Tag Archives: Alaska
Photo Release: Coast Guard tows disabled fishing vessel to Adak, Alaska
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC 39) towed a disabled fishing vessel with eight people aboard to Adak, Monday. Alex Haley successfully towed the 127-foot fishing vessel Aleutian No. 1 into Adak and transferred to fishing vessel Erla-N. Erla-N then towed the disabled vessel into Adak where it was moored at the pier at 11:30 a.m. with the help of Alex Haley’s cutter boats. At 1:00 a.m. Saturday, the Alex Haley arrived on scene and took Aleutian No. 1 in tow before transiting over 160 miles to Adak. Watchstanders in the 17th District command center received initial notification from the master of Aleutian No. 1 at 5:57 a.m., Thursday, reporting they had fouled their prop, were unable to conduct repairs and were drifting approximately three miles north of Amchitka Island, 575 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor.3 photos, more, >>click to read<< 08:49
Bristol Bay’s 2023 year in review
January started out with communities contending with an egg shortage, as an outbreak of avian flu in Washington state drastically slowed shipments north. Slavii stars circulated around the region for Orthodox Christmas with some precautions in place to protect community members from the flu virus and Covid-19. Dozens of people attended the Bristol Bay Native Corporation’s free online language classes in Yup’ik, Dena’ina and Alutiiq. The corporation also offered song and dance classes. And at the end of the month, many in Bristol Bay saw a years-long effort validated with the Environmental Protection Agency vetoing the controversial Pebble Mine project. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 12:35
Ecosystem reports show continuing effects of warming in Alaska’s marine waters
The waters off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands registered the warmest winter temperatures in over a century, part of a decade-long period of warming, according to a report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Aleutians report is one of three annual ecosystem status reports issued by NOAA Fisheries for marine areas of Alaska. The reports, compiled by large teams of scientists, were released earlier this month and presented to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the panel that sets regulated commercial fishing in federal waters off Alaska. The Bering Sea remains warmer than the long-term average, though it has cooled since the heatwaves, NOAA Fisheries biologist Elizabeth Siddon told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in her presentation of the report. more, >>click to read<< 07:53
Fishermen and community leaders react to Trident announcement to sell a third of its Alaska plants
Gerry Cobban Knagin is a commercial fisherman. She and her family have fished around Kodiak and sold their harvest to Trident Seafoods, one of the largest seafood processors in the country, on and off for decades. But on Dec. 12, the company announced it’s selling off about a third of its Alaska processing plants, including their year-round facility in Kodiak. She said the announcement was a huge shock for almost everyone on the island. “Speaking with [Trident] management, there wasn’t any heads up for anyone,” Knagin said. “And they decided, according to management, that they wanted full transparency so that the fleet would know.” Photos, more, >>click to read<< 20:44
Trident Seafoods announces plan to streamline, modernize operations
Trident Seafoods, a corporate giant among North American seafood processors, is looking for potential buyers for four of its shoreside plants in Alaska as part of a restructuring plan announced on Tuesday from its headquarters in Seattle. Such bold action is necessary to deliver fair value to fleet, communities and all stakeholders into the future, said Joe Bundrant, CEO of the company built by his father, Chuck Bundrant, starting more than 50 years ago with a single fishing vessel. Bundrant said he remains confident overall of the Alaska seafood industry and Trident’s role in it. He acknowledged these significant changes and said the company is focused on treating its impacted employees and communities with the respect and compassion they deserve. more, >>click to read<< 13:43
Fisheries in Focus: How the mystery of the great eastern Bering Sea snow crab die-off was solved
A 2018 National Marine Fisheries Service survey estimated the eastern Bering Sea snow crabs population at 11 billion crabs, the highest amount ever recorded. Three years later, the population crashed by more than 90 percent, closing the fishery for the first time in its history (it remains closed). Where did all the snow crab go? What caused their disappearance? Did they move elsewhere? Did they die? Alaska fishery management is regarded as the best in the world – was this management error? Two years ago, we published an interview with Cody Szuwalski, a researcher at NOAA and lead investigator on the snow crab collapse, speculating on what happened. Now, we have answers: A team of scientists seemed to have solved the mystery this fall with a paper published in Science, Szuwalski et al. 2023. They concluded that the crabs died from a warm water anomaly that sped up their metabolisms. In short, there wasn’t enough food to go around – they starved. more, >>click to read<< 06:05
‘Freaked out’: Big money industry crippling salmon population in Alaska, natives say
There is no more salmon. That’s what native Alaskan Ricko DeWilde is most concerned with these days. Once flowing with abundance, native tribes have been sounding the alarm about the overfishing of Alaskan Ricko DeWilde and other native fish by international fishing companies, essentially wiping out natives’ main source of food as well as a cultural touchstone. “That’s a way of life that we’re losing right there,” DeWilde said. “Any of the fishing along the Yukon River has been prohibited,” DeWilde said. “The commercial fishing industry is just running rampant out here and it’s big money. They take over to board of fish, they take over to politicians, they have them in their pocket and it becomes like a fish mafia out here.” photos, >>click to read<< 08:08
Commercial crab fishery closed for 2023-2024 season
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the commercial red and blue king crab fishery for the 2023-2024 season, the sixth year in a row, citing stock survey numbers that remain well below the regulatory threshold. The survey estimated 119,000 pounds of legal male red king crab are available for harvest, significantly below the 200,000 pounds required to open the commercial fishery, said Adam Messmer, lead king/tanner crab biologist for ADFG. While that’s an improvement from last year, where the survey estimated 95,000 pounds, improvement does not mean they are a harvestable size, Messmer said. “If they would open up the crab season for 10-15 days it would help bail us out of a terrible season,” said Norval Nelson, owner and operator of Star of the Sea, which was in Aurora Harbor. He made his comments before he learned of the news. more, >>click to read<< 18:24
NOAA Fisheries releases more information about ‘high level’ of killer whales caught this year by Alaska trawl fleet
Six killer whales caught in trawl net gear this year in waters off Alaska died as a result of their entanglement, while a seventh whale was seriously injured by this gear, according to a NOAA Fisheries statement released Friday. The trawl fishing industry’s 2023 take of killer whales, first made by public NOAA Fisheries in September, is significantly higher than in recent years past, according to a review of NOAA Fisheries death tolls through 2021. Bering Sea killer whales are not listed under the Endangered Species Act but are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. John Gauvin, fisheries science director for the Alaska Seafood Cooperative, “We want to conduct our fisheries without harming orcas and we’re taking steps to avoid future mortalities,” more, >>click to read<< 10:19
Alaska records fourth largest salmon harvest with economic blow
2023 marks the fourth largest salmon harvest since the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game started to record the harvest in 1985. Unfortunately, the large harvest did not bring in financial scores equal to smaller harvests. Last year, the overall salmon harvest for the state of Alaska wasn’t the largest on record, but it was the largest harvest of sockeye. For 2023, pink salmon claimed dominance and the overall harvest was massive as well, but the revenue fell far from the gains seen last year. In 2023, the harvest numbers were a major success for the fishing industry bringing in a total of over 230 million salmon. That’s the fourth largest harvest on record, much of it being pink salmon. Video, more, >>click to read<< 17:25
Opinion: The tragic mismanagement of bycatch in Alaska
The commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game’s recent opinion piece on bycatch would make for good comedy if the topic wasn’t so serious. Doug Vincent-Lang extolled the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s handling of bycatch in trawl fisheries off the coast of Alaska. As examples, he mentioned existing bycatch caps for chinook salmon and halibut bycatch measures that are not yet in effect. Other than that, here are the council “actions” he espouses. The council, of which he is a key member, has “initiated an analysis” concerning caps on chum bycatch, is “considering further fishing restrictions” related to crab in the Bering Sea and is “evaluating whether further protections are needed” for Tanner crab in the Gulf. He also notes that the council “support(s) further research” into the causes of the declines in these seminal Alaska fisheries stocks. >>click to read<< 12:29
‘People helping people’
Some folks in Alaska are going to be very thankful on Thanksgiving. The Lydia Marie, a 44-foot wooden troller, with its captain, Logan Padgett, and his brother aboard, began taking on water on Nov. 13 while in rough waters in Frederick Sound, KCAW.org reported. Padgett sent out a mayday to U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka and headed for calmer waters off Read Island in Farragut Bay. The flooding got under control, but the helicopter was already on the way. “Well, it was dark,” Padgett said. “So we were just looking at the helicopter lights, and there wasn’t really much to see. But we could hear the rotors one second, and then (a) loud crash the next. Then silence.” >>click to read<< 06:53
When a Coast Guard helicopter crashed in Southeast Alaska, first on the scene were the helicopter crashed it came to rescue
The first people at the scene of Monday night’s crash of an Air Station Sitka helicopter were the crew of the distressed fishing vessel it was sent to assist. The two brothers aboard the Lydia Marie played a critical role in the rescue of the downed air crew. Logan Padgett is the captain of the Lydia Marie, a 44-foot wooden troller based in Wrangell. The Lydia Marie began taking on water around 8 p.m. Monday in the rough seas of Frederick Sound. Padgett sent out a mayday and steered for the protected northern shore of Read Island in Farragut Bay. >>click to read<< 08:05
Ordinary Heroes: Fishermen Turn Rescuers in Treacherous Seas – In the midst of a treacherous night at sea, the crew of the fishing vessel Lydia Marie found themselves unexpectedly shifting roles from the ones in need of rescue to becoming the rescuers. Captain Logan Padgett and his younger brother, ordinary fishermen, were thrust into action to aid the downed air crew of an Air Station Sitka helicopter. >>click to read<< 11:24
Kongsberg Discovery Partners with Arctic Storm for Advanced US-built Trawler-processor
The first US-built trawler-processor for Alaskan pollock in over three decades is now undergoing sea trials in the Northern Pacific, testing an integrated technology package from Kongsberg Discovery tailored to locate, inspect, and engage fish with unparalleled efficiency. The 100-meter-long Arctic Fjord, designed by Kongsberg Maritime and built by Louisiana’s Thoma-Sea Marine Constructor, will start full-time operations for 2024’s pollock A season in the Bering Sea. “The Arctic Fjord sets a new benchmark for the Alaskan pollock fleet,” Woodruff comments. “From its fuel-efficient design to the outstanding crew accommodation and state-of-the-art onboard processing facilities, every element has been cherry picked to not just do the job, but to do it to the highest possible standards. >>click to read<< 09:50
Alaska crabbers get creative with pop-up sales, but industry’s fate uncertain
With Alaska’s Bering Sea snow crab fishery shut down for the second year in a row, crabbers are having to make tough decisions and find creative ways to earn income, like selling direct to Anchorage consumers, sometimes in parking lots. A hand-painted sign on an Anchorage street corner and a hanging sign with the words “Live Alaskan King Crab” were enough to draw in customers to a Spenard parking lot that had become home to one of the shellfish pop-up sales. The live crab sale was in its fourth day on Nov. 2 and had already sold more than three-quarters of the 700 red king crabs hauled out from the Bering Sea. In an attempt to make up some lost income, third-generation fisherman Gabriel Prout brought red king crab to Anchorage to sell directly to consumers. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:16
OPINION: North Pacific Fishery Management Council is acting to reduce bycatch
In a recent opinion piece, Brooke Woods, Linda Behnken and Nanci Morris Lyon stated, “Federal fisheries off Alaska are managed via the dictates of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), which has done little to address the trawl fleet’s enormous bycatch of species immeasurably important to Alaskans.” Nothing could be further from the truth The council adopted hard caps for chinook salmon in the Bering Sea trawl pollock fisheries that vary depending upon the expected returns to western Alaska rivers. When expected returns are low, the caps are adjusted downward. Additionally, the fishing industry has stepped forward to implement chinook salmon avoidance measures that hold each vessel accountable for limiting bycatch to below the caps. In fact, the fleet is well below their caps, recognizing the need to rebuild these stocks. >>click to read<< 15:55
Doug Vincent-Lang
A business in crisis
After years of choking on record runs of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon and near-record runs of heavily farmed, low-value pink salmon, the Alaska fishing industry is in chaos with processors now pleading for more government subsidies and coddled commercial fishermen demanding yet more disaster aid. One could blame global warming, which has led to historically unprecedented harvests of Alaska salmon despite whatever nonsense to the contrary the mainstream media might have reported, but the industry’s problems are far more complex than just trying to sell high-priced seafood in Western markets where the sales of animal protein are dominated by chicken, beef and pork. Some of the industry’s issues here are rooted in its long history. For most of the years after commercial fishing began in Alaska in the late 1800s, the business dealt almost wholly in canned salmon. >>click to read<< 08:41
Sinking of the Wild Alaskan – Document Dump #42
Document Dump #42 – In this Document Dump, I am releasing to the Public clear, convincing and undeniable evidence that certain Alaska State Troopers and Kodiak Chief of Police, Tim Putney are actively trying to cover-up one of Alaska’s biggest felony theft and destruction of property crimes in the history of this great state. I am a full supporter of Law Enforcement, just not the corrupt ones. As I have stated before, the actions of the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Bureau of Investigations have now morphed into a “HUB AND SPOKED WHEEL” RICO CONSPIRACY to cover-up a major crime which these people have no immunity from. There is no other way to explain it. Photos, >>click to read Document Dump #42<<. and more. 18:28
Commercial fish report shows impact of set-net closure
A recent report from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game shows the impact of the closure of a prominent fishery on the 2023 season for the commercial salmon industry in Upper Cook Inlet. Set-netters are worried about the future of their fishery, and the possible long-term impacts of over escapement. In Upper Cook Inlet, the report says, the 2023 commercial salmon harvest was about 40% lower than the 20-year average. Commercial fishermen caught 1.9 million salmon in the upper inlet, compared to the 20-year average of 3.1 million. Fish & Game attributes most of that decline to the closure of the east side set-net fishery, which the department closed before the season even began in anticipation of low king salmon numbers. >>click to read<< 13:04
Alaska seafood harvesting jobs decline as fish crashes, pandemic and other factors take toll
Alaska fish-harvesting employment declined in 2022, a continuing yearslong slide caused by a variety of factors, according to an analysis by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Employment for people harvesting seafood dropped by about a quarter from 2015 to 2022, according to the analysis, published in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends, the department’s monthly research magazine. The industry lost ground compared to other sectors of the Alaska economy, the analysis found. Seafood harvesting accounted for 7.3% of Alaska jobs in July of 2021, but only 5.7% of Alaska jobs were in seafood harvesting in the following July. Fishery work is highly seasonal, and July is the peak month for it. >>click to read<< 16:15
Bering Sea fish bounty brings help, headaches for trawlers
A federal lawsuit filed this year by two Alaska tribal organizations — the Association of Village Council Presidents and Tanana Chiefs Conference — seeks a court order to force federal regulators to reassess pollock harvest levels. The plaintiffs note the pollock nets, which often touch bottom, may harm crabs and other sea life and also cite the trawlers’ incidental take of salmon. The lawsuit is opposed by the At-Sea Processors Association, a group that includes Coastal Villages and had intervened in the case on the side of the federal government. “We felt compelled to do it. We don’t have any negative feelings towards them. But we think it’s kind of a misguided effort,” said Eric Deakin, Coastal Villages CEO, who works out of an Anchorage headquarters office. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:20
With little movement on salmon bycatch, Alaska advocates look to Biden administration for executive action
Amid catastrophic shortfalls in salmon harvests in some of Alaska’s rural, Indigenous communities, advocates have pleaded for a crackdown on unintentional catch of those same salmon by the trawl vessels that harvest billions of pounds of whitefish in the Bering Sea. But the politically appointed regional council that manages Bering Sea fisheries has largely resisted those requests. So instead, advocates are now taking another approach. They’re pushing the Biden administration for a workaround: a rewrite of the federal guidelines that tell the regional council, and its counterparts across the country, how to manage all the fisheries under their supervision. >>click to read<< 18:40
In 42 photos, See how Dungeness crab is caught off Kodiak Island, Alaska
Captain Garrett Kavanaugh of the Fishing Vessel Insatiable stands for a portrait in front of his 58’ boat at the harbor in Kodiak, Alaska. As ocean temperatures rise, fishermen everywhere must adapt to harvesting different species. Garrett Kavanaugh, captain of the Fishing Vessel Insatiable out of the port of Kodiak Island, has invested large equipment, fuel, and labor, betting on Dungeness crabs as the future of his Alaskan fishing business. >>click to read<< 20:39
Public input sought on federal management of Cook Inlet salmon fishing
NOAA is asking for residents’ opinion on a major fishing issue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is looking for public comments on Amendment 16 which would allow the federal government to manage commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone. The proposed rule would put the federal government, not the state, in charge of salmon fishing there. Alaska would continue to manage all fishing in state waters. >>click to read<< 11:31
A Petersburg tender holds open mics on board, with its fish hold as the sound stage
There’s a nearly 100-year-old wooden boat in Petersburg that’s become a staple of the tight-knit local music scene. Musicians in town have a few performance spaces to choose from, a lot of them in bars. But the crew of the Roedda brings a unique option with them when they come to town — transforming the boat’s fish hold into an improvised sound stage. It was a brisk Thursday night in September in Petersburg’s South Harbor. The chill was already starting to set in, and the people were starting to pour out of town. Alex Deacon is the captain of the Roedda. But tonight, she’s also the master of ceremonies for an open mic on board — the last of the season. >>click to read<< 15:10