Daily Archives: February 26, 2017

Ludger Dochtermann of Kodiak – Reinstituting Reasonable Crab Pot Limits

Dear Board of Fisheries members: My name is Ludger Dochtermann of Kodiak, and I own two crab vessels, the F/V Northpoint and F/V Stormbird. Like all others in the fleet, we are deeply affected by the recent sinking of the F/V Destination off St. George Island and the loss of her entire crew.  The Stormbird is also fishing out of St. George this season. It is obvious that icing played a large part in that sinking, and word is that the vessel had an excessive number of pots aboard at the time.  Tarps were ripped off and found among the flotsam along with buoys and a life ring. The weather at the time made for severe conditions and risky business. It is challenging to parse between proposals, regulations, and policy, and just plain duty. The IFQ fisheries were instituted for privatization; and a federally imposed IFQ system came into being without NPFMC and U.S. Senate testimonies by vessel architects, load-line engineers, USCG safety officers, insurance experts and experienced captains discussing the specific concerns of safety. Continue reading the letter here 15:54

A Dungeness Dinner – Three recipes that dare to be different!

Oregon’s most valuable seafood is centerpiece of a recent dining experience that’s so easy, anyone can prepare a Dungeness dinner. Last month, we showed you how the Dungeness crab harvest was red hot and rolling as Oregon’s most valuable seafood. Fishermen visited a school to share the good news about seafood that’s worth more than $150 million to the Oregon economy. The program is called “Boat to School” and allows youngsters to learn from Oregon fishermen where seafood comes from – it was an entertaining and informative session, but as it turned out, it was only part of the story. The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission wants consumers to try recipes that are simple, quick and delicious. Fisherman Steve Fick loves to share that good news with three recipes that dare to be different. Watch the video, view the photo gallery, and copy these three recipes! 12:36

Memorializing a fishing tragedy helps complete a family puzzle — 50 years later

About 200 Islanders gathered in Souris, P.E.I., on Saturday to remember the 10 fishermen who died when their boat Iceland II was grounded in a storm off Cape Breton 50 years ago. For one family, it completed a family puzzle that had been missing a piece all those years. “Out of tragedy, comes some good news today,” said Sandra Hodder Acorn, who was only two months old when her father, Capt. Tom Hodder, went down with the boat. “We’re remembering all the men that went down today and we’re making new connections and finding new family members.” The story goes like this: After the tragedy, Hodder’s mother got remarried to a man named Buddy O’Hanley. He had a son, David, a crewmember who was also killed that day. continue reading the story here 09:46

More restrictions proposed for Northern District setnetters

Setnetting on the beaches of northern Cook Inlet isn’t a very visible fishery, but participants argue it’s a viable one. The Northern Cook Inlet setnet fishery operates between a line between Boulder Point in Nikiski and the Kustatan Peninsula on the west side of the inlet and Fire Island. Fishermen can target all five species of Pacific salmon at different times throughout the summer, beginning May 25 with a directed king salmon fishery. As northern district setnetter Trevor Rollman put it in his testimony the Board of Fisheries on Friday, the fishery doesn’t have an official closure, but rather it’s the weather that closes them for the season. Most of the fishermen land in Anchorage. Many of them direct-market their catch, as Rollman said he intended to do with his site in the future. Direct-marketers, sometimes called catcher-sellers, harvest and prepare their catch themselves, selling it directly to customers.  Read the full article here 08:57

Cod an option in face of looming shrimp cuts, says FFAW

The Fish, Food and Allied Workers union says expansion into commercial cod fishing is a possibility for harvesters, as another cut to overall shrimp quotas looms for next season. Following revelations by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans this week that the shrimp stock in the crucial Zone 6 area off of Newfoundland has fallen again, FFAW president Keith Sullivan says it looks like another quota cut is coming — but there may be alternatives. According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the landed value of shrimp in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016 dropped to $276 million. Read the story here 08:29