Category Archives: Pacific
Commercial fishing isn’t the main threat to habitat
A recent letter wondered why Gov. Inslee would allow gillnetters on the Columbia River. The fact is, in the environment in which orcas struggle to survive commercial fishers are the easiest element to manage.,,, Gillnetters catch limited numbers of salmon. But land developers and homeowners can destroy an entire salmon run permanently. The pesticides, fertilizers, weed killers, moss removers, and deck waterproofing folks liberally use around the house and yard are absolute fish killers. Personal care products, pain medications, antidepressants and other popular pharmaceuticals are either disposed of or excreted into our sewage systems and flushed into the Salish Sea and Columbia River. >click to read< by Arthur Lynch, Bainbridge Island
‘Atrocious’: 250 Dungeness crabs dumped beside highway in Northern B.C.
A massive dump of dead crabs along a main northern highway has triggered a major investigation. The 250 male Dungeness crabs were found rotting beside a Highway 16 rest stop, west of Smithers, B.C., last week. Officials believe it’s linked to ongoing illegal seafood sales along B.C.’s North Coast. “I’ve never had an investigation like that, with a bunch of crab dumped,” said B.C. Conservation Service Officer Flint Knibbs. >click to read<14:50
Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting April 9-16 in Rohnert Park, California
The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and its advisory bodies will meet April 9-16, 2019 in Rohnert Park, California, at DoubleTree by Hilton Sonoma, One Doubletree Drive, Rohnert Park, CA 94928 Agenda and Meeting Notice, >click to read< Listen to the April 2019 meeting live <click to listen< www.pcouncil.org 17:28
WA lawmakers pass on whale-watching ban aimed at helping orcas
Washington legislators came into their 2019 session brimming with proposals to help rescue Puget Sound’s imperiled orcas. But now they have dropped one of the most important — and controversial — ideas: a three-year moratorium on commercial whale watching. Lawmakers denied Gov. Jay Inslee’s attempt to force commercial whale-watching boats to keep extra distance from three pods of orcas that summer in the waters of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea between Washington and Canada. In doing so, they rejected a key recommendation supported by the majority of nearly 50 researchers, state and tribal officials and others who served on the Southern Resident Orca Task Force. >click to read<14:10
Boat owner responds to Port of Astoria lawsuit
A boat owner being sued by the Port of Astoria for abandoning his vessel shot back recently,,,,The Port sued Nick Mathias, a California resident and owner of the Coastwise, claiming he fell behind on moorage before sending a letter in September notifying the agency he would be abandoning the vessel. Mathias claims the Port in 2014 was charging him $2,000 annually for moorage fees, raising it to $3,000 the next year, $9,600 the third year and finally $37,000. The Port has closed all access to the East Mooring Basin causeway because of a rotting substructure, leaving a dwindling group of boat owners to reach their vessels by skiff. >click to read<18:53
This Nest of Dangers: Gillnetting in 1884, 1887, and 1975
Just now, it’s raining axe handles out there; it’s the weekend of Fisher Poets in Astoria, and I’ve been reading the annual report of the U.S. Life Saving Service from the 1880s. Those Cape Disappointment reports tell of hard work, and a hard life, and a harder death. To begin with, the Life Saving reports describe the gillnet fishery of 1884:,, “In the lower part of the Columbia River there are annually employed at least two thousand of these boats, manned by four thousand fishermen. During the season the fishing goes on day and night,.,,, Nearly a century later, in 1975,, “A long time Bristol Bay fisherman spotted [gillnetter] Les Clark of Chinook [profiled in the April 3, 2019 Observer] on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and asked if he could shake his hand. ‘You’re the only man I’ve ever heard about … who got caught in his net reel and came out of it alive.’ Mr. Clark shook the man’s hand heartily. Great read. >click to read<19:25
A PETITION – Demand Charlton H. Bonham be replaced as Director of the CDFW
The Director has failed the fishermen for years. Crabbers alone have experienced 5 closures in 5 years. Charlton Bonham is trading our harvest rights for his own political gain. >Click to sign the petition< 12:00
Environmental groups sue to restrict salmon fishing for Northwest orcas
The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit nearly two decades ago to force the U.S. government to list the orcas as endangered, and the Wild Fish Conservancy asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Wednesday to order officials to reconsider a 2009 finding that commercial and recreational fisheries did not jeopardize the orcas’ survival. >Video, click to read<10:09
Chinook fisherman views life afloat as public service
Fishermen make good philosophers. Les Clark is no exception. “I have had a fantastic life,” said Clark, who turned 90 in December. “I had a lot of scrapes, but I survived all of them. All my buddies are gone. I wonder why I am still here. Maybe the good Lord needs me here to fight for the fish?” The concept of giving up his 32-foot F/V St. Frances II and not fishing solo doesn’t arise. “I am one of the older guys still on the river,” he said. His father Gene and Anna Clark of Chinook set the bar. “Dad fished till he was 90 and died at 98, and mom went to 97,” he smiled. >click to read<11:20
California – Commercial Dungeness Crab Season to Close Statewide April 15
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham issued a declaration to close the commercial Dungeness crab fishery statewide at 11:59 p.m. on April 15, 2019 due to increased whale entanglement risk anticipated for the spring and summer months. ,,,, Therefore, the Director has declared that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery will close at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 15, 2019. For more information >click to read<10:08
After an initial patch of rough seas, Fishing Vessel St. Jude is reeling in prized albacore, and accolades
ST. JUDE is the patron saint of lost causes. It wasn’t the name Joyce and Joe Malley would have chosen for the spanking-new 95-foot fishing vessel they bought in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1990, but it’s considered bad luck to change a boat’s name. In retrospect, a little heavenly protection might have helped. Buying the St. Jude took all they had, and then some. >click to read<11:18
Fisherman’s Association Suing Over Climate Change Refuses Questions on Its Greenness
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (PCFFA), which is currently suing dozens of energy producers for damages resulting from climate change, has refused to answer multiple inquiries from the Washington Free Beacon about the number of fishing boats in the association that have gone green or to detail other “green” changes members of the group may have made. The majority of the nuisance lawsuits currently being brought against major oil companies have been from governments,,, That is one of the main reasons the announcement by the PCFFA last November of the suit was seen as breaking a new ground. >click to read<11:52
GA Among States to Receive Part of $20 Million in Fishery Disaster Funding
The U.S. Department of Commerce allocated $20 million to help tribes, communities, fishermen, and businesses affected by commercial fishery failures that occurred in Georgia, California, Oregon, and Washington between 2013 and 2017. “The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to support communities working to rebuild and rebound from fishery disasters,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “We will continue to work closely with our partners to help American fishermen preserve their livelihoods.” >click to read<09:45
Harbor responds to whale entanglement settlement, give crabbers extra free time to store gear
Recognizing they had the “rug pulled out from under them” due to the outcome of a lawsuit over whale and sea turtle entanglements, Crescent City Harbor commissioners have given the local Dungeness fleet extra time to store their crab pots for free at the port. Commissioners voted 4-0-1 Thursday to allow fishermen to store their pots for free from April 1 to May 15. The Harbor District’s decision comes after the Center for Biological Diversity reached a settlement agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to end the current commercial Dungeness season statewide three months early on April 15. >click to read<10:21
Wyden, Merkley Secured $2.1 Million in Federal Disaster Recovery for Oregon Fisheries
The office of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release: Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week secured $2.1 million in funding to help Oregon fisheries. The funds were finally allocated after a nearly two-year protracted battle with the Trump administration to approve Gov. Kate Brown’s request for fishery disaster declaration in May 2017. >click to read<16:25
STORAGE WARS | Ventura Harbor fishermen concerned long-time storage facility will shutter while they’re away
As squid fishermen and lobster trappers prepare for the next phase in their annual relocation from Ventura to northern waters in search of seasonal fish, the fate of a long-time storage location is in the air, leaving captains to wonder if they’ll have a place to store supplies until their return. The facility, known as the Ventura Harbor Commercial Fisherman’s Storage, sits on land owned by Ventura Harbor Storage, LLC., which has a ground lease with the Ventura Port District. The District holds a sub-lease with Harbor Boat & Storage, which acts as landlord and has managed the property for 25 years. >click to read<11:09
Sardine fishery likely will be closed this season
Sardine fishermen in Monterey Bay are facing a fifth straight year of restrictions on the amount they will be permitted to catch, creating financial hardships for the commercial industry.,,, Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, was not available to comment Wednesday, but she told the Monterey Herald following the 2018 assessment that “fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less, especially in nearshore waters.” She believes the methods in which the Marine Fisheries collect data is flawed. Not only does Pleschner-Steele reject the notion that overfishing played a role in the decline of the sardine stock, she calls the stock’s collapse “fake news.” >click to read<20:16
California’s Commercial Crabbing Season to End Three Months Early
Center for Biological Diversity Press Release: SAN FRANCISCO— Californians will be pleased to know that Dungeness crab will be caught off the coast with greater care for endangered wildlife under a settlement announced today by the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. The legal settlement protects whales and sea turtles from entanglement in commercial Dungeness crab gear. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the state wildlife department in October 2017,,, >click to read<15:02
California Crabbers Could Feel the Pain, State Reaches Tentative Agreement With Enviro Group Over Whale Entanglement
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity have tentatively agreed to settle an ongoing lawsuit, which claims that the state’s lack of action in preventing whales from becoming entangled in commercial crabbing lines violates the Endangered Species Act.,,, The Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit in 2017 after a record number of entangled whales were observed off the coast of the Western United States between 2014 and 2016. >click to read<08:55
Karen Jacobsen: Remembering a father lost at sea
When the phone rang in my home on March 23, 2008, I thought it must be my dad calling to wish me a happy Easter. Instead it was my stepbrother, Scott. I didn’t hear much after he said, “Dad’s ship went down.” I found myself fatherless and surrounded by reporters who wanted to know what happened to the ship, how many were on board and what led my dad to the West Coast in the first place. I was just 9 in 1973 when my mother, my little brother, Carl, and I drove my dad, Eric Peter Jacobsen, to Logan Airport and said goodbye. We didn’t see him for three years. He left for Seattle to work with his father on fishing boats. >click to read<19:50
International team of salmon scientists back in port, raring for another mission
The organizer of a month-long Gulf of Alaska salmon survey is already thinking about how to raise money for another trip in the winter of 2020, now that the Russian trawler used in the expedition has finished its job and tied up in Nanaimo. “From what I’ve seen, this needs to be done again,” said Richard Beamish, who came up with the idea of the expedition to mark the International Year of the Salmon with the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Future surveys would build on data collected by the 21-member volunteer team of international scientists from the five salmon-producing Pacific Rim countries: Canada, Russia, the U.S., Korea and Japan. >click to read<11:52
The facts about pinnipeds
Recent studies estimate the harbour seal population to be 80,000 in Lower Mainland waters. Harbour seals eat 10-18 pounds of food each day. At an average of 15 pounds, they consume 1.2 million pounds a day, or 438 million pounds a year. Add to that: thousands of California sea lions who migrate to the area annually to prey on our salmon runs and who weigh two to three times as much as a harbour seal and likely eat 30-60 pounds a day. Add to that: pinnipeds prefer the guts of fish, often leaving the edible carcass. Add to that: their reproductive rate is in excess of 12 per cent annually. These facts then beg the following questions: Bruce Smith, Halfmoon Bay>click to read<13:48
Breaching Snake River dams could save salmon and orcas, but destroy livelihoods
THE GROWING Snake River Dam people’s self-defense movement has no written public-relations manual containing a list of cardinal sins. If it did, a new entry at the top might suggest this: DO NOT DISPARAGE THE ORCAS. Not that anyone in Washington’s southeast corner — wheat country, USA — would do that, anyway. Most of them will tell you that they, too, love chinook salmon, cherish orcas and see both as iconic Northwest species.,,, When a state task force on orca survival called for a study widely seen as a means to justify dam breaching (ultimately a federal, not a state, decision), people from the Tri-Cities to Clarkston felt the metaphorical crosshairs trained once again on their backs. While not new, it is a newly uncomfortable position — one that has prompted the people of the lower Snake to issue a simple short-term request: Whoa, pardners. Whoa. Just whoa. 23 photo’s >click to read<21:16
Columbia River Reforms – Both sides on gillnet issue dig in
A crucial vote concerning the Columbia River Reforms regarding gillnets will be taken by the full Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission at a meeting on June 6-7 in Salem It will determine whether the alterations suggested by the joint-state task force will be adopted.,,, Former Washington commissioners and fisheries scientists have also weighed in with a letter to the legislature, and groups that oppose or endorse the changes have rallied the troops. >click to read<10:28
Yakama tribal member charged with felony for fishing in the Puget Sound
State authorities allege that a man claiming membership in the Yakama Nation Indian Tribe was fishing illegally in Suquamish Tribe waters near Kingston in an unmarked boat and that a Yakama tribal official knowingly issued his invalid permit. The man is accused of selling 5,600 pounds of chum salmon he caught using a gill net. The October 2017 incident casts light on an ongoing disagreement over who has rights to harvest fish in the Puget Sound,,, Last month, prosecutors filed a charge of first-degree commercial fishing without a license, a felony, against the alleged skipper of the boat, Alexander Robert Somers, 43, of Tacoma. Somers allegedly claimed he had permission from the Suquamish Tribe, but court documents say the tribal council confirmed he did not,,, >click to read<19:08
NOAA requests partnership with Pacific Fishery Management Council
Citing a declining Southern resident orca population, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is requesting collaboration with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the governing body that creates fishing season regulations from California to Washington. “We are taking many actions to conserve and recover Southern resident killer whales and particularly to address the three main threats, … prey limitation; vessel traffic and noise; and chemical contaminants. Chinook salmon, the whales’ primary prey, are important to SRKW survival and recovery,” NOAA regional director Barry Thom wrote in a letter dated March 6, addressed to Phil Anderson, chair of the council. >click to read<11:17
West Coast Waters Grow More Productive with Shift Toward Cooler Conditions
The ocean off the West Coast is shifting from several years of unusually warm conditions marked by the marine heat wave known as the “warm blob,” toward a cooler and more productive regime that may boost salmon returns and populations of other ocean predators, though it is too early to say for certain, a new NOAA Fisheries report says. >click to read<09:55
A California battle over swordfish — and gill nets
Conservationists are pushing a $1 million effort this summer to change the way swordfish are caught off the California coast by phasing out the use of gill nets. They are the mile-long nylon nets used to catch swordfish but that also ensnare other species, causing conservation organizations to seek an end to their use. Commercial fishermen can use gill nets now, with a drift gill net shark and swordfish permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. But a new California law will officially ban gill nets as of January 2023.,,, Organizations representing commercial fishermen opposed SB 1017 by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), the bill that became the new law phasing out the use of gill nets. >click to read<17:08
Whales are facing a deadly threat along West Coast: container ships
One day last May, a container ship entered the San Francisco Bay with extra cargo. A 45-foot-long dead female fin whale was draped across the ship’s bow. The impact with the ship had broken her back, ruptured her organs and caused severe internal bleeding. Ten whale deaths were attributed to ship strikes in 2018 – the highest number on record in California since NOAA Fisheries began tracking in 1982. The mortality rate represents an enormous increase from the average 3.4 ship strike victims recorded annually in the five previous years. Five of the 10 whales that died with boat collision injuries in 2018 were endangered or threatened fin, blue and humpback whales. >click to read<15:29
Report From the Grounds
The bitter blast of winter, ice on salt water and nets straining with cod — a world few of us will witness. It’s everyday sight for Newport fisherman Kelly Bennett, who has spent the greater part of the last decade traveling to Alaska to work on Newport trawlers plying the northern waters for pollock, cod and groundfish. Working aboard the Aleutian Challenger, Bennett is away for up to four months at a time, toiling in a fishery called joint venture, where he — amazingly — doesn’t have to handle fish, except the few that fall out of the net. >click to read<19:00
