Pacific Fishing - Fish Wrap Archive may 21

News Brief: Coast Guard Pluck Man from Processing Vessel

SEATTLE - A 28-year old man was medically evacuated by the Coast Guard from a fishing vessel last week.

The crew of a Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor, Wash., 47-foot motor lifeboat medically evacuated the man from the 310-foot fish processing vessel Golden Alaska approximately 20 nautical miles southwest of Grays Harbor after he fell 15-20 feet.

The motor lifeboat crew was launched after a Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria, Ore., could not hoist the patient due to heavy fog in the area.

The motor lifeboat crew transported the injured man from one of the Golden Alaska's small boats to a waiting emergency medical team.

The motor lifeboat crew immobilized the injured man and administered oxygen during the 30-minute trip back to port. Crews from the Westport Fire Department and South Beach Ambulance transported the injured man from the dock to the hospital for treatment.

– Press release

News: Family Mourns Missing Fisherman

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — Victor Blanco’s three daughters boarded the Barbara Ann yesterday, to see where their father — a fisherman for 25 years — slept and worked before he disappeared in the dark waters off Long Island Tuesday night.

Six Coast Guard investigators also boarded the boat, to ask the captain and crew how the 37-year-old Providence man slipped from the lobster boat, a fixture in the Galilee fishing port for years.

"The family is devastated," said family spokesman Richard K. Corley. "They’ve lost a father, a husband, a friend and an uncle. They’d like to know what happened, and they want some sort of closure."

The Coast Guard called off its search for Blanco at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, but Blanco’s wife yesterday urged them to continue to look for her husband. She was joined by their daughters, ages 17, 14 and 11.

Blanco grew up in El Salvador, started fishing at 12 and worked on the Barbara Ann for several years, Corley said.

That point was driven home yesterday as family members, friends and other fishermen gathered at the docks and around the black-hulled boat, which returned to the port shortly after noon under a bleached sky.

According to the Coast Guard, Blanco, one of three crewmen on the Barbara Ann, was setting traps when he fell from the 76-foot-long lobster boat. He was not wearing a life jacket or a dry suit when he tumbled into the dark water around 8:15 p.m., about 95 miles south of Montauk, N.Y., said Petty Officer Lauren Downs.

One of the crew members tossed a life ring to Blanco, but he could not reach it. Shortly after, Blanco went under, she said.

Responding to a distress call, the Coast Guard dispatched a Falcon jet and a Jayhawk helicopter to search for Blanco.

After a local exam, the case will be reviewed by the Coast Guard’s Washington, D.C., office, a process that can take a year, Downs said. The final report is made public.

Family and crew, shaken by the loss, would not talk to reporters yesterday.

But Robert Campanale, who owns the Barbara Ann with his brother, said Blanco had been walking backward when a lobster trap that was going out apparently “pushed him over.” The crew was moving traps from deep to shallow water, he said.

- Prince Rupert Daily News

News: John Deere Introduces 610 HP Marine Engine

John Deere Power Systems (JDPS) has introduced a new 12.5-liter marine propulsion engine. The 6125SFM75 offers 610 horsepower (455 kW) and is the most powerful engine offered by John Deere.

This new engine model is EPA Tier 2 emissions certified, meets EU emissions requirements and is IMO compliant.

The 12.5L engine is also M4 rated, indicating use for marine applications that operate up to 800 hours per year and have load factors less than 40% with one hour out of each 12 hours of operation at full power. At its M4 rating, the 12.5L offers 610 hp (455 kW) at 2100 rpm* and consumes 31.3 gallons of fuel per hour at full load rated speed.

The 6125SFM75 is based on the popular 6125AFM75 with design changes to accommodate seawater aftercooling and higher power. Some of those changes involve adding a sea water aftercooler, a viscous damper, a closed crankcase ventilation system, high-power electronic unit injectors, a larger heat exchanger, a new intake manifold, a new air filter, a high-flow sea water pump with rubber impeller, a larger water-cooled turbocharger and a new wiring harness.

The 12.5L engine is available at three other ratings:

M3: 526 hp (392 kW) at 2000 rpm, 27 gallons of fuel per hour consumed at full load rated speed (M3 means 2,000 hours per year with load factors up to 50 percent for applications that use full power for no more than four hours out of each 12 hours of operation)

M2: 449 hp (335 kW) at 1900 rpm, 23.1 gallons of fuel per hour consumed at full load rated speed (M2 means 3,000 hours per year with load factors up to 65 percent for applications that are in continuous use and use full power for no more than 16 hours out of each 24 hours of operation)

M1: 380 hp (283 kW) at 1800 rpm, 19.5 gallons of fuel per hour consumed at full load rated speed (M1 means the application may operate up to 24 hours per day at uninterrupted full power for more than 3,000 hours per year and have load factors of more than 65 percent).

– Press release

Legislative Watch: Surcharge on Licenses to Help Protect Rockfish

OLYMPIA -- Some recreational and commercial anglers will soon pay a new surcharge to help protect dwindling rockfish populations.

House Bill 1476, signed into law last week, gives the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife the authority to levy the surcharge to support additional research on rockfish populations off the Washington coast and in Puget Sound.

There will be a 50-cent surcharge on three types of recreational fishing licenses and a $35 surcharge on certain commercial and charter boat licenses. The surcharge is expected to generate about $200,000 a year.

The recreational licenses that will carry the surcharge are the combination, saltwater and temporary licenses. Surcharges will affect fishing licenses sold after May 31.

Those additional revenues will be used to expand abundance surveys, including the use of remote-controlled vehicles to monitor rockfish that are difficult to access with other survey methods, said Phil Anderson, special assistant for intergovernmental resource management.

Since 1997, when the National Marine Fisheries Service declared seven species of Pacific coast rockfish “overfished,” fishery managers have adopted a growing array of fishing restrictions to protect depleted stocks, Anderson said. Those regulations have affected fisheries for halibut, lingcod and other marine fish, because rockfish are sometimes incidentally caught while fishing for those species.

The department will be able to expand its research and monitoring of rockfish populations beginning in 2008, Anderson said.

- The (Tacoma) News Tribune

News: Angry about Fuel Prices, Fishermen Threaten Endangered Shark

AHMEDABAD, India -- Fishermen along India's western coast are threatening to undo conservation efforts and kill hundreds of endangered whale sharks unless the government gives fuel subsidies promised to them three years ago.

About 15,000 fishermen living by the Arabian Sea in the western state of Gujarat say they need help to run their boats and will be forced to hunt the massive yet docile fish and sell its parts for money.

"We will kill whale sharks if we do not get financial help to run our motor-boats," said Kamlesh Sodwa of the Veraval Fishermen Association.

The whale shark is the largest fish species and is known as the gentle giant of the sea, feeding mainly on plankton.

But the sharks are a threatened species—about 1,000 were slaughtered between 1990 and 2001 by Gujarat's fishermen, who hunted them for their oil, fins and meat, which fetch high prices on the international market.

Since 2001, campaigning by wildlife groups and religious leaders has helped curtail the hunting of the whale sharks - 1,200 of which migrate across the Indian Ocean to the Gujarat coast from East Africa for breeding every year.

"Five years ago, Gujarat's fishermen had pledged never to kill the gentle ocean giant and have been ripping their nets to release the big fish," said Aniruddha Mukherjee, director of the Wildlife Trust of India.

As a result, there have been no recorded killings of whale sharks on Gujarat's coast since 2002, he added.

But the fishermen now say they are poor and need the government to fulfil a 2004 promise to provide fuel subsidies.

"A 14 meter whale shark had entered into my nets. I wanted to kill the creature to buy food for my children but my wife forced me to release it," said fisherman Nandi Kelva.

State government officials said they still plan to give fuel subsidies but did not have a timeframe. They said they would not, however, respond to threats of killing the endangered fish.

– Reuters

Editorial Brief: Pebble Mine a Danger to Salmon Runs

To the editor: Pebble mine is a bad idea. Sure, it could bring a lot of money and jobs, but at what cost to the people who live in the area?

The closest village to the mine site is Nondalton, near Bristol Bay, which has one of the largest king salmon runs in North America.

If by any chance the substance used to remove gold from ore leaks into the water that all of the fish swim through, they will die. Not only that, but the polluted water will seep into the larger lakes in the areas where caribou drink. It can disrupt some traditions that have carried on for many generations, such as fish campgrounds and hunting areas.

This is the largest gold and copper mine in the world, but that won't make up for what the people of Nondalton will lose: a life, a home and what has been a tradition in these families for many generations.

- Andrea Justin, writing to the Anchorage Daily News

Study: China’s Seafood Exports Unsafe

As the world's largest producer and exporter of fish and fish products, China may need to more closely monitor shellfish contaminant levels, because contaminants are finding their way into seafood.

A new study found samples from markets that contained concentrations of contaminants high enough to pose threats to human health. The study is published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT can accumulate in top predators, including humans. Though these pesticides were officially banned in 1983, China had been using them for decades prior to the ban. Twenty-five years later, there is evidence that new sources, particularly of DDT, may be present and contaminating seafood.

The current study focused on seafood from markets in 11 coastal cities in Guangdong Province. The last two decades have witnessed explosive economic growth in that province. Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and conversion of agricultural lands to commercial use have accelerated the environmental deterioration in this region.

Samples of shrimps, crabs, and mollusks were analyzed for 21 organochlorine pesticides. Of those, DDT and HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) were detected most frequently and measured at the highest concentrations. These highest concentrations were observed in mollusks, specifically oysters, mussels, and squid.

Concentrations of DDT in some of this seafood were high enough to pose human health threats. Other organochlorine pesticides present were at concentrations high enough to pose human cancer risks.

The study's researchers said further research was urgently required to identify the new sources of organochlorine pesticide contamination, so the food safety issues could be dealt with. Human health risk assessments are required to determine potential risks from local and overseas consumption and potential limits that should be imposed on such consumption.

China exports 3.2 million metric tons of seafood products, which is 10% of the global export volume. Exports primarily go to Japan, Korea, Canada, the United States, and the European Union.

- Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry press release

News Brief: Seafood Shortage Ominous in Asia

With Asia's extensive coastlines and poor populations, seafood is a staple that provides up to 70% of animal protein in the diet.

But the tide is turning as fish stocks in Asia have declined by 70% in the past 25 years, says Stephen Hall, head of WorldFish, a non-profit research body based in northern Malaysia.

– New Zealand Herald

News Brief: Florida Man Charged with Shipping Contaminated Seafood

A Boynton Beach businessman knew the seafood products he had shipped to retailers from his Lantana office in 2003 were contaminated but didn't tell customers or ask for a recall, the U.S. Attorney's Office said today.

Timothy DeLong, president of Atlantis Foods Inc., also sold misbranded products, claiming a fish spread contained rainbow trout when it was made with tuna, according to information filed in federal court.

DeLong was charged in federal court today with defrauding customers and selling misbranded food.

Federal investigators learned that DeLong shipped orders of seafood spreads and chicken salad in 2003 without testing them for contaminants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

And after he learned that shipments of lobster dip, chicken salad, salmon cream cheese and crab stuffing were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes - a dangerous bacteria that can cause severe gastrointestinal infection and has proven fatal in babies and the elderly - he didn't warn his customers, investigators said.

If convicted, DeLong faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000.

A representative of Atlantis Foods, headquartered at 420 Whitney Ave. in Lantana, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

- Palm Beach Post

News: Canadian Government to Protect Boat Harbors

Ottawa will spend $549,000 to protect small harbors in the Lower Mainland from being damaged by the debris expected with spring floods.

Mission MP Randy Kamp announced the funding Friday at Steveston Harbour -- which, along with Vancouver's False Creek, will receive commercial fishing boats from swamped Fraser River harbors during high water.

"Work has already begun to help reduce the potential impact of . . . flood waters that could significantly damage harbor infrastructure, which is important to the large number of commercial fishers in the area," said Kamp.

Kamp said long-term planning must be done to prevent damage during future spring freshets. Channel dredging will be done after the runoff to remove silt that can make navigation difficult.

Steveston whale-watching guide and long-time resident Joe Bauer said he thinks the harbor will be able to withstand high water, but he's worried about high water combined with a high tide.

Bauer, who was 10 years old in 1948 when the river breached dikes in many communities, remembers being called out of school to help crews in Queensborough fill sandbags.

Now, he said, he worries about the damage that flooding could cause. Large logs, trees and debris that normally sit on the banks of the Fraser River could be picked up by rising water and carried, at great speeds, downstream, where they could destroy docks and punch holes in fishing-boat hulls.

"A freshet is a normal, natural condition in the spring, but if it comes too high, there could be trouble for people," he said.

Rob Richardson, program officer for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said Steveston will be able to move boats from harbors in Mission and Maple Ridge, where severe flooding is more likely.

Cool weather across B.C. has reduced the flood risk for the long weekend, but the Provincial Emergency Coordination Centre remains activated, with its five regional operation centers on standby.

The province recently spent $1.1 million to purchase 9.5 kilometers of "gabion basket" diking. The new flood protection technology can quickly be assembled in places where there is risk of dike failure or overtopping.

- The Vancouver Province 2007

Research News: Contraceptives May Decimate Fisheries

TORONTO -- The persistent discharge of even small concentrations of female sex hormones into lakes and rivers can completely decimate wild fish populations, according to a new study by Canadian biologists.

The study, released Monday by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, found minnow populations in an experimental lake in northwestern Ontario began to collapse after prolonged exposure to small amounts of synthetic estrogen, similar to that found in birth control pills.

The study found male fish, including larger species like trout and suckers that have longer lifespans and feed on minnows, began producing egg proteins and that early stage eggs were even found in the testes of some of the fish.

The hormones also impacted the potency of male sperm, while female fish were found to produce more egg proteins, said researcher Karen Kidd.

"We knew male fish were becoming feminized because of the estrogens that are in sewage effluent," said Kidd, noting it's a phenomenon that's turned up in earlier studies.

The seven-year study involved adding five to six nanograms of estrogen per trillion liters of water - the equivalent of a few grains of sand in an Olympic size swimming pool - and studying the effect on the fish population.

Since estrogen is a chemical that will degrade within weeks of entering lakes and rivers, compared to stronger pollutants that can linger for decades, Kidd said fish populations will generally recover once the hormone is removed.

Those with already limited lifespans like minnows, however, face more dire consequences with even limited exposure, she said.

"The answer is certainly not in reducing the use of birth control pills, it's making sure our wastewaters are treated effectively," Kidd said, noting water treatment is a municipal responsibility that varies widely across the country.

"We're always putting these effluents into our rivers, so fish are always getting exposed even though the compounds are not persistent."

While secondary wastewater treatment can get rid up to 95 per cent of the estrogens released by sewage plants, Kidd said a lot of waste receives only primary treatment or in some cases none at all.

John Steele, a spokesman with Ontario's environment ministry, said wastewater treatment facilities are required to abide by certain provincial, and to some extent, federal requirements but it's ultimately municipalities that decide what's permitted into sewers.

– Canadian Press

Fish-flation

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer went shopping for Copper River salmon at Pike Place Market. They found a nice Chinook, weighing 45 pounds at only $26.67 a pound, or only $1,200!

Research News: Russians Worry Over King Crab Parasite

VLADIVOSTOK – Scientists from the Institute of Marine Biology of Far Eastern branch of Russian Academy of Sciences are really worried about health of commercial crabs, dwelling in the Sea of Okhotsk. Crabs are infested with rhizocephalan crustaceans (Sacculina sp. and others), and human beings do nothing but make the situation worse.

A rhizocephalan parasite is very hard to notice and even harder to recognize as a crustacean with a non-professional eye. Part of a parasite’s body, which is hidden inside a host crab, consists of numerous dendritic shoots, known as “roots."

Roots grow between a crab’s muscle fibers, causing their atrophy, and go further into the crab’s internal organs, including sexual glands – rendering the infested crab unable to propagate.

One parasite produces about 300-400 thousand larvae – naupliuses. When the time to propagate comes, a parasite grows so-called “externa” on the host’s abdominal side – in its' node, connected to the parasite’s inner part with a thin stem. Externa stores female reproductive products and is located where healthy crabs usually carry their own spawn.

When parasite’s naupliuses mature, they leave the externa, spend some time in water and then infest other crabs (a notable fact is that only female naupliuses enter crabs, while male ones exist only for delivering male germinal cells to externa).

Infested crabs remain alive for several years, remaining a host to the original parasite. The crab is ultimately weakened and unable to propagate.

When fishermen perform commercial fishing of crabs, they pick up only the best invertebrates, throwing sick ones back to the sea.

By throwing infested crab back to waters, fishermen perform a kind of reverse natural selection – they withdraw healthy animals, leaving sick ones, which continue spreading parasite larvae and infesting healthy crabs.

The more intensive commercial fishing is, the more sick crabs appear in the sea.

Scientists of Russian Far East have been following data on infested crabs: in the Sea of Okhotsk only golden king crabs (Lithodes aeguispina) are infested, red king crabs (Paralithodes camtschatica) showed nearly no signs of infection, and snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) appear to be absolutely healthy.

The situation on the Pacific coast of North America is not that optimistic – rhizocephalan parasites are found in golden king crabs, red king crabs, blue king crabs (Paralithodes platypus) and other commercial crab species.

In order to keep crab infestation on the existing level, scientists recommend destroying infested animals, not throwing them back to the sea.

– Russia InfoCentre

News: Charter Boat Skipper Gets Six Years

PORTLAND – An Oregon charter fishing boat captain was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment today in federal court in Portland.

Richard J. Oba of Winchester Bay was the owner and captain of the Sydney Mae II, a 38-foot boat Oba used to conduct fishing charters.

On September 19, 2005, Oba steered the boat into dangerous waters after being warned to stay away by the U. S. Coast Guard. The boat was struck by large wave and sunk off the Umpqua River Bar, killing three passengers. Oba had pled guilty to three counts of Seaman’s Manslaughter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1115.

The Honorable Ancer L. Haggerty, Chief Judge, agreed with prosecutors that Oba had acted recklessly, and upwardly departed to sentence Oba to 6 years.

Karin J. Immergut, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, and United States Coast Guard Captain Patrick G. Gerrity, Captain of the Port, Portland, applauded the sentence. “This sends the message loud and clear: if you ignore the warnings of the Coast Guard and tragedy results, you will go to prison,” Ms. Immergut said.

The sentence is believed to be the longest ever in this type of case. The pilot of Staten Island Ferry, operating in waters off New York City, received a sentence of 18 months after he fell asleep at the helm and crashed his ferry into a pier, killing eleven.

William Harris, age 57, of Springfield, Oregon; Virginia Strelow, age 63, of Reedsport, Oregon; and Paul Turner, age 76, of Boise, Idaho died as a result of the sinking of the Sydney Mae II on September 19, 2005.

Oba and passenger Jim Parker of Eugene were plucked from the ocean after the accident by Coast Guard stationed at Umpqua River.

– U.S. Coast Guard

News: Higher Canadian Dollar

OTTAWA – The Canadian dollar held above the 92-cent U.S. level on Tuesday as it traded in territory it hasn't seen since early October 1977.

The higher Canadian dollar means more expensive exports into the U.S., which presumably reduces sales.

In global currency markets, the loonie was at 92.17 cents US at 9 a.m. ET. In earlier trading, it went as high as 92.34 cents U.S.

Amid thin trading on Monday, the dollar broke through the 92-cent U.S. barrier for the first time in 30 years.

The loonie has gained more than 50% since its record low of 61.79 cents U.S. in early 2002.

Economists say the main reason for the loonie's recent strength has to do with the Bank of Canada and expectations that the central bank will be raising interest rates.

A strong retail sales report last Friday was the most recent piece of Canadian economic data to highlight that the central bank may need to raise rates as early as this summer.

Other reasons for the dollar's strength include persistently high commodity prices, the spate of takeovers of Canadian companies by foreign groups and an American dollar that is weakening against many foreign currencies.

In addition, monthly inflation figures showed the core rate of inflation, which excludes the most volatile items, rose to 2.5% in April. That's the highest in more than four years.

The Bank of Canada's next decision on interest rates is slated for May 29. The overnight rate (what banks charge each other for overnight loans) has been steady at 4.25% since May 2006.

– CBC

News In Depth: Cod Fishermen Tinker with Halibut Excluder

ANCHORAGE — It’s called the halibut excluder — a scary name for a nifty device, especially if you are a hapless halibut caught in a cod trawl net off Kodiak Island.

The island’s trawl fleet is working with scientists and a custom net manufacturer to modify cod trawl nets so that halibut, gathered up with the cod, can swim free.

Four trawl fishermen were allowed to fish outside the regular season to test the device. While modifications are needed, the halibut excluder could fix a big problem.

“If everyone used this you would expect the halibut bycatch to be cut in half,’’ said John Gauvin, cooperative research coordinator for the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, which is working with commercial fishermen on the project.

Bycatch is a scary word for fishermen. It refers to the fish that are unintentionally caught with the targeted fish, in this case halibut gathered up with Pacific cod around Kodiak Island.

Fishermen are allowed a certain amount of bycatch but must stop fishing when they exceed the limit. The cod and flatfish fishermen in the Gulf of Alaska are allowed 2,000 tons of halibut bycatch each year. If that amount is exceeded, the fisheries are shut down — no small matter for the approximately 100 trawlers working the gulf.

Gauvin said regulations to protect sea lions have accelerated the need for the halibut excluder. That’s because more of the cod season was moved to the fall when the fish are more dispersed, meaning that fishermen have to trawl longer to fill their nets. More trawling means more halibut bycatch.

The bycatch problem was so bad in the fall of 2004 and 2005 it shut down the gulf’s cod and flatfish fisheries.

Kent Helligso, owner of the 79-foot trawler Pacific Star, said the shutdown also had the effect of temporarily putting the town of Kodiak (pop. 6,000) out of work. About 1,000 people are employed in the town’s five or six fish processing plants.

This is how the halibut excluder works: the trawl net is fashioned with two large panels on the sides of the net about midway back with long, narrow slots for the halibut to swim free. Slots work well because halibut are a flat fish and can fit through the openings. Cod have large heads making escape more difficult.

Fish biologist Craig Rose with the National Marine Fisheries Service helped design a prototype that had panels made from fiberglass rods. Commercial fishermen liked the idea but could see the prototype needed modification. For one thing, the rods made the net too stiff to be wound on a net reel. The prototype also wasn’t durable enough for commercial fishing.

What developed was a real collaboration between the scientists, the commercial fishermen and the net manufacturer to come up with a workable excluder, Rose said. His agency provided information on fish behavior and equipment the fishermen didn’t have such as specialized sonar and an underwater camera. The fishermen brought practical knowledge to the table, he said.

The collaborative spirit extended to Kodiak’s trawl fleet of over 40 vessels. The fleet even delayed fishing in the fall of 2006 until all the boats had excluders.

The first test was held last August. However, the fishermen couldn’t find any cod. After a few more tests, they found the halibut couldn't get out, so they went back to the drawing board.

Gauvin came up with the idea of putting 8-inch diameter floats inside the excluder. They were tied loosely so that they would bounce around some, creating disturbed space for the fish.

Testing continued in April on Portlock Bank northeast of Kodiak. Four boats completed about 23 tows each, this time a real test. The excluder reduced halibut bycatch by more than 50%. However, it also reduced the cod catch by 20-30%.

Rose said researchers, the fishermen and the net manufacturer will be experimenting with different size slots and stiffer materials for the panels to keep more cod in the excluder while allowing more halibut out. The cod with their bigger heads can sometimes bend the cable and get out.

If the cod losses could be reduced to 5 percent, Rose said he would call the experiment good.

– Kodiak Daily Mirror

See the next issue of Pacific Fishing magazine for a look at work by Oregon pink shrimp fishermen as they develop a halibut excluder and achieve MSC certification.

News: Alaska Air sees Lower Profits

SEATTLE - Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines and regional carrier Horizon Air, said it expects adjusted net income for the second quarter and full year to be lower than in 2006 as expenses rise.

The Seattle-based airline cited "economic fuel costs, unit revenue trends and forecasted non-fuel unit costs" in a regulatory filing today.

Alaska Air, which operates mainly on the U.S. West Coast, is moving to an all-Boeing 737 fleet on its main routes to save money on fuel, parts and training.

The company has reached agreement with a buyer for all 20 of its older and less fuel- efficient McDonnell-Douglas MD-80s, according to the filing. The carrier will lease back most of the aircraft, increasing rental expenses, Alaska Air said.

Alaska Air "has been the most erratic performer among legacy carriers, and has consistently missed, or sometimes wildly exceeded, our EPS estimates," Standard & Poor's analyst Jim Corridore wrote in a research note today, cutting his stock recommendation to "sell" from "buy."

Alaska Air had a net loss of $52.6 million, or $1.39 a share, for 2006, on adjusted net income of $137.7 million, or $3.45. Last year the company reported a second-quarter profit of $55.5 million, or $1.38 a share, on adjusted net income of $60.3 million, or $1.50.

Shares of Alaska Air fell 70 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $28.50 at 11:28 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after touching $28.35 earlier. The stock declined 26% this year before today.

Analysts expected Alaska Air to report adjusted net income of $1.50 a share in the second quarter, the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. For the full year, adjusted net income was expected to be $3.64 a share, the average of 11 estimates.

Alaska Air said revenue per seat mile declined 1.5% in April, with its Horizon Airlines regional unit outperforming its main Alaska Airlines unit. The percentage of seats filled by paying customers declined by about 1.7 points to 76.9%.

Most U.S. airlines have said this year's domestic sales have been crimped by increased capacity and a slowing economy.

– Seattle Times

Feature in Depth: Retired Coastie Reminisces Prior to Reunion

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT - "Boy we had some calls in the 1960s and 1970s you wouldn't believe," retired Coast Guardsman Gary Hudson shares. "I remember once a lady had a heart attack on a charter boat and after we loaded her onto the litter and got her aboard we asked her husband if he wanted to go along to shore and he says he'd rather keep fishing for salmon."

Hudson says, "There were 18 or 20 of us guys stationed at Cape D during that time and we'd take over 700 calls a year. When Buoy 10 opened in the late 1970s, whew, we had even more. We were busy all the time."

Hudson hated basic training as he was seasick all the time and ended up on an icebreaker near the South Pole. Twenty years and one day later he retired as Chief Boswains Mate, having served two tours of duty at Cape D and also in Oregon, Alaska and Portsmith, Va.

"I can remember getting calls from tuna boats in trouble 100 miles out and we'd fish most of the way back while we towed them in. I took home a pickup load of tuna on occasion," Hudson says. "Then once we had an all-nighter when we helped a crab boat in trouble by the Lightship. The (Columbia River) Bar was closed, there were 30-foot seas and 60-knot winds and my entire crew was sicker than a dog. The crab boat rolled so bad the fire in the stove on board spilled out and we had to deal with that and the flooding. We made it back at 7 a.m., however."

Hudson says there were many fun times, too. "We met a lot of great local people from the Peninsula and we socialized a lot," he says. "There was a beer distributor who would always buy any serviceman in the tavern a drink when he made his deliveries. We learned his route and kept one tavern ahead of him all the way to Ocean Park."

There was one very sad time, as well. "I was transferred 10 days before the original Triumph went down. When I heard the news it was horrible, gut-wrenching. I knew all of the guys who didn't make it." On Jan. 12, 1961 the Triumph was attempting to save the distressed fishing vessel Mermaid on Peacock Spit when a series of huge waves struck and capsized both boats, killing five of the six USCG personnel on board and both crew members of the Mermaid.

May 27 at 9:30 a.m. the USCG will hold a memorial service for those men who were lost that night in 1961. "A man can't feel he did wrong when he was doing his job the best way he could, but things didn't always work out the way we wanted out there," Hudson explains.

The most dangerous situation Hudson was involved in personally happened near Clatsop Spit. "We were practicing heavy weather surf rescues and I got in where I shouldn't have been at Clatsop Spit. My motor lifeboat pitch-poled on a breaker and I almost lost two guys, but luckily they both survived. I learned a lesson that day!"

Hudson describes his time in the Coast Guard as peaceful, comic, and tragic and he says without a doubt, "I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. I'm looking forward to seeing the 44s again next weekend. Those are the boats I grew up on. I still can remember the sound, the feel, the smell." Two 44-foot motor lifeboats that have been de-commissioned will make their way down the Columbia River from Portland and be on display at Cape D Saturday and Sunday during the USCG reunion to be attended by over 100 men and another 150 or so family members.

"I can't believe all the improvements that the Coast Guard has made over the years," Hudson says. "We didn't have survival suits, let alone wet suits. We had life jackets and rain gear. We were lucky to have a radio and only one boat had radar. Now they have GPS, Loran, and radar that interface with hand-held computers. And the 52s are fabulous."

Hudson relates, "In the old days we didn't have to do much drug enforcement and there was no such thing as Homeland Security. I was on icebreakers, cutters in Vietnam, motor lifeboats, worked in the open ocean, and helped with port security during my time and I loved the excitement of the work, the great sense of personal accomplishment."

After Hudson retired, he "got the biggest pilot's license I could get" and continued his work at sea. He earned the title of Able Body Seaman, Unlimited, had a 100-ton pilot's license and a charter boat license. Hudson ran charters out of Ilwaco and on the Columbia River, was on a tug in Prudhoe Bay, worked for NOAA in the Bering Sea, and ran a dredge for the Army Corps of Engineers from California to Alaska. He now resides in Toledo.

Hudson teamed up with Earnie Cassimus of Baton Rouge, La., Frank Wescovich of Biloxi, Miss., and Robert Meneghini of Enumclaw to organize the USCG reunion planned for this coming weekend. May 26, he and 250 other people will get together for an open house with the public invited at the Long Beach Elks from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. A banquet and guest speakers will be for only those registered for the reunion beginning at 5 p.m.

Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. the memorial service will take place in sight of Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Two 44-foot motor lifeboats that the Sea Scouts are bringing from Portland and the 44 motor lifeboat from Ilwaco will take passengers out to the Columbia River Bar and a helicopter from Astoria will drop a ceremonial wreath. Cape D personnel will later provide a barbecue for the reunion guests and will provide a tour of the base and lifeboat school.

"I'm expecting some great stories and a few bad ones at the reunion," Hudson jokes. "We will honor about 40 men who made that final bar crossing and many of their widows and children will be in attendance." He concludes by saying, "Serving in the Coast Guard was a very fulfilling career. I still have all the many letters of appreciation I got from people I helped along the way. My grandson is interested in the Coast Guard and I've heartily recommended he join up. Serving in the Coast Guard is a great life."

– Chinook Observer

News: Questionable Food Outlets to be Outed Online

New South Wales (Australia) consumers will now be able to find out if their local restaurant or takeaway has been convicted over a pest problem or a dirty kitchen, in a move long sought by the public.

NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says the NSW Food Authority has the right, under the Food Act, to publish notification on any outlet which has been convicted of an offense under the act.

“The good news is that the authority will start doing that with new prosecutions within the next two months,” he said.

“The majority of food outlets in NSW are doing the right thing and they are to be applauded.

“Those few rogue traders who think they can rip people off or who put the health of customers at risk deserve to be named.”

Similar systems already operate in the United States and Britain while in Sydney, Woollahra and Blacktown councils have taken steps to publicly identify outlets in breach of food safety standards, Fairfax reported today.

Macdonald said $88,500 in fines had been imposed on food outlets in the past 12 months, with costs of $141,000 awarded.

In the past six months, the authority had finalised 12 prosecutions, he said.

“For instance, four charges were brought against the proprietor of a Sydney retail fish shop owner for the false description of seafood,” he said. “The proprietor was ordered to pay a total fine of $15,375 and to pay the authority's costs of $4,985.”

Information on breaches of food safety standards will be available on the NSW Food Authority website.

- The Australian

News: Man's Body Found by Coastguard

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - The body of a young man believed to have been a commercial fisherman was found Monday by a Coast Guard helicopter crew that had been dispatched to look for a scallop boat in distress some 30 miles off the Jersey Shore.

In addition, a Coast Guard rescue operation for another individual thought to also have been on board the Mary James was expected to continue into today, more than a day after the 40-foot scalloper went missing in chilly waters east of Barnegat Light.

"The search will go on all night," said Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards. "At this point, we're full speed ahead, and holding out hope that we can find this guy alive."

The Coast Guard did not release the names of the fishermen, pending notification of family members, or provide any details about what might have happened to the boat.

An inflated, empty life raft and an empty life ring have been the only objects recovered from the Mary James, Edwards said. The boat itself remained miss-ing Monday night.

"Red" Stillufsen, an experienced fisherman who owns the Manasquan River slip in Point Pleasant Beach where the Mary James has moored for several years, said two men in their 20s, a captain and a deck hand, had been on board.

Stillufsen said he last saw the crew members Sunday evening before they embarked on what appeared to have been a routine trip. He knew the captain as an experienced fisherman who would trowel the Atlantic year-round.

The Coast Guard found the body about 9 a.m. Monday about a mile from where someone aboard the Mary James broadcast mayday over the boat's radio some 10 hours earlier. The victim was found wearing a life vest around one of his arms.

The life raft and the ring were found in roughly the same spot. The body was found a mile away.

- Asbury Park Press

News in Depth: Court Tells Exxon No More Hearings

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday denied Exxon Mobil Corp.'s request for another hearing, letting stand its ruling that the energy giant owes $2.5 billion in punitive damages for its 1989 oil spill in Alaska.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is a milestone, ending a ping-pong cycle of decisions and appeals between the California court and the Alaska district court.

An Exxon spokesman said yes, the company will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wednesday's ruling cheered commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs who believe the end of the epic civil case might now be in sight and people hurt by the spill might receive some payment from Exxon.

The San Francisco court had three times heard appeals since an Anchorage jury on Sept. 16, 1994, returned a stunning $5 billion punitive damages verdict against Exxon.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say about 20% of their clients in the extensive class action have died waiting for payment. The class now stands at about 33,000 commercial fishermen, cannery workers, landowners and Natives, local governments and businesses.

Under court rules, either side has 90 days, or until Aug. 21, to appeal. However, it's possible to get an extension of that deadline, said David Tarshes, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Once an appeal is filed, it's a waiting game to see whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.

David Oesting, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, estimated Wednesday that an appeal "will further prolong the process by at least six months."

If the Supreme Court were to reject the case, perhaps by November, then a separate team of lawyers would go to work disbursing payments according to an elaborate grid of claimants.

If the $2.5 billion amount stands, Exxon would owe much more than that -- perhaps close to $5 billion -- due to years of accrued interest at a rate of 5.9 percent.

The case seems to raise important questions of how to weigh the level of punitive damages against mitigating factors in cases of "reprehensible" misconduct such as "placing a known relapsed alcoholic in command of a supertanker," the appeals court wrote in December when it set the damages at $2.5 billion.

The highest level of punitive damages against Exxon isn't warranted, a panel of judges ruled in a 2-1 decision, in part because Exxon tried to clean up the spill and didn't set out to deliberately cause a catastrophe.

Joseph Hazelwood was captain of the tanker Exxon Valdez when it ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil.

Since 1991, the Supreme Court has considered a string of precedent-setting cases on punitive damages -- cases that the San Francisco court used to set the $2.5 billion judgment against Exxon.

A spokesman for Houston-based Exxon, which reported a record $9.3 billion in profit for the first three months of this year, said the Exxon Valdez case warrants consideration by the nation's highest court.

Exxon's lawyers contend the company owes no more than $25 million, having already laid out more than $3 billion for compensatory payments, the spill cleanup and settlement of state and federal claims.

"We have said many times that it is our continued view that the U.S. Supreme Court needs to provide more definitive guidance to the lower courts on the law governing punitive damages," said Gantt Walton, an Exxon spokesman.

Nearly 13 years of back-and-fourth judicial proceedings outraged fishermen and other plaintiffs who said they couldn't understand why the courts couldn't decide the case quicker.

- Anchorage Daily News

Event News

Conference on Alaska Food Sources, 6/13-14
SOLDOTNA, Alaska -- Global Foods Collaborative and the Kenai Wild salmon branding association are teaming up to bring a two-day conference and trade show to the Kenai Peninsula June 13 and 14 at the Soldotna Sports Center.

The conference is designed to welcome commercial and institutional buyers, investors and supply chain partners to meet Alaska's commercial harvesters and producers of food and bio products. The event will highlight the diversity of Alaska's industry and encourages participants to work across industry sectors horizontally and vertically to leverage resources and reduce costs. It is the first of what is expected to be a biennial event.

Components of the conference will include presentations by decision-makers in the field of consumer and commercial trends for food and food-based products; an awards presentation featuring those who have beat the odds in Alaska by creating world-class food and food-based businesses; featured presentations by Alaska producers addressing barriers that limit their faster or larger growth; presentations by equipment, technology and services experts that support best practices of food production; a two-day exhibit and tradeshow; and optional site visits of local food and bio products businesses.

According to Global Foods, a wide variety of industry participants with businesses of all sizes and throughout several regions of the world have consistently requested an event in Alaska that provides them an opportunity to meet Alaska's market during the production season.

Exhibitors will include Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Plitt Fish, The Crab Broker, Kenai River Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, Northern Wild Reds, Harbor Crown Seafoods and the Alaska Quality Seafoods program, along with numerous other fisheries and nonfisheries-related exhibitors.

For a schedule of events, as well as a full list of all 105 exhibitors, visit the Kenai Wild website and follow the "events" link, or call Valerie at (907) 335-WILD (9453).

International Pacific Halibut Commission Workshop, 6/27-28
The International Pacific Halibut Commission is conducting a workshop to finalize changes to its stock assessment model presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting. The workshop is June 27 and 28 at the Hotel Nexus in Seattle.

While employing the same stock assessment model as had been used previously, the assessment used the model to determine a single coast-wide estimate of exploitable biomass, instead of applying the stock assessment model to each regulatory area. This single coast-wide estimate was then apportioned into IPHC regulatory area estimates using data from the fishery-independent IPHC setline stock assessment survey and estimates of bottom area from each regulatory area.

The workshop is intended be technical, rather than educational, and participants are expected to be familiar with the IPHC assessment process. Relevant documents are IPHC Scientific Report 83, which describes the assessment model and harvest policy.

Registration is due by June 15. Registration forms and relevant documents can be found online at the IPHC website.

- Homer Tribune

News in Depth: Port of Astoria: "We’re broke"

ASTORIA -- The Port of Astoria will be pinching pennies in 2007-08, still plagued by costs from its 2005 dredging violations.

The Port cleaned out its savings to balance next year's budget and still doesn't have the money to hire a new executive director to replace Peter Gearin, who was fired in February.

At a budget hearing Wednesday, Port Interim Executive Director Ron Larsen announced a projected $23,379 surplus in the agency's general fund by mid-2008. That's after cutting back 26% on operating expenses, leaving the director position vacant, and assuming the agency can hire a new attorney at the rate it was paying former counsel Heather Reynolds, who resigned this month.

The committee approved a budget of $8,977,864 and a tax levy of $477,900. The Port's budget in 2004-05 was more than $20 million.

"It's an austere budget - no doubt," Larsen said after the Port's budget committee meeting Wednesday. "I'm trying to get us out of the hole and get some money back in the bank."

More than $800,000 in environmental fines, legal and consulting fees tied to the agency's 2005 dredging violations and an ongoing legacy of contamination clean-up caused the Port to sacrifice what would have been $600,000 in surplus revenues last year, said Larsen.

According to Larsen, the agency still owes about $125,000 in related legal fees.

"The goal of this year is to pay off existing debt," said Larsen, who said the legal fees need to be paid to "keep our head above water."

"We're broke," Commissioner Larry Pfund said after the meeting. "We're not funding positions that need to be funded. ... We're robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Pfund said he was embarrassed by an ad the Port ran in the newspaper in February claiming the agency was "broke - and proud of it."

"I'm not proud of the condition of our budget," he said. "I think our costs in legal fees were unnecessarily high, and they're not over yet. We've got obligations to continue offering legal protection to some (former employees), and questions are still being asked by investigating agencies. The meter is still running with the attorneys."

The Port hired Tom Imdieke, a former financial manager for the city of Tigard, to build the budget in the absence of a chief financial officer, a position that was also held by Gearin.

After starting the 2006-07 fiscal year with a negative balance of $406,859 in its general fund, Imdieke explained, the Port transferred about $230,000 from a timber revenue savings account to end the year with a positive balance of $146,637.

The $322,000 remaining in the agency's Special Revenue Account is earmarked for debt payments to the city of Warrenton for the recent waterline improvement project at the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton.

The Port owes $1.6 million for debt service next year, which includes payments for improvement projects at Pier 1 and at Bornstein Seafoods, among others. If anticipated revenue sources for the next year aren't realized, Larsen reported, the agency will have to consider cutting back on $2.6 million in capital improvement projects such as the Lektro building remodel, dredging and a trail improvement program, reducing infrastructure improvement projects and cutting personnel.

Larsen said hiring new counsel could "very well cost more than we were paying Heather Reynolds."

To boost the $1,548,350 in estimated lease and rental revenues for next year, Commissioner Don McDaniel suggested the agency take a closer look at unpaid rent from its tenants.

As of April 30, the Port was owed $393,855 in overdue bills from tenants on land, in the marinas and at the piers.

Larsen said the Port is instructing its new bookkeeper, Colleen Browne, to start a more aggressive bill collection strategy.

– Daily Astorian

News: Environmentalist Charged with Environmental Transgressions

CRESCENT CITY -- A local environmentalist's property is considered a public nuisance due to the presence of a malfunctioning septic system and drainage ditch that spewed raw sewage into Lake Earl.

On Tuesday, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors declared Eileen Cooper's property at 181 Mobile Lane a public nuisance and ordered her to repair the property and pay fines until the project is completed.

"You allowed the sewage to run...without regard to public safety and the environment," District Four Supervisor Gerry Hemmingsen said. "I think it's a blatant disregard for the rules, the environment and the community."

According to Code Enforcement Officer Dave Mason, the property was overloaded with people and too many people were using the same septic system. He said the septic tank was so full that the sewage would spill under the house and into the drainage ditch still warm, with the ditch leading to Lake Earl.

Cooper, a vocal environmentalist and board member of the Friends of Del Norte, does not live on the property, and said she rented it out to several people.

"I know there were a lot of people living in my house, but it was only rented to one person," Cooper said.

She said that when she found out about the problem she evicted the seven residents and tried to fix the septic tank.

"We did know that we had a very serious problem and we did try to take care of it," Cooper said, but added that she had difficulty getting people to actually do the work for her.

For the supervisors, this excuse didn't work, since Cooper has known of the problem since 2005 and has not fixed anything.

Currently, there is no sewage coming from Cooper's property as the septic tank has been drained and no one lives in the home anymore.

– Crescent City Daily Triplicate

News: Utility to Tear Down Oregon Dam

SANDY, Ore. -- Portland General Electric will begin tearing down Marmot Dam to create a barrier-free route to spawn "It's a business decision that makes sense for the environment," said John Esler, PGE's acting director of hydro licensing and water rights PGE is beginning to demolish two dams in the Sandy River basin--a historic move that will save money, restore migratory fish habitat and wipe Roslyn Lake off the map.

This summer, contractors will start drilling and sawing the 47-foot-high Marmot Dam on the Sandy River, the largest dam removed on the West Coast in the past 40 years, PGE said.

Next year, contractors will cut down a smaller dam on the Little Sandy River and push in the berms of the 100-year-old manmade lake, which was used to store the rivers' water above the Bull Run Powerhouse.

The plan, announced eight years ago, is intended to give wild fish a barrier-free route between Mount Hood and the Pacific Ocean.

"It's a business decision that makes sense for the environment," said Esler.

The company intended to relicense the Bull Run Hydroelectric Project in 1999 when it took a hard look at the costs of maintaining aging infrastructure and meeting potentially stricter environmental rules.

The project generates a relatively small amount of electricity --enough to power about 12,000 homes --and the calculation was clear, company spokesman Mark Fryburg said.

"Our estimate back then was if we removed the dam, it would cost $20.4 million. If we kept the dam, it would cost $27.2 million," Fryburg said.

The project should be completed next year.

PGE got its final permit for the plan this week from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But it has spent years working out the details. In 2002, it announced a removal agreement negotiated with 22 groups.

But the project had to wait until this year to protect a wild fish sanctuary.

Right now, hatchery fish, identified by their clipped fins, are pulled from the Marmot Dam's fish ladder and sent back downstream. Wild fish swim to the sanctuary above the dam.

Removing the dam meant removing that sanctuary.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife changed its hatchery on the Sandy in ways that protect wild fish. Hatchery workers now use eggs from wild parents instead of generic stock. Before they are released, workers spend about four extra weeks imprinting them with "home" water of a creek well below the dam.

When these fish return from the ocean to spawn, they are more likely to return to the creek than to stray upstream, said the agency's district fisheries biologist, Todd Alsbury. However, that first group of new hatchery fish won't return until next year, so destruction of the dam couldn't begin until now, planners said.

Wild fish should benefit in several ways. Summer flow in the rivers should be faster and colder, which is better for young fish, Alsbury said. Summer power generation takes almost all the water from the Little Sandy and more than half of the water that reaches the Marmot.

– The Oregonian