Tag Archives: Alaska Fisheries
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
Commerce Determinations Clear the Way for Alaska Fisheries to Receive Relief Funds
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Congressman Don Young, all R-Alaska, today welcomed determinations from the Department of Commerce that fishery disasters have occurred in numerous Alaska fisheries, allowing Alaska fishermen to receive critical relief funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The funding can be distributed to fishermen and their crews, seafood processors, and research initiatives in the impacted regions. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo today issued determinations that fisheries disasters occurred in fourteen different fisheries->click to read< 09:30
Dunleavy’s super-special election year bycatch task force – Bycatch is on the ballot.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently announced the formation of a shiny new “task force,” charged with studying the impacts of bycatch on Alaska fisheries and making recommendations to policy makers. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has supposedly been doing exactly this for nearly half a century with its permanent voting seat on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, or NPFMC. >click to read< By Alexus Kwachka 17:12
Don Mathews – Reflections of a life on the water
The Newport waterfront is less rich today for the passing of a man who’s determined spirit exemplified the fishing life. A Springfield native who helped pioneer and innovate the Alaska fisheries in the 1970s, Don Mathews was best known on the central coast for piloting crab boats through winter seas and for launching Marine Discovery Tours to help share his knowledge and love of the ocean. Don died at age 69 on Nov. 9 after a battle with cancer. His determination to carve a niche in a brutal world, the struggle to balance family with his own craving for the next fishing season, and his sense of humor and willingness to lend his neighbor a hand are stories that go to the very bone of this harbor. As the surf pounded restlessly in the view from the Mathews home this week, his wife Fran remembered a shared life stretching back three and half decades — to the Alaska port of Kodiak where it all started. >click to read<18:09
Alaska’s 2018 commercial salmon harvest 30 percent below forecast, yet some fisheries have boomed
The statewide commercial salmon harvest is about 31 percent below the preseason forecast, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in a statement Thursday. The 2018 season, it said, “has been unusual.” Preliminary numbers show a statewide commercial salmon harvest of about 103 million fish so far. That’s subject to change, because the fishing season isn’t completely over yet. Fish and Game’s forecast in March projected a total statewide harvest of 147 million fish. >click to read<08:03
Year in Review: Alaska Fisheries – Board shakeup, drifters win, sockeyes up as pinks, crab crash
After a hectic fisheries year in 2015 involving felony charges, forced retirements and resignations, the 2016 Board of Fisheries confirmation cycle was mild, with few of last year’s inflamed arguments. This board shakeup precedes the Board of Fisheries Upper Cook Inlet finfish meeting in early 2017, which is held once every three years and is highly charged by the conflicts between user groups. The last two years took a toll on fisheries leadership, including one botched interview, one forced resignation, three failed nominations, a fistful of felony charges against one of those nominees, and two recent resignations — one by chairman Tom Kluberton who cited political burnout and stress, the other by Bob Mumford, coming before he even had the chance to be confirmed by the Legislature. Unlike 2015, Board of Fisheries appointees had no trouble being confirmed in a rare occurrence for the Legislature. In April 2016, the Legislature unanimously confirmed Al Cain, Israel Payton, and Robert Ruffner to the Board of Fisheries, replacing Mumford, Fritz Johnson and Kluberton. Last year, Ruffner’s confirmation hearing went especially wrong after a sustained campaign by sportfishing groups to characterize him as holding commercial fishing sympathies. The Legislature failed to confirm him on a 29-30 vote in 2015 but unanimously approved him in 2016. Read the Year in Review here 11:35
Alaska: Strong forecasts, busy regulatory year ahead for fisheries
The coming year should prove a lucrative year for 
, even in the face of the doom and gloom surrounding the chinook salmon declines and a sketchy halibut situation. The largest volume fishery, pollock, and the most valuable fishery, salmon, both have positive forecasts and large projected harvests; escapements for Alaska’s iconic king salmon were largely achieved in 2014; and various regulatory bodies have a full schedule to deal with both hurting and flourishing stocks. Read the rest here 16:01
Congressional Candidates Debate Alaska Fisheries
Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Begich squares off against Republican challenger Dan Sullivan, followed by U.S. House Rep. Don Young and his challenger Forrest Dunbar. The debate happens live in Kodiak, and will be streamed live on KSKA. It runs from 19:00 – 21:00. That’s 7pm – 9pm for you landlubbers. Live streaming is here 13:49
