Saving Seafood

Hugely successful Alaskan sockeye season smashes regional value records

September 27, 2019 — Alaskan salmon fishermen on the shores of Bristol Bay have enjoyed one of their most successful harvesting seasons on record, according to preliminary reports from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game.

In 2019, the bay saw a total return of 56.5 million sockeye salmon, making it the fourth-largest return in the fishery’s 130-year history, as well as the fifth consecutive year with a return of more than 50m specimens.

Furthermore, fishermen in the Bristol Bay area harvested over 43m sockeye in 2019, the second-largest figure on record. When combined with catches of other salmon species, they netted a record-breaking $306m, nearly double the 20-year average.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sets record value for 2019 salmon harvest

September 25, 2019 — Bristol Bay salmon fishermen are set to take home their biggest paychecks ever.

The 2019 preliminary ex-vessel (dockside) value of $306.5 million for all salmon species ranks first in the history of the fishery, and was 248 percent of the 20-year average of $124 million, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The 2019 sockeye salmon run of 56.5 million fish was the fourth largest, and also the fifth consecutive year that inshore runs topped 50 million fish.

The all-species salmon harvest of 44.5 million is the second largest on record, after the 45.4 million taken in 1995. This year over 43 million of the Bristol Bay salmon harvest was sockeyes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MSC: True World Foods commits to sustainable, traceable wild caught seafood

September 6, 2019 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

True World Foods, wholesale provider of sushi-grade product to restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets throughout the US, has achieved MSC Chain of Custody (COC) certification for its albacore, sockeye salmon, and Atlantic surf clam. With COC certification, True World Foods guarantees that fish can be traced throughout the supply chain to an MSC certified source, demonstrating the company’s commitment to sustainability.

“True World Foods is proud to partner with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in striving to ensure all of the seafood we secure for our customers comes from only reputable and sustainable sources worldwide,” said Robert Bleu, President of True World Group (Holding Company which owns the True World Foods Organizations). “We are active with multiple organizations such as MSC to foster and create a future which provides sustainable seafood for years to come.

The MSC is an international non-profit organization, established to safeguard seafood supplies for the future. Recognized as the world’s leading certification program for sustainable, wild-caught seafood, the MSC works with leaders within the fishing industry and seafood sector to create a more sustainable seafood market. MSC certification is a voluntary, science-based program verified by an independent, third party organization.

To be sold as MSC certified, seafood from MSC certified fisheries can only be handled, processed and packaged by organizations with a valid Chain of Custody certificate. These organizations are audited regularly by independent certification bodies to ensure that they comply with the MSC Chain of Custody Standard. This requires that MSC certified seafood is only purchased from certified suppliers and is always identifiable, segregated from non-certified seafood and sold with the correct paperwork identifying it as certified. MSC regularly monitors the supply chain and auditor application of the MSC Standard to ensure that requirements are being followed correctly.

“True World Foods is demonstrating leadership in sustainability with this achievement,” said Brian Perkins, Regional Director, Americas for the Marine Stewardship Council. “Chain of Custody certification is important for supply chain sustainability as well as for consumers, because it assures that standards are met throughout the supply chain, and that the products are traceable back to a sustainable fishery. This is a notable accomplishment and we’re proud of True World Food’s dedication to sustainable seafood.”

True World Foods, LLC’s COC certification will expire in June 2022 and must undergo annual audits to ensure the MSC Standard continues to be met.

Scientists Discover Three New Viruses That Infect Endangered Salmon

September 5, 2019 — Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Fisheries and Ocean Canada, and the Pacific Salmon Foundation have discovered three new viruses that infect endangered Chinook and sockeye salmon – including one that was previously thought to only infect mammals.

These fish are considered to be ‘keystone species’ – meaning they have a disproportionately large impact on their ecosystem, making them a high priority for conservation. However, populations of both Chinook and sockeye salmon have been declining in the Pacific Northwest for the last three decades despite increased fishing regulations.

Researchers believe viruses may be part of the cause of the salmon declines. To date, most research on salmon-infecting viruses has focused on the piscine orthoreovirus, or PRV. PRV can cause ‘Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation Disease’ (HSMI) in Atlantic salmon, devastating farmed stocks. However, PRV does not have the same disease-causing effect on Chinook and sockeye salmon.

Read the full story at Forbes

ALASKA: Drought and dry conditions impacting salmon across state

August 22, 2019 — This summer has been hot and dry in Alaska — so hot, in fact, that even the fish are feeling it.

All over coastal Alaska, temperatures have hovered significantly greater than normal. The state began sweltering in mid-June and crested on July 4, with Anchorage hitting 90 degrees Fahrenheit and Bethel reaching 91. The bright, sunny days brought Alaskans out to swim and recreate, but they also left the waters where salmon were returning exposed to the direct, unforgiving heat.

Shallower lakes and rivers across Southcentral and Southeast Alaska were the first to heat up. In the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, lakes like Larsen and Judd, where the Alaska Department of Fish and Game operates weirs for sockeye salmon, reached 80 degrees. The Kuskokwim River in western Alaska registered water temperatures about 10 degrees greater than normal, likely contributing to a reported salmon die-off as the fish headed upstream.

On the lower Kenai Peninsula, the Anchor River hit its warmest temperature on record on July 7: 73 degrees. It’s dropped since then to about 66.2 degrees, but the spike was troubling, said Sue Mauger, a scientist with Homer-based conservation nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper. The lack of rain has contributed to the temperature increases too.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Warm, dry weather causing abnormalities in Bristol Bay’s salmon runs

August 21, 2019 — The world’s largest sockeye fishery, Bristol Bay, Alaska, clocked its second-largest harvest ever this season, with a haul of more than 43 million fish. The big catch, combined with a robust base price – most of the fishery’s major processors have posted an initial ex-vessel buying price at USD 1.35 (EUR 1.20) per pound – should make 2019 among the most lucrative years in the fishery’s history. This season’s historic catch comes after a string of abnormally large runs, including last season’s 62.3 million salmon, the largest in Bristol Bay’s history.

But despite a string of productive runs that have surpassed forecasts, some biologists and fishermen are concerned about warm, dry weather that has pumped up water temperatures in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon

August 20, 2019 — Alaska has been in the throes of an unprecedented heat wave this summer, and the heat stress is killing salmon in large numbers.

Scientists have observed die-offs of several varieties of Alaskan salmon, including sockeye, chum and pink salmon.
Stephanie Quinn-Davidson, director of the Yukon Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, told CNN she took a group of scientists on an expedition along Alaska’s Koyokuk River at the end of July, after locals alerted her to salmon die-offs on the stream.

She and the other scientists counted 850 dead unspawned salmon on that expedition, although they estimated the total was likely four to 10 times larger.

They looked for signs of lesions, parasites and infections, but came up empty. Nearly all the salmon they found had “beautiful eggs still inside them,” she said. Because the die-off coincided with the heat wave, they concluded that heat stress was the cause of the mass deaths.

Read the full story at CNN

ALASKA: Sockeye salmon continue to surge into Kenai River

July 30, 2019 — Sockeye salmon continue to pour into the Kenai River, where biologists have increased personal use fishing hours and sport bag limits to deal with the flood of fish.

On Friday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued emergency orders allowing personal use fishermen more fishing time at the mouth of the river and increasing the sport limit to six fish per day downstream of Skilak Lake as the river’s escapement approached 1 million sockeye.

Nearly 100,000 fish were counted past the department’s sonar site at river mile 19 on both Saturday and Sunday, capping a week that saw more than half a million sockeye swim upriver.

As of Saturday night, dipnetting is now allowed 24 hours a day in the open area at the mouth of the Kenai River. The personal use fishery is open to Alaska residents only with a valid sportfishing license and personal use permit. The fishery runs through Wednesday.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

In hot water: How warmer years might affect salmon populations

July 29, 2019 — There is a lot of worry and speculation about hot weather affecting sockeye runs on the east side of Bristol Bay this summer. But despite some of the hottest air and water temperatures on record, every district is meeting — or exceeding — expectations, both for escapement and harvest.

As the water temperature trends continue to rise over the years, the question at the fore is how warming water will impact salmon health, and whether it shapes the runs from year to year.

Jerri Bartholomew, Director of the Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory at Oregon State University, set the baseline for a discussion on the long-term effects of heat on salmon.

“When you try and predict what’s going to happen in an ecosystem, things just get complicated,” she said.

Trying to peer into the future of Bristol Bay salmon is a bit of a shot in the dark. Without actual data, it’s a lot of guesswork: trying to find places with ecosystems similar to the bay, then extrapolating conclusions based on what we already know.

Still, there are three pressing questions when it comes to salmon in warmer waters.

The first, basic question, is how temperature affects the fish — in both the short and long term.

Read the full story at KTOO

Study on salmon ear stones cited by EPA in Pebble draft EIS comments

July 9, 2019 — On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency released its formal comment on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble Mine.

The 100-page release pointed to a bevy of environmental studies that highlight potential harm to land, water and animals in the Bristol Bay region — consequences that the EPA claims were not fully considered in the draft EIS from the Army Corps of Engineers.

One of those studies focused on the growth and development of young salmon in a region with the largest wild sockeye run in the world.

One of the study’s co-authors, Daniel Schindler, said his findings show that the waters where young sockeye and Chinook salmon grow and develop can shift from year to year. Essentially, even rivers and streams that don’t serve as homes for young fish now, may do just that in the future.

“Certain parts of the habitat do well in some years,” Schindler said. “And other parts of the habitat do better in other years. So it’s really the intact nature of the whole Nushagak watershed that produces such reliable returns to the fishery.”

Read the full story at KTOO