Alaska/Pacific Coast
Quotas Increase Again For Golden King Crab, With Aleutian Stocks In 'Good Shape' KUCB by Laura Kraegel - August 8, 2019 Fishing quotas for Aleutian Islands golden king crab are up again this year. East of Atka, commercial fishermen can harvest 4.3 million pounds. To the west, they can take almost 2.9 million. https://www.kucb.org/post/quotas-increase-again-golden-king-crab-aleutian-stocks-good-shape Commercial Salmon Catch Rises to 103.6M Fishermen's News - August 7, 2019 With the sockeye season slowed, and the humpy harvest near its peak in early August, preliminary commercial fishery catch data showed the overall commercial harvest of wild Alaska salmon at 103.6 million fish and growing. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2019/08/commercial-salmon-catch-rises-to-1036m.html This Week in Bycatch - August 6 KBBI by jlockwood - August 7, 2019 Incidental catch of bairdi, opilio, and king crab remained low across the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands regulatory areas for the week ending July 27. Less than three thousand crab were caught across all gear types. King salmon bycatch stood at 62 fish for the week, while all other salmon species accounted for 18,971 fish. About half of the non-chinook were caught in statistical area 517 north of False Pass just west of the entrance to Bristol Bay. That area, along with its eastern neighbor, 509, has seen the highest bycatch of non-chinook salmon throughout late June and July. https://www.kbbi.org/post/week-bycatch-august-6 Mat-Su considers sales tax for third time in a decade amid Alaska’s fiscal ‘uncertainty’ Anchorage Daily News by Zaz Hollander - August 7, 2019 PALMER -- The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is weighing its third sales tax proposal in a decade, this time to offset property taxes expected to rise amid Alaska’s as-yet unresolved budget impasse. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/mat-su/2019/08/07/mat-su-considers-sales-tax-for-third-time-in-a-decade/ Early Indications Show Bristol Bay Ex-Vessel Prices Up From Last Year SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - August 8, 2019 Bristol Bay processors have posted a $1.35 per pound base price with bonuses that may add up to $1.58 according to KDLG.com’s reporters Sage Smiley and Austin Fast. Since July 24, Fast and Smiley have been reporting prices paid Bristol Bay fishermen as processors release posted prices and bonuses offered for premium handling. Yesterday Smiley reported a base price of $1.35 per pound has been announced from Silver Bay, Icicle, Leader Creek, Alaska General Seafoods, Red Salmon (a subsidiary of North Pacific Seafoods), Peter Pan, and Ocean Beauty for sockeye. Beyond that, “Icicle drift net fishermen receive a $0.08 bonus for bled reds in RSW only, $0.15 for sockeye chilled in ice or RSW, and $0.05 cent premium for floated fish. For set netters, there is also a $0.15 cent bonus for chilling,” Smiley reported. Silver Bay drift net fishermen have reported a $0.25 cent bonus for RSW and floating, and a $0.12 cent bonus for bleeding and mats or a salmon slide. Leader Creek fishermen to KDLG that the bonuses for bled fish, RSW, floating, and mats or a slide add up to $0.27 cents. AGS is paying fishermen $0.20 extra cents per pound for chilling. E&E was unavailable for comment. KDLG has not been able to independently verify its base price, or that of Copper River and Trident, both of which declined to comment. None of those companies have publicly released prices at this time. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, last year’s baywide average base price for sockeye was $1.26. The average price after bonuses rose to $1.56. Wholesale prices for sockeye in 2018 were $4.13 per pound for fresh headed and gutted sockeye, and $3.47 for the same product frozen. For processors, that works out to a gross profit of $2.57 per pound for fresh or $2.31 for frozen sockeye. In total, the exvessel value of Bristol Bay in 2018 was $344 million dollars for just over 259 million pounds of fish, or almost 50.6 million fish. Last week KDLG reported that this year's Bristol Bay's salmon harvest was the second largest in its history at 43 million fish. The total run came to 56.3 million, 33% higher than forecasted and the sixth biggest of all time. Togiak broke its record for the largest harvest ever. Egegik posted a total run of 17.2 million, which is the district’s third biggest on record. The Nushagak’s total run of 17.8 million was the second largest, only getting beat out by 2017. Togiak's curent total run of 1.18 million, is the third biggest, KDLG reported. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1149303/Early-Indications-Show-Bristol-Bay-Ex-Vessel-Prices-Up-From-Last-Year FYI’s Coast Guard Bill Includes Seattle Icebreakers Fishermen's News - August 7, 2019 Coast Guard reauthorization legislation headed for the Senate floor in August contains a number of provisions for six new icebreakers, to protect the environment, and also ensure that Coast Guard members are paid in the event of a government shutdown. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2019/08/coast-guard-bill-includes-seattle.html Honored nationally, a Juneau scientist helps Alaska fisheries managers see the bigger picture KTOO by Zoe Grueskin - August 6, 2019 This summer, a Juneau-based fisheries scientist received the highest honor given to early-career scientists and engineers by the U.S. government. https://www.ktoo.org/2019/08/06/honored-nationally-a-juneau-scientist-helps-alaska-fisheries-managers-see-the-bigger-picture/
Ann Owens Pacific Seafood Processors Association Office Manager 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: admin@pspafish.net; 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.