PSPA wishes you and your loved ones a safe, healthy, and peaceful holiday season. With warmest gratitude and best wishes from all of us at PSPA. Updates will resume Wednesday, December 28th.
Alaska Alaska Pollock and Pacific Whiting Mothership Vessels of Phoenix Processors Limited Partnership Achieve FISH Standard for Crew Certification Perishable News - December 21, 2022 San Diego, CA — FISH Standard for Crew Inc. is pleased to announce that the two processor vessels of the Phoenix Processors Limited Partnership (PPLP) have been awarded FISH certification. The vessels M/V Excellence and the M/V Phoenix are American flagged vessels operating in U.S. waters in the Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting fisheries. SGS awarded the certification after extensive policy and procedure review, on-site vessel inspection, and face-to-face interviews of crew members. https://www.perishablenews.com/seafood/alaska-pollock-and-pacific-whiting-mothership-vessels-of-phoenix-processors-limited-partnership-achieve-fish-standard-for-crew-certification/ Alaska crab fishery collapse seen as warning about Bering Sea transformation Loss of snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab harvests pose immediate hardships and raise worries about future seafood prospects Alaska Beacon by Yereth Rosen - December 19, 2022 Less than five years ago, prospects appeared bright for Bering Sea crab fishers. Stocks were abundant and healthy, federal biologists said, and prices were near all-time highs. https://alaskabeacon.com/2022/12/19/alaska-crab-fishery-collapse-seen-as-warning-about-bering-sea-transformation/ North Pacific Fishery Management Council - December 2022 Newsletter Appointments, Call for Nominations, RKCSA Closure Emergency Action, Snow Crab Rebuilding, Cook Inlet Salmon FMP, Groundfish Final Harvest Specifications, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, Charter Halibut Management Measure for 2023, Salmon Bycatch, Crab Conservation Workplan, Staff Tasking, Upcoming Meetings https://www.npfmc.org/december-2022-newsletter/ Alaska Fisheries Report 22 December 2022 KMXT - December 22, 2022 This week on the Alaska Fisheries Report with Terry Haines: Co-Ho-Ho! Tear the wrapping away and find Robert Woolsey’s present: a report about a forum on the Future of Fishing, plus Kirsten “Santa” Dobroth from KMXT has two for your stocking: a story on declarations of fish disasters, and one about a plea for precious flotsam. https://kmxt.org/2022/12/alaska-fisheries-report-22-december-2022/ National NOAA Fisheries Three Year Strategic Plan: Top Goal is to Build a Climate-Ready Nation SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - December 22, 2022 The 2022-25 Strategic Plan for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries agency focuses on three key goals — manage fisheries for sustainability and economic competitiveness, safeguard protected species and propel their recovery, and diversify the workforce, promote equity and environmental justice, and “improve our mission performance through organizational excellence”. NOAA Fisheries Strategic Plan 2022-2025, released earlier this month, is part educational and part aspirational. It tiers down from the U.S. Department of Commerce's overarching vision to help the economy grow. NOAA Fisheries Strategic Plan first tells the public what it does, then describes the strategy forward. In all three of the agency's goals, key laws and administration priorities are handrails for the vision. At the top is “building a climate-ready nation, including resilient fisheries and coastal communities” by focusing on “confronting climate change, expanding our science capabilities, supporting conservation initiatives, including America the Beautiful.” Next is “ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of U.S. fishing and seafood industries”, followed by “recovering and protecting marine species” and continuing to build a “mission-oriented, diverse workforce and to promote equity and environmental justice.” Strategies include confronting the impacts of climate change by providing “scientific information, tools, and capacity for resource managers and stakeholders to assess and reduce impacts, increase resilience, and help adapt to changing ocean conditions. “Offshore wind energy development also plays an important role in U.S. efforts to combat the climate crisis and build a clean energy economy,” a statement from the agency explains. “In support of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, NOAA Fisheries will continue to play an important regulatory role. We will focus on minimizing the impacts to ocean resources, critical habitats, and fishing opportunities throughout the planning, siting, and development stages.” NOAA Fisheries recognizes the importance of healthy communities to the nation’s growing economy. They link a strong, competitive industry to higher resilience to both market and environmental shocks. “It will support domestic production and jobs and help ensure food security. We will prioritize equity and environmental justice by promoting programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, climate-related, and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged communities,” the statement noted. “The changes we are witnessing in the marine environment and its ecosystems will require new methods of observation, data collection, and analysis using novel approaches in molecular methods, uncrewed systems, and artificial intelligence,” Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries Janet Coit said in her introduction to the plan. “Rising sea level and increasing storm intensity are accelerating the loss of habitat. The stressors highlight the importance of protecting and restoring critical coastal ecosystems. We will continue to apply innovative approaches, such as Habitat Focus Areas, to pool our capabilities, engage partners, leverage resources, and make on-the-ground progress toward our habitat conservation objectives,” Coit said. “Over the next few years, NOAA has the unprecedented opportunity to support new partnerships through increased funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.” On page five of the 14-page report the agency lists it’s top seven priorities for the next three years. The first is to “Provide best-in-class science and leadership through NOAA’s Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) to understand the changing climate and ocean ecosystems, and work with councils, states, tribes, communities, and stakeholders to address their impacts on marine fisheries and the nation’s economy.” Second, “Support a robust and resilient seafood sector and associated communities, and increase seafood production through NOAA’s National Seafood Strategy to Build U.S. Seafood Sector Resilience and Competitiveness.” Others include identifying impacts on the marine environment from responsible wind energy generation, ensure recovery of endangered species such as the North Atlantic right whale and Pacific salmon, combat IUU fishing, provide historic funding opportunities to support underserved communities, tribes, states, and partners to implement transformational projects that restore coastal ecosystems and enhance community resilience, and prioritize equity and environmental justice (EEJ). Between 2022 and 2025, this plan will be a primary guide for planning, budgeting, and execution in NOAA Fisheries. An Annual Operating Plan will establish milestones used to track progress, and key performance indicators will measure success. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1242276/NOAA-Fisheries-Three-Year-Strategic-Plan-Top-Goal-is-to-Build-a-Climate-Ready-Nation Environment/Science Alaska Native group protects land coveted by Pebble Mine developers Washington Post - Analysis by Maxine Joselow with research by Vanessa Montalbano - December 22, 2022 An Alaska Native group on Thursday will announce that more than 44,000 acres of land near Bristol Bay, the site of the world’s largest wild salmon fishery, are off limits to future development, according to details shared exclusively with The Climate 202. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/22/alaska-native-group-protects-land-coveted-by-pebble-mine-developers/ Federal Register North Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 12/22/2022 The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, and Subsistence Taskforce (LKTKS) will be held January 5, 2023. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/22/2022-27889/north-pacific-fishery-management-council-public-meeting FYI’s 2022 Commercial Fishing Photo Contest Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute - December 2022 2022 Winners Announced! https://www.alaskaseafood.org/about-asmi/photo-contest/ Public Comment Open: RFM Re-Assessment Certification Reports for Alaska Pollock, Cod FisheriesPublic SeafoodNews - December 20, 2022 On Monday a 30-day comment period opened for the Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Re-Assessment Reports for the recertification of both the Alaska pollock and cod fisheries. The fishery assessments are being conducted by certification body DNV. RFM is looking for comments from registered stakeholders about the factual contents of the report, “either in relation to the specific report sections or scoring rationales or indicators.” The public comment period closes on January 19, 2023. You can find the re-assessment certification report for Alaska pollock here. The re-assessment report for the Alaska cod fishery can be found here. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1242072/Public-Comment-Open-RFM-Re-Assessment-Certification-Reports-for-Alaska-Pollock-Cod-FisheriesPublic Pacific Seafood Processors Association 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.
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