Alaska/Pacific Coast
PWS Tanner crab fishery gives winter season a boost Alaska Journal of Commerce by Elizabeth Earl - March 20, 2019 A rejuvenated Tanner crab fishery in Prince William Sound is showing positive signs of finishing out its second season in 30 years. http://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-03-20/pws-tanner-crab-fishery-gives-winter-season-boost#.XJOh_dF7mfU Alaska Fisheries Report KMXT by Maggie Wall - March 20, 2019 Sac Roe herring fishermen gear up in Sitka but not everyone is pleased with Fish and Game’s plan for the fishery. We have a report on talk of civil disobedience on the water. Halibut opened on March 15. The catch limit is up slightly and market conditions look good. http://kmxt.org/2019/03/alaska-fisheries-report-march-21-2019/ International Fish and Game seeks to understand genetic differences between pink salmon populations What happens when wild salmon interbreed with hatchery fish? KBBI by Aaron Bolton - March 20, 2019 A study by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game looking at chum and pink salmon runs in Southeast and Prince William Sound is expanding to help biologists understand the interplay between wild runs and hatchery strays. There is concern that hatchery fish could alter the genetics of wild populations, posing a threat to their survival. https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/03/20/fish-and-game-seeks-to-understand-genetic-differences-between-pink-salmon-populations/ Push to Standardize Traceability Efforts Launched by Retailers and International Seafood Companies SeafoodNews by John Sackton - March 19, 2019 A group of major retailers and international seafood companies have announced an effort to standardize traceability requirements. As traceability becomes more important in the seafood industry, major retailers find a need to avoid siloing of information by the vendor providing the traceability software. The goal of the new effort is to provide guidance that would first, develop a shared expectation about what types of information and the quality needed that enter into traceability systems. A second goal is to promote inter-operability among systems. Currently a major buyer faces the same issues they faced with multiple certifications; different suppliers are using different software systems to document chain or custody, and these systems don’t talk to each other. The two groups behind the initiative are the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), which was established in December 2016 under the auspices of the Keystone Dialogues to bring together the world’s largest and most influential seafood companies to help lead a global transformation towards sustainable seafood production. Companies involved range from Dongwon, Thai Union and Charoen Popkhind to smaller distributors such as Albion Fisheries and Stavis Seafoods. Seven of the ten largest global seafood companies are participating. The other leg is the GDST (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability) which was launched in April 2017 as a broadly representative “business-to-business” forum charged with developing global voluntary seafood traceability standards and guidelines. Major retailers such as Ahold, Metro, Delhaize, Aldi, Lidl are part of this group. In a statement the groups said global industry standards for seafood traceability are urgently needed to eliminate costly and unnecessary barriers between the dozens of incompatible, proprietary traceability systems that exist today, and to help guide governments towards the harmonization of standards affecting seafood trade. By creating a set of voluntary industry norms, the seafood sector will: Develop shared expectations about the kinds and quality of information entering seafood supply chains; Ensure that fishing and aquaculture enterprises around the world receive more consistent and predictable demands for the data accompanying their products; Create a level playing field that promotes equitable market access for large and small producers from diverse countries; Establish technical protocols for interoperability that will facilitate digital communication among thousands of actors across the seafood supply chain; and Provide a basis for more efficient and consistent regulatory practices among producer, processor, and market country governments. Together, the SeaBOS and GDST initiatives currently represent more than five dozen companies from across the global seafood supply chain, ranging from major multi-national players to representatives of small-scale producers in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We believe that reliable traceability is critical for effective supply chain management, and for ensuring that seafood is sourced from production practices that are legal, sustainable, and socially responsible. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1135499/Push-to-Standardize-Traceability-Efforts-Launched-b Environment/Science NPAFC Completes High Seas Salmon Research Fishermen's News - March 20, 2019 A month-long international salmon research expedition in the Gulf of Alaska organized by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) is now completed, and researchers are reporting several exciting discoveries. The expedition, the first in decades to study salmon on the high seas, returned to Vancouver, B.C., on March 18, aboard the chartered Russian research vessel Professor Kaganovskiy. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2019/03/npafc-completes-high-seas-salmon.html Federal Register Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 03/20/2019 NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season apportionment of the 2019 Pacific cod total allowable catch allocated to catcher vessels using trawl gear in the BSAI. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/03/20/2019-05284/fisheries-of-the-exclusive-economic-zone-off-alaska-pacific-cod-by-catcher-vessels-using-trawl-gear Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Hook-and-Line Catcher/Processors in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 03/21/2019 NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by hook-and-line catcher/processors in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2019 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to hook-and-line catcher/processors in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/03/21/2019-05391/fisheries-of-the-exclusive-economic-zone-off-alaska-pacific-cod-by-hook-and-line-catcherprocessors
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.