Saving Seafood

ALASKA: What if there’s no salmon fishery? How covid-19 could affect salmon populations

April 15, 2020 — The covid-19 public health crisis spreading across the globe is causing economic turmoil in most industries, including fisheries. For Alaska salmon fisheries, covid-19 presents unique challenges that are an immediate threat to the 2020 season.

The seasonal influx of thousands of harvesters and workers from around the world, starting in May, represents a substantial risk for introducing covid-19 to remote communities — where it has yet to be detected, and where people are particularly vulnerable and medical resources are distinctly limited. Further risks are associated with the often crowded conditions aboard fishing vessels and in fish processing facilities that create perfect conditions for the rapid spread of covid-19.

Concern that the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery represents a substantial public health risk has prompted requests for severe restrictions or even complete closure of the fishery until the threat of covid-19 has passed. In addition to the immediate economic impacts of such a policy, these discussions have generated widespread concern about “over-escapement” — that severely restricted fishing would result in spawner abundances (escapements) beyond what watersheds can withstand, thereby severely depressing future salmon production.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska community asks for fishery shutdown because of virus

April 9, 2020 — An Alaska tribe and city asked have the governor to shut down a prosperous fishery this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Curyung Tribal Council and the city of Dillingham requested the closure of the Bristol Bay fishery in a letter to Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy Tuesday, Indian County Today reported.

The Bristol Bay fishery typically opens in June and harvests more Sockeye salmon than anywhere else globally. Fish harvesters there caught 56.5 million salmon in 2019.

The fishery brings about 14,000 people to the region for work with fish processing plant companies while drawing about 1,800 fishermen who have been named essential workers by the state.

“Our community does not have the capability to control the movement of this group,” the letter to Dunleavy said. “This is unacceptable and places us in an impossible situation.”

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Alaska fishing community takes precautions as it prepares for salmon season

April 3, 2020 — As Alaska’s top doctor put it, “We know the fish are coming regardless of COVID-19 or not and we can’t ask them to stay home.”

As a result, government officials and fishing stakeholders statewide are working to ensure Alaska can still have a strong summer salmon season even amidst a potentially prolonged COVID-19 winter.

Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink made the comment during a March 30 press briefing, adding that the state has a specific fisheries work group trying to figure out ways small communities can handle an influx of fishermen and processing workers while also adhering to important health guidelines that run counter to the realities of a traditional fishing season.

While Alaska’s diverse fisheries continue year-round, the famed Copper River sockeye and king fishery that unofficially kicks off the salmon harvest in mid-May each year will be one of the first testing grounds for trying to find that balance.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Coronavirus strains preparations for 2020 sockeye season in Bristol Bay, Alaska

March 27, 2020 — Alaska issued a mandate late on Monday, 24 March, qualifying the state’s commercial fishing industry as “critical infrastructure,” a move that frees up the Bristol Bay fishery to move forward with preparations for the 2020 season.

But uncertainty looms as the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery discusses how it might bring nearly 12,000 non-resident workers into remote western Alaska amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pebble pulse: Bristol Bay leaders testify in federal court, say EPA went rogue

March 4, 2020 — Bristol Bay fishermen, tribal leaders and fisheries advocates once again offered their testimony on the value of protections for the world’s most productive sockeye salmon habitat.

On Monday, March 2, members of the Bristol Bay Defense Alliance testified in federal district court in support of a lawsuit the group filed against the Environmental Protection Agency in October.

The suit asserts the EPA’s withdrawal of proposed Clean Water Act protections was arbitrary and unlawful, and runs counter to the scientific and public record. The plaintiffs now await a ruling from Judge Sharon Gleason on whether the suit will move forward.

“Although we are now waiting for the judge’s ruling in this case, our primary goal is unchanged: protecting and promoting the Bristol Bay fishery,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. “The science still supports 404 protections in Bristol Bay, and we will continue working to secure them.”

In 2010, six Bristol Bay Tribes requested the protections and soon were supported in the effort by commercial and sport fishing groups.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

US Commerce Department allocates $35 million for Alaska fisheries disasters

March 2, 2020 — Fishermen affected by the 2018 Pacific cod and Chignik sockeye disasters will soon have access to about $35 million in relief funding.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross allocated about $65 million to fisheries disaster relief, about $35 million of which is for Alaska, according to a Feb. 27 announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Within Alaska, about $24.4 million will go to the Pacific cod fishery disaster and about $10.3 million to the Chignik sockeye fishery. The funding was appropriated when Congress passed the 2019 Consolidated and Supplemental Appropriations Act.

Fisheries disasters can be declared under the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act when natural disasters or management actions significantly negatively impact stakeholders’ ability to participate in a fishery.

In the case of the Pacific cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska, scientists are linking the decline in stock abundance to environmental causes; in Chignik, the salmon decline seemed to be linked to poor environmental conditions for sockeye that summer.

Both disaster requests had already been granted, but the amount of funding that the fisheries would have allocated to them was yet to be determined. The National Marine Fisheries Service determines how much funding to allocate to fisheries based on commercial revenue loss information.

Affected fishermen will be able to apply for funding to help with infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, and job retraining, according to the announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

NOAA grants Alaskan Fisheries $24.4 million in disaster relief funding

February 28, 2020 — Thursday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), approved a $24.4 million dollar disaster relief package to help restore the loss of fisheries impacted by the 2018 pacific cod fishery disaster and sockeye salmon failure in Chignik.

The money will be administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission who will distribute the relief payments to fishermen and their deckhands, processors, and fishery research in the affected regions.

Read the full story at KTUU

ALASKA: State projects low returns of salmon to Upper Cook Inlet

January 30, 2020 — Another year of poor salmon returns is forecast this summer on one of the world’s most famous salmon streams.

Forecasts for Kenai River chinook (king) and sockeye (red) salmon are below average, according to estimates released this week by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

According to state biologists, this year’s forecast of large, early run Kenai River chinook salmon is just 4,794 fish, a return that would rank as the eighth-lowest return in the last 35 years but would be slightly higher than last year’s run of 4,216 fish. The average return over the past 35 years is more than 9,100 kings in the early run, fish that enter the river through June 30.

The department classifies large fish as those greater than 34 inches in length in order to differentiate 5-, 6- and 7-year fish from their younger, smaller counterparts.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Regional fishing successes cause spike in sale prices for Alaska salmon permits

November 27, 2019 — The value of Alaska salmon permits has ticked upward in regions that experienced a good fishery this year, while others have tanked.

Not surprisingly, the record sockeye fishery at Bristol Bay has boosted sales of driftnet permits to nearly $200,000, up from the mid-$170,000 range prior to the 2019 season. Another strong run forecast of 48.9 million sockeyes for 2020, with a projected harvest of 36.9 million, could increase the value even more, said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.

What’s really raising eyebrows, Bowen said, is values for driftnet permits at Area M (False Pass) on the Alaska Peninsula, where lots of people want in and not many want out.

“We sold one at $235,000 which is amazing – $40,000 more than a Bay permit,” Bowen said. Listings by other brokers reflect the same trend, with Area M seine permits also commanding over $180,000.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Invasive plant poses threat to Alaska sockeye salmon

November 22, 2019 — An invasive, quick-spreading aquarium plant could forewarn of the upcoming difficulties that Alaska salmon runs may face as marine environments change from human intervention.

The plant is elodea, which is native to the lower 48 U.S. states and is commonly used in aquariums. Researchers say it was first dumped into Alaska waters in the early 1980’s with the unwanted contents of an aquarium and has since adapted to colder water. Now, it is being transported from lake to lake by float planes and growing at an alarming rate of speed.

Read the full story at Seafood Source