Est. 1914
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Daily Online Update, Monday – April
9, 2012
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Alaska/Pacific Coast
Chum bycatch work continues, IPHC nominees released
ALASKA
JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, April 5, 2012
The North Pacific
Fishery Management Council continued to refine its alternatives to address chum
salmon bycatch by the Bering Sea
pollock fleet at its meeting March 30 in Anchorage.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/AJOC-April-8-2012/Chum-bycatch-work-continues-IPHC-nominees-released/#
Lost fishing gear becoming big threat to Puget Sound marine life
The death of a rescued seal pup, trapped in an underwater
tangle of fishing line, shows the deadly toll of lost fishing gear. Old fishing
nets, crab pots, lines and hooks ensnare and kill more than half a million sea
creatures in Puget Sound every year, according to the Northwest Straits Marine
Conservation Initiative.
The Seattle Times, April 8, 2012
Most of the seal
pups Robin Lindsey tries to save don't make it. That's why Sandy's
story seemed especially sweet.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017939547_seal09m.html?prmid=4939
Northwest
fishermen don't want to reel in tsunami debris
The Seattle
Times, April 6, 2012
SEATTLE
-- With a field of debris from last year's tsunami in Japan
heading for the U.S.,
Seattle fishermen worry about
running their boats right into it.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Northwest-fishermen-worry-about-tsunami-debris-heading-our-way-146488075.html
Pacific
fishermen prepare for major salmon season
San Francisco Gate,
April 7, 2012
Federal regulators
will allow plenty of opportunity for fishermen to troll for Pacific
Coast salmon as biologists forecast
a dramatic rebound in populations of the prized fish.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/06/BARL1O04I6.DTL
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Fishermen
react to Sitka's
proposed herring split shares
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS
[Fish Radio] April 9, 2012
Proposal for equal split shares amongst Sitka’s herring permit holders was
voted out by fisheries managers for now. But things could change in years to
come. Alaskan fishermen issue their opinions on the recent proposal.
They have asked to remain anonymous for the radio broadcast.
"I have supported catch share scenarios. We would have to work out the
fine points, if we get to that point. I want to see it move ahead to that.
And I think we could work out the herring In such a way that we could be a
little more selective, and it would give us the option to go after a better
product. And I think for the entire market that would be a big
plus." "We are wasting a lot of energy catching the fish the
way we are doing it now. We could do things a lot more efficiently. Which on
the other side of that would be less
jobs." Though it may better the production and the market. Equal
shares would take out the fun, derby style fishing for many of its
participants. "But I really think the chance to come up here with a
boat load of young guys, Like in the gold rush days. The last chance to come
up here and just have that money in your pocket and the thrill of success. To
me that has enough value in it. By not having the individual quota it enables
more of us to participate. It’s good for everyone I think. So for me it’s
more of an emotional decision then a money decision." "If
everybody is going to split the shares, well then that just takes the fun out
of the whole fishery. That’s pretty much the whole reason people come down
here, because you can make big money quick or go home a
loser." "Allocation to different boats with equal splits with
everyone getting an even amount is going to do what the crab thing did to the
crew members and everybody else. A lot of people will be out of work, and it
takes away from everybody else." "I don’t believe that there
is enough support for it in any way. Some people might like it. But there are
enough others that don’t." "It’s just scary to put it up on
the table and see your fishery changed into this unknown as other people
start putting in their angles on it. And you don’t know how it’s going to
come out. We know how it is now, and it’s been working as it is. So it makes
it kind of hard for me to want to change it."
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East/Gulf Coast
Environmental group
extends helping hand to fishermen
The South Coast
Today news, April 07, 2012
NEW BEDFORD —
Representatives of a green group, regarded with suspicion by many in the
fishing industry, came to New Bedford Friday with an offer of support for
commercial fishermen still struggling to adapt to the quota system of fishery
management.
http://m.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120407/NEWS/204070347&template=wapart
Consumers Grow
More Comfortable With Gulf Seafood
Supermarket News, April 9, 2012
BOSTON — It’s
been almost two years since the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it appears
many consumers have overcome their former reservations about eating Gulf
seafood, according to recent research presented by the Gulf Seafood Marketing
Coalition at the International Boston Seafood Show here last month.
http://supermarketnews.com/seafood/consumers-grow-more-comfortable-gulf-seafood
Politics
Senate capital budget totals $2.6 billion
Package includes $25 million for port, nothing for Knik Arm bridge.
Anchorage Daily News: April 8th, 2012
JUNEAU -- The Senate unveiled its $2.6 billion capital budget
over the weekend, a goody-laden bill that includes more than $380 million in
earmarked projects for the Anchorage area -- but nothing for the Knik
Arm bridge and only a portion of the amount sought for
Anchorage port construction.
http://www.adn.com/2012/04/08/2413593/senate-releases-its-capital-budget.html
Update: HCR18 -
Commercial Fisheries Programs
Sponsored
by the House Fisheries Special Committee Relating to an examination of
fisheries-related programs to facilitate the entry of young Alaskans into
commercial fisheries careers and to collaboration with the University of Alaska
fisheries, seafood, and maritime initiative.
Version: CSHCR
18(FSH) AM
Status: PASSED (S)
» AWAIT TRANSMIT GOV : 2012-04-07
Contact: Jane
Pierson, 465-6841
http://mobile.housemajority.org/item.php?id=27hcr18-183
National
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H2B visa changes could dramatically cutback US seafood processing by 2013
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Michael Ramsingh April 9, 2012
US seafood processors are bracing for new rule changes to the H-2B Guest
Worker Program that, according to processors, will result in dire
consequences for the domestic seafood workforce and has the industry asking
Congress to establish their own work visa program. The H-2B provision of the DOL rules allow U.S. employers to bring in foreign nationals for work if
employers can establish that the need for workers is temporary and/or
seasonal. American employers must also demonstrate that there are not enough
American workers who are available and willing to do the work. Set to go into
effect April 23 of this year, the changes to the program would force seafood
processors into paying substantially more fees to maintain their seasonal
foreign workforce through a myriad of new stipulations. According to the
Coalition to Save America's Seafood industry the changes to the program that
would most directly harm the industry include: requiring processors to commit
to their maximum planned contingent of H-2B workers at the start of the
season; guaranteeing each worker 35 hours of pay for 12 weeks and 75% of
wages should the work be terminated early; requiring processors to recruit
nationally and pay for all travel and subsistence costs to the worker; and
mandating recruitment of Americans up to 21 days prior to the H-2B worker's
start date, even when the employer has already advertised extensively.
More importantly, changes in how the Dept. of Labor calculates prevailing
wages for seasonal workers will push up H-2B wages by an average of 32
percent. Taken together, these changes could cripple seafood processing
companies that rely on imported migrant labor. The number of H-2B guest
workers allowed in the United States is capped at 66,000 per year. Under the current H-2B
rules, for example, processors are allowed to bring in their seasonal workers
intermittently throughout the season as production ebbs and flows. However,
according to Jack Brooks, who operates Maryland crab processor J.M. Clayton
Company and who serves as President of the Coalition, under the new rules,
processors will forced to hire all of their workers at the start of the
season, and pay them regardless if there's work to be done; a costly endeavor
in an industry with no guarantees, where unpredictable weather and production
patterns directly impact the amount of employees needed in any given
season. “Those things are enough to raise our cost up and put us out of
business,” said Brooks. As an example, Brooks alluded to flooding by
Tropical Storm Lee in late 2011 that essentially “turned off the crab season
like a switch.”Domestic processors are not
unfamiliar with labor shortages said Bill Sieling,
executive director at the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association,
where attempts were made in 2009 to market jobs to domestic workers,
following a work visa shortage that all but stopped the industry in its
tracks. Even after a major advertising campaign that included nationally
published classifieds, television spots and job fairs, the industry struggled
to recruit domestic workers to fill the void left by the H-2B workers.
“We have beat the bushes here in the past and in the short term there is no
alternative to what we have now,” said Sieling. In
fact, according to a joint study sponsored by the Coalition and conducted by
the University of Maryland, South Carolina State University and Louisiana
State University, the impending rule changes are predicted to result in over
9,000 Americans losing their jobs across Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and
Louisiana, valued at a loss of over $200 million to the processing industry.
Brooks estimated that as of April 23 roughly half the industry has already
been certified for their 2012 foreign work visa workers and the full effect
of the changes wouldn't be felt till the 2013 season. For Sharon Carawan, owner of North Carolina's Mattamuskeet Seafoods, policy makers need to be better educated to the
impact of the rule changes on the seafood industry. After a positive meeting
with White House officials in March, she is holding out hope that a
reevaluation will allow seafood processors to operate with their own set of
work visas. “To me, the best thing that could happen would be to put us in a
different kind of work visa category,” she said. Brooks also believes the
seafood processors should get their own set of temporary work visas apart
from the H-2B program, if not he foresees domestic processing leaving the US
all together. “I realize the Administration and Department of Labor try and
enhance jobs for domestic workers, but the last thing they want to be is be a
jobs killer in the seafood industry. That's where it's headed,” said Brooks.
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International
Russia, US coast
guards meet all week in Juneau
Leaders
address illegal fishing, joint actions in countries' waters
Juneau
Empire, April 8, 2012
In a reaffirmation
of ongoing cooperative efforts, the Russia
and U.S. coast guards have finalized and
signed an agreement on joint actions dealing with increased vessel traffic and
illegal and unreported fishing in the countries’ northern waters.
http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-04-08/russia-us-coast-guards-meet-all-week-juneau#.T4MLnplSlfc
Environment & Science
CONSERVATION
IN THE ANTHROPOCENE
Breakthrough
Journal, NO. 2 / FALL 2011
By its own
measures, conservation is failing. Biodiversity on Earth continues its rapid
decline.1 We continue to lose forests in Africa,
Asia, and Latin America.2 There are so few wild tigers and
apes that they will be lost forever if current trends continue.3 Simply put, we are losing many more
special places and species than we're saving.
http://breakthroughjournal.org/content/authors/peter-kareiva-robert-lalasz-an-1/conservation-in-the-anthropoce.shtml#foot3
FYI
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Retailers encouraged not to be stampeded over a cliff on pollock without getting the facts
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton
(news analysis) - April 9, 2012
Increasingly in fisheries, retailers are being stampeded into action, much in
the manner that native Americans used to be able to stampede ancient buffalo
herds. A favorite hunting technique of native Americans was to prepare
the ground, and then stampede the buffalo herd in the desired direction -
into waiting bands of hunters, or over a cliff or into a cul-de-sac. In
seafood the actions of some environmental groups are just as predictable. We
have had repeated examples of this attempted retailer stampede - sometimes
successful, as in pole and line tuna, and sometimes not, as in the German
Greenpeace attempt to scare consumers away from pollock
after the Japanese tsunami and radiation disaster last year. The common
thread in these stampedes is public pressure on retailers to take a position
changing purchase specs in a crisis mode, before scientific information is
evaluated or reviewed. In an attempt to head off such a stampede, US pollock producers are asking retailers and other seafood
buyers to remember they have a very credible fishery council scientific
process that should be used to evaluate pollock
habitat issues. The latest attempt is an article published by Greenpeace on
data from a 2007 benthic habitat cruise, that led to a
stories in the national press that fishing pressure was harming
benthic habitat in the Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons in the Bering
Sea. This is not a new
issue before the North Pacific Fisheries Management council. In 2006/2007,
the Council requested and reviewed information from the Alaska Fisheries
Science Center (AFSC) identifying available information on the Pribilof, Pervenets and Zhemchug canyons as was known at that time, and
considered HAPC designation for submarine canyons. The Council ultimately
postponed taking action, as scientific information was not available to
establish the dependence of managed species on habitat features of the
canyons, under the EFH mandate.
Since that time, new information has become available from several sources
that merits a re-examination of possible habitat
protection and management measures for the Pribilof
and Zhemchug canyons, says the council. As a result
and after taking testimony at the most recent council meeting, the council
voted to ask NOAA scientists to review and summarize existing and new
information on the canyons, their habitat and fish association there and for
Council staff to scope and prepare a discussion paper on fishing activity in
the canyons, past actions for protection in the area, and the process for any
potential future action. As part of this review of new information, the
council intends to look at scientific papers, including the paper published
by Greenpeace following the 2007 cruise, which is the current basis for Greenpeace's canyons campaign. Here is where the
plea not to be stampeded comes in. The pollock
producers are asking retailers and other seafood buyers to support this
process of thorough review, and wait for the scientists' conclusions before
calling to restrict fishing and limit the supply of sustainable seafood for
American consumers. This review process is open and transparent, and
such credible reviews and subsequent action have been the hallmark of the
successful fisheries management in the Bering Sea
for the past 35 years. Obviously nothing holds back advocates from
making their scientific case to the public whether they are calling for more
or fewer restrictions on fishing.
The difference is whether advocates for competing scientific arguments accept
the validity of the council process to settle the issue and make a suitable
recommendation. Where this process has been allowed to work, unquestionable
fisheries management successes have occurred, and have largely been
responsible for the new scientific consensus that long term sustainable
fisheries are not only possible, but are actually in place in numerous areas
with strong fishery management programs. Where the process has been
undermined, chaos has generally resulted with little or no agreement on the status of fish stocks nor on the management measures
needed. The net result is a patch work of ever changing management practices
that leads to enforcement difficulties, wild swings in scientific consensus,
and discrediting the whole concept that sustainable fishing is possible. Like
the native americans, some groups have an agenda to
discourage wild harvests as much as possible, and they can help achieve this
by repeatedly stampeding buyers into more and more extreme
positions. Which side, as a buyer, would you rather support? That is the
underlying question the pollock producers are
asking.
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Nancy Diaz
Administrative
Assistant/Bookkeeper
Pacific Seafood Processors Association
1900 W Emerson Place
Suite 205,
Seattle, WA 98119
Phone: 206.281.1667
E-mail: nancy@pspafish.net
Website: www.pspafish.net
Our office
days/hours are Monday-Friday
8:00
A.M. - 5:00 P.M.