Wednesday, July 9, 2025
- admin04655
- Jul 8
- 5 min read
Alaska
Salmon numbers at Iliuliuk weir surpass last year’s count
KUCB by Kanesia McGlashan-Price - July 7, 2025
Unalaska is entering the height of its sockeye salmon season, and early numbers from the Iliuliuk weir have shown huge improvements from last year.
Wild Fish Conservancy gets due date for ESA decisions on Alaska Chinook salmon
Seafood Source by Nathan Strout - July 8, 2025
AU.S. district court has affirmed a deadline for NOAA Fisheries to release a decision on whether Alaska Chinook salmon should be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after the agency ignored its original 12-month deadline.
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes several seafood provisions
Seafood Source by Nathan Strout - July 8, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, an omnibus piece of legislation enacting the president’s policy preferences into law.
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International
Russian Pollock Surimi Imports Surge in China, Japan and South Korea; US Imports Decline
SeafoodNews.com by Tom Asakawa - July 8, 2025
From January to May, the combined imports of frozen Alaska pollock surimi by Japan, China, and South Korea reached 69,455 metric tons, representing a 4% increase compared to the same period last year. Russian surimi imports surged by 37% to 31,823 metric tons, while imports from the United States fell by 13% to 37,632 metric tons. Russia now accounts for 46% of surimi imports into these three key markets, a shift largely attributed to recent investments in surimi production facilities across the country, according to Minato Shimbun.Japan, China, and South Korea are the top importers of frozen Alaska pollock surimi. Japan, the largest importer, brought in 40,065 metric tons from January to May, on par with the same period last year. Of this, imports from the US decreased by 12% to 30,809 metric tons, while those from Russia increased 1.7-fold to 9,256 metric tons.China, the second-largest importer, saw a 7% increase in imports, reaching 17,441 metric tons. Imports from the U.S. to China halved to 771 metric tons, while those from Russia rose by 12% to 16,670 metric tons. This year, China has surpassed South Korea to become the second-largest importer of Alaska pollock surimi. The increase in Russian surimi is particularly notable, with China importing 25,273 metric tons of Russian surimi in 2024 (a 1.5-fold increase year-on-year), making it the largest recipient of Russian-produced Alaska pollock surimi.South Korea, the third-largest importer, saw a 20% increase in cumulative imports from January to May, reaching 11,949 metric tons. Imports from the US decreased by 13% to 6,053 metric tons, while those from Russia doubled to 5,896 metric tons. The increase in Russian surimi is also significant in South Korea.
NOAA Launches New Ocean Modeling System for West Coast and Alaska
Seafood News - NOAA Alaska Regional Office - July 9, 2025
As part of the Changing Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative, NOAA researchers have developed a new model that helps us to better understand past ocean conditions so we can predict future ones with greater accuracy.The U.S. West Coast has faced many ocean challenges in recent decades, including prolonged marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms , and acidifying coastal waters. These events can cause disruptions to-or even the collapse of-critical fisheries and ecosystems that support coastal communities and economies.Through the Changing Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative, NOAA has developed a new high-resolution ocean model to understand and predict West Coast ocean changes. This model simulates ocean conditions along the West Coast based on atmospheric conditions, such as winds and air temperatures, and changes in the Pacific and Arctic ocean circulation. This provides a foundation for understanding the past and predicting future ocean conditions on seasonal to multi-decadal time horizons.The West Coast model configuration stretches from the Baja Peninsula through the Bering Sea, providing a cohesive picture of coast-wide ocean conditions. It was developed by researchers from NOAA and academic partners. It will provide resource managers, coastal communities, industries, and other decision makers with actionable information to increase resilience to changes in ocean conditions.Past Ocean Changes Help Us Predict the FutureThe first product developed using the West Coast model is a high-resolution retrospective ocean simulation covering the last three decades, also known as a "hindcast." This product is available online and will help scientists, managers, and industry partners understand past ocean and fisheries changes. It will also provide the foundation for reliable future forecasts and projections.Ocean modelers and fisheries experts worked together to identify important ocean features impacting fisheries productivity and ecosystem health, such as bottom temperature and oxygen levels. The model is designed around these critical features, which are not well-resolved in global ocean prediction systems. Focusing on user-relevant conditions ensures that the model can be applied to the intended regional applications, such as fisheries management plans for stocks in U.S. coastal waters.For example, several economically important fisheries in the Bering Sea require the maintenance of cold bottom water throughout the summer months. Survey data collected by NOAA Fisheries has shown that the size of this "cold pool" has varied considerably over the past 30 years. A string of particularly small cold pools contributed to the recent collapse of the invaluable snow crab fishery. The model development team used trawl survey and mooring data to assess and improve the model, leading to an accurate simulation of variations in this key feature."The cold pool result was a great example of our co-development process at work," says Elizabeth Drenkard, lead model developer and scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. "Alaska Fisheries Science Center staff provided trawl survey data and cold pool measures developed with their stakeholders. Colleagues at the NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory used data from their long-term moorings and regional expertise to understand model limitations and address them. Now that we have successfully simulated past cold pool variations, we can turn our attention to predicting future changes."The model can now be used to better understand the factors that determine cold pool extent, such as winter sea ice and seasonal weather patterns. Model results can also be integrated with fisheries and ecosystem models to further understand past fisheries changes. Successful simulations of past cold pool variations are a necessary starting point for future predictions.A National Ocean Prediction and Decision Support System for FisheriesThe high-resolution West Coast model joins its previously delivered East Coast configuration as a foundation for ocean predictions. Analogous teams of modeling, fisheries, and ecosystem experts are also developing systems for the Great Lakes, Pacific Islands, and the Arctic. This national ocean prediction system is built on NOAA's Modular Ocean Model 6 (MOM6). It is integrated with a comprehensive ocean biogeochemical model developed for NOAA's Earth System Models and powered by itsHigh Performance Computing System.On the West Coast, efforts have now turned to generating seasonal outlooks, which encapsulate 1 to 12 months, and longer-term outlooks, which span multiple years. These forthcoming outlooks will help us anticipate future changes, similar to those recently released for the East Coast. "Initial experimental seasonal outlooks for the West Coast model are underway and we expect to be able to produce regular seasonal forecasts starting in 2026," says Dr. Mike Jacox, a scientist with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and NOAA's Physical Sciences Laboratory. "Understanding the past is an important first step, but what we ultimately need to inform fisheries and ecosystem decisions is the ability to anticipate change."
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