Ahab's Journal

Fishery council pushes to continue rockfish pilot program

Federal fisheries officials are considering making permanent a controversial rockfish pilot program that essentially privatizes that fishery in the central Gulf of Alaska.

The final program likely would exclude the divisive requirement that deliveries must be made to specific processors, federal officials said.

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Council votes to look at crab bycatch controls

Here's an update on that photographic evidence of appalling bairdi Tanner crab bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council late Thursday voted to analyze options to possibly close important crab waters off Kodiak.

The closures could apply not only to groundfish trawlers, but also to pot boats that incur crab bycatch while pursuing cod.

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Pollock survey shows fewer fish than anticipated

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Pollock numbers in the Bering Sea continue to remain depressed despite expectations from government scientists that large amounts of young fish were growing to harvestable size.

Two surveys provide a dim outlook for the bland, white fish that accounts for the largest commercial fishery by weight in the United States worth about $1 billion after processing. The meat is used mostly in fish sticks and fish-fillet sandwiches and to make imitation crab meat.

The 2009 survey data was presented Friday at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Seattle. While preliminary, it confirmed the pollock population remains low.

Doug DeMaster, director of NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, said the pollock spawning biomass has declined below target levels.

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Halibut allocation battle to continue in Washington court

Long-line fishermen like Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association in Sitka, view the situation differently.

"It's the charter guys suing the federal government for imposing management restrictions, for imposing conservation management restrictions," said Behnken. "Our position is that all sides have to share in the conservation of the resource."

The charter boat halibut harvest has increased 107 percent over the past decade, while the abundance of halibut has dropped by 58 percent at the same time," she said.

Meanwhile the long-line fleet has taken a cut of 54 percent in its halibut quota, so there are some obvious inconsistencies and inequities, Behnken said.

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Crab fishery regs garner support, criticism at federal council meeting

"A federal council edging toward a five-year review of the controversial plan that privatized the multi-million dollar crab fisheries gathered additional testimony June 6-7 in Anchorage in support of and opposition to the program.

All of the testimony, as well as detailed discussion papers, will be considered as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council moves toward completion of its five-year review, which could be in October 2010, said David Wetherell, deputy director of the council.

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Fish council to review controversial crab ratz program

"A controversial management plan that allocates the bulk of the multi-million dollar crab fishery to vessel owners, skippers, processors and coastal communities but none for the crew is heading for further scrutiny that could prove as stormy as the Bering Sea.

North Pacific Fishery Management Council staff members in a June meeting in Anchorage were scheduled to present a document considering the prospect of eliminating processor shares, and the likely ripple effect of that move through the fishing industry economy."

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Major cuts in snow crab harvest under consideration

A rebuilding plan for Bering Sea snow crab, valued at about $100 million in 2008, proposes to greatly reduce the recommended harvest for 2009-2010.

Staff from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, a branch of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, recommended at a mid-May meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's crab plan team that harvest limits for the coming season be set at 16 million pounds, down from 58.5 million pounds last year.

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Fisheries council votes for salmon bycatch cap

"A powerful council that oversees the massive pollock fishing industry in the Bering Sea voted Monday night to place an unprecedented cap on the number of salmon that pollock fishermen accidently kill each year.

The decision by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council strikes at a debate that's boiled among Alaska fishermen for years: whether the pollock industry is inadvertently leaving Western Alaska villages without enough king salmon in their rivers."

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Pollock vs. salmon bycatch issue stirs waters at meeting

"A whale of a fish fight hit Anchorage this weekend and it's all about big numbers:

Billions of pounds of pollock are caught each year in the Bering Sea as part of one of the world's largest fisheries. But in cash-poor Western Alaska villages, where fuel prices approached $10 a gallon this winter, local fishermen said the pollock fleet is accidently catching and killing far too many of the salmon that the region counts on for food and money.

Now, more than 200 people have signed up to testify over the next several days at the Hilton Anchorage hotel, where the clash has come to a head at a meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Friday, each side began making its case."

Read "Pollock vs. salmon bycatch issue stirs waters at meeting"

City to take a stand at fishery meeting

"Kodiak City Council member Jack Maker will attend the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) meeting in Anchorage this week to express the city council’s opposition to an amendment package that would create a limited entry program for the Pacific cod fixed gear fishery.

NPFMC will decide whether or not to add Pacific cod endorsements to western and central Gulf of Alaska fixed gear (pot and longline gear types) License Limitation Program (LLP) licenses.

If the measure is adopted, cod endorsements would hinge on fishery participation during qualifying years.

The rationale for action by NPFMC is the prospect of a growing fleet that would further intensify competition in the cod fishery, resulting in the erosion of catch shares of long-term participants.

Opponents of the measure claim it will create a barrier to those wanting to enter or re-enter the fishery, lead to consolidation of the fishing fleet and concentration of LLP ownership in fewer hands, cut the number of crew jobs, and cause a decline in demand for support goods and services in coastal communities."

Bycatch cap for Bering Sea fishery weighed

"Every year a powerful commercial fishing fleet scoops up billions of pounds of Bering Sea pollock to make products such as fish sticks and imitation crab.

It's an immense harvest, and many Western Alaska villagers have grown upset about it. They say the fleet increasingly is catching and killing a far more precious fish -- chinook, or king salmon -- while in pursuit of pollock.

This week in Anchorage, the issue is expected to produce an epic debate as federal fishery managers consider an unprecedented limit on how many chinook the pollock fleet can catch each year.

To many in this fight, the stakes couldn't be higher."

Read "Bycatch cap for Bering Sea fishery weighed"

Resolution would keep Pacific cod fisheries open without endorsement

JUNEAU, Alaska – The Alaska State House today passed House Joint Resolution 21, sponsored by Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak. HJR 21 expresses the Legislature’s belief that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) should not adopt an amendment package requiring a Pacific cod endorsement for Gulf of Alaska license limitation program (LLP) license holders.

“Pacific cod is a tremendous resource to the state of Alaska and our fisheries,” Austerman said. “We want the NPFMC to recognize that they would create significant barriers for new commercial fishermen interested in harvesting Pacific cod, as well as those who have fished for cod in the past, but would not meet the qualification for the endorsement.

“NPFMC should know the Alaska State Legislature supports a policy of broad participation in the fisheries harvest, and Pacific cod is no exception. We want to encourage them whole-heartedly to oppose any amendment package that would reduce meaningful access opportunities for young fisherman and Alaskans,” Austerman added.

HJR 21 now moves to the Alaska State Senate for consideration.

Conflicting plans for Bering Sea resources aired at forum

"As increasing numbers of fish species migrate into the northern Bering Sea, fishermen are asking the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to open the area to bottom trawling.

Simultaneously, tribes whose people have lived off resources of the northern Bering Sea for thousands of years are developing a plan to submit to the council to protect their subsistence resources from bottom trawling."

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Commercial Fishing Is Barred in Parts of Arctic

"Federal fisheries managers have voted to bar all commercial fishing in U.S. waters from north of the Bering Strait and east to the Canadian border in light of the rapid climate changes that are transforming the Arctic.

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council ruled that scientists and policymakers need to better assess how global warming is affecting the region before allowing fishing on stocks such as Arctic cod, saffron cod and snow crab."

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Greenpeace puts pollock fishery in its cross hairs

"In a TV ad that debuted on Alaska television Tuesday, a sad-looking, bearded fisherman in a yellow rain slicker -- the spitting image of the guy on the Gorton's fish stick frozen meals -- wanders the streets with a big sign that claims the crash of a Bering sea fishery left him jobless.

The fishery in question -- Alaska's $1 billion pollock industry -- hasn't actually crashed. Not yet, anyway.

But the steep population decline of the bottom-dwelling pollock -- hunted by large processing ships and turned into fish sticks, fast food sandwiches and imitation crab meat -- over the past two years has caught the attention of Greenpeace, the international environmental group."

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Overfishing of Pollock Risks Collapse of World's Largest Food Fishery, Endangers Sea Lions, Fur Seal

"Starting Tuesday, Greenpeace will air television ads in Alaska and Seattle calling for the end of overfishing in Alaska's pollock fishery the world's largest food fishery. Both broadcast and cable outlets are included in the ad buy.

Pollock is the fish found in frozen fish sticks, McDonald's Filet-O-Fish, and the imitation crabmeat found in California rolls."

 

Read "Overfishing of Pollock Risks Collapse of World's Largest Food Fishery, Endangers Sea Lions, Fur Seal"
    

Last great US fishery in danger of collapse

"Heard of the walleye pollack? If you're partial to a McDonald's Filet-o-Fish burger, you have probably eaten it.

It is one of the main reasons white fish is still available to eat, despite the collapse of many cod fisheries. But now walleye pollack, which accounts for a third of the total US fish catch, is itself in danger."

Read "Last great US fishery in danger of collapse"

Bering Sea pollock catch in 2009 could reach record low

"The assessment, made available this week to scientists and industry leaders, indicates that an “acceptable biological catch” of 815,000 metric tons will be available from the Bering Sea next year, which would be the lowest number since records started being tabulated in 1977.

Whether or not this drop signifies actual damage to the stocks is a matter of some contention.

The answer would be of great significance to the Seattle-based North Pacific fishing industry, because pollock is the single most significant species fished, with the whitefish converted into fish sticks, fish sandwiches, fish and chips and surimi. Some industry estimates are that the annual catch is worth about $1 billion, including processing."

Read "Bering Sea pollock catch in 2009 could reach record low"

Fisheries council robs Joe Sixpack in halibut vote

"With all the noise a certain Alaskan has been making nationally about the needs and concerns of Joe Sixpack, you'd think someone might be watching out for his interests here.

But Old Joe just got rolled by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, a collection of moneyed special interests who think the fish resources of Alaska belong to the commercial fishing industry. "

Read "Fisheries council robs Joe Sixpack in halibut vote"

Two fleets battle over allocation of halibut catch

"The proposal now on the table would divide the available halibut between the commercial fishing fleet, which historically has caught the lion's share of the fish, and the charter boat fleet, which has been taking a growing share in recent years."

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Pollock fishery under scrutiny due to bycatch

A federal body that regulates the region's fisheries expressed tentative support this month for an unprecedented proposal to temporarily close the Bering Sea pollock fishery if king salmon bycatch exceeds a certain number.

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Preserving Arctic Fisheries Before Harvesting Them

Salmon, among other fish, are beginning to show up north of the Bering Strait as they migrate in search of cooler waters that are disappearing in the more southern parts of the ocean. The catch: commercial fishing boats will follow, unless all fishing north of the Bering Strait is banned as proposed by scientists, environmentalists and even the fishing industry itself. Continue reading "Preserving Artic Fisheries Before Harvesting Them"