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Cannery culture, fine food at maritime history event (5/8)
State’s seafood employment promotions starting to pay off (5/8)
Homer New Seawatch. Suit could force changes to Cook Inlet fishery (5/7)
Petersburg. Annual ceremony ushers in fishing season (KFSK Audio) (5/7)
MARKETING
Editorial. Eradicating IUU fishing will come — with a price (4/14)
Better tracking could curtail illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing (4/14)
Alaska SeaGrant. Salmon Quality For Gillnet Fishermen. A series of videos suggesting ideas to maintain salmon quality during harvest
FEDERAL
Fishing vessel grounds on environmentally sensitive Alaskan island, Coast Guard removes 19,000 gallons of fuel (5/8). At the crack of dawn on a Thursday morning in early March, the captain of the fishing vessel Mar-Gun gave a call over VHF radio to the Coast Guard saying his vessel had run aground on St. George Island, Alaska, with five crew members aboard and was carrying nearly 19,000 gallons of fuel.
Staraya Beach, which where the Mar-Gun ran aground, is adjacent to an archeological site from an historic Russian Aleutian settlement. The fuel and lube oil posed an immediate threat to fur seal and sea lion rookeries, haul outs and many species of marine birds which use the area for refuge from the unforgiving Bering Sea.
Once the Coast Guard safely rescued the five crew members, efforts immediately shifted from rescue to pollution mitigation.
Due to the potential harm to the environmental and archeological area, a team of six members from the National Strike Force Pacific Strike Team were launched. It took the Pacific Strike Team 30 hours to travel from Novato, Calif., to St. George Island, Alaska, due in large part to the remoteness of the location. In the Lower 48, it would have only taken the team three to four hours, depending on where the incident was and its severity. More
Federal council acts to restrict Pacific cod fishery in Gulf of Alaska (5/8). Federal fisheries managers have approved new restrictions on who will be allowed to fish for Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, action likely to be in place for the 2011 season.
At its April meeting in Anchorage, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, voted 10-1 on the final motion to add gear-specific (pot, hook-and-line, and jig) Pacific cod endorsements to Western and Central Gulf of Alaska fixed gear license limitation program, known as LLPs.
The council's action in essence was a case of use it or lose it.
The measure, still pending the approval of the federal Department of Commerce, would require vessels to hold a Pacific cod endorsement to participate in directed Pacific cod fisheries in the Western and Central Gulf of Alaska.
Some 600 license holders in the Central Gulf and about 150 license holders in the Western Gulf who did not fish for Pacific cod during the qualifying period are now no longer qualified for that fishery. More
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers (and Fishermen) Program. The recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 has reauthorized and modified the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers (TAAF) program. The TAAF program assists eligible farmers and fisherman to adjust to a changing economic environment associated with import competition through technical assistance and cash benefits. If you are a producer of a commodity which has recently suffered from a decrease in the national average price, or the quantity of production, or value of production, or cash receipts for the agricultural commodity you produce compared to the average of the three preceding marketing years, and this decrease can be attributed importantly to an increase in imports, you may be eligible under the TAAF program to receive technical training and cash payments to develop and implement Business Adjustment Plans.
Regulations to govern this program are presently being developed and the program is not currently open to petitions/applications for benefits. Please continue to monitor this site for updates as to when the program will be available. Click on links below for a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs), and contact information for the TAAF office. Other useful information will soon be posted. More
Halibut Tagging Research in the Bering Sea (KDLG Audio/Transcript) (5/10). The commercial fishery for Pacific Halibut is currently underway across the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. That fishery has grown in value in recent years with an average ex-vessel value of about $300-million dollars in the last 5-years. Scientific research about Pacific Halibut dates back to the 1920’s but there are still questions about the movement and migration patterns of Halibut. A recent satellite tagging project in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands indicates that at least some halibut move around differently than originally thought. KDLG’s Mike Mason has more. (6:14)
New Research about Ancient Populations of North Pacific Pollock and Pacific Cod (KDLG Audio) (5/10). Some new research related to North Pacific Pollock and Pacific cod was unveiled recently at a science symposium in Anchorage. Stewart Grant with the University of Alaska unveiled research detailing the response of North Pacific Pollock and Pacific cod to climate events over hundreds of thousands of years. He noted that in the last 800-thousand years there has been tremendous variability in climate, temperature and sea levels.
Northern Bristol Bay CDQ Halibut Fishery opens soon (KDLG Audio) (5/7). On Friday May 15th the season opens for the small C-D-Q halibut fishery in Northern Bristol Bay. KDLG's Mike Mason has this preview.
GAO – challenges facing GPS (Apr 2009). The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report finding that the Global Positioning System (GPS) faces significant challenges in sustaining and upgrading widely used capabilities. While the Department of Defense and others involved in ensuring GPS can serve communities beyond the military have taken prudent steps to manage requirements and coordinate among the many organizations involved with GPS, the report identifies challenges to ensuring civilian requirements are met and ensuring GPS compatibility with other new, potentially competing global space-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems. Among other things, the report recommends that the Secretary of Defense appoint a single authority to oversee development of GPS space, ground control, and user equipment assets, to ensure they are synchronized and well executed, and to minimize potential disruptions. GAO-09-325
Request for Applications for the Position of Deputy Director of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) … apps due July 1
Cannery culture, fine food at maritime history event (5/8). A presentation about cannery culture — a topic familiar to many Kodiakans — highlights Saturday night’s Kodiak Maritime Museum fundraiser dinner, at 7 p.m. in the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center.
Tickets for the dinner are available at KodiakMaritimeMuseum.org, The Rookery and Mill Bay Coffee. The dinner features a full dinner by chef Joel Chenet.
The presentation, “Alaska’s Forgotten Shore: Uncovering Katmai Cannery Culture,” will explore life in the cannery at Kukak Bay, northwest of Kodiak across the Shelikof Strait in the present-day coastal boundaries of Katmai National Park and Preserve. It is presented by Katie Ringsmuth, president of the Alaska Historical Society and a former history teacher at the University of Alaska Anchorage. More
State’s seafood employment promotions starting to pay off (5/8). Promotions of job opportunities in seafood processing are paying off in increasing numbers of people applying for jobs, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said May 4.
"We had over 1,000 applicants in the Anchorage seafood office last week, and the week before that, over 500," said James Harvey, assistant director of the department's employment security division.
The numbers correspond with recruitment activities the department has in the office, he said. While he had no figures to compare with this period a year ago, he said he had anecdotal information that the number of applicants had increased.
The state labor department is one of several avenues through which workers may find their way into seafood processing industry employment. More
Homer New Seawatch. Suit could force changes to Cook Inlet fishery (5/7). The court could agree with all or part or none of the suit.
To understand the lawsuit takes a bit of a history lesson, according to UCIDA executive director Roland Maw. Maw said that historically the Cook Inlet salmon fishery has taken place well outside the three-mile line demarking state waters. In 1952-54, before statehood, the federal government entered into treaty negotiations with Japan in an attempt to stop that country from catching Alaska-bound salmon offshore. Japan balked at being the only country denied access by the treaty, so the feds applied the treaty to everyone, essentially ending offshore salmon fishing with nets by all parties.
However, according to Maw, there were four fisheries that were protected from closure by the treaty because of their historical offshore nature. Those were what is now Area M, Prince William Sound, Southeast Alaska and Cook Inlet. When statehood came along, Alaska received title to all resources not belonging to the federal government. Maw maintains those four fisheries belonged to the federal government and Alaska never received title to them, although they may have assumed they did. Even after statehood, there were agreements between the state and federal governments about how those four fisheries were to be managed.
"Then in the mid-70s, we had the Mangunson act," Maw said, "which created the EEZ, the Exclusive Economic Zone. The EEZ was from three miles to 200 miles. And that included those historical fishing areas for these four fisheries." More
Petersburg. Annual ceremony ushers in fishing season (KFSK Audio) (5/7). Petersburg welcomed the 2009 fishing season and remembered lost loved-ones Sunday afternoon with the annual blessing of the fleet. There was a full crowd for the event at the sons of norway hall. Drizzly weather prompted organizers to hold the event inside. The service typically takes place next door at Fisherman's Memorial Park. Matt Lichtenstein produced this sound portrait of the annual religious and community event, which is a spring tradition in fishing towns around the state of Alaska
MARKETING
Editorial. Eradicating IUU fishing will come — with a price (4/14). Nothing grabs a reader’s attention faster than a headline involving someone going to jail. It says something odd about human nature, but people enjoy reading about someone getting caught — and this is certainly true in the seafood industry.
But if the National Marine Fisheries Service had its way, stories about illegal seafood would slowly disappear. The agency is gathering public comments on a new plan to stamp out illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. This issue’s Top Story, “Pirate Police” by Contributing Editor Christine Blank, delves into the challenges the global fishing industry faces to eradicate IUU fishing.
It’s easy to say, “stop buying illegal seafood” and expect the problem to go away. Santa Monica Seafood and The Plitt Co. announced they would not purchase seafood from France, Italy, Libya, Panama, China and Tunisia after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported to Congress in January that these nations were IUU fishing offenders. But if the solution were that easy, more seafood buyers would have already come forward to proclaim they won’t buy fish from illegal sources. I dare say many seafood buyers probably don’t even know if they are buying from IUU fisheries.
Herein lies the next phase in the sustainable seafood movement if IUU fishing will be addressed: traceability. If buyers can accurately determine where a fish was harvested, they can determine IUU fishing on their own. Sounds easy enough — traceability has been gaining traction over the past few years in relation to seafood-safety scares out of China and elsewhere. More
Better tracking could curtail illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing (4/14). The topic of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) has been a thorn in the side of the global fishing industry for decades. As fisheries and companies all across the supply chain move toward addressing sustainability, they recognize the importance of saving species that were once — and, in some cases, still are — victims of nefarious dealers. Not too long ago, Chilean sea bass was the top focus of conservation efforts and a crackdown on poaching by U.S. authorities. Most buyers and industry groups are doing everything they can to preserve the species. Lately, the poster child for IUU fishing has been bluefin tuna, which has become the focus of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activist groups worldwide.
IUU fishing is equally important to U.S. processors and importers. No one in the industry wants to suport illegal trade, which takes business away from legitimate harvesters and suppliers. The U.S. industry has a vested interest in the viability of overseas fisheries, since more than 85 percent of the U.S. seafood supply is now imported.
To that end, U.S. fisheries officials are working on solutions to end IUU fishing, after a contentious report to Congress this year listed six countries that have engaged in the practice. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is drafting regulations — with the industry’s input — that will require certification and traceability to address IUU fishing and bycatch of protected marine resources such as turtles.
Representatives from the six countries — China, France, Italy, Libya, Panama and Tunisia — initially were upset and surprised that they were named in the report. More
