Help for fisheries ahead in 2013
Alaska’s commercial fisheries programs could get a slight boost if the Governor’s budget for the next fiscal year gets a nod from legislators.
The proposed FY2013 operating budget for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, including all state and federal funds, is just over $209 million, a 5.1 percent increase. For commercial fisheries, the department’s most expensive unit, a budget of $70.5 million is a 4.4 percent increase.
Gov. Parnell also is proposing a bond package that includes $10 million to help Seward prepare to homeport large at-sea processing boats owned by communities in the Kuskokwim region. The vessels now are based in Seattle, and it could begin a transfer of other big boats to remain in Alaska year round.
Coming soon to a small halibut boat near you: fishery observers.
New rules set for 2013 will change how observers are placed on fishing boats as small as 40 feet – and for the first time, they will be aboard longliners.
Onboard observers have been deployed on larger U.S. vessels since the early 1990’s, when fisheries were “Americanized” and all foreign fishing within a 200 mile zone of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska was terminated. Prior to that, fleets from Japan, Russia, Poland and other nations were tapping Alaska’s groundfish and crab resources starting in 1933.
Permitting PacRim Coal sets bad precedent
It took nearly two years for a decision, but last week the state denied a citizens’ petition aimed at protecting Cook Inlet fisheries from coal mining. The petition, by the Chuitna Citizens Coalition and Cook Inletkeeper asked that buffer zones be required to protect salmon streams of the Chuitna River should a coal mine be built. In a 109-page report, Dept. of Natural Resources commissioner Dan Sullivan claimed the petitioners’ request would ‘ban all surface coal mining on these lands.’
The Chuitna strip mine, so called because it removes wetlands and land overlay, would be the largest coal mine in Alaska.
Risk from fish virus low, but still unknown
State officials say there is “no reason to panic” and that Alaska salmon are “relatively safe” from a deadly fish virus that has appeared for the first time in Pacific waters.
“I would say the risk right now for Alaska salmon is low,” said Dr. Ted Meyers, a fish pathologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Meyers added that the state is “sort of in a holding pattern,” awaiting more information.
Red King Crab fishery cut 47 percent
Bering Sea crabbers got good news and bad news last week when catch quotas were announced for fisheries that open next week.
The bad news: the catch for Alaska’s most famous crab fishery – Bristol Bay red kings – was slashed by 47 percent to just 7.8 million pounds. Crabbers were expecting a reduced harvest, but they were shocked by the big drop.
The crab harvest is the second lowest since 2001 when 7.1 million pounds were taken, according to Wayne Donaldson, a longtime crab biologist at ADF&G in Kodiak.
iPhones track halibut for more accurate stock assessment
Fish tags with iPhone technology are being used for the first time to track halibut migrations based on the earth’s magnetic field. Cash rewards of $500 are being offered to get the tags back so scientists can see how well they work.
“This year the technology that everyone has been talking about for a decade but hasn’t been able to miniaturize are tags that record magnetic field strength on three axes and have accelerometers and pitch and roll detectors.
Salmon wholesale prices mostly good to fair
The first wholesale price for salmon gives the best indicator of how well it should sell in world markets. And prices in 2011 show nice increases so far, nearly across the board.
In its Annual Salmon Price Report (ASPR) the state Revenue Department/Tax Division provides average wholesale prices for salmon as it sells throughout the year. The report is broken down by Alaska region and covers six product forms: canned, fresh/frozen whole, fresh/frozen fillets and roe. The reports are compiled from prices submitted by processors that sold at least one million pounds at wholesale. The ASPR covering sales from January through April show that prices were up substantially in almost every salmon category
Salmon deemed essential to Alaskan’s lives
By Laine Welch Alaskans have a strong personal connection to salmon and believe the iconic fish is essential to the Alaskan way of life and the state’s economy. Furthermore, they rate the health and abundance of salmon as a top concern on par with the federal budget deficit, and even higher than concerns about jobs. [...]
Investing beyond short-term CDs
Many people depend on certificates of deposit (CDs) to provide extra income. Yet CD rates have been fairly low for a while. In recent months, in fact, one-year CDs were paying about 0.5 percent, two-year CDs topped out at around 1%, and five-year CDs paid in the 2 percent to 2. 3 percent range. Those rates are scanty enough, but they can seem even lower in an economic environment marked by rising food and gas prices.
Occasionally even the tide book makes mistakes
Tides rule the day for most mariners, who plan their work days based on its ebb and flow.
“A tide book is like a Bible to a fishermen. It is constantly referenced – they lay their nets down by the tide, they launch by the tide – all their activity is centered around that every day,” said Jerry Thompson of Soldotna, publisher of the Alaska Tide Book for 23 years.
