Saving Seafood

TYSON FICK: Alaska’s fishing boats are weathering an unprecedented storm

July 6, 2020 — No one reading this needs to be reminded that we are in uncharted waters as thousands of Alaska fishermen set out to sea for the salmon season. As a fisherman with two young boys, I felt a deep sense of both privilege and responsibility as I set my nets in the glacier-fed waters of Taku Inlet in late June.

Most fishing seasons the biggest questions are: Will the salmon come early or late? Will they be swimming deep or along the shoreline? This summer the questions are: Will Alaska’s independent fishermen financially survive the coronavirus? Will there be buyers willing to pay a decent price for their catch? Will fishermen get access to the personal protective equipment and testing that they need to avoid the spread of coronavirus? Will the long-fought Pebble mine be permitted while Bristol Bay’s fishing fleet is out risking their lives?

Realizing that spring in 2020 was like no other, here at SalmonState we felt it was important to reach out while hunkering down. We did that via SalmonState’s Spring Fishermen Survey. What we heard from the nearly 800 commercial fishermen who responded is while there are new concerns when it comes to their fishing operations, there are a couple of bedrock issues that continue to be priorities for those who make their living from the ocean.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News

Survey sheds light on what worries Alaska’s fishermen

June 19, 2020 — Alaska’s fishermen are worried about lost income, spreading COVID-19 to coastal communities and weary of policy decisions made amid a pandemic, according to a recent survey of nearly 800 commercial fishermen.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, SalmonState, an Alaska-based nonprofit, surveyed 779 fishermen throughout the state to gauge their primary concerns from before and after the coronavirus outbreak.

Lost income, preventing spread of the coronavirus and “bad policy decisions while fishermen are distracted” were the three most prevalent COVID-19-related concerns, according to the survey that was conducted between April 14 and May 3. Those concerns were shared by 77%, 70% and 59% of respondents, respectively.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Clarion

In survey, Alaska fishermen offer guidance for use of pandemic relief funds

May 27, 2020 — A rapid survey response by nearly 800 Alaska fishermen will provide a guideline for giving them a hand up as the coronavirus swamps their operations.

The online survey from April 14 to May 3 by Juneau-based nonprofit SalmonState asked fishermen about their primary concerns both before the COVID-19 outbreak and in the midst of the pandemic in April. It also asked what elected officials at local, state and federal levels can do to help them directly.

Over half of the 817 responses came in over four days, said Tyson Fick, SalmonState communications adviser.

“Clearly, people were interested to have their stories heard and to weigh in. In several ways we feel like we had a very broad swath of regions and gear types and fishermen,” he said.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Marketing campaign aims to convince consumers that ‘ugly’ crabs can be just as tasty

March 20, 2018 — “It’s what’s on the inside that counts” is the message Alaska crab marketers are pushing to encouraging their customers to put appearances aside.

“We’re telling them to ‘get ugly,'” said Tyson Fick, executive director of the trade group, Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, speaking of the new campaign launched partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute last week at the big Seafood Expo in Boston.

The promotion showcases Alaska crabs with darker, discolored shells, or those that are scarred or adorned with barnacles that may be less visually appealing to shoppers.

“It’s the initial step in a campaign to raise awareness among retailers, restaurants and consumers,” said Jeremy Woodrow, ASMI communications director. “We’re saying ‘go ahead, tell your customers to get ugly. After all, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.”

“Ugly crab is safe and delicious to eat, it just isn’t as pretty,” says a flyer distributed at Boston, explaining that shell appearance varies based on crab maturity and timing of the molt. It says that shell variations demonstrate “the authentic nature of seafood caught in the wild,” and that “purchasing ugly crab is a way to support our planet’s wild resources.”

The Get Ugly team is modeling Alaska crab after similar image enhancement efforts underway by farmers.

“We’re taking a page out of the book of what some fruits and vegetable have done — that a blemish doesn’t affect the taste of the thing, and with crab, the meat fill might even be better,” Fick said, adding that avoiding food waste and improving sustainability are also part of the message.

Creating more customers for less-attractive crab also would improve fishermen’s bottom lines, as the less-pretty product drags down prices.

“It is graded at the processor and may be graded further at the repacker. There may be several grades for off-color shells depending on the species, quantity and other factors. It varies from year to year,” said Jake Jacobsen, director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange which negotiates prices for most Bering Sea crabbers.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Crab Fight! Aboard Alaska’s Quest To Be America’s King Of Crab

February 28, 2018 — Deep in the Bering Sea off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, the U.S. and Russia share fishing waters that are home to this nation’s supply of king and snow crab. Predictably, the relationship is contentious. While the two nations compete for room on your plate, the deck is stacked against Alaskan fisheries thanks to cheaper imported product and illegal crab. Despite the economics, the Alaskan crab industry, made famous by The Discovery Channel’s hit show Deadliest Catch, fights for quality and sustainability in a competitive, and sometimes sketchy, global market.

Alaska’s modern fishing industry accounts for nearly 60% of America’s seafood, and today’s sustainability practices stem from the Alaskan constitution, written in 1959. But the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act marked the first significant shift in the regulation of our modern seafood, starting with redefining our fishing boundaries.

“Magnuson-Stevens expanded our coast from three to 200 miles offshore,” says Tyson Fick, Executive Director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We decided we were tired of foreign fleets fishing off our shore, and we said, ‘You know what’? Those are our fish.’ We stepped up and claimed it.”

2005 was another year of sweeping changes. Magnuson-Stevens implemented a catch-share program, reducing the number of crab-fishing boats from three hundred to about eighty. The drastic cut sounds harsh, but crabbing was dangerous, even by today’s standards. Excellent seamen competed with less experienced captains commanding inadequate vessels in a race to catch crab regardless of the weather. People died. Crowded ports meant the catch was stretched thin and few were making decent money. Talented captains were falling into debt.

Read the full story at Forbes