Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Alaska Alaska Fish Radio: Fishing Jobs Hit Hard by COVID Pandemic SeafoodNews.com by Laine Welch - November 16, 2021 This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Fishing jobs got hit hard by Covid. More after this - Fish Radio is brought to you by Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. Marine broker for vessels, permits and IFQs. Online at www.alaskaboat.com The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute provides digital and print marketing materials to the Alaska seafood industry. Find access to thousands of stunning photos, high quality video footage, and sales tools at www.alaskaseafood.org. The Covid pandemic last year caused a more than 14 percent drop in Alaska fishing jobs since the state started tracking the numbers in 2000. Employment decreased from a monthly average of 7,654 in 2019 to 6,575 last year with declines across almost all months and in all fisheries. That’s according to November’s Alaska Economic Trends by the state Department of Labor. Over the year, statewide salmon harvesting lost about 700 jobs on an average monthly basis, with a drop of over 3,000 in August alone, typically the yearly peak. Southeast Alaska, which is the state’s largest region in terms of monthly fishing employment, took the biggest hit, losing 16% of its harvesting jobs and hitting its lowest fishing employment level in 20 years. All but one of Kodiak’s seven fisheries lost jobs in 2020, dropping from 657 to 541, a decline of almost 18 percent, making it a 20-year low. Fishermen at the Aleutians and Pribilof Islands also catch a range of species, and only one of the six fisheries — crab — saw job growth last year. Crab harvesting jobs grew 22 percent, largely because 41 percent of its employment is from January through March, missing Covid’s most active months. Tracking fishing jobs is tricky because harvesters are self-employed and permit holders are not required to report how many crew they hire. The jobs are inferred in a given month from landings. Because fishing permits are associated with a specific type of gear, including boat size, economists estimate how many people the landings require for a given fishery. The number of people associated with a certain permit is called the crew factor. For example, a permit to fish for Bristol Bay red king crab with pot gear on a vessel more than 60 feet long requires about six people, according to a survey of those permit holders. So when crab is landed under that permit, the Dept. of Labor assumes the permit generated six jobs. The number of fishing jobs for this year show signs of improvement, the report says and most operations have run more smoothly. It added that long-term risks like stock declines and climate change may impact future employment. The Trends report also showcases the port of Petersburg. Find links at www.alaskafishradio.com and on Facebook and Twitter. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1212513/Alaska-Fish-Radio-Fishing-Jobs-Hit-Hard-by-COVID-Pandemic West Coast Feds pledge $2.7M in funds for Klamath Basin salmon recovery AP News - November 15, 2021 KLAMATH, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has announced $2.7 million in funding for projects aimed at helping coho salmon in the Klamath River basin. https://apnews.com/article/oregon-philanthropy-salmon-fish-wildlife-494bcd83513288cd02a6506d4cf6821e National USDA Invites Offers to Sell 1.6 Million Pounds of Pollock; 88K Cases of Canned Salmon Urner Barry by Ryan Doyle - November 10, 2021 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invited offers for Alaska pollock and canned pink salmon for use in the National School Lunch Program and other Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs. For both purchase requests, acceptances will be announced by midnight, November 22, 2021. Deliveries for the pollock solicitation will be made between January 1, 2022 and June 31, 2022. Salmon deliveries will be made between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022. A look at the pollock solicitation sees the USDA eyeing 1.63 million pounds of frozen Alaska pollock sticks. Find the pollock solicitation here. Meanwhile, the government is looking for 88,160 cases of canned pink salmon. Find the salmon solicitation here. On November 3, the USDA also sought offers to sell catfish products to be used for the same nutrition programs. The quantity for the catfish invitation totaled 456,000 pounds. Back in September, the USDA unveiled purchase awards for a variety of pacific seafood products following a September 1 solicitation. In all, the USDA purchased 121,500 cases of pacific seafood products including pacific rockfish, pacific shrimp, and pacific whiting for $16,474,671.90. Bornstein Seafoods (WA), Dulcich, Inc. (OR) and Ocean Gold Seafoods (WA), earned contracts from the USDA. According to the purchase award description from the USDA, the Department bought 2,700 cases of pacific salad shrimp for $516,600 from Bornstein Seafoods. The USDA purchased a notable amount of product totaling 112,500 cases of seafood for $15,211,737.91. Ocean Gold sold 6,300 cases for $746,280. September also saw the USDA buy nearly $25 million worth of domestic shrimp products. In all, 164,250 total cases of wild shrimp products under Section 32 for distribution to the child nutrition and other related domestic food assistance programs for the Fiscal Year 2021 were purchased. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1212153/USDA-Invites-Offers-to-Sell-1-point-6-Million-Pounds-of-Pollock-88K-Cases-of-Canned-Salmon Environment/Science Researcher reports declining numbers of fish after trawl survey Nugget Nome by Julia Lerner - November 12, 2021 Key marine species in the Northern Bering Sea, including several types of crab and fish, have seen significant population declines over the last several years, according to a new bottom trawl survey organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The survey, conducted throughout the summer months in both the Northern and Eastern Bering Sea, explored the current state of the sea floor. http://www.nomenugget.com/news/researcher-reports-declining-numbers-fish-after-trawl-survey Climate change will destroy familiar environments, create new ones and undermine efforts to protect sea life Oregon State University - November 11, 2021 CORVALLIS, Ore. – Climate change is altering familiar conditions of the world’s oceans and creating new environments that could undermine efforts to protect sea life in the world’s largest marine protected areas, new research from Oregon State University shows. https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/climate-change-will-destroy-familiar-environments-create-new-ones-and-undermine-efforts-protect Opinion Northern Lights: Alaska Seafood 2050 National Fisherman by Garret Evridge, Guest Author - November 12, 2021 What will the Alaska seafood industry look like in 30 years? Given the pace of innovation, it’s not hard to envision an industry transformed by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, remote sensing, and electric motors and batteries. This transformation is already occurring across manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation sectors, among others. Consider the possibilities for the fishing and seafood industries. https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/northern-lights-alaska-seafood-2050 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. 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