Oregon Legislature Boosts Investment in Marine Reserves
Fishermen's News Online, News

Oregon Legislature Boosts Investment in Marine Reserves

Oregon legislators have approved a landmark bill aimed at strengthening state marine reserves, plus providing a commitment to ocean conservation, stakeholder collaboration and sustainable management of marine resources. The state Senate vote of 26-3 on March 6 came in the wake of the 10-year anniversary of Oregon’s marine reserves program, and a unanimous 55-0 vote in the House of Representatives earlier that week. The legislation increased by $894,324 for the biennium ending June 30, 2025 for an adaptive management and social monitoring program to support marine reserves. The package includes $479,324 for three permanent positions and related services and supplies, $100,000 for a Sea Grant-based fellow position to support new research, and $315,000 for contracts to conduct fa...
Trident Seafoods Nearing Sales of Alaska Shoreside Plants
Fishermen's News Online, News

Trident Seafoods Nearing Sales of Alaska Shoreside Plants

Trident Seafoods officials said March 8 that they’re in the final stages of closing deals on the sales of Alaska shoreside plants in Petersburg, Ketchikan and False Pass, with multiple parties interested in a fourth plant. Trident announced in December that it was seeking buyers for all four plants as part of a strategic restructuring initiative. Trident CEO Joe Bundrant said that his company has been intentional about finding buyers “who will take great care of the fleet and employees and who will integrate themselves into the communities.” As of March 13, the potential buyers for the plants have not been publicly identified. Trident Senior Vice President of Alaska Operations Jeff Welbourn acknowledged that it has been an unsettling time, but said Trident is moving as quic...
Calif. Lobsterman Convicted of Abandoning Traps
Fishermen's News Online, News

Calif. Lobsterman Convicted of Abandoning Traps

A California lobster fisherman has been convicted in Santa Barbara Superior Court of a multitude of commercial lobster fishing violations, including abandoning traps, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said March 5. It was the third commercial lobster poaching conviction for Christopher Miller, 67, of Los Alamos, since 2014. According to the CDFW, Miller pled guilty to falsifying commercial fishing records, harvesting lobster out of season, then abandoning at least 156 commercial lobster traps around Santa Cruz Island and the Santa Barbara Harbor. After closure of the 2021-22 commercial lobster season and being ordered to remove his lobster traps by CDFW wildlife officers, Miller failed to retrieve any of his traps, posing a significant and detrimental hazar...
Coalition Defends Limits on Trawler Halibut Bycatch
Fishermen's News Online, News

Coalition Defends Limits on Trawler Halibut Bycatch

A dispute over the amount of halibut allowed as incidental catch by trawlers targeting groundfish in the Bering Sea has prompted the newly-formed Halibut Defense Alliance to intervene in litigation on behalf of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The coalition includes commercial fishermen, charter operators, processors and community organizations that represent halibut-dependent communities across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, who support the NMFS decision to allow more bycatch when halibut abundance is high and less bycatch when abundance is low. As of early March, the Justice Department was preparing the entire administrative record, with all related documents, to deliver to the federal judge in Anchorage. After that, both sides in the case were to bring their arguments...
OBI, Peter Pan Seafoods Score Winning Bids for USDA Salmon Solicitation
Fishermen's News Online, News

OBI, Peter Pan Seafoods Score Winning Bids for USDA Salmon Solicitation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated OBI Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafood Co. as the awardees of contracts for thousands of cans of wild Alaska pink salmon to be delivered to needy recipients nationwide. A March 6 USDA announcement said that the contracts include 713 truckloads of 14.75 -ounce canned pink salmon valued at $53,882,923 from OBI Seafoods and 242 truckloads of 14.75-ounce canned pink salmon valued at $17,240,660 from Peter Pan Seafood. The food is set to be delivered from May 16, 2024 through Feb. 28, 2025. The purchases were made under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, which authorizes USDA to support prices of commodities in surplus by purchasing them in the marketplace, and also authorizes USDA to distribute commodities domes...
Oregon State Working to Refine Ocean Oxygen Monitoring Sensors in Fisheries
Fishermen's News Online, News

Oregon State Working to Refine Ocean Oxygen Monitoring Sensors in Fisheries

Researchers at Oregon State University are collaborating with industry and tribal partners to refine and expand use of oxygen monitoring sensors to be deployed in fishing pots, to learn more about changing ocean conditions. The three-year, $1.2 million Ocean Technology Transition grant, announced by the university on Feb. 27, is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The dissolved oxygen sensors were initially developed by Oregon State researchers over a decade ago in response to concerns from crabbers who were pulling up pots full of dead crabs caught in hypoxic dead zones. The sensors helped them to gather information on how hypoxia, or low oxygen, is impacting crabbing in the Pacific Northwest. The oxygen sensors have proven to be an effective tool a...
Trident Investigates Reports of Human Rights Abuses by Chinese Supplier
Fishermen's News Online, News

Trident Investigates Reports of Human Rights Abuses by Chinese Supplier

Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant says his company has suspended trade with a supplier in China after reports of human rights abuses there and has initiated its own independent inquiry regarding issues reported by an independent investigator. While its investigation is ongoing, Trident is cooperating with the Outlaw Ocean Project (OOP), based in Washington D.C., which advocates for a transparent and healthy seafood supply chain, Bundrant wrote in a statement posted on Trident’s website. Trident Seafoods, Canada’s High Liner Foods and Houston-based Sysco are among several U.S. seafood firms that have suspended ties with Chinese processors identified in the latest OOP report documenting their use of North Korean labor, in violation of United Nations sanctions and U.S. law, the onli...
IPHC Seeks Longline Tenders For 2024 Catch Protection Study
Fishermen's News Online, News

IPHC Seeks Longline Tenders For 2024 Catch Protection Study

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is seeking tenders by March 25 for its 2024 IPHC Catch Protection Study, which has a goal of reducing marine mammal depredation of catch from longline gear. According to a notice posted online Feb. 28, the IPHC is considering only vessels with captains and crews with experience within the past five years in longline fishing, and that vessel inspection may be required prior. There is no nationality requirement of the vessels it charters for operation in any region, as long as customs and immigration regulations are followed. The IPHC is not obligated to accept the tender with the lowest bid or any tender received and intends to contract according to its best interests. The announcement stated that vessels would be rated using several...
ADF&G Plans Listening Session Re: 2022 Yukon River Salmon Fishery Disaster Spending
Fishermen's News Online, News

ADF&G Plans Listening Session Re: 2022 Yukon River Salmon Fishery Disaster Spending

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game plans to hold a virtual listening session on March 11 to receive input on funding priorities from affected fishery participants for its $1.59 million Yukon River salmon fishery disaster spending plan. ADF&G said the department would draft an initial spend plan for that budget based on input received during the listening session and comments emailed to dfg.com.fisheriesdisasters@alaska.gov. The agency also said that it intends to use the spend plan developed for the 2020-2021 Yukon River salmon disaster as a starting point for the latest spend plan pending public comments. The state supports an open and transparent process for distributing disaster relief. Plans are to work with impacted fishery participants and NOAA Fisheries to ident...
Gig Harbor BoatShop Announces Crew Member Training Program
Fishermen's News Online, News

Gig Harbor BoatShop Announces Crew Member Training Program

The Gig Harbor BoatShop in Gig Harbor, Wash. is offering a purse seine vessel crew member training program for four days, beginning March 26, on fundamental commercial fishing crewmember training, in the classroom and on board commercial fishing vessels. Experienced commercial fishing captains and crew will lead the hands-on program, including a U.S. Coast Guard-approved drill instructor safety-training course, Sea Safety and Survival. The goal of the program, led by veteran purse seine captain Gregg Lovrovich, is to introduce basic skills required aboard fishing vessels, primarily purse seiners, and to provide participants a window into the onboard life of a commercial fishing crewmember. The program is also intended to help commercial fishing skippers find qualified crew can...