Alaska fishermen report hard hit from dock prices January 21st |
The single biggest hit to fishermen from the COVID-19 virus is lower dock prices, according to Alaska and West Coast harvesters, and 98% said their businesses have been badly bashed by the pandemic.
That s based on survey results compiled by Ocean Strategies, a public relations firm that focuses on fisheries that helped profile the Pacific region for a larger federal study.
Nearly 400 fishermen responded to the short, confidential survey launched last November, said senior consultant Hannah Heimbuch of Kodiak. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmopheric Association) uses any information they collect on economics to report to Congress on how the industry is being impacted, the major trends they are seeing, and then that informs the decisions that Congress or other government agencies might make in response to those trends, she said.
Nearly all Alaska and West Coast fishermen badly hurt by pandemic, survey indicates
Print article The single biggest hit to fishermen from the COVID-19 virus is lower dock prices, according to Alaska and West Coast harvesters, and 98% said their businesses have been badly bashed by the pandemic. That’s based on survey results compiled by Ocean Strategies, a public relations firm that focuses on fisheries that helped profile the Pacific region for a larger federal study. Nearly 400 fishermen responded to the short, confidential survey launched last November, said senior consultant Hannah Heimbuch of Kodiak. “NOAA uses any information they collect on economics to report to Congress on how the industry is being impacted, the major trends they are seeing, and then that informs the decisions that Congress or other government agencies might make in response to those trends,” she said.
SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is seeking to charter longline vessels to conduct its Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS) in 2021. The primary purpose of the FISS is to collect standardized data for use in the Pacific halibut stock assessment. This information collected is also used to study aspects of the Pacific halibut resource […]
IPHC Requests Tenders for the 2021 Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS) IPHC Requests Tenders for the 2021 Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS)
Halibut taken in Cook Inlet. Image-Public Domain
SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is seeking to charter longline vessels to conduct its Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS) in 2021. The primary purpose of the FISS is to collect standardized data for use in the Pacific halibut stock assessment. This information collected is also used to study aspects of the Pacific halibut resource such as growth, distribution, biomass, age composition, sexual maturity, and relative abundance of other species. Legal-sized Pacific halibut and Pacific halibut less than 32 inches in length that have been sampled, as well as incidentally caught fish (byproduct) that will die upon release will be retained, sampled for biological data and sold by the IPHC to offset FISS expenses.
After rebound, Pacific cod catches to increase in 2021 December 24th, 2020 |
Alaska coastal communities will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod. The stock, which crashed after a multi-year heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska.
No cod fishery occurred at all this year in federally managed waters (from 3 to 200 miles out) where the bulk of the harvest is taken, and a catch of under 6 million pounds was allowed in state managed waters (out to 3 miles).
For 2021, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the federal cod catch at just over 38 million pounds and nearly 11.7 million pounds for the state. While it s a bump up, managers caution that the stock remains very low.