Saving Seafood

NOAA Report: Approximately 85% Of West Coast Estuary Habitat Lost

August 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A report published in PLOS ONE reveals that “more than a century of development” has erased approximately 85% of historical tidal wetlands in California, Oregon and Washington. However, there is good news. Scientists with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center have found potential restoration opportunities.

Estuaries are important as they serve as “critical nurseries” for juvenile salmon and steelhead while they transition from freshwater to the ocean.

“Given how valuable estuaries are to so many different species, it’s important to understand how much they have changed and what that means for fish and wildlife that depend on them,” explained Correigh Greene, a research biologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and co-author of the new study.

According to the researchers, estuaries were lost over the years because they were diked and drained for agriculture. Forested wetlands were also not widely recognized as estuary acreage. But there is a chance to restore these estuary habitats.

“By folding in these areas that may not have been recognized as part of estuaries, we have a better idea of just how important and extensive these estuaries were,” added lead author Laura Brophy, who also serves as director of the Estuary Technical Group at the Institute for Applied Ecology. “Now we can see new restoration opportunities that people didn’t realize existed.”

More restoration can come from low-elevation areas that are at great risk of flooding due to rising sea levels and climate change. NOAA researchers say that tidal restoration in these areas can “re-establish natural processes like sediment delivery.”

Find the full story on estuary habitat loss on the west coast here.

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

Frozen salmon, cod fillets escape latest Trump tariffs

August 13, 2019 — A move executed Tuesday, 13 August by the Trump administration will reverse previously-announced tariffs on some seafood processed in China.

Included in the original list of items subject to the latest round of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, 1 August – which originally proposed subjecting an additional USD 300 billion (EUR 270 billion) in imported goods to a 10 percent tariff – were frozen fillets of cod, salmon, and haddock.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Study: Hatchery-raised Alaskan pinks compete with sockeye for food

August 13, 2019 — Some scientists who study the food web in North Pacific Ocean waters off the US state of Alaska are beginning to fear that hatchery-raised pink salmon are posing overly stiff competition to sockeye when it comes to their common food source, zooplankton, the Associated Press reported.

The news service quoted biological oceanographer Sonia Batten who has studied zooplankton abundance and found it to wax and wane, which she attributed to the odd- and even-year cycle of pink salmon.

“The only thing that we have in this whole area with an up and down, alternating-year pattern is pink salmon,” Batten, who works for Canada’s Marine Biological Association, said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Pacific Fishery Management Council to Hold Meeting In September 2019 to Adopt Management Measures for Ocean Fisheries

August 9th, 2019 — The following was published by the Pacific Fishery Management Council: 

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and its advisory bodies will meet September 11-18, 2019 in Boise, Idaho, to address issues related to groundfish, ecosystem, salmon, Pacific halibut, highly migratory species, habitat, and administrative matters. The meeting of the Council and its advisory entities will be held at the Riverside Hotel, 2900 Chinden Blvd., Boise, Idaho 83714; telephone, 208-343-1871.

Please see the September 11-18, 2019 Council Meeting notice on the Council’s website for meeting detail, schedule of advisory body meetings, our new E-Portal for submitting public comments, and public comment deadlines.

Key agenda items for the meeting include Council considerations to:

  • Adopt Final Rebuilding Plans for Strait of Juan de Fuca, Queets River, and Snohomish River Coho
  • Adopt a Final Preferred Alternative for Highly Migratory Species Deep-Set Buoy Gear Fishery Authorization
  • Adopt Public Review Options for Pacific Halibut 2020 Catch Sharing Plan Changes and Options for 2020 Directed Commercial Fishery Regulation Changes
  • Approve Final Groundfish Stock Assessments for 2021-2022 and Beyond
  • Adopt Initial Groundfish Harvest Specifications and a Preliminary List of Potential New Management Measures for the 2020-2021 Regulation Process
  • Adopt Final Groundfish In-season Adjustments and Consider Extending Midwater Trawl and Electronic Monitoring Exempted Fishing Permits into 2020
  • Adopt a Preliminary Preferred Alternative for Salmon Mitigation Measure in Groundfish Fisheries
  • Adopt Proposed Revisions to 2020 Harvest Specifications for Cowcod and Shortbelly Rockfish for Public Review
    For further information:

Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff at 503-820-2280; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

For Northwest fishermen, latest catch is trade-war trouble

August 7, 2019 — As President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on China last week in a trade war with no end in sight, American salmon fisherman Sven Stroosma set his sights on the blue waters of the Gulf of Alaska, piloting his boat Voyager in search of a big salmon catch.

Alaskan salmon are running, and Pacific Northwest fishermen like Mr. Stroosma have only a few intense weeks in July and August to catch enough to sustain their family income for the coming year. Rough seas, equipment failures, and dry streams that limit spawning all threaten to hurt their haul.

This season, the U.S.-China trade conflict has increased pressure on salmon fishermen by depressing the price offered for their hard-earned catch. China, the biggest importer of Alaska seafood, included the industry in a 25% tariff increase imposed last year.

Read the full story at The Christian Science Monitor

The Last Presidential Salmon

August 7, 2019 — For almost a century, the first Atlantic salmon caught each season was delivered to the President of the United States. The first of these fish, an eleven-pound silver, was sent by Karl Andersen, a Norwegian house painter in Bangor, Maine, to President William Howard Taft, in 1912. Andersen had caught the fish in the Penobscot River, on April 1st, when the water would have been flush with ice, and cold enough to numb his legs. He used a pliant bamboo rod, and sent the fish as a gift from Bangor; he hoped it would “contribute to the city’s need of honor and respect.” (His bet didn’t pay off: Bangor is now best known as the model for Stephen King’s Derry—a fictional town populated by cannibalistic clowns and reanimated zombie pets.) On April 12th, he packed the salmon with straw and ice and placed it on an overnight train to the capital. Taft ate it poached whole, with cream sauce and a garnish of parsley.

The Penobscot River had long been famous for its salmon runs. But by the time Andersen landed his fish the salmon population was already in freefall. Hundreds of dams were installed on New England’s rivers during the industrial revolution, presenting unnavigable walls for the migratory fish. As early as the nineteenth century, the Penobscot begged the governor of Maine to address the falling salmon numbers, but the condition of the waterways only worsened. Kenduskeag Stream, which in the language of the local Penobscot Nation means “eel weir place,” runs through Bangor and into the river. It was also the site of some particularly questionable, and illustrative, environmental practices. A 1960 report by the city’s health department claimed that Bangor was using “the same sewage treatment facilities as that given to the crewmen of Samuel de Champlain’s ship in 1604.” It described “sewage solids” accumulating on the Kenduskeag’s banks, children and animals playing in a mixture of feces and “thick green scum,” and, strangest of all, a city program that drew water from a particularly sewage-heavy section and sprayed it on I-95—apparently in an effort to control dust.

Read the full story at The New Yorker

ASC claims SeaChoice criticism of new salmon standards “pre-emptively undermines” future progress

August 6, 2019 — SeaChoice’s latest criticism of changes to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Salmon Standard “pre-emptively undermines” the future progress the changes are intended to make, according to a release from the ASC.

The SeaChoice criticism was targeted at the ASC’s amendments to the salmon standards, mainly the parasiticide treatment index (PTI). In a media release, SeaChoice claimed the changes allow for dramatic increases in chemical treatments on salmon farms, and that they represent a lowering of standards.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA marks Northwest salmon runs, Atlantic mackerel, bigeye overfished

August 5, 2019 — Pacific Northwest king (chinook) and silver (coho) salmon runs plagued by drought and warmer ocean waters are new additions to the overfished species list in the federal 2018 Status of U.S. Fisheries released Friday.

In the Atlantic, bigeye tuna joined the overfished list — reflecting the continuing inability of international regulators to rein in other nations’ fleets in the eastern Atlantic. For the first time, Atlantic mackerel between North Carolina and Maine are declared overfished, based on a first comprehensive assessment.

The good news, according to NOAA, is that rebuilding sustainable fisheries is still on its slow upward track since 2000, with 45 stocks now declared rebuilt. The latest is the Gulf of Maine smooth skate, after a 9-year rebuilding effort that included a prohibition on landings.

That success follows the 2016 rebuilding of barndoor skate in New England waters. “The renewed fishing opportunity and market for barndoor skate wings, following its rebuilt status, may lay the market foundation for a smooth skate fishery in the future,” the annual NMFS report noted.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

PFMC: Salmon Technical Team and Model Evaluation Workgroup to Hold Webinar August 29, 2019

August 2, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Salmon Technical Team (STT) and Model Evaluation Workgroup (MEW) will hold a joint meeting to discuss and make recommendations on issues on the Council’s September 2019 meeting agenda. This meeting will be held via webinar, which is open to the public. The webinar will be held on Thursday, August 29, 2019, at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time) and will end when business is completed for the day.
Please see the STT & MEW August 29, 2019 webinar notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

A public listening station will be provided at the Council office in Portland, Oregon.

For further information:

Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Ms. Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.