Saving Seafood

B.C. commercial salmon fishermen discuss cures for an industry on the brink

January 26, 2021 — No issue is off the table this week as more than 100 B.C. fishermen, fleet leaders, First Nations leaders and other salmon stakeholders gather for a two-day virtual round-table in a desperate bid to bring the ailing commercial fishery back from the brink.

The United Fishermen And Allied Workers’ Union (UFAWU-Unifor) and active fishermen’s associations convened the conference, Future of BC Commercial Salmon Fishing, at the request of the federal standing committee on fisheries asking for recommendations on how to revitalize commercial fishing on the west coast.

“The commercial salmon fleet is pretty well broke,” Joy Thorkelson, president of UFAWU-Unifor said. “And DFO’s outlook is as depressing this year as it has been for the past two years. Yes, we need more salmon, but that’s not the only issue.”

The issues are complex and sometimes controversial. Allocation of stocks with recreational and First Nations fisheries, and access to healthy runs are priority issues, but interwoven are challenges with policy and governance that are not meeting the economic-development needs of fishing communities, a licensing regime established in the 1990s that’s consolidated power into the hands of corporations and so-called “armchair fishermen”, and an explosion in pinniped predation rates on juvenile salmon, to name a few.

Read the full story at Saanich News

ALASKA: Forecast predicts another poor sockeye season

January 26, 2021 — Upper Cook Inlet fishermen should expect another below-average sockeye salmon run this year.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasts a return of 4,370,000 sockeye to Upper Cook Inlet in 2021, according to a report released Friday.

Brian Marston, Fish and Game’s area manager for UCI commercial fisheries, says the projections aren’t surprising.

“We have seen lower-than-average runs, or right around the 4.3 million mark, which is what we’re predicting this year,” he said. “So it’s not too different from recent numbers, but it is below average.”

The inlet’s 20-year average is nearly 6 million sockeye. But runs over the last few years have been lower.

Read the full story at KDLL

Conservation groups ask federal judge to halt salmon plan

January 22, 2021 — Salmon and steelhead advocates returned to court to again ask a federal judge to overturn the government’s plan to operate dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers in a way that pushes the fish closer to extinction.

The National Wildlife Federation and several other conservation groups, including Idaho Rivers United and the Idaho Conservation League, contend a biological opinion issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and associated documents and decisions by the Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration violate the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Last year, the agencies completed an environmental impact statement ordered by Judge Michael Simon of Portland after he found the government’s 2014 plan to be illegal. In it, the agencies dismissed the idea of breaching the four lower Snake River dams as too costly while also admitting that dam removal offered the fish the best chance of recovery. Instead, the agencies chose a plan built largely on spilling water at the dams to help speed juvenile salmon and steelhead downstream during their migration to the Pacific Ocean.

Todd True, the lead EarthJustice attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the groups felt forced to file.

Read the full story at The Spokesman-Review

ALASKA: Borough to ask feds for fishery disaster declaration

January 21, 2021 — The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted Tuesday to ask the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to declare a sockeye salmon fisheries failure and economic disaster in the Upper Subdistrict of the Central District of Cook Inlet in response to a year that saw fewer and smaller fish, as well as lower-priced fish.

According to a memo to the assembly from Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, the borough has not received a response from the state regarding a request from the assembly last month for Gov. Mike Dunleavy to declare an economic disaster in the Upper Cook Inlet fisheries region.

The same memo says that a provision in the Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to determine whether or not there is a commercial fishery failure “due to a fishery resource disaster as a result of natural causes” or “man-made causes beyond the control of fishery managers to mitigate,” among others.

Read the full story at The Peninsula Clarion

Northwest’s Salmon Population May Be Running Out of Time

January 21, 2021 — A Washington State report put it bluntly: Because of the devastating effects of climate change and deteriorating habitats, several species of salmon in the Pacific Northwest are “on the brink of extinction.”

Of the 14 species of salmon and steelhead trout in Washington State that have been deemed endangered and are protected under the Endangered Species Act, 10 are lagging recovery goals and five of those are considered “in crisis,” according to the 2020 State of Salmon in Watersheds report, which was released last week.

“Time is running out,” said the report, which is produced every other year by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. “The climate is changing, rivers are warming, habitat is diminishing, and the natural systems that support salmon in the Pacific Northwest need help now more than ever.”

Researchers say recovery efforts — involving state and federal agencies, Native American tribes, local conservation groups and others — have helped slow the decline of some salmon populations. The report found that two species — the Hood Canal summer chum and Snake River fall chinook — were approaching their recovery goals. It also noted that no new salmon species had been added to the endangered list since 2007.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Distribution and Abundance of Forage Fish in Arctic and Sub-Arctic Waters Affected by Warming Ocean Conditions

January 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Pelagic or forage fish species are an important source of food for marine predators in the eastern Bering Sea. This group of fish includes capelin, Pacific herring, juvenile chum salmon, juvenile pink salmon, juvenile sockeye salmon, and walleye pollock during their first year of life.

A new study by scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center shows variable effects on species distribution and abundance. It looked at several warm periods from 2002–2018 when ocean temperatures were warmer than average for four or more consecutive years.

Previous studies by NOAA Fisheries documented a northward shift in age-0 pollock, juvenile salmon, herring, and capelin during the 2002-2005 warm period relative to the 2006-2011 cool period in the eastern Bering Sea.

“However, this is the first study to look at temperature-related changes in the distribution and biomass (total average weight of all fish) of pelagic fishes over multiple warm periods,” said Ellen Yasumiishi, researcher, Alaska Fisheries Science Center and lead author for the study. “Studies like this are also important for understanding factors that may affect juvenile salmon and age-0 pollock growth, development and ability to reach maturity. As adults these fish are targeted by commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries in Alaska.”

Read the full release here

Bait and Switch: Mislabeled Salmon, Shrimp Have Biggest Environmental Toll

January 14, 2021 — Seafood is the world’s most highly traded food commodity, by value, and the product is hard to track from source to market. Reports of seafood mislabeling have increased over the past decade, but few studies have considered the overall environmental effects of this deceptive practice.

A study by Arizona State University, the University of Washington and other institutions examined the impacts of seafood mislabeling on the marine environment, including population health, the effectiveness of fishery management, and marine habitats and ecosystems.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Researchers say Europe’s ban on throwing unwanted fish overboard is backfiring

January 14, 2021 — Two years ago, a law banning the wasteful practice of tossing unwanted fish overboard came fully into effect in European waters. But a study reveals the law, intended to reduce overfishing, has led to the opposite: To allay industry concerns, regulators have significantly increased fishing quotas, while providing ever more exemptions that make the policy even more difficult to enforce.

The findings show “how the good intentions of the reformed common fisheries policy of Europe were undermined,” says Rainer Froese, a fisheries scientist with GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, who was not involved in the study.

The European Parliament approved the discard ban in 2013 after a campaign by celebrity chefs and environmental groups who were outraged by the practice of discarding fish. Sometimes lower value species such as plaice were chucked back into the water—usually dying—because captains wanted to save room in their holds for more profitable catch like sole. Regulators also required them to discard immature fish, even though the fish were unlikely to survive and reproduce.

By requiring ships to bring the entire catch back to port, unwanted or not, lawmakers meant to encourage selective fishing. Captains could avoid places or seasons when undesired species congregate, or could use modified fishing gear that captures fewer unwanted fish. But mastering these tactics and installing new gear takes time, so fisheries officials offered a handout to industry by increasing the quota of fish that vessels could bring back to port. Because unmarketable fish had to be kept on board, the logic went, captains could bring back more fish in total and still have the same amount of fish to sell.

But discarding apparently continues in many fisheries, in violation of the ban, according to reports by the European Commission and European Fisheries Control Agency. “The fact that there’s still discarding going on over the horizon is a big risk,” says Andrew Clayton of Pew Charitable Trusts, which advocates to end overfishing in northwest Europe. Clayton and others see a threat to sustainability, because if illegal discards are continuing and vessels are bringing back more to sell in port—thanks to increased quotas—then too many fish are being killed.

Read the full story at Science

Privately funded study to examine role of regional magnetism in migration of Bristol Bay salmon

January 13, 2021 — Is it a coincidence that one of the world’s largest mineral deposits is located near the world’s largest sockeye salmon spawning grounds at Bristol Bay? And if the likes of a Pebble mine removed the bulk of those deep deposits that also create the world’s magnetic field, could it disrupt the salmon’s ability to find their way home?

A study funded by Homer’s Arron Kallenberg — founder and CEO of Wild Alaskan Co. and a third-generation Bristol Bay fisherman — aims to find out.

“It’s not even been 10 years since we’ve discovered that salmon, sea turtles and other marine species are using the Earth’s magnetic field as a way to know where they are and to make important navigation decisions. But what is the magnetic environment that they need to thrive, and what might humans be doing that might keep them from thriving?” said Dr. Nathan Putman, a senior scientist at Texas-based LGL Ecological Research Associates and an expert on animals’ use of magnetics fields in migration who is leading the study.

“The salmon at Bristol Bay are tuned into thousands of years of experience,” Putman said. “Might removing magnetic minerals alter the magnetic landscape they have experienced, and to what extent?” he asked.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News