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Alaska/Pacific Coast Alaska Symphony of Seafood AFDF Announces Winners of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood AFDF - November 25, 2019 - Correction All awards to be announced Feb. 24th, 2020, in Juneau The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) announced the Seattle People’s Choice and the 1st place winners of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood during Pacific Marine Expo on Friday, November 22nd. The Alaska Symphony of Seafood is an annual competition for new value‐added products made from Alaska Seafood. The goal of the Symphony is to encourage innovation through product development and promotion of these new products. The Symphony helps to diversify markets, utilize more of the resource, and increase value. Product development also helps keep Alaska Seafood relevant to consumers. https://www.afdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019-11-25-Press-Release-Winners-of-Symphony-corrected.pdf Warmer Bering Sea may benefit an Alaskan flatfish KTUU by Grant Robinson November, 26, 2019 ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - While the repercussions of climate change are complex and many impacts are unknown, newly published research suggests that one winner in a shifting environment is Alaska's Northern rock sole. https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Warmer-Bering-Sea-may-benefit-this-Alaskan-flatfish-565461832.html Pink salmon disaster relief payments delayed Distributions to permit holders now slated for March Cordova Times by Margaret Bauman - November 26, 2019 Federal relief payments to permit holders who participated in the disastrous 2016 Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fishery have hit another snag, and now won’t be forthcoming until March. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2019/11/26/pink-salmon-disaster-relief-payments-delayed/ Opposite forecasts for SE pinks, Bristol Bay reds; Cook Inlet busts Alaska Journal Commerce by Elizabeth Earl - November 26, 2019 Biologists are forecasting another weak pink salmon year for Southeast and another strong sockeye salmon run for Bristol Bay coming in the 2020 season. https://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-11-26/opposite-forecasts-se-pinks-bristol-bay-reds-cook-inlet-busts Halibut’s a Wrap; a Glimpse at 2020 Next Week Seafood New by Laine Welch - November 22, 2019 This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Halibut’s a wrap and next week gives a glimpse at the 2020 fishery. More after this – AFDF identifies opportunities in Alaska’s seafood industry and develops outcomes that provide lasting benefits to communities and the environment. Learn more at www.AFDF.org IMS is offering special discounts on Refrigerated Seawater Systems through the end of the year. Integrated Marine Systems. Simple, reliable, built to last. Visit imspacific.com The Pacific halibut fishery ended on November 14 amidst little fanfare. The eight month fishery topped 17 million pounds for Alaskan longliners holding shares of the fish, or about 93 percent of Alaska’s total catch limit. Most dock prices ticked up a bit hovering in the $5 to $6 per pound range during the fishery, likely due to bad weather hampering landings of competing halibut from Canada. Doug Bowen runs Alaska Boats and Permits at Homer. “Their hurricanes and everything may have disrupted some of the fisheries there and allowed some of the product from Alaska to make it into those higher end East Coast markets. And so we got a little better price.” Better dock prices have not boosted the market for halibut quota shares, which dropped by a third or more from sky high levels two years ago and appear now to have stabilized. Shares in Southeast, for example, topped $70 per pound, and now most are in the $55 range or less. In the largest fishing region, the Central Gulf, halibut IFQs are at around $45 a pound. Bowen blames the big drop on buyer fatigue - “For the last 15 years or so the resource has been in general decline. I mean, there have been some minor increases over the years, but mostly the trend has been downward. And I think folks are kind of tired of buying something that gets cut the next year and is worth less. They're buying an asset that's declining in value. And then of course, many times over the last few years many folks have thought that this must be the bottom and it would be a great time to buy. Get in and ride it back up, and that hasn't happened.” Halibut stakeholders will get a glimpse next week at how the 2020 fishery could play out. The interim meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission takes place November 25-26 in Seattle. Bowen says the raw data from the summer setline survey showed upticks in the numbers of halibut per skate in every fishing region but the Central Gulf. Find links to all of the documents that are now posted at the IPHC website at www.alaskafishradio.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Fish Radio is also brought to you by Ocean Beauty Seafoods -- an Alaska corporation proudly supporting Alaska’s coastal communities and the Alaskans who depend on fishing for their livelihoods and culture. In Kodiak, I’m Laine Welch. www.oceanbeauty.com https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1157789/Halibuts-a-Wrap-a-Glimpse-at-2020-Next-Week International President Trump Signs Presidential Memorandum to Explore and Map the Ocean Saving Seafood by Council on Environmental Quality - November 21, 2019 The following was released by the Council on Environmental Quality: Today, President Donald J. Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska. In the Presidential Memorandum, President Trump is directing Federal agencies to develop a National strategy to map the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and a strategy to map the Alaskan coastline to advance our understanding of our oceans and coastlines and to promote efficient permitting related to ocean exploration activities. These actions will benefit the U.S. economy, national security, and our environment. https://www.savingseafood.org/news/washington/president-trump-signs-presidential-memorandum-to-explore-and-map-the-ocean/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SavingSeafoodRss+%28Saving+Seafood%29 FYI’s Sockeye salmon stocks are crashing. Long-lost notebooks saw it coming. The detailed field journals, lost for decades, now reveal today’s salmon stocks are in dramatically worse shape than imagined Macleans by Alanna Mitchell - November 13, 2019 It was a rare window into the past: small black field notebooks from the first decades of the last century, pages swollen and yellowed with time, forgotten for more than 50 years. https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/sockeye-salmon-stocks-are-crashing-long-lost-notebooks-saw-it-coming/ Opinion OPINION: Alaska Airlines, Ravn Air decisions harm Unalaska Bristol Bay Times by Frank Kelty - November 22, 2019 In a recent letter to the mayor of Unalaska, Alaska Airlines announced that it will cease service to Unalaska through the end of May 2020. In my opinion, this is a terrible way for Alaska Airlines to treat its loyal customers in Unalaska and the neighboring Aleutian Island communities. Local residents, businesses and the seafood industry have spent millions of dollars for Alaska Airlines tickets over the past several years. http://www.thedutchharborfisherman.com/article/1947alaska_airlines_ravn_air_decisions_harm
Ann Owens Pacific Seafood Processors Association Office Manager 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.