Alaska Board of Fish to consider set beach seines for east side setnet fishery Seines were tested on local beaches this summer in effort helmed by Lisa and Brian Gabriel Peninsula Clarion by Jacob Dye - November 3, 2024 The State Board of Fisheries will in March consider the use of beach seines as an alternative gear type for the east side setnet fishery. https://www.peninsulaclarion.com/news/board-of-fish-to-consider-set-beach-seines-for-east-side-setnet-fishery/ ADF&G: Prince William Sound Pink Salmon Season is Worst Since 1993
SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - October 31, 2024
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s summary of the 2024 salmon season in Prince William Sound was released on October 23, underscoring the alarmingly low return on pink salmon.The 2024 season marked the worst pink salmon harvest since 1993 and the second worst since the late 1970s when PWS hatcheries were established. This year’s forecast for pink salmon in the Sound was a total run of 32.18 million fish, made up of 15.53 million returning to the Valdez Fisheries Development Association’s (VFDA’s) Solomon Gulch hatchery and 10.20 million returning to various hatcheries owned by the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation (PWSAC), and 6.45 million wild fish.But out of the approximately 23 million pink salmon that were expected to be harvested, only 5.07 million were landed, 78% below the pre-season forecast.Both wild and hatchery-born pink salmon experienced run failures this year. Pink landings from VDFA's return were about 3.55 million of the total, 1.42 million were wild pink salmon, and only 121,800 pinks were landed from the return to PWSAC hatcheries.The VFDA pink salmon run of 5.59 million fish was 64% below the forecast of 15.53 m. The PWSAC pink salmon run of 3.08 million fish was 70% below the forecast of 10.20 million. The PWS wild pink salmon harvest of 1.42 million fish was 75% below the forecast of 5.66 million fish. The eggtake goal for VFDA was not achieved in 2024, coming up 30% short; PWSAC also came up 5% short of their goal.Seiners fared better for chum salmon, but numbers were also historically lThe 2024 chum salmon total forecast was 4.62 million fish, with an estimated commercial harvest of 2.85 million fish. Most of the total run, 3.98 million (86%), was from PWSAC hatchery production, with 240,000 fish returning to the Armin F. Koernig hatchery (AFK) and 920,000 fish returning to Port Chalmers. Based on the department’s wild chum salmon forecast of 639,000 fish and subtracting the 10-year average escapement, 170,000, there was a potential harvestable surplus of 469,000 wild chum salmon. The department managed for each district’s escapement goal, aiming for each district’s long-term average, for a combined total of 135,000 chum salmon to all districts.Chum salmon commercial harvest in PWS was 1.16 million fish, 59% below the preseason harvest forecast. The commercial purse seine fleet harvested 821,000 chum salmon in 2024.The gill net fleet in the area start fishing for Chinook in mid May on the Copper River Delta, transitioning nets with smaller mesh for sockeyes that return about the same time.The 2024 Chinook salmon total run forecast was 47,000 fish, and the actual run was below forecast. Early in the season, the Copper River sockeye harvest and in-river passage were significantly below average, leading to short-duration fishing periods and extended fishery closures until early June.The 2024 Copper River sockeye salmon total run forecast was 2.00 million fish. Gulkana Hatchery represented 36,000 sockeye salmon in this total run forecast.The preseason commercial harvest forecast for the Copper River District sockeye salmon was 1.3 million fish.Overall, the 2024 Copper River sockeye salmon run was above forecast for both hatchery and wild stocks. The number of wild sockeye salmon in the Copper River District commercial harvest was 957,000, or 69% of the total.Drift gillnet exvessel harvest value was an estimated $28.47 million (average permit earnings of $67,300 compared to a 10-year average of $67,600); set gillnet ex-vessel harvest value was an estimated $2.54 million (average permit earnings at $101,500 compared to a 10-year average of $72,900); and purse seine exvessel harvest value was an estimated $7.53 million (average permit earnings at $42,500 compared to a 10-year average of $203,000).
In Memoriam
A major fisheries advocate, Sitkan Tad Fujioka found dead in apparent bear mauling
KCAW by Robert Woolsey - October 31, 2024
Note: A GoFundMe account has been created to support Tad Fujioka’s family. Learn more here.The call that Tad Fujioka was overdue could not have come at a worse time. On the evening of October 29, Sitka and the outer coast of Southeast were being lashed by a windstorm, with some gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour.
The Winding Glass: What’s in Store for U.S. Fisheries After the Election?
SeafoodNews by John Sackton - November 4, 2024
[The Winding Glass is the opinion and commentary column by John Sackton, Founder of SeafoodNews]
The U.S. government and the seafood industry are deeply intertwined. Since the outcome of Tuesday’s election is unknown, the industry is facing significant uncertainties regarding regulatory policies and trade dynamics.I want to call out a few areas where monumental changes may occur, depending on which candidate wins.Of course, the seafood industry exists within the larger macro-economic environment, and things like consumer confidence, real wages, inflation, and the cost of competing proteins all impact demand for seafood. However, we are also tied to governmental agencies in very specific ways.First is trade. America is both a leading exporter of seafood and a leading importer. That is because some of our high-value exports are consumed abroad, and some of our major fisheries are export-oriented. There are very few U.S. fisheries that exist entirely within the domestic market, and these are often lower-value regional products. Globally seafood was traded by 227 countries in 2020, far surpassing the number of countries trading any other food commodity.American export-oriented fisheries by value are lobster, wild salmon, Alaska pollock and surimi, crab (king, snow, Dungeness), scallops, Pacific cod, and hake. Major disruptions of export markets for these species would affect domestic prices and cause difficulties for domestic producers.The major American imported fisheries (by value) include shrimp, farmed salmon, tuna, lobster, snow crab, pollock, tilapia, squid, and cod.Domestic fisheries are more immune to trade disruption because they are produced and consumed here. These include Menhaden (industrial fishmeal and oil), domestic catfish, crawfish, American striped bass, surf clams, quahogs, and oysters. But you can’t make much of a seafood diet out of just these products.Our industry is deeply shaped by international trade, and we import 80% to 90% of our seafood in a given year. A drastic change such as an across-the-board tariff, as proposed by the Republicans, would be extremely disruptive. It would not only change prices for imports, but because trade is a two-way street, our export partners would retaliate in kind. In the worst case, we would face a dramatic rise in import costs and a dramatic fall in sales to export markets.The second area where we are deeply intertwined with the government is the FDA and food safety regulations. Every seafood plant in the U.S. needs an FDA-approved HACCP plan. Every import is subject to inspection and compliance with import standards. If the FDA’s mission within the government were drastically altered, it would create potentially costly ripple effects throughout all seafood manufacturing and importing.Most proposed changes at the FDA involve drug approval procedures and vaccines, but if the agency were significantly downsized or restricted, the food safety component of its mission could be impacted as well. Such changes and the public opposition to them could introduce new uncertainty around food safety in consumers' minds.Maintaining a high level of public trust in food safety has been a huge effort. We have overcome many consumer scares, from mercury in tuna to antibiotics in shrimp to contamination in catfish and tilapia. Changes that undermine the FDA’s food safety authority open the door to a world where Twitter and social media are the primary arbiters of what’s wholesome and safe, i.e., a nightmare for our industry.The third area of risk is the 45-year-old system of fisheries management established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act beginning in 1976. The U.S. is unique in ceding regulatory authority to a system of regional councils where NOAA regulators, state officials, and industry stakeholders construct and approve fishery management plans. This system has been the most successful in the world in sustainably managing fisheries.In an anti-regulatory environment where efficiencies are believed to be gained through drastic budget cuts, NOAA’s ability to support and contribute to the councils could be crippled. Without scientific input, the councils simply become venues for fights among resource users, with political power and connections determining the outcome.Long-term management suffers, and sustainability goes out the window, replaced by short-term self-regulation by industry. The temporary need for cash flow in challenging economic times could lead businesses to prioritize short-term gains over sustainable fishing practices, risking long-term viability. Once again, after years of building public credibility for sustainable fishing practices and certifications, the entire edifice could come crashing down.It does not require a repeal of Magnuson Stevens to gut the councils. Simply zeroing out NOAA budget line items that are deemed to be unnecessarily duplicative of private efforts would be enough. This is the same threat being made toward NOAA’s national weather service, i.e., replacement with a private sector contract that could easily be subject to manipulation.Finally, there is the threat to cease enforcement of the Endangered Species Act and, in other ways, constrain the Environmental Protection Agency. We have had huge fights over endangered species. The regulatory protections have led to closures and severe restrictions on location, timing, and gear use in certain fisheries. There are hot-button conflicts continuing today, such as right whale protections impacting lobster fisheries or attempts to put some commercial salmon runs under endangered species protection. Our industry has evolved to deal with the devil we know and has successfully argued court cases that have curbed EPA power and upheld it to preserve fisheries, as with the Pebble Mine in Alaska. The danger in upending a known system is that we don’t know the cost of the replacement or even if a replacement is possible. The Democratic candidates are not clamoring for a wholesale change in government function. They are more willing to make changes at the margin in response to normal political pressure and experience.The Republican candidates are more willing to blow up the system in the belief that something better will emerge.From a business perspective, such a wholesale radical transformation is likely to leave many seafood business casualties in its wake.Obviously, these thoughts represent my opinion. But from a business perspective, I think we thrive in periods of predictability and stability and struggle in periods of major market disruption and turmoil.We have had stock collapse, shrimp anti-dumping duties, shrimp EMS, tariffs on China, bans on Russian seafood, and many other times when a specific species lost stability. But it has never happened to our industry in its entirety. My personal fear is that if the ‘blow it all up’ crowd is successful in capturing governmental power, the future of many of our businesses will be under great threat.
Tustumena slated for one Aleutian Chain ferry run per month next summer
KUCB by Andy Lusk - October 31, 2024
The M/V Tustumena, which just turned 60 years old, is expected to continue serving the Aleutian Chain with one run per month between May and September of next year.
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