Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Alaska Pollock industry donates fish to help restaurants Cordova Times - October 19, 2021 Wild Alaska Pollock harvesters and processors have donated fish to owners of Chicago restaurants in a marketing support effort to boost restaurant patronage and also showcase the mild whitefish in dishes from fillets to surimi to wings. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2021/10/19/pollock-industry-donates-fish-to-help-restaurants/ West Coast Oregon Adopts Dungeness Crab Management Plan, First FMP on the West Coast SeafoodNews.com by Susan Chambers - October 20, 2021 The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted regulations last week for implementing the Oregon Dungeness Crab Fishery Management Plan, the first Dungeness crab fishery management plan to be developed on the West Coast. The FMP describes the status of Dungeness crab and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's management of two commercial crab fisheries, bay and ocean, and the recreational crab fishery in the bays and ocean. Dungeness crab is an iconic Oregon species and forms the economic backbone of commercial activity along the coast, including tourism, recreational crabbing and seafood industries, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a press release. In describing the fishery sectors and the management approach of each, the FMP provides a transparent reference for the rationale behind the Department’s research, monitoring and regulatory approaches to sustainably managing Dungeness crab and providing access to all harvesters. While the majority of regulations are already in place for the management described in the FMP, the Commission adopted several minor implementing regulations, including a bay commercial logbook requirement, adjustments to late-season buoy tag allowances for the ocean commercial sector, biotoxin management adjustments and fishing gear definitions within marine reserves (which apply to crab and all other commercial fixed gear fisheries). Some of the provisions included in the FMP include actions to minimize or avoid whale entanglements. ODFW created many of these actions in consultation with the commercial fishing sector so they would have the least impact to the fleet and enable crabbers to continue to work while also recognizing ways to keep whales out of crab gear. Written testimony to the Commission primarily included comments from recreational fishermen who requested commercial fishermen be prohibited from fishing in bays, where much of the sport fishery takes place. However, ODFW data supported commercial bay crabbing, noting that it is a small fraction of the overall Dungeness catch and is no threat to the resource. Commissioners also noted that limited commercial bay crab effort, particularly in the summer, keeps market channels open for ocean-caught Dungeness crab during the winter season. Summer tourists enjoy being able to buy crab during their visits to the coast, they said. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1210638/Oregon-Adopts-Dungeness-Crab-Management-Plan-First-FMP-on-the-West-Coast Environment/Science Researchers say orcas eat well in Salish Sea Cordova Times by Margaret Bauman - October 19, 2021 University of British Columbia scientists say their research debunks a popular belief that southern resident killer whales swimming in Canadian waters in summer months aren’t finding enough Chinook salmon to feed on. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2021/10/19/researchers-say-orcas-eat-well-in-salish-sea/ Labeling and Marketing ASMI marks 4 decades of marketing Alaska seafood All-Hands-On-Deck is back again as a virtual interactive conference Nov. 9-11 Cordova Times by Margaret Bauman - October 19, 2021 Commercial fishermen, processors, biologists and others engaged in Alaska’s multi-million-dollar seafood industry will gather virtually Nov. 9-11 for the All-Hands-On-Deck conference, to review the challenges and triumphs of 2021 and plan for the coming year of marketing Alaska seafood worldwide. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2021/10/19/asmi-marks-4-decades-of-marketing-alaska-seafood/ FYI’s Pacific Fishery Management Council to hold online webinar only meeting in November 2021 to adopt management measures for ocean fisheries Pacific Fishery Management Council - October 19, 2021 The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council: The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC or Council) and its advisory bodies will meet November 15-19 and 21-22, 2021 by webinar only, to address issues related to coastal pelagic species, groundfish, highly migratory species, salmon, Pacific halibut, and administrative matters. https://www.savingseafood.org/news/council-actions/pacific-fishery-management-council-to-hold-online-webinar-only-meeting-in-november-2021-to-adopt-management-measures-for-ocean-fisheries/ Pacific Council Hires Merrick Burden as New Executive Director SeafoodNews.com by Susan Chambers - October 19, 2021 Fisheries economist Merrick Burden knows about resiliency. He's been working on projects revolving around fisheries and climate change at the Environmental Defense Fund. Now he'll take on a new, but somewhat familiar challenge: the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Burden will take over as Executive Director in mid-November. The Council met in executive session last week in a final interview for three applicants. Subsequently, the Council offered the position to Burden. He accepted and the Council plans to make a formal announcement soon. Executive Director Chuck Tracy announced earlier this year he planned to retire at the end of 2021. Tracy was director for more than five years, succeeding Dr. Don McIsaac. Council members conducted interviews in September and October to replace Tracy and hoped to have a new director on board for the November Council meeting. Burden is currently the Director of Resilient Fisheries, part of Environmental Defense Fund's Fishery Solutions Center based in San Francisco, according to EDF. Prior to that, he was executive director of Marine Conservation Alliance, a group of processors, harvesters, coastal communities and Community Development Quota groups in Alaska. An Alaskan native, Burden used his degree and experience as an economist to build support for and strengthen sustainable fisheries on the West Coast and Alaska. He worked as a staff officer for the PFMC when it was developing the groundfish trawl catch shares program, implemented in 2011. He's most recently been focused on fisheries in the face of climate change for EDF. In June, he narrated a three-part EDF video series, "Fishing for Resilience." Burden, who comes from a background in commercial fishing, described working on and narrating the series was a sort of personal journey for him. "It’s because I tried to bring this concept home, and found myself asking what climate change means to friends and family that ply the seas, what it means for my community, and what it means for the wildlife and ecosystems that I hold dear," Burden said in a blog post introducing the videos. "That got me right into thinking about how to help the people, wildlife and broader ocean ecosystems that I care about in practical ways." It's likely Burden will continue building on the Council's record of sustainable fisheries management and addressing climate change through its Climate and Communities Initiative. Under the Initiative, the Council is exploring the broad, long-term effects of climate change on the species it manages. As Burden notes in his blog post, resilience in fisheries complements sustainability, but is still slightly different. "These are things that can help an ecosystem resist, recover or adapt to climate change," Burden wrote. "These include elements like ensuring diversity is present within the ecosystem, enhancing our adaptive capacity, and appropriately using buffers to hedge against unexpected shocks." Burden will assume the PFMC's lead position at a time when the many of the Council's advisory bodies are seeing significant turnover as well, coupled with some heavy issues coming before the Council, such as marine planning that includes offshore wind and aquaculture, potential restrictive management for a couple key groundfish species, ongoing threats to ocean salmon fisheries and more. His first official day is Nov. 15, the first day PFMC advisory bodies start meeting ahead of the full Council session that starts the next day. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1210472/Pacific-Council-Hires-Merrick-Burden-as-New-Executive-Director 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.