Tag Archives: Fishermen’s Finest
Alaska Supreme Court upholds legality of fish landing tax
Fishermen’s Finest, a Washington state seafood company that operates factory trawlers and exports most of its product overseas, had challenged the state’s tax in court. It argued that there are protections against state taxation on shipping in coastal state waters, and a lower state superior court agreed. But the justices, writing in a unanimous opinion, found that the fees assessed on Fishermen’s Finest’s products are not unconstitutional “The landing tax is not opportunistic taxation of vessels ‘merely transiting’ adjacent waters without landing or benefitting from any local services,” the justices wrote. >click to read< 08:56
The Jones Act’s Strange Bedfellows
A strange thing happened on December 6th, 2018, when President Donald Trump signed a waiver that allowed the American business, Fishermen’s Finest, to sail its 80.5-meter fishing boat, America’s Finest, out of a Washington State shipyard over objections from special interest labor unions and trade associations. The ship was held in the harbor because its hull was made with too much Dutch steel. This violated the century-old protectionist law, the Jones Act, a little-known law passed in 1920. Even many of those who are hurt by it are unfamiliar with how this cumbersome law that likely costs the American economy millions of dollars every year. >click to read<15:53
Senate passes bill with Jones Act waiver for Fishermen’s Finest vessel
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday, 14 November, overwhelmingly passed a bill that included language giving Fishermen’s Finest a waiver it needs to use its USD 75 million (EUR 66.4 million) fishing vessel in American waters. Senate leaders added the Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest, a 264-foot catcher-processor trawler, in its Coast Guard reauthorization bill. That bill, approved by a 94-6 margin, now goes back to the House of Representatives for its approval of the Senate’s changes. That is expected to happen after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. >click to read<11:48
Effort to let Anacortes-built trawler fish in U.S. waters runs aground
Federal legislation to authorize a $75 million Anacortes-built factory trawler to work in U. S waters has foundered — for the second time this spring — in the turbulent political seas of Congress. The measure was included in a Coast Guard reauthorization bill that failed, in a procedural vote, to get the support of 60 senators and move on to a final vote. A provision to allow the 264-foot vessel to net and process fish off Alaska failed to make it into the spending bill passed by Congress in March. >click to read<10:19
Senator pursuing new route to Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest
The push to get a Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest will take a new tack in the U.S. Senate. Earlier this week, the Senate Homeland Security Committee approved its own version of the Department of Homeland Security reauthorization bill. The Senate’s version did not include an amendment approved by the House of Representatives to grant a waiver for the USD 75 million (EUR 61 million) ship built by Dakota Creek at its Anacortes, Washington facility for Fishermen’s Finest. >click to read< 14:09
New Anacortes-built trawler could be grounded by old law, endangering two local firms
The largest, most modern American-made trawler built in nearly three decades may be barred from fishing in U.S. waters, with financial repercussions to its local builder and buyer “so draconian that neither company may survive.” That’s the scenario painted by the law firm that Anacortes shipyard Dakota Creek Industries has hired to seek a rare waiver from a century-old law called the Jones Act, which they acknowledge wasn’t properly followed when the shipyard began building the state-of-the art, $75 million vessel Americas Finest. The shipyards mistake using too much foreign steel that was modified before coming into the U.S. could mean the advanced ship must be sold abroad at a big loss. click here to read the story 08:40
Dakota Creek Industries working on state-of-the-art fishing vessel
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen met Thursday morning at Dakota Creek Industries with shipbuilders and commercial fishermen eager to show off a new, fuel-efficient fishing vessel. The ship, America’s Finest, is bigger, safer, more efficient and pollutes less than existing vessels, according to Fishermen’s Finest, the ship’s owner and operator. The company says the ship will have the smallest carbon footprint per ton of fish of any fishing vessel in the Bering Sea. The 262-foot-long ship is like a floating city, with its own fish processing factory, power plant and sewage treatment facility, said Kristian Uri, Fishermen’s Finest general manager. click here to view additional photo’s and read the story 11:01
Fishermen’s Finest delivering petition against halibut bycatch decreases to Washington state governor
The petition includes 23,000 signatures, which the company gathered in 17 days, supporting its aim of convincing the governor to stop the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) from imposing proposed decreases — ranging from 10% to 50% — to the halibut bycatch allotment for Alaska groundfish fleets. “This reallocation will cause a handful of Alaska fishermen to gain an additional $44 million over the next ten years but will cause the loss of $1.2 billion and 4,900 jobs in the Washington state fishing and shipbuilding industry,” the company says in a petition. Read the rest here 16:29
Alaska groundfish fleets face big blow from halibut bycatch proposals
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fleets are staring down at what could be a shocking blow to revenues next year. The North Pacific Fishery Management (NPFMC) is considering halibut bycatch allocation reductions for BSAI groundfish fleets ranging from 10% to 50%, with a final vote slated for its June meeting. As the potential impacts of this blow begin to sink in, one company — three-decade old Fishermen’s Finest — has already assessed the damages, and they’re not pretty. Read the rest here 16:39
Fishermen’s Finest to build Skipsteknisk AS Designed 268 foot Catcher/Processer Vessel at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes WA
This trawler becomes the most environmental friendly- and complete vessel ever built for the US deep sea fisheries.This US flagged Amendment 80 stern trawler to be built for producing frozen at sea, white fish products, groundfish including yellow- and rock sole species. Read the rest here 15:24
Fishy Money Fuels Super PACs In Alaska Senate Race
Outside super PACs have played a major role supporting Sen. Mark Begich (D) ,,, The majority of this outside spending binge has come through the super PAC Put Alaska First.,,, While evidence suggests Fishermen’s Finest is the largest donor with an actual interest in Alaskan affairs,, In a conversation with The Huffington Post, Fishermen’s Finest president and general counsel Dennis Moran avoided questions about the ownership of the LLCs. Read the rest here 12:48
