Homer-based North Pacific Fisheries Association has received a $147,400 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Fisheries Innovation Fund grant for a two-year project to use electronic monitoring in the pot and longline cod fisheries.
Hilco Industrial will conduct the sale of over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment located in Adak's recently shuttered 250,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art processing facility.
NOAA is seeking public comment for a rule that will restrict the use of "hired skippers" to fish IFQ's of halibut and sablefish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska in a move by the agency to preserve the region's owner-operator fleet.
After a costly economic closure not supported by peer reviewed science, NOAA has issued a new EIS for steller sea lions in the Western Aleutians that will somewhat restore the status quo prior to the agencies emergency action in 2011. In particular, the preferred alternative, if adopted would return to fishery exclusion zones of 3 miles and ten miles around haulouts and rookeries, and allow some fishing elsewhere in what are now closed areas.
Alaska’s most active volcano appears to be erupting. Mount Pavlof, on the Alaska Peninsula, started rumbling Monday morning, according to Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist-in-charge John Power.
A power struggle over who confirms sustainability of Alaska's wild salmon appears to be giving the state an edge, with the bulk of the 2013 harvest to be certified under a third party certification program provided by Ireland-based Global Trust.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute announced April 16 that about 80 percent of the state's wild salmon would be available under this United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-based Responsible Fisheries Management program.
“Icicle has worked incredibly hard in the two years since we took it over to make the Adak plant a viable operation,” said Amy Humphreys, Icicle’s new president and CEO. “We strongly support policies that encourage the development and sustainability of Alaska’s coastal communities and recognize this goal is often best achieved with a resident fishing fleet and year round seafood processing operation. However, given the questionable outlook for the Pacific cod fishery in the area and the high costs of operating in this remote location, we have decided to focus ou
The ventilator is a critical part of the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services emergency room. It provides breathing support for patients while they wait for medevac flights. But after ten years, the clinic’s ventilator seemed to be breaking down.
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got underway last week with two openings March 27 and 28 that scooped up nearly half of the 11,549-ton quota.
The two openings combined produced a catch of 5,700 tons of very ripe, “excellent quality” herring, with roe counts averaging between 12.3 and 15.9 percent.
The fleet of 48 seine boats took some time off to allow processors to catch up, but then were given another opportunity March 30.
The NPFMC is taking up a proposal to create a more flexible catch shares environment for the Amendment 80 fleet. This video and computer animation explains the challenges faced by the fleet, along with proposed solutions.
“Catch shares will always come up, observers still a big concern, and I think some of Alaskans are bringing to the forefront...the new technology and the lack of use of technology by NOAA. We’ll talk about warming of the waters, acidification, and then of course ocean policy you know, the whole idea that the White House wants to zone the ocean.”
Most of the first fish landed goes to Homer, Kodiak and Petersburg and processors there said there wasn’t “the usual chatter” and none said they had a feel for what’s going to happen yet with prices. Lots of halibut remains in the freezers and some major processors had reportedly unloaded the high priced fish at a loss.
In response to the historic sport and commercial fishery closures during 2012, justified by the smallest return of Kenai kings ever observed, the Alaska Board of Fisheries will consider changes in the management of Kenai kings at the upcoming Statewide Finfish meeting in Anchorage March 19 – 24.
The Anchorage/MatSu region is the major population center in Alaska and the fastest growing area in Alaska. Cook Inlet, an integral part of the region, separates two of Alaska’s major river systems, the Kenai River watershed, on the Kenai Peninsula and the Susitna River watershed, adjacent to Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley.
The Department of Fish and Game announced today that the state-waters Pacific cod season will open at noon March 15 west of the Aleutian Islands District.
