Saving Seafood

NMFS approves plan to restrict salmon fishing, protect orcas

September 17, 2021 — King salmon fishing could be cut back from Puget Sound to Monterey Bay if king salmon numbers fall too low to feed the 75 endangered Southern Resident orcas, under a plan approved Sept. 14 by NMFS.

Non-tribal fishing would be restricted when king salmon numbers appear heading toward that threshold — a key recommendation from a working group convened by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, including representatives from West Coast states, tribes, and NMFS.

In late 2020 the council adopted the work group’s suggestions, including limiting commercial and recreational fishing in certain places off California, Oregon, and Washington when estimated king salmon numbers north of Cape Falcon, Oregon, fall below a certain level of abundance.

That level would be set as the average of the seven lowest years of forecast king salmon abundance off the northern Oregon and Washington coasts, currently estimated at 966,000. In recent years salmon numbers held above that level, and 2007 was the last year when forecasts would have fallen below the threshold.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Peter Pan Seafood will require COVID vaccine for employees

September 2, 2021 — Peter Pan Seafood announced Wednesday, 1 September, it will require all shoreside employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as case numbers are on the rise in the U.S. states of Alaska and Washington.

The company’s new policy will go into effect by tiers. The first tier will pick up the remaining 5 percent of unvaccinated workers at processing plants and support facilities around Bristol Bay, Alaska, and at its Valdez processing plant, as well as at warehouses in Washington. All employees in tier one must be fully vaccinated by 1 October. Employees at the Peter Pan facility in King Cove, Alaska, face mandatory vaccination under Peter Pan’s tier two timeline. The vaccine policy does not extend to the fleet, but Peter Pan said it encourages its fishermen to get the vaccine and it said it will help them get vaccine appointments in Seattle or Alaska.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Loki Fish recalls salmon lox over listeria concerns

August 25, 2021 — Loki Fish Company is recalling four-ounce packages of its Keta Salmon Lox due to the potential it is contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based supplier is recalling the lox after the possibility of contamination was discovered during a U.S Food and Drug Administration inspection at its co-packer, Felix Custom Smoking in Monroe, Washington, Loki said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Vital Choice receives MSC Ocean Champion award

August 19, 2021 — Ferndale, Washington, U.S.A.-based Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics has been awarded a U.S. Ocean Champion Award by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

The annual award recognizes MSC partners who have gone “above and beyond” to demonstrate dedication to healthy oceans and transparent supply chains, MSC said in a press release. Vital Choice, which received the award on 11 August, 2021, is joined by fellow winners TransOcean and Bar Harbor Foods.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Salish Fish, Kurt Grinnell’s legacy, prepares for launch as Cooke Aquaculture reboots Washington operations

August 17, 2021 — Salish Fish, a joint venture between family-owned Cooke Aquaculture Pacific LLC and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, has officially launched and is moving forward with plans to stock its ocean fish farm in Port Angeles Harbor, Washington, U.S.A. with native steelhead and possibly sablefish in the coming months, according to the company and the tribe.

For Cooke, the move represents a reboot of its Washington operations after a 2017 escape at its Cypress Island farm led to the state banning the farming of non-native finfish, effectively phasing out Cooke’s Atlantic salmon farming.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

When Yukon Chum Stocks Suddenly Collapsed, Yukon River Residents Received Donations From Bristol Bay

August 13, 2021 — For eight years, Tanya Ives has been traveling up from Washington each summer to work at the Yukon River’s only fish processing plant: Kwik’Pak Fisheries. The plant sits outside of Emmonak at the river’s mouth. Normally at this time of year, Ives would be packing up chum salmon harvested by commercial fishermen along the Yukon River to sell around the world. But this summer, she’s doing the opposite.

Read the full story at KYUK

West Coast CARES Act Funding, Spend Plans in Various Stages of Completion

August 13, 2021 — As fishermen and processors in Washington are receiving checks from the first round of COVID-19 relief, managers in California and Oregon are moving ahead with proposed spend plans for Round Two.

Round One funding, announced in May 2020, included $300 million provided by Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also called the CARES Act, to states, tribes, and territories with coastal and marine fishery participants that were negatively affected by COVID–19.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Critical habitat for killer whales extended south along California coast

August 12, 2021 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has extended critical habitat designations for the highly endangered Southern Resident orca population, to cover nearly 16,000 square miles of Pacific waters from Washington south to Point Sur, California.

The whales currently have had critical habitat protected in the inland waters of Washington state, where the Southern orca population of just 75 animals is highly dependent on chinook salmon – stocks that themselves are in danger from habitat loss and pollution in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sen. Cantwell Applauds Unprecedented Investment in Puget Sound and Salmon Recovery in Infrastructure Package

August 12, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released the following statement about a historic $2.855 billion investment in salmon recovery and ecosystem restoration programs, as well as tens of billions of dollars allocated for water infrastructure in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). (A full description of the infrastructure bill’s impacts on Washington state can be found here.)

“The infrastructure bill makes serious investments in some of our salmon recovery challenges,” said Senator Cantwell. “For the first time, the bill creates a new culvert removal and habitat restoration grant program that prioritizes salmon and will open up spawning habitat. The bill also provides robust funding for EPA regional efforts to clean up Puget Sound as well as a significant down payment in the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.”

The IIJA includes the following salmon and ecosystem restoration funding (all numbers are over 5 years):

  • National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration Grant Program: $1 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a new program aimed at removing, replacing or restoring culverts, which will enable the recovery of salmon passage and habitats. This provision was authored by Senator Cantwell, and this program will be the first federal program devoted entirely to culverts.
  • Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund: $172 million for NOAA’s Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, a grants program that provides funding to States and Tribes to protect, conserve, and restore West Coast salmon.
  • Fish Passage Barrier Removal Grants: $400 million for the creation of a new community-based restoration program focused on removing fish passage barriers.
  • EPA Estuary Programs: The National Estuary Program (NEP) is a network of organizations that protects and restores 28 estuaries around the country, including the Puget Sound and Columbia River Basin.
  • $132 million for the National Estuary Program.
  • $23 billion for the bipartisan Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, including $15 billion for Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
  • $10 billion across multiple programs for monitoring and remediation of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These chemicals enter the environment through production or waste streams and are extremely difficult to remove. According to the EPA, they are known to have “adverse reproductive, developmental and immunological effects in animals and humans.”
  • NOAA Habitat Restoration Programs: These funds will be used to enable communities, Tribes, and states to respond and adapt to climate change impacts.
    • $491 million for Habitat Restoration and Community Resilience Grants.
    • $492 million for the National Ocean and Coastal Security Fund Grants.
  • EPA Water Quality Programs: These provisions of the IIJA help improve overall water quality and prevent pollution to protect salmon-supporting ecosystems. The IIJA also includes significant funding for Tribal and rural water systems and would provide funding for stormwater and wastewater systems in Washington state and Puget Sound.

Throughout her time in the Senate, Cantwell has been a staunch advocate of protecting and strengthening critical salmon populations. Earlier this year, Cantwell secured commitments from Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to work on increasing investments in salmon habitat and prioritizing fisheries management. Cantwell also championed and passed the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Phase III Act in 2019, which authorized an integrated and collaborative approach to addressing water challenges in the Yakima River Basin. For years, Cantwell has led the fight to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay – one of the world’s largest fisheries – against the proposed Pebble Mine, emphasizing the devastation that the mine could bring to the Pacific Northwest. In 2020, the permit was denied and now Cantwell is now pushing for permanent protections.

Senator Cantwell also has a strong history of leading efforts in Congress to address water contamination due to PFAS, and she has repeatedly introduced bipartisan legislation to hold federal agencies accountable for addressing PFAS contamination at military bases across the country. In January 2020, Cantwell sent a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Navy expressing concern over PFAS health risks to Kitsap County residents, and in February 2020, she called on the EPA to provide an updated timeline for when it will implement the commitments made in the agency’s plan to combat PFAS exposure. In 2017, Cantwell urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to support programs to investigate and clean up chemicals that have contaminated drinking water sources across the nation and secured $62 million in funding for water remediation and environmental restoration in impacted communities.

Support for salmon recovery and ecosystem restoration in the IIJA:

“The funding for salmon recovery and culvert removal and replacement contained in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a huge win for the resource and the people of the State of Washington,” said Bob Kehoe, Executive Director of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners’ Association’s (PSVOA). “These investments in salmon recovery and fish habitat restoration will go a long way toward the goal of rebuilding salmon populations here on the West Coast.  Senator Cantwell deserves a great deal of credit for her leadership in the Senate on salmon recovery.”

“We are very excited to see that the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation will help protect and restore Pacific salmon runs,” said Justin Parker, Executive Director of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “We all depend on natural infrastructure such as habitat to support salmon recovery, a robust economy and the tribes’ treaty-protected resources.  The bill is an important step toward addressing our natural infrastructure needs in Washington through programs such as the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and many others.  We are thankful for Senator Cantwell’s leadership and our delegation’s efforts to secure these critical investments.”

“Funding in the infrastructure package for Puget Sound, salmon recovery and fish passage improvements gives us the chance to make significant progress now,” said Laura Blackmore, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership. “We’re seeing the effects of climate change on our environment already. We need funding at a scale to address big issues—like salmon recovery, fish passage, and ecosystem restoration—with urgency. We’re grateful to Senators Cantwell and Murray for their leadership and passion in working to secure funding that helps us meet these challenges.”

“Our lands and waters are part of America’s infrastructure. Like good roads and bridges, healthy watersheds are critical to the safety and well-being of our families and the economic growth of our communities,” said Mike Stevens, Washington State Director for The Nature Conservancy.  “This legislation includes game-changing investments in fish passage, community-based habitat restoration, Puget Sound recovery and Pacific salmon habitat restoration. Senator Cantwell was critical to making this bi-partisan package come together in ways that make us all stronger in the face of a changing climate and help us meet our commitments to Tribal nations and overburdened communities. The Nature Conservancy looks forward to working with Senator Cantwell to ensure the legislation makes it to the President’s desk for signature.”

A full description of the infrastructure bill’s impacts on Washington state can be found HERE.

The full text of the infrastructure package is available HERE.