Plan to boost maritime workforce taking shape

Collaborators in the seafood and other marine industries have completed a maritime workforce development plan to address a growing number of shortages in their industries and are now working on funding sources to activate the plan.

The announcement on June 10 came from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where the fisheries, seafood and Maritime Initiative Industry Advisory Council produced the plan. The two-year effort comes in response to growing concern over the graying of leadership in the commercial seafood industry in Alaska, plus expanding demands in seafood harvesting and processing, research, management and other aspects of marine occupations.

The plan sets forth goals and strategies to guide how industry, state agencies, education and training entities can work together to support and enhance the maritime workforce.

Goals include development of a workforce that enables the maritime sector to remain a substantial contributor to the state’s economy and increasing the number of Alaskans working in skilled maritime occupations.

Strategies include increasing awareness of opportunity in various occupations and development of career pathways, supporting recruitment and retention of people to these occupations and promoting sustained industry engagement in this effort.

Participating entities range from Kris Norosz of Icicle Seafoods, the FSMI Industry co-chair, to Stephanie Madsen of the At-Sea Processors Association, and Vince O’Shea of Pacific Seafood Processors Association to Julie Decker, representing United Fishermen of Alaska and the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.

The plan itself is online at http://www.alaska.edu/fsmi/

Salmon Harvest Tops 1.5 Million Fish As Season Kicks In

Alaska’s wild salmon fisheries have delivered upwards of 1.5 million fish so far this season, mostly sockeyes, and the catch is also growing in chum, king and pink salmon.

As of June 11, the estimated catch included 1,358,000 red, 110,000 chum, 83,000 king and about 1,000 pink salmon.

The bulk of the harvest has been in Prince William Sound, where the Copper River drift fishery alone has caught more than 1.1 million salmon, including 1,121,000 red, 34,000 chum and 8,000 king salmon.

Even as speculation is rising that the Copper River run may exceed forecast, increasing numbers of the state’s salmon streams delivering fish have predictably lowered retail prices.

As the Copper River drift fishery nears its peak, some of the approximately 500 vessels that were on the Copper River have moved on to the Coghill district drift, where the harvest had reached 43,000 salmon, and Eschamy district drift and set net fisheries, where fishermen have caught an estimated 29,000 salmon.

Harvests for Prince William Sound were approximately 1,256,000 salmon, including all five species, although mainly sockeye. The Prince William Sound general seine fishery had caught some 20,000 chum and fewer than 1,000 kings.

In Southeast Alaska, where the spring king salmon troll fishery has been underway since May 1, some 15,000 kings had been netted. Harvesters in Upper Cook Inlet had a catch of 7,000 salmon, mainly sockeye and in Bristol Bay harvests were just starting to come in for the Egegik and Ugashik districts. At Kodiak some 133,000 sockeyes were delivered, along with fewer than 1,000 king and 3,000 chum salmon.

Harvest estimates are updated daily online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.bluesheet

ADF&G also posts a weekly in-season Alaska commercial salmon summary online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.bluesheetsummary

With the competition from various fisheries, prices were starting to drop. At 10th and M Seafoods in Anchorage, whole Copper River kings were $20.50 a pound, Copper River king fillets were $29.95 a pond, Copper River sockeye fillets were $15.95 a pound and Copper River whole sockeyes were $9.95 a pound.

Sockeye fillets from Main Bay in Prince William Sound were going for $13.95 a pound and whole sockeyes for $8.95 a pound at the same fish shop.

In Seattle, however, Pike Place Fish Market posted Copper River salmon prices online as $29.99 a pound for whole fresh kings, $41.99 a pound for fresh king fillets, $111.93 for whole sockeyes and $25.99 a pound for sockeye fillets.

Herring Surplus Makes Dent In Price to Harvesters

Commercial fishermen in Togiak in Southwest Alaska brought in a sac roe herring harvest of 25,136 tons for the 2014 season, but the payoff, minus postseason adjustments, has been estimated at one-third of last year’s grounds price.

The projected ex-vessel value for the 2014 Togiak herring fishery, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, is approximately $1.26 million. That’s $50 per ton, compared to $150 per ton a year ago.

Changing tastes of a new generation of buyers is also figuring into demand, as Japan becomes more of a nation of meat eaters.

Biologists with the state’s commercial fisheries office in Dillingham said the word on the streets is that the huge surplus of frozen harvest from last year’s sac roe herring harvests in Alaska has driven the price down.

The 2014 Togiak herring fisheries were managed for a maximum exploitation rate of 20 percent of the preseason biomass estimate.

The purse seine harvest was 18,668 tons with a reported average weight of 364 grams and an average roe percentage of 10.3 percent.

The gillnet harvest was 6,469 tons with a reported average weight of 404 grams and an average roe percentage of 11.3 percent, making the combined harvest 25,136 tons with an average weight o 374 grams and an average roe percentage of 10.6 percent, ADF&G biologists at Dillingham reported.

The Dutch Harbor food and bait fishery had not yet occurred. If the Dutch Harbor fishery harvest proves equal to the quota of 2,099 tons, then the total harvest for 2014 would be estimated at 27,235 tons. Based on the preseason biomass estimate of 157,448 tons, the 2014 exploitation rate would be about 17.3 percent.

Value of the Fleet

April 23rd marked our fourth annual Bering Sea Fisheries Conference where more than 140 fishing industry representatives convened to discuss how to maximize the economic potential of the Bering Sea fishing fleet recapitalization program. The new build and conversion of the fleet began in earnest after the American Fisheries Act amendments of 2010, and quantifying the potential has been an ongoing project for us at Fishermen's News. This year we developed a spreadsheet, vetted by the industry, which we presented at the conference. Included in the spreadsheet is the data we've compiled. We will continue to revise and update this information throughout the year, and plan to make the presentation of our results a regular part of the Annual Bering Sea Fisheries Conference. We welcome your questions, comments and other feedback about the data we've presented here, and about conference topics in general. Please call 206-284-8285 or email peter@philipspublishing.com.

International Effort Halts Vessel Fishing Illegally on High Seas

The US Coast Guard has transferred custody of the 191-foot fishing vessel Yin Yuan, seized for high seas drift net fishing in the North Pacific Ocean, to the China coast guard vessel 2102 in the East China Sea.

The announcement on June 3 came from the Coast Guard 17th District in Juneau, Alaska, in support of Operation North Pacific Guard. That’s the US Coast Guard’s component of a multi-lateral fisheries law enforcement operation designed to detect and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activity, including large-scale drift-net fishing on the high seas.

Crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau who boarded the Yin Yuan, which was seized 625 miles east of Tokyo, Japan, in the North Pacific, found approximately a half ton of salmon on board.

The Honolulu-based Morgenthau, a 378-foot high endurance cutter used in search and rescue, as well as law enforcement missions.

The Coast Guard said a Canadian CP-140 maritime patrol aircraft with a Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans Enforcement official on board, operating under the control of the US Coast Guard 17th District, first sighted the Yin Yuan on the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean.

The Canadian forces observed that the Yin Yuan was engaged in large-scale high seas drift net fishing and the sighting information was passed to the crew of the Morgenthau, which was patrolling in support of Operation North Pacific Guard.

“This seizure is a direct result of the teamwork between the Coast Guard and our Chinese, Japanese and Canadian law enforcement partners,” said Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander, Coast Guard 17th District.

The Morgenthau intercepted and boarded the vessel with two law enforcement officials from the China Coast Guard’s Fisheries Law Enforcement Command and interviewed the master, after the vessel’s master made a claim of Chinese registry.

The master, who was not identified, admitted to having 3.3 kilometers of nets onboard, and stated that he had thrown the drift nets and other equipment overboard prior to being intercepted by the Morgenthau crew.

Along with discovery of the IUU salmon, the Morgenthau crew identified three suspected fisheries violations. These included use of prohibited fishing gear of more than 3.3 kilometers of high seas drift net, failure to maintain sufficient records of catch and catch-related data, and fishing without a license, permit or authorization issued by a sanctioned authority.

Additionally, violations of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships were documented.

The United States, Canada and China actively participate in international efforts to deter the practice of large-scale high seas drift net fishing, as encouraged by a 1992 United Nations moratorium.

Since 1994, the Coast Guard and NOAA Fisheries Service have annually hosted law enforcement officers from the China Fishery Law Enforcement Command onboard Coast Guard cutters patrolling in the North Pacific Ocean.

The Coast Guard also participates in closely coordinated fisheries enforcement patrols with the member nations of the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission and North Pacific Coast Guard Forum.

MSC Certifies 13 Species as Sustainable in West Coast Trawl Fishery

The London-based Marine Stewardship Council has certified 13 species of fish caught by the West Coast trawl fishery as sustainable, potentially opening new markets for millions of pounds of harvest in the bottom trawl fishery.

The designation is expected to open new markets for the catch share fishery, which spans California, Oregon and Washington, and accounted for more than 40 million pounds in landings in 2013. Species certified include Dover sole, ling cod, black cod, Chilipepper rockfish, Petrale sole, English sole, Longspine thornyheads, Shortspine thornyheads, Splitnose rockfish, Widow Rockfish, Yellowtail Rockfish, Longnose skates and Arrowtooth flounder

The significance of the certification, says Brad Pettinger, director of the Oregon Trawl Commission, is to show the public that this is a sustainable fishery. Pettinger said in a brief interview with Fishermen’s News on June 4 that the West Coast trawl fishery had sought certification for this reason because “everyone wants to hold the trawl fishery to higher standards than anyone else.”

Pettinger also commented in a written statement that MSC certification of this fishery “is really a renewal of the social contract that we have with the public, providing assurance that we are fishing sustainably and in a manner that is consistent with the public’s high expectation.”

Pettinger also said that changes made under the catch share program “got us over many of the hurdles on our way to gaining MSC certification, which is a game-changer for us. Working with the Pacific Fishery Management Council and the National marine Fisheries Service, we have renewed our social contract with America’s seafood consumers by demonstrating conclusively that we can manage and harvest these species in a sustainable fashion.”

In the same news release, Shems Jud, deputy regional director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program, said the MSC designation “is testimony to the environmental and economic benefits we can achieve by working together.”

Catch shares were introduced to this fishery in 2011. Critics of the catch share program allege that the program disenfranchised a number of harvesters.