Tag Archives: Salmon Fisheries

With coronavirus pandemic procedures in place, Copper River salmon season ready to open

Hundreds of vessels and workers flood into Prince William Sound each May for a chance to harvest the first fresh wild king salmon of the year, followed by the famous Copper River sockeye and the broader Prince William Sound pink salmon fisheries. However, with limited road access and health care facilities, city and state officials have been coordinating with the fleet and stakeholders about how to safely allow in deckhands, captains, and processing workers from Outside without inviting the pandemic to Cordova as well. “Fishermen are very concerned and have been concerned since day one,” said Francis Leach, the executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska. “Now that procedures have been put in place, there are a lot of questions. It’s always a learning curve. Folks are really going to have to pay attention to (the mandate).” >click to read< 14:36

Salmon harvesting jobs lost in 2018 fisheries

A new report on seafood jobs in Alaska notes that fishery harvest employment declined by 4.9 percent in 2018, erasing most of the gains seen a year earlier. That total decline of about 407 average annual jobs brought the state’s overall employment in harvesting down to 7,924 posts, wrote state labor economist Joshua Warren in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends,,,  Salmon fisheries statewide lost 7.2 percent, or 328 jobs, >click to read< 10:47

Cook Inlet salmon fisheries into full swing after rough 2018

Upper Cook Inlet salmon fisheries are now in full swing, with promising sockeye returns finally showing up. East Side setnetters in the sections north of Kasilof opened for their first period July 8, and the personal-use dipnet fishery on the Kenai River opened July 10. They join the drift gillnet fleet and other Upper Cook Inlet setnetters as well as the inriver sportfishery and the Kasilof River personal-use fishery. As of July 8, nearly 80,000 sockeye salmon had passed the sonar in the Kenai River. That’s more than double the number that had passed through on the previous date in 2018, when only 37,513 had passed, according to the Alaska Departm,,, >click to read< 15:31

California State legislators to meet in Eureka to discuss future of crab, salmon fisheries

With the California crab season opener approaching and a poor salmon season winding down, a California legislative committee is set to meet in Eureka on Friday to discuss what the future holds for two of the North Coast’s most important fisheries. The Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture hearing is set to touch upon everything from whale entanglements in crab gear and the recent lawsuit filed related to them; the potential for a federal disaster declaration for California’s and Oregon’s 2017 salmon season; and crab fishing rules and recent test results on how toxic algae blooms are affecting crab this year. click here to read the story 09:02

Talks break down again between state, tribes to develop a joint plan for Puget Sound salmon fisheries

NOAA-LogoState and tribal fishery officials are again at an impasse over efforts , and it is uncertain when — or even if — a new season might open this year for sport anglers and nontribal, commercial fishermen. The talks this year have been complicated by forecasts for extremely poor returns of wild coho, which require harvest cuts to protect the weak runs. Rather than submit a joint plan for federal approval as in years past, both state and tribal officials now say they plan to submit separate management plans to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries. Tribal officials expect they could,,, Read the rest here 10:53

Water Wars and the Life of Salmon

Water that flows through the Central Valley to irrigate farms is an enormous part of the California economy. Traveling from the northern reaches of the state southward, the Central Valley Project yields 7 million acre feet of water a year. But, if this water diversion were at odds with the existence of California tribes and Salmon Fisheries, and the health of the salmon species overall, which would and should take priority? more@examiner   12:09