Northern California Archives

Pacific Fishery Management Council to hold online emergency webinar only meeting January 21, 2022

January 10, 2022 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC or Council) will meet January 21, 2022 by webinar only, regarding the Southern Oregon/ Northern California Coast Coho Harvest Control Rule. The Council’s Salmon Advisory Subpanel will meet by webinar on January 20, 2021.

Please see the January 2022 Council meeting webpage for further updates and details regarding the agenda, webinar participation, the Salmon Advisory Subpanel meeting, our E-Portal for submitting public comments, and the public comment deadline. This meeting of the Council will be streamed live on the internet. The broadcast will begin at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, Friday, January 21, 2022. The broadcast will conclude when business for the day is complete.

Instructions for how to connect to the online meeting will be posted on the Council’s January 2022 meeting webpage prior to the first day of the meeting.

For further information:

•Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff at 503-820-2280; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

OREGON: Crab season set to open on time

November 23, 2021 — Marine toxins, skinny crabs and contentious price negotiations have all had a hand in delaying the start of Oregon’s lucrative commercial Dungeness crab season in recent years.

Not this season — at least not yet.

For the first time in years, commercial Dungeness crab fisheries in Oregon, Washington state and Northern California will begin on the traditional Dec. 1 opener after recent preseason testing showed high meat yield in crabs across the region.

At the same time, domoic acid — and the diatom that produces the naturally-occurring marine toxin — seems to have almost disappeared from ocean waters off Oregon and Washington.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at The Astorian

Commercial catches of Pacific halibut increase for most Alaska regions

February 11, 2019 — Contrary to all expectations, commercial catches of Pacific halibut were increased for 2019 in all but one Alaska region.

The numbers were revealed Friday at the International Pacific Halibut Commission annual meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.

The reason was due to increased estimates of the overall halibut biomass based on expanded surveys last summer from Northern California to the Bering Sea, said Doug Bowen who operates Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.

“There’s a couple of strong year classes from 2011 and 2012 that are just starting to show up in the commercial catches and I think the scientists are cautiously optimistic that we could see some better harvests as a result of those halibut entering the fishery,” he said in a phone call as he was leaving the meetings.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CALIFORNIA: Domoic Acid Delays Dungeness Crab Season For Much Of North Coast

November 28th, 2016 — A 120-mile stretch of the Northern California coastline will not open for the commercial Dungeness crab season next week, putting North Coast crabbers in an economic bind again.

From Point Reyes south, the season is open and the crab is relatively plentiful. But with the neurotoxin domoic acid being found in crabs between Point Reyes and Eureka, that season will not open on December 1st.

It’s bad news for crabber Aaron Newman President of the Humboldt Co. Fishermen’s Marketing Association, who took a pass on the Bay Area season which opened on the 15th.

“I would only make a decision to go down there if I knew the crab quality was good. So I’d go down there and fish for a week and come back home and then fish at home,” Newman told KCBS. “But this year, I decided not to go down there because there was some question about this domoic acid issue. Now it turns out also in Oregon.”

Newman said on top of new crabbing restrictions, the weather along the North Coast has been as dangerous as he can recall in many years.

“It’s a scary winter, looks like a very scary winter for me,” Newman said.

Read the full story at CBS San Francisco