Saving Seafood

After Year Of Pandemic, Seafood Industry Hopes 2021 Brings Calmer Waters

April 1, 2021 — April 1 is the start of pink shrimp season across the Pacific Coastline. Seafood industry officials hope it’s one that’ll offset the pandemic’s effects on markets that began a year ago.

The West Coast Seafood Processors Association represents companies in Oregon, Washington, and California. Executive director, Lori Steele, said last year at this time, the COVID-19 pandemic froze customer demand practically overnight.  She said demand from restaurants fell more than 70%, so hopefully 2021 will see a rebound.

“The more that we can support the restaurant industry, and get consumers back out to the coast and eating seafood we’re going to see some improvements,” Steele told KLCC.

“But I also think that we are also be dealing with the economic consequences of this pandemic beyond just 2021, unfortunately.”

Read the full story at KLCC

Application Deadline Extended For Relief Funding To Seafood Sector Industry Members

March 26, 2021 — The application deadline has been extended for federal relief funding to commercial fishing, shellfish aquaculture, charter, and seafood sector industry members.

Eligible commercial fishing, shellfish, charter and seafood sector industry members who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic now have through April 9 to apply with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) for assistance.

The 15-day extension includes additional time for industry members who fish or land their fish in Alaska but live in Washington to apply. Washington-based commercial fishers who fish in Alaska should apply to the Washington spend plan for assistance.

“This extension helps us to ensure that everyone who believes they’re eligible for this funding has the chance to apply,” said Ron Warren, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish policy director. “We recognize that the commercial fishing, shellfish aquaculture, and charter fishing industries are hurting right now and this marks an important step in getting this funding out to those who need it most.”

Read the full story at KXRO

PFMC: Notice of availability: Salmon Preseason Report II (March 22, 2021)

March 23, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The following document has been posted to the Council’s website:

Public hearings on the proposed management alternatives

Hearings held on-line only

  • Washington
    Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
  • California
    Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
  • Oregon
    Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 7:00 p.m.

Written public comment on the Alternatives may also be submitted to the PFMC’s Public Comment Electronic Portal  (E-Portal).  The public comment deadline is 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday, April 5, 2021.

Public comment on the Alternatives will also be accepted during the April Council meeting (held via webinar) on Thursday, April 8, during the public comment period for Agenda Item D.1.

For further information

Pacific Fishery Management Council releases alternatives for 2021 West Coast ocean salmon fisheries

March 11, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted three alternatives for 2021 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California for public review. The Council will make a final decision on salmon seasons at its meeting on April 6-9 and 12-15. Detailed information about season starting dates, areas open, and catch limits for the three alternatives are available on the Council’s website at www.pcouncil.org.

Forecasts for many Chinook and coho stocks have improved over last year; however, the Council is constrained by requirements to conserve Fraser River (Canada) Washington coastal and Puget Sound natural coho runs, lower Columbia River natural tule[1] fall Chinook, and Klamath River fall Chinook.

“Meeting our conservation and management objectives continues to be the highest priority for the Council,” said Council Executive Director Chuck Tracy. “Balancing those objectives while providing meaningful commercial and recreational seasons remains a challenge in 2021.”

Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said, “the Council is considering the needs of Southern Resident killer whales as part of its deliberations. We are also considering the need to rebuild some Chinook and coho stocks that have been designated as overfished.”

Read the full release here

PFMC: 2021 Public hearings on salmon management (via webinar only)

March 11, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

Public hearings to review the Council’s proposed ocean salmon fishery management alternatives will be conducted via webinar only. The links below will take you to the specific hearing information:

For further information on the salmon hearings, please contact Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204, extension 410.

WASHINGTON: Forecast for Puget Sound Spring Chinook Up from Last Year, but Still Low

March 10, 2021 — Forecasts for this year’s salmon runs show a doubling of spring chinook in the Nooksack River, giving room for hope even though the species remains threatened across the Puget Sound region, according to fisheries managers and environmental officials.

Projected runs for 2021 show 7,540 spring chinook returning to the north fork of the Nooksack River, almost double the 3,949 fish that returned in 2020, according to Fish and Wildlife data published in late February.

Read the full story at Seafood News

WASHINGTON: Seattle Harbor Expansion Would Push Out Endangered Whales, Conservation Group Says

March 5, 2021 — The Trump administration rushed through a project to expand Seattle Harbor for ultra-large container ships that would further threaten endangered Southern Resident killer whales, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Only 75 Southern Resident killer whales swim the Salish Sea — a number that has increased since three baby whales were born in the relatively quiet waters of the pandemic. Noise from whale watching boats and ships headed to and from ports across the Pacific will increase when pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Added to that is a new worry: the underwater cacophony of ultra-large container ships that would visit Seattle Harbor, in the heart of the whales’ home waters, and the release of hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of toxic material dredged during the harbor project.

The three pods, or family lines, of Southern Residents took a major hit in the late 1960s when aquariums stole 45 Southern Residents from their families, and killed another 14 in the process. Only one of the whales taken during that time survives today: a 53-year-old whale who lives at the Miami Seaquarium. The Seaquarium calls her Lolita, while supporters who want her returned to a protected cove of the Salish Sea call her Tokitae.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

CALIFORNIA: The San Francisco Bay Once Teemed With Oysters. What Happened?

March 5, 2021 — Oysters are a controversial food.

Some people slurp them down by the dozen, while others would rather go hungry for days than be forced to eat a single slimy specimen.

As one KQED staffer put it: “No matter how fresh they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what is put on them, it reminds me of being congested and having snot just slide down my throat.”

Bay Curious listener Joseph Fletcher falls into the first category: The San Francisco resident loves oysters and has been wondering if he’ll ever get the chance to eat one grown in San Francisco Bay.

“Will oysters ever make a comeback in the bay and return to the numbers they had back in the days before the Gold Rush?” Fletcher wanted to know.

There’s one type of oyster that’s indigenous to the San Francisco Bay, and that’s the Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida). It’s named after Olympia, Washington, though these small, tangy oysters can be found up and down the west coast from Alaska all the way down into central Mexico.

Read the full story at KQED

Study: Chinook salmon are key to Northwest orcas all year

March 4, 2021 — For more than a decade, Brad Hanson and other researchers have tailed the Pacific Northwest’s endangered killer whales in a hard-sided inflatable boat, leaning over the edge with a standard pool skimmer to collect clues to their diet: bits of orca poop floating on the water, or fish scales sparkling just below the surface.

Their work established years ago that the whales depend heavily on depleted runs of Chinook, the largest and fattiest of Pacific salmon species, when they forage in the summer in the inland waters between Washington state and British Columbia.

But a new paper from Hanson and others at the NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center provides the first real look at what the whales eat the rest of the year, when they cruise the outer Pacific Coast — data that reaffirms the central importance of Chinook to the whales and the importance of recovering Chinook populations to save the beloved mammals.

By analyzing the DNA of orca feces as well as salmon scales and other remains after the whales have devoured the fish, the researchers demonstrated that the while the whales sometimes eat other species, including halibut, lingcod and steelhead, they depend most on Chinook. And they consumed the big salmon from a wide range of sources — from those that spawn in California’s Sacramento River all the way to the Taku River in northern British Columbia.

Read the full story at OPB