Thursday, August 5, 2021

Alaska Alaska Board of Fisheries Announces the 2021-2022 Proposal Book ADF&G - August 2, 2021 The Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) announces the 2021-2022 Proposal Book is now available. The board accepted 277 proposals for review during its Prince William Sound finfish and shellfish, Southeast and Yakutat finfish and shellfish, and all shellfish Statewide regulatory meetings. These proposals constitute proposed regulatory changes for the regions and species identified in the board’s December 27, 2019 Call for Proposals. https://www.pacificfishing.com/Alaska-Board-of-Fisheries-Announces-the-2021-2022-Proposal-Book.pdf 2021 Preliminary Alaska Commercial Salmon Harvest - Blue Sheet Alaska Department of Fish and Game - August 2021 The Blue Sheet reports cumulative salmon harvest during the commercial fishing season in thousands of fish. Statewide harvest estimates on this page are refreshed twice daily. Please note, inseason harvest estimates published in this report are preliminary and subject to change. Confidential catch information is not included in these cumulative totals. Questions about inseason data collection and individual estimates should be directed to the fishery area management biologists. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.bluesheet Northern Lights: Tracing trailblazers National Fisherman by John Burrows - August 4, 2021 As supply lines become ever more complex in the tightly interwoven fabric of the global economy, there is something inherently comforting in the modern foodscape in knowing (and trusting) the origin of our food, an attribute that is of increasing importance to consumers around the world. https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/northern-lights-tracing-trailblazers Alaska Salmon and U.S./B.C. Halibut Landing Totals Passed Half-Way Mark on August 1 SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - August 3, 2021 With landings of 105.4 million salmon in Alaska and 12.8 million pounds of Pacific halibut coastwide, these iconic fisheries are halfway to their projected annual catch. Now for the details and the caveats. The Pacific halibut fleet in British Columbia has caught nearly 65% of its quota of 5.23 million pounds, compared to Alaska's 48%, or 9.14 million pounds of the 19.6 million pound 2021 limit. “For comparison, by this date in 2020, 1,394 t (3.07 Mlbs), or 60.01% of the IPHC Regulatory Area 2B fishery limit had been landed,” said IPHC Executive Director Dave Wilson this morning. Area 2A, which is Washington, Oregon and California, was closed July 28 as estimates of landings neared their quota for 2021. “The 2021 total allocation for this fishery is 116.17 metric tonnes (256,122 pounds). An estimated 104.97 metric tonnes (231,423 pounds) have been landed during the three (3) 2021 fishing periods (22 to 24 June, 6 to 8 July, and 20 to 22 July),” IPHC reported on July 28, 2021. Alaska landings of halibut are slightly ahead of last year, comparing year-to-year dates — by August 1, Alaska had landed 45% of the 2020 limit compared to 48% this year. In Alaska total landings of 105.43 million salmon represents 55.4% of the pre-season projected catch. The wild card ahead is the pink salmon fishery in Prince William Sound. Expected to peak in the next few weeks, landings there have been increasing and are now at 31.5 million pinks, well over the projected 24.85 million pink salmon. In Norton Sound in northwest Alaska, the pink salmon run has been strong. ADF&G described challenges to data gathering from flooding. “High water has knocked out all escapement counting projects. The floating weirs at Unalakleet and Pilgrim will likely be the first projects to resume counting once the water levels drop,” the state biologists in Bethel wrote in a July 30 announcement. “Unfortunately, with the expected rainy weather continuing through the weekend counting will likely not resume until at least next week. “The commercial harvest of over 250,000 pink salmon this year was a record harvest for an odd-numbered year and the best harvest since 1998, but the commercial harvest of 4,500 chum salmon was the lowest since 2005,” the management team noted. “During the last fishing period more silver salmon were caught than chum salmon and there is the possibility of a silver salmon opening in some subdistricts later next week.” Kodiak and Southeast Alaska pink salmon runs have been abysmal with landings so far at 2.4 million in Kodiak and 8.6 million in Southeast. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasted 22.5 million pinks in Kodiak and 28.2 million in Southeast Alaska. Prince William Sound chums are showing up in better numbers than projected at 2.5 million chum salmon landed to date compared to 2 million estimated pre-season. Alaska Peninsula chums have also returned as expected with landings there of just over 1 million on track with the forecast of 1.2 million chum salmon. The statewide total landings of 105.43 million salmon are made up of 51.1 million sockeye, 47.6 million pinks, 5.74 million chums, half a million coho and 166,000 Chinook salmon. The total salmon harvest is now 10% above the year-to-date total for last year (using 2019 for pinks) and is 5% above the five-year YTD average,” reported Dan Lesh of McKinley Research in the Alaska Salmon Harvest Update from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. “Weekly coho harvests are climbing steadily, but at a pace less than half the five-year average and similar to last year’s poor showing. Typically about a quarter of the year’s coho harvests have crossed the docks by this point in the summer — compared to just 14% this year,” Lesh reported. “The peak is typically in early September.” https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1204952/Alaska-Salmon-and-US-BC-Halibut-Landing-Totals-Passed-Half-Way-Mark-on-August-1 Environment/Science Scientists researching strange appearance of Arctic salmon asking fishers to send in their catches Salmon in the Arctic have increased a lot since 2016, says researcher CBC News - August 2, 2021 Scientists looking at salmon found in Arctic waters are still asking northern harvesters and fishers to submit any unusual catches in exchange for compensation. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/arctic-salmon-nunavut-nwt-1.6124524 FYI’s New Airline On Tom Madsen Runway Means Competition Is Coming To Unalaska/Anchorage Route KUCB by Maggie Nelson - August 4, 2021 A new airline startup announced Tuesday that it'll soon be offering daily flights between Unalaska and Anchorage. The new carrier — branded Aleutian Airways — is a partnership between Juneau-based Alaska Seaplanes, Florida-based Sterling Airways and two venture capital firms. https://www.kucb.org/post/new-airline-tom-madsen-runway-means-competition-coming-unalaskaanchorage-route

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.