Effort Intensifies to Recycle Old Commercial Fishing Nets into New Products

A research scientist intent on helping the seafood industry responsibly dispose of old fish nets, preferably by recycling them into ingredients for or actual new products, met this past week in Anchorage, Alaska, with an eclectic group offering a variety of potential uses for tons of discarded nets.

“Key to success in this program is to see these old nets as raw material for new products” says former fisheries observer Nicole Baker, who now works with fisheries professors at the University of Washington.

Baker held her Alaska Net Hack Challenge last weekend in Anchorage – with a simultaneous event in Kodiak – at Anchorage Makerspace, a non-profit facility that provides everything from 3D printers and a professional laser cutter to electronics and woodworking equipment. The group, which included engineers and a federal fisheries analyst, designed and produced a variety of basic product samples ranging from stiff bristle deck brushes to filament for 3D printers, to display boards, backpacks and soccer goal nets. They also discussed how the nets could be used to create emergency shelters and cots for use in disaster areas.

Baker collaborated with Joe Cladouhos, director of the Anchorage-based Alaska Ocean Cluster initiative, and others including representatives from NOAA and a private equity fund. Cladouhos is also the founder and organizer for the Ocean Technology Innovation Sprint, or OTIS, developed in conjunction with the Alaska Ocean Cluster Initiative, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association and the University of Alaska’s Business Enterprise Institute.

Baker’s passion for net recycling stems from her days as fisheries observer traveling in and out of Dutch Harbor where she saw piles of discarded nets weighing thousands of pounds. Through her collaborative efforts in the industry some of those nets were shipped out last summer to Europe for processing into materials to make new products.

The next step will be to work on design details and determine which products could become economically viable.

Alaska Symphony of Seafood Seeks Product for Competition

Plans are shaping up for the 26th annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood. The call went out this week from Wrangell, in Southeast Alaska, for new value-added product competitors to enter either of four categories: retail, food service, beyond the plate and beyond the egg.

Judging and open house events are slated for Seattle, Washington on November 14 and in Juneau, Alaska, in mid-February.

First place winners and Seattle People’s Choice will be announced at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, which runs from November 18 -20. The overall grand prize, second and third place winners in each category and the Juneau People’s Choice winner will be divulged at the Juneau Legislative reception, which will be co-hosted by the United Fishermen of Alaska. First place winners will receive complimentary booth space and free airfare to participate in Seafood Expo North America in Boston in March.

“A significant portion of the value and health benefits in any fishery resource is found in the byproducts and roe,” said Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which organizes the symphony competition.

Products are evaluated based on their packaging, presentation, overall eating experience, price and potential for commercial success.

Entry forms and fees are due by October 19.

Secretary of State Makes Two Appointments to IPHC

NOAA Fisheries has announced two alternate commissioner appointments for the United States to the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC): Bob Alverson, long-time manager of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association in Seattle, Wash., and Richard Yamada, of Auke Bay, Alaska, president of the Alaska Charter Association. Their terms run through January 31, 2019.

Alverson, who was reappointed, has served on the IPHC since 2014 filling in the commission seat reserved for a Washington resident. The Fishing Vessel Owners Association is a trade association formed in December of 1914 to represent halibut boat owners involved in longline fishing in the North Pacific who harvest halibut, sablefish, Pacific cod, rockfish and turbot.

Yamada, who will serve in the seat reserved for an Alaska resident, has been involved in recreational fishing in Alaska for over three decades as a business owner and recreational fishing advocate. He came to Alaska from Hawaii in 1972 as a Russian linguist in the US Air Force. In 1982 he opened Shelter Lodge in Juneau. He also served for five years as chairman of the board of United Anglers of Alaska. He replaces Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association who occupied the seat on an interim basis.

Final Scoping Report on Pebble Mine Released

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on August 31 released its final scoping report for the environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed Pebble mine, a massive copper, gold and molybdenum project that would be built in Southwest Alaska.

Having produced the report, the USACE now begins developing the draft environmental impact statement, which should be released in January 2019. That release will be followed by another public comment period, with the final EIS anticipated to be out in late 2019, according to the corps.

The report has drawn criticism from Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay and United Tribes of Bristol Bay. In a statement released on September 4, Mike Friccero, of Kodiak, Alaska, a representative for Bristol Bay Commercial Fishermen and president of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, points out that based on the corps’ scoping report it is clear that “this administration has no interest in conducting an honest review of the impacts that the Pebble mine would have on Bristol Bay’s salmon and the people who depend on it. If they did, then they would not have produced such a cursory report that omits thousands of comments, including that of expert scientists and commercial fishermen.”

“The scoping report is just the latest example of how the US Army Corps of Engineers is steamrolling local communities and streamlining Pebble’s incomplete application at unprecedented speeds, despite the science being crystal clear that this type of mine is too destructive for the headwaters of the last great sockeye salmon fishery in the world, which produced a record-breaking return of more than 62 million sockeye this year,” said Robert Heyano, president of UTBB, a tribal consortium representing 15 Bristol Bay tribal governments, which comprise over 80 percent of the region’s population.

Bristol Bay fishermen had asked that the analysis consider the socioeconomic impacts for their communities in Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and other states, as the fishery draws harvesters nationwide. There is no mention of this analysis in either the fishery impacts or socioeconomic sections.

“Residents of lower Bristol Bay and the Alaska Peninsula communities had also asked the USACE to consider the downstream impacts, both to the fishery resource and the fishery economy, but these comments are not mentioned in either the fishery impacts or socioeconomic impacts sections of the report,” Heyano added.

The complete scoping report and further details about the corps’ timeline on related work can be viewed online at https://pebbleprojecteis.com.

Comment Now on Federal Funds for 2016 Pink Salmon Disaster Fund

The state of Alaska is seeking public comment on how to distribute $56.3 million in federal funds allocated to those impacted by the 2016 Prince William Sound fish salmon fisheries disaster.

The money is part of the $200 million in disaster relief allocated by the Secretary of Commerce in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Fisheries in Washington, California, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean will also share in the overall fund.

Harvesters, processors and people impacted have until September 18 to tell state officials how they think the money should be allocated.

The state has developed a draft distribution plan for the funds administered through the Pacific States Marine Commission, in consultation with the Alaska regional office of NOAA. It calls for portions of the money to go to fishery participants, processors, municipalities as well as research. Now the state wants to hear from impacted users and user groups.

To view the proposed distribution plan and enter public comments go to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishing.2016_pinksalmon_disaster_relief_fund.

Fish Oil Supplement in Pregnancy Linked to Increase in Lean and Bone Mass

A study published in The BMJ concludes that fish oil supplements given in the later stages of pregnancy are associated with a higher body mass index in children in the first six years of life.

The article notes that prior studies in animals have shown that supplementing the diet with fish oil during pregnancy affects the development of fat cells. Human trials, however, have shown that pregnant women with a higher intake of fish oil give birth to higher birth weight infants, but the impact of these children in later life has been unclear.

A team of researchers based in Denmark and the United Kingdom examined the effect of fish oil supplements during the pregnancies of women on the growth and body composition of children later in life. They found in measuring height, weight, head and waist measurements 11 times from birth to age six that those given the fish oil supplements sustained higher body mass index during that period.

Researchers concluded that the body composition at age six in children given fish oil supplements was characterized by a proportional increase in lean, bone and fat mass suggesting a general growth stimulating effect.

The BMJ, previously known as the British Medical Journal, is one of the world’s oldest general medical journals. The study can be viewed online at https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3312.

Global Fisheries Could See More Profit Despite Climate Change

Sustainable harvesting of seafood globally – over the next 75 years – could provide more food and profits, despite warming seas, if adaptive management prices are implemented, according to a report on international research efforts by Japan’s Hokkaido University.

The report published on August 29 in the journal Science Advances is also available online through the American Association for the Advancement of Science website EurekAlert.

Researchers said their conclusions take into consideration the projected fish populations decline as the ocean warms and habitats change.

The study points out that under a best management scenario, some major fish and shellfish stocks that are commercially harvested will grow and become more profitable offsetting others projected to shrink or even disappear. It also indicates that on a global average, profitability could rise by 14 billion US dollars and harvest by 217 million metric tons above today’s levels.

In the model used for the study, growth would be achieved under the projected moderate warming of 2.2 degrees Celsius (3.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average global temperatures by 2100. But if temperatures rise further, global fish harvest and profits are expected to decline below today’s levels even with best management practice in place.

Their message, researchers said, is that oceans can continue to be a source of healthy seafood and sustainable livelihoods for billions of people only if actions are taken to manage stocks well and limit the carbon emissions that drive climate change.

“By working toward development of adaptive fishery management strategies and committing to international agreements for climate change mitigation and emission reductions, the future may be overall brighter than so far anticipated,” said Jorge Garcia Molinos an aquatic ecologist at Hokkaido University. Still this potentially brighter future appears unattainable for nearly half of the 915 species and mixed groups of species analyzed, and the tropics will be especially hard hit, he indicated.

Researchers said their work represents the first such study incorporating both climate change projections and alternative management approaches into predictions of future fishery status.

Participants in the study were from Hokkaido University, the University of California Santa Barbara, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Their work was funded by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports Science and Technology and three private US foundations.