Tag Archives: Laine Welch
Ak jig fleet grows 224% – Updated fleet profiles
This is Fish Radio. I’m 
– Who fishes where – for what and where they call home. Alaska fishing fleet updates name names. Alaska’s jig fleet, which fishes primarily for P-cod, now numbers 244 boats – a nearly 220 percent increase through 2012. The jig influx is mainly from Southeast based boats in what’s been a Kodiak dominated fishery. <Read more here> 17:14
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Southeast AK has best Dungeness season ever; More fishing updates
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch … Lots of fishing going on from one end of Alaska to the other. With a few exceptions, most of Alaska’s salmon fisheries are rather lackluster. statewide the salmon catch has topped 87 million and more than 47 million of those fish are sockeye salmon. Nearly 29 million of the reds are from Bristol Bay,,, Read more here 19:57
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Putting a price tag on corrosive oceans and the KSM mine sails through approval.
Fishing communities in Southeast and Southwest Alaska face the highest risk from increasingly corrosive oceans.,, In another threat to the Panhandle’s fisheries – British Columbia’s KSM mine has sailed through the permitting process. Read more here 16:26
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Do it yourself energy audits for fishing boats.
Just as with a home audit to try and understand where your energy is going, how your vessel is consuming energy and finds places where it might be wasted or not used as efficiently as possible, and frankly, most fishing vessels are not very energy efficient. Listen to the audio, and Read more here 16:33
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Sockeye price posted at Bristol Bay; Lots of red salmon rivals
An advance sockeye price of $1.20 a pound has been posted at Bristol Bay by Alaska General Seafoods, with an extra 15 cents for chilled fish. Other processors are likely to match, according to reports from the Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Marketing Association. That compares to a base price of $1.50 a pound for Bristol Bay reds last year. The Bay catch yesterday was approaching 28 million sockeyes, 11 million more than forecasted and the fish are still coming. Read more here 18:29
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Bristol Bay reds already 10 million over forecast, other AK fisheries updates
Bristol Bay continues to have one million or more red salmon days and the catch total continues to climb. The sockeye take was at 27 million, already 10 million over the forecast, and all signs point to more fish on the way. Read more here 17:38
Crabs can hear! This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch
Creepy soundtracks of noises made by predators had crabs running for shelter and proved, for the first time, that the animals can hear. Marine acoustic experts at Boston’s made the discovery in lab tests on 200 mud crabs during a two year study. Read more here 18:44
Risky business this summer at Bristol Bay: Sockeye Market Analysis
Uncertainty best sums up the mood as fishermen and processors await the world’s biggest sockeye salmon run at Bristol Bay. In fact, it’s being called the riskiest season in recent memory in the 2014 Sockeye Market Analysis. The biannual report is done by the McDowell Group for the fishermen-run Regional Seafood Development Association. Read more here 17:05
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Senator Begich talks about fed bashing.
Both of Alaska’s US Senators are on the powerful which has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate. That gives them combined clout when it comes to delivering multi-millions of dollars to their home state. Listen, and Read more here 18:09
This is cool, A new free iPhone app tracks your vessel’s stability.
Fishing boats rock and roll, pitch, yaw, surge, sway, and heave. Skippers respond to the movements as they navigate rough seas in tough weather. Now, a new iPhone app provides stability indicators in time to make corrections. It is called SCraMP – for Small Craft Motion Program, and has a variety of tools boat operators can select – Listen to Laine Welch here 22:28
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – The expanded observer program’s first annual report is revealed this week.
The category with the most new coverage and information was the catcher vessel hook and line in the Gulf of Alaska — in that fishery we did see some substantial discards in those fisheries compared to some other gear types — in the skate fisheries, rockfish, shark and halibut discards in the directed halibut fishery in particular – that we didn’t have information on before. Read more here 19:19
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch — Salmon and other fisheries are opening across the state
More salmon fisheries are opening across the state and the warm weather has fish showing up bit earlier than usual. Copper River kicked things off on May 15 with runs of reds and kings. Read more here 19:10
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Landings and poundage and values, oh my! What a difference a word makes
For years Fish Radio claimed that over 84 percent of Alaska’s seafood landings hail from federal waters, or from three to 200 miles from shore. But that’s not correct. That high percentage applies to the volume or poundage taken, not the landings. When it comes to fish deliveries, the state takes it hands down. Read more here 08:32
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Labels for Frankenfish get a bipartisan nod in DC
If gets a green light by the FDA, it will be labeled as such if US Senators have their way. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Murkowski-Begich amendment last week requiring that consumers be advised of what they are buying. Senator Murkowski – Listen, and read more here 16:37
It takes creative thinking to market last year’s catch
(SitNews) – Salmon season is just getting underway, but seafood companies are still selling last summer’s record catch of 226 million pink salmon – and it has prompted lots of creative thinking. Read more here 23:19
AK sockeye salmon market faces wild card with Fraser River run
Salmon fishermen were back out on the Copper River yesterday/Monday hoping for a catch of 33-thousand sockeyes. The first 12-hour opener last Thursday was slow going – 510 landings yielded a total take of 27-thousand reds, down 16% from the forecast, and just 1,000 kings. Advance prices for the first fish dipped a bit to $3.50 a pound for sockeyes and $6.00 for kings. That compares to $4.00 and $6 to $7 last year. Read more here 22:01
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – AK salmon season officially gets underway May 15; Cordova hopping!
Alaska’s 2014 (“Cordova hopping”) salmon season officially got underway at 7am today with the first 12 hour opener at the Copper River. Cordova is home base for the famous fishery. The town has doubled in size over the past few weeks, the weather is great, the feeling in the air is electric with everybody getting their boats ready to go and some have already headed out. Listen, and Read more here 20:59
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Big plans for marketing all those pinks.
Selling last summer’s record catch of 226 million pink salmon has prompted lots of creative thinking. Recognizing that there is a whole lot of pink salmon out there from the record fun, ASMI has put forward $1.5 million additional to promote pink salmon, and canned pinks specifically, both domestically and overseas. 2 Listen to Laine here 21:26
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch …The reds start running this week at the Copper River – a market outlook
It’s hard to believe but Thursday marks the official start of Alaska’s 2014 salmon season with a 12 hour opener at the Copper River. The year’s first fresh sockeye salmon will be flown out and featured in markets far and wide. Read more here 16:47
This is Laine Welch. I’m Laine Welch – Commercial fishing stomps sport fishing economically.
A breakdown of the annual report called ‘Fisheries Economics of the US’ shows once and for all that in terms of value, jobs, sales and income, the commercial sector far outscores recreational fishing. Read more here 18:08
Graying of the Fleet project aims at young fishermen
As older fishermen retire from the business, fewer young people are recruiting in. The average age of Alaska permit holders is 47 — and there are twice as many permit holders aged 45 to 60 as there are between 30 and 44. The issue – dubbed the Graying of the Fleet. Read more here 09:02
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Pink salmon diets take a direct hit.
Now, a federal study reveals its first signs on how corrosive oceans are affecting sea life – and it points to big trouble for pink salmon. NOAA announced this week the first evidence that the high acid content in the Pacific Ocean is dissolving the shells of tiny free-swimming snails called pteropods. Listen to Laine here 17:10
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch — Big price increases for halibut and black cod –
Halibut prices are up by more than a dollar a pound compared to the same time last year. Fresh fish have been moving smoothly and demand is steady, said one major buyer at Kodiak. Dock prices at Kodiak were reported,,Listen and Read more here 19:11
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Setnet ban gets day in Court; Togiak herring price tanks
A push to ban setnet fishing in urban Alaska regions got a Superior Court hearing this week. Turning to Togiak,,, Read more here 17:34
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Values of fishing permits and IFQs are on the rise.
Alaska salmon permit values are increasing in many regions; likewise quota shares of halibut Listings by four brokers show that Bristol Bay drift permits are valued at about $134,000 by the state and listed for sale at 150,000 to $170,000. That compares to $90,000 this past January. Read more here 17:26
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch — A much smaller salmon catch is expected this year – projection for 2014 down 47%
Alaska’s total salmon catch for this year is projected to be down by almost half of the 2013 haul. State fishery managers are calling for an all species harvest of just under 133 million salmon, down about 47% from last year’s record haul of 283 million fish. Read more here 17:40
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Three from her today. ( She’s a busy gal!)
BIOp break, Status quo for BOF… more fish news, A new bi-op, Board of Fish names and a big name comes back to Bristol Bay. here Herring, byproducts boosted by AK legislature, Silencing Alaskans bill stalled,A look at fish issues before the Alaska legislature. here Seiners can sign on for first ever pollock fishery! Deadline 4/11,Seiners fishing for pollock? Sign up now. here 17:10
Fishing does not threaten sea lions in Aleutians, says new NOAA Bi-Op
Proposed changes to fishing restrictions in the Aleutian Islands are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered western population of Steller sea lions or adversely modify Steller sea lion critical habitat, according to a biological opinion issued today by NOAA Fisheries under the Endangered Species Act. Read more here Laine Welch 15:50
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch … On the cusp of a catch share plan for Gulf groundfish.
Next week stakeholders and federal managers will begin crafting a bycatch reduction plan for trawl groundfish fisheries in the Gulf. It will be some kind of catch share plan, and as the main delivery port for those fish, Kodiak residents are getting involved from the get go. Read more here 15:22
