Saving Seafood

Scottish salmon producers urge government to address Brexit border disruptions

January 11, 2021 — Scotland’s salmon sector is calling on the U.K. government to help resolve delays to exports destined for E.U. markets following the introduction of the new border rules established in a Christmas Eve agreement, with implementation beginning on 1 January, 2021.

According to the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), dozens of truckloads of fish have failed to leave Scotland on time since the full Brexit regulations came into force, with confusion over paperwork, the extra documentation needed, and IT problems all contributing to the delays and hold-ups.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Final Penobscot salmon estimate for last year drops by nearly 200 fish

January 7, 2021 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has reduced its estimate of Atlantic salmon returns to the Penobscot River by nearly 200 fish, but the final estimate for 2020 — 1,440 salmon — is still the highest annual return since 2011. In November, state fisheries scientists announced an estimated 1,603 Atlantic salmon had returned to the Penobscot River.

Jason Valliere, a marine resource scientist for the DMR, said each of his regular reports filed since July have included a disclaimer explaining that the official year-end estimate of returning fish was subject to change. Those counts are adjusted after data becomes available, taking into account individual fish that are captured, returned to the river to free-swim to spawning grounds, then re-captured by fisheries staffers at the Milford Dam.

The 2020 total was up from 1,152 in 2019, and is the largest run of salmon since 3,125 salmon returned to the river in 2011. The average run for the eight years from 2012 to 2019 was just 708 salmon per year.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay Sockeye a High Point in State’s Volatile Season

January 6, 2021 — More than 58 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay this summer. It’s another in a series of enormous runs to the fishery. The commercial harvest was just as impressive — Bristol Bay’s fleet hauled in 39.5 million fish, which is the fifth-largest harvest on record.

But while the Bay’s run exceeded 50 million fish for the sixth year in a row — 46% above the 20-year average — many other areas of the state were far below their forecast.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye a high point in the state’s unpredictable salmon season

January 6, 2021 — More than 58 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay this summer. It’s another in a series of enormous runs to the fishery. The commercial harvest was just as impressive — Bristol Bay’s fleet hauled in 39.5 million fish, which is the fifth-largest harvest on record.

But while the Bay’s run exceeded 50 million fish for the sixth year in a row — 46% above the 20-year average — many other areas of the state were far below their forecast.

“When you take Bristol Bay out of the picture and look at sockeye harvests in Alaska, the non-Bristol Bay sockeye harvests this year were the lowest on record since 1976,” said Dan Leash, an economist with the McDowell Group.

Across all species, the value of the state’s commercial salmon season dropped more than 50% from last year — 56% below last year. 2020 was valued at $295.2 million, while last year was valued at $673.4 million. Harvests were also down by 44%.

“Sometimes when you have a low harvest year, the prices will rise. But that didn’t happen this year,” Leash said. “It was sort of a death by 1,000 cuts in terms of the impact of the seafood on the harvesters this year.”

Read the full story at KDLG

High Court Finds Aquaculture Worker Covered by Workers’ Comp

December 31, 2020 — An aquaculture worker who got hurt tending to salmon raised in offshore pens is covered under state law, but not under the federal law that defines some of the rights for mariners, Maine‘s supreme court ruled.

The court ruled unanimously on Tuesday in a Workers’ Compensation Board appellate division decision involving a woman who was injured while working for Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon operation off the coast of Eastport.

The woman, Darla Potter, slipped and hurt her knee while caring for salmon, which were raised in cages located less than a mile offshore.

Great Falls Insurance Company contended that the Workers’ Compensation Board lacked jurisdiction because Potter should be considered to be a “seaman” under federal admiralty law known as the Jones Act.

The Supreme Judicial Court said the closest analogy to an aquaculture operation is an offshore oil platform, and it noted that oil platform workers have never been found to fall under the Jones Act jurisdiction.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye a high point in the state’s unpredictable salmon season

December 30, 2020 — More than 58 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay this summer. It’s another in a series of enormous runs for the fishery. The commercial harvest was just as impressive. Bristol Bay’s fleet hauled in 39.5 million fish, the fifth-largest harvest on record.

But while the Bay’s run exceeded 50 million fish for the sixth year in a row — 46% above the 20-year average — many other parts of the state were far below their forecasts.

“When you take Bristol Bay out of the picture and look at sockeye harvests in Alaska, the non-Bristol Bay sockeye harvests this year were the lowest on record since 1976,” said Dan Leash, an economist with the McDowell Group.

Across all species, the value of the state’s commercial salmon season dropped more than 50% from last year — 56% below last year. The 2020 season was valued at $295.2 million, while last year was valued at $673.4 million. Harvests were also down by 44%.

“Sometimes when you have a low harvest year, the prices will rise. But that didn’t happen this year,” Leash said. “It was sort of a death by a thousand cuts in terms of the impact of the seafood on the harvesters this year.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Alaska’s seafood processors hit hard by COVID-19 costs

December 28, 2020 — Overcoming serious doubts, Alaska’s salmon processors managed to squeak out a season this summer – but it came at a cost.

According to a McDowell Group report, processors spent as much as USD 50 million (EUR 42.4 million) on COVID-19 protocol compliance, which included moving workers into Alaska early for quarantine, putting them up in hotels for their quarantine period, flying them on chartered planes, food costs, and paying for significant coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment, as well as security to ensure closed campuses. In a few cases, companies had medical professionals embedded onsite in remote locations to ensure care to their employees (and to limit any potential spread of coronavirus that would have crippled the functionality of the facility).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

PFMC: Salmon Technical Team work session February 16-19, 2021

December 23, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Salmon Technical Team (STT) will hold a work session February 16-19, 2021.  The start and ending times of this work session will be determined shortly and posted to our website when they become available.

Please see the STT February 2021 work session notice on the Pacific Council’s website for the purpose of the online work session.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff  Mike Burner at 503-820-2414, or Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410.

Salmon Technical Team work session January 19-22, 2021

December 22, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Salmon Technical Team (STT) will hold a work session January 19-22, 2021.  The start and ending times of this work session will be determined shortly and posted to our website when they become available.

Please see the STT January 2021 work session notice on the Pacific Council’s website for the purpose of the online work session.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff  Mike Burner at 503-820-2414, or Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410.

CATHERINE CASSIDY: Is Alaska open for business? Not from where I stand.

December 18, 2020 — A freak storm descended on Cook Inlet this month. The fallout threatens my family business and hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital investment. Over a thousand other similar businesses around Cook Inlet face the same peril. The disaster? Earlier this month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy made the bizarre decision to effectively shut down the commercial salmon fishing industry here.

At the very end of a four-year process intended to bring the Cook Inlet salmon fishery into compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the state announced that it would refuse to cooperate with the program and basically forced the closure of federal waters in Cook Inlet to commercial fishing.

Before you conclude that this action was some kind of noble defiance to federal overreach, you should know that the state of Alaska already has multiple collaborative agreements with the federal government on managing numerous other fisheries in Alaska, including crab, cod, rockfish and salmon.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News