Saving Seafood

Washington taking comment on permits for Atlantic salmon fish farms

January 4, 2019 — The state Department of Ecology is taking comment now on permits for four Cooke Aquaculture Atlantic salmon farms — three in Kitsap County and one in Skagit Bay.

Farming Atlantic salmon in net pens is officially banned from Puget Sound starting in 2022.

Ecology is using the investigation from the 2017 Cypress Island net pen collapse to mandate more protective permit requirements.

Cooke Aquaculture, the only company farming Atlantic salmon in Washington state, lost its lease in Port Angeles in 2017.

Ecology is accepting comments on the permit through Feb. 25 and will make a final determination after reviewing them.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Daily News

Whale entanglements on the West Coast rise again in 2018, is this the new normal?

January 2, 2019 — News this month that the number of whales found entangled off the West Coast had decreased in 2017 prompted optimism among some. But, already preliminary numbers for 2018 are headed back toward the record highs of just a few years ago.

While whale entanglements in U.S. waters were slightly above the 10-year average in 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Dec. 6 that West Coast numbers were nearly half the 2015 and 2016 stats. Of the 31 entangles whales reported in 2017, 25 were in the waters off California – humpbacks who like to feed on anchovies in the central coast areas fished for crab and prawn led the way, but gray whales were not far behind.

NOAA’s preliminary 2018 numbers report 45 entangled whales confirmed in the waters off Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California; 35 of which were found off California. Many of the struggling whales have been sighted off Orange County and Monterey – two areas that federal officials say are bustling with boaters, fishing and whales. Final numbers are expected in March.

Read the full story at The San Jose Mercury News

WASHINGTON: 2.75 million salmon fry distributed to Gig Harbor hatchery after 6.2 million died in power outage

December 27, 2018 — Windstorms on Dec. 14 caused the power outage at the Gig Harbor state-run hatchery. A backup generator that would have powered a pump that supplies water to the incubators failed, and 6.2 million chinook salmon fry destined for release in Deschutes, Minter Creek and White River died.

Now, up to 2.75 million excess chinook fry — which accounts for less than half of the fry that were lost — will be transferred to the Minter Creek Hatchery to replace those salmon, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a Monday news release.

“This won’t fully replace the salmon lost last week, but it will allow us to put a significant number of fish into these waters next year,” WDFW Director Kelly Susewind said in the release. “I want to thank our tribal co-managers and federal partners for helping to make this happen.”

The replacement fry came from six other hatcheries. The move was approved by NOAA Fisheries on Friday, and the fish are set to be released in May and June of 2019.

Before the power outage on Dec. 14, 507,000 salmon were set to be released in White River, intended to provide food for Southern Resident orcas. The remaining 5.7 million salmon fry were part of ongoing operations to support state fisheries.

“Losing those fish was a painful setback for state and tribal fishers, for the communities that depend on fishing, and for Southern Resident orcas that feed on chinook,” Susewind said.

Read the full story at SeattlePI

DEAN TAKKO: Shellfish farming, the lifeblood of Pacific County, faces extinction

December 21, 2018 — There’s a growing threat driving the county’s economy toward utter catastrophe.

The county’s largest base of employment is on the verge of collapse, putting at risk thousands of family-wage jobs. Family-owned businesses are facing the prospect of absolute ruin, as an entire industry that’s existed for more than a century is pushed to the brink of extinction.

If this threat remains unchecked, the impact across the county’s economy — and the thousands of families who live and work here — will be devastating.

No, I’m not talking about King County.

If I were, you can bet that state officials would be doing all they could to address the threat, treat it like the dire emergency that it is, and ensure the scenario outlined above doesn’t come to pass.

But because I’m talking about rural Pacific County in remote southwest Washington, state officials feel perfectly content to look the other way as our jobs, businesses and our entire rural economy tremble in the balance.

Willapa Bay is the largest producer of farmed shellfish in the entire U.S. The shellfish industry is the largest employer in Pacific County and the backbone of the rural economy, responsible for more than 2,000 family-wage jobs and $102 million in annual economic output.

Read the full opinion piece at The Seattle Times

Groups: US must consider how salmon fishing hurts orcas

December 19, 2018 — The federal government is violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to consider how salmon fishing off the West Coast is affecting endangered killer whales, two conservation groups said Tuesday as they threatened a lawsuit.

The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity and the Washington state-based Wild Fish Conservancy notified President Donald Trump’s administration they intend to file a lawsuit within 60 days unless officials reevaluate whether the fishing further jeopardizes orcas that frequent the inland waters of the Pacific Northwest.

“We can’t allow business as usual in the salmon fisheries while Southern Resident killer whales are starving to death,” Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release.

The orcas’ plight has received much attention this year as scientists warn that they’re on the brink of extinction. There are just 74 left, the lowest number since more than 50 were captured for aquarium display in the 1970s, and no calf born in the last three years has survived. One mother whale captured attention around the world this summer when she carried her dead calf on her head for 17 days in an apparent attempt to revive it.

Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced what he called a “herculean” $1.1 billion plan to help the population recover. The Democrat said the money would go toward protecting and restoring habitat for salmon, especially chinook, the orcas’ favored prey; boosting production from salmon hatcheries; storm-water cleanup; and quieting vessel traffic, which can interfere with the whales’ hunting and communication.

But conservationists say more must be done. While a federal judge has ordered the government to consider boosting salmon runs by breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River, that prospect remains highly controversial and Republicans in Congress have vowed to oppose it.

Unlike other populations of orcas, which feed on marine mammals including seals, the southern residents eat salmon — primarily chinook. The conservation groups said Tuesday that one way to help them immediately would be to catch fewer salmon off the coast, where the whales spend their winters.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

WASHINGTON: 6.2 million salmon fry in incubators die during power outages

December 19, 2018 — Millions of salmon fry were killed during last week’s power outages.

The fry were in incubators at the Minter Creek Hatchery in Gig Harbor. The pump that supplies water to the incubators lost power, and the backup generator failed. As many as 6.2 million chinook salmon fry died, according to a news release from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

“This is a devastating loss,” Eric Kinne, WDFW hatchery division manager, said in the release. “The department is conducting an analysis to determine the root cause of what went wrong so that we can improve procedures at Minter Creek and our other hatcheries to help ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Read the full story at SeattlePI

West Coast trawlers on pace to hit annual Petrale sole quota

December 19, 2018 — West Coast trawlers were on pace to land their respectful IFQ shares of Petrale sole for the 2018 season in early November. Trawlers had landed 4.32 million pounds — about 75 percent — of a 5.79 million-pound quota.

Though the stocks have been declared rebuilt, the fleet saw a slight reduction in the quota for 2018. Last year’s 2017 harvest came in at 6.07 million pounds, which exceeded the 6.05 million-pound quota.

“These guys are still catching a little, as they’re still in shallow since summer,” said Scott Adams, with Hallmark Fisheries in Charleston, Ore.

As the season progresses toward winter, the fish congregate into tighter schools, which means more plentiful hauls for the trawlers.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

WASHINGTON: 6.2 million Chinook Salmon fry die after power outage at hatchery

December 18, 2018 — Last week’s windstorm cut the power to the Minter Creek Hatchery in Pierce County, in turn causing 6.2 million Chinook Salmon fry to die. The back up generator failed which caused the pumps that brought water into the tanks to fail.

The fish were kept in incubators at the hatchery. According to a press release from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the inventory of fish lost are 4.2 million Deshutes fall Chinook fry, 1.5 million Minter Creek fall Chinook fry and 507,000 White River spring Chinook fry.

“It’s a severe loss. It’s a challenge to try to recover from something like this. This particular species is not as age-class sensitive as other salmon species. But this is going to have a significant impact on adult returns,” said Jim Jenkins, WDFW South Puget Sound Hatchery Operations Manager.

Read the full story at KOMO

Dungeness crab season delayed until year-end

December 12, 2018 — The commercial Dungeness crab fishery along the US West Coast has been delayed until at least Dec. 30 due to low meat yields, Washington state officials said in a press release.

According to the rules of a tri-state process that governs commercial Dungeness fishing in Washington, Oregon and northern California, harvesting for the species will be delayed as portions of the fishery in each state do not meet the minimum meat yield requirements to make harvesting commercially viable.

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the tri-state rules require that a delay is required if, after two rounds of testing, crabs don’t yield enough meat — the standard is 23% yields for crabs caught north of Cascade Head, Oregon, and 25% for crabs caught south of it — then a delay is required.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Catch limits increase for key West Coast groundfish species

December 12, 2018 — Federal officials said Tuesday they are increasing catch limits for several species of West Coast groundfish that were severely depleted more than a dozen years ago in a crisis that posed a threat to the commercial and sports fishing industries.

Limits for yelloweye rockfish will more than double, while substantial increases will be allowed for California scorpionfish, bocaccio and Pacific Ocean perch, the National Marine Fisheries Service said.

Those species have recovered enough to allow for the greatest expansion of a West Coast fishery in years. The formal announcement of the revised catch limits will be published Wednesday and the changes go into effect on Jan. 1, the first day of the new fishing season.

Fishing income in California, Oregon and Washington could increase $60 million because of the changes, with the potential for 900 new jobs and at least 200,000 more angler trips a year, according to a preliminary report.

“It’ll actually allow us to fish,” said Tom Marking, a recreational fisherman from Eureka, California.

“Right now, there are a lot of places you just avoid because they’re known as yelloweye hot spots. You just stay away from them. If they allow us to go to 30 fathoms or 40 fathoms or all depths, it’ll allow the fleet to spread out.”

Between 1999 and 2002, nine West Coast groundfish stocks were declared overfished as surveys documented declining numbers.

Read the full story from the Associated Press