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Summary for October 8 - October 12, 2007:

Monday, October 8. 2007

Gillnetters Mop Up Chinook

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Two nights of gillnetting between Woodland and Beacon Rock to mop up fall Chinook salmon were approved Wednesday by the Columbia River Compact.

 The net fleet fished from 7 p.m. Wednesday until 7 a.m. Thursday; then  7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday.

 Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said a catch of about 800 Chinook, 200 Coho and 100 sturgeon is projected.

 The netters will be required to use between 8-inch-minimum and 9 ¾ -inch-maximum mesh.

 Also open today is a net season to target sturgeon from the mouth of the Columbia at Buoy 10 upstream to Beacon Rock. That fishery has a 9-inch-minimum mesh.

 Les Clark of the Northwest Gillnetters Association said Washington and Oregon are allowing commercial fishing "two days a week after all the fish are gone.''

 The quality of fall Chinook caught this late in the run is "zilch,'' he said.

 Netters are allowed seven sturgeon per calendar week. The weekly limit is to keep the fleet from using up its sturgeon allocation before the Chinook and Coho commercial fisheries slated for October are finished.

 "Once the sturgeon are taken up it's not worth going fishing,'' Clark said. "We're chasing the horse that got out of the barn.''

 The commercial fleet caught 4,000 fall Chinook in August and about 4,400 in September.

 The sport fleet has caught more than 13,000 fall Chinook between the Buoy 10, lower Columbia and mid-Columbia fisheries.

 State officials will meet by telephone at 11 a.m. Friday to set seasons for Coho in the lower Columbia.

 Ehlke said the commercials have about 15,000 Coho left to catch. It is anticipated they'll fish one or two days per week in October.

 Hobe Kytr of Salmon For All, an Astoria-based commercial fishing group, urged the Coho days in October be on Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays, rather than just one day in between.

 Netters in the Cathlamet area say two days are needed to get enough Coho upstream to make fish available.

 Coho do not bite well on sport gear in the lower Columbia, with a total catch of 1,000 to 2,000 annually projected. – The Columbian, Vancouver,  Wash.

Outstanding Newport Fishermen Honored

NEWPORT, Ore. - Newport Fishermen's Wives Association recently honored nine outstanding local fishermen who were inducted into the Lincoln County Fishermen's Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Each of these fishermen are legends in their own right. They were nominated by their peers based on criteria set forth by the Newport Fishermen's Wives Association. Criteria included fishermen who were retired or semi-retired from fishing and have made significant contributions to the fishing industry and our community.

 This year's honorees are as follows:

 Craig Cochran has been in commercial fishing for close to 50 years.

 Cochran has been involved in salmon trolling, albacore tuna and Dungeness crab fisheries, with minor participation in the pink shrimp fishery. For the last 10 years his vessels have been long lining, and joint venture fishing in Newport and Alaska. Over the years Cochran has been associated with fishing vessels including the Minnie R, Donna B, Seabreeze II, Four Seas, Bay Island, and New Life.

 Cochran was on the board of the Fishermen's Marketing Association of Eureka for a few years, and is currently on the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative board and the Alaska Draggers Association board. Cochran is very active in the Pacific hake management process, representing the fishery at state and federal meetings.

 Mark Cooper has been in the fishing industry for close to 50 years.

 Cooper fished with his dad on the F/V Caremi until 1973 when he became the captain and began running the vessel. They fished for salmon, crab, and albacore, and put in some of the best salmon and tuna seasons ever in Newport.

 In 1977 Cooper built his first boat, the Persistence, and fished for shrimp and crab. In 1978 he built the Patience, fished it for shrimp and crab, and rigged it for midwater trawling.  From 1985 to 1993 Cooper bought three more boats: the Perseverance, the Persuader and the Predator.

 Cooper was one of the founding members of the Oregon Shrimp Cooperative. He presently serves on the Oregon Trawl Commission, and just might show up one of these days on the Advisory Panel for the North Pacific Fisheries Managing Council. Cooper is a "go to guy" for fishermen/scientist research discussions and project planning. No stranger to community organizations, Cooper served as a Port of Newport Commissioner.

 Herb Goblirsch has been in the fishing industry for 36 years. He has been married to his wife, Ginny, for 24 years. Goblirsch has been a member of the Oregon Salmon Commission and the Oregon Albacore Commission.

 Goblirsch was a leader in the successful fight to stop the rapidly expanding (and generally frightening) practice of high seas driftnet fishing.

 Goblirsch and Ginny were early leaders in the direct-off-the-boat tuna sales business. They began their custom retail business, Oregon's Choice, and developed their own label sold in many health food stores around the country.

 Goblirsch is a talented artist, illustrating very accurate drawings of the various commercial fishing vessels and their gear configurations. A leader in the marine debris clean-up effort, Goblirsch's drawing of fish entangled in a six pack ring with the saying, "Don't Teach Your Trash to Swim," is one that has been used worldwide, and is still being used today.

 Bob (Jake) Jacobson has been in the fishing industry for more than 40 years.

 As a marine extension agent for 29 years, Jacobson was able to get start projects which helped the fishing industry. He launched the sea safety and survival training program, working hard to introduce survival suits to fishermen when they first came on the market. Survival suits are now found on every commercial fishing vessel in our fleet.

 Jacobson is probably best known for his ability to get consensus among opposing groups. In 1968, Jacobson organized the first town hall-type meetings with fishermen and what is now known as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 Although now retired from Oregon Sea Grant, commercial fishing, and the ODFW commission, Jacobson is still active managing his "fleet" in Alaska, serving on the advisory panel to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

 Ken Martinson was a commercial fisherman for 51 years. He died on December 21, 2006. He was married to his wife and high school sweetheart, Cheryl, for 38 years; she died in 2003. They are survived by two sons, Chris, a commercial fisherman, and Paul, an auto mechanic; and four grandchildren.

 Martinson was one of the first wave of fishermen in Oregon to outfit a boat for double-rig shrimping, a technique started in the Gulf of Mexico prawn fishery. He was always very involved with the crab fishery, representing fishermen in marketing efforts and moving the fishery into limited entry.

 He was sought out for his expertise in fisheries science, research and management. He was an enthusiastic participant in the early efforts to get fishermen and scientists to work together.

 According to friends and peers, Martinson was humble, hard working, and one of the most respected fishermen in Oregon.

 Joe Rock has been a commercial fisherman for 50 years.

 Rock has been associated with many vessels over the years but his current boat is The Last Dance, a former Oregon State University research vessel which Rock transformed into a fishing vessel. "It is named The Last Dance because this it, my Last Dance as a fisherman," he said. His favorite fishery is crabbing.

 Rock is a constant supporter of the Newport Fishermen's Wives organization. Joe feels the biggest thing he has done for the community is simply to help other fishermen. "I've been helped by fishermen through the years, and now I try to help other fishermen in the same way," he said.

 Rock has been involved in cooperative research including the Scientists and Fishermen Exchange, which links marine research projects to the fishing community. Rock is also a voting member of the FINE committee, or Fishermen Involved in Natural Energy, which works closely with the county, Oregon Sea Grant, and wave energy developers.

 Stan Schones has been a commercial fisherman for almost 50 years.

 Having garnered much of his fishery experience in southern California, Schones brought his knowledge to Newport when he moved here in 1979. He has brailed for mackerel (once catching 15 1/2 tons in one night), gillnetted for California halibut, white sea bass, soup fin sharks, thresher sharks, and swordfish. He jig fished for albacore tuna, yellow fin tuna, and skipjack tuna. Schones says yellow fin tuna with poles is still his favorite fishery.

 He has served on the Developmental Fisheries Board for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and currently serves on the Washington Department of Fisheries Sardine Advisory Board. He helped start the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, and has served for many years as an officer in the Newport Crab Marketing Association.

 Jim Seavers has been a commercial fisherman for 30 years.

 Shrimp is still his favorite fishery. "It is a challenging fishery that you do well at if you pay attention to what you are doing and put in a lot of time," he said.

 Seavers was the lead liaison for the Port Liaison Project (PLP) from 2003-07. The PLP was a National Marine Fisheries Service funded project that paired marine research projects to fishermen, actual hiring fishermen to help with much needed marine research. He has actively participated in the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative for the past 20 years.

 Seavers is secretary for the Oregon Fishermen's Cable Committee, and the chair of the advisory panel for the Bandon Submarine Cable Committee. He is also a member of the Fishermen Involved in Natural Energy (FINE) committee, and the Port of Newport's advisory committee for rebuilding the marine terminal.

 Terry Thompson has been in the fishing industry for almost 50 years.

 Involved in numerous fisheries related projects, Thompson was there when the first shovel full of dirt was turned on the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center. "I don't think any fishermen in those days had any idea how much its construction would change our lives."

 Thompson worked with the first infrared temperature sensing equipment using an airplane to study salmon. This project later developed into using the Nimbus 7 satellite and started our modern day sea temperature profiles.

 Thompson was one of the original investors of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Ore Aqua, and the Oregon Coast bank. He has been active in coaching youth basketball and track. His latest project is to get fishermen recognized by Federal Energy Commission by extending Lincoln County authority to 3 miles offshore and creating the Fishermen Involved in Natural Energy (FINE) Committee.

 Perhaps Thompson's greatest contribution to the community has been as state representative from 1995 to 2001, and in his current role as a Lincoln County Commissioner. - Newport News Times, OR

Klamath Stakeholders Tour, Share Issues

KLAMATH RIVER, Ore. - Farmers, fishermen, ranchers, Indian tribes, miners and loggers share the Klamath River, and their livelihoods depend on it.

In late September, an alliance of Oregon coastal commercial fishermen, Klamath Basin irrigators, Yurok and Karuk tribes, along with representatives, elected officials and other guests toured the Klamath River Basin.

"We're solution-based," said fisherman Paul Merz from Charleston. "We want solutions that don't favor one user over another. Klamath River controls our fishing. Our heritage is going away."

The two-day weekend tour included Iron Gate Dam, Scott Valley conservation projects, a Klamath Basin organic "walking wetland" and Tulelake Refuge. Some presentations preceded the tour.

Oregon State University scientist Sarah Bjork described diseases that are partly responsible for declining numbers of Klamath River fall Chinook salmon.

Yurok Troy Fletcher and Karuk Ron Reed said dam removal would bring back more fish. Reed said he only caught 200 last year. Fletcher said the Yuroks caught 6,000, but they use a different type of net and a larger area.

Craig Tucker, Klamath Campaign coordinator for the Karuk Tribe, said he asked Klamath Water Users Association executive director Greg Addington: "We want dams out; what do you want that we can get the dams out?"

Addington said that in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission settlement negotiations, the farmers are asking for three things: a power rate reflecting the value of Klamath Basin water for power, a reliable supply of irrigation water and safe harbor from regulations when new endangered species are introduced.

The tour bus first went by Iron Gate dam and communities near the reservoirs.

Gary Black, with the Siskiyou Resource Conservation District, showed the visitors a fish screen on Patterson Creek in Scott Valley.


Day one ended with the Karuks cooking salmon over a fire for their new "brothers."

The tour proceeded to Lower Klamath where Bob Flowers' family settled in the 1800s. He showed where Lower Klamath fields are 11 feet lower than the Keno reef, where water flowed from Klamath River into Lower Klamath Lake before the reclamation project was built. He said the flawed biological opinions demand more water from irrigators than ever was or will be physically possible to attain.

Mike Noonan showed the guests his organic "walking wetland" project.

At a lunch stop, salmon fisherman Rick Shepherd from Crescent City said millions of dollars have been lost in coastal communities because of Klamath River mismanagement. He said there were no season closures from May 1 through Sept. 30 before 1985. "In 2006 there was zero season, and in 2007 there was a three-day season, 30 fish per day. It was another undeclared disaster." Last year the season was closed because of a projected shortage of 2,000 fish.

He said during fall salmon returns, an estimated 300 sea lions linger at the mouth of the Klamath. If 300 eat one fish per day August through Oct. 14, that's 22,000 fish, he estimated.

Commercial salmon fisherman Rick Goche from Coquille said coastal fishing seasons are based on early forecasts of how many fish might come into the Klamath based in part on adult return counts four years previous. He said National Marine Fishery Service admits the model it includes fish counts in is only 50 percent right 50 percent of the time. "They need to start counting all the fish, not what someone determines are wild fish and someone determines are hatchery fish."

Compiled by Elaine RiotOne of the organizers, Dick Carleton, said, "The event was a great success. We had a chance to visit and learn some of the issues facing each of the communities." - Capital Press  OR

Sharks: From Killer to Cuddly?

After the giant panda, the fur seal and the whale, European environmental campaigners are set to launch their new poster idol: the shark.

"Sharks aren't as cuddly as pandas, but they play an important role in the ocean. The removal of sharks from the food chain would have dramatic consequences," Sandrine Polti, marine scientist at environmental group Oceana, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

For centuries, sharks have been feared and reviled in European culture as murderous, unstoppable killers of the sea.

"The Jaws movies didn't help at all. It's much more complex to talk to people about sharks than about, say, whales," Polti admitted.

But the immense biological family of the sharks - ranging from the dogfish, less than half a meter long, to the six-meter Great White and the 15-metre Whale Shark - plays a crucial role in the ocean food chain, scientists say.

The largest shark regularly spotted in European waters is the plankton-eating Basking Shark, which can grow up to 12 meters long. Great White sharks spawn and reproduce in the Mediterranean.

Among the family are sharks which clean the ocean floor of rubbish and sharks which hunt weak or injured animals. The Whale Shark, despite its immense size, feeds solely on plankton.

And the family is now under severe threat from commercial fishermen, experts say.

Whereas the EU's fisheries of cod, haddock and other food fish are closely regulated and policed, Europe's shark fisheries are all but unregulated - and as other fish stocks become exhausted, they are becoming more and more popular.

One of the most controversial practices in modern fishing is the catching of sharks solely for their fins. On some vessels, the sharks have their fins cut off while they are still alive, and are then thrown back into the water.

That practice is illegal, but current systems are simply inadequate to deal with the situation, Oceana's experts say.

On Monday, the group is set to launch its European Shark Week, with a series of promotional events to be held in aquaria and schools across the continent. The event is set to include presentations, conferences, posters and a petition, Polti said. - DigitalJournal.com, Canada 

Member Sought for Fishery Council

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced that she is seeking applications from members of the public interested in serving on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. The NPFMC is responsible for managing federal fisheries inside the United States 200 mile zone.

An appointment will be made later this month to fill the remainder of the term of resigning council member Ed Rasmuson. The unexpired term runs from January 1, 2008, when Rasmuson's resignation becomes effective, through August 10, 2009. Interested parties should submit a resume and letter of interest showing that they are knowledgeable and experienced with regard to conservation and management, or the recreational or commercial harvest of the fishery resources of Alaska.

 Applications should be submitted no later than October 26, 2007 to allow time for the nomination and appointment process.

 For more information about the North Pacific Fishery Management Council or how to submit an application, visit http://gov.state.ak.us/boards/ or call 465-3500. – News release

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Tuesday, October 9. 2007

Endangered Herring: Why the Lynn Canal?

• By Andy Rauwolf and co-writers John Harrington and Laurence "Snapper" Carson, members of the Ketchikan Herring Action Group

 JUNEAU, Alaska – We find it interesting that the National Marine Fisheries Service has recently considered listing the Lynn Canal herring stocks as threatened or endangered. In its approximately 75 years, NMFS' Juneau laboratory has conducted extensive research on herring populations throughout Southeast. In 1982, they witnessed how six years of a state-managed sac roe fishery depleted the herring stocks in Lynn Canal to a level which could no longer sustain the population of whales, sea lions and salmon that had thrived on it, causing its collapse.

 Why, after 25 years, is NMFS just now considering this listing? Is it really for the sake of the herring, depleted long ago and never able to recover - or is it to appease the Sierra Club, which, having shown no previous interest in the welfare of our herring stocks, now wishes to use them as a tool to halt development of a mine in this area?

 Lynn Canal is not an isolated case of depleting these rich and oily fish that are so essential to several species of salmon and bottomfish, as well as most marine birds and mammals. It was once one of seven major herring spawns along with dozens of smaller spawning populations that painted Southeast's waters white each spring, keeping salmon and other predators fat and healthy.

 Of thousands of square miles of Southeast waters, only Sitka Sound remains as a major herring spawning area. All other areas now host much smaller, severely depleted or nonexistent populations. Herring were once so abundant that from 1900 to 1960, more than 60 herring reduction plants operated year-round throughout Southeast, employing more than 2,000 people. The bays were so full of herring that bait herring were seined in the boat harbors and in front of the cold storage docks.

 In 1976, the sac roe fishery began in earnest, with Japanese buyers paying more than $2,000 per ton just to get the eggs. In a few short years, local residents began seeing a significant decline in Southeast herring populations. As local pilots, sport and commercial fisherman and other residents watched the herring biomass wither, Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists with bachelor degrees denied there was anything wrong with the way they managed the fishery. Instead, they claimed that in each case the herring "must have moved." Biologists failed to factor into their equations the steady increase in the whale population following the implementation of the National Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972.

 We are now witnessing significantly larger humpback whale populations, which prefer to feed on herring and can consume as much as 3 tons per day per whale, putting enormous pressure on what remains of Southeast's dwindling herring stocks, making it impossible for depleted stocks to rebuild to any extent.

 The depletion of herring stocks can be attributed to at least two factors. One is a broken system of management. Fish and Game makes recommendations to the Board of Fish, but all final decisions are directed by the seven-member appointed board, the majority of who are involved in the fishing industry. Every proposal submitted to the public relating to herring conservation since 1993 has been rejected. At times, four of the seven board members have been herring permit holders. The "fox has been guarding the hen house" for far too long.

 Secondly, federal biologists lacked adequate long-range planning while drafting the marine mammal protection act. They did not factor in the huge impact on available food resources from the resulting population explosion of several species of marine mammals.

 Unfortunately, as things stand, the cycle will probably have to run its course, culminating in the starvation of large numbers of herring predators, including humpback whales. Meanwhile, be prepared to continue seeing smaller runs of smaller fish as hatcheries continue to release millions of salmon fry into waters that once teemed with herring but are now "plowed fields."

 With the popularity for herring roe in Japan dwindling, and the prices paid to fishermen only a fraction of what was once a very lucrative market, aren't herring really worth more to all of us if left in the water? Juneau Empire

Man Gets Ticket for Speeding Too Close to Whales

SEATTLE – A Monroe man accused of speeding too close to two killer whales has become the first person cited under a San Juan County law intended to protect the endangered orcas from overzealous and aggressive boaters.

 Passed only a few weeks ago, the county ordinance makes it illegal to feed killer whales, "knowingly approach" within 100 yards of the whales, or fail to travel at a safe speed within 400 yards of them.

 Last month, sheriff's deputies on patrol spotted two whales that seemed isolated from a larger group of orcas off False Bay, on the south side of San Juan Island, Sheriff Bill Cumming said Sunday.

 The deputies "moved into that area and had blue lights on. The boat came into that area at a high rate of speed. It began to slow down, but entered the area that was prohibited," he said.

 The boater kept approaching the area in his 25-foot white cabin cruiser, and the deputy turned on more flashing blue lights, according to local news reports of the Sept. 27 incident. The boater slowed down but continued in the same direction, and then saw the whale, swerved and missed hitting it, according to news reports.

 The citation carries a penalty of up to $750.

 Cumming said the boaters "made statements that they weren't aware that the whales were there and weren't clear on the meaning of the blue lights and thought it was other types of enforcement actions."

 But the officers felt "the citation was warranted," he said, adding that the man could contest the ticket.

 The new law applies only to San Juan County waters and to the southern resident whale population that spends specific periods each year in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound.

 The south resident J, K and L pods number 87 this summer. In 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the resident killer whales were at risk of extinction and listed them as endangered species. – Seattle P-I

Coho Season Comes In Average

(For a complete season wrap, see the next issue of Pacific Fishing.)

JUNEAU, Alaska – This fall's commercial Coho salmon season came in close to historical averages, but it still left disappointment in the hearts and bank accounts of most fishermen, as it fell short of the stellar catches of the last couple of years.

 Southeast Alaska fleets have hauled in about 2 million Coho this year, compared to 3 million a few years ago, according to Scott Kelley, the regional supervisor for commercial fisheries for Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The long-term average from 1960 to 2005 for Coho is 2 million. One of the highest years for Coho was 1994, when 5.7 million were caught.

 "It's average, but unfortunately a fisherman doesn't look at it that like that. We compare it to last year and how much money is in our pockets," said Kathy Hansen, head of the Southeast Alaska Fishermen's Alliance.

 Sport fishermen aren't seeing a great Coho season this year either.

 "This might have been the fourth lowest year that we've observed," said Brian Glynn, a sport fisheries biologist at Fish and Game.

 Commercial sockeye, pink and king catches were all above average, but chum came in well below the 10-year average of 12.4 million, at 9.2 million. The chum fishery has grown during the past decade because of an increase in hatcheries. The 45-year average is 4.6 million.

 "As far as disappointments go, chum was probably the most disappointing of the lot," Kelley said.

 Hansen agreed, saying good predictions had led to high hopes.

 "People had become excited about the projections, but the runs came in half of what was predicted. They had geared up and prepared for really good runs," Hansen said.

 "Overall, people feel a little disappointed in the season. On the other hand, they say, well, overall, I really didn't do that bad," Hansen said.

 Prices are rising for all salmon species, and king salmon fetched record-high prices, between $8.50 and $9 per pound, especially for winter-caught fish, according to the Department of Fish and Game. Pink salmon also have tripled in price, from 5 to 7 cents a pound to 20 to 25 cents a pound.  – Juneau Empire

Senate Resolution Approved to Manage Arctic Fish Stocks

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate late Saturday night approved Senator Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) and Senator Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) joint resolution (S.J. Res 17) directing the United States to negotiate an international agreement for managing fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean.
 
Currently, commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean has been limited by the distribution of fish habitat and short fishing seasons.  Due to impacts of climate change, ocean temperatures may shift, causing fish to enter new habitats and creating more favorable fishing conditions. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council recognized the importance of properly managing these emerging fisheries and it proposed in June that the U.S. close all federal waters in the Arctic Ocean until a management regime is put in place.  S.J. Res 17 is consistent with that effort. 
 
"For decades the United States has been a world leader in managing fish stocks harvested in Alaska for commercial, recreational, and subsistence purposes.  Successful fisheries management has preserved a key economic driver for the State and an important piece of Native culture. Now is the time for our nation to meet the next great challenge ­ managing emerging fisheries in the Arctic Ocean. With sound science as our foundation, we must work with other countries to assure the sustainability of this critical resource."
 
"Conserving our fish stocks requires action both domestically and internationally," said Senator Murkowski. "The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is taking action to develop a fisheries management plan for the Chukchi and Beauford Seas.  Congress must now ensure that steps are taken to create an international framework for the management of fisheries in Arctic waters."
 
The resolution also addresses the problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It calls upon the U.S. to help prevent fishing on the high seas of the Arctic until an international fisheries management plan is developed, which would contain measures to combat IUU fishing that continues to undermine fisheries worldwide. Senator Stevens is leading the fight against IUU fishing and believes that eliminating these illegal fishing practices is a key to maintaining the health of Alaska's fisheries.    -- Offices of Sen. Ted Stevens & Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Barge Runs Aground

UNALASKA – A freight barge ran aground early this morning at Humpy Cove on Unalaska Island, northeast of the town of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.

Tugboat crews were working to pull the 271-foot vessel loose from the shore, where it drifted after breaking free of a nearby mooring buoy. Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Kurt Fredrickson said that while local Coast Guard personnel had yet to fully inspect the vessel, what damage they've found so far has been minimal.

"They noticed some damage where it went up on the rocks," he said. "A contracted diver went down and did an inspection, but the water wasn't clear enough to tell if there was any damage to the bottom of the barge."

Fredrickson said that because the barge was traveling under tow and didn't have its own fuel supply (although there are what appear to be fuel tanks on the deck), there's little reason to worry about the environmental damage that often follows ship groundings.

"The good thing is there's no fuel in the barge--it's just a transport barge," he said. "So there's no pollution in the water at this time."

The barge was tied alongside another similar vessel moored to a buoy west of Humpy Cove, but apparently detached. Winds were gusting from the west at about 46 miles per hour at the time.

The barge is owned by Portland, Ore.-based Zidell Marine Corp., and under contract to Seattle-based Western Towboat, Inc. Western Towboat port captain Jeff Slesinger said the barge was on its last supply run of the season up to the northeastern Bering Sea and Kuskokwim Delta area. – KIAL

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007 

Council Votes to Review Crab Rationalization

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Crab rationalization was a revolution in U.S. commercial fisheries management.

 On Sunday, the Palin administration fired what might be the first shot in the counterrevolution.

 By a 7-3 vote, North Pacific Fishery Management Council members meeting in Anchorage voted to review key elements of rationalization, which in fall 2005 broke down the open and competitive Bering Sea king and Tanner crab fisheries into individual fishing and processing shares.

 The new management regime has been a caldron of controversy since inception, especially the part that awarded established packing companies exclusive and unprecedented buying rights to 90 percent of the catch, with crab fishermen free to shop around the remaining 10 percent to any company.

 Some consider these processor quotas as a restraint of trade, while others believe they’re necessary to balance the fishermen’s equally exclusive catch quotas.

 Over the weekend, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s fish and game commissioner, Denby Lloyd, asked his fellow North Pacific Council members to review whether the 90-10 split is the right ratio, including whether processor shares are needed at all. Lloyd also wants a review of crab rationalization’s price arbitration element, which has drawn much criticism for its complexity and cost.

 Lloyd’s motion provoked strong debate and some fascinating parliamentary gamesmanship on the council. Some members decried the review as premature, saying the new crab management regime hasn’t had enough time to settle in and proof is lacking that the program isn’t working well.

 “There’s just not justification to date to do what this motion does, which is clearly to begin the dismantling of the program,” said veteran council member John Bundy of Seattle.

 Lloyd had the votes, however, and Palin’s new appointees on the council performed.

 Voting in favor of the motion were Alaska members Lloyd, council chairman Eric Olson, Gerry Merrigan, and rookies Sam Cotten and Duncan Fields.

 Joining them were Jim Balsiger, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Alaska, and Roy Hyder of Oregon.

 Voting against were Bundy and fellow Washington state members Bill Tweit and Dave Benson.

 Lloyd said after Sunday’s vote that the Palin administration has no intention of trying to dismantle crab rationalization. Rather, price and processor competition in the crab fisheries might be improved by adjusting the 90-10 split, he said.

 “This program deserves a reevaluation,” he said.

 Under the approved motion, the council staff will prepare an analysis for council review in October 2008.

 Lloyd acknowledged we’re likely to see a new round of infighting.

 Crab industry players engaged in several years of near warfare before crab rationalization ultimately won a unanimous council vote in Dutch Harbor in 2002, and subsequently an enabling act of Congress.

 The difference now is, this is a new governor and a new council. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy writing as The Highliner for the Anchorage Daily News

Columbia River Salmon Tagged for Study

LITTLE GOOSE DAM, Wash. - Geoff McMichael's operating table is a cramped, foam-filled metal box. His patients are mere inches long, but in his hands surgery takes only minutes -- cut a tiny slit near the abdomen, insert two tiny devices and close up with two silk sutures.

 These are healthy youngsters -- among the hundreds of thousands of endangered fall chinook salmon smolts that are supposed to head down the Snake River on a 400-mile trip to the mouth of the Columbia River and into the Pacific Ocean.

 In late September, with the smolt migration nearing its end, tagging salmon is light work in the fish facility at Little Goose Dam, near the small community of Starbuck in Columbia County. Only about 20 fish a day are being implanted with acoustic transmitters.

 They will tell biologists like McMichael, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), how the young fish are behaving as they reach Lower Monumental Dam, the next dam downstream from Little Goose.

 PNNL scientists are tagging about 25,000 fish for all Columbia River studies this year, but it's this small sample of about 2,000 late-running smolts that might tell the Army Corps of Engineers and biologists with other agencies why certain chinook have been stalling at Lower Monumental and never completing the trip downstream.

 The reservoir, or at least conditions in it, are a potential culprit.

 In 2006, a pilot program using acoustic tags that incorporate the same technology used in cellphones gave scientists a better idea of the smolts' behavior.

 In June, 85 to 90 percent of the tagged fish shot straight downriver heading for the ocean. But by the first few weeks of July, 50 percent were lagging behind in the Lower Monumental reservoir.

 From mid-August to September, 80 percent of the smolts quit moving through the system, and by the time the project ended, 44 percent of the 1,949 chinook tagged never crossed the dam.

 "We didn't know if they died or stopped and fed," McMichael said. "And if there's a significant amount of chinook that are stopping, how do we improve that?"

 Researchers found the fish started lagging at an increased rate at the same time as layers of increasingly different water temperatures were building up within the reservoir.

 Warmer water collected at the top, and not just near the dam but well into the lower reservoir. Cool water released from Dworshak Dam flowed under the warmer water in the reservoir but didn't mix well.

 McMichael said smolts appeared to stall where the two layers come together.

 If the fish aren't moving because of circulation within the reservoir, a new type of fish-passage system being installed at Lower Monumental Dam in November could be the solution.

 Called a removable spillway weir, the system allows fish to pass through the dam along the surface water -- up to 10 to 13 feet deep -- instead of requiring them to dive deep below to find a way downstream. Corps spokesman Rick Haverinen said the fish-passage system will be the third of its kind installed on Columbia and Snake river dams. – Tri-City Herald

Australia Says Fish Price Increases Due to Demand

Western Australian Fisheries Minister Jon Ford said claims that recent hikes in fish prices were escalating because of the State Government's efforts to sustain fish stocks were "way off the mark."

 Ford said attempts by some parts of the fishing industry sector to blame recent hikes in fish prices on Government initiatives to ensure fishing remained sustainable showed that they were ignoring the real reasons for price increases.

The Minister said new Government initiatives would not be implemented until next month.

Mr Ford also said that Department of Fisheries catch records for the past two years showed there had been an increase in pink snapper catches and only a slight decrease in dhufish catch.

"So, supply has not really changed and any price hikes for fish has nothing to do with any Government initiatives because these initiatives haven't even been implemented yet," he said. "The real reason for price increases has to do with other factors such as escalating demand for these fish, as well as increased production costs such as fuel costs. The simple fact remains that there are too many people and not enough fish and that's why the WA Government has to implement new management initiatives to ensure the sustainability of our fish for the future.

"Dhufish and snapper have been priced out of the reach of most Western Australians for some time so that's a clear sign that sustainability of these fish is under pressure. The unfortunate truth is that this pressure on our fish stocks is vindication that doing nothing is not an option. The Carpenter Government is taking sustainability seriously and is prepared to make the tough calls."

Last month, the Minister announced a fishing management package that included creating the Metropolitan Fishing Zone to exclude all commercial line and gill-netting from next month.

Ford rejected claims that the Metropolitan Fishing Zone would exacerbate fish prices and said there was no justification for wholesalers and retailers to introduce drastic price increases.

New research from the fishing management package showed that stocks of key demersal scalefish such as dhufish and pink snapper were at risk of collapsing if new management action was not taken.

Ford also released a discussion paper last month that encouraged the community to express its views about how the future management strategy should be developed. – Press release

Guest Opinion: Thank a Skipper Today

KODIAK, Alaska - Without skippers, life as we know it would be impossible. Look around Kodiak – what do you see? A prosperous town, huge houses lining the channel, a fishing port consistently ranking in the top 10 nationwide. We owe most, if not all, that prosperity to skippers.

 As a longtime crewman, it is hard to give credit where credit is due. But I’ve been blessed by working with the best.

 Bill Torsen taught me love for the sea, as seen from the flying bridge of the Voyager, that graceful white swan of a boat, long a fixture in St. Paul Harbor. I worked briefly for Ole Harder, aboard the F/V Moonsong and Pacific Lady, both now gone for many years, as is that colorful character, Ole.

 I blame most of my gray hairs on the F/V Arctic Nomad. During my first season in 1988 as a salmon deckhand, I worked with my brother, KJ. I swear that boat tried every which way to kill, sink or sabotage our season. We survived a stressful assortment of groundings, near capsizing, near drowning, dramatic fire followed by a wallowing, 100-mile tow, and near mutiny. Me.

 Later KJ skippered the F/V Windy Sea, which we crewmen called the University of Adversity, since it gave graduates a PHDD degree: Perseverance in Handling Danger & Despair.

 Perhaps the most enjoyable skipper to work with (besides KJ) was Ronnie Painter, now skippering a UPS truck to a business near you. What a merry little boat was the F/V Wild Goose. “Like a clown car,” laughed one lady upon seeing five strapping lads exit the 38-foot boat.

 Today, the Goose has flown and her many crewmen gone upward into a variety of highly successful careers. But Kodiak got the better of the deal: Ronnie remained.

 For many summers during the ’90s, I stacked corks aboard the F/V Shawnee. I enjoyed a wonderful rapport with skipper John, a fellow Californian who possessed an easy-going temper and a ready sense of humor. Fishing is fun, especially if the skipper enjoys fishing.

 Lately I worked with local legend and highliner, Vito Kalcic. The oldest skipper (his claim) and the oldest deckhand (mine), working together aboard the F/V Kilokak. By turns gregarious and gruff, Vito reminded me of Ole and Bill.

 Most skippers possess multiple personalities. We crewmen see a side of them their friends and family may never glimpse. Locked into a cabin for weeks and months, beset by bills, bad weather and few fish – together with a fractious crew, what skipper wouldn’t explode occasionally? Every skipper I’ve known has moments of self-detonation – every crewman, too.

 Sometimes a skipper is tyrannical and that is how we crewmen remember them. Not the good times, which are many, with the skipper gregarious and funny, but the bad times, which may be far fewer.

 Top skippers need not be brutal taskmasters; although that is how they are often portrayed in books and movies. “Screamers,” we crewmen call them. They are tyrants with a short fuse, ticking time bombs with the uncanny ability to explode multiple times. 

 Capt. Bligh, said one skipper’s wife to me – that’s what the crew calls my husband. But Admiral Bligh, of the Bounty, was a hero or villain, depending on your viewpoint, and lots of skippers have been called far worse.

 There are some great skippers in Kodiak. If I lived to be 100, I’d never fish with them all. The Jamboree Sams and the Invincible Phils and The Newsong Dannys, not to mention the highliner pot skippers, longliners and gillnetters.

 Next time you see a skipper, whether commercial or sportfisherman, thank him. We owe a lot to this precious, renewable, oft-maligned human resource. Because without skippers, life as we know it in Kodiak, would be almost impossible.

 Douglas Herman, 57, is a longtime deckhand in the Kodiak salmon fleet and is author of “The Guns of Dallas.” – Douglas Herman writing in the Kodiak Daily Mirror

Environmentalists: Quota System Not Working

CORNWALL, U.K. - It is what our fishermen have been saying for years - now environmentalists have confirmed that the controversial quotas regime is not working.

The controversial policy, which has seen the discarding of tonnes of fish every year, and many boats going out of commission because of crippling restrictions on catch, has been condemned by the World Wildlife Fund.

The WWF commissioned a report to look at whether or not the Common Fisheries Policy, which has forced many smaller fishing boats across the Westcountry out of business, was working.

The current and highly contentious system of annual fish catch allowances, divided up between national fishing fleets, is only fuelling the chronic problem of over-fishing, says the report.

With five years to go before the next CFP review, the policy is "failing in its primary purpose to achieve the sustainable management of European fish stocks".

The fishing industry has been told for years that belt-tightening today will mean more plentiful fish stocks tomorrow. But the promised revival of key species - particularly North Sea cod - has never materialized.

Aaron McLoughlin, head of WWF's European Marine Programme, said: "This is not a failure which can be laid at the door of the Commission alone, but a systematic shortcoming of the EU management and decision-making structure itself. It raises serious concerns, as to whether the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy is fit for purpose".

Jim Portus, chief executive of South West Fish Producers, said: "I have been saying this for about 20 years and at last a well-established international organization agrees with us.

Portus said that, on a regional level, fishermen were now being listened to thanks to regional advisory councils, which had been set up in recent years.

Fisheries minister Jonathan Shaw last week published Fisheries 2027 - a long-term vision for sustainable fisheries. It aims to optimize economic and social benefits for society from commercial fishing and recreational angling while protecting marine life and habitats.

Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of Cornish Fish Producers, thinks the document will only work if it is fisherman-focused.

"While this vision sounds good on paper, it isn't always in the best interests of fishermen," he said. "I suspect the fishing industry would be a lot better off if fishermen were genuinely listened to and not used as a political football."

Fisheries 2027 envisages more "joined-up", "flexible" and "responsive management of fisheries" to address the effects of climate change. It predicts that better-informed consumers will demand more variety and more local, environmentally-caught seafood in future. - The Cornishman, UK

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Thursday, October 11. 2007

Conservationists File Lawsuit Over Water

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's rivers and streams are diverted to cities and farms with almost no knowledge of how this affects fish, conservation groups said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

While hundreds of requests for water rights pile up in Sacramento, the state Department of Fish and Game has failed to study how much water can safely be taken from most streams, says the California Coastkeeper Alliance, a group that includes San Francisco-based Baykeeper, a Delta watchdog.

Fish and Game's "decades of hiding from the problem has not made it go away," said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the alliance, which includes groups from San Diego to the Oregon border.

The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, was being reviewed Tuesday by Fish and Game, an agency spokesman said.

When an agency or individual wants to divert water from a stream, an application must be filed with the State Water Resources Control Board. Applications for San Joaquin County waterways, including the Mokelumne River, are among the hundreds that are pending.

Fish and Game is supposed to determine minimum flows for certain streams. Few of these studies have taken place, the conservationists say. They allege that the program that carried out the studies was diminished in 2003 and disbanded in 2005.

However, the program still receives funds, the lawsuit says. When agencies or people apply for water rights, they pay an $850 fee to defray the costs of the Fish and Game studies. The department has continued to receive anywhere from $11,900 to $53,550 per year from 2002 to 2006, the conservationists say.

Of the state's 116 native fish, eight have gone extinct and 15 are threatened or endangered. "California's freshwater aquatic resources have been declining for decades," says a complaint filed in court. - Stockton Record, CA 

Oregon Coho Threatened Species?

PORTLAND, Ore. — The federal agency overseeing restoration of declining salmon in the Northwest must take another look at its decision not to protect Oregon coastal Coho under the Endangered Species Act.

U.S. District Judge Garr M. King in Portland affirmed a magistrate's findings earlier this year that NOAA Fisheries was arbitrary and capricious and did not rely on the best available science when it decided to leave Oregon coastal Coho off the threatened species list.

The agency has until Dec. 8 to make a decision. It will consider whether to appeal, said spokesman Brian Gorman.

 Putting Oregon coastal Coho back on the threatened species list would add another layer of regulation to logging and other land use decisions on federal, state and private lands in the central Oregon Coast Range. That would include the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's plan to ramp up logging in Western Oregon to boost federal revenues paid to timber-dependent counties.

"Eliminating these protections shifted the conservation burden onto the backs of fishermen, without protecting the rivers and streams the Coho depend on," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, which represents California commercial salmon fishermen.

Once a staple of Oregon's commercial salmon fleet, with historic population estimates of 2 million fish, Oregon coastal Coho went into steep decline in the 1990s, bottoming out around 14,000, due to a combination of overfishing, loss of habitat to logging and agriculture, misguided hatchery practices and poor ocean conditions. In recent years numbers have rebounded.

After court rulings took the fish off the threatened species list, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife came up with a restoration plan that found Oregon coastal Coho were unusually adept at rebounding from low numbers.

The state opposed listing, arguing that the fish were rebounding with the help of limits it had imposed on commercial and recreational fishing, reforms in hatchery production and improvements to spawning habitat.

NOAA Fisheries agreed, and conservation groups sued.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stands by the plan, said conservation planning coordinator Kevin Goodson, and hopes that NOAA Fisheries decides that Oregon coastal Coho don't need Endangered Species Act protection, The Oregonian

Study Explores Salmon Stock Decline

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Imagine millions of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) coming back to spawn, sustaining first nations people and supporting a thriving fishing industry.

Welcome to Rivers Inlet in the 1920s, and what used to be the third-largest sockeye salmon run on the coast of British Columbia after the Skeena and the Fraser. More than a million fish are heading towards the head of the inlet, up the Wannock River and into Oweekeno Lake to spawn. Many canneries dot the inlet, employing people from all over the province and the world -- Chinese workers looking for jobs after the railway completion, Japanese fishermen, and even Scandinavians, after whom Scandinavia Bay in the inlet is named.

This prosperity did not last. By the 1970s the sockeye salmon returns became unstable, until the stock completely crashed in 1999.

Different hypothesis have been put forward to explain the decline of sockeye salmon in this seemingly pristine fjord on the central coast of British Columbia, inaccessible by road and far from any main urban centre. Overfishing, logging around spawning streams, and varying ocean conditions due to changes in climate might have all played a role in causing the stock to collapse.

What is even more alarming is that after the complete closure of the sockeye commercial fishery in 1996 the stock failed to rebuild.

My research, founded by the Tula Foundation and the Pacific Salmon Foundation, is trying to explore why, now that the fishing pressure on the stock has been eased, the stock is not bouncing back. Evidence presented by Fisheries and Oceans Canada shows that fish are not surviving well in the ocean.

Our study is focused on the juvenile migration down the inlet, when the young salmon first encounter the marine environment. The few weeks they spend in the inlet are important. It is here that they get adjusted to salt water and feed to get bigger before venturing further out onto the continental shelf.

Oweekeno Lake is glacially fed, and changes in the melting rate of the glaciers will affect the amount of fresh water flowing into Rivers Inlet. Furthermore, as shown in the provincial Ministry of Environment Indicators of Climate Change website, an increase in precipitation is expected in coastal B.C., and this will also influence river flow. This freshwater inflow forms a nutrient-poor, often silt-laden layer of freshwater on the surface of the inlet.

Our project is investigating if these changes are indirectly affecting Rivers Inlet sockeye salmon juveniles through shifts in the structure and timing of their food web.

Specifically, we hypothesize that when the freshwater inflow into Rivers Inlet is too high in early spring, the phytoplankton bloom is delayed. Phytoplankton is the grass of the ocean; it is what sustains everything else in the ecosystem. For it to thrive, there must be enough nutrients at depths where there is also enough sunlight for photosynthesis. Once the spring bloom is delayed, a food-chain reaction can set in. The zooplankton, think of them as the grazers of the sea, are delayed and then the predatory juvenile salmon, whose migration timing appears to be fixed, have little food to eat.

Our research is trying to shed light on the mechanisms that link changes in physical conditions, such as temperature and river flow, to changes in phytoplankton, zooplankton and ultimately sockeye salmon.

Once these mechanisms are elucidated, we can answer questions such as, "Can the Rivers Inlet sockeye salmon stock rebuild under these environmental conditions?", "How should we manage the fishery in a varying ocean environment?" and "Could a hatchery help to rebuild the population?" Fishery managers may also be able to make better predictions of future stock trends, and ecosystem restoration programs can be explored.

Desiree Tommasi is a graduate student in the biology department at Simon Fraser University. – Vancouver (B.C.) Sun

Russia Ends Fishing Quotas

KHABAROVSK, Russia - Russia will stop assigning quotas for commercial fishing from January 1, 2008, the head of the fisheries regulator said on Tuesday.

"The abolishment of quotas does not mean uncontrollable fishing," Andrei Krainiy, head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, said at a meeting in Russia's Far East. "They [the quotas] will be replaced with regulatory measures."

He said operative headquarters would be established to determine the fishing output, with limitations on duration, the number of fishing vessels and the methods of fishing.

"It is nothing new," Krainiy said. "We had the same system during the Soviet era."

The official also said that Russia must establish a monopoly on fishing in its commercial waters - common practice in all countries with fishing industries, including Iceland and Norway.