Category Archives: North Pacific
Senate committee hears setnet buyback bill
A Senate committee on Monday considered legislation that would give Cook Inlet’s east side setnet fishermen the opportunity to retire their fishing permits through a volunteer, lottery-style buyback program. The bill, which still needs to pass in both the Alaska House and Senate in the next 12 weeks, would create the program, but not fund the buyouts. That money would need to come from outside groups. The bill, S.B. 82, is named the East Side of Cook Inlet Set Net Fleet Reduction Act and is sponsored by Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski. The bill aims to make Cook Inlet’s east side setnet fishery more economically viable and to reduce tensions between fishery user groups by reducing the amount of fishing gear in the water and giving permit holders an opportunity to exit the fishery. more, >>click to read<< 10:24
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’
When a seafood processing plant in Alaska shut down in the middle of crabbing season, fishermen found themselves in a pinch. Under the state’s quota system, harvesters can only catch a set amount of crab each year. And they must deliver 90% of their catch to a processor with a corresponding quota With the Peter Pan Seafood facility closed this winter in King Cove, there was no one to process their catch. That’s when Keyport, an Edmonds-based company, stepped up to the plate. “When Peter Pan announced they were shutting down, a lot of fishermen came to us asking for help,” Keyport CEO Mark Pedersen said. more, >>click to read<< 16:18
‘Deadliest Catch’: Will There Be a Season 20?
For nearly two decades, Discovery Channel’s reality series Deadliest Catch has offered TV viewers an inside look at the rough-and-tumble world of commercial fishing. The show, which follows fishermen as they hunt the Bering Sea for crab and other seafood, last aired new episodes in September 2023. Now, fans are wondering if and when it might return with new episodes. Here’s what we know so far about Deadliest Catch Season 20. In recent seasons of Deadliest Catch, viewers have seen the effect dramatic changes in seafood populations in the Bering Sea have had on commercial fishermen. more, >>click to read<< 1o:59
Retired Commercial Fisherman Darryl Olson of Petersburg, Alaska, has passed away
Darryl Olson was born on January 18, 1942, in Petersburg, Alaska, to Dagney Marie (Loseth) Olson and Paul “Bud” Ivar Olson. Darryl grew up fishing with his father, Paul. He attended Petersburg High School and after graduation he married his dream girl, Mary Ann Hasbrouck, on March 10, 1962. They were happily married for fifty-nine years, when she preceded him in death in 2021. He worked for J&H Logging as a choker setter until he started his career as a commercial fisherman. After leasing two boats, Darryl bought the F/V Miss Helen. In 1972, Darryl and Mary Ann began building their Petersburg home. That same year, Darryl purchased his dreamboat, the F/V Mary Ann, with the help of Robert Thorstenson and Tommy Thompson, of Petersburg Fisheries, Inc. more, >>click to read<< 10:45
Sam Parisi asks, How Accurate is NOAA and NOAA Fishery Survey Science?
The agency is not required to compare their results with other independent science. The unproven science may bring concern on the health of fish stocks the industry depends upon. Our Fishermen and Fishing Industry depend on sound science. We need a Magnuson Act Amendment which would require NOAA to compare their science with other independent scientific surveys before any restrictions are placed on, or allocation cuts are enacted. Thank you, Sam Parisi. (click here to comment) 07:22Half Moon Bay Odd Fellows Speakers Series presents “Ernie Koepf – Fish Tales”
Much change has come about to Princeton and the fisheries of the West Coast. The history of the Coastside is also rich with change. Ernie Koepf is here to speak on both. Ernie Koepf was born (1951) and raised in Moss Beach and raised his own family in El Granada. He now resides in the hills of Oakland with his wife of 16 years, Jan Moestue. Early in his life he was initiated into the fishing community and was known as Little Ernie to his father’s Big Ernie, a prominent commercial fisherman in the community. Coming of age, Ernie Koepf (the junior) began his own fishing career. He retired in 2016 after fishing his two boats for 30 years for salmon and crab and 45 years for herring in SF Bay. To his fishing credits he also adds two years in Bristol Bay and two years in Southeast Alaska. VIDEO. From the Half Moon Bay Odd Fellows lecture presented and recorded on September 6th, 2024 at 7:00pm. more, >>click to read & watch<< 15:31
NTSB Report: Flooding and Non-Operational Alarms Led to Fishing Vessel Loss
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded that the likely cause of the capsizing and sinking of the fishing vessel Hotspur near Nunez Rocks, Alaska, was flooding into below-deck compartments. On August 2, 2022, while transiting through the Dixon Entrance, the Hotspur began to list to port. Realizing the severity of the situation, the captain and four crewmembers quickly abandoned ship, escaping to a life raft. They were subsequently rescued by nearby vessels. Within 20 minutes of the crew first noticing the list, the Hotspur had capsized and sunk. more, >>click to read<< 06:32
Eric’s Heroes: The 50-year journey of fisherman Pete Knutson
A fisherman with long, gray hair looks out at this beautiful place and takes a sip from his coffee mug. The fisherman is Pete Knutson. The place is Fisherman’s Terminal. Each has left their mark on the other. Don’t be fooled by how gorgeous it is. Fisherman’s Terminal, plopped right in the middle of a major metropolitan city, is a place for men and women who understand work. People who fish for a living. “It always felt RIGHT,” he says. “It always felt like a place that I was comfortable. I like the people. I’ve always liked the people in the fishing. They’re really direct, you know? It’s honest work.” Pete has been a fisherman for 50 years. He’s gone to Alaska to ply his trade, four or five months every summer, for half a century. Video, 17 photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:46
The Adventurous life of commercial fishing
With crabbing season just around the corner, the five-person crew of the fishing vessel Adventurous is about to embark. Led by owner and captain Shon Landon, they face brutally long days prepping and converting the ship from its role as a salmon seiner for the summer season to an efficient crabber for the winter. There is both anticipation and excitement at the start of a new season; a successful haul involves planning, reviewing data, strategic decision-making, skilled teamwork, and a splash of luck. In a word, it is truly adventurous. While Landon does not hail from generations of fishermen, he still came into the industry at a young age, taking on his first job on a troller at just 12 years old. His family had moved up to Alaska after his father took a job in the logging industry. When Landon later got a job seine fishing on another vessel, he knew he had found his true passion. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 18:09
Alaska tribes, green group take aim at planned bottom-trawling study in northern Bering Sea
Three tribal governments and an environmental organization on Thursday served notice to federal agencies that they are planning a lawsuit to block a fishing experiment along the seafloor in the northern Bering Sea. The practice of bottom trawling, sweeping a net to catch fish on or near the seabed, is currently prohibited in the Northern Bering Sea, which is abbreviated in legal documents as NBS. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service is planning to deploy some commercial trawling gear in selected spots over the coming summers to see what impacts, if any, result to the habitat and the marine life dependent on it. The research project is called the Northern Bering Sea Effects of Trawling Study, or NBET. It is focused on specific areas north and south of St. Lawrence Island and would potentially simulate effects of commercial harvests. more, >>click to read<< 08:10
Vessel Review: F/V Arctic Fjord – Alaska Pollock Trawler to be Deployed in Bering Sea
Seattle-based seafood company the Arctic Storm Management Group has taken delivery of a new trawler-processor optimised for catching Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea. The newer F/V Arctic Fjord has a length of 324 feet (99 metres), a beam of 68.9 feet (21 metres), a draught of 28.5 feet (8.7 metres), space for 152 crewmembers and processing personnel, and a wave-piercing bow that reduces fuel consumption and slamming in rough seas. Approximately 4,000 cubic metres of fish products including fish meal and fish oil can be stored in the holds. Pkotos, specs, more, >>click to read<< 14:25
Pot Half Full: Cordova boats find success in Kodiak crab despite uncertainties
As crab fisheries around the state become increasingly unstable over the last two years, fishermen have found reliable opportunities in Kodiak. Several Cordova vessels and captains journeyed to Kodiak this past month to participate in the 2024 Kodiak tanner crab fishery, a state fishery managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). The fisheye opened at noon on Jan. 15 and closed on Jan. 21. This year Guideline Harvest Levels (GHL) allowed for 3,480,000 pounds of crab to be harvested by the fleet, down from the 7,300,000 pounds GHL in 2023. Last year the fleet staged a strike over the low grounds price of crab resulting in more than a week’s delay to the season. Although the price rose only marginally this season, the fleet went fishing on the regularly scheduled opener. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 14:37
Pair of bills makes electronic monitoring of state-regulated fisheries a possibility
Nels Evens is a longliner and gillnetter, and the executive director of the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association. He says he’s not sure what the bills’ aim is. “Because it is so broad, and we don’t understand what it’s really trying to get at, we’re not supportive of it,” he said. The pair of bills – Senate Bill 209 and House Bill 294 – stem from a discussion at last year’s Board of Fisheries meeting. The Board was trying to figure out how to enforce regulations that require Area M fishermen to keep chum salmon, instead of tossing them back in favor of much more valuable King salmon. Area M is along the Alaska Peninsula and Eastern Aleutians. It intercepts some chum salmon bound for western Alaska. more, >>click to read<< 08:53
Unalaska pushes back against proposed bycatch restrictions on pollock fishery
Unalaska leaders are pushing back against a proposed petition to eliminate Chinook bycatch in the Bering Sea Alaska pollock fishery. Nearly 100 tribes and communities in western Alaska, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, signed an emergency petition that would set a zero-bycatch limit on Chinook salmon in the pollock trawl fishery for 180 days. Unalaska Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. said in a letter that a zero-cap would “effectively shut down the entire pollock fishery of the Bering Sea,” and create a “dire situation” for Unalaska. links, more, ??click to read<< 11:19
No-farm farm
In one of the stranger twists in the strange world of global salmon marketing, Alaska’s non-farm fish farmers played a role in convincing the Canadian city of Ottawa to order removal of billboards protesting farmed salmon. The reason? “False advertising.” And now the same environmental group involved in Ottawa – Wild First – is under fire in British Columbia for running radio advertisements claiming salmon farms have pushed wild Pacific salmon to “the brink of extinction,” according to the news website Business in Vancouver (BIV). That claim is about as far from the truth as one can get. Salmon in the Pacific are today at numbers never seen in recorded history, but most of them are pink salmon. Some scientists contend this explosion of pinks due in part to the free-range fish farming efforts of hatchery operators in Alaska and Russia has reached the point where it is wreaking havoc with the entire North Pacific ecosystem. more, >>click to read<< 07:50
$20M+ in federal funds to California fisheries for disaster relief, $7M+ Oregon
More than $7,000,000 is going to Oregon fisheries as part of $42,000,000 in federal fishery disaster funding. Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced allocation of those funds for recovery from fishery disasters in Oregon, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Yurok Tribe fisheries from 2017 to 2022. The federal funding will help ocean commercial fishermen in Oregon recover from significant economic losses in 2018, 2019, and 2020 from declining salmon populations. For California, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced allocation of $20.6-million to address a fishery resource disaster that occurred in the 2023 Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook Ocean and inland salmon fisheries. more, >>click to read<< 10:00
Trade groups and state unhappy with federal NOAA Fisheries management plan plan in public comments
Public comment is in for a NOAA Fisheries management plan for Cook Inlet’s most productive drift fishing waters. In nearly 90 submitted public comments, cities, tribes, trade organizations and the state commissioner of Fish and Game express mixed and negative reactions to the plan. The Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ, was the subject of a lawsuit by the United Cook Inlet Drift Association over management of the fishery, which starts three miles offshore and stretches from south 0 f Kalgin Island to Anchor Point. In response, the federal North Pacific Fishery Management Council closed the fishery in 2020, which was met with protest by Kenai Peninsula commercial fishermen. more, >>click to read<< 10:52
NTSB Issues Safety Alert on Personal Locator Devices for Mariners
A new safety alert issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to provide each crewmember with a personal locator device. These devices improve a mariner’s chance of rescue during an emergency. During an emergency at sea, a mariner’s chance of survival decreases if search and rescue cannot quickly and accurately identify their location. Personal locator devices, such as personal locator beacons (PLB) or satellite emergency notification devices (SEND), can accurately pinpoint a person’s location. NTSB investigations found that currently available personal locator beacons provide a location accuracy of about 300 feet and a nearly instant search and rescue notification when activated. more, <<click to read<<17:24
Keyport to take over crab quota after King Cove closure
Edmonds-based Keyport LLC, a processor and supplier of wholesale wild-caught crab and frozen seafood, announced today, Jan. 29, that it will take over the crab quota left stranded after Peter Pan Seafood Co. recently decided to close its King Cove Alaska processing facility for the season. The closure in the middle of the season has left numerous crab harvesters with no alternative for delivering their catch. According to Keyport, its move to secure the quota “sends a lifeline to the Alaska crab fisheries and brings a stabilizing force to an industry amid turbulence.” Keyport will manage the processing quota previously slated for King Cove for the Western Bering Sea Tanner crab fishery (WBT) and the Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab fishery (EBT), expanding Keyport’s 2024 processing portfolio, which includes Alaska Red King crab, Golden King crab, and Bairdi. more, >>click to read<< 11:24
U.S. Department of Commerce allocates more than $42M in fishery disaster funding
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced today the allocation of more than $42 million to address fishery disasters that occurred in Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Yurok Tribe fisheries from 2017 to 2022. “Sustainable fisheries are essential to the health of our communities and support the nation’s economic well-being,” said Secretary Raimondo. “With these allocations, it is our hope that these funds help the affected communities and tribes recover from these disasters.” Today’s announcement applies to the following fishery disasters: Links, more, >>click to read<< 14:34
2023 was another bad year for chinook, fall chum salmon, Yukon River Panel hears
Alaska and Yukon representatives met in Whitehorse last week to discuss the 2023 chinook and fall chum salmon runs on the Yukon River, which once again failed to meet Canadian conservation goals. An estimated 58,529 chinook salmn entered the river last year, according to public presentations by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) during the Yukon River Panel’s post-season meeting. It was the second-smallest run on record — 2022 was the smallest — and not enough to meet spawning escapement goals on either side of the border. The goals set out the minimum range of fish that need to make it to their spawning areas to healthily sustain the population. more, >>click to read<< 13:51
More boats sink, roofs collapse, avalanche danger remains high as snowfall pummels Juneau
The City and Borough of Juneau put out a statement Wednesday that said avalanches have come down on Basin Road and above Behrends Avenue, the same spot where a slide occurred last week. A city official said that Basin Road is closed where it intersects with Eighth Street. Four boats sank in the city harbor early Wednesday morning, according to Juneau Harbormaster Matt Creswell, who said he is concerned more vessels are at risk of sinking due to the heavy snowfall. Creswell urged all boat owners to check on their boats immediately and clear off any snow they can. Juneau has seen over 28 inches of snow since Sunday alone and is up over 61 inches — or more than five feet — in the month of January. Video, photos, more, >>click to read<< 17:50
Petersburg Borough to join United Fisherman of Alaska
Petersburg will be the newest Community Supporting Member of the United Fishermen of Alaska, or UFA. That follows a unanimous vote by the Borough Assembly at their regular meeting last week. Vice Mayor Donna Marsh said she hopes the move will help boost the local fishing industry further down the line. “Commercial fishing is so integral to Petersburg,” said Marsh. “I think it would make sense to have the support of a professionally recognized organization [that is] also trying to keep that industry alive.” more, >>click to read<< 08:14
Coast Guard, good Samaritans rescue 4 people after fishing vessel capsized near Kodiak
Coast Guard Sector Anchorage watchstanders received a report over VHF channel 16 at approximately 4:31p.m. from the crew of F/V Alaska Rose, a 46-foot fishing vessel, stating their vessel was taking on water. Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast on VHF channel 16 and launched a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew. The helicopter aircrew arrived on scene at approximately 4:56 p.m., located one person on the overturned vessel, hoisted them, and transferred them to Air Station Kodiak where they were met by local EMS. The crew of Good Samaritan vessel Kylia arrived on scene at approximately 5:02p.m., rescued three people from the water, and transferred them to Kodiak where they were met by local EMS. more, >>click to read<< 21:12
Read the final Coast Guard report on the 2019 sinking of F/V Scandies Rose in Gulf of Alaska
The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has issued its final report on the sinking of the 130-foot crab vessel Scandies Rose on New Year’s Eve, 2019, a tragedy that took the lives of five men on board, including the captain. Two crew members, Dean Gribble Jr., of Edmonds, Wash., and Jon Lawler, of Anchorage, survived by reaching a life raft in the roiling the Gulf of Alaska; they were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard near Sutwick Island off the Alaska Peninsula. Captain Gary Cobban, Jr. and his son David, Seth Rousseau-Gano, Arthur Ganacias, and Brock Rainey died. Lawler died in a motorcycle accident on Oct. 31, 2021, leaving Gribble as the sole survivor of the disaster. The Marine Board of Investigations found a major factor in the sinking was the captain’s judgment. An earlier report by the National Transportation Safety Board was more guarded in assigning blame. more, >>click to read<< 08:19
Amidst divide between set net and seiner fleets, Board of Fisheries passes gear changes for both
Alaska’s Board of Fisheries approved small changes for the local salmon set net and purse seine fleets at its meeting in Kodiak last week, January 9th – 12th, while opting to keep the status quo overall for the westside of the island’s management strategy. Of the 91 people who signed up to give public comments, roughly a third of them discussed seining or set nets (gillnets) and the proposals dealing with their respective fishing gear. Out of the 31 total proposals before the Board of Fisheries, about ten considered management changes between the gear groups. BOF oversees fisheries management within state waters. more, >>click to read<< 12:20
State sets much larger harvest guideline for Southeast golden king crab
The commercial tanner crab and golden king crab season in Southeast opens at noon Feb 17. A change this year will require golden king crab fishermen to call in to the Department of Fish and Game every day to report which management area they plan to fish, to help fisheries staff better anticipate and manage the harvest. The department announced the golden king crab guideline harvest level in southern Southeast, Registration Area A, at 272,500 pounds, with specific areas seeing notable changes. The number is almost three times the size of last year’s guideline harvest, with most of the increase in a single portion of the region. The increase is the result of meetings between the fishing industry and state fisheries management. more, >>click to read<< 15:00
Fall of the kings
The Seattle-area-based Wild Fish Conservancy has dropped a bomb on the Alaska commercial fishing industry with a petition to the federal government demanding it list the state’s Chinook salmon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Such a listing would almost certainly to lead to yet more restrictions on Chinook-directed fisheries, such as the troll fishery in Southeast Alaska and the drift gillnet fishery off the mouth of the Copper River, which has been found to intercept some Chinook bound for rivers in Southeast, British Columbia and the Lower 48. The number of those fish now caught in the Copper’s Chinook fishery is not large but appears to increase in years when ocean waters are warm which could present issues going forward. more, >>click to read<< 17:17
Major winter storm hits Juneau, sinking 3 docked boats
A prolonged winter storm is piling multiple feet of snow in some areas of Southeast Alaska, leading the National Weather Service to issue a winter prolonged winter storm and Petersburg. NWS described the storm as a “long duration snow event.”The snow is also contributing to dangerous conditions for harbored boats for Juneau and Petersburg. Docks & Harbors would like to remind all boat owners to make sure their vessels and structures are cleared of snow and all pumps are operating correctly, their boats are not taking on any water, and all mooring lines are secure,” Thatcher wrote. According to Juneau Harbormaster Matthew Creswell, heavy snow accumulation contributed to the sinking of three boats. Video, more, >>click to read<< 13:12
Op-Ed: Engineering insights when building a trawler
Constructing a new factory trawler fishing vessel in the United States is not an undertaking for the faint of heart. Thinking back to an article written about 10 years ago, industry scholars predicted a boom in shipbuilding to replace the Alaskan fishing fleet. While naval architects, shipyards and equipment suppliers saw a boom in their immediate future, the renewal of the fishing fleet has barely begun. In fact, less than 5% of the fishing trawlers in the Alaskan fishery have been replaced. The refrigerated seawater (RSW) catcher fleet has seen one large conversion join the ranks. The Amendment 80 fleet has seen three new construction vessels, along with one sponsoning and one conversion project. The American Fisheries Act (AFA) fleet has seen one new-build project completed. Vessels in all three fleets have seen significant upgrades in this time, but the underlying hulls still date from the 1980s and 90s with some going back as far as the 1960s and 70s. more, >>click to read<< 10:16
