Tag Archives: Alaska
Alaska officials prepare for possible commercial fishing expansion into Arctic waters
Bans on commercial fishing in U.S. and international Arctic waters have been lauded as admirable preemptive actions that protect vulnerable resources before they are damaged by exploitation. But now the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is preparing for a time when the 14-year-old moratorium on commercial fishing in federal Arctic waters is lifted. The department is seeking $1 million in state general funds and another $2 million in federal funds to work on research to better understand those Arctic waters in the event that commercial fisheries are conducted there, Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said on Wednesday. >click to read< 12:42
No commercial Togiak sac roe herring fishery this spring, after years of a shrinking market
Fish processors have indicated they will not buy Togiak herring this season, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s outlook released March 20. It’s the first time there hasn’t been a commercial fishery there in decades. That means that this spring, over 57,400 tons of herring will go unharvested. But as the market has declined, so has the price for herring. Tim Sands, said they’ve seen an especially sharp decline in interest since the COVID-19 pandemic began three years ago. The size of the commercial fleet in Togiak has shrunk as well. It used to comprise hundreds of vessels. But last year no gill netters fished, and just eight purse seine vessels participated, hauling in less than a quarter of the available harvest. Togiak herring, meanwhile, are doing just fine. >click to read< 13:50
Linda Greenlaw to be featured on upcoming season of ‘Deadliest Catch’
The state’s most famous living fishing boat captain will be featured on the upcoming season of the popular reality television series, “Deadliest Catch.” Greenlaw said Friday that she went to Alaska last fall with “a positive attitude, strong work ethic and the good sense to know what I didn’t know” about the particular challenges of fishing for Bering Sea crab. She said she learned a lot from ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski, the notoriously grumpy captain and owner of F/V Summer Bay who has appeared on the show for 13 seasons. “I wanted to learn from the best — and I did,” Greenlaw became well known 30 years ago after being written about in “The Perfect Storm,” a nonfiction book by Sebastian Junger about a powerful Nor’easter storm that sank the sword fishing boat F/V Andrea Gail in 1991. >click to read< 07:15
Herring fishery to go on two-hour notice Thursday
The Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery will go on two-hour notice on Thursday morning (3-23-23). That means at any time after that, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game can announce a fishery opening with two hours warning. Last year, the guideline harvest level for the fishery was 45,000 tons, but fishermen only caught around 25,000. That was still the highest harvest on record. The guideline harvest level for this year’s fishery is set at 30,000 tons. >click to read< 13:58
Solutions to the Bycatch Blame Game
The issue of bycatch has grown more important as some fisheries get smaller and those who depend on the fish for their livelihood or survival find that there are not enough fish to go around. This raises the question of whether bycatch is at the root of the problem or if other issues facing fisheries must be addressed. Bycatch is monitored in a combination of ways, through at-sea observers, electronic monitoring, seafood processing plant observers, logbooks, and fish tickets. “In the Bering Sea, approximately 94 percent of all catch is observed, including 99 percent of all trawl catch,” Bush explains. “In the Gulf of Alaska, 40 to 50 percent of all catch is observed across all gear types.” Photos, >click to read< 12:26
Crews refloat boat that capsized near Crescent Harbor on Saturday
A fishing vessel that overturned just outside of a Sitka harbor this weekend was refloated early Monday morning. Around 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Coast Guard responded to a vessel that had capsized at the entrance to Crescent Harbor in downtown Sitka. Coast Guard Marine Science Technician Allysia Helton was at the scene. She said all four passengers on the F/V Ocean Cape managed to quickly get off the boat. No injuries were reported. “There were quite a few members of the community that were there on scene immediately after it happened, and they helped the crew get off the vessel and make sure everything was okay,” >click to read< 07:25
Kodiak lawmakers outline fishery-related accomplishments and ambitions
A bill that passed the Alaska Legislature last year has already started to benefit the fishing industry, and more fishing-specific bills are in the works this year, state lawmakers representing Kodiak said on Friday at an industry conference. Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens, a Republican leading a bipartisan majority, told the audience at ComFish Alaska that he is particularly proud of a bill he sponsored that expands allowable tax credits for investments in equipment to process seafood beyond salmon and herring. The bill expanded allowable seafood-production tax credits to investments in equipment for pollock, Pacific cod and sablefish, also known as block cod. Previously, only salmon- or herring-related investments were eligible for those credits. >click to read< 08:55
Small businesses affected by Alaska crab crash may be eligible for low-interest federal loans
The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering special disaster loans to some businesses hurt by the recent red king crab and snow crab closures. The SBA declared a disaster following a relief request from Gov. Mike Dunleavy for the crab fisheries closures in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. Along with U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Dunleavy requested a total of nearly $290 million from the federal government last year the estimated total ex-vessed loss for both fisheries since 2021. “We’re committed to providing federal disaster loans swiftly and efficiently, with a customer-centric approach to help businesses and communities recover and rebuild,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. >click to read< 15:12
Lawsuit threatens Washington’s commercial fishing families | Opinion
While Alaska might be more than 1,000 miles away, Washington shares a lot more with the 49th State than most people realize. This is especially true in the fishing industry where the relationship between Washington and Alaska runs deep and ripples throughout Washington’s economy and communities. We are seeing the complexities and the nuances of this relationship play out right now in a lawsuit that the Seattle-based Wild Fish Conservancy brought against the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2020 with the goal to shut down southeast Alaska’s small boat, hook-and-line Chinook troll fishery in the misguided name of saving the Southern Resident killer whales. >click to read< 14:57
In memory of Carl Arvidson
Cordova recently lost a great fisherman. Carl Godfred Arvidson passed away during the evening of Feb. 21 in the arms of his wife, Suzanne Arvidson, in Carson City, Nevada. Carl was born in Cordova. His family entered the local fisheries in the early 1900s, when his father, Gus (John Gustav) Arvidson, made his way from Sweden to Alaska. Gus married another young immigrant, Minnie,,, Gus Arvidson plied his trade in the waters of the Copper River Delta. When he started fishing, he had to row his boat to the fishing grounds and haul in his net by hand, both formidable feats. At the young age of 38, he suffered an injury while at sea, returned to town and passed away. He was survived by his wife and seven young children. At the time, Carl was a tender 5 years old. When Carl and his three brothers, Gus, George and Bob, came of age, they knew their best opportunity for success in Cordova was in the commercial fishing industry. They all entered the treacherous industry. >click to read< 18:35
Alaska Halibut Season Opens March 10
Pacific halibut season opens Sunday, March 10 statewide in Alaska. NOAA Fisheries filed notice of their effectiveness in the Federal Register today, which will publish March 7, 2023. The regulations, adopted at the annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) in January, took effect when the Secretary of State accepted them, with the Secretary of Commerce’s concurrence. Included in this season’s federal regulations are the catch limits established by the IPHC and basic regulations for the commercial and sport halibut fisheries. >click to read< 18:03
Months before season begins, state closes most Cook Inlet king salmon fishing
Parts of the Kenai River are still frozen over. But the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has already closed the early and late king salmon runs to sport fishing — also shutting down the beleaguered Cook Inlet east side set-net fishery before fishermen can gear up. “This is my 53rd year coming up as a set-netter, and I have never experienced this,” said Ken Coleman, vice president of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen’s Association. He said he’s never seen the fishery close completely this early. Fish and Game does release a preseason forecast for the early king salmon run every winter, to give guides and fishermen a sense of what to expect before the summer starts. >click to read< 15:09
Amid record-low chum runs, Board of Fish pares down limits on Area M’s June fishery
The Yukon River’s chum salmon runs have returned at record lows over the last three years. At a recent meeting, the Alaska Board of Fisheries debated a contentious proposal that would have reduced fishing time for a controversial and lucrative fishery along the Alaska Peninsula, called Area M. Area M is a mixed-stock “intercept” fishery that targets salmon further from their spawning grounds than terminal fisheries like Bristol Bay. Proposal 140 was meant to limit the amount of chum caught in Area M’s South Peninsula fishery in June to allow more chum to return to Western Alaska rivers. The board ended up passing some restrictions on the fishery, but it’s far short of what residents in those areas were hoping for. And communities that depend on the Area M fishery say they aren’t satisfied either. >click to read< 13:20
In Depth: Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling. Erik Velsko, 39, was one of those fishermen. He started buying annual shares in 2001 when the halibut population was at near historic highs. But within a few years, the stock plummeted by more than half and the quotas for commercial fishermen were slashed accordingly. Halibut wasn’t the only so-called directed fishery to experience such a catastrophic drop. The crab fleet — made famous in the reality show “Deadliest Catch” — has been mostly stuck in port for two years after the near total collapse of the snow crab population and the decades long decline of red king crab. Photos, >click to read< 11:42
Bristol Bay drift gillnetters face boat inspection
Bristol Bay commercial salmon drift gillnet permit holders have been advised by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers of upcoming inspections during the summer fishery to determine whether participating vessels are adhering to current vessel length regulations and if crews are fishing legally. Ongoing efforts by some participants in this fishery to amend current regulations to allow innovations that give them a harvesting advantage have yet to be approved by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and no more proposals will be considered by the board before that season begins. Current state fisheries regulations limit drift gillnetters to 32 feet in overall length with few exceptions, which were carefully identified in a letter sent to every gillnet permit holder in the Bristol Bay fishery. >click to read< 09:27
Crabbers seek solutions as harvest closures impact business
An amount of emergency relief is being sent to help crabbers affected by the historic closure of the Bering Sea snow crab fishing and the Bristol Bay red crab harvest in Alaska. However, the Washington-based fisherman says more long-term care, research and action is needed to preserve the industry as a sustainable way of life for small businesses for generations. Mark Casto owns the fishing boat Pinnacle and says he’s been fishing since graduating from high school in 1986. “I grew up in it, when I was a kid, I used to do it when I was growing up, it was in my blood and it was just my way of life,” said Casto. He’s been grappling with the same teammates for years – some decades – and they’ve become a team that can predict each other’s next move. When the Bering Sea snow crabs were cancelled, they were scattered – all forced to find other ways to make a living during the season. >click to read< 16:50
NOAA, ADFG, Bering Sea Crabbers Teaming Up On Red Crab Fishery Research
Tempestuous weather and icy seas make winter research on Bristol Bay red king crab challenging. This winter, crab fishermen are working together with scientists to make it possible. The Bering Sea crab industry is partnering with NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to meet a critical need for winter data on Bristol Bay Red king crab. Scientists and fishermen will work together on the month-long field research, set to launch in March. The research responds directly to data requests from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to inform their management decisions. Photos, >click to read< 10:12
Fishing group accepting applicants for crew training program
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), a Sitka-based fishing group, and partner organization Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are seeking applicants for its crew training program. The program aims to provide young people an opportunity to gain experience in, as well as an understanding of, commercial fishing and its role in coastal communities, according to a release from the ALFA. Since 2015, more than 100 apprentices have been trained and placed on local fishing vessels in Southeast Alaska, and in late 2017 ALFA was awarded funds to get more boots on deck statewide. >click to read< 11:39
Seafood Processing Vessel’s Operator Continues to Expose Crews to a Bounty of Safety, Health Violations
Working in the Alaskan fishing industry – an occupation already regarded as one of the nation’s most dangerous – employees aboard the F/V Pacific Producer faced dangers purely of their employer’s making, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Coast Guard has found. An inspection by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration was initially opened in July 2022 in Kodiak, Alaska, but was delayed when the F/V Pacific Producer – a 472-ton seafood processing vessel – departed the port. Through coordination with USCG’s Sector Puget Sound, a joint inspection resumed when the vessel arrived in Seattle in October. Inspectors found murky, brown water in the ship’s drinking water system; crew members being served expired food; water used to process fish leaking into dry food storage and the galley’s dining area; and other unsanitary conditions throughout the vessel. >click to read< 21:27
Fishermen gather in D.C. to press Congress for ‘catch share’ changes
fishermen from each corner of the country descended on the nations capital last week banding together to confront what they describe as a predatory regulatory system that treats fishing rights “like stocks on Wall Street.” The group of more than a dozen fishermen make up a loose organization known as the Catch Share Reform Coalition. They presented a proposal to several U.S. senators, members of Congress and the head of NOAA Fisheries to rework regulations that they say have enabled investors to amass large amounts of fishing permits, cornering parts of the industry at the expense of local fishermen. Members of the group each fish out of different ports, using different types of gear and fishing for different species. But they said they are all united in their goal to keep fishing rights in the hands of local fishermen. >click to read< 07:06
Amputations, broken bones among the injuries caused by winches on fishing boats
For crews working on fishing boats in Alaska, danger lurks in a helpful and possibly innocent-looking device: the winch. Winches are hauling devices on which cables are wound. On fishing vessels, they are used to lift anchors, nets and other objects. The combination of speed, force and close quarters on deck can lead to accidents involving them. In most cases, the injuries happened when body parts were caught in or compressed by winches or the cables attached to them, the study said. Hands, wrists and arms were the body parts most frequently injured, though there were also injuries to other body parts, including skull fractures. Amputated fingers were among the most commonly reported injuries,,, >click to read< 10:10
Urgent research to be undertaken on Bristol Bay Red King Crab
Urgent crab research will be getting underway in mid-March thanks to funds provided by both Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries, according to reports from Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. The research is expected to use two chartered crab vessels with three scientists each, plus crew, to conduct research on Bristol Bay red king crab, including a pot survey, tagging, and gear studies. It will span roughly 25 days and begin in mid-March. The survey will set out to accomplish three main goals that may help inform management decisions in the future and will lay out important groundwork for future studies, >click to read< 08:31
After a highly anticipated start, Kodiak’s Tanner crab season is almost over
Kodiak’s Tanner crab fleet spent the first two weeks of the season tied up at the docks, awaiting better prices from local seafood processors. And after a highly anticipated opener just over a week ago on Jan. 30, the season is nearly over; most of the fishery had closed by the end of the weekend. Fisherman Eddie Perez was selling Tanners from his boat, the F/V Vero Victoria, on Monday morning. He had about 500 crabs on board when he pulled up to the dock – and he expected to sell out by noon. “Everybody’s been really excited, happy that local fishermen are offering to the community and it’s been going really good,” said Perez. >click to read< 15:53
Southeast Alaska communities set to join opposition to lawsuit that threatens king salmon fishery
Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg are set to join a growing chorus of Alaska voices highlighting the impact the suit could have on the region’s fishing fleet. The lawsuit from the Washington state-based Wild Fish Conservancy centers on an endangered Puget Sound population of orcas known as Southern Resident killer whales. Killer whales eat salmon, especially big, meaty king salmon, and the conservation group argues federal officials haven’t properly accounted for the impact the Southeast king salmon fishery has on the Puget Sound orcas. Late last year, a federal judge issued a report that threatens to close the Southeast king salmon fishery until the National Marine Fisheries Service comes up with a fix. >click to read< 11:50
Trident Seafoods marks 50th anniversary
A major seafood processing company that began with a single vessel operating out of Kodiak in 1973 marked its 50th anniversary on Jan. 31, celebrating all those who helped Trident become the largest vertically integrated seafood firm in the nation. “At our core, we are a people business, and what sets us apart is how we care for each other,” said Joe Bundrant, chief executive officer of the company, and son of the late Chuck Bundrant, who would have celebrated his 81st birthday on Jan. 31. Starting back in 1973, Trident set a new precedent for the crabbing and fishing industry by catching, processing and freezing king crab onboard the same ship. >click to read< 09:36
Seattle-based seafood giant Trident reaches half-century mark – In the summer of 1973, Trident Seafoods co-founder Chuck Bundrant went to a Tacoma shipyard to launch the Billikin, a 135-foot steel boat able to operate for more than a month offshore, catching and processing crab with a crew of 16. Back then, Trident was a new startup working out of a couple of trailers in Seattle’s Ballard waterfront. Chuck Bundrant took the Billikin north to the Bering Sea, where he was able to earn an early fortune tapping into red king crab stocks that surged through the ’70s. >click to read< 2/5/2023
Commission releases halibut quotas
The International Pacific Halibut Commission has released the quotas for the 2023 season, and they seem to be more aligned with reality than the increases the past two years, with the IPHC describing the overall biomass as being at “historic lows.” Quotas are down across the board in Alaska and Canada, especially in Areas 3A and 4A. Area 2B, British Columbia, also took a hit, with a quota of 5.03 million pounds, down 11.75%. Fishermen are becoming distrustful in the IPHC process, according to fisherman and fisheries advocate Buck Laukitis. “The IPHC management process is more political than science-based,” he said via text. “Long-time fishermen and those interested in having something to catch a generation from now are losing confidence in an overly complicated and very political process.” >click to read< 18:11
Untold Stories of a Remote Village
I have just finished my 11th season of commercial fishing in Bristol Bay. Specifically, in a little village within this bay called South Naknek. For context, South Naknek has a total population of 67 people who live there year round, averaging about one person per square mile, according to the 2020 Alaska Peninsula Corporation census. There is no grocery store in this town, small amounts of electricity, and very few bathrooms that have indoor plumbing. Most of the cabins that are scattered on the bluff or across the tundra have no insulation and are heated by a wood stove. The nearest medical clinic is a long drive (or short flight in a bush plane) across the frozen river. >click to read< 14:52
Biden blocks Pebble copper-gold mine in Alaska
The Biden Administration banned the dumping of mining waste near Bristol Bay, Alaska, issuing a decree that thwarts longstanding plans to extract gold, copper and molybdenum because of potential harm to the region’s thriving sockeye salmon industry. The Environmental Protection Agency’s final determination, announced Tuesday, effectively blocks the mine planned by Pebble Limited Partnership as well as future mining of the same deposit in headwaters of Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye harvest. Katherine Carscallen, director of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, called EPA’s final action “surreal,” because it “will finally put an end to the threat of Pebble.” Critics said the decision conflicts with the Biden administration’s commitment to accelerating the deployment of renewable power and electric vehicles that rely on critical minerals. >click to read< 15:54
Victory! After a 2 week stand down, Kodiak’s Tanner crab strike is over
Each of Kodiak’s four canneries offered slightly different deals – Alaska Pacific Seafoods agreed to $3.35 per pound plus a retro payment – which can boost the final payout to fishermen after the season. Pacific Seafood also agreed to $3.35 per pound with a possible retro to fishermen. OBI settled with crabbers for $3.25 plus profit sharing, and Trident Seafoods stayed at $3.25 per pound. It wasn’t exactly the deal Kodiak crabbers were hoping for, and some boats from Kodiak may still take their crab out west where processors are offering slightly more per pound. But ultimately, 80% of those in attendance at Saturday’s meeting agreed, it was time to go fishing. “We stuck together, we’re gonna roll this thing out together, and we’re looking at it as a victory,” >click to read< 13:11
“We’re solid. We’re unified” – Inside Kodiak’s crab standoff
The nearly 6-million-pound quota was the highest in decades. And some people spent more than $100,000 to buy a permit to fish this year, said Kevin Abena, one of the leaders of the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative. But fishermen’s hopes for a banner season are now in limbo, as the 130 boats in the Kodiak tanner crab fleet are on strike, holding out for higher prices from the seafood processors that typically buy, package and resell their catch. But processors and industry experts say the fishermen are fighting larger market forces that make it unlikely they’ll get much more than the $3.25 a pound that Kodiak-based plants have already offered, less than half than last year’s $8 a pound price. >click to read< 10:48
