Saving Seafood

The Blob returns: Alaska cod fishery closes for 2020

December 11, 2019 — The Gulf of Alaska’s federal cod fleet is bracing for a complete shutdown in 2020 after an 80 percent TAC cut in 2018 and another 5 percent last year, down to 17,000 tons.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council announced its decision on Friday, Dec. 6, in response to low recruitment.

“We’re on the knife’s edge of this overfished status,” said Council Member Nicole Kimball, vice president of Alaskan operations for the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

The fall 2019 stock assessment returned biomass numbers for gulf cod below the necessary threshold as a food source for the endangered Steller sea lion.

The infamous Blob of 2014 — a mass of warm water that hovered in the Gulf of Alaska — likely depleted the cod’s food supply and severely restricted recruitment. The fall 2017 Gulf of Alaska survey yielded historically low numbers at 46,080 metric tons, down more than 80 percent since 2013.

“That warm water was sitting in the gulf for three years starting in 2014, and it was different than other years in that it went really deep and it also lasted throughout the winter,” said Steven Barbeaux with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. “You can deplete the food source pretty rapidly when the entire ecosystem is ramped up in those warm temperatures.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska Cod Fishery Closes And Industry Braces For Ripple Effect

December 9, 2019 — In an unprecedented response to historically low numbers of Pacific cod, the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska is closing for the 2020 season.

The decision, announced Friday, came as little surprise, but it’s the first time the fishery has closed due to concerns over low stock.

“We’re on the knife’s edge of this over-fished status,” North Pacific Fishery Management Council member Nicole Kimball said during talks in Anchorage.

It’s not over-fishing to blame for the die-off, but rather, climate change.

Warming ocean temperatures linked to climate change have wreaked havoc on a number of Alaska’s fisheries in recent years, decimating stocks and jeopardizing the livelihoods of fishermen and locals alike who rely on the industry.

A stock assessment this fall put Gulf cod populations at a historic low, with “next to no” new eggs, according to Steven Barbeaux, a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who authored the report. At their current numbers, cod are below the federal threshold that protects them as a food source for endangered steller sea lions. Once below that line, the total allowable catch goes to zero. In other words, the fishery shuts down.

Read the full story at New England Public Radio

Secretary Ross appoints Regional Fishery Management Councils for 2019

July 1, 2019 — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the 2019 Regional Fishery Management Council appointments on Thursday, a move that was applauded by the recreational boating and fishing communities.

The appointments include Scott Lenox, Tim Griner, Dr. Tom Frazer, Troy Williamson, Peter Hassemer, Marc Gorelnik, Cora Campbell and Nicole Kimball.

A coalition of recreational and fishing groups said the new appointees have a “proven ability to balance all factors in complicated fishery management decisions.”

“These appointments are an important step forward for America’s recreational fishing and boating community, and we’re grateful that the Department of Commerce continues to move in the right direction on this issue,” said Center for Sportfishing Policy president Jeff Angers in a statement.

The Regional Fishery Councils are “where the rubber meets the road” in terms of federal marine fisheries management, said American Sportfishing Association government affairs vice president Mike Leonard.

“While the overall balance of the councils still skews toward commercial fishing despite the two sectors being on par with each other economically, we appreciate Secretary Ross making continued progress in addressing this historic inequity,” said Leonard.

Read the full story at Trade Only Today

Alaska: Bering Sea cod conflict brewing between on and offshore buyers

December 21, 2017 — “Cod Alley” is getting crowded, and some fishermen want to limit the boats in the narrow congested fishing area in the Bering Sea.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is looking at changes, including restricting flatfish factory trawlers from buying cod offshore.

The Pacific Seafood Processors Association is pushing for restrictions on factory trawlers to protect its members’ shore plants in Unalaska, Akutan, King Cove and Sand Point.

According to the PSPA’s Nicole Kimball, seven factory trawlers bought cod from 17 catcher boats in 2017, up from just one factory trawler that traditionally participated in prior years. The Amendment 80 factory trawlers act as motherships, processing but not catching the Pacific cod.

“The share delivered to motherships increased from 3.3 percent in 2016 to 12.7 percent in 2017, while shoreside processors had a reciprocal decline. This is a meaningful shift. At this point it is open-ended, and there is nothing to prevent future growth in this activity,” Kimball testified at the council’s December meeting in Anchorage.

Local government representatives shared the shoreplants’ concerns, citing a loss of tax revenues needed for schools and other services. On a smaller scale, it’s reminiscent of the inshore-offshore battle in the pollock fishery about 20 years ago.

“This is a big deal,” said Unalaska Mayor Frank Kelty. “It looks like we’ve got trouble coming down the road again.”

Cod is Unalaska’s second-most important product, behind pollock, he said.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce