Saving Seafood

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

CARES Act relief funding straggles into 2021

January 19, 2021 — As 2020 drew to a close, one-third of the USD 300 million (EUR 246 million) in aid set aside for the fishing industry through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act remained for delivery as states labored to complete distributions.

Lagging farthest behind were Alaska and Washington state, the nation’s top volume seafood producers, and at USD 50 million (EUR 41 million) each the largest designated shares of the aid package. The states finally released their final draft spending plans on 7 December and 8 December, for approval by NMFS.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: UniSea’s Unalaska plant locked down after COVID-19 outbreak

January 14, 2021 — Redmond, Washington, U.S.A.-based UniSea has partially locked down its seafood processing facility in Unalaska, Alaska, after seven of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The company, which is owned by Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui), is in the process of testing most of the staff at the facility and conducting contract tracing to determine the full scale of the outbreak, according to KUCB.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

More management measures lead to healthier fish populations

January 12, 2021 — The study, led by Michael Melnychuk of the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, draws upon the expertise of more than two dozen researchers from 17 regions around the world. The research team analyzed the management practices of nearly 300 fish populations to tease out patterns that lead to healthier fisheries across different locations. Their findings confirmed, through extensive data analysis, what many researchers have argued for several years.

“In general, we found that more management attention devoted to fisheries is leading to better outcomes for fish and shellfish populations,” Melnychuk said. “While this won’t be surprising to some, the novelty of this work was in assembling the data required and then using statistical tools to reveal this pattern across hundreds of marine populations.”

The research team used an international database that is the go-to scientific resource on the status of more than 600 individual fish populations They chose to analyze 288 populations that generally are of value economically and represent a diversity of species and regions. They then looked over time at each fish population’s management practices and were able to draw these conclusions:

  • In regions of the world where fish and shellfish populations are well studied, overall fisheries management intensity has steadily increased over the past half century
  • As fisheries management measures are implemented, fishing pressure is usually reduced toward sustainable levels, and population abundance usually increases toward healthy targets
  • If fish populations become depleted as a result of overfishing, a rebuilding plan may be implemented. These plans tend to immediately decrease fishing pressure and allow populations to recover
  • If strong fisheries management systems are put in place early enough, then overfishing can be avoided and large, sustainable catches can be harvested annually, rendering emergency measures like rebuilding plans unnecessary

Read the full story at Science Daily

Alaska’s Peter Pan doubles down on value addition with Northwest Fish merger

January 11, 2021 — Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Northwest Fish and Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A.-based McKinley Capital Management have beat out Trident Seafoods, Canfisco, and Silver Bay Seafoods to scoop up the assets of Peter Pan Seafood Co. from Japanese conglomerate Maruha Nichiro.

The sale, which was announced by Maruha Nichiro in November 2020, was finalized on 31 December, 2020. Northwest Fish and McKinley collaborated with London, United Kingdom-based RRG Investments on the transaction. Peter Pan Seafood Co. now comprises Peter Pan Seafood’s assets and the value-added sales channels of Northwest Fish Co. The new ownership group is Rodger May of Northwest Fish, the Na’-Nuk Investment Fund (managed by McKinley Capital Management), and the RRG Global Partners Fund (managed by RRG Capital Management).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pacific sea otter reintroduction gets nudge from Congress

January 8, 2021 — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed this year’s federal budget, which includes a directive to study sea otter reintroduction in the Pacific Northwest.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley for Oregon added the paragraph to the federal budget bill that directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study the feasibility and cost of reestablishing the marine mammals where they were once hunted to near-extinction along the Pacific coast in Oregon and Washington, the Northwest News Network reported.

“I’m very pleased. This is very timely,” said Bob Bailey, who leads the Elakha Alliance, a group that wants to bring wild sea otters back to Oregon. His organization, named after the Clatsop-Chinookan word for sea otter, prompted congressional action and already launched its own feasibility study based in Oregon.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Lewiston Tribune

Cooke Aquaculture gets key permits for steelhead transition in Washington

January 7, 2021 — Washington’s Department of Ecology has revised four water quality permits to Cooke Aquaculture to farm steelhead in net-pens it formerly used to raise Atlantic salmon.

Cooke had already received approval from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, though conservation groups have sued to block their issuance. The facilities are located near Bainbridge Island and La Conner, and are now permitted for steelhead, also known as rainbow trout.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishing industry among the hardest hit by COVID-19

December 17, 2020 — If you’re eating seafood in the US, there is a good chance it came through Seattle. Data from 2017 show more than 150 million pounds of seafood worth nearly $500 million came through the city on the sound. But COVID-19 is changing everything.

A new study published in the Journal of Fish and Fisheries found that seafood imports, exports, and catches were all down around 40% compared to 2019. A colossal decline.

“We were scared, just like everybody. Not only with the health concerns and people getting sick, and then financially we just bought the business a couple years ago from our boss and it was pretty quiet, pretty sleepy down here,” said Ryan Reese, one of the owners of Pike Place Fish Market.

Just like everyone else, they’ve had to adjust during the pandemic.

“We’ve converted our whole operation like a little shipping factory and so we’ve really changed our focus from over the counter service to trying really hard to drive our online presence,” said Reese.

Read the full story at FOX 17

Senator Cantwell Touts Coast Guard Wins in Final NDAA Bill, Provisions Supporting USCG Women and Families

December 11, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) authored and helped secure key Coast Guard and environmental priorities in the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act, which passed the Senate today by a vote of 84-13 as part of the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. The Coast Guard Reauthorization Act includes provisions to promote the recruitment and retention of women in the Coast Guard, formally authorize six polar icebreakers, strengthen oil spill prevention measures, and establish new protections for Southern resident orcas. The legislation was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last July and included in this year’s NDAA. The NDAA passed the House of Representatives earlier this week by a vote of 335-78.

Provisions Cantwell helped secure as part of the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act will:

Support Coast Guard women and families

  • The legislation makes significant improvements to the Coast Guard policies needed to recruit, retain, and invest in women in the Coast Guard. A 2019 report titled Why Do Women Leave the Coast Guard, and What Can Be Done to Encourage Them to Stay? made a number of recommendations to help improve retention of women in the Coast Guard. The bill requires the Commandant implement these recommendations.
  • The bill creates two new advisory boards to support women throughout their Coast Guard careers, from the academy to leadership. Both advisory boards would bring recommendations to support women serving in the Coast Guard directly to the Commandant to ensure women’s voices are heard.
  • The legislation requires the Coast Guard to create a public strategy to improve leadership development and improve the culture of inclusion and diversity in the Coast Guard. The bill also includes a number of reforms to improve diversity and inclusion at the Coast Guard Academy.
  • It also creates new programs and resources to improve access to child care for Coast Guard families, which women have identified as a key barrier to long-term success in the Coast Guard.
  • The bill establishes a public-private partnership pilot program to expand access to childcare facilities for Coast Guard children in underserved areas.
  • It also establishes procedures to enable more Coast Guard family child care centers to be established in off base housing, creating entrepreneurship opportunities for interested spouses as well as additional childcare options for Coast Guard families.
  • Senator Cantwell has worked to improve access to medical care for Coast Guard members and families, especially for members serving in remote locations. This directs the Government Accountability Office to do a thorough analysis to identify access barriers to medical care for all Coast Guard members and families, especially members stationed in remote areas.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Cantwell highlighted the impact these reforms could have on women serving in the Coast Guard: “[We are] Instituting new reforms within the Coast Guard to really help and empower women… and to make sure that they have what they need, [including] vital child care opportunities for Coast Guard families. And to make sure there is zero tolerance in the approach to any kind of sexual assault or sexual harassment.”

Authorize six icebreakers and advance U.S. Arctic leadership

  • The legislation formally authorizes six icebreakers, including three heavy icebreakers that the Coast Guard intends to homeport in Seattle.
  • U.S. currently has only has two operational polar icebreakers, while Russia has fifty-three icebreakers and Canada has seven.
  • Icebreakers are critical to protecting U.S. interests in the polar regions, gathering data for scientific research, and responding to oil spills in some of the world’s most remote areas. And as climate change has increasingly melted Arctic sea ice, the Arctic regions have increasingly become important to commercial activity—shipping via the Northern Sea route can decrease shipping transit times by as much as two weeks.

WA submits draft plan to distribute $50 million in federal relief funding to commercial fishing, shellfish and charter industry members

December 10, 2020 — The state announced this week that it has submitted a draft plan for how to distribute $50 million in federal relief funding to members of Washington’s commercial seafood, shellfish and charter industries to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries (NOAA-Fisheries) for review and approval.

Under Section 12005 of the CARES Act, Congress provided $300 million to states to distribute to fisheries participants with Washington and Alaska receiving the highest allocation of $50 million each.

“The pandemic had early and dramatic impacts to shellfish and commercial fishing businesses. These activities play an outsized role in our state, especially in our tribal and natural resources dependent economies,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “I am pleased that we will soon have more assistance available to help these hurting businesses recover.”

“Submitting this plan for federal review brings us one step closer to getting this funding into the hands of commercial fishing and shellfish industry members who need it most,” said Ron Warren, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish policy director. “We applaud Washington’s congressional delegation for securing this relief for members of Washington’s commercial seafood, shellfish and charter industries.”

Read the full story at KBKW