Tag Archives: Frank Miles
Kodiak fishermen continue to stand down amid processor price dispute
Fishermen should have been setting their gear on Sunday morning for the opening of Kodiak’s biggest Tanner crab fishery since 1986. But the boat harbor was almost full, dozens of vessels were stacked high with empty crab pots. At the coffee shop downtown right near the docks, fishermen lined up for free coffee instead. Frank Miles owns the fishing vessel Sumner Strait, a 58-foot limit seiner and has fished commercially for nearly 50 years. His first Tanner season around Kodiak was in the early 80s, when he chopped bait for a local boat. “But I never in my wildest dreams thought that we’re gonna get offered $2.50, it really is a slap in the face,” said Miles. >click to read< 07:29
Extremely low cod numbers lead feds to close the Gulf of Alaska fishery for the first time
A stock assessment this fall put Gulf cod populations at a historic low, with “next to no” new eggs, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research biologist Steve Barbeaux, who authored the report. At their current numbers, cod are below the federal threshold that protects them as a food source for endangered Steller sea lions. Once below that line, the total allowable catch goes to zero — in other words, the fishery shuts down. >click to read< 08:32
Battered by a marine heatwave, Kodiak’s cod fishermen may not be fishing in the Gulf for much longer
From the last peak in 2014, the level of mature, spawning cod crashed by more than half in the Gulf, according to stock assessment data — 113,830 metric tons in 2014 to 46,080 metric tons in 2017. They’re now below the federal threshold that protects cod as a food source for endangered Stellar sea lions. As soon as the population dips below that line, the fishery closes. The whole federal cod fishery in the Gulf will most likely be shut down for the season in January. >click to read< 10:36
