Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Alaska Salmon Harvest Forecast for 2021 Up By 61% Seafood News by Laine Welch, Alaska Fish Radio - March 16, 2021 This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – This year’s salmon season could be a big one. More after this – Halibut and black cod buyers and sellers: simplify your sales online from one location at the Seafood Auction. Visit www.seafoodauction.net Did you know that eating wild and sustainable Alaska seafood can boost your immune system? Learn more about Alaska seafood’s many proven nutritional benefits at www.wildalaskaseafood.com. Alaska’s salmon harvest for 2021 is projected to be a big one! Fishery managers are forecasting a statewide catch topping 190 million salmon, 61% higher than last year’s take of just over 118 million fish. The boost this year is due mostly to an expected surge of those hard to predict pinks. In its just-released report titled Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2021 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2020 Season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides breakdowns for all species by region. Projected catches for 2021 and comparisons to last year include a harvest of 46.6 million sockeye salmon, a 203,000 fish increase. A catch of 3.8 million cohos would be 1.4 million higher than last year. For chums, 15.3 million would be 6.7 million more fish. A harvest of 296,000 Chinook salmon would be a boost of 4,000 and for pinks, a haul of 124.2 million humpies is a 63.5 million increase, or nearly 49% higher. Bristol Bay is again expected to rule the day with a harvest of 36.35 million reds from the region’s nine river systems, 13% higher than the 10 year average. At Southeast, the total all-species take for the region is projected at 40.2 million fish with “average” pink salmon catches pegged at 28 million. The Copper River sockeye catch is projected at a meager 844,000 fish along with 13,000 Chinook salmon. Prince William Sound’s total salmon harvest calls for nearly 60 million fish, of which nearly 55 million are pinks. Upper Cook Inlet fishermen are projected to take just over 2 million salmon this summer, including 1.64 million sockeyes. At Lower Cook Inlet the all-salmon forecast calls for a harvest of 3.2 million fish, of which 1.8 million are pinks. Kodiak fishermen are expected to haul in 25.6 million salmon, including two million sockeyes and 22.5 million pinks. Fishermen at the South Alaska Peninsula could have an “excellent” humpy haul of nearly 13 million. At Chignik, a catch of 3.1 million salmon is projected of mostly pinks. For the Arctic-Yukon Kuskokwim region, managers predict below average fisheries across the board, including a catch of just over half a million chum salmon. Find links to the 2021 salmon forecasts and recaps of the 2020 season at www.alaskafishradio.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Fish Radio is also brought to you by OBI Seafoods - who salutes and says thanks to the men and women fishing across Alaska for their hard work and dedication. (www.oceanbeauty.com) In Kodiak, I’m Laine Welch. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1194295/Salmon-Harvest-Forecast-for-2021-Up-By-61-percent- International Illegal fishing, seafood fraud still widespread Cordova Times - March 15, 2021 Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud continue to be a challenging issue in imports to the United States, which imports up to 90% of its seafood, according to a new report from the international ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2021/03/15/illegal-fishing-seafood-fraud-still-widespread/ NOAA Plays Pivotal Role in Combating Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported Fishing Globally NOAA Fisheries - March 8, 2021 Acting NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Paul Doremus highlights NOAA’s role in preventing IUU fish and fish products from entering U.S. markets. Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a top priority for the United States. NOAA Fisheries is proud to be a leader in the nation’s comprehensive approach to this battle. It includes many government agencies working in concert to identify bad actors, suspect vessels, and ports that have no interest in protecting the integrity of the seafood supply. IUU fishing damages nations’ economies, threatens marine resources, and harms U.S. fishing fleets and consumers. Due to the inherent nature of IUU fishing, it is almost impossible to accurately quantify the full global economic impacts resulting from these activities. However, there is little disagreement that it is in the billions, or even tens of billions, of dollars each year. https://www.savingseafood.org/news/enforcement/noaa-plays-pivotal-role-in-combating-illegal-unregulated-and-unreported-fishing-globally/ JAPAN: 2020 Surimi Product Output Upward Amid COVID-19 SeafoodNews.com by Tom Asakawa - March 16, 2021 On February 10, the Food Supply and Demand Research Center announced the production of surimi products in 2020. Chikuwa grilled surimi tube and kamaboko steamed surimi production were 447,977 tons; an increase of 1.8, reported Kamaboko News. Looking at each item, the strong performance of chikuwa and fried surimi is conspicuous. Chikuwa production was 63,322 tons, an increase of 5.3% from the previous year. Since March, all have exceeded the last year's results. This movement shows the same tendency as the household survey. Fried surimi was also strong, up 4.2%. Like Chikuwa, it decreased sharply in January but recorded an increase for 11 consecutive months. The number of kamaboko on the wooden plate was 44,694 tons; increasing 3.7% from the previous year. However, plate kamaboko fell by 3.1% in December. Remarkably, the number of prepackaged kamaboko, which is prepackaged before heating, increased by 12.1%. Naruto (steamed surimi with a spiral pattern in cross-section) and Hanpen boiled surimi category was 35,97 tons, an increase of 1.0% from the previous year. Only the other surimi product category was down. Especially in the summer, there was a significant drop, and it did not perform well throughout the year. It was 104,467 tons; down 5.2%. With the spread of coronavirus infection, the production of surimi products seems to have progressed smoothly. Mass retailers' growth with the demand for home-cooked meals covered the sharp decrease in demand for the foodservice and tourism market due to the declaration of emergency and the shortening of restaurant business hours. It has become clear that manufacturers that focus on mass retailers have relatively suppressed the decline compared to companies that have tourism and foodservice as their primary customers. However, supermarket-oriented manufacturers' costs are rising due to the shortage of surimi, and their profit margin is steadily shrinking. Their demand for a moderate price hike is likely to increase. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1194291/JAPAN-2020-Surimi-Product-Output-Upward-Amid-COVID-19 Environment/Science Climate change damaging North America's largest temperate rainforest, harming salmon Phys.org by Meghan Azralon, University of Colorado Denver - March 12, 2021 New research released in Bioscience found that a remote region of North America's largest temperate rainforest is experiencing changes to its ecosystem due to climate change. Brian Buma, a researcher and professor of integrated biology at University of Colorado Denver, co-leads the research network that outlined the changes in a new paper. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-climate-north-america-largest-temperate.html Federal Register North Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 03/15/2021 The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 through Thursday, April 1, 2021, the agenda with specific times is in the process of being finalized. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/15/2021-05300/north-pacific-fishery-management-council-public-meeting

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