State and Local

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — May 15, 2014 — As we had predicted last year, Silver Bay has created an organization to take over the MSC client relationship for Alaska Salmon for the coming season from the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association.

The group is called the Alaska Salmon Processors Association, and it is a non-profit registered with the state of Alaska.

The non-profits agent is Robert Zuanich, the Seattle lawyer who is also the managing partner of Silver Bay.  Zuanich was also instrumental in getting the PSVOA to take on the client role, which was supported by Silver Bay at the time. Because of his involvement, it is reasonable to infer that Silver Bay's interest is the main force behind the new client association.
 
The Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, which took on the clientship for last years season, was dealt a huge blow when the MSC certifier failed to include Prince William Sound salmon in its certification last year, saying instead they needed further time to study the fishery.
 
PWS salmon is one of the biggest fisheries for the PSVOA, and their board was clearly embarassed by what happened.  In leaving the MSC process, the PSVOA reiterated their support for the RFM certification program put forward by ASMI.
 
Bristol Bay is shaping up as a wild-west shoot out this year, as Silver Bay is aggessively hiring away people from other companies, especially Trident.  Dave Hambleton, former manager of Trident's salmon operations, joined Silver Bay several months ago as chief operating officer.
 
At the Brussels Seafood Show, several people reported that Paul Padgett, a veteran fisheries executive who has been with Trident for 29 years and recently retired, will also consult for Silver Bay.
 
The word on the street is that Silver Bay is paying astronomical amounts of money to get people who know something about salmon, and to try and jump start their Bristol Bay operation in its first year.
 
Silver Bay is a fishermen-owned salmon processor that started in Sitka in 2007.  They have now expanded to four plants, in Southeast, PWS, and their newest, in Naknek in Bristol Bay.
 
Silver Bay mostly produces frozen, headed and gutted salmon for domestic and export markets, although they may be trying to produce more value added products in Naknek.  Silver Bay says they are now one of the largest seafoods companies in Alaska, operating five domestic processing facilities throughout Alaska and the West Coast.
 
"Silver Bay's primary strength is in its combination of having a state of the art processing plant and favorable logistics to support its operations; competent management and key personnel; an established fish buying system; and ownership by fishermen who represent over 80% of committed effort," says the company's promotional material.
 
As Silver Bay ramps up their Naknek plant, there is also a widespread feeling that there may be a bidding war as Silver Bay tries to win the allegiance of harvesters who have never sold to them in the past.
 
Also in Brussels, it was reported that Silver Bay's financing model – like that of another upstart salmon supplier, Yehe Corp., is based on buyers advancing funds to Silver Bay in return for guaranteed fish.  This model is risky, as the bankruptcy filing of Yehe attests, because if there is a change in the market buyers tend to renegotiate their contracts and leave their supplier high and dry.  The other problem with this model is that it forces sales for cash or to customers with no long term committment, leading to downward pressure on the sockeye market greater than what might otherwise exist.  The buyers using this model see it as a way to get the cheapest price salmon; not to participate in a long-term healthy fishery. 
 
The fishermen who support this model see it as a short term way to get a higher dollar.  In the middle, are processing margins which can dwindle to nothing or a loss in this environment.
 
In recent years sockeye has been an excellent performer for Bristol Bay fishermen and processors, but the key to making profits from salmon is not simply adaquate supply, it is also investment in sales channels, in product quality, and in the experience that allows for consistency year after year.
 
With an aggressive new entrant this year in Bristol Bay, many of these attributes are going to be tested.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

May 14, 2014 — The tiny plastic particles that became more popular in soaps and facial scrubs over the last few years are showing up on beaches and in the waters of the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie.

A report to be released today by state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman renews his call for a first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of products containing the microbeads. And the report offers more details on the environmental effects of the particles, which are about the size of a grain of salt.

A Fredonia State College professor who has been at the forefront of researching microbead pollution in the Great Lakes said their presence is already noticeable.

“Our beaches are slowly becoming plasticized,” said Sherri Mason, an associate professor of chemistry at Fredonia. “People don’t realize how many actual particles are under their feet. They’re small, but you can definitely see them.”

The microbeads get there through a journey that starts with a bathroom drain. After the beauty products are used over a sink or in a bathtub, the microbeads are rinsed down the drain. Because the plastic microbeads float, they flow with treated wastewater into bodies of water.

A single tube of face wash can contain more than 350,000 of the beads, according to the 5 Gyres Institute, an environmental organization that works to reduce plastics pollution.

Microbeads are not removed by wastewater treatment plants because, unlike organic sewage, they neither bind together and settle in the effluent nor are they eliminated through biological controls. Therefore, an estimated 19 tons of microbeads a year pass through and are discharged into the state’s waters.

“I don’t think people are aware that this is everywhere,” Mason said. “Any water body that has a wastewater treatment plant has this problem.”

Read the full story from The Buffalo News

May 15, 2014 — Dock-U-Mentaries: A monthly film series, presented by Working Waterfront Festival and the National Park, take place the third Friday of each month. Next program, May 16, is "Fishing for Knowledge: Cooperative Research for Sustainable Fisheries in New England."

Researchers from UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology's Department of Fisheries Oceanography will present talks on "An underwater view: Using video technology to assess scallop and fish stocks," "A cooperative approach to bycatch avoidance in the scallop fishery," "Cod spawning in the Gulf of Maine: When, where, and how?," and "Monkfish Tagging." www.nps.gov/nebe. William Street, New Bedford.

Read the full story from The New Bedford Standard-Times

May 15, 2014 — Maryland is taking aim at two voracious, invasive species — the blue and flathead catfish — through a major public awareness campaign that it hopes will educate both anglers and diners about this large and domineering predator.

The goal is to stop the spread of the catfish, which are eating some of the Chesapeake Bay’s prized fish, interrupting the food chain and spreading rapidly throughout many river systems.

The catfish came to the Chesapeake in the 1970s and are in almost every tributary, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Flatheads seem to favor the Potomac, though they’ve also been found in the Lower Susquehanna. Blue catfish have proliferated in the James River and in the Potomac, where anglers have been known to catch single fish weighing close to 100 pounds.

Maryland’s campaign will include signs at popular fishing spots, explaining what the blue catfish looks like and warning anglers not to move the fish to other waterways so as not to spread the invasive animals.

The campaign will also remind anglers that there is no limit on how many blue catfish they can catch, and that fishing the species is one way to control its numbers.

Read the full story from the Bay Journal

May 13, 2014 — The most common bycatch topics in Alaska — salmon caught by the Bering Sea boats targeting pollock, and halibut caught by Alaska trawlers — were on the table at a fisheries symposium today.

Scientists, industry representatives and others interested in fisheries science, management and policy are discussing everything bycatch at the Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium, which runs through Friday at the Hilton Hotel in Downtown Anchorage.

The discussion ranged from how different fisheries define bycatch, to what it means for the economics of various regions, to how it might be addressed.

Martin Hall, from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, said the key to addressing bycatch is thinking outside the box.

“Either you fish less, or you fish better,” he said.

Hall said that the old way of fishing was to kill a bunch of things, and keep the one you wanted to sell. Now, he said, fishing needs to find a way to capture fish alive, and then kill only the ones that will be kept and sold.

Hall said that gear improvements are occurring rapidly — what wasn’t even dreamed of a few years ago can now be implemented.

 “We’re having our minds opened up,” Hall said.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — May 14, 2014 — The following was released by the Ocean Explorium:

Everybody loves Nemo!  These bright orange fish, playing peek-a-boo in the anemones, are lots of fun.

Now there are even more clownfish to love at the Ocean Explorium.  Two new variants of the Amphiprion ocellaris clownfish – cousins of Nemo – have been added to the exhibits:  The Davinci clownfish and the Wyoming Whites.  Both “designer clowns” are distinguished by their recessive traits that are brought out through selective breeding.  The Davinci clownfish are identified by their irregular white patches outlined in black.  Our very own Exhibit Curator, Warren Gibbons, won the pair of Davinci clownfish in a raffle at the recent Ocean State Reef Aquarium Society (OSRAS) Annual Conference, where the Ocean Explorium was an exhibitor selling aquacultured corals.  The Wyoming White clownfish are mostly white with orange snouts and pectoral spots, outlined in black.  The Wyoming Whites were donated by Ben Lancaster, who won the fish at the OSRAS conference.

A new octopus arrived by FedEx recently and was installed in the Living Laboratory, near the Coral Farm exhibit.  A bit shy, this mature octopus was collected from the waters off Florida.   Another new arrival is the Engineer Goby, an industrious sand digger, sifter and cleaner.  All that digging can make a Goby hungry, and its reward is a meal of the tiny invertebrates it has unearthed.  A number of dainty, colorful Wrasses have been added to the Coral Reef habitat while several exotic crabs and snails have found a new home in different aquariums within the Ocean Explorium.

There is always something new at the Ocean Explorium.  Stop by and look for these new members of the Ocean Explorium family, and be sure to speak with our knowledgeable staff to learn more about them!

Read the full release from the Ocean Explorium

May 13, 2014 — Alaska has become the go to area for reality television with shows focused on the crab fisheries in the Bering Sea, the Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers.

This summer crews will begin filming yet another Alaska themed show.

Read the full story and listen to the audio from KDLG

May 12, 2014 — The North Carolina Fisheries Association plans a bus trip Tuesday, May 13, to Alexandria, Va., for a meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The trip is free to the public. Attendees will be responsible for their meals.

The NCFA is the trade group for the state’s commercial fishermen, headed by President Jerry Schill of Craven County.

“The purpose is for the fishermen to learn more about the ASMFC and how it works and how it affects them,” Schill said. “We are going to make a statement. We have never taken a contingent to the ASMFC before.”

The NCFA recently reorganized and brought back Schill, its longtime president. He said the group would be more proactive on issues threatening the livelihoods of North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry.

Read the full story at the Sun Journal 

 

May 12, 2014 — As I'm relatively new to the commercial fishing beat, my visit a couple of weeks ago to the Portland Fish Exchange, the nation's first seafood display auction, was eye-opening for me. I had never really thought much before about the mechanics of the process that takes a fish from the hands of the fisherman who caught it to my grocery counter.

I was at the Portland Fish Exchange in Portland, Maine, to shoot a video with National Fisherman Publisher Jerry Fraser about the advantages of fish as a protein option, particularly with the rising costs of beef and poultry. The video is embedded below.

The Casco Bay was shrouded in fog when we arrived at the Portland Fish Exchange at around seven in the morning to meet Bert Jongerden, general manager of the exchange. Because Jongerden has been general manager of the exchange since 2007, and also worked there from 1990-1996 as an operations manager, he has, as he said, "seen the rise and fall of our groundfish." He's seen groundfish landings go from 30 million pounds per year to about 5 million pounds per year. 

As the fog burned off, we did some filming and Jerry and I chatted with the exchange employees smoking on the pier, waiting for the arrival of the fishing vessel Robert Michael. Approximately 70 fishing vessels sell their catch via the Portland Fish Exchange and what makes this market unique is that it's an all display auction. Seafood buyers don't just bid generically on fish, they can bid on a specific load of fish. So fisherman can get a higher price for fish that are in the best condition.

Read the full story and watch the video at National Fisherman 

 

May 10, 2014 — Many of the coastal beaches still are covered with razor clams, and this season likely will go down as one of the best in many years.

“We’ll still have some great digging times ahead with plenty of clams available,” said Dan Ayres, the head state Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish manager. “We’ve also got a whole pile of clams the Quinault Tribe offered to add to the recreational harvest.”

Digging is open Tuesday (a minus-0.6 feet low tide at 6:21 a.m.) at Twin Harbors; Wednesday (minus-1.2 at 7:02 a.m.) at Twin Harbors and Long Beach; Thursday (-1.5 at 7:44 a.m.) at Twin Harbors and Long Beach; Friday (-1.7 at 8:27 a.m.) at Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Copalis; Saturday (-1.7 at 9:12 a.m.) at Twin Harbors, Long Beach, Copalis and Mocrocks; May 18 (-1.5 at 9:59 a.m.) at Twin Harbors, Long Beach, Copalis and Mocrocks; May 19 (-1.1 at 10:50 a.m.) at Twin Harbors; and May 20 (-0.6 at 11:44 a.m.) at Twin Harbors.

The most recent razor clam digs April 27 to May 4 started off well, and at the end produced mixed success because of heavy rain and surf. A total of 28,406 diggers harvested 388,766 clams.

“I took my family to Twin Harbors at Grayland, and we had our limits in just 10 minutes,” Ayres said of a May 2 outing. “The clams were big in size and in great condition. People overall are pretty happy with this season.”

Read the full story at the Seattle Times