practice joining the meeting. This is to ensure your ability to participate, as troubleshooting moments before the meeting will be difficult.

Alternative ways to provide public comment:

Public comment is also being accepted through March 27th at 5pm via our E-Portal . Agenda Item E.1 is the most appropriate for Salmon alternatives adopted in March.

Conservationists Say Salmon Fishing Plan Imperils Whales

March 19, 2020 — The government allowed salmon fishing in Alaska at rates its own reports said will push endangered Southern Resident killer whales closer to extinction, environmental groups claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Salmon born in the rivers and streams of Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia migrate to the Pacific Ocean and through the Gulf of Alaska, home to a major troll fishing fleet. In southeast Alaska, 97% of the Chinook salmon fishermen harvest were born elsewhere. The fish they take never make it back to their home waters, where they could have been dinner for the 72 remaining Southern Resident killer whales – a genetically distinct group of orca that are starving due to a lack of their main prey.

“It is reckless and irresponsible for NOAA to approve this harvest, these salmon don’t belong to Alaska, they belong to Southern Resident killer whales, indigenous peoples, and fishing communities down the coast,” Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy’s executive director, said Wednesday in a press release.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Endangered coho salmon preservation an upstream battle in California

March 13, 2020 — The endangered coho salmon of Tomales Bay, north of San Francisco, are getting assistance from a stream restoration effort that could help rescue them from near-extinction locally.

Through the project, fish ecologists hope they can restore habitat to rebuild decimated populations of the historic fish, which once was a staple of indigenous diets and later California commercial fishing.

Central California coast coho salmon formerly were plentiful on the West Coast, but the population has shrunk so low that the fish is listed as endangered in California, Oregon and Washington under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is now illegal to catch coho salmon in California. Cohos are not protected in Alaska.

The fishes’ spawning grounds are becoming hard to find. Unlike Chinook salmon, which lay eggs in rushing rivers, coho prefer small streams.

Read the full story at UPI

Low Salmon Forecasts Cast a Pall Over Upcoming Salmon Seasons

March 12, 2020 — Forecasts for many Chinook and coho stocks on the West Coast are low — lower than last year and some nearing historic lows. Regardless, the Pacific Fishery Management Council and its advisory bodies developed alternatives for sport and commercial ocean salmon fisheries when it met last week in Rohnert Park, Calif.

The alternatives now go out for public review before the Council makes a final decision on salmon seasons at its meeting in Vancouver, Wash., on April 5-10.

Read the full story at Seafood News

West Coast Dungeness Crab Stable or Increasing Even With Intensive Harvest, Research Shows

March 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The West Coast Dungeness crab fishery doesn’t just support the most valuable annual harvest of seafood on the West Coast. It’s a fishery that just keeps on giving.

Fishermen from California to Washington caught almost all the available legal-size male Dungeness crab each year in the last few decades. However, the crab population has either remained stable or continued to increase, according to the first thorough population estimate of the West Coast Dungeness stocks.

“The catches and abundance in Central California especially are increasing, which is pretty remarkable to see year after year,” said Kate Richerson, a research scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. Richerson is the lead author of the new study published in the journal Fisheries Research. “There’s reason to be optimistic that this fishery will continue to be one of the most productive and on the West Coast.”

Other recent research has suggested that the West Coast’s signature shellfish could suffer in the future from ocean acidification and other effects related to climate change. That remains a concern, Richerson said, but the study did not detect obvious signs of population-level impacts yet.

Read the full release here