Warming Climate, Competition Affect Pacific Salmon

Fisheries scientists at the University of Washington this week published their findings on the effects of warming climate and competition on Pacific salmon in the research publication Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The study by Timothy Cline, Jan Ohlberger and Daniel Schindler of UW’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences found that species with complex life cycles, including those migrating between different habitats to complete their life cycles, may be particularly sensitive to global change. This is because each life cycle stage is influenced by a unique set of natural and anthropogenic stressors, the report said. The research involved using of multivariate time-series models to quantify changes in the prevalence of different life-history strategies of sockeye salmon from Bristol Bay, Alaska, over the past half century looking specifically at how they partition their lives between freshwater habitats and the ocean. During their life cycle, distinct life stages differ in their sensitivity to individual stressors, particularly temperature, the report noted. And effects of environmental change experienced by a population in one habitat affect their ecology in other life stages through developmental links in the process of completing their life cycle.

Researchers contend that climate warming has decreased the time spent by salmon in their natal freshwater habitat, as climate-enhanced growth opportunities have enabled earlier migration to the ocean. They also concluded that migration from freshwater at a younger age and increasing competition from wild and hatchery-released salmon, have tended to delay maturation toward spending an additional year feeding in the ocean.

According to the report, these stressors combine to reduce the size-at-age of fish vulnerable to commercial fisheries and have increasingly favored a single-age class, potentially affecting the age class complexity that stabilizes this resource.

New Canine Treats Boast Alaska Fish Oil/CBD Isolate

Wild Alaska fish oils, known for their nutritional value, are turning up in an increasing number of pet treats, including the new Alaska Ruff canine treats, a product line from Wasilla, Alaska, that includes cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical compound from the cannabis plant.

Entrepreneurs Kayla Thomas and Sara Buie introduced their four Alaska Ruff canine treats, with recommended dosage on the packaging, at Alaska outdoor markets in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley earlier this spring. The products are also available online at www.alaskaruff.com.

Their Alaskan Fish Oil + Peanut Butter, Alaskan Fish Oil + Hemp Seed Hearts, Carrot-Peanut Butter and Apple-Peanut Butter flavors also contain spent barley, plus a CBD isolate to provide relief for dogs dealing with neuropathic pain, anxiety and hyperkinesis. CBD isolate is crystalline powder that contains 99 percent pure CBD, with all other plant matter removed.

The only preservative is rosemary, a natural ingredient that dogs love the flavor of, noted Thomas, who created the recipes labels for the products, with help from an Oregon friend who also manufactures dog food.

The two women, good friends and dog lovers, had discussed going into business together and came up with the idea of dog treats, which they currently produce at home, but they are already looking into commercial kitchen options for expansion. “We wanted to make a product we would give to our own dogs,” said Buie, who has a degree in business management and accounting, while Thomas’ forte is quality control assessments.

“A lot of customers have told us ‘we just want something from Alaska’,” Thomas said. “We are pretty determined women. We are paying attention and doing the research.” A lot of customers are more drawn to the CBD infusion and minimal number of ingredients too, Buie said. The Alaskan Fish Oil + Peanut Butter treats, for example, include spent barley, oat flour, pure Alaskan fish oil, peanut powder, local co-op eggs, whole ground flaxseed meal, ground rosemary and CBD isolate. Spent barley offers fiber, proteins, amino acids and minerals.

While the CBD isolate is recommended for relief from neuropathic pain, anxiety and hyperkinesis, the product label also warns that the product is not intended to treat any disease.

As they expand their business through the first year of production, Thomas and Buie are also having their canine treats tested by a licensed food inspection laboratory in the Matanuska Valley. The lab uses a mass spectrometer–a machine that produces charged particles from the substances being analyzed and records the relative abundance of each particle type. This is a way to check for any impurities and inform the producers of the percentage of every ingredient in the product.

Chemical Signatures Tell Critical Story About Habitat

A new study by University of Washington fisheries researchers documents how chemical signatures imprinted inside the ears of fish show that two of Alaska’s most productive salmon populations and the fisheries they support depend on the entire watershed.

The study notes that sockeye and Chinook salmon born in Nushagak River in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, and its network of streams and lakes use the whole basin as young fish to search for the best places for prey, shelter and safety from predators. From birth until these young fish migrate to the ocean a year later is a critical period for them to eat and grow.

The study by lead author Sean Brennan, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, notes that different parts of the Bristol Bay watershed are hot spots for salmon production and growth, and these favorable locations change annually, depending on how climate conditions interact with local landscape features.

The study, published in the May 24 edition of Science, analyzed the tiny ear stones, known as otolith, that form in the fish.

“Habitat conditions aren’t static, and optimal places shift around,” Brennan said. “If you want to stabilize fish production over the years, the only strategy is to keep all of the options on the table.”

“The overall system is more than just the sum of its parts, and small pieces of habitat can be disproportionately important,” said Daniel Schindler, a UW fisheries professor and senior author of this study. “The arrows point to the need to protect or restore at the entire basin scale if we want rivers to continue to function as they should in nature.”
Release of the study coincides with renewed efforts of Canadian miners to get permits for development of the proposed Pebble mine, to extract copper and gold from near the headwaters of the Nushagak River. The deadline for public comment on the draft environmental impact statement was recently extended to July 1, 2019 by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

As part of the study, researchers reconstructed the likely geographic locations of nearly 1,400 adult salmon, from their birth in a Nushagak stream until their migration to the ocean. By looking at the otolith of each fish, they could tell where the fish lived by matching the chemical signatures imprinted on each growth ring of the otolith with the chemical signatures of the water where they swam.

“Results like those we’re presenting in this paper hopefully will get people to think about what they stand to lose by starting to develop and eliminate habitat in places like the Nushagak River,” Schindler said, “The Pebble mine environmental impact statement, which is supposed to be a mature, state of the science assessment of risks, really does a poor job of assessing risks of this specific project.”

Copper River Salmon Catch Tops 180,000 Fish

The Copper River salmon fishery in Alaska is so far coming in as forecasted, with upwards of 180,000 Chinook, sockeye and chum salmon delivered to processors in Cordova since the first opener. Retail prices are holding fairly firm.

Preliminary catch figures for the fourth opener on May 25 were still being compiled by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) officials, but as of early today that count stood at 180,088 fish, accounting for 168,336 red, 7,041 Chinook, 4,710 chum and a single humpy.

The first opener on May 16 brought in a total of 22,966 fish, the second accounted for 56,803 salmon and the third 66,919. As of late Tuesday, May 28, fish tickets added up to 33,400 fish, but ADF&G gillnet fishery manager Jeremy Botz said that was just a partial count.

Harvesters made 473 deliveries to processors in the first period, 483 in the second and 569 in the third.

Copper River kings and sockeyes were starting to show up as seafood entrees in more fine dining restaurants, like Jens, in Anchorage, Alaska, where a fresh Copper River king salmon grilled and served with Romesco sauce and roasted corn salsa was offered for $50.

For those preferring to prepare their own seafood at home, the best deal in Anchorage this week was fresh Copper River sockeye fillets for $13.99 a pound at Costco stores, and shoppers were snapping them up quickly.

10th & M Seafoods had Copper River sockeye fillets for $21.95 a pound and king fillets for $59.95 a pound. New Sagaya, the other top seafood shop in that city, was offering five pounds of Copper River red fillets for $209.95, or $41.99 a pound. Online Anchorage retailer FishEx had sockeye portions for $46.95 a pound and king portions for $86.95 a pound.

In Seattle, Pike Place Fish Market had dropped prices on whole Copper River kings to $39.95 a pound and king fillets for $49.99 a pound, while Copper River sockeyes were $99.95 per fish and $29.99 a pound for fillets.

Copper River Salmon Make their Seasonal Debut

Copper River sockeye and Chinook salmon are back in seafood shops and upscale restaurants from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle, Wash., and beyond. The 12-hour season opener on May 16 brought in an estimated 20,534 red and 2,309 king salmon, some of which were being served up for dinner in Anchorage even before the first period closed that evening.

Skip Winfree of 10th & M Seafoods in Anchorage arranged for a helicopter to pluck a brailer of wild salmon from a fishing vessel in the Copper River several hours into the opener, and deliver the fish to Cordova’s airport to be flown into Anchorage, where it was rushed to four upscale restaurants.

“We were tired of Seattle getting all the first fish,” said Winfree, who partnered for a third year in a row with 60° North Seafoods to get fresh wild salmon to Anchorage on the day of the first opener. Some first night diners paid approximately $65 a plate for the Copper River sockeye entrée. Six days later fresh Copper River sockeye entrées were being offered at $38.95 and fresh Copper River king fillets for $48.95 at another popular restaurant.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Alaska Air Cargo delivered some 18,000 pounds of fresh Copper River salmon on the morning of May 17 on board the Alaska Airlines Salmon-Thirty-Salmon, a jet painted to look like a gigantic king salmon. Later in the day a second jet brought another 50,000 pounds of fresh kings and sockeyes for distribution to grocers and restaurants nationwide.

Pike Place Fish Market offered whole Copper River kings for $44.99 a pound and fillets for $59.99 a pound, as well as whole Copper River sockeyes for $199.95 per fish.

The second opener, on Monday, May 20, brought the harvest to a total of 73,766 sockeyes weighing in at 416,259 pounds, 4,064 kings for a total of 73,559 pounds, and 1,765 chum salmon totaling 11,463 pounds. Kings came in at an average of 18.7 pounds for the first period and 17.4 pounds on the second round, while sockeyes averaged 5.5 pounds and 5.7 pounds respectively for those same periods, and chums were at 6.5 pounds on average, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists.

Superior Court Dismisses Pebble-Backed Lawsuit

Alaska Superior Court Judge Yvonne Lamoureux has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the right of Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA) to advocate on behalf of others challenging potential impacts of the Pebble mine project in the Bristol Bay watershed area.

The lawsuit, filed by six Bristol Bay fishermen and financed by the Pebble Limited Partnership, alleged that the BBRSDA was spending funds outside of its statutory purposes.

Lamoureux found, in her May 17 decision, that the BBRSDA acted within its statutory purpose of promoting the Bristol Bay fishery in opposing the proposed Pebble mine, which mine opponents contend could have a devastating impact on the world’s largest wild salmon fishery.

The Pebble limited Partnership declined comment on the judge’s decision.

Scott Kendall, legal counsel for the BBRSDA, meanwhile hailed Lamoureux’s decision as a complete vindication of the fisheries association. “She agreed with us that Pebble’s case was entirely without merit, and now the Association can get back to its work of promoting the one of a kind Bristol Bay fishery,” he said.

“This frivolous lawsuit was a desperate attempt to bully and silence those who are digging for the truth about Pebble’s deeply flawed and highly misleading mine plan,” said Tim Bristol, executive director of SalmonState, which was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with United Tribes of Bristol Bay (UTBB).

The BBRSDA had entered into contracts with SalmonState and UTBB to provide outreach, education and a review related to the draft environmental impact statement on the proposed mine, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hunter Dickinson, the diversified Canadian-owned global mining group proposing to build the Pebble mine.

Alannah Hurley, executive director of UTBB, hailed the ruling for clearing the way for Bristol Bay residents and fishermen to focus on preparing for the return of 40 million salmon this summer and fighting to protect this run for future generations The decision “confirms that the people and fishermen of Bristol Bay have the right to fight for our way of life,” she said.

The judge’s decision explained that state statutes give some guidance on ways regional seafood development associations may band together, tax themselves and use those funds to promote the monetary value of seafood products harvested in the region. These options, she wrote, “include promoting the product, investing in infrastructure to preserve or increase the value of seafood, educating the public on the seafood, researching the product, advertising the product, researching markets and cooperating with other entities for quality control measures and commodity standards.” The judge also found that it is not outside the BBRSDA’s power or authority to conduct technical research of a proposed mine, which relates to and may affect seafood in the region, to conduct outreach and advocacy on the same, or to participate and encourage others to participate in commenting on the draft environmental impact statement as to the potential effect of the mine on their marketable seafood resource.

O’Shea Honored with NPAFC International Award

Retired US Coast Guard Captain John O’Shea, who has worked on marine fisheries policy issues at the regional, national and international levels, has received the 2019 International Award from the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC).

The award is given annually to an individual or group whose sustained and significant contributions in scientific research, enforcement, international cooperation, or management have helped improve the conservation of anadromous salmon and steelhead stocks in the North Pacific Ocean.

O’Shea was presented with the award on May 17 at the commission’s 27th annual meeting in Portland, Oregon.

NPAFC officials said O’Shea is being recognized for his contributions in the areas of compliance and enforcement to the commission’s mission to conserve and manage anadromous salmon and steelhead stocks in the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas.

He has contributed substantially to the functioning of the commission’s Committee on Enforcement for many years. From 1991 through 1996, he served in US Coast Guard headquarters’ Office of Law Enforcement as program manager for fisheries law enforcement. There he was responsible for policy and resources for all Coast Guard fisheries law enforcement domestic and foreign activities.

O’Shea coordinated Coast Guard participation in the NPAFC as part of the Coast Guard’s ongoing operations in the North Pacific against use of large-scale high seas driftnets.