Saving Seafood

Atlantic Salmon Smolts Survive the Dam but Die Downstream

August 4, 2015 — Salmon are famous for boldly fighting their way upstream to spawn. But their trip downstream as young smolts is no less heroic. In the case of Atlantic salmon, many must pass through or around dams, and new research reveals that even if they survive the initial hazard, they may suffer injuries that make them more likely to die days or weeks later in the estuary, where the river meets the sea. What’s more, the effects are cumulative: for each dam a smolt passes, its chance of dying in the estuary increases by 6 to 7 percent.

“The effects of dams aren’t limited to a 500-meter stretch below the dam, but extend tens of kilometers out to sea,” said Dan Stich, the lead author of the study, which appeared recently in the journal Marine and Coastal Fisheries. “In fact, the number of fish killed by the delayed effects of dams can be greater than the number killed at the dam itself.”

Atlantic salmon are endangered in the United States, and these findings suggest that making dam passage safer for smolts can help the recovery of the species.

Stich conducted the study as a Ph.D. student at the University of Maine and is now a biologist with NOAA Fisheries. John Kocik, a research fisheries biologist at NOAA and a co-author of the study, said, “We already knew that we were losing a lot of fish in the estuary. Now that Dan’s research has identified some critical mechanisms behind that loss, something can be done about it.”

Toll Booths along the River

For this study, scientists surgically implanted acoustic tags into 941 smolts in the Penobscot River between 2005 and 2013. Those tags emit a coded sound roughly once a minute that uniquely identifies the fish carrying it.

As the fish travel downstream, the sound is picked up by receivers that span the river and the mouth of the estuary. The receivers function like electronic tollbooths, logging each fish as it passes so that scientists can track its progress. When a fish stops moving, it is assumed to have died.

The acoustic tags are about the size and shape of the metal eraser holder on a standard wooden pencil. Experiments have shown that implanting them in the 5- to 7-inch smolts does not harm the fish enough to significantly skew the results of the study.

A Dangerous Passage

At almost 1,000 tagged smolts, this study was the largest of its kind on Atlantic salmon, and it gave scientists enough statistical power to tease apart the factors that influence smolt survival. Of all the variables tested—including temperature, hours of daylight, distance traveled, and many more—one of the factors that most affected a smolt’s chances of survival was the number of dams it passed on its way to the ocean.

In the Penobscot River, most smolts pass dams in sluices or spillways. Those diversions keep most fish out of the generating turbines, but the ride can be rough and leave the fish injured or partially de-scaled. That can make them more vulnerable to predators and less able to withstand saltwater when they first encounter it days or weeks later.

“There are a lot of things waiting in the estuary to eat them,” Kocik said, including cormorants, seals, and striped bass. “Any fish that’s injured is easy prey.”

Timing Matters

As they make their way downstream, the smolts transform into ocean-going fish. They become longer and slimmer, acquire the ability to excrete salt from their gills, and are soon ready to migrate thousands of miles to Greenland.

This study showed that if smolts hit the estuary at peak saltwater readiness, their survival rate increases by up to 25 percent. The study also showed that scientists can estimate when that optimum window opens based on variations in stream temperature. This new understanding has already changed the way hatchery managers time the release of their smolts.

As for the effect of dams on downstream survival, now that it has been measured it can be managed. Two dams were recently removed from the main stem of the Penobscot River. In addition, NOAA Fisheries, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and dam operators are working to aid recovery by making the remaining dams more salmon-friendly.

A large fraction of Atlantic salmon die in the ocean, where little can be done to increase survival. But in freshwater, there are options. In addition to removing dams and improving fish passages, several projects are underway to restore freshwater spawning and rearing habitats.

“The best thing we can do is boost the number of fish going out,” Stich said. “And understanding how dams affect fish survival will help us do that.”

Read the story and watch the video from NOAA

 

Alaska Salmon season might miss forecast

August 10, 2015 — The state’s salmon harvest topped 160 million fish over the weekend, but it’s questionable whether the catch will meet preseason expectations.

In Southeast, catches are running well below the forecast set earlier this year. As of Sunday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported 22.6 million salmon caught in Southeast, including only 15 million pink salmon. Heading into the season, the spot forecast called for 58 million pink salmon, and forecasters were 80 percent confident that the harvest would be between 37 million and 79 million fish.

Instead, figures now seem to indicate a harvest below the bottom end of that range.

In an average year, Southeast’s salmon harvest peaks in what ADFG calls “statistical week 32,” or between Aug. 2-8. The five-year average harvest for that week is 11.1 million salmon, mostly pinks, but recent years have been higher. Last year, 12.1 million fish were caught during that period.

Read the full story from Juneau Empire

Upcoming hearings could change Alaska’s salmon fisheries forever

August 9, 2015 — Two hearings this month could change the face of Alaska’s salmon fisheries forever.

On August 21, the Department of Natural Resources will hear both sides on competing claims to water rights for salmon streams at Upper Cook Inlet’s Chuitna River or to a proposed coal mine. If DNR opts for the mine, the decision would set a state precedent.

“It would be the first time in Alaska’s state history that we would allow an Outside corporation to mine completely through a salmon stream,” said Bob Shavelson, a director at Cook Inlet Keeper. “And the sole purpose is to ship coal to China. It is really a very dangerous precedent, because if they can do it here in Cook Inlet they will be able to do it anywhere in the state.”

Cook Inlet Keeper, along with the Chuitna Citizens Coalition and Alaska Center for the Environment, requested the hearing. They want to protect spawning tributaries of the salmon-rich Chuitna; PacRim Coal of Delaware and Texas wants to dewater the streams and dig Alaska’s largest coal mine.

DNR Water Resources Chief Dave Schade agreed that the decision is precedent setting, and it comes down to “saying yes to one applicant, and no to the other.”

The hearing is scheduled for August 21 at the US Federal Building Annex in Anchorage. Testimony is limited to participants in the case and no public comments are scheduled to be taken. A decision by DNR is expected on or before October 9.

Following the water rights hearing will be oral arguments before the Alaska Supreme Court on August 26 on the setnet ban proposed for Cook Inlet and five other “urban, non-subsistence” Alaska regions.

Read the full story from Sit News

Flashback: Hillary Clinton fired from fish processing job

July 29, 2015 — Hillary Clinton says that cleaning Alaskan salmon helped prepare her for the White House.

In an interview on Thursday with theSkimm, a daily newsletter that focuses on women aged 22-34, Clinton said, “One of the best jobs I had to prepare me to be president was sliming fish in Alaska.”

She described the attire for the job as hip boots, an apron and a spoon. Clinton said the salmon would be brought in and slit open, the caviar would be taken out — and then, it was her time to shine.

“My job was to grab them, and these are big fish, and to take a spoon and clean out the insides … best preparation for being in Washington that you can possibly imagine,” Clinton said.

“They were purple and black and yucky-looking,” she said in a 1992 New York Times article.

What Clinton didn’t mention in theSkimm, though, was that she was fired from the job within a week after asking too many questions, according to the Times. (“I found another job,” she told the paper.)

Read the full story at Politico 

West Coast drought affecting trout and salmon

July 9, 2015 — (AP) — Drought and record hot weather are producing lethal conditions for salmon and trout in rivers across the West.

A recent survey released Wednesday of the lower reaches of 54 rivers in Oregon, California and Washington by the conservation group Wild Fish Conservancy showed nearly three-quarters had temperatures higher than 70 degrees, considered potentially deadly for salmon and trout.

Low river flows from the record low winter snowpack, which normally feeds rivers through the summer, combined with record hot weather have created a perfect storm of bad conditions for salmon and trout, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supervisory fisheries biologist Rich Johnson.

Oregon Climate Center Associate Director Kathie Dello said the entire West Coast saw record low snowpack last winter, leading to low rivers this summer. All three states had record high temperatures for June, with Oregon breaking the record by 3 degrees, and the three-month outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is for continued warmer and drier-than-normal weather made worse by the ocean-warming condition known as El Niño, she added.

Read the full story from Al Jazeera with The Associated Press

 

Fisheries Board Member Cited for Fishing Three Minutes Past Closure

July 6, 2015 — A member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries was cited by wildlife troopers in the commercial fishing hotbed of Dillingham last week for continuing to fish in an area after it had been closed.

Frederick “Fritz” Johnson was fishing for salmon using a drift gillnet with Gust McCarr, his fishing partner of six years, when he was cited.

The two men thought fishing closed at 6:30 p.m., when the actual closure happened at 6 p.m., Johnson told Alaska Dispatch News on Monday. They noticed an Alaska Wildlife Troopers plane circling overhead shortly after 6.

“We were attracting a lot of attention and weren’t sure why,” Johnson said. “It turns out we were three minutes over.”

Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News

 

Bristol Bay Sockeye Run Either Late or Over-estimated: Stay Tuned

SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker — July 6, 2015 — All eyes are on Bristol Bay today as fishermen and processors look for a surge in sockeye landings marking the peak of the run today or at the latest, tomorrow. That peak did not come on the traditional day of July 4.

Cumulative landings as of yesterday totaled 8.5 million fish, short by more than half for this time in a six-week season with a forecast of 37.6 million reds.

That means the run is either late, will come in this week in a compressed fashion, or was significantly over estimated. Over the weekend some processors said the travel time from Port Moller, which is still showing a strong return, is longer than anticipated and the bulk of the run may be as much as 4-5 days late.

If so, today and tomorrow’s landings will be critical indicators.

The implications of a drastically reduced run will have impacts throughout the world’s salmon markets, as Bristol Bay is the largest supplier of wild salmon in the world.

Dr. Scott Raborn of the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute studies the Port Moller test fishery, used as a precursor to Bristol Bay return sizes and timing.

“The migration this year has been very odd,” Raborn reports. “By now, the run will have to be (1) several days late to come in at the pre-season forecast and/or (2) be very compressed.

“The first possibility would mean our estimates of travel times [from Port Moller to each Bristol Bay river system] are 3-4 days longer than we thought, and/or there is considerable strength left at Port Moller. The second could occur if fish are milling outside the districts causing a pooling effect. The rate of compression would be determined by how long it takes to “drain the pool”, which would be anyone’s guess,” Raborn says.

“However, at this point we must consider the possibility of a smaller run,” he adds.

Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game ordered openings in the three largest districts for this morning and afternoon.

The first began at 2 a.m. for Egigik setnetters, an eight-hour opening followed by a second eight-hour opening from 3:15 – 11:15 p.m. Gillnetters began fishing at 6 a.m. today, closing at 10 a.m. and opening again from 3:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. today.

Total harvest in Egigik has been 2.8 million fish with escapement at 834,000 sockeye, just above the lower forecasted range. Forecasted total harvest for that river system is 10.64 million sockeyes with 1.4 million escapement.

The second district to fish today is Ugashik, a 10-hour period from 12:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Cumulative harvest is 930,000 fish in the Ugashik District with escapement at 250,000, just over 25% of expected escapement of 940,000. Forecasted harvest for Ugashik this year was 2.61 million sockeyes.

Finally, The Naknek-Kvichak District will open for a 4-hour period from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Pre-season forecasts for the Naknek/Kvichak district was 18.03 million sockeyes with an escapement of 9.71 million. Cumulative totals as of July 4 are 1.94 million sockeye harvest and 1.28 million reds escapement.

ADF&G will make another announcement at noon Alaska time today regarding the Egegik and Ugashik districts, and a 3 p.m. announcement on the Naknek/Kvichak fishery.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

Citing an “Issue of Fairness” Alaska Governor Walker Contacts MSC on Salmon Certification

SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker — June 25, 2015 — Alaska’s Governor Walker urged “fairness” from the Marine Stewardship Council in the certification of Alaska salmon, in a letter sent to MSC executive Rupert Howes.

“It is my understanding that the mediation attempt by the parties has failed,” Walker wrote, “and few options remain. The commercial harvest of Alaska salmon is well underway, adding a sense of urgency.

“It is extremely difficult for the State to apply financial resources, working with the assessment team, and a compliance audit team, if the resulting certificate is denied to 75 percent or more of the resulting participants.

“This is an issue of fairness for fishermen and coastal communities in Alaska, even for Alaska herself.”

Howes responded on June 18, characterizing the problem, as the non-profit group has in the past, as “a  commercial negotiation between the two parties.”

The current client for MSC’s Alaska Salmon Certification is the Alaska Seafood Processors Association, a group that includes half a dozen processors. They have refused to allow other processors — group of 20 Alaskan salmon processors, including legacy companies that have been at the forefront of Alaska salmon processing and marketing for fifty years — to join their certificate, even refusing a generous offer to cover fees from previous years. At this point, ASPA violated the MSC guidelines, which require that other groups may join if they agree to share costs. The issue went to mediation with no movement from ASPA to comply with MSC’s guidelines.

Howes now says binding arbitration may be the only answer. “…MCS’s board believes that the only workable solution is time bound, binding arbitration. Both parties expressed their confidence and trust in their mutually selected mediator, Lou Peterson…. [we] urge both parties to consider requesting Lou Peterson to complete this assignment as an arbitrator.”

Lou Peterson, a partner with Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson Law Offices in Seattle, often serves as a mediator, arbitrator, special master or judge pro tem in cases covering a wide variety of industries.

Walker addressed the possibility of the larger processor group forming a second client group, which would require a full (and redundant) certification process. That process requires massive time and effort of Alaska state fisheries managers, who are now intensely involved with in-season management of the state’s salmon fishery. This year is expected to be one of the highest returns in recent years.

“If the current situation is not resolved, it is my understanding that the parties seeking entry into the the Alaska Salmon Certification will likely form a second client group,” Walker wrote. “From the State’s perspective, this is unacceptable, as it will mean that we will have two individual processes to oversee for the same fishery in a time of severe fiscal restraints.”

Given the onset of the state’s largest salmon return begining in Bristol Bay in the coming weeks, a resolution of some sort is likely before July.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

Genetically Modified Salmon: Coming To A River Near You?

June 24, 2015 — While the debate over whether to label foods containing GMO ingredients plays out across the country, another engineered food has long been waiting to hit grocery stores: genetically modified salmon.

Produced by Massachusetts-based biotech firm AquaBounty Technologies, the fish is an Atlantic salmon engineered to grow twice as fast as its conventional, farm-raised counterpart. But AquaBounty’s fish has been languishing in the regulatory process: The company has been trying to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve its salmon for sale for nearly 20 years.

One concern repeatedly raised by critics who don’t want the FDA to give the transgenic fish the green light: What would happen if these fish got out of the land-based facilities where they’re grown and escaped into the wild? Would genetically modified salmon push out their wild counterparts or permanently alter habitat? In a review paper published this month in the journal BioScience, scientists tackle that very question.

Robert H. Devlin, a scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, led a team that reviewed more than 80 studies analyzing growth, behavior and other trait differences between genetically modified and unaltered fish. The scientists used this to predict what might happen if fish with modified traits were unleashed in nature.

Genetically modified salmon contain the growth hormone gene from one fish, combined with the promoter of an antifreeze gene from another. This combination both increases and speeds up growth, so the salmon reach a larger size faster.

Read the full story at New York Now