Saving Seafood

Scientists push for joint effort to better understand Pacific salmon trends

March 23, 2021 — Forecasting models used to determine stocks and expected landings of Pacific salmon have been rendered obsolete by climate change, and a global effort is needed to update them, a conference of leading marine scientists has concluded.

The conference, “Abundance Dynamics, Stock Status, and Artificial Reproduction of Pacific Salmon in the Northern Pacific,” took place in late February and was initiated by the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries. Held in both online and offline formats at the Sakhalin branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), in the Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the event was attended by 500 participants from Russia, the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Japan.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

PFMC: Notice of availability: Salmon Preseason Report II (March 22, 2021)

March 23, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The following document has been posted to the Council’s website:

Public hearings on the proposed management alternatives

Hearings held on-line only

  • Washington
    Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
  • California
    Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
  • Oregon
    Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 7:00 p.m.

Written public comment on the Alternatives may also be submitted to the PFMC’s Public Comment Electronic Portal  (E-Portal).  The public comment deadline is 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday, April 5, 2021.

Public comment on the Alternatives will also be accepted during the April Council meeting (held via webinar) on Thursday, April 8, during the public comment period for Agenda Item D.1.

For further information

New Economic Study: 2.2 Billion Reasons to Protect Bristol Bay

March 22, 2021 — A report titled “The Economic Benefits of the Bristol Bay Salmon Fishery” shows the fishery’s economic benefits exceeded $2.2 billion in 2019, generating more than 15,000 jobs while feeding hundreds of thousands of people. Produced by McKinley Research Group and released by the Bristol Bay Defense Fund, the recently gathered data will help quantify the importance of protecting Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine.

Bristol Bay produces 57% of the world’s sockeye salmon catch and is a $990 million economic engine in Alaska alone. Economists estimate the induced impacts for the Pacific Northwest at $800 million.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Interest in kelp farming is on the rise in Alaska, but the infrastructure is still catching up

March 18, 2021 — For years, Bret Bradford has lived the seasonal rhythm of a commercial fisherman. He spends summers gillnetting salmon out of Cordova, and in the winter, he looks for odd jobs around town.

When a friend asked if wanted to spend the winters growing kelp instead, he saw an opportunity for stable, year-round work.

“I thought, man, how hard could it be to grow kelp?” he said.

Bradford already has a boat and knowledge of the water. And the timing is perfect: kelp farmers plant seeds in the fall and harvest them in the spring, just before fishing season.

And he’s not the only one jumping on the kelp bandwagon. Interest in kelp farming has been building in Alaska since the state’s first commercial harvest in 2017. Bradford is one of more than 40 aspiring kelp farmers that have submitted applications to the state since.

Read the full story at KCAW

California salmon season delayed and shortened, angering North Bay fishermen

March 17, 2021 — San Francisco Bay Area grocery stores and fish markets aren’t expected to be stocked with salmon this year, as fishery officials chose to delay the start of the season last week and restrict the time fishermen have on the water.

What’s the reason? It appears adult king salmon numbers from the Sacramento River fall run are projected by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council to be much smaller than last year’s. The state wants to protect more of the salmon navigating the rivers to spawn by shortening the season that they can be caught in the Pacific Ocean.

Expected to be decided within the next few weeks, there are three proposals on the table, all shorten the season considerably. The closest start may be May 1, instead of April.

Whatever decision is made, it is expected to be greeted with disappointment from commercial and sport fishing enthusiasts, tackle shops and other businesses reliant on this $1.4 billion industry that employs 23,000 people statewide, according to the Golden State Salmon Association. The group hosted a virtual conference to discuss the matter on March 12.

Attendee Tim Ely, who runs the Outdoor Pro Shop retailer in Cotati, estimates his store will lose $500,000 this year.

Read the full story at The North Bay Business Journal

Alaska’s salmon harvest for 2021 is projected to be a big one

March 17, 2021 — Alaska’s salmon harvest for 2021 is projected to be a big one, with total catches producing a haul that could be 61% higher than last year, due mostly to an expected surge of pinks.

Fishery managers are predicting a statewide catch topping 190 million fish compared to 118.3 million in 2020. The breakdown by species includes 46.6 million sockeye salmon (a 203,000 increase), 3.8 million cohos (1.4 million higher), 15.3 million chums (6.7 million more), 296,000 Chinook (up by 4,000) and 124.2 million pink salmon (a 63.5 million increase).

In its report Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2021 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2020 Season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides breakdowns for all species by region.

Along with the projected 49% increase in pink salmon catches, Bristol Bay will again rule the day with sockeye runs to the region’s nine river systems expected to exceed 51 million fish and a harvest of 36.35 million reds, 13% higher than the 10 year average.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Fish detectives: the sleuths using ‘e-DNA’ to fight seafood fraud

March 17, 2021 — The first notable thing about the wild salmon fillet Dane Chauvel shows me is its colour – a rich red that, even over FaceTime, makes my mouth water. The second notable thing is that it’s definitely salmon.

This might not seem like a debatable fact. Chauvel is co-founder of Organic Ocean Seafood in Vancouver, Canada, housed in a historic building at the mouth of the 854-mile (1,375km) Fraser River, one of Canada’s main salmon courses. The company supplies many high-end restaurants, and wild-caught salmon makes up a large proportion of its sales.

But as the exclusive Guardian Seascape report indicating the extent of global seafood fraud has shown, it’s not always so easy to tell what your fish actually is. In the analysis of 44 studies worldwide, more than one in three seafood samples of 9,000 analysed were mislabelled.

Chauvel is not surprised by the revelations. “The fishing industry is a mess,” he says. “It’s dysfunctional.”

He can prove, however, that the salmon in his hands is a salmon, because the fish has been included in a random DNA testing programme – the world’s first.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Feds May Look at Spring-Run Chinook Salmon as Genetically Distinct

March 16, 2021 — The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering whether the spring-run and fall-run Chinook salmon that occupy the rivers of Northern California and southern Oregon are genetically distinct.

The decision has huge implications for fish populations as the number of spring-run Chinook salmon has plunged to such depths it would almost certainly result in a listing under the Endangered Species Act if seen as a separate species.

“The science is in on that,” said Rich Nawa, an ecologist who petitioned the agency a year ago to consider the spring-run Chinook salmon as genetically distinct. “There are several papers so no one disputes the science, it’s just how to incorporate it into policy at this point.”

The fisheries service said Monday it will consider the new science as it analyses whether an update to its listing policy is warranted.

“We find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted,” the agency said in a document.

The key word in the phrase is “may,” as a significant dispute exists in the scientific community whether the spring-run Chinook is what is referred to as an “evolutionarily significant unit.”

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

California Commercial Salmon Season to be Reduced — Maybe by Half

March 16, 2021 — The California commercial salmon season, due to start May 1, will be only about half as long as last year’s season, after the Pacific Fisheries Management Council settled on three proposals for the dates and months fishing can take place this season.

“Time on the water is cut this year in an effort to have more salmon return to the rivers to spawn to meet our management objectives,” Kandice Morgenstern, environmental scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said after the council’s decision Thursday.

Read the full story at Seafood News