Tag Archives: Jeff Farvour

Alaska’s fishermen and communities celebrate decision to allow Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery to open on July 1st

Southeast Alaska’s fishermen and communities welcomed the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals’ decision on June 21st to keep Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery open while the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) addresses a technicality in its 2019 Biological Opinion for Southeast Alaska’s salmon fisheries. In its order, the federal appeals panel shared that there was ample evidence submitted showing that the impacts of shutting down the Alaska salmon fishing industry would “outweigh the speculative environmental threats” of keeping the fishery open. “The court’s decision is a huge relief for hundreds of small-boat fishing families that rely on this fishery for their income,” said Linda Behnken, Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. >click to read< 07:15

Coast Guard confirms serious problems with channel 16

By the time the U.S. Coast Guard issued an alert in mid-October about VHF-FM radio outages throughout Southeast Alaska, word had already spread through the commercial fishing fleet from harvesters worried that mayday calls might go unanswered. “I don’t think the fleet is aware of how severe of a problem this is,” said Jeff Farvour, a commercial harvester from Sitka. “Fishermen usually feel the Coast Guard is on to these things. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be fixed any time soon.” >click to read<  15:11

Chinook action plan a ‘question mark’ for conservation and economics

There will be a lot less fishing for king salmon in Southeast in the coming season, after the Alaska Board of Fisheries took dramatic steps to protect dwindling chinook returns to the region’s major river systems. Before wrapping up its 13-day meeting in Sitka on Tuesday, the Board of Fish passed an “action plan” intended to reverse the downward spiral in Alaska’s wild king salmon.  The plan targets three primary rivers — or stocks of concern — but leaves the door open for similar conservation measures elsewhere, should they become necessary. >click here to read< 09:29