Welcome new UFA Community Supporting members the City of Cordova, City of Seward, and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough! We appreciate your dedication to Alaska’s seafood industry.
Welcome rejoining Bay Class business member Radtke Marine
United Fishermen of Alaska is the statewide commercial fishing trade association, representing 35 Alaska commercial fishing organizations participating in fisheries throughout the state and its offshore federal waters.
From the Executive Director:
It’s that time of year! United Fishermen of Alaska will be convening for our semi-annual board meeting in Petersburg at the Sons of Norway Hall October 27th-29th, 2015. At this meeting, we plan to hold a session on seafood industry taxes and fees as well as Alaska’s fiscal future. The purpose of this session is to have a proactive discussion regarding the role of the seafood industry in the current budget climate. Although UFA does not publicly post our agenda, we will also take up agenda items including statewide, national, environmental, hatchery, marketing, and subsistence. We are tentatively planning to hold the UFA hosted reception on Tuesday, October 27th at the Elks Lodge. Please reach out if you are interested in attending.
Salmon season summary: Since the busy summer salmon season has all but drawn to a close, we are straying from our typical update to bring you a salmon season summary. We hope that you find this special UFA update informative. For up to date salmon harvest information by district, see the ADF&G “Blue Sheet”.
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) All Hands on Deck meeting October 21-23 in Anchorage AK. Want to know about your pink or sockeye salmon price? Want to understand international cod markets? Want to find out who is eating your herring? The ASMI All Hands meeting is a positive forum and provides a unique opportunity to interact with harvesters and processors while learning about ASMI’s efforts. See the agenda and find out more HERE.
UFA is pleased to include a special guest letter below from Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Heidi Drygas. Commissioner Drygas has an open door policy, and we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or issues you would like to discuss. See Item #1 below…
UFA’s fall membership drive is currently underway. Use just a fraction of your PFD to join or renew your membership at UFA. Help support Alaska’s #1 private sector employer and protect your fishing business by joining UFA today! Visit ‘Become a Member’ on our website to see the various membership levels and benefits. UFA members receive a free subscription to National Fisherman and Pacific Fishing.
Join UFA online HERE
Thank you to our UFA members and friends! As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or issues you would like to discuss.
Julianne Curry, Executive Director
& Mark Vinsel, Executive Administrator
United Fishermen of Alaska
Cell: 907.957.4747
Office: 907.586.2820
www.ufafish.org
jcurry@ufa-fish.org
ufa mission
To promote and protect the common interest of Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, as a vital component of Alaska’s social and economic well-being.
E.D. Job Description…
UFA Fish Calendar:
https://www.ufafish.org/calendar/
UFA Career Position opening: UFA Executive Director: https://www.ufafish.org/about/career-opportunity-position-opening-ufa-executive-director/
- Fishing Industry is Vital for Alaska’s Economy – by Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas,
- Alaska Supreme Court Oral Arguments – Mead Treadwell vs. AFCA – August 26
- Voices of Alaska: Motive behind set net ban is reallocation by Jerry McCune
- The History of Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Fisheries – A Century of Salmon
- KTVA Frontiers by Rhonda McBride – Episode 17: Kenai Fish Wars
- High rollers, big names back CCA agenda across U.S. & N.C.
- Fishing trade organization donates salmon to senior center
- Record pink harvests in AK Peninsula, Kodiak, PWS makes 2015 season third highest ever
- Plethora of pinks gives Alaska fishermen pause
- Alaska sockeye, pinks prices drop amid currency devaluations
- Pink salmon run was second largest ever
- Icicle, Peter Pan land USDA contracts for canned salmon
- America’s first fisherman bagged Alaskan (keta) salmon 11,500 years ago
- Third annual Wild Alaskan Salmon Bake takes place Saturday – in Illinois
- ADFG study finds 30-year decline in Chinook size statewide
- Alaska Board of Fisheries Work Session, Anchorage Oct. 21–22 & ACRs available
- Alaska Supreme Court ruling: Cook Inlet Fisherman’s Fund v. State, Dept. of Fish & Game
- Alaska Supreme Court ruling – Alaska Commercial Fishermen’s Memorial in Juneau v. CBJ
- Snow crab model raises questions over quota
- Homer Halibut Festival includes serious talk amid the fun
- NOAA Fisheries Seeks Letters of Public Support for IPHC Nominees – deadline October 23, 2015
- US, Russia sign deal aimed at curbing illegal fishing
- Comment Deadline December 16 on ecosystem-based fisheries management draft policy
- NMFS proposes $11M small fishing business standard – Comment deadline October 19
- Alaska fisheries managers celebrate milestones for Interagency eLandings System
- NPFMC to Meet October 5-7 in Anchorage
- NMFS Final Rule on FOIA requests to Fishery Management Councils
- VMS changes in effect – type-approved units required by September 30
- Big Brother is watching – Oceana Global Fishing Watch
- NMFS posts final Fisheries Climate Science Strategy
- ASMI All Hands on Deck meeting – October 21-23 in Anchorage
- Interested in serving on an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) committee?
- Last Call – help guide ASMI with online survey
- Here’s what we’ll need for seafood in 2030, and how to get there
- Coal over salmon at Chuitna? There’s only one Alaskan answer: No
- BC, Alaska to draft MOU for mine processes
- STUDY: Exxon Valdez spill linked to defects in salmon, herring — NOAA
- PWS RCAC Resolution in support of Exxon Valdez “Reopener for Unknown Injury”
- Comment deadline October 29 on DEC oil discharge financial responsibility regs.
- Judge approves subpoena of former EPA staffer in Pebble case
- The Blob: Scientists probe effects of unusual warming pattern in fish-rich Bering Sea
- Comment deadline October 16 on McKenzie Inlet (POW) log transfer facility 55 year lease
- UAF Co-Management Symposium November 18-20 – Weaving Together Two Worlds
- Federal Subsistence RAC meetings scheduled for Kodiak, Southcentral, Seward Peninsula & YK
- Federal Subsistence Fisheries Update for the week of Sept 6-12, 2015 & previous
- Inuit genes key to Omega-3 benefits
- Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute (ASPLI) Training – Kodiak 9-13, 2015
- Fishlines – the Alaska Sea Grant newsletter for September 2015
- AMSEA Summer Newsletter – Sept 15, 2015:
- Laine Welch’s Fish Radio – Recent Items
- NIOSH Live to be Salty program promotes PFD use
Inclusion of an item does not mean that UFA endorses or agrees.
Statewide
UFA is pleased to include a special guest letter from Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Heidi Drygas. Commissioner Drygas has an open door policy, and we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or issues you would like to discuss.
- Fishing Industry is Vital for Alaska’s Economy
by Commissioner Heidi Drygas, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
I’ve heard people say that Alaska’s economy is a three-legged stool consisting of “the oil industry, government, and everything else.” That understates the importance of our seafood industry. The fishing industry is Alaska’s largest private employer and is absolutely vital to our economic health. As Governor Walker’s Labor Commissioner, I am committed to working in partnership with the fishing industry. As a lifelong Alaskan who grew up fishing, I’m very proud that Governor Walker said that based on the information available he does not support Pebble Mine.
Anyone who’s been to Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, Cordova, Dillingham, Petersburg, or just about any other coastal community understands that seafood is the bedrock of our coastal economy. But the fishing industry also has a tremendous impact on Southcentral, Alaska’s population base. Anchorage is home to more skippers than any other community in Alaska, and 2,168 commercial permit holders live in Southcentral. Commercial seafood generates over a billion dollars annually in Southcentral, and that doesn’t include the economic impacts of sport fishing or the role of personal use fishing in filling Alaskans’ freezers.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development, representatives of the fishing industry, and the University of Alaska recently completed a Maritime Workforce Development Plan as part of our efforts to support the industry. The plan focuses on maritime workforce readiness, career pathways, and recruitment and retention. We are using a wide range of tools to meet these plan objectives. For example, AVTEC is Alaska’s vocational training school, with campuses in Seward and Anchorage. AVTEC’s Maritime Training Center offers dozens of courses ranging from Able Seaman to Radar Observer, and has a state of the art marine simulator. Our Job Centers, which are located in communities across the state, connect Alaskans with job opportunities in the fishing industry. We work with employers on Registered Apprenticeships and other training programs to meet specific training needs, right down to what a local processing plant might need. The Southwest Alaska Vocational Education Center (SAVEC), which is located in King Salmon, focuses on workforce development in the fishing industry, with maritime, safety, and related classes.
These workforce development efforts are part of Governor Walker’s focus on Alaska Hire. There are a lot of good jobs in Alaska’s fishing industry, and our goal is to ensure as many Alaskans as possible can get these jobs. I’ve met with many seafood processors and the UFA to talk about how we can work together to increase Alaska Hire. Working together, we can support the industry’s workforce needs while supporting good middle class jobs for Alaskans.
This July, I had the opportunity to visit several seafood processing facilities in Naknek and the SAVEC training center in King Salmon. Fishermen and processors in Naknek and King Salmon generate hundreds of millions of dollars in income, and are a reminder of how important the industry is for Alaska’s economy. I saw firsthand how innovations in processing can expand markets for fresh frozen salmon and salmon roe, and how refrigerated seawater systems (RSW) is improving the quality of Alaska’s product at market. It is hard to appreciate how difficult and intense the work on a slime line is if you haven’t spent time in a processing facility. I also appreciated learning about innovative business models, such as fishermen who cooperatively own seafood processing companies. Seafood has been around as long as people have been fishing, but Alaskans continue to innovate with seafood business models, processing equipment, and fishing boat technology.
I will be meeting with UFA members and other seafood industry representatives this fall to talk about how we can continue working together in support of the maritime industry, and look forward to our continued collaboration.
Heidi Drygas is Governor Bill Walker’s Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.
- Alaska Supreme Court Oral Arguments – Mead Treadwell vs. AFCA – August 26
Also known as the “setnet ban initiative”…
State Supreme Court hears setnet ban arguments – AK Journal of Commerce
On Aug. 26, the Alaska Supreme Court presided over an unusually packed house to hear arguments from the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance and the State of Alaska on whether to allow a ballot initiative to ban setnets in urban areas to be allowed in the 2016 election cycle. The court has no deadline for a decision…
Gavel to Gavel onlive video archive: http://www.360north.org/gavel-archives/?event_id=2147483647_2015081001
Supreme Court case
http://www.appellate.courts.state.ak.us/frames1.asp?Bookmark=S15662 (scroll down in upper section for documents)
News coverage:
http://www.adn.com/article/20150826/alaska-supreme-court-hears-arguments-ongoing-kenai-setnet-debate
- Voices of Alaska: Motive behind set net ban is reallocation by Jerry McCune
Kenai Peninsula Clarion Op-Ed by Jerry McCune, August 20, 2015
This is about the anti-set net ballot initiative that is before the Alaska Supreme Court and the devastating effect it will have on commercial fishing and other resource extraction industries throughout Alaska if it makes it onto the ballot.
Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance (AFCA), the group sponsoring the anti-setnet initiative, claims that its efforts are not an attack on commercial fishing, the group’s actions, however, speak louder than words. Approval of the initiative would change the landscape for commercial fishing and resource extraction industries statewide. If the Supreme Court finds that the initiative is constitutional and allows it on the ballot, similar initiatives will be launched against other fisheries around the state as well as other resource users, based on a well-financed (and deceptive) Methods & Means argument. Once this basis of initiative moves forward it no longer matters what AFCA marketing consultants say they will or won’t do regarding attacks on other fisheries, this approach opens the door for similar assaults on other industries.
…Please take the time to study this initiative and learn the real facts behind it. Your neighbors small business depends on it.
- The History of Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Fisheries – A Century of Salmon
By Katie Sechrist and Joe Rutz (ADFG Fish and Wildlife News, January 2014)
The salmon-rich waters of Cook Inlet in Southcentral Alaska have given rise to several unique fisheries over the past century. The Kenai River boasts some of the most active fisheries in the state. Thousands of recreational fishers flock to the crowded banks every year with their rods, reels, and dip nets, ready to take home their limit of salmon. Alaska’s recreational fisheries are a relatively new concept (the majority of the state’s historical fisheries being largely commercial) but have grown to become an integral part of the state’s income and fisheries management…
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=639
- KTVA Frontiers by Rhonda McBride – Episode 17: Kenai Fish Wars
by Rhonda McBride, Host of Frontiers
Our entire program is devoted to the battle between the Kenai River sport fishing industry and the Cook Inlet setnetters — a fascinating story that involves politics, class warfare, economics, science and, most important of all, passion…
http://www.ktva.com/shows/frontiers/episode-17-kenai-fish-wars-995/
&&& additional extra:
http://www.ktva.com/shows/frontiers/web-extra-kenai-fish-wars-283/
- High rollers, big names back CCA agenda across U.S. & N.C.
By Russ Lay on September 17, 2015
The CCA website touts Kenny Chesney as a spokesperson.
This is the third installment in a five-part series examining who is in control, who is being ignored and who has no voice at all in the management of the state’s multi-million dollar resource of finfish and shellfish that live in our coastal waters.
“The CCA has nothing to do with conservation unless you consider sport fishermen having all of a certain species allocated to themselves as conservation.”
Those are the words of author Robert Fritchey, who wrote Wetland Riders, the definitive book on the history of the Coastal Conservation Association.
The CCA traces its roots to Texas in 1977 and was originally founded by mostly wealthy anglers in Houston…
http://outerbanksvoice.com/2015/09/17/high-rollers-big-names-back-cca-agenda-across-u-s-n-c/
- Fishing trade organization donates salmon to senior center
KENAI — A commercial fishing trade organization is donating 300 pounds of sockeye salmon to the Kenai Senior Center.
The first 50 pounds of the donation from Alaska Salmon Alliance arrived at the center Wednesday, The Peninsula Clarion reports.
The salmon meal was originally suggested by Kenai senior Howard Hill, who secured the donation from the Salmon Alliance, said senior center director Rachael Craig.
“Some people say it helps brain-power,” Craig said, of salmon. “But it helps your skin and provides the oils for your body, for your joints.”
Salmon Alliance Executive Director Arne Thomson said the organization is primarily made of seafood processors, including Snug Harbor and Great Pacific Seafoods. He said with major seafood processing plants in Kenai, it was fitting to donate some of the goods to a local organization…
http://www.adn.com/article/20150925/fishing-trade-organization-donates-salmon-senior-center
&&&
Kenai Senior Center receives salmon donation
http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2015-09-23/let-them-eat-fish
- Record pink harvests in AK Peninsula, Kodiak, PWS makes 2015 season third highest ever
Peggy Parker, Seafood.com News
With 177 million pink salmon harvested to date, 2015 will go on record as the third highest pink salmon harvest in Alaska.
Alaska’s 2013 season broke all records with a year-end total of just over 219 million pink salmon statewide. In 1994, Alaska’s pink salmon catch reached 195.85 million salmon. The 2015 harvest will not surpass that, but is already significantly above 2005’s harvest of 161.24 million pink salmon. Last year’s harvest of pinks statewide was 95.3 million fish.
Record landings in the Alaska Peninsula of 15.2 million pink salmon as of yesterday is nearly double the previous record in 2013 of 7.8 million pink salmon. Last year’s harvest in that area was less than a million pink salmon.
In Kodiak, pink landings to date are 28.26 million fish, just surpassing the previous record of 28.16 pink salmon in 2013. Just over 10 million pinks were caught last year and just over 8 million were caught in 1994 in Kodiak.
Prince William Sound’s historic return and landings for pink salmon have now reached 97 million fish and the season is not yet officially over. The former record year of 2013 posted landings of 91 million pinks. Last year PWS brought in a total of 43.9 million pink salmon.
Of areas with significant pink returns, only Southeast Alaska has not met or exceeded preseason forecasts. To date, landings in Southeast Alaska for pink salmon are 30.7 million pink salmon, just over half of the preseason forecast.
Total landings statewide for all five salmon species is 247 million fish as of yesterday…
(255.6 million as of 9/28!)
ADF&G Commercial Salmon Catch, Effort & Value
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.salmoncatch
In season salmon harvest bluesheet: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.bluesheet
- Plethora of pinks gives Alaska fishermen pause
Laine Welch, September 4, 2015, Alaska Dispatch News
Alaska’s pink salmon catch is pushing 180 million fish, making it the second largest harvest ever; the 219 million pinks of 2013 remains the record.
Alaska’s humpy haul has been pushed by the record production of three regions – more than 15 million pinks were taken from the Alaska Peninsula, compared to less than 1 million last year. Kodiak’s record pink catch is nearing 30 million, triple last year’s take. And Prince William Sound’s harvest has already topped 97 million pink salmon.
All that fish goes into a competitive global market and, in a word, the pink market stinks. A glut of pinks remains from Alaska’s record 2013 catch, and devalued currencies bedevil sales overseas.
“We’ve had some big years backed up and that ripples through the supply chain and affects prices, and it doesn’t help that the currency markets have gone against us so badly during this time when our supply has gone up so dramatically,” said Andy Wink, senior seafood analyst with the McDowell Group.
Exports typically account for 60 percent to 70 percent of Alaska’s seafood sales. Last week the euro was priced at $1.14, down from $1.32 at the same time last year. And the Japanese yen was at 84 cents, down from 96 cents.
“It gives you a sense of the dramatic shifts we’re seeing in the currency markets,” Wink added. “It’s been very difficult,” he added.
http://www.adn.com/article/20150904/plethora-pinks-gives-alaska-fishermen-pause
- Alaska sockeye, pinks prices drop amid currency devaluations
Undercurrent News, September 10, 2015, 5:28 pm
Record production and currency devaluations are some of the main culprits in the recent difficulty of Alaskan wild salmon producers to move their product, reports the Alaskan Journal.
Sockeye salmon sales are suffering. Wholesale prices have fallen 20-25%, and average size is decreasing, which is making them harder to sell, as larger sizes are in higher demand.
Alaskan pink salmon catch is reaching 180 million, the second largest harvest (following a record high in 2013). This record production has been seen in three Alaskan regions: Kodiak, Prince William Sound, and the Alaskan Peninsula…
- Pink salmon run was second largest ever
Laine Welch, Bristol Bay Times
Alaska’s pink salmon catch is pushing 180 million fish, making it the second largest harvest ever (219 million pinks was the previous record set in 2013)…
“We’ve had some big years backed up and that ripples through the supply chain and affects prices, and it doesn’t help that the currency markets have gone against us so badly during this time when our supply has goes up so dramatically,?said Andy Wink, Senior Seafood Analyst with the McDowell Group?
Exports typically account for 60 to 70 percent of Alaska’s seafood sales. Last week the Euro was priced at $1.14, down from $1.32 at the same time last year. And the Japanese Yen was at 84 cents, down from 96 cents…
http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1537pink_salmon_run_was_second_largest_ever
- Icicle, Peter Pan land USDA contracts for canned salmon
By Molly Dischner, KDLG, Sep 23, 2015
A USDA bailout will send thousands of cans of Bristol Bay sockeye to school lunches and other federal food programs around the country this winter…
The USDA announced this summer that it would purchase up to $30 million worth of canned sockeye through its Emergency Food Assistance Program. Funding for the purchase came from import tarrifs…
http://kdlg.org/post/icicle-peter-pan-land-usda-contracts-canned-salmon
- America’s first fisherman bagged Alaskan (keta) salmon 11,500 years ago
..That’s the age of salmon bones that archaeologists have uncovered at the Upward Sun River site, one of Alaska’s oldest human settlements. They say the cooked bones provide the first clear evidence of salmon fishing among the earliest Americans, Paleoindians, who crossed from Siberia into Alaska over the Bering Land Bridge more than 13,000 years ago. The finding, published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, helps debunk the idea that America’s first fishermen relied primarily on big game for food. It also explains how they managed to survive in an ice age Arctic environment and adapt to life on a new continent…
Analyzing DNA in a piece of uncooked fish bone, Halffman and her team found that it was chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), a hefty fish that weighs 5 to 10 kilograms and grows roughly 60 centimeters long. Thousands of chum salmon still swim up the Tanana River every summer to spawn, and the run remains a central cultural event for the indigenous Athabascan people who live there today…
- Third annual Wild Alaskan Salmon Bake takes place Saturday – Illinois
GALESBURG — Seafood lovers from across the Midwest will gather at Galesburg’s Sustainable Business Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to celebrate wild salmon.
Chefs from six Galesburg area restaurants will prepare a salmon in a variety of different styles at the third annual Wild Alaskan Salmon Bake…
http://www.galesburg.com/article/20150917/NEWS/150919763
&&&
Wild Alaskan salmon event in Orleans (Mass.)
http://brewster.wickedlocal.com/article/20150927/NEWS/150926508
*********************************************************************
- ADFG study finds 30-year decline in Chinook size statewide
By DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Sept. 9
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists Bert Lewis, W. Stewart Grant, Richard Branner, and Toshihide Hamazaki authored a paper released in June detailing a gradual and inexplicable decline in 10 Alaska chinook salmon stock sizes from the 1980s through 2010, due to an array of factors from ocean current patterns to size-selective harvest methods.
The study used information from gillnet and weir count samples from the 1980s through 2010 of 10 rivers in Alaska, including the Kenai and Copper rivers, the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, and Southeast’s Unuk River.
“We found that on average these fish have become smaller over the last 30 years (6 generations), because of a decline in the predominate age at maturity and because of a decrease in age-specific length,” the report concludes.
Link to paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130184
- Alaska Board of Fisheries to hold Work Session in Anchorage, October 21–22, 2015
& Agenda Change Requests Available for Review
The Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) will meet October 21–22, 2015, at the Egan Convention Center, 555 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage Alaska beginning at 8:30 a.m. No regulatory action will be taken at this meeting. Agenda topics may include: election of officers, agenda change requests, petitions, meeting organization, creation of board generated proposals, establishing committees for the 2015/2016 meeting cycle, informational reports and administrative issues that may come before the board.
The board’s 2015 agenda change requests (ACRs) are available for review on the board’s website. Agenda change requests are submitted by the public, advisory committees, and agencies seeking regulatory change for regions and species not up for deliberation in the current meeting cycle.
…The agenda and any other meeting documents, including ACRs, will be available prior to the meeting on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Board of Fisheries, meeting information webpage at: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo .
Board of Fisheries home page; http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.main
Online public notice: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=178270
- Alaska Supreme Court ruling: Cook Inlet Fisherman’s Fund v. State, Dept. of Fish & Game
Case # 7056 S-15595 – http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/opinions/ops/sp-7056.pdf
Alaska Court search: http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/opinions/sp.htm
- Alaska Supreme Court ruling – Alaska Commercial Fishermen’s Memorial in Juneau v. City & Borough Juneau
Case # 7054 S-15676 : http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/opinions/ops/sp-7054.pdf
- Snow crab model raises questions over quota
By: DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, September 23
Crabbers are anxious about survey estimates for snow crab, and even more anxious about how those estimates don’t synch with allocation models.
Bristol Bay red king crab and tanner crab are less than last year’s biomass levels, but still roughly on par with long-term averages. Allocations for snow crab, the largest of the three main commercial crab harvests, could take a worse dive this season, resulting from a questionable modeling method that could make the Alaska Department of Fish and Game manage the fishery more cautiously than usual, up to and including lowering crabbers’ quota.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2015-09-23/snow-crab-model-raises-questions-over-quota
- Homer Halibut Festival includes serious talk amid the fun
By Annie Rosenthal, Homer news, Sept. 23, 2015
For many Homer residents, last weekend’s inaugural Halibut Festival provided an opportunity to be immersed in the marine world.
From a fun run to a fish fry to a halibut cabaret, most of the weekend was a celebration of Homer’s iconic resource. But much of the discussion at Saturday’s “State of Our Halibut” lecture series at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center was serious and centered around a major issue: the total mass of Pacific halibut is shrinking and no one is entirely sure why or what to do about it…
National
- NOAA Fisheries Seeks Letters of Public Support for IPHC Nominees – deadline October 23, 2015
NOAA Fisheries is seeking letters of public support for nominees (listed below) for two presidential appointments to serve as U.S. Commissioners to the International Pacific Halibut Commission. The IPHC is a bilateral regional fishery management organization established between Canada and the United States for the management of the Pacific halibut fishery.
The two-year terms expire for the current commissioners Dec. 31, 2015. Commissioners are eligible for reappointment. Of the two appointees, one must be a resident of Alaska and the other shall be a nonresident of Alaska.
Currently, Don Lane of Alaska and Bob Alverson of Washington State fill the commissioner seats. Both have applied for reappointment.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reopened the application period in August after only Lane and Alverson submitted their names for appointment.
Public comments relating to this list of nominees will be accepted until Oct. 23, 2015. Letters of public support that have already been submitted in response to the original solicitation notice do not need to be resubmitted.
Among the names submitted are Harrison Hunter Mann-Dempster, Douglas Vincent-Lang, Karl Johnstone, Richard Yamada, Bob King, Stephanie Madsen, Linda Behnken, Jeff Kauffman, and Rob Edwardson.
NOAA News Release: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/newsreleases/2015/IPHCnominees092315.htm
Alaska Journal of Commerce bulletin (scroll down to info on list of names):
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2015-09-23/bulletin-92715
IPHC home page: http://iphc.int/home.html
- US, Russia sign deal aimed at curbing illegal fishing
By DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Sept. 16
The U.S. and Russian governments signed a bilateral agreement on Sept. 11 geared toward combating illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing in the Bering Sea.
Illegal, unregulated, and unreported, or IUU, fishing is a worldwide problem that damages Alaska disproportionately as the primary seafood producing state for domestic consumption and one of the largest seafood producers in the world.
Estimates vary regarding the economic impact of IUU fishing, in large part because the expansive data is nearly impossible to compile. The U.S. Coast Guard, however, estimates IUU fishing annually drains $10 billion to $23 billion away from the legitimate seafood industry worldwide.
Mark Gleason, executive director of industry group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, said the U.S./Russia agreement is a step in the right direction toward addressing the problem on a worldwide basis, but hopes the actions will bite into the IUU industry’s operations instead of simply acknowledging the problem with platitudes.
“I’m very hopeful that there’s going to be some substance here, that it won’t be all sizzle and no steak,” said Gleason. “This is a bilateral agreement, and it’s narrow in scope. The other IUU legislation is very broad.”…
Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers: http://www.alaskaberingseacrabbers.org/
IUU Task force home page: http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ia/iuu/taskforce.html
- Comment Deadline December 16 on ecosystem-based fisheries management draft policy
…Many of you have asked how we can better account for ecological, environmental, and socio-economic factors when assessing and managing fisheries. We created this policy to outline and institutionalize our ecosystem-based fishery management principles and ensure they remain top-of-mind when agency decisions are made…
http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecosystems/ebfm/creating-an-ebfm-management-policy
- NMFS proposes $11M small fishing business standard – Comment deadline October 19
NMFS proposes to establish a small business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts for all businesses in the commercial fishing industry (NAICS 11411), for Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) compliance purposes only. The proposed $11 million standard would be used in RFA analyses in place of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) current standards of $20.5 million, $5.5 million, and $7.5 million for the finfish (NAICS 114111), shellfish (NAICS 114112), and other marine fishing (NAICS 114119) sectors of the U.S. commercial fishing industry, respectively. Establishing a single size standard of $11 million for the commercial fishing industry would simplify the RFA analyses done in support of NMFS’ rules, better meet the RFA’s intent by more accurately representing expected disproportionate effects of NMFS’ rules between small and large businesses, create a standard that more accurately reflects the size distribution of all businesses in the commercial fishing industry, and allow NMFS to determine when changes to the standard are necessary and appropriate…
Federal Register:
- Alaska fisheries managers celebrate milestones for Interagency eLandings System
Ten years; 500,000 landing reports.
Fisheries managers, fishers, and seafood processors across the state of Alaska are celebrating those two milestones this month for the innovative Interagency Electronic Reporting System, better known as eLandings.
Responding to industry requests for electronic reporting, staff from NOAA Fisheries, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the International Pacific Halibut Commission worked together and with industry members to develop a robust and agile reporting system to meet current and future reporting requirements for the agencies and industry. The result was eLandings—a more efficient, accurate, and timelier method for fishery reporting.
“These milestones represent more than just numbers,” said IPHC Executive Director Bruce Leaman. “They represent a major increment in data capabilities for the eLandings team members at ADF&G, NOAA Fisheries, and the IPHC. The system has also replaced inefficient and duplicative reporting requirements for our industry and allowed both the agencies and the industry to significantly reduce costs.”
NOAA Press release: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static-f/home/news/pressreleases/pdfs/nr_eLandings_anniv.pdf
- NPFMC to Meet October 5-7 in Anchorage
The Council will meet the week of October 5, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, AK. The agenda and schedule are available and will be updated as documents become available. Other meetings to be held during the week are:
Scientific and Statistical Committee October 5-7, 2015
Advisory Panel October 6-10, 2015
Schedule: http://www.npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/meetings/Schedule1015.pdf
NPFMC meetings page: http://www.npfmc.org/upcoming-council-meetings/
& home page: http://www.npfmc.org/
- NMFS Final Rule on FOIA requests to Fishery Management Councils
…NMFS is hereby making technical amendments without altering the substance of the regulations governing the operation of Regional Fishery Management Councils (Councils) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The intent of this action is to update existing Council regulations to reflect the current procedure for processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by Councils. These changes will make our rules more internally consistent and easier to use…
Federal Register notice 9/25: https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-24364
- VMS changes in effect – type-approved units required by September 30
…Changes have been made within the U.S. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) program that will affect many vessel owners. Affected vessel owners will be required to replace their VMS unit with another type-approved VMS unit…
To continue fishing in U.S. federal fisheries that require use of VMS, affected vessel owners must replace their affected units with a currently type-approved unit by September 30, 2015…
Letter to NPFMC (sorry, links in letter don’t work due to pdf bitmap format)
NMFS Alaska Vessel Monitoring page: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/vms/
Approved VMS Units: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ole/docs/2015/040815_noaa_fisheries_service_type.pdf
- Big Brother is watching – Oceana Global Fishing Watch
Big Brother will be watching all fishermen from mast top, if not from space. This is bad news for ‘fish pirates’, while, hopefully, not hurting honest, legally fishing people. Perhaps even helping them, especially when they have to be located while in trouble. Still…
The high seas serve as a ‘no-man’s land’ to many hundreds of fishing vessels. Many national territorial waters are illegally exploited by brazen skippers. Hence, the fishing industry and law-abiding fishermen are faced with a problem either to join the illegal, cheating party, or keep bearing financial losses, due to unfair market competition, and having the ‘pirates’ whisk the fish that they’ve paid for the right to catch from under their noses. Here’s where the Big Brother comes in as the sword-bearing Angel of justice and vengeance.
Joint venture
The Orwellian metaphor comes to mind also in view of a recently set up partnership between the NGOs Sky Truth and Oceana with Google in designing and initiating a system aimed at control and possible prevention of pirate fishing operations, employing a technology able to locate, track down and map from space illegal fishing going on in the world’s oceans.
Global Fishing Watch (GFW) is the product of this joint venture…
– See more at: http://www.worldfishing.net/news101/Comment/ben-yami/big-brother-is-watching#sthash.IqVoGL5q.dpuf
http://www.worldfishing.net/news101/Comment/ben-yami/big-brother-is-watching
Oceana Global Fishing Watch home page: http://globalfishingwatch.org/
- NMFS posts final Fisheries Climate Science Strategy
NMFS is releasing the final NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy (Strategy). The full Strategy, a Strategy Highlights document and additional information may be found at: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecosystems/climate/.
Federal Register notice 8/26: https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-21172
NOAA Fisheries Climate, Fisheries, and Protected Resources page: http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/03/climate_portal.html
Marketing
- ASMI All Hands on Deck meeting – October 21-23 in Anchorage
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) All Hands on Deck meeting will be held October 21-23 in Anchorage AK. We hope that you are able to attend along with many UFA members. The ASMI All Hands meeting is a positive forum and provides a unique opportunity to interact with harvesters, processors, and legislators. Want to know about your pink or sockeye salmon price? Want to understand international cod markets? Want to know who is eating your herring? Please plan to attend this informative meeting!
More information and agenda can be found at http://www.alaskaseafood.org/industry/events/
- Interested in serving on an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) committee?
We highly recommend you consider taking a look at the committee process and determining if you feel your service would be worthwhile. A number of UFA members serve on ASMI committees and find the service to be highly rewarding due to the positive outcomes of the ASMI process. Please share this with other harvesters, industry members, or anyone you feel would be make a good committee member. If you would like to be considered for a committee position, please email a cover letter and resume to Deb Tempel at dtempel@alaskaseafood.org by October 1, 2015.
- Last Call – help guide ASMI with online survey
LAST CALL! As the busy summer fishing season winds down, we hope that you can take a few minutes to take a survey regarding the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI)…
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) wants to hear from Alaska’s commercial fishermen. ASMI’s mission is to increase the value of Alaska seafood and is supported by an industry-paid assessment, as well as other matching funds. Please click on the link below and take a few minutes to fill out the brief survey: http://goo.gl/forms/anZfNWeYKa
If you’d rather complete the survey over the phone, please email your contact information and a convenient time to seafood@mcdowellgroup.net. A surveyor from McDowell Group, an Alaska-based research and consulting firm, will call you to complete the survey.
-forwarded from Andy Wink, McDowell Group Senior Seafood Analyst…
Return to Contents
- Here’s what we’ll need for seafood in 2030, and how to get there
Come 2030, the world’s population will require 232 million metric tons (MT) of seafood, around 62 million MT more than the planet is expected to produce unless bold steps are taken, according to international research organization WorldFish Center.
While aquaculture has long been widely touted as the main solution to the long-term supply challenge of meeting a growing population’s increasing appetite for seafood products, opinion has been divided on how much additional product the industry needs to provide.
Bringing together CEOs from some of the world’s major fishing companies, members of the NGO community, policymakers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other stakeholders, WorldFish has mapped scenarios for the future of the fisheries system, including identifying what the key drivers of change are likely to be. One of the key questions that emerged from the analysis was that if the ideal outcome or “Eden” was to be achieved then it was crucial to “get a better handle” on how much fish would be needed moving forward, said Stephen Hall, director general of WorldFish (pictured).
Based on current analysis from such bodies as the World Bank on its existing trajectory, Hall forecast the global seafood industry to provide a total of 170 million MT in 2030. Total aquaculture output is expected to grow to provide around 109 million MT and wild-fisheries production will stay stable at 61 million MT, he told delegates at the recent World Seafood Congress (WSC) 2015 in Grimsby, UK…
http://www.seafoodsource.com/all-commentary/here-s-what-we-ll-need-for-seafood-in-2030-and-how-to-get-there
Fish Farm and Environmental
- Coal over salmon at Chuitna? There’s only one Alaskan answer: No
Rep. Paul Seaton,Rep. Bryce Edgmon,Rep. Louise Stutes
September 24, 2015
In early October, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources must make a precedent-setting decision. The agency will decide whether to grant the request of Alaska citizens and fishermen to leave enough water for salmon to survive in the Middle Fork of the Chuitna River in Upper Cook Inlet. To deny the request would increase the threat PacRim LLC, a Delaware-based coal mining company, would be allowed to dewater the Middle Fork in order to mine for coal. Make no mistake, if the water reservation is not granted, and PacRim receives the green light to begin operations, one resource will be traded for another.
Such a decision would fall far short of our collective responsibility to balance the development of state natural resources with the protection of our lands and waters. As representatives of legislative districts that depend on Alaska fisheries, we are aware of the importance of DNR’s decision. We respectfully ask Gov. Bill Walker for careful leadership on the issue for the sake of both salmon and sustainable development.
The state of Alaska faces many tough choices these days—finding new sources of revenue, funding essential state services, and debating over how to best monetize our natural gas reserves. A decision to approve an application to leave water in a river so wild salmon stocks can thrive should not be one of those choices.
Our Constitution makes all Alaskans collective owners of our fish and water resources, and Alaska law clearly allows individuals to pursue in-stream flow reservations to protect wild salmon. House Bill 77, filed under the previous administration, was a permit-reform effort that would have stripped Alaskans of the ability to make water reservations. It was wildly unpopular and failed to pass with good reason—Alaskans value their salmon and their right to protect them.
At Gov. Walker’s transition team conference in 2014, citizens assembled by the governor unanimously recommended a “fish first policy” for Alaska. Reserving the water in the Middle Fork of the Chuitna for wild salmon would honor that recommendation; the governor can and should weigh in on this important decision.
http://www.adn.com/article/20150924/coal-over-salmon-chuitna-theres-only-one-alaskan-answer-no
Related:
State panel hears ‘precedent-setting’ water rights application on Chuitna mine project
Chuitna salmon far more valuable than Chuitna coal; kill PacRim’s plan
DNR Large Mines Chuitna page: http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/mining/largemine/chuitna/
UFA Resolution 2010-3 Opposing Chuitna River Coal Mine Development (September 29, 2010)
- BC, Alaska to draft MOU for mine processes
By Mary Catharine Martin, Juneau Empire (August 26)
The province of British Columbia and the State of Alaska will draft a memorandum of understanding regarding mines proposed for and located in transboundary watersheds in British Columbia, BC Minister of Energy and Mines William “Bill” Bennett and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallot announced Wednesday at a press conference.
Through the MOU, the State of Alaska and British Columbia hope to create a structured way for tribes, stakeholders, environmental groups, sport and commercial fishermen, tourism operators, and other concerned Southeast Alaskans to get information and share concerns about each stage of a mine in a transboundary watershed, including assessment, permitting, operation, closure and reclamation.
Bennett said he doesn’t have a guarantee from Alaska that the two will get to a point where the state will sign an MOU, but that’s what BC is hoping for…
http://juneauempire.com/state/2015-08-27/bc-alaska-draft-mou-mine-processes
&&&
After Bennett visit, groups are cautiously optimistic of progress
By James Brooks, Juneau Empire, August 27, 2015 – 12:02am
At a joint press conference Wednesday afternoon, environmental, fishing and Native leaders said they were optimistic about the outcome of Juneau meetings between Alaskans and a British Columbia delegation led by provincial Mines and Energy Minister Bill Bennett…
&&&
British Columbia more open to mine treaty talks
by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News, August 26, 2015 11:33 pm
British Columbia’s top mining official says he’s open to involving his federal government in transboundary mine conflicts. That’s a change from earlier statements.
http://www.kstk.org/2015/08/26/british-columbia-more-open-to-mine-treaty-talks/
&&&
B.C. meeting with Tulsequah Chief Mine owner
A top British Columbia official is meeting with owners of the Tulsequah Chief Mine, which is leaking pollution into a river that flows into Alaska…
http://www.ktoo.org/2015/09/21/b-c-meeting-tulsequah-chief-mine-owner/
&&&
My Turn: A cautionary tail on MOUs
By Jack A. Stanford, for the Juneau Empire – August 25, 2015
http://m.juneauempire.com/opinion/2015-08-25/my-turn-cautionary-tail
International Joint Commission Boundary Waters Treaty info:
http://www.ijc.org/en_/BWT
- STUDY: Exxon Valdez spill linked to defects in salmon, herring — NOAA
The Exxon Valdez spill may have led to the decline of pink salmon and herring stocks, according to a new study showing that embryos exposed to trace levels of crude oil grow into juvenile fish with abnormal hearts.
The study — published today in Nature‘s Scientific Reports — aims to help solve a decades-old mystery: Did the 1989 spill lead to the later collapse of the herring fishery in Alaska’s Prince William Sound? It adds another piece to the puzzle, finding that oil exposure leads to heart defects, which in turn leads to herring swimming slower…
&&
Low levels of oil pollution harm herring, salmon, study finds
Researchers find oil can harm herring and salmon at much lower levels than once thought. The work raises questions about Puget Sound pollution.
&&
Study: Nature’s Scientific Reports – http://www.nature.com/articles/srep13499
- PWS RCAC Resolution in support of Exxon Valdez “Reopener for Unknown Injury”
On Friday, the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council’s board of directors unanimously passed a resolution in support of the “Reopener for Unknown Injury” from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Multiple citizens called in during the public comment period to voice their opinions about this important issue…
- Comment deadline October 29 on DEC oil discharge financial responsibility regs.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation proposes to change regulations regarding financial responsibility for oil discharges. The focus is to update the self-insurance and guaranty requirements for regulated oil facilities.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 18, Chapter7 5 Article 2 of the Alaska Administrative Code dealing with Financial Responsibility for Oil Discharges including the following:
- amend 18 AAC 75.245 to clarify the self-insurance requirements and specify when renewal applications are due.
- repeal 18 AAC 75.245(d) to eliminate the option to submit a quarterly affidavit using liquid assets and cash flow.
- amend 18 AAC 75.260 to clarify the guaranty requirements.
You may comment on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed changes, by submitting written comments to Dennis Hartwick, Department of Environmental Conservation, 610 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709-3643, or by electronic mail at dec.cpr@alaska.gov. Comments may also be submitted through the Alaska Online Public Notice System, by accessing this notice on the system and using the “comment” link. The comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. on October 29, 2015…
Online public notice: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=178389
- Judge approves subpoena of former EPA staffer in Pebble case
By: Elwood Brehmers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Sept. 9.
Pebble Limited Partnership has the go-ahead to depose a key witness in its lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, but that’s only part of the battle.
U.S. District Court of Alaska Judge H. Russel Holland ordered a subpoena for former EPA biologist Philip North. Aug. 27.
North appears to be a key for either side in determining whether or not the EPA violated federal law while compiling the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment. The 1,000-plus page document finalized in January 2014 is the basis for the agency’s attempt to preemptively block development of Pebble’s copper and gold deposits through its Clean Water Act Section 404(c) wetlands protection authority.
- The Blob: Scientists probe effects of unusual warming pattern in fish-rich Bering Sea
Yereth Rosen, Alaska Dispatch News, September 22, 2015
This is the second consecutive year the Bering Sea has been unusually warm — and turquoise — and scientists from NOAA, the University of Washington and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are on a monthlong cruise aboard the research vessel Oscar Dyson to try to understand what is happening in these waters.
The warmth of the past two years comes courtesy of “the blob,” an unusually large and stationary mass of warm Pacific water, along with other forces. With a powerful El Nino system building, warm conditions are expected to continue.
What happens next as the blob and El Nino clash, on top of a warm phase of the cyclical Pacific Decadal Oscillation, remains to be determined, NOAA experts say.
http://www.adn.com/article/20150922/scientists-probe-effects-unusual-warming-pattern-fish-rich-bering-sea
&&
Eye on ‘the Blob’; Crabbers drop survey pots in Aleutians
By: Laine Welch, Fish Factor/For the Journal, Wed, 09/02/2015 – 2:50pm
http://www.alaskajournal.com/business-and-finance/2015-09-02/fish-factor-eye-blob-crabbers-drop-survey-pots-aleutians
&&
Alaska Ocean Observing System Blob Tracker: https://alaskapacificblob.wordpress.com/
AOOS home page: http://www.aoos.org/
- Comment deadline October 16 on McKenzie Inlet (POW) log transfer facility 55 year lease
Invitation to Review Lease Application ADL 108428; Sealaska Timber Corporation Log Transfer Facilities in McKenzie Inlet…
Subject to Alaska Statute 38.05.075(c), the Southeast Regional Land Office received an application for a non competitive lease…
Sealaska Timber Corporation submitted an application to lease State tide and submerged lands in the north end of McKenzie Inlet for the construction and operation of log transfer facilities. The request includes facilities for log transfer, ship log storage, ship moorage, and log storage, and an airplane float and ramp.
PROPOSED DATES OF USE: 55 years beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2071
COMMENTS DUE: October 16, 2015
DNR Online public notice: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=178283
Subsistence
- UAF Co-Management Symposium November 18-20 – Weaving Together Two Worlds
Purpose: A forum to build understanding, relationships, and knowledge for advancing the co-management of Alaskan fish and wildlife resources.
Progressive focus: Shared value of healthy ecosystems, healthy populations, and resource abundance.
Co-Management is the term that defines systems and opportunities that provide an adequate and meaningful role for Alaska Natives in management of traditional resources. Alaska Natives and their Tribal governments, Tribal consortiums, nonprofits, and corporations have served as stewards of their traditional lands and resources for thousands of years maintaining healthy and productive ecosystems, they have proven knowledge, skills, and abilities to adequately manage Alaska’s fish and wildlife resources. Co-Management refers to a system where those relying upon the resources have a substantial role in making decisions about the management for healthy, productive ecosystems and populations.
…This event will bring together University of Alaska researchers and staff, Alaska Native Tribal and ANCSA corporation leaders and staff, state and federal fish and game managers, and those with the vested interest in seeing successful co-management in Alaska.
http://tribalmgmt.uaf.edu/co-mgmt
- Federal Subsistence RAC meetings scheduled for Kodiak, Southcentral, Seward Peninsula & YK
Southcentral Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council to meet in Copper Center, October 21-22
Seward Peninsula Subsistence Regional Advisory Council to meet in NomeOct.14-15, 2015…
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council to meet in Bethel, October 7-8
Kodiak/Aleutians Subsistence Regional Advisory Council to meet in Kodiak, September 29-30
For these and fishery notices see Office of Subsistence Management news page at:
https://www.doi.gov/subsistence/news
- Federal Subsistence Fisheries Update for the week of Sept 6-12, 2015 & previous
Fishery Updates page:
https://www.doi.gov/subsistence/news/fishing
Federal Subsistence home page:
http://www.doi.gov//subsistence/index.cfm
Other
- Inuit genes key to Omega-3 benefits
Written by Jerry Fraser, National Fisherman
If you’ve been eating a couple of pounds of salmon or tuna a week, or gobbling fish-oil supplements as insurance against cardiovascular destruction brought on by your mainline diet of pizza, cigarettes, and General Tso’s chicken, there’s a new study out that may lead you to consider some lifestyle changes.
Because unless you’re Inuit, the study, published in the journal Science and reported in The New York Times and elsewhere last Friday, suggests that you may be whistling past the coronary bypass unit.
http://www.nationalfisherman.com/blogs/mixed-catch/5593-inuit-genes
Study: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6254/1343
- Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute (ASPLI) Training – Kodiak 9-13, 2015
The Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute (ASPLI) offers intensive 80 hours of professional development for employees with the potential to move up in your company. The institute is designed for mid-level managers in a seafood plant—production managers, QC supervisors, seafood engineers, human resource, corporate or administrative personnel who are identified by their employer as having leadership potential. Others who might want to participate include direct marketers or small seafood processors or those closely involved in the seafood industry. ASPLI provides the technical training, leadership and management skills needed to understand and succeed in the seafood industry. Over 50 seafood processing leaders from 21 companies in Alaska have participated to date in ASPLI.
Kodiak: November 9–13, 2015…
Hands-on technical training in seafood processing and visits with local processors.
https://seagrant.uaf.edu/map/aspli/
- Fishlines – the Alaska Sea Grant newsletter for September 2015
New Go-To Website for Environmental Hazard Reporting
Job Opening: Coastal Community Resilience and Adaptation Specialist
Support for Historic Canneries Initiative
Sea Otters Impact Commercial Species
& Team registration is open for the 2016 Alaska Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl
Online at: https://seagrant.uaf.edu/news/fishlines/2015/september.php
- AMSEA Summer Newsletter – Sept 15, 2015:
In this issue:
AYFS Info
In Memoriam: Chris Lopez
Antarctica Crew Training
Mandatory Docksides
Comm. Fish fatalities
Upcoming MSIT Training
And more!
http://www.amsea.org/#!Hot-off-the-Press-AMSEAs-Summer-Newsletter/ck6b/55f896e10cf2de902a877fee
AMSEA home page & schedule: http://www.amsea.org/
- Laine Welch’s Fish Radio – Recent Items
Fishing is no longer the deadliest job
Bering Sea crabbers cover the costs of their fishery, not federal dollars. Will it matter if gov’t shuts down?
Eleven Alaskans vie for a seat on the Int’l Pacific Halibut Commission
Bering Sea crabbers brace for gov’t shutdown that could delay their fishery; AK fishing updates
Electronics and hydraulics training online/self-paced for mariners
These items and more, online at http://www.alaskafishradio.com/
- NIOSH Live to be Salty program promotes PFD use
NIOSH Live to be Salty page: http://www.livetobesalty.org/
&
PFDs That Work: NIOSH 2013 study in different AK fisheries: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2013-131/
NIOSH Commercial Fishing Safety page: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/fishing/
Be safe out there folks!
Inclusion of an item does not mean that UFA endorses or agrees.
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Compiled by staff of United Fishermen of Alaska
ufa@ufa-fish.org
PO Box 20229
Juneau AK 99802
(907) 586-2820