Category Archives: Pacific
(PHOTOS) Crab On
As is seemingly never not the case these days, the start of our local commercial Dungeness crab season was again delayed this year. First, it was poor meat quality that prompted the CDFW to push back opening day to Jan. 5. Then, there was another setback: another setback caused by stalled negotiations on this year’s market price for the tasty crustaceans. Crabbing is complicated, people! But that’s all behind us now. On Monday morning Humboldt’s commercial crabbers set out, bright and early, to get their pots in the water. The crab is coming, friends. Local photographer and LoCO pal Matt Filar dragged it out of bed at the crack of Monday’s dawn to document and honor the hard work of our hometown heroic fishermen. We present some of his shots below. >>click to view<< 17:50
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
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
Commercial Fishers Say Biden Admin’s ‘Ocean Justice’ Initiative Totally Ignores Their Concerns
The Biden Administration announced the “ocean justice” strategy in December 2023 during the United Nations (UN) climate summit, known as COP28, in order “to advance environmental justice for communities that rely on the ocean and Great Lakes for economic, cultural, spiritual, recreational and food security purposes.” However, several stakeholders in the commercial fishing industry who depend on the fruits of America’s waters to make a living and are therefore interested in sustainable use of the oceans, say that the administration is overlooking their concerns about how the oceans are managed, especially with regard to the administration’s extensive efforts to fast track industrial scale offshore wind. more, >>click to read<< 10:19
How the Boldt decision 50 years ago remade Pacific Northwest fishing
Louie Ungaro waited out the turn of the tide, when chum salmon — he hoped — would hit his net. Fishing here is his tradition, a practice and a way of life as old as his people, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.“Elliott Bay ain’t going nowhere, and neither are we,” said Ungaro, a member of the tribe’s council and lifelong hunter and fisher. Yet it took violent protests and a decision appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm their right to fish, explicitly stated in treaties signed by their ancestors nearly 170 years ago as settlers colonized the Pacific Northwest. The decision handed down by U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt 50 years ago next month was the result of sacrifices made by Native fishers and their families jailed and beaten while defending these rights. And yet now another threat looms over all they fought for: scarcity of the fish themselves. Photos, more, >>click to read< 08:53
No turning back: The largest dam removal in U.S. history begins
One hundred seventy-three feet high, with a 740-foot crest, Iron Gate Dam is an earth embankment dam with a skinny, many-fingered reservoir behind it. The lowering — or drawdown — of Iron Gate and two other reservoirs on the Klamath River will make way for the removal of three remaining hydroelectric dams that are part of the Lower Klamath Project in Northern California and southern Oregon. For decades, these barriers have blocked salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey from accessing habitat above them and contributed to poor water quality below. The Klamath River was once the third-largest salmon producer on the West Coast, but in the time since the dams were constructed, the Klamath’s coho and Chinook runs have dwindled to a fraction of their historic abundance. more, >>click to read<< 13:34
Fishermen are gearing up for the Dungeness crab season to start next week
After months of delays, local fishermen will finally be allowed to fish for Dungeness crab off of the Central Coast. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the season will reopen on Jan. 18; however, fleets will only be allowed to use 50 percent of their traps. Meanwhile, those in the industry say the delays and restrictions are frustrating. “The last five years, we’ve been losing all our holiday markets. That means we have to go out in rougher weather,” said Chris Zajac, a Santa Cruz Dungeness crab fisherman. “We only get a month and a half to fish, whereas we used to get eight months to fish for crab,” Zajac said. Video, >>click to read<< 11:24
CDFW Opens Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery in the Central Management Area Under Trap Reduction and Lifts Recreational Crab Trap Restriction
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will open the commercial Dungeness crab fishery from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the U.S./Mexico border (Central Management Area: Fishing Zones 3-6) under a 50 percent trap reduction beginning Jan. 18, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. with a 64-hour pre-soak to begin on Jan. 15, 2024, at 8 a.m. This management decision is a balanced approach that achieves two outcomes. First, this trap reduction will help reduce entanglement risk for humpback whales by reducing the amount of gear and vertical lines in the water. Second, the decision gets the commercial fishery open statewide. This management decision includes exhaustive coordination with affected fishers, businesses and environmental organizations. CDFW reached this decision after seeking feedback and input from the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, during a meeting on Jan. 10, 2024. The working group expressed broad support for this management decision. more, >>click to read<<17:33
Massachusetts lobstermen drop lawsuit against California aquarium that told people to stop eating lobster
The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association has ended its fight against a California aquarium that says people shouldn’t buy and eat lobster because of the risks the fishery poses on the endangered North Atlantic right whale. A federal judge in the Northern District of California on Monday dismissed a class action lawsuit that four Bay State lobstermen filed last March against the Monterey Bay Aquarium after the two sides agreed to end the months-long dispute with prejudice. Monterey Bay in September 2022 gave the American lobster a “red rating” on its Seafood Watch, recommending consumers to avoid the species caught by trap from the Gulf of Maine, Southern New England and Georges Bank stocks. more, >>click to read<< 19:32
Crab Fishermen on Strike
Commercial Dungeness crab season is allowed locally as of midnight on January 5th. However, we are seeing no crab gear in the water. Local Dungeness crab fishermen are holding out for better pay after they say they’ve been offered an unacceptable amount per pound. The buyers are not offering a price that we’re okay with,” says Jake McMaster, Captain of the Fishing Vessel Captain Banjo. “They offered $3. We countered with $3.50 on the 1st of January, and we have not had a response to that price negotiation.” McMasters says they were getting this price over a decade ago, “$3 a pound– 2012, 2013, ten years ago. Meanwhile, Dungeness crab fishermen in Oregon are getting more than $3 a pound for their crabs. more, >>click to read<< 06:46
Before a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines plane, an advisory light came on 3 times
An advisory light on the Alaska Airlines plane that lost a piece of its fuselage last week had come on during previous flights, preventing the aircraft from being used on long flights over water, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Additionally, the flight crew and attendants described the atmosphere aboard last Friday’s Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 9 flight as chaotic, “loud” and “very violent” once a door plug flew off and left a vast hole on the side of the plane. The flight carrying 171 passengers and six crew safely returned back in Portland, Ore. There were no injuries. On three flights prior to Friday’s, the plane’s auto pressurization fail light came on, Homendy said. more, >>click to read<< 16:57
What is Captain Sig Hansen’s Net Worth and Salary?
Sigurd Jonny Hansen entered the world on April 28, 1966, in Seattle, hailing from a proud lineage of Norwegian fishermen. At the tender age of 14, Sigurd embarked on his maritime journey, joining his father’s fishing vessel. His immersion in the world of fishing deepened, and upon completing high school, he transitioned into a full-time fisherman. It was during these formative years that Sig Hansen honed his expertise in navigating the challenging waters of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Over time, Sig Hansen progressively climbed the ranks aboard the Northwestern, ultimately assuming the role of relief skipper. At the age of 24, he ascended to the position of full-time captain of the vessel. Under his leadership, the Northwestern has maintained an exemplary track record, excelling in both safety and gross production. Notably, in 2005 and 2006, the Northwestern outperformed all other vessels featured on Deadliest Catch in terms of earnings. more, >>click to read<< 11:21
Gone processing – The price of progress?
As you read this, work is continuing in Bellingham, Wash., on a $40 million, federally financed, salmon-processing barge some think could revolutionize the Alaska fishing business. “Our refrigeration system freezes fish whole at temperatures colder than anyone in the industry, increasing both quality and shelf life,” says U.S. Department of Agriculture financed Northline Seafoods. “With a cargo storage capacity of over 14 million pounds of frozen product, our barge carries Bristol Bay salmon to Western Washington where it can be processed to our customers’ specifications in the fall, winter, and spring.” Northline CEO Ben Blakey has pitched the operation as a way to eliminate “large, shore-based processing facilities that are operated in brief, expensive seasonal periods. Salmon often spend multiple days in transit before being delivered to the processing facilities. High shipping costs outweigh the market value of salmon byproducts, and facilities may dump up to 30 percent of salmon weight back into the ocean ecosystem as waste.” more, >>click to read<< 20:51
Area north of Cape Falcon opens Feb.1 to commercial Dungeness crab fishing
Commercial Dungeness crab fishing from Cape Falcon to Klipsan Beach, Washington begins Feb. 1. A fourth round of pre-season testing shows male crabs in this area were not quite ready for a January opening. The additional time will allow crab to continue to fill with meat before harvest. Targeted to open Dec. 1, Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season can be delayed or partially opened so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted. This year’s season was partially opened (Cape Foulweather to the California border) Dec. 16 after a delay due to low meat yield in areas north of Cape Foulweather. Once meat yield met criteria, commercial crabbing began Dec. 31 from Cape Foulweather to Cape Falcon. Video, more, >>click to read<< 13:22
Humboldt crabbers on strike
Kevin Pinto, a local fisherman who owns Jenna Lee’s Seafood on Woodley Island in Eureka, Calif., says the companies that purchase crab from the North Coast decided to pay a price that is lower than the fishermen would like. “They offered us a lower price down here—with stipulations it could go lower—and we decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to fish for that,” Pinto said. The Pacific Seafood Company is one of Humboldt County’s fishermen’s buyers. Fishermen like Pinto are currently withholding their catch, hoping the companies who purchase from them will raise their price per pound of crab. Video, >>click to read<< 08:48
Podcast: The Fishmonger Tommy Gomes Returns With Dry-Aged Fish
These days, Gomes runs TunaVille, a seafood shop at Driscoll’s Wharf in San Diego Harbor that serves local, only. It opened last May. The fish is caught by residents on city boats and is delivered 10 feet away to the storefront. “It never sees the back of a truck, our fish,” Gomes says in the episode. Tunaville is a partnership with another fisherman and local seafood icon, Mitch Conniff of Mitch’s Seafood, and a handful of other local fishing families who have bought in. Restaurants like Herb & Wood, Solare, and Juan Jasper, for example, are clients, sourcing their treats from the sea from Gomes. more, click to read/listen o7:43
Does California need a state crustacean? Jim Wood authors bill to urge Dungeness crabs
A new bill introduced on Friday would designate Dungeness crab as California’s state crustacean. Introduced by Assemblymember Jim Wood with North Coast State Sen. Mike McGuire as the principal co-author, the bill purports to give the humble decapods official respect as a scuttling tentpole of the state’s fishing industry. In Humboldt County, crabbing is a significant economic boon to many fishermen, though recently, they have had little to “shell”-ebrate. Annual delays to crabbing season, smaller hauls and ongoing price negotiations with fish distribution companies present ongoing struggles pinching local fishermen. more, >>click to read<< 18:33
The Supreme Court can save working fishermen from Biden regulators
The crew and I had been trawling the Gulf of Maine for several days aboard the F/V Teresa Maria IV, the commercial fishing vessel I captained for 14 years. I had only just settled into my bunk for a few hours of sleep. That’s when the rogue wave hit. Life at sea is never predictable. A promising forecast could give way at any time to a squall with heavy swells. Essential navigation components might break. On that night, circumstances coalesced such that a rogue wave knocked my boat clean over. We were capsized in the black of night. This unsettling experience was front of mind when my organization, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) filed an amicus brief in an upcoming Supreme Court case about the Biden administration’s power over the fishing industry. photos, more, >>click to read<< 06:46
3rd Delay. Commercial crab season delayed again as fishermen seek better compensation
crabber Mathew Paul
Commercial Dungeness crab season was set to open locally on Friday, but it appears the start date may be pushed back yet again. On Wednesday, the Eureka crab shack Jenna Lee’s Seafood announced they were going on strike along with others in efforts to get a better base price for crabs this season. “The situation with the crab and the weather has changed. Seems the fish companies can’t pay the fisherman a decent price so that they might make a living,” said Jenna Lee’s Seafood in a social media post Wednesday morning, “So we are on strike with all the others to help support a base price. Also the weather is marginal at best. We just can’t even guess at this time what will happen but feel it may not last long.” A longtime Humboldt County fisherman who asked to be quoted off the record said that the issue stems from the offer from the seafood company ‘Pacific Seafood’ per-pound of crab. Video, more, >>click to read<< 13:59
Lacking information, Oregon residents guess at future of offshore wind
The sun was peeking through the clouds during a short break in the rain as Nick Edwards was making his way along the Charleston Marina. Edwards fished along the Oregon Coast for more than 40 years and now owns an 80-foot trawler named the Carter Jon, which commercially fishes Dungeness crab and pink cocktail shrimp. Near the ramp’s entrance, Edwards ran into his captain, Jordan Murphy. The men exchanged keys, and the conversation quickly turned to floating offshore wind. “We don’t want that, that’s my perspective,” Murphy said. “It would be a lot of our [fishing] grounds.” “We don’t want the demise of our ecosystem to be the unintended consequences of offshore wind,” he said. photos. charts, more, >>click to read<< 08:53
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 84′ Raised Foc’sle Scalloper/ Dragger, 940HP, Cummins KT-2300
To review specifications, information, and 33 photos’,>click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 07: 43
Dungeness Crab season begins January 5
The commercial Dungeness crab season commences in Del Norte County, this week. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFWD) announced the Dungeness season is now open in zones 1 and 2, Sonoma County line to the Oregon border. The delay in zones 3-6, South of the Sonoma / Mendocino will continue to be restricted. Multiple delays in opening the Crab season have been attributed to excessive humpback whale entanglements and the high number of whale sightings, according to the DFWD Assessment and Mitigation program. more, >>click to read<< 17:25
Oregon Coast fishing families lean on Newport nonprofit following tough years
Newport, Oregon, resident Taunette Dixon knows how hard it can be to make ends meet in the fishing industry. “My family is a four generation fishing family,” Dixon said. “I married somebody that came from a four generation fishing family, so we’ve kind of been immersed in it all of our lives.” The last three years have been the worst Dixon’s ever had with the small boat the couple runs out of Newport. While she said her family is able to weather the challenging years, she’s seen need for aid grow through the nonprofit group she volunteers with, Newport Fishermen’s Wives. Fishing is a notoriously challenging and, at times, dangerous industry. But the pandemic hit nearly every industry hard in 2020 when the world economy came to a halt. The fishing industry was no different, and three years later it is still struggling to rebound. more, >>click to read<< 09:58
Are right whales big business for nonprofits?
Forget the green economy, the deep blue economy has it beat by a nautical mile. Ever wonder how much money is spent trying to protect the North Atlantic right whale? Ask any of the non-profit corporations that participate in funding to save them. Here in Maine, at least nine non-profit organizations support right whale conservation efforts, in addition to state agencies and the University of Maine. Nationally, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium shows 47 environmental organizations it identifies as “partners” on its website. Another 37 environmental groups signed a PEW charitable trust letter to Congress last March, critical of what it believed to be too little funding to protect the species. more, >>click to read<< by Jane Carpenter 08:36
Dungennes crab fishery held up again by recent whale and turtle entanglements
Before the restrictions, the crab fishing season off California started before Thanksgiving, in plenty of time for holiday tables. In recent years, fishermen’s ability to drop their gear has been pushed back because whales and turtles were still be spotted in their fishing zones. This season, fishermen can start dropping their crab pots on Jan. 5, and only in the two most northern California zones. In central and southern California no start date has been announced. Officials with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations said the industry does its best to avoid whales and have accepted limiting the seasons, but notes that since the restrictions have been in place, the industry has dropped from 450 active vessels to fewer than 100 and has lost out on tens of millions of dollars. more, >>click to read<< 07:47
Lobster Market Outlook, Industry Size, Growth Factors, Investment Opportunity 2024-2032
IMARC Group, a leading market research company, has recently released a report titled “Lobster Market Report by Species (American Lobster, Spiny Lobster, Rock Lobster, European Lobster), Weight (0.5 – 0.75 lbs, 0.76 – 3.0 lbs, Over 3 lbs), Product Type (Whole Lobster, Lobster Tail, Lobster Meat, Lobster Claw), Distribution Channel (Food Service, Retail), and Region 2024-2032.”The study provides a detailed analysis of the industry, including the global lobster market share, size, trends, and growth forecasts. The report also includes competitor and regional analysis and highlights the latest advancements in the market. How Big is the Lobster Market? more, >>click to read<< 10:36
Analysis of Northwest, other salmon hatcheries finds nearly all hurt wild salmon populations
For much of the last century, fish hatcheries have been built in the Northwest, across the U.S. and around the world to boost fish populations where wild numbers have gone down. But an analysis of more than 200 studies on hatcheries programs meant to boost salmonid numbers across the globe – including salmon, trout and whitefish – shows that nearly all have had negative impacts on the wild populations of those fish. Most commonly, hatchery fish reduced the genetic diversity of wild fish, leading to poor health and reproductive outcomes. The findings weigh into a sensitive topic with a big price tag. In the Northwest, hatcheries are supposed to be a solution to declining wild salmonid numbers, caused in large part by hydroelectric dams, overfishing, irrigation and climate change. In the Columbia River Basin alone, officials have spent billions of dollars on nearly 200 hatcheries as well as habitat restoration projects during the past 50 years to improve wild numbers, but research shows those programs are having an opposite effect. more, >>click to read<< 12:34
A nostalgic memoir recounts a fishing life, from Southeast Alaska to Bristol Bay
As a teenager in 1964, the adventurous Upton lighted out from his east coast home to Iquique, “a small dusty town on the desert north coast of Chile” and signed on to work on a tuna boat for local wages. There, he met an old-timer who’d fished in Bristol Bay’s sailboat days and filled him with stories — stories he recounts in the book’s first pages. The hook was set. The young man found a boat headed to Seattle and then, like so many others at the time, walked the docks looking for a way north and “just by chance…stumbled into an epic Alaska fishing job: the shady skipper, the grumpy cook, the green deckhand, and the old Alaska salt as mate.” That mate, Mickey Hanson, to whom the book is dedicated, became his good friend and mentor. That summer Upton worked as the engineer on a salmon tender based out of Metlakatla, buying salmon all up and down the Inside Passage. more, >>click to read<< 07:42
Executive order bars imports of Russian fish that is processed in other countries
Russian seafood will no longer be legally allowed in U.S. markets after it is processed in China, under an executive order issued Friday by President Joe Biden. The action seeks to close a loophole that the Russian seafood industry was able to use to skirt import sanctions put in place in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The ban is now extended to any seafood caught in Russian waters or by Russian-flagged vessels, “notwithstanding whether such products have been incorporated or substantially transformed into other products outside of the Russian Federation,” the executive order says. While the executive order affects other products, including alcoholic beverages and diamonds, it provides special relief to an Alaska seafood industry that has been struggling with competition from a flood of Russian fish, Alaska’s U.S. senators said. more, >>click to read<< 11:03
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
