Alaska/Pacific Coast Chilkoot sockeye count highest on record Chilkat Valley News - August 29, 2019 Record numbers of sockeye salmon have passed through the Chilkoot River weir this season, surprising biologists and delighting local fishermen. https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story/2019/08/29/news/chilkoot-sockeye-count-highest-on-record/13101.html Western Pacific Region Status of the Fisheries 2018 now available! (with link correction) Saving Seafood - August 28, 2019 The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council: The 2018 annual reports on fisheries in Hawai’i and the US Pacific Islands provide data and trends about last year’s fishery participation, catch rates, landings and other fishery performance factors. Each report also covers ecological components that may impact fishery outcomes such as protected species interactions, climate and oceanographic conditions and socioeconomic factors. https://www.savingseafood.org/news/council-actions/western-pacific-region-status-of-the-fisheries-2018-now-available-with-link-correction/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SavingSeafoodRss+%28Saving+Seafood%29 Pink Salmon Landings of Ten Million Just This Week Bumped Season Totals to 116 Million SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - August 29, 2019 The most recent salmon landings report by economist Garrett Evridge of the MacDowell Group, which lists totals as of Saturday, August 24, has been followed by heavier than expected pink salmon landings in Prince William Sound and Kodiak. Just in the first part of this week, pink landings statewide went from 106.8 million on Saturday to 116.1 million as of the end of Tuesday. That means last week’s total of more than 20 million pink salmon harvested could be met again this week, or even exceeded. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s bluesheet, which updates landings every day or two, shows 187.9 million total salmon (all species) landed as of August 27, compared to 177.1 million landed as of last Saturday. The improved fishing has narrowed the shortfall between the current season and recent odd-numbered years. Total pink salmon landings are 116.1 milion or 84 percent of the pre-season harvest forecast of 137.8 million. PWS accounted for about half of last week’s harvest (10 million pinks) and already his week has landed another five million, putting it close to three-quarters of its ADF&G forecast. Kodiak had its best weekly pink harvest of the year with volume of about six million fish last week. Add another 3.5 million just this week for a YTD of 28.6 million and Kodiak has blown past its forecast of 27 million fish. Southeast and the AK Pen. & Aleutian Islands region could meet their forecasts if fishing is productive over the next two weeks. About 300,000 sockeye were harvested last week, with volume coming primarily from Chignik, Kodiak, and AK Pen. & Aleutian Islands. With about 55 million fish harvested YTD, the 2019 sockeye harvest is 10 percent ahead of 2018. The YTD harvest of about 14.3 million keta represents a 10 percent decline from 2018. While PWS and AK Peninsula and Aleutian Islands have exceeded their 2019 forecast, Southeast has caught 4.7 milion keta, down 40% from last year and only 25 percent of the region’s anticipated harvest. AYK is 44 percent behind the 2018 pace and has caught only half the area’s forecast. With about a month of productive fishing remaining, the YTD harvest of about two million coho is 18 percent behind the 2018 pace. Roughly 43 percent of the forecast has been met. Last week saw productive fishing in PWS, Kodiak, and Chignik. Harvest in Southeast — typically the state’s largest producer of coho — continues to lag. Chinook harvest of 217,000 fish is 11 percent behind last year’s pace. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1151017/Pink-Salmon-Landings-of-Ten-Million-Just-This-Week-Bumped-Season-Totals-to-116-Million Boot camp’s aim is jump starting, nurturing businesses Cordova Times by Laine Welch - August 29, 2019 Investment that comes from within, not from without, is the motivation behind a boot camp that will jump start and nurture businesses in communities throughout Bristol Bay. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2019/08/29/boot-camps-aim-is-jump-starting-nurturing-businesses/ International US ratifies Central Arctic Ocean fisheries agreement Fis.com - August 29, 2019 The United States is the fourth party to ratify the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean after Canada, the Russian Federation, and the European Union. The Agreement will enter into force once all ten Signatories ratify. https://fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=104295&ndb=1&df=0 Russia On Track for High Salmon Harvest SeafoodNews.com by Eugene Gerden - August 29, 2019 Russia posted a significant increase of salmon catch this year, despite earlier forecasts of its inevitable decline after several years of record catch. According to latest data of Rosrybolovstvo, the volume of Pacific salmon catch in Russia since the beginning of 2019 has reached 420,000 tonnes, which is 46% higher compared to the figures for 2017. The landings are slightly lower than the initial forecasts, made by analysts and experts of Rosrybolovstvo for the entire salmon fishing season in Russia, which were forecast at 461,000 tonnes. The biggest growth of catch was registered in the Kamchatka Territory – a traditional center of salmon production in Russia. As Rosrybolovstvo said, the growth in Kamchatka was equivalent to 58%, to 368,400 tonnes. In the meantime, in contrast to Kamchatka, the volume of salmon harvests in the Sakhalin Region and Primorye Territory was significantly lower than initial forecasts. Still, despite the uptick in harvest, prices for salmon in the domestic market remain high. This is mainly due to its high cost of transportation from the Far East and Northern region to the European part of Russia and the lack of needed specialized rolling stock. Last year total the total salmon catch in Russia amounted to 675,800 tonnes. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1151000/Russia-On-Track-for-High-Salmon-Harvest Environment/Science Marine debris funds will target Pribilof Island archipelago Cordova Times - August 28, 2019 Federal funds totaling $113,000 have been allocated to help the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island and the St. George Traditional Council to remove marine debris from the Pribilof Island archipelago in the Bering Sea. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2019/08/28/marine-debris-funds-will-target-pribilof-island-archipelago/ Federal Register Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan; Amendment 21-4; Trawl Catch Share Program A Proposed Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 08/30/2019 NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted Amendment 21-4 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan to the Secretary of Start Printed Page 45707Commerce for review. If approved, Amendment 21-4 would adjust the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Catch Share Program to complete outstanding elements of the program, respond to problems identified after program implementation, and modify outdated regulations. The proposed Amendment would convert bycatch allocations of canary and widow rockfish to set-asides in the at-sea whiting fishery and remove fixed formulas used to determine bycatch amounts of Pacific Ocean Perch, darkblotched rockfish and widow rockfish in the at-sea whiting sectors. Bycatch amounts would instead be determined through the biennial harvest specification process, which would offer more flexible bycatch management for the at-sea sectors. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/30/2019-18794/magnuson-stevens-act-provisions-fisheries-off-west-coast-states-pacific-coast-groundfish-fishery Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Sablefish in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 08/30/2019 NMFS is prohibiting retention of sablefish by vessels using trawl gear and not participating in the cooperative fishery of the Rockfish Program in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the 2019 total allowable catch of sablefish allocated to vessels using trawl gear and not participating in the cooperative fishery of the Rockfish Program in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA has been reached. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/30/2019-18811/fisheries-of-the-exclusive-economic-zone-off-alaska-sablefish-in-the-central-regulatory-area-of-the
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