Category Archives: Pacific
Whales entangled in fishing gear could prompt early end to Dungeness crab season
On Tuesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that one of the entangled whales had been spotted near Moss Beach, just north of Half Moon Bay, on March 11. The other was spotted on March 19 in Monterey Bay. Both were alive at the time. “In anticipation of increasing risk due to migrating humpback and blue whales, a closure will help minimize additional entanglement risk,” read a report from the department,,, However, the Dungeness crab fishing fleet in the affected areas may already be shutting itself down preemptively, said Sonoma County fisherman Dick Ogg, who is on a working group organized by the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess risk to whales and make recommendations on when it’s time to close the season. >click to read< 07:35
‘Eat on the Wild Side’: The nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing
It’s called “Eat on the Wild Side.” It started as an idea by leaders of the Deep Sea Fisherman’s Union to recruit, train and retain a skilled and more diversified workforce. In July 2021, they contacted the Workforce Development Department of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO for help in setting up this new training program. And by December, they had created the nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing. The program, also known as the DSFU Inbreaker Program, began accepting applications in January and almost immediately had more applicants that they had boats/employers to handle the demand. >click to read< 09:21
Man arrested after K-9 used to subdue him
32-year-old William Stringham of Brookings was arrested in the Port of Brookings Harbor following an altercation with Port of Brookings Harbor employees, where one of the employees was head butted by Stringham. When deputies arrived on scene, Stringham ran onto the commercial docks and boarded a commercial fishing vessel. Stringham refused to obey orders to exit from the vessel. During the standoff, deputies learned that there was a firearm on the vessel. Ultimately, K-9 Axel was deployed by his handler, Deputy Jacob Stout. Stringham was taken to the deck of the boat by K-9 Axel. >click to read< 10:55
British Columbia: Hooked on halibut: For many commercial fishers, it’s a family affair
The commercial halibut season is underway along the coast of British Columbia and boats are already starting to deliver the flat fish to dinner plates. From now until early December, the B.C. halibut fleet will haul in an estimated 5.7 million pounds of halibut. The Americans will take the lion’s share of this year’s 41-million-pound total allowable catch, nearly 80%, because their territory stretches over California, Oregon, Washington and all of Alaska to the tip of the Aleutian Islands and covers nine of the 10 designated halibut-fishing areas along the Pacific Coast. Tiare Boyes and Cheri Hansen weigh in on what it’s like to work on the water during the halibut fishing season. Photos, >click to read< 11:14
Federal Funding for Killing Sea Lions Might Help Cowlitz River Salmon
Though the actions taken to secure $892,000 in federal funding for the protection of Columbia River system salmon took place thousands of miles from Lewis County, the process could have positive impacts for fishermen of the Upper Cowlitz River and the Columbia basin as a whole. As a result of a joint effort between U.S. Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and Kurt Schrader, a Democrat from Oregon, the appropriations bill passed by congress will include funds to continue the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) efforts to kill sea lions on the Columbia River, protecting salmon and steelhead. Sea lion extermination has been shown to be effective in protecting fish. >click to read< 11:35
Alaska’s Don Young, longest serving congressman, dies at 88
Don Young, a blunt-speaking Republican and longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, has died. He was 88. His office announced Young’s death in a statement Friday night. “It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved. His beloved wife Anne was by his side,” >click to read< 07:44
Wallop Breaux funding: the rest of the story!
Folks – I’ve been yammering on and on about the Wallop-Breaux program, an excise tax on boating and fishing gear and non-commercial marine use fuel sales. At the same time I’ve been focusing on a potential conflict of interest because 1/3 of the votes on the eight regional fishery management councils and 1/3 of the total votes on the three marine fisheries commissions (Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific) are cast by each of the states’ senior marine fisheries administrator. Why a potential conflict? Because, as the attached table demonstrates, the various state fisheries programs receive a major part of their funding each year from Wallop-Breaux. >click to read< By Nils Stolpe, FishnetUSA 19:12
Retired Commercial Fisherman/Dr. Roland August Hublou has passed away in Everett
Dr. Roland Hublou, 88, known affectionately by his many friends as “Doc” and “Hub”, passed away peacefully on February 9, 2022 in Everett, Washington. Roland was born on October 6, 1933 to his parents, Francis and Blanche Hublou, in Minot, North Dakota. Roland was an excellent dentist, practicing at the Everett Medical Dental Building until his retirement in 1997. Roland’s other love was fishing, which led him to his second career in the commercial fishing industry. He was an active and successful commercial fisherman with his sons, from 1973-2007, building three commercial gillnetters over the years; “Persistence”, the “Eagle Jack” and his final boat, “Doc’s Eagle”. He was elected President of the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association in 1980, and spent many years in all aspects of the fishing industry,,, >click to read< 21:35
North Carolina Sports target commercial fisheries – example #3 in 2022
California: 3 commercial fishermen rescued off Sonoma Coast by fellow crabbers
Three commercial crabbers whose boat went down several miles off the Sonoma Coast were rescued late Tuesday afternoon through a combination of close communication and sheer luck. The crew of the Susan E already was in the water, clutching floating debris, when another fishing crew arrived, drawn by their frantic calls, and was able to pull them from the ocean in time. “It was f–king scary,” said Kyle Alexander, a deckhand on the 40-foot Argo, which had been harvesting crab from the Timber Cove area earlier in the day and was the only boat coming into Bodega Bay behind the Susan E from up north. “To see my friends floating next to a boat that was going down…” >click to read< 08:15
Depredation: Whales and the Violent Fight for Fish on the Line
In the Gulf of Alaska, as well as in longline fisheries throughout the world from the Bering Sea to the Antarctic and tropical waters between, toothed whales, that is, any whale that feeds with teeth instead of baleen, such as sperm, pilot, and killer whales are learning to see fishers and their gear as a source of an easy meal. Scientists researching this behavior, known as depredation, say whales are increasingly eating lucrative catches right off the hook instead of foraging naturally. There’s no easy way to stop it, and the behavior is spreading through whale culture. Whales’ penchant for hooked fish might be the biggest fisheries story that hardly anyone knows about. >click to read< 10:01
North Korean fishing trawler presumed scrapped returns from the dead
A large North Korean fishing vessel supposedly scrapped years ago reappeared last month, state media showed, renewing uncertainty over just how well ship trackers can monitor the country’s commercial fleet. The ship in question is the Sam Chon Li 1, a 3,800-ton trawler that last broadcast over its automatic identification system (AIS) in late 2018 with an unknown destination, according to maritime intelligence platform MarineTraffic. Records show the ship is either “decommissioned or lost,” suggesting it had been scrapped. But KCTV footage from late last month appears to show a fully intact Sam Chon Li 1 docked at Sinpho,,, >click to read< 21:48
Pacific Coast crabs are suffocating
The crab pots are piled high at the fishing docks in Newport, Oregon. Stacks of tire-sized cages fill the parking lot, festooned with colorful buoys and grimy ropes. By this time in July, most commercial fishers have called it a year for Dungeness crab. But not fisherman Dave Bailey,,, Recent years have also brought outbreaks of domoic acid, which renders crab unsafe to eat, and increasing incidents of humpback whales getting tangled in crab gear. However, there’s another emerging problem that threatens not only Bailey’s livelihood but the very ecosystem that sustains it. I’ve come today to see 
a tool that could help crabbers manage. On the counter in the kitchenette, amid bowls of instant noodles and tinned oysters, Bailey shows me a sturdy black tube, about 60 centimeters long, that fits neatly inside a crab pot. Photos, video, >click to read< 13:25
Despite Ukraine invasion, the U.S. and Russia are still working together to solve salmon mysteries
Tensions continue to simmer between Moscow and Washington in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In many respects, the divide between East and West is deepening: Oil companies are canceling partnerships with Russian firms. State legislators are calling for the state’s sovereign wealth fund to dump Russian investments. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. would close its airspace to Russian aircraft. But the United States and Russia are continuing to work together on at least one issue: salmon. >click to read< 10:10
Fishermen Land $20 Million in Dungeness Crab in Crescent City, $51.1 million statewide
It’s not quite as high as the $40 million in crab the Crescent City Harbormaster reported Tuesday, but it’s a significant improvement from last year when local fishermen landed roughly $1.7 million worth of crab at Citizens Dock,,, Commercial fishermen statewide have landed $51.1 million worth of Dungeness crab as of Feb. 28, Juhasz said, though that is subject to change. Harbor Commissioner Rick Shepherd, who is also president of the Del Norte Commercial Fishermans Marketing Association, said the high price he and other fishermen are receiving for their catch is due to a high demand in crab. Shepherd said he did have concerns about crab caught in California but winds up being brought ashore in Brookings, Oregon. >click to read< 16:45
Oops! Cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was probably a bad idea
Last month, a group of marine biologists noticed something fishy in a video posted on Twitter by a nonprofit called The Ocean Cleanup. “This is likely a staged video,” Clark Richards, a scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, wrote. “I call bullshit.” In the 25-second clip, a large net appears to dump 8,400 pounds of plastic waste, including crates, buckets, and fishing gear, onto the deck of a ship. The Ocean Cleanup, which has raised more than $100 million on the promise to rid plastic from the seas, said the trash in the video was just pulled from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an infamous region in international waters, between California and Hawaii, that’s polluted with plastic waste. >click to read< 10:23
Bodega Bay crabbers head out to sea to retrieve fellow fisherman’s gear, aid his family after tragedy
The two skippers left dock before daylight, crawling through dense fog on an uncertain quest made all the more challenging by how little they could see beyond the bows of their fishing vessels. Commercial crabbers Tal Roseberry and Dick Ogg weren’t entirely sure where to look Wednesday as they worked off someone else’s personalized plotter. But they were bent on retrieving the crab gear and last catch of a fellow fisherman, Ryan Kozlowski, who lost his life on the water last week. Kozlowski died sometime late Feb. 24 or early Feb. 25 after he apparently fell overboard from the Seastar, a 42-foot vessel that had become “his passion” in the few years he had owned it. >click to read< 17:58
A Fundraiser For the Spirit of Ryan Kozlowski – A few words from Dick. To make a living from the ocean is a difficult way of life. Too many times, unforeseen situations occur that end a life too soon. Ryan Kozlowski was a very special man. Please honor his life and spirit by contributing what you can to offset the loss of his vessel and support his family. >click to read<, and please donate if you can.
Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishing Violations on the Rise
Since December 9, 2021, there have been five cases out of Crescent City and two out of Eureka regarding possession of undersize crabs by commercial crab fishermen. The most common violation during this period has been commercial harvest of undersized crabs. Commercial Dungeness crab fishermen are expected to measure their entire catch and keep only crabs that are equal to or greater than 6 ¼ inches, which is slightly more than the required 5 ¾ width required of recreational crabbers. There is a provision in the law to authorize possession of no more than one percent of the catch to be undersize. In all seven cases, citations were written, the loads were seized and the proceeds from the sales of the crab were directed to the Wildlife Preservation Fund until the cases can be adjudicated in court. >click to read< 15:20
Fisherman found dead in water near Bodega Bay identified
The fisherman whose body was found last week in the water near Bodega Bay has been identified as a 30-year-old Sonoma man, authorities said. Ryan Kozlowski, a commercial crab fisherman, was identified by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Unit. His body was found about a mile from his boat, F/V Seastar on Friday by a Coast Guard search crew. >click to read< 07:57
Coast Guard, partner agencies continue salvage operations for grounded boat on Kehoe Beach
The Coast Guard and partner agencies are continuing salvage operations Tuesday that began Saturday for the grounded 42-foot commercial fishing boat F/V Seastar on Kehoe Beach. Contractors removed all fuel and hazardous materials from the F/V Seastar Saturday afternoon before commencing salvage operations. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders received reports of the unmanned boat F/V Seastar adrift just North of Point Reyes around 9:20 a.m. Friday. The boat crew arrived on scene around 10:15 a.m., boarded the F/V Seastar, which was on the rocks, and did not attempt to tow the boat due to pollution and boat damage concerns. The boat crew confirmed the Seastar was unmanned, reported the captain missing and immediately began searching,,, photos, >click to read< 20:14
Crabs vs. Whales – Fracas over pop-up crab traps dangles Dungeness season in the balance
On multiple occasions sources for this story referenced being intimidated, scared and even worried about “getting shot” for their role in seeking a solution to California’s crab gear challenges. And it isn’t limited to one side. People take their livelihoods and their whales seriously. But amid the fear there is hope. Geoff Shester leads the parade on that front. He works with conservationist outfit Oceana as its senior scientist, and he’s very enthusiastic about how innovative new crab trap designs,, Longtime fisherman Dick Ogg,,“We’ve minimized interaction,” he says. “We’re on the right track, we’re doing the right things and those things are working really well. We’ve already solved the issue. How is this fair?” >click to read< 10:33
Blown of the water? West Coast offshore wind farm area announcement raises concerns
Offshore wind energy is coming to Oregon, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, but the seafood industry says it’s an oncoming windstorm. These massive areas, covering 2,181 square miles, already are utilized by the fishermen to harvest nutritious, sustainable seafood proteins. As part of its process, BOEM will solicit interest from wind energy developers before doing a basic environmental assessment of the areas. Comprehensive environmental studies will be completed later, after leases are already issued and enormous investments are already made. Fishermen already are questioning the value of placing turbines in areas off Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay, Calif. >click to read< 10:53
Body recovered after commercial fisherman goes overboard near Bodega Bay
Authorities recovered a body Friday afternoon after searching for a commercial crab fisherman reported overboard near the southern end of Bodega Bay. The search was launched after the young skipper’s boat was found adrift, with no one inside, local fishermen said. “The local fishing community helped out with the search plan of it, passing information about last communication with (the missing captain) at 9 p.m. last night,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said. “However, they did not suspect anything wrong until the report of the adrift vessel.” Members of the fishing community said the man was known to fish alone, despite pleas from his friends not to do so, said Dick Ogg, a well-known veteran fisherman. >click to read< 09:04
‘These Waters Are Hot’: U.S. Auction Opens Up Offshore Wind Farm Rush
When the U.S. last auctioned big plots of ocean to companies that wanted to build offshore wind farms a few years ago, it raked in a then-record-setting haul of $405 million. That’s set to be obliterated Wednesday,,, “We expect high bids, potentially the highest on record.” While the Trump administration only held two lease sales for offshore wind areas in four years, President Joe Biden has said he wants enough offshore wind farms to power 10 million homes by 2030 and is planning six more auctions from California to the Carolinas. Not everyone is excited about the prospect of hundreds of new turbines,,, There’s also another potential problem with a record-setting sale: power prices. Since developers will eventually be passing on the costs of building the wind farms to the homeowners and businesses that buy the electricity they generate, bidding wars and high prices for the tracts of ocean could eventually boost the price of that power. >click to read< 13:58
Overboard California Fisherman Swims Five Hours to Safety
After being thrown overboard, and as he watched his boat drift away from him, a fisherman knew that his only chance of survival was to swim his way out. “I looked up at the sky and I was like ‘Really?!’” he said. “Like really, this is how I’m going to die.” He began to think about his family: his wife their two little girls and their older son and motivated himself to keep swimming. “There was a lot of the drive,” said Thompson. “Just thinking ‘Oh my god, they’re going to grow up without me.” Video, >click to read< 10:05
NPFMC ponders changes in the halibut catch sharing plan
When the North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted its halibut Catch Share Plan back 2014, charter operators were granted 125% of their historic catch at low levels of abundance, with that additional 25% coming out of quota for the commercial longline sector. Commercial longliners were assured that no further uncompensated reallocations would be considered, but now federal fisheries managers are doing just that. The Halibut Coalition is urging its membership of commercial harvesters to write to the governors of Alaska, Washington and Oregon expressing their views, as the representatives of those states on the NPFMC voted in favor of considering changes to halibut allocations. >click to read< 13:41
California Fisherman Survives Harrowing 5-Hour Swim After Falling Overboard
Scott Thompson, a commercial fisherman, took his boat out on the Santa Barbara Channel around 5 p.m. on Jan. 26. Five hours of swimming later, he wound up on an oil platform with no boat. On his way back, he stood up on the side of the boat but rough waters took hold of the vessel. Thompson lost his balance and fell. That left him stranded in the water and watching his boat drift away. He attempted to swim and catch up to it but was unsuccessful. Eventually, around 10 p.m., Thompson found his way to oil Platform Gail. >click to read< 20:16
CDFW Announces a Statewide Fleet Advisory for the Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is issuing a statewide fleet advisory for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery due to a recent humpback whale entanglement, approximately 5 miles west of Cypress Point near Monterey Bay (Fishing Zone 4). The entanglement was first reported in late January involving heavy line from unknown fishing gear and CDFW is encouraging the commercial fleet and all mariners to be on the lookout for any entangled whale in this area and across California waters. >click to read< 08:40
Coast Guard Releases Results of Crab Pot Icing Study
Vessel icing, including the possibility of asymmetrical icing, was suggested as a causative factor in the F/V Scandies Rose loss of stability and, ultimately, its sinking. The Coast Guard has released the results of a study of ice accretion and ice accumulation on fishing pots, specifically crab/cod pots used in the Alaska/Bering Sea fishery. In December 2020, a Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation requested Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center (RDC) assistance for the study following icing factors involved in the loss of the fishing vessels Scandies Rose in 2019, and the F/V Destination in 2017. The MBI also noted the investigation into the 2017 loss of the Destination revealed that excessive icing directly contributed to the vessel loss of stability and rapid capsizing. >click to read< 14:46
Bycatch task force works to refine mission ahead of November deadline
Bycatch is when fishing vessels catch something they’re not targeting. It could be tanner crab caught in a black cod pot, or halibut scooped up in a pollock trawl net. It’s been an incendiary issue in Alaska’s fisheries for decades. Now, as stocks of crab, salmon and halibut decline, trawl fisheries have come under fire for their role, which represents the vast majority of incidental catch in and around Alaska. The governor’s office took notice. Gov. Mike Dunleavy established a task force to review bycatch late last year with a deadline of November to submit its recommendations. But during that time, the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force also has to establish its own priorities, break into subcommittees, and decide what it’s going to focus on before its mandate expires in just nine months. And there’s a lot of information to sort through already as it plays catch-up. >click to read< 11:01
