Alaska/Pacific Coast
Pollock 'A' Season Starts Amid Federal Shutdown KUCB by Zoe Sobel - January 21, 2019 Pollock "A" season began Sunday at noon. This year the total allowable catch is 1.397 million metric tons up from last year’s 1.364 million metric tons. http://www.kucb.org/post/pollock-season-starts-amid-federal-shutdown Oregon, Washington debate Columbia River salmon policies The Daily Astorian by Katie Frankowicz - January 18, 2019 SALEM — Oregon and Washington state are still figuring out what to do with gillnets on the Columbia River. https://www.dailyastorian.com/news/local/oregon-washington-debate-columbia-river-salmon-policies/article_ac2995e2-1b2e-11e9-9470-7322732026e3.html International Russia May Consider Change in This Year's Crab Quota Auctions to 20% Instead of 50% SeafoodNews.com by Eugene Gerden - January 23, 2019 As the reform of crab sector in Russia is coming closer, leading local producers and scientists from the Russian Higher School of Economics (HSE) have put forward a compromise settlement: auction of only 20% of the existing crab quotas in Russia. At the same time, increase the crab harvest fees in the country and introduce duties on the exports of crabs abroad. HSE experts believe that in order to ensure the necessary state profits from the crab industry in Russia, there is a need to distribute only 20% of quotas through auctions. In addition, experts propose to introduce a three-year duty on the exports of Russian crab at the rate of 10% and to raise the existing fee for crab catch in Russia from the proposed 45 to 63 rubles (~$0.70-$0.95 USD) per kg. Making these changes would help attract about 190 billion rubles (~$2.9 billion USD) during the next three years. That will be twice as much as the possible income from the sale of 50% of the crab quotas through auctions in 2019-2020, which, according to earlier statements of the state, would bring 81 billion rubles (~$1.2 billion USD) of revenue to the federal budget. Evgenia Serova, director of the department of the Agrarian Policy of the Higher School of Economics, considers the proposed mechanism as the best compromise option for all parties. According to Serova, this is mainly due to the fact that export duties, for example, can be adjusted quickly. Auctions cannot. However, Association of Crab Producers of Russian North Executive Director Tatyana Sokolova argues that even the distribution of 20% of the quotas through auctions threatens to seriously damage the industry. Earlier, some Russian crab producers warned that because of the change in the rules for issuing quotas, they would consider refusing to build 10 crab harvesting ships in the total sum of $320 million USD. The initiative of HSE and producers will be considered by the government on January 31. The official introduction of auctions is scheduled for the second half of the current year. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1129859/Russia-May-Consider-Change-in-This-Years-Crab-Quota-Auctions-to-20-percent-Instead-of-50-percent- Environment/Science Use of University Research on DNA in Salmon Monitoring Could Result in Savings for State Alaska Native News by Keni Campbell - January 18, 2019 JUNEAU — Each year wild salmon return to the streams in which they were born to spawn and die. Salmon fishery managers must ensure that adequate numbers of fish return each year to spawn and produce offspring for future harvest. It is expensive and labor intensive to count returning salmon, especially in remote streams. https://alaska-native-news.com/use-of-university-research-on-dna-in-salmon-monitoring-could-result-in-savings-for-state/39680/ FYI’s Sea Pact Announces new chairwoman The Fish Site by Megan Howell - January 16, 2019 Stacy Schulz has been elected as the new chair of Sea Pact, an innovative association of ten leading North American seafood companies. https://thefishsite.com/articles/sea-pact-announces-new-chairwoman-at-intrafish-women-in-seafood-leadership-summit
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