Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 855
Volunteers are needed to test drive some new money-saving methods for ‘do it yourself’ energy audits on fishing boats. “Just as with a home audit where you try and understand where your energy is going, you can learn how your vessel is consuming energy and find places where it might be wasted or not used as efficiently as possible, and frankly, most fishing vessels are not very energy efficient,” said Terry Johnson, a marine advisor with Alaska Sea Grant in Anchorage. Johnson is part of a team working on a three year project to find ways to red...
Halibut catches weren’t slashed as badly as people feared, although they still continue on a downward trend – and the outlook is grim. A coast wide catch of 31 million pounds was approved on Friday by the International Pacific Halibut Commission, a decline of 7.5 percent from last year, and far better than the 30% cut that was widely anticipated. Alaska’s share of the Pacific catch is 23 million pounds, down 2.5 million pounds across the board. The IPHC commissioners, three from the US and three from Canada, each said the 2013 annual meeti... Full story
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska's U.S. senators voted with the majority in supporting a $50.5 billion emergency relief package for victims of Superstorm Sandy. But Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich expressed frustration that $150 million for Alaska and other states affected by fisheries' disasters wasn't included. Both said they would continue pushing for that aid. Begich said Alaska may be farther away, but that doesn't make fisheries disaster any less damaging or significant to the people affected by it. Murkowski referred to fisheries disasters a...
The Community Advisory Board of American Seafoods Company is now accepting applications for the Alaska Community Grant Program. The deadline to submit applications is Feb. 6 and the board will award $30,000 to selected organizations Feb. 14. Since its inception in 1997, the American Seafoods CAB has granted over $1 million to organizations and programs in Alaska. A total of $30,000 will be allocated by the CAB to community projects addressing issues such as hunger, housing, safety, education, research, natural resources and cultural...
Coast Guard Commercial Fishing Vessel Examiners will be conducting dockside examinations for Commercial Fishing Vessels in Petersburg February 6 – 8. Anyone needing an exam or interested in receiving a Voluntary Dockside Exam sign-up at the Petersburg Harbormasters Office or contact Scott Wilwert at (907) 957-0152. Dockside examinations are free, take about an hour and help foster public awareness of fishing vessel safety, regulations and safety carriage requirements....
Fishing groups, consumers and health organizations are launching a final push to prevent genetically modified fish from getting the nod for American dinner plates. During the holidays the Food and Drug Administration issued its environmental assessment concluding that the fish, tweaked to grow at least three times faster than normal, will not have any significant impacts on the human environment and is unlikely to harm wild stocks. The FDA’s environmental green light is the last step before AquaBounty, the creators of so called Frankenfish, c...
There’s lots of movement in Alaska’s salmon permit markets, but sales of catch shares are in a stall. Permit values are up and down depending on region, and interest reflects how the salmon runs have been coming in. For example at Bristol Bay, where sockeye runs for two years have been down and another lackluster season is expected this summer, salmon drift permit values have nosedived from a $165,000 high water mark in 2011 to around $90,000 now. “It’s hard to imagine they will go up a lot with a catch forecast of 16 to 17 million salmon...
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard this year to ramp up its message to policy makers, especially those from rail belt regions who tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance. How important is the seafood industry to Alaska and the nation? At a glance: nearly 60% of all U.S. seafood landings come from Alaska and 96% of all wild- caught salmon. Seafood is by far Alaska’s #1 export, valued $2.4 billion last year. Alaska ranks 9th in the world in terms of global seafood production. The seafood industry is second only to Big Oil in re...
Alaska’s Symphony of Seafood will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year and the call is out for new entries to be introduced in the annual competition. The Symphony, hosted by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, showcases new Alaska seafood products in three categories: retail, food service and smoked. Top winners in each receive booth space at the international Boston Seafood Show in March. A unique and fun thing about the seafood contest is that it provides a level playing field with entries from major seafood companies and s...
Making some easy changes to a boat’s deck lay out, or simply modifying knives and scrapers can reduce the strains, sprains and pains of fishing. Doing so is applying the science of ergonomics. “Ergonomics is the science of adapting your workplace, your tools, equipment and work methods to be more efficient and comfortable and error free by humans. It’s basically how a human body interacts with their work environment, ”explained Jerry Dzugan, director of the Sitka-based the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA). AMSEA is using a...
Ask an Alaskan what community is home to the most commercial fishermen and they will respond Kodiak or Dutch Harbor, or maybe Petersburg or Bristol Bay. Wrong Anchorage ranks #1 for total fishing participation, with 994 permit holders and another 1,216 crew license holders who fish year round. The Anchorage–based fishermen brought home an estimated $52 million from the fishing grounds last year. The Mat-Su Valley with 396 permit holders and 420 fishing crew also is home to more harvesters than many coastal regions. Those are just a few of t...
The 2013 preseason terminal run size forecast for large Stikine River king salmon has been set by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at 22,400 fish. A preseason terminal run forecast of this size does not allow for an allowable catch for either the U.S. or Canada. Therefore, no directed fisheries will occur in early May. An in-season terminal run estimate will be produced in late May. If the first in-season estimate is significantly greater than the pre-season forecast, limited directed king salmon fisheries could occur. The forecast...
United States Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Examiner, Scott Wilwert, addressed several Petersburg vessel owners and fishermen to explain the criteria for the mandatory dockside examinations Nov. 28. The Coast Guard is requiring all commercial fishing vessels that operate or fish more than three miles from the territorial sea baseline to complete a mandatory dockside exam as of Oct. 16. This requirement was mandated by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. This includes any full-time...
Halibut catches could be cut by 33 percent next year if proposed numbers get the nod by the International Pacific Halibut Commission next month. That would mean a coast wide harvest of just 22.7 million pounds for fisheries in California, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska. Alaska’s share of the halibut catch would be 17.4 million pounds, down from about 25 million this year. Unlike past years, staff scientists are not making catch limit recommendations by separate areas. Instead, they are providing “assessment and advice framework...
The Federal Subsistence Board has closed Federal public lands within Unit 3 on Kuiu Island to the trapping of marten for the December 1, 2012 to February 15, 2013 season. This action is in response to conservation concerns raised by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Recent studies indicate the marten population on Kuiu Island is among the lowest in Southeast Alaska and suggests that the population has continued to decline over the last several years. A high natural mortality rate and continued low recruitment has resulted in a...
The “graying of the fleet” continues in Alaska as fewer young folks obtain permits for various fisheries. Data from 2011 show that 45 percent of all Alaska permit holders were between the ages 45 and 60, with an average age of 47. That was roughly twice as many permit holders as there were between the ages of 30 and 44. Crew members were much younger, averaging around 21 years old. There also was a higher incidence of crew members in their mid-30s, dropping off in the older age range. This may be due in part to aging crew eventually purchasing...
The “graying of the fleet” continues in Alaska as fewer young folks obtain permits for various fisheries. Data from 2011 show that 45 percent of all Alaska permit holders were between the ages 45 and 60, with an average age of 47. That was roughly twice as many permit holders as there were between the ages of 30 and 44. Crew members were much younger, averaging around 21 years old. There also was a higher incidence of crew members in their mid-30s, dropping off in the older age range. This may be due in part to aging crew eventually purchasing...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will accept only online Big Game Drawing Hunts applications and will no longer accept paper applications Nov. 1-Dec. 17. Visit hunt.alaska.gov (the hunting section of the ADF&G website) and click on the “Buy licenses and tags” button and follow the purchase instructions. Information regarding drawing hunt permits is available through the highlights section of the hunting page, including frequently asked questions, drawing supplements and undersubscribed draw hunts. A telephone help line is available for hu...
A Breakaway Adventures jet boat from Wrangell plows its way through Sumner Straits chop on a recent windy Sunday afternoon....
Alaska’s salmon harvest and value for 2012 came in well below last year, dropping 21 percent and 30 percent, respectively. According to preliminary state tallies, the value of the salmon catch totaled nearly $506 million at the docks this summer on a statewide catch of 124 million fish. That compares to a 2011 take of 177 million salmon valued at just over $641 million. A breakdown shows that the 2012 Chinook harvest of 333,000 was worth $17.6 million; sockeyes came in at 35.2 million valued at nearly $246 million; the coho catch of 3 m...
JUNEAU (AP) — Fire investigators were sifting through debris Tuesday in a search for clues into what caused a large fire that destroyed an apartment building in downtown Juneau. Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Richard Etheridge said no one was reported missing from the Gastineau Apartments building, a four-story building with about 30 units. The dramatic fire began Monday night, sending flames through the roof and into the nighttime sky. Apartment resident Sarah Day told the Juneau Empire that residents were told to leave at about 6 p.m. E...
The results of a six year study on Western salmon will be unveiled this month and the conclusions are not what people of the region had hoped for. Some background: the Western Alaska Salmon Stock Identification Project (WASSIP) was created in 2006 by a group of eleven signers to a memorandum of understanding including Aleut Corporation, Aleutians East Borough, Association of Village Council Presidents, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Bristol Bay Native Association, Concerned Area M Fishermen, Kawerak, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Tanana C...
Sea otters and the Arctic are two focal points for Alaska’s top fishing group at both state and federal policy levels. United Fishermen of Alaska is the nation’s largest industry trade group representing nearly 40 organizations. At it’s recent annual meeting UFA outlined several of its policy watches prior to the legislative session; the group also gave out awards and made a job offer. UFA is working closely with state and federal overseers to craft a management plan for exploding populations of sea otters in Southeast Alaska. The mamma...
Alaska salmon sales had lots of ups and downs this summer, but held their own overall in a tough market awash with farmed fish. The wild salmon catch goes to market in many forms such as canned, fresh or frozen, fillets and roe. The state Revenue Department/Tax Division provides quartile reports on first wholesale prices for all of Alaska’s salmon forms by species and region. Its report covering May – August shows lots of wild salmon fillets were tossed on the grill this summer, and people were willing to pay more for them. Alaska pro...
State fishery managers are asking for input from Alaskans to help solve the case of disappearing king salmon. A letter went out last week from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell inviting stakeholders to a two day symposium in Anchorage later this month titled ‘Understanding Abundance and Productivity Trends of Chinook salmon in Alaska.’ The stated goal is ‘to increase understanding and develop the most complete research plan possible.’ A draft analysis by a newly appointed fisheries research team represents initial...
