Sorted by date Results 676 - 700 of 855
Fisherman fishing the Sitka Sound Herring Sac Roe fishery harvested more than half of its guideline harvest limit this past week. As of March 23, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 9,858 tons of herring have been pulled out of the water leaving 6,475 tons remaining. There was an opening Wednesday afternoon that targeted around 3,000 tons but an exact harvest weight wasn't determined at the time this report was written. On March 25, officials observed herring spawning on...
Alaska’s salmon catch of 273 million salmon set a record last year – and so did the number of salmon returning home to state hatcheries. The 2013 Fisheries Enhancement Report by the AK Dept. of Fish and Game shows that a return of 112 million hatchery reared salmon contributed 36 percent to the state’s total salmon harvest. The breakdown by species was 63% for chum salmon, 38% for pinks, 23% for Chinook salmon, 22% for cohos and 5% of Alaska’s sockeye salmon catch can be credited to hatchery returns. Unlike farmed fish, which are crammed...
Co-products is the big new buzz word in the seafood industry as more companies move towards ‘head to tails’ usages for fish. “For instance, the oils we are producing now from pollock livers has become so valuable in capsules and other human nutraceutical products, it makes no sense to call the livers a “byproduct” of the fillets or surimi. All of it is important in the puzzle of how to maximize the value of each fish caught,” said Alex Oliveira, a food specialist at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, a satellite campus of the UAF...
This year’s Tanner Crab season saw the highest harvest since the 2000/2001 season. Alaska Department of Fish and Game Lead Crab Biologist Joe Stratman said Tanner Crab prices and the overall harvest value were also up from last year. This season’s total harvest value was $3.1 million, with an average of $2.53 per pound compared to last year’s $2.8 million harvest value and $2.28 per pound. Preliminary estimates show this season’s Tanner fishery in Registration Area A is 1.25 million pounds with 80 permit holders. “This harvest just slightly...
Last Wednesday marked the start of Lent, a time of fasting, soul searching and repentance for hundreds of millions of Christians around the world. And what the burst in the holiday sales season from Thanksgiving to Christmas means to retailers, Lent means the same to the seafood industry. The 40-day Lenten season, which this year runs from March 5th to Easter Sunday on April 20th, dates back to the 4th century, and it has been customary to forego meat ever since. While nearly all seafood enjoys a surge of interest during Lent, the most...
Just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, US policy makers are quibbling over climate issues as bivalves dissolve in an increasingly corrosive Pacific Ocean. Any kid’s chemistry set will show that big changes are occurring in seawater throughout the world. As the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning outputs (primarily coal), it increases acidity to a point where shellfish can’t survive. It is referred to as ocean acidification (OA) and results in sea creatures’ inability to grow skeletons and protective shells. The proce...
Bait is always a big expenditure for many fishing businesses and pollock could help cut costs for Alaska halibut longliners who fish in the Gulf. Researchers have tested pollock in two projects to see if it might replace pricier chum salmon as halibut bait. Fish biologists use over 300,000 pounds of chums in their stock surveys each year, costing nearly half a million dollars. The baits are used at more than 1,200 testing stations from Oregon to the Bering Sea. A pilot study three years ago in the central Gulf and off of British Columbia...
Alaska seafood is free of radiation stemming from Japan’s 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster. That was the take home message from the Alaska Dept. of Conservation to the state Senate Resources Committee at a recent hearing. Citing information from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Pacific states including Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Health Canada, “all have demonstrated there are no levels of radiation that are of a pub...
Eleven new seafood products from seven companies are set to be showcased at the upcoming Symphony of Seafood galas in Seattle and Anchorage. In its 21 years the event has introduced and promoted hundreds of new Alaska seafood items to the marketplace. “Developing new products is really hard,” said Julie Decker, new executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation which hosts the event. (Decker replaces Jim Browning who retired,) “It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time and attention, and sometimes the products are wonde...
A measure aimed at banning salmon setnetting is being held afloat by backers. The ban includes the Anchorage area, much of the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez and Juneau. It would completely eliminate Cook Inlet setnetters and affect roughly 500 fishing families in all. Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell decided two weeks ago to not allow the question to go before Alaska voters as a ballot initiative in 2016. The newly formed Kenai-based Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance followed up with an appeal filed in Alaska Superior Court. “In a measure based on co...
Good science should drive all fisheries decisions, and Lite Guv Mead Treadwell says he has the chops to maintain a true course. Treadwell, a Republican who hopes to unseat Democratic US Senator Mark Begich in November’s election, paid a recent visit to Kodiak and “talked fish” in a brief interview. Few can claim Treadwell’s experience and understanding of the Arctic, where he has represented Alaska on U.S. Delegations in three circumpolar government groups, and been a director of the Institute of the North. He said he “doesn’t expect any...
AMSEA will offer a one-day fishing vessel safety and drill conductor course Sun., Jan. 26, 8 am-6 pm at the Tides Inn. Course meets the training requirements for commercial fishing vessels. Free for commercial fishermen, a fee will be charged to all others. Contact AMSEA at 907-747-3287 or www.amsea.org to register....
Walmart reps were in Juneau last week to learn more about Alaska’s salmon fisheries, and to make sure management is up to snuff with the company’s sustainability criteria. Alaska’s salmon industry opted out of the high priced certifying program that Walmart uses as its seafood purchasing standard (London-based Marine Stewardship Council). Alaska instead adopted the UN sanctioned Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) program for ‘well managed’ certification, a label that has become practically a requirement in most seafood buying and selling to...
Salmon will always be the heart of Alaska’s fisheries. That’s why many people think of summer as “the fishing season.” But that’s not the case. The deep of winter is when Alaska’s largest fisheries get underway each year. On January first, hundreds of boats with hook and line gear or big pots will begin plying the waters of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska for Pacific cod, rockfish and other groundfish. Then on January 20th trawlers take to the seas to target Alaska pollock, the world’s largest food fishery with harvests near three billion...
USCG commercial fishing vessel examiners will be conducting dockside examinations for commercial fishing vessels Jan. 27-31. Check out our new vessel specific checklist generator located at www.fishsafe.info. The tool will allow you to print out a list of all safety requirements for your vessel prior to your exam. To receive a dockside examination, sign up at the Petersburg Harbormasters Office or contact Jim Paul at (907) 617-2523. Voluntary dockside examinations are free and take about an hour....
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - A federal agency is planning to measure the economic impact of fishing businesses. Notices posted in the Federal Register show the National Marine Fisheries Service plans to survey U.S. seafood processors and bait-and-tackle shops during 2014. Survey data will be incorporated into impact statements produced by the federal government before an action is taken. Tackle business owners will be asked to characterize and quantify their operational costs and sales revenue and describe their clientele. Seafood processors will be...
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard again in 2013 to ramp up its message to policy makers, most of whom still tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance to the state and beyond. What is that message? That “the industry” is made up of thousands of small businesses – the fishing boats that each supports one or several families. That the seafood companies in coastal towns provide one of the state’s biggest tax bases. And together, fishing and processing provide more jobs in Alaska than oil/gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. S...
Want to know at a glance how many fishing boats call the Kenai Peninsula Borough home? It’s 1,089. Or what percentage of Wrangellites fish for a living? Just over 15 percent. Or how many skippers plus crew fish out of Juneau? That number is 705. To help policy makers and the public become better informed about how the seafood industry fits into the state’s economy, the United Fishermen of Alaska has compiled Fishing Fact sheets for 26 communities, plus statewide tallies for Alaska and Washington. A big misconception the well documented UFA dat...
It’s traditional during the Christmas season to decorate a downtown with lights – for Kodiak and other coastal communities “downtown” means the boat harbor. This month, alongside the local businesses on shore, Kodiak’s floating storefronts will be showcased in the downtown lighting festivities – meaning the 650 or so fishing businesses that each support one or several Kodiak families. Think of it as a mall in a marina! The revamped Harbor Lights Festival is an old theme with a new twist, said Toby Sullivan, director of the Kodiak Maritime Mu...
PETERSBURG — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that seasons for the 2013/2014 commercial Tanner and golden king crab fisheries in Southeast Alaska will open by regulation at 12:00 noon on Monday, February 10, 2014. The season start date for the Tanner and golden king crab fisheries is based on the date with the smallest Juneau tidal range between February 10 and February 17 [5 AAC 35.110(a) and 5 AAC 34.110(b)]. Fishermen are also reminded that weather delay criteria for Tanner and king crab fisheries have been recently a...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced a preseason run size for Stikine River king salmon at 26,000 fish. Because the size of the forecast is small there will be no directed fisheries in early May. Tom Kowalske, ADFG assistant area management biologist in Wrangell, said estimated run sizes have recently been reduced by nearly half. “For the past seven years the run size was overestimated by an average of 45 percent or so,” Kowalske said. The Stikine River king salmon forecast model initially produced an estimated run size of 37,...
It comes as no surprise that the recommendations for next year’s halibut catches are down again for all regions except Southeast Alaska. Fishery scientists with the International Pacific Halibut Commission have recommended a 2014 coast wide commercial catch total of 24.45 million pounds, a 21% decrease from the 31 million pounds allowed for this year. That includes catches in Alaska, British Columbia and the Pacific Coast states. In a summation at a meeting in Seattle last week, the IPHC said: “The results of the 2013 stock assessment ind...
Will Alaska’s halibut catches be cut again next year? That’s the big question as the industry braces for the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s interim meeting this week in Seattle. By all accounts, there appear to be lots of halibut in Alaska waters, but their unusually slow growth rates have forced a downward press on catches for nearly a decade. The Alaska catch total this year was about 22 million pounds. Also up for review – 22 fishermen from remote communities in the mid-Aleutians (4A) are requesting an increase in their halibut...
