December 30, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The NPFMC will meet January 27 – February 2, 2020, at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle. The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. If you’re planning a flight, you can use the EasyBiz Discount Code: ECMC935. You can submit and review comments through each Agenda Item and the deadline for comments is Friday, January 24, 2020, at 12:00 pm (Alaska time).
December 20, 2019 — The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board (WSRFB) announced Monday over $26 million in grants for projects across Washington that aim to help revive salmon populations, which have long been in decline due to developmental infrastructure that ignores them.
Twenty-eight of the state’s 39 counties will receive the funds distributed across 96 projects.
Investments will be targeted to remove barriers that prevent salmon from migrating, increase available salmon habitats and conserve important ecological areas surrounding them.
Projects are selected in collaboration with local watershed-based groups including tribes, local governments, nonprofits and citizens. They are designed to fit community priorities while addressing state and federal issues surrounding salmon ecology.
Jefferson County will receive the largest donation, with more than $3 million for the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement group to remove and replace the U.S. Route 101 causeway and related projects.
Skagit County will receive the second largest grant in western Washington at $1,952,176, and King County will receive $1,536,826.
December 18, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):
Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-2), joined by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), and U.S. Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), Greg Walden (R-OR-2), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3), Kurt Schrader (D-OR-5), and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1), today announced a major, bipartisan victory for West Coast trawlers in the 2020 spending bill that passed the House today.
December 17, 2019 — Roughly 100 years worth of tiny shells resting on the Southern California seafloor have revealed an alarming trend that could spell trouble for the West Coast seafood industry, a new study says.
The research, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that the Pacific Ocean along California is acidifying twice as fast as the global average, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a news release on the findings.
Acidification is a serious threat for the seafood industry, researchers said, explaining that “California coastal waters contain some of our nation’s more economically valuable fisheries, including salmon, crabs and shellfish. Yet, these fisheries are also some of the most vulnerable to the potential harmful effects of ocean acidification on marine life.”
Researchers said the findings looked at “the progression of ocean acidification in the California Current Ecosystem through the twentieth century.” That ecosystem extends from southern British Columbia in Canada to Baja California in Mexico, encompassing the Washington and Oregon coasts, according to NOAA.
December 13, 2019 — With the danger of whale entanglements eased, the Dungeness crab season for central California will open Sunday. But lackluster meat quality led Northwest state fisheries manager to delay opening other coastal areas until the New Year.
Officials from California, Oregon and Washington state wildlife agencies conferred Dec. 6 and agreed on the delay, citing meat recovery values still below 25 percent in areas on the northern coast. The continuing closure will remain in effect from Point Arena, Calif., north to the Canadian border, “through December 3, 2019 at least,” according to a joint statement issued through the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Testing protocols specify season delays for any area where sampled crabs do not meet the minimum standards for meat recovery, with additional testing before a new opening date can be set. The state agencies are sampling again in mid-December with an eye to having complete results Dec. 20.
It’s a rocky start to the beginning of the winter fishery that has had more than its share of problems, from domoic acid to marine mammal conflicts. The California opener originally set for Nov. 22 was delayed, after the Bodega Bay crabbing fleet voted to voluntarily hold back from deploying their gear until a large number of endangered humpback whales had finished feeding in their nearshore zone.
December 10, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — State fishery managers confirmed Friday the primary Dungeness crab season will be delayed until after Christmas in Washington, Oregon and California due to spotty meat quality. The delay will last until at least Dec. 31.
Some areas showed improvement in the last month to meet season-opening criteria of either 23 or 25 percent, depending on the area. However, too many areas in between the improved areas were still below the thresholds and managers decided to delay the season from the U.S./Canadian border to Point Arena, Calif., again to let the crab fill out more.
The third round of meat recovery testing will be conducted sometime in mid–December, targeting completion by Dec. 20. The results will determine if the season should open Dec. 31, be further delayed or be split into separate areas with different opening dates.
Industry members in all three states generally agreed with the decision, choosing to wait in the hopes the whole coast can open at once. The delay will also ensure consumers get the best and fullest crab available with the season does open.
But not everyone was happy with the decision. Some fishermen were counting on a big payday in December to cover bills. Other fishermen simply wanted to access full, healthy crab after seasons in which some ports had to wait while domoic acid levels dropped or the crab became fuller.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said last year’s delayed crab season opening still brought in the second-highest ex-vessel value ever, $66.7 million, with 18.7 million pounds landed, just above the 10-year average.
In central California, crabbers are getting anxious to drop their gear. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham in late November delayed the season until mid-December after a survey showed 49 humpback and four blue whales in the area. A subsequent survey on Dec. 3 showed four humpback whales and one blue whale present in the same survey area.
This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
December 10, 2019 — The hunters paddled frantically, closing in on their target. When they drew near, one of them stood in the cedar canoe and thrust a harpoon into the spine of the 30-foot gray whale.
With the help of fishing boats, the men towed their catch into a small cove in Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, where hundreds of fellow Makah tribal members greeted them like heroes. People hugged and cried. They celebrated what felt like the return of better days.
It was 1999, and the tribe’s first successful whale hunt in seven decades. It was also their last.
The Makah are the only Native Americans who have a treaty with the United States government that explicitly allows them to hunt whales. But they have not because of a protracted administrative and legal battle waged by conservationists and animal rights activists, who call the practice “barbaric” and have generated a wave of negative sentiment against the tribe.
The two-decade tussle could flare in the coming weeks over a proposal that would allow the Makah to resume whaling as early as next year. Tribal members say the struggle goes beyond their right to hunt, and see it as a fight over restoring Native identity, honoring indigenous treaty rights and respecting age-old traditions.
“People argue that you haven’t done it for 70 years, you don’t need to do it anymore,” said Patrick DePoe, 37, a member of the Makah tribal council. “They’re not Makah. They don’t understand what it means for us.”
An administrative law judge was scheduled to hear arguments Thursday on a proposal by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to exempt the Makah from the federal ban on whaling. The exemption would allow the tribe to catch as many as four Eastern North Pacific gray whales every two years for the next decade.
December 2, 2019 — Canada’s Cooke has reportedly paid $2.75 million to settle a lawsuit with NGO Wild Fish Conservancy, brought after the collapse of 10 Atlantic salmon pens in the US state of Washington in 2017.
The lawsuit — brought in November 2017 by the Northwest arm of the NGO — was set to go to court in Seattle on Dec. 3. On Nov. 27, myclallamcounty.com reported comments from Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the NGO, announcing the settlement. Cooke then confirmed the settlement to Undercurrent News.
“This afternoon, Cooke agreed to a settlement over the Clean Water Act violations with us. It was a $2.75m settlement,” said Beardslee. About half of the settlement will pay for legal expenses, he said.
The rest of it’s going to the Rose Foundation, which is going to be opening up to receive grant opportunities “for helping to save wild salmon and killer whales”, said Beardslee.
“Out of respect for the judicial process, we will not comment on the settlement contents given that this agreement takes effect upon entry by the court,” said a spokesman for Cooke.
November 21, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Fishermen who were expecting payments from the 2016 Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fishery disaster relief in December will have to wait until March to receive their checks, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Many Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission permit holder applicants misreported their crew percentages or did not list any crew at all, said Karla Bush, the Fish and Game federal fisheries coordinator.
The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission will delay payments until after the crew member application deadline on Jan. 31.
“I know participants were expecting checks to come six to eight weeks after the Oct. 31 deadline. That’s now going to be pushed back,” Bush said.
The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission is an interstate agency that helps resource agencies and the fishing industry manage fisheries resources. Member states include Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
After crew members send in their applications, Fish and Game will match crew members to the permit holders they work for. Payments will be sent to permit holders and crew at the same time, Bush said.
Payments to crew will be deducted from the permit holder’s total disaster payment based on the crew shares provided in the permit holder’s application.
The amount each permit holder received was calculated by averaging the value of pink salmon caught in even years from 2006 to 2014, minus the value of fish caught in 2016.
However, fishermen were concerned that the payment calculation did not take into account the unique circumstances in the fishing industry.
For example, some fishermen switched from a lower volume gear type to a higher volume gear type. Others had a partial catch history instead of a full or no catch history, causing their payments to be substantially less than others who fished alongside them, according to a letter written by Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak.
To address such issues and review calculations, an appeal process was put in place. Friday was the deadline to appeal.
These payments are part of the $53.8 million approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in July to restore losses caused by a poor 2016 salmon season in the Gulf of Alaska. The areas receiving funds are Kodiak, Prince William Sound, Chignik, Lower Cook Inlet, South Alaska Peninsula, Southeast Alaska and Yakutat.
Fishery permit holders and crew will receive $31 million, fish processors will receive $17.7, municipalities will receive $2.4 million and $3.63 million will go to research.
The payments to municipalities will be based on losses of fish taxes, Bush said.
Calculations for municipality payments are not yet available because NOAA is working the office of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on the approval process.
Municipalities will use the funds for specific projects related to the pink salmon fishery such as projects that support the pink salmon fishing fleet.
“The people at NOAA grants are trying to work with the office of OMB in the White House to see at what level the projects need to be approved,” Bush said. “OMB wants to approve the list of projects that each municipality will put forward themselves. We know that that will cause some additional delays, so we hope those will be approved by Pacific States or NOAA grants and not have to be forwarded all the way to the highest level.”
Fish and Game is also waiting on fishery tax information from the Alaska Department of Revenue as a basis to calculate the payments, Bush said.
The tax information is vital before calculating the payment amount, because the Department of Revenue does a “split between the cities and boroughs and so I would expect the city of Kodiak and the Kodiak Island Borough would be getting a share of those moneys,” Bush said.
To expedite future fisheries disaster funding, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, sponsored legislation that would reform NOAA’s Fishery Resource Disaster Relief program of the National Marine Fisheries Service to expedite relief for fishermen during fishery disasters.
This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
November 19, 2019 — Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued final regulations to protect the seafloor habitat off the West Coast from bottom trawling.
The regulations cover 140,000 square miles and includes corals, sponges, rocky reefs and other important areas for marine life and ocean ecosystems. These safeguards for the living seafloor are in response to a vote by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in April 2018, which followed years of scientific input and advocacy by Oceana, which has an office in Monterey County.
Bottom trawling is described as the most damaging fishing method to seafloor habitats off the West Coast. Weighted nets are dragged to catch fish living near the seafloor and in doing so flatten, topple and crush delicate corals and sponges that provide habitat for these fish and other marine creatures.
The new regulations protect unique and important ocean areas off Washington, Oregon and California. Also included is the protection of deep-sea habitats beyond 3,500 meters depth (nearly 2 miles) below the ocean’s surface from all commercial bottom-contact fishing gear. In addition, the regulations increase fishing opportunities by allowing select re-openings in some historic fishing grounds where bottom trawling has been prohibited in recent years to recover overfished rockfish populations.