Saving Seafood

Senators file bill to mandate labeling requirements on genetically enhanced salmon

February 4, 2019 — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators from the Pacific northwest filed a bill last week that would require any salmon produced through genetic engineering to be labeled clearly as such on its packaging.

The bill, filed last week, comes a month after the Department of Agriculture published its final rule requiring producers, importers and other entities to reveal information about bioengineered products and ingredients. However, critics panned the measure saying companies could use digital QR codes, which would require a smartphone to scan, or list a toll-free number to meet the obligation.

Among those critics is U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who along with cosponsors U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) filed the Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act on Wednesday, 30 January.

The two-page bill says the legislation would ensure buyers can make “informed decisions” when buying salmon.

“We have the right to know what we’re eating,” Murkowski said in a statement. “When you splice DNA from another animal and combine it with farmed salmon, you are essentially creating a new species and I have serious concerns with that. If we are going to allow this fabricated fish to be sold in stores, we must ensure there is at least clear labeling. Americans should not become test subjects for this new product without their full knowledge and consent.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Ocean heat waves like the Pacific’s deadly ‘Blob’ could become the new normal

February 1, 2019 — When marine biologist Steve Barbeaux first saw the data in late 2017, he thought it was the result of a computer glitch. How else could more than 100 million Pacific cod suddenly vanish from the waters off of southern Alaska?

Within hours, however, Barbeaux’s colleagues at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Seattle, Washington, had confirmed the numbers. No glitch. The data, collected by research trawlers, indicated cod numbers had plunged by 70% in 2 years, essentially erasing a fishery worth $100 million annually. There was no evidence that the fish had simply moved elsewhere. And as the vast scale of the disappearance became clear, a prime suspect emerged: “The Blob.”

In late 2013, a huge patch of unusually warm ocean water, roughly one-third the size of the contiguous United States, formed in the Gulf of Alaska and began to spread. A few months later, Nick Bond, a climate scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, dubbed it The Blob. The name, with its echo of a 1958 horror film about an alien life form that keeps growing as it consumes everything in its path, quickly caught on. By the summer of 2015, The Blob had more than doubled in size, stretching across more than 4 million square kilometers of ocean, from Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Water temperatures reached 2.5°C above normal in many places.

Read the full story at Science Magazine

Killing Sea Lions to Save Salmon

January 31, 2019 — The following is excerpted from a story published today by The Atlantic:

Let us first establish that sea lions are supposed to live in the sea.

Since the 1990s, however, male sea lions—a handful at first, now dozens—have been captivated by the attractions of the Willamette River. They travel all the way from Southern California to Oregon and then swim up 100 miles of river to arrive at an expansive waterfall, the largest in the region. Here, salmon returning to spawn have to make an exhausting journey up the fish ladders of the Willamette Falls. And here, the sea lions have found a veritable feast.

“[They’re kind of sitting ducks,” the wildlife biologist Sheanna Steingass told me, describing the salmon. She paused to consider the metaphor. “Or sitting fish.” Every sea lion eats three to five fish a day.

In another world, this could just be a story about the intelligence of sea lions and their adaptability to river life. But in this world—where salmon populations throughout North America have plummeted, and where the winter steelhead run at Willamette Falls has fallen from 25,000 fish in the 1970s to just hundreds in 2018—it’s a dire story for the fish. After spending years trying and failing to deter the sea lions by nonlethal means, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, where Steingass leads the marine-mammal program, started “lethal removal” of sea lions in December. As of mid-January, they have trapped and euthanized five sea lions at Willamette Falls.

Killing animals to save other animals is always controversial. Animal-rights groups like the Humane Society of the United States denounced the sea-lion killings, calling them a distraction from the salmon’s real problems. And it’s true that a long chain of human actions—overfishing, destruction of salmon habitats, dams blocking their migration, hatchery mistakes—have led to what everyone can admit is this nonoptimal situation.

“In a perfect world, in an unaltered world, this wasn’t a problem, because historically there were 16 million salmon in the Columbia River,” says Doug Hatch, a senior fisheries scientist at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The sea lion’s appetites would have barely made a dent. It’s only because humans have so unbalanced the natural world that as drastic an action as culling sea lions could appear to be the fix.

Read the full story at The Atlantic

 

Coast Guard Assists 17 Crabbers off Pacific Northwest Coast in One Week

January 29, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Coast Guard crews along the Oregon and Washington coasts assisted 17 fisherman in five responses between Sunday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 25 — just as the weather was clearing up and more fishermen, especially smaller vessels, were headed to Dungeness crab grounds.

Response efforts included crews from Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay, Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment and Coast Guard Air Facility Newport, in coordination with members at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River and Coast Guard Sector North Bend.

The two-person crew aboard the F/V Zephyr was escorted across the Yaquina Bay Bar in Oregon by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Yaquina Bay, Sunday, Jan. 20. The crew of the 31-foot fishing vessel reported taking on water 17 miles south of the bay with less than 500 pounds of crab aboard. The onboard pump and auxiliary pumps were able to keep up with the flooding as the fishing crew were escorted in. An MH-65 Dolphin aircrew from Air Facility Newport launched as well, according to the press release.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Dream was escorted across the Columbia River Bar and safely moored in Ilwaco, Wash., by a Station Cape Disappointment boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Triumph, on Monday, Jan. 21. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported experiencing fuel injector issues while attempting to cross the bar with 1,000 pounds of crab aboard.

A three-person crew aboard the F/V Miss Jessie was towed into Ilwaco by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Cape Disappointment on Monday as well. The crew of the 36-foot fishing vessel reported they lost propulsion almost 3 miles west of Ocean Park where they anchored with 1,500 pounds of crab aboard until the Coast Guard crew arrived.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Redeemer was towed to Newport, Ore., by Station Yaquina Bay boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Victory, Monday, Jan. 21. The crew of the 51-foot fishing vessel reported they lost steering while on approach to the Yaquina Bay entrance with 5,000 pounds of crab aboard.

The motor life boat Victory was activated again on Thursday, Jan. 24, when a four-person crew aboard the F/V Triggerfish was towed into Newport. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported they lost steering almost 2 miles west of the Yaquina Bay entrance with no catch aboard.

Coast Guard stations along the coast maintain ready crews in the event of emergencies, which often involve the use of the 47-foot and 52-foot motor life boats. The 52-foot MLB is unique in that they are only located in the Pacific Northwest and that they are the only Coast Guard vessels under 65 feet with names. The four vessels are stationed at Grays Harbor and Cape Disappointment, Wash.; and Yaquina Bay and Coos Bay, Ore.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Oregon sets Feb. 1 as re-opening date for commercial crabbing

January 28, 2019 — The Department of Fish and Wildlife in the US state of Oregon (ODFW) on Thursday announced that it would allow the commercial Dungeness crab season to begin on the coast from Cape Arago to the California border on Feb. 1.

State officials closed the area in October due to concerns about a high level of the marine biotoxin domoic acid, which can cause minor to severe illness and even death in humans. ODFW said it took samples from the southern portion of the area and found levels of the toxin elevated in the viscera (guts) of the crab. As a result, all crab harvested from south of Cape Blanco along the west coast will be required to have their viscera removed by a licensed processor prior to sale.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Halibut Commission to Address a Request for Minimum Area Allocation Next Week

January 24, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The agenda for the week-long annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission is brimming with new ways to look at catch limits, new tools to assess risk, and new ideas for research, but the issue grabbing the most attention is allocation of this year’s fishery.

Which regional area gets how much of the coastwide catch is a perennial topic, but it’s sharper this year by a stock that remains low compared to a decade ago, little sign of recruitment, and the yet unresolved issue that created an impasse between Canada and the U.S. at last year’s meeting.

Indeed, progress at the 2018 meeting to reach an agreement on catch limits ran aground on the issue of Canada’s catch limit allocation. British Columbia longliners fish waters off the Canadian west coast that make up 12-13% of the total coastwide area fished by both countries. Yet their catch limit has persistently been higher than that based on the argument that much of B.C.’s halibut are resident and the Canadian authorities long ago implemented a robust accounting program for all mortalities, compared to what is being used in Alaska.

The two sides have met throughout the year since and are now considering a handful of options to use this year. Those options, and perhaps more, will be discussed at the meeting that begins Monday, January 28.  The meeting is complicated by the US government shutdown.  Two US commissoner terms expired at midnight on Thursday, and they will not be available to vote on final motions Friday.  As a result, the Commission may skew its agenda so that all votes take place before the US Commissioners go poof.

This year’s meeting has only two stakeholder proposals, both from the Pacific Norwest, or Area 2A. The first, a request for a minimum fixed amount of 1.5 million pounds for commercial and sports fleets. That fishery amount would mean a total mortality of 1.67 mlbs, including subsistence, bycatch, and other incidental mortalities.

The proposal was initially made by the Makah Tribe but now has the support of most stakeholders in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Because it is the first official regional request for a catch limit floor — a minimum that fleets and processors can expect for years to come — it has garnered attention and prompted comments that if they are allowed a guaranteed miminum, what about other areas?

Supporters of Proposal 2A say conditions in that region support establishing a floor and add that 1.67 mlbs. is only a small percentage of any coastwide total. They say — and the IPHC agrees — that the proposal presents no conservation problems because of that.

“The Tribe’s proposal is based on, but less than, the average total removals from Area 2A during the seven-year period before the current coastwide stock assessment and distribution methodology was implemented in Area 2A in 2009. During that period, total removals from Area 2A averaged 1.79Mlb,” Patrick Depoe said in his proposal.

That is precisely the issue for Canada as well. When the IPHC moved from a regional to a coastwide assessment in 2009, there were winners and there were losers. Canada lost 5-7% of their average share of their apportionment. They have compensated for it ever since by setting higher than recommended catch limits for their area, 2B, than IPHC staff suggests.

The second stakeholder proposal was submitted by Michael Pettis, a Newport, OR longliner, and is in response to the IPHC’s request for a change from the current 10 hour derby fishery to a more extended fishery for safety and business planning reasons. The change would not affect that group’s allocation.

The Pacific Council’s Groundfish Advisory Panel discussed the issue and supported an analysis of longer periods. Fishermen on the GAP also proposed assigning the entire commercial halibut quota to incidental catch in the sablefish fishery.

In November 2018, the GAP supported the option again, “if the IPHC does not move forward with a 5-, 10- or 20-day season as discussed in or inferred from its report.”

The five Newport fishermen who submitted the proposal to the IPHC have not supplied public comment to the PFMC or the GAP.

However, since Area 2A is entirely within the U.S. EEZ, management of any system would fall primarily to the federal government. Some industry members have suggested the NMFS cost of establishing a quota system for Area 2A would be far more than the fishery is worth.

On Friday February 1, catch limits for the 2019 season, as well as opening and closing dates, and any proposals that make it through the meeting, will be announced.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Shutdown Stunting Oregon Bid to Keep Salmon Alive

January 15, 2019 — Oregon’s effort to prevent California sea lions from feasting on the dwindling winter steelhead at Willamette Falls will not proceed as planned because of the federal government shutdown.

Officials have so far trapped and euthanized four California sea lions that collectively eat about one quarter of the shrinking returns of winter steelhead at Willamette Falls. The water below the falls have become a reliable bonanza for hungry sea lions, along the journey from the ocean back to the headwaters where steelhead were born, and where they will spawn.

Last year, only 512 wild winter steelhead returned from the sea, stymied by poor ocean conditions and a network of dams that crowd the way home. But a relatively new problem threatens to eclipse the first two: the hungry mouths of dozens of sea lions waiting at the falls.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife launched a program to capture and kill the massive marine mammals after attempts to haul them back to the ocean failed. Despite being trucked hundreds of miles to the southern coast of Oregon, the animals promptly swam back – one sea lion made the return trip in three days.

This year could be the third in a row with the worst returns on record, and state biologists aren’t optimistic.

“There’s potential that we’re already past the point where they can recover and we just won’t know it for another decade,” said Shaun Clements, senior policy analyst with Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Oregon begins killing sea lions after relocation fails

January 11, 2019 — Oregon wildlife officials have started killing California sea lions that threaten a fragile and unique type of trout in the Willamette River, a body of water that’s miles inland from the coastal areas where the massive carnivorous aquatic mammals usually congregate to feed.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife obtained a federal permit in November to kill up to 93 California sea lions annually below Willamette Falls south of Portland, Oregon, to protect the winter run of the fish that begin life as rainbow trout but become steelhead when they travel to the ocean.

As of last week, wildlife managers have killed three of the animals using traps they used last year to relocate the sea lions, said Bryan Wright, project manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s marine resources program.

The adult male sea lions, which weigh nearly 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) each, have learned that they can loiter under the falls and snack on the vulnerable steelhead as the fish power their way upriver to the streams where they hatched.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

3 dead after fishing boat capsizes crossing Oregon bay

January 10, 2019 — The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Wednesday morning that three fishermen who were on boat when it capsized Tuesday night were killed.

The Dungeness crab fishing boat, the Mary B II, capsized while crossing the Yaquina Bay bar Tuesday night in 12- to 14-foot seas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard was able to recover one body, 48-year-old James Lacey, from South Toms River, New Jersey, with a helicopter. He was taken to Pacific Communities Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. A second body, Joshua Porter, 50, from Toledo, Oregon, washed ashore near Nye Beach.

The Mary B II eventually ran aground on the beach near the north side of the Yaquina Bay North Jetty. The boat skipper, Stephen Biernacki, 50, from Barnegat Township, New Jersey, was found deceased with the boat.

“We did everything we could. Unfortunately, it was just a tragic outcome and our hearts and thoughts are with the family and friends of the crew,” said Petty Officer Levi Reed with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Read the full story from KATU at WSET

Pots dropped: Oregon Dungeness season is in full swing

January 9, 2019 — The Tri-State Dungeness Crab Committee, which oversees the northern California, Oregon and Washington Dungeness crab fisheries, opened the season between Cape Arago, Ore., and Klipsan Beach, Wash., after a month-long delay. At 8 a.m. on January 1, 73 hours before the opening, Dungeness crab pots finally splashed into the water off the coast of Oregon and southern Washington.

“They can start to pull pots at 9 a.m. on Jan. 4,” says Troy Buell, the fisheries management program leader at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “But I don’t know about the weather.”

On Jan. 3, Newport, Ore., crab fisherman Mike Retherford headed out. “We’re leaving now because the bar is going to be pretty bad by morning,” he says. “The swell is building.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman