Alaska/Pacific Coast
Bering Sea Fisheries Seeing Increased Participation Fishermen's News - March 6, 2019 Seafood harvesters of crab and groundfish in the stormy waters of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands were close to or had caught all of their seasonal allocations by early March. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2019/03/bering-sea-fisheries-seeing-increased.html NPFMC Considers Rationalizing Bering Sea Pacific Cod Fishery Seafood News by Alistair Gardiner - March 5, 2019 The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is considering rationalizing the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands trawl pacific cod fishery after voting to take action on the fishery at its February meeting. A number of alternatives for management changes to the fishery have been released for public review; the council will be considering final actions during upcoming meetings. https://www.savingseafood.org/news/council-actions/npfmc-considers-rationalizing-bering-sea-pacific-cod-fishery/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SavingSeafoodRss+%28Saving+Seafood%29 West Coast Salmon Shows Slight Improvement for California, Oregon Ocean Seasons SeafoodNews.com by Susan Chambers - March 6, 2018 Oregon and California salmon fishermen, processors and managers are hopeful and optimistic that this year's ocean seasons will be the same or better than last year. The state reports come as tribal, state and federal fishery managers meet this week at the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Vancouver, Wash. It's the first of two meetings designed to winnow down the options to final seasons determined in April. The Council, states and NMFS will hold hearings in each state later this month after the Council presents preliminary alternatives next week. California’s 2019 ocean salmon fishing season should be slightly better than last year’s, according to information presented recently at the annual Salmon Information Meeting held in Santa Rosa by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The ocean abundance projections for Sacramento River fall Chinook, a main salmon stock that contributes to fishing seasons in California and Oregon, is estimated at 379,600 adult salmon, an increase over the 2018 forecast of 229,400 adult salmon. This may result in increased fishing opportunity in some central coastal areas. The Klamath River fall Chinook abundance forecast of 274,200 adult salmon is lower than 2018 forecast, but still an improvement over low forecast numbers seen in recent years. “We are cautiously optimistic that the increase in ocean abundance of [Sacramento River fall Chinook] will translate into more fishing opportunity this year,” CDFW Environmental Scientist Kandice Morgenstern said in a press release. By age classes, the Klamath River fall Chinook age 3 forecast numbers are down, but age 4 numbers are up. The 2018 age 3 forecast was 330,000, according to figures from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the 2019 forecast number of age 3 fish is roughly half, at 168,000. In 2018, the forecast for age 4 fish was 28,000; the 2019 forecast is much higher, at 106,000. Still, the PFMC may take a conservative approach when crafting 2019 ocean salmon seasons since both Sacramento and Klamath fall Chinook stocks are considered to be overfished under the terms of the federal Salmon Fishery Management Plan due to three years of low spawning escapement. Additionally, persistent concerns over protected Sacramento River winter Chinook and California Coastal Chinook could limit fishing opportunity south of Point Arena and north of Point Sur, respectively, CDFW said in a press release. In Oregon, four ports dominated the ocean troll effort, with Newport garnering 28 percent of the deliveries, Brookings and Charleston in a tie at 22 percent and Port Orford handling 16 percent of the deliveries. Astoria, Garibaldi and other small ports rounded out the remaining deliveries. By landings, Oregon's South Coast did extremely well in 2018. ODFW numbers show landings into Brookings of 3,899 Chinook in 2018, compared with 329 in 2017 and 398 in 2016. Overall, for the entire West Coast, tribal, sport and commercial fisheries caught only 56 percent of the overall Chinook quota from all sources. West Coast Chinook ex-vessel prices averaged $4.36 per pound in 2017, for a total value of $24.7 million, according to PacFIN data. In 2018, the average price was higher, at $5.25 per pound, but the total value was lower, at $22.5 million. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1134081/West-Coast-Salmon-Shows-Slight-Improvement-for-California-Oregon-Ocean-Seasons Environment/Science Predicting marine heatwaves can have economic implications KBBI by Aaron Bolton - March 6, 2019 The Gulf of Alaska is once again experiencing a marine heatwave. This follows the infamous warm-water event known as “the Blob,” that formed back in 2014, which scientists have tied to seabird die-offs and declining Pacific cod stocks. https://www.ktoo.org/2019/03/06/predicting-marine-heatwaves-can-have-economic-implications/
Federal Register Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Alaska Region Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Economic Data Reports A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 03/07/2019 The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/03/07/2019-04103/proposed-information-collection-comment-request-alaska-region-bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-crab FYI’s US government seeking to buy large quantity of wild salmon Seafood Source by Christine Blank - March 6, 2019 The United States Department of Agriculture is asking for bids on 324,000 pounds of frozen wild salmon fillets. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/us-government-seeking-to-buy-large-quantity-of-wild-salmon?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=newsletter&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTUdJME1HTXlZMlJqTlRnMCIsInQiOiJGbGducWtrR1pEcEJkM3BGQ2pOaE9oUGlTQ0l1UUh5cmQ3SnU1QUJZemNkN2swN0xJR0gzXC9yemk4RGk0SUxhSmloOUJXWmZuUVwvZzBqc1JuNHBrN2RQdjVrZkZBZlBFem1rbTZyRlwvRnJuVDBmY0pQeUJKNUJ3ZXdvY2h5cEtQKyJ9 John Garner Inducted into the United Fishermen of Alaska’s Hall of Fame SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - March 1, 2019 Yesterday the Board of Alaska’s largest fishermen’s group presented the 2018 Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame certificate to John Garner, a man who started out as a fishermen and retired as a highly respected industry leader and dogged supporter of seafood sustainability. Garner was honored by the UFA Board “for his contributions as a former Commercial Fishery Entry Commissioner, Board of Fisheries member, processing industry leader, and mentor to many fishermen [who] he helped [to] become influential fisheries activists,” said 2018 UFA president Jerry McCune, who presented the award at UFA’s Juneau office. “Thank you for your many years of good work, John,” said McCune. Garner’s name will be added to the list that reads like an historical Who’s Who of Alaska’s fisheries industry. Founding members who were named when the Hall of Fame was created in 2009 include Senator Ted Stevens, Oscar Dyson, Chuck Bundrant, Governor Ernest Gruening, Governor Jay Hammond, the Brindle Family, Gordon Jensen, and Clem Tillion among others. Garner was a founding partner of Norquest and later a top executive at Trident following Trident's acquisition of Norquest. He became Chief Operating Officer for North Pacific Seafoods in 2014 and served for many years on the board of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Garner's leadership and vision brought industry concerns to the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative, which provided a useful tool for benchmarking certification schemes for Alaskan seafood. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1133689/John-Garner-Inducted-into-the-United-Fishermen-of-Alaskas-Hall-of-Fame
Ann Owens Pacific Seafood Processors Association Office Manager 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: pspafish@gmail.com; Website: www.pspafish.net Our office days/hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. *Inclusion of a news article, report, or other document in this email does not imply PSPA support or endorsement of the information or opinion expressed in the document.