Saving Seafood

Seattle company debuts high-tech, sustainable fishing vessel

September 7, 2016 — SEATTLE — A new commercial fishing vessel, built in Washington, is charting new territory for sustainability and crew safety.

The F/V Blue North is a 191 foot freezer longliner owned by Seattle based Blue North Fisheries. The vessel was designed in Norway and built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes.

“I’m kind of pinching myself – we are finally here – we’ve got it,” said Patrick Burns who is the co-founder of Blue North. “It’s a state of the art vessel.”

The $36 million fishing boat has been under construction for several years. It was delivered last week and has been receiving some final touches at Seattle’s Pier 91 as it prepares to make fishing history in Alaska’s Bering Sea.

“This vessel is a game changer – it’s the greenest, most sustainable and highest tech commercial fishing vessel that’s ever been built in the United State and possibly the world,” said Kenny Down, President and CEO of Blue North Fisheries.

There is no other vessel like it in the Alaska hook and line cod fishery.

Read the full story at KOMO

Salmon Farming On The Rise In Washington

August 22, 2016 — Human travelers have interstates 5 and 90. Salish Sea salmon have the Juan de Fuca Strait.

It’s the route that they all swim on their way to and from the wide Pacific — the salmon from the Elwha and all the rivers of Puget Sound, plus many salmon returning to Canada’s Fraser River, which are the main local food source for Puget Sound orcas and have always formed the bulk of Puget Sound’s commercial catch.

Now, Icicle Seafoods —  recently acquired by Canada’s Cooke Seafood — wants to raise Atlantic salmon in 9.7 acres of salmon net pens in the strait, just east of Port Angeles, Washington.

Although it has its critics, salmon aquaculture isn’t new in Puget Sound — and certainly not elsewhere. British Columbia aquaculture produces salmon worth nearly half a billion (Canadian) dollars a year. And B.C. is a minnow compared to the salmon-raising industries of Norway (where salmon aquaculture is booming) and Chile (where it’s not.)

Icicle already has eight salmon aquaculture operations in the Sound, including one at Port Angeles tucked in behind Ediz Hook. The company’s plan for putting pens out in the Strait has been driven by U.S. Navy plans to expand its base on Ediz Hook, which won’t physically displace the existing pens but will ruin the neighborhood for salmon. Pile driving for the Navy project, scheduled to begin late this year, would actually kill salmon in nearby pens. Icicle has decided to move its operation.

Under Icicle’s planned new development, 14 circular pens, each 126 feet in diameter, would be kept in place by a network of two-to- four-ton steel anchors. The new pens would produce 20 percent more salmon than the old. They would be the first anchored this far offshore in Washington waters.

Read the full story at Oregon Public Broadcasting

Rarely seen Arctic seal spotted in Washington State – 2,000 miles from home

August 19, 2016 — A rarely seen pinniped that inhabits sub-Arctic and Arctic waters – from the Bering Sea north to the Chukchi Sea – has been spotted 2,000 miles from home, on a beach in Washington state.

Biologists spotted a single ribbon seal hauled out on Long Beach Peninsula on Tuesday, and captured a few images before the seal returned to the water.

The extraordinary sighting marks the second time in four years that a ribbon seal has appeared so far south of its typical range. The other was 2012, when a ribbon seal was spotted twice in the Seattle area.

After that sighting, Peter Boveng, leader of the polar ecosystem program with the National Marine Fisheries Service, told the Associated Press, “There are not many people who see these regularly.”

Read the full story at GrindTV

Coral reefs need fish urine to thrive

August 17, 2016 — SEATTLE — Coral reefs offer many fish species camouflage and a variety of nooks and crannies in which to hide. In return, fish offer their urine.

It’s not exactly a symbiotic relationship, but it’s a pretty good deal for both parties. When they pee, fish release phosphorous, a vital nutrient. They also excrete nitrogen in the form of ammonium through their gills, another important food for coral.

New research suggests a lack of fish pee explains the lack of nutrients surrounding coral in waters where commercial fishing is common.

The research was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

“Part of the reason coral reefs work is because animals play a big role in moving nutrients around,” lead study author Jacob Allgeier, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, explained in a news release.

“Fish hold a large proportion, if not most of the nutrients in a coral reef in their tissue, and they’re also in charge of recycling them,” Allgeier said. “If you take the big fish out, you’re removing all of those nutrients from the ecosystem.”

Read the full story at UPI

NOAA Establishes Marine Mammal Bycatch Criteria for U.S. Imports

August 16, 2016 — WASHINGTON – Nations that export fish and fish products into the U.S. will now have to meet the same standards for protecting marine mammals that American fishermen follow.

NOAA Fisheries published its final ruling last week which forces trade partners to show that killing or injuring marine mammals incidental to fishing or bycatch in their export fisheries do not exceed U.S. standards.

“Fishing gear entanglements or accidental catch is a global threat to marine mammal populations,” said Eileen Sobeck, the assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. “Establishing these bycatch criteria mark a significant step forward in the global conservation of marine mammals.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

U.S. appeals court upholds Pacific whiting fishing quotas

August 8, 2016 — A federal appeals court upheld the government’s annual fishing quotas Thursday for the Pacific whiting, which dwells near the ocean floor off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.

A vessel owner and a fish processor, both from Washington state, filed suit in San Francisco challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s limits on harvesting the whiting, which took effect in 2011. The rules, aimed at preserving the fish supply and discouraging frenzied activity at the outset of the fishing season, assigned each permit-holder a share of the overall catch based on their shares in past years — 2003 for fish harvesters, and 2004 for processors. Those years coincided with the start of the government’s rule-making process.

Other fishing companies and the Environmental Defense Fund supported the quotas. Their opponents argued that the selection of past years was arbitrary and violated a law requiring federal officials to take into account “present participation in the fishery” and “dependence on the fishery” when setting limits.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

University of Washington scientist launches effort to digitize all fish

July 27, 2016 — SEATTLE — University of Washington biology professor Adam Summers no longer has to coax hospital staff to use their CT scanners so he can visualize the inner structures of stingray and other fish.

Last fall, he installed a small computed tomography, or CT, scanner at the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan Island in Washington state and launched an ambitious project to scan and digitize all of more than 25,000 species in the world.

The idea is to have one clearinghouse of CT scan data freely available to researchers anywhere to analyze the morphology, or structure, of particular species.

So far, he and others have digitized images of more than 500 species, from poachers to sculpins, from museum collections around the globe. He plans to add thousands more and has invited other scientists to use the CT scanner, or add their own scans to the open-access database.

“We have folks coming from all over the world to use this machine,” said Summers, who advised Pixar on how fish move for its hit animated films “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory” and is dubbed “fabulous fish guy” on the credits for “Nemo.”

He raised $340,000 to buy the CT scanner in November. Like those used in hospitals, the CT scanner takes X-ray images from various angles and combines them to create three-dimensional images of the fish.

With each CT scan he posted to the Open Science Framework, a sharing website, people would ask him, “What are you going to scan next?” He would respond: “I want to scan them all. I want to scan all fish.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard-Times

U.S. House Makes Strong Statement Against Marine Monument

July 14, 2016 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

WASHINGTON (NCFC) — The U.S. House of Representatives made a strong statement against the declaration of marine monuments last night, passing an amendment offered by Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-New York) to bar funding for the designation of any National Marine Monuments by the President.  The amendment to H.R. 5538, the Fiscal Year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, passed the House by a vote of 225-202. Congressman Zeldin represents a coastal district and the fishing hub of eastern Long Island, N.Y.

Yesterday, National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) members the Garden State Seafood Association (NJ), the Red Crab Harvesters Association (MA), the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, and Blue Water Fisheries Inc. (NY) asked fellow NCFC members to reach out to their representatives to support the amendment. The Montauk Tilefish Association (NY) and the Monkfish Defense Fund joined them in calling for support for the amendment.

Mr. Zeldin explained that he offered the amendment to keep commercial fishermen from losing access to important fishing areas through Marine Monument Designations. Opposition to the amendment was led by Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-Massachusetts) and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).

“As we heard at a field hearing in Riverhead, New York, unilateral marine monument designations override the current public process of established fisheries management and threatens the livelihood of the U.S. fishing industry,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah).

“Congressman Zeldin’s amendment brings us one step closer to protecting local economies while safeguarding local input in management decisions,” Chairman Bishop continued. “Many Presidents—but not all—have used the Antiquities Act, but they use it sparingly. Only a few Administrations, including this one, have abused the Act. President Obama has a long history of abusing the Antiquities Act, locking up land and water with the stroke of a pen.”

“We applaud Congressman Zeldin for his leadership on protecting fishermen both in his district here on Long Island, and across America,” said Bonnie Brady of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.

Marine Monuments are large areas of ocean where commercial fishing would be banned without consulting the local community, fishermen, or regional fishery managers. Mr. Zeldin’s amendment mandates that, “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to declare a national monument under section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, in the exclusive economic zone of the United States established by Proclamation Numbered 5030, dated March 10, 1983.”

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate. Any differences between the House and Senate bills must be worked out between the two bodies, and a final bill is expected to be passed by both chambers before Sept. 30. Should the amendment survive the conference process, it will complicate the Obama Administration’s ability to act. While it would not stop a declaration, it would not allow funds to be spent to implement a declaration.

In 2014, President Obama declared a 407,000 square mile National Marine Monument in the Pacific Ocean where commercial fishing was banned and recreational fishing was severely limited.

Now important fishing areas in the Northwest Atlantic, on the West Coast, and in Alaska, where fishermen have worked for centuries, are under consideration for Monument designations with little public input and no transparency.

In a letter to House colleagues, Mr. Zeldin stated that there is an emerging national consensus that “any efforts to create marine protected areas in the EEZ must be done through the transparent and consultative process laid out by the landmark Magnuson-Stevens fishery conservation law. No one is more invested in protecting America’s waters from overfishing than the hardworking families who rely upon fishing for their livelihoods.”

WASHINGTON: ‘Salmon Cannon’ helps move fish over dams

July 13, 2016 — YAKIMA, Wash. — Deep in the Yakima River Canyon, the fish were practically flying.

Soaring 100 feet above the river at speeds up to 20 mph, spring chinook were shooting through a tube designed to carry salmon over dams in seconds, at far lower cost and faster construction than traditional fish ladders.

“We’re pretty excited about the possibility of using this type of technology; it’s such an efficient way to move fish,” said Walt Larrick, project manager with the Bureau of Reclamation, which has pledged to build fish passage at the five dams it operates in the Yakima Basin.

Nicknamed the “Salmon Cannon,” the system is basically a flexible sleeve that seals around each salmon so that only a small amount of air pressure is needed to fling the fish. A biologist at Roza Dam’s fish collection facility feeds them into the tube, and about 35 seconds later, they land in a hatchery truck parked 1,100 feet upriver.

Got questions about sustainable seafood? He has answers.

July 12, 2016 — For Barton Seaver, improving seafood sustainability begins by starting conversations. The chef turned author and sustainability advocate spends his time making connections between academics and business people, producers and consumers, sustainability and health. With his new cookbook, “Two If by Sea,” he has also created recipes that help people understand their options when it comes to eating sustainable seafood.

In the cookbook, Seaver seeks to make seafood approachable by identifying more than 70 varieties of fish — some familiar, some less familiar. He looks at seafood by flavor profile and identifies cooking techniques including poaching, pan-roasting, brining, and smoking that work best for different varieties.

Seaver, who was named chef of the year by Esquire in 2009, left his Washington restaurants for South Freeport, Maine, in 2010 to be closer to a working waterfront and the fisheries he is looking to sustain. He is now director of the Sustainable Seafood and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is a fellow with the National Geographic Society. In his Harvard role, he often works with businesses to make connections between their sustainability and employee wellness initiatives. “One of the things about sustainability is that when we choose to buy products, there’s another equal and opposite action. That is, we are not buying another product. If I put salmon on my dinner plate tonight, I’m not putting beef on,” he says.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe