North Pacific Focus Fall 2016 Edition

FALL EDITION 2016

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SEAFOOD SLINGERS

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DOES IT DOCKSIDE

BOATWORK \ PUT A CORK IN IT! PRESEASON PLANKING ON THE BAY OUR FISHERY \ ALASKA PINKS BAD ENOUGH TO RING THE ALARM?

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Fall 2016

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COLUMNS

32 DEPARTMENTS DEPARTMENTS 22 PILOTHOUSE PILOTHOUSELOG LOG 44 TIDINGS TIDINGS 54 CALENDAR CALENDAR 66 INDUSTRY INDUSTRYWAYPOINTS WAYPOINTS 87 ON THE MARKET BOOK REVIEW 98 FISHERPOETS GALLEY WATCH 109 SEASON SUMMARY FISHERPOETS 12 OUR FISHERY 10 SEASON FORECASTS 16 12 THE OURHULL YARDSTORY

Jason houston

18 ON THE HORIZON Should you include medical disclosures in crew contracts?

19 ON THE HOMEFRONT Fishing season is also called Fish Wife vacation.

20 THE LONG HAUL One fisherman’s voice in the Boldt Decision afermath.

FEATURES 22

GEAR SHIFTS River jetboats need to be small, tough and fast — really fast.

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BOATBUILDING: WOODWORK This wooden gillnetter needs a little extra care and an experienced hand.

32

CREW LIFE One San Diego market is bringing fishermen and the community together.

FALL EDITION 2016

ALSO ALSO

35 35 AD ADINDEX INDEX 36 IN 36 INFOCUS FOCUS

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SEAFOOD SLINGERS

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Cover: Albacore fisherman J.J. Gerritsen bags a tuna for a customer at San Diego’s Tuna Harbor Dockside Market.

DOES IT DOCKSIDE

BOATWORK \ PUT A CORK IN IT! PRESEASON PLANKING ON THE BAY OUR FISHERY \ ALASKA PINKS BAD ENOUGH TO RING THE ALARM?

Jason Houston photo FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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PILOTHOUSE LOG

DOCKSIDE DISH W

hen I think of the working waterfront, especially in historic fishing towns, I imagine an old, craggy tree planted firmly on the beach. It’s been buffeted by the prevailing winds for decades, growing twisted and gnarled but still standing and perhaps even stronger in its own way.

It may not look anything like a textbook image of its genus or species, just like the working waterfront doesn’t resemble the scenic beaches you might imagine when you dream of your next vacation spot. But it has its own beauty. And more importantly, it’s still here, an honest depiction of the rough and wild work that happens in an industry where the shore meets the open water.

One of the ongoing threats to our working waterfronts is development. It has a two-fold effect on fishing fleets by usurping their access — trading pilings for Pilates studios — and by increasing runoff, corrosion and coastal pollution that can compromise commercial stocks and habitat.

In San Diego, the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market was created by commercial fishermen and owners of aquaculture businesses to provide fishermen with a farmers-market-style access to local fish buyers. It’s a genius way to take back the working waterfront and ensure that some space there will continue to be designated as fishing territory, through the ebbs and flows of the local fleet’s fortunes.

Of course there are no guarantees, even for a successful waterfront business that is looked to as a potential model for other fishing ports. San Diego’s market is being threatened with the prospect of a new development. But in the meantime, its fisherman-mongers and customers flock to the space to exchange cash for fresh catch. Read the full story on page 32.

One fishery that sees extremes (though typically predictable ones) in productivity is Alaska’s pink salmon. Historically, every other year is typically a the lull between the booms. But

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Jerry Fraser Jessica Hathaway Samuel Hill Jean Paul Vellotti Doug Stewart Ashley Herriman

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three big years in a row and another predicted strong harvest of pinks for 2016 had the state’s regional fleets expecting yet another boom.

While that creates some difficulties on the processing end — moving enough of it out of storage to keep the price JESSICA HATHAWAY decent — a season is Editor in chief still a season and a gift of nature. But this gift never arrived.

So what to do? Some fishermen — especially established boatowners who have years of experience and planning to fall back on — are disappointed but ready to see what comes next year. Younger investors on the fleet, on the other hand, are hurting, which has some hoping for a federal disaster declaration. Freelance Homer, Alaska-based writer Emilie Springer tells the story on page 12.

Whatever happens, we will keep following these fleets and ports, telling stories about how they grew another gnarl in response to the next unexpected twist.

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North Pacific Focus, Fall 2016, Vol. 4, No. 3, is published quarterly by Diversified Business Communications, 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. READERS: All editorial correspondence should be mailed to: National Fisherman, P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

PULLING TOGETHER YOUR PASSION: harvesting Alaska’s wild seafood.

OUR MISSION: making sure the world demands it.

While you spend time working on your boats and gear to prepare for the season ahead, we are also looking beyond the horizon, developing new markets and maintaining relationships with your customers in the U.S. and overseas.

Building global demand for Alaska seafood sustains fishing families and communities for generations. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute team is proud to be on deck with you. www.alaskaseafood.org

TIDINGS

Pribilof Islands

NEWS FROM THE WEST COAST & ALASKA

Juneau British Columbia

Locals call for Pribilof Islands marine sanctuary n the Pribilof Islands, two small villages have asked the federal government to create Alaska’s first national marine sanctuary and have it encircle their islands.

The proposal calls for a sanctuary 30 miles around the island, except for the side of the island facing St. Paul to the north, where the restricted area would shrink to 20 miles. The sanctuary would be an effort to save the population of northern fur seals and other animal populations that locals say are declining quickly.

The request filed by the city of St. George, received Oct. 1, is only the second made in the state since the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries be-

gan accepting sanctuary nominations from the public in 2014.

The first request was filed by a conservation group for a sanctuary along the Aleutian Islands, but that was quickly rejected by the agency because it and lacked support from communities in the affected area.

William Douros, West Coast regional director for the agency, said sanctuary designation is a process that takes years of analysis and public comment to complete.

The petition includes support letters from several organizations, including Audubon Alaska, the Alaska Native Science Commission and the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. — Samuel Hill

West Coast crabbers likely to start on time

While a season delay was possible up until opening day, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials were optimistic about the season in early November.

“The water has cooled, and the test results for crab are looking a lot better — most are coming back clean,” said Larry Collins, fisherman and president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. “I think we’ll be OK for the November 15 opening. We’re all very hopeful for the season.”

Oregon delayed the first month of its season last year because of high toxin levels, and Washington closed the southern 13 miles of its coastline as a precautionary measure. State officials check the waters for domoic acid intermittently throughout the year, usually ramping up efforts toward the start of a new season.

— Samuel Hill

A

ChriSty JuhaSz

fter high levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid along the Pacific Coast delayed last year’s Dungeness crab season for 4 1/2 months, crabbers were happy to hear that the Nov. 15 opening looked likely to get the green light this time around.

Last year’s Dungeness crab season was delayed 4 1/2 months in California.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

San Francisco

Kathryn Sweeney/nOaa

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Northern fur seal pups gather in the rocks on Alaska’s St. Paul Island.

Salmon comes up short, but markets are good

I

t was a rough salmon season across Alaska this summer, with Bristol Bay being the big exception. While sockeye catches exceeded expectations, all other species came up short.

The overall harvest for all five species of wild salmon in 2016 added up to 108.91 million fish, according to preliminary data with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In 2015, fishermen caught 263.5 million fish.

But salmon stakeholders can take heart that the fish are moving swimmingly to market.

“The demand is there. The world still recognizes that this is the best place to go for the highest-quality salmon, including pinks,” said Tyson Fick, outgoing communications director for the

AlAskA DepArtment of nAturAl resources

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

“Sales have been brisk this fall,” added Tom Sunderland, vice president of marketing and communications for Ocean Beauty Seafoods. “We expect inventories to be low as we head into next season, and that should create some good market opportunities.”

For pink salmon, Alaska’s shortfall will likely be made up for by Russia’s huge 200 million humpy haul this summer. But rather than competing with Russia, most of that pink pack will stay at home.

— Laine Welch

Alaska, BC sign agreement on transboundary mining

I

n October, Alaska and British Columbia officials held a meeting on how to approach transboundary mining issues and signed a statement of cooperation to protect rivers that flow through borders in the region.

According to Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, the agreement creates a technical working group that will allow experts from the states to have a say in British Columbia’s mine permitting and regulatory processes.

Officials on both sides said the agreement was drawn up after gathering feedback from the fishing industry, mining and government officials, and affected communities.

“I think on both sides of the border, we’re quite proud of the fact that this is not something that the two governments are imposing. This is something that, I think, has developed from the grass roots,” said British Columbia Mines Minister Bill Bennett.

Some Alaskans don’t think the agreement addresses their concerns.

Rob Sanderson Jr. of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group said tribal governments should be cosigners on the agreement and that the

DECEMBER Dec. 10 Lighted Boat Parade Morro Bay, CA (805) 801-5911 www.morrobay.org

Dec. 14-18 Christmas Boat Parade Newport Beach, CA www.christmasboatparade.com (949) 467-2756

JANUARY Jan 10-13 Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting Kodiak Inn and Convention Center 236 Rezanof Drive W. Kodiak, AK (907) 465-4100 www.adfg.alaska.gov

Jan. 23-17 International Pacific Halibut Commission Annual Meeting Ocean Pointe Resort 100 Harbour Road Victoria, BC, Canada (206) 634-1838 www.iphc.int

Jan. 30-Feb. 7 North Pacific Fishery Management Council Meeting Renaissance Seattle Hotel 515 Madison St. Seattle, WA (907) 271-2809 www.npfmc.org

The international agreement aims to protect eight transboundary watersheds from mining pollution.

agreement focuses on mine permitting, not protecting the culture Alaska stands to lose.

Others have voiced concerns that this agreement will be seen as an end-all document and cease other activities dealing with cross-border water disputes.

Bennett has said that any mines being considered are still years away from development.

— Samuel Hill

FEBRUARY Feb. 23-March 8 Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting Sheraton Anchorage 401 E. 6th Ave. Anchorage, AK (907) 465-4100 www.adfg.alaska.gov

Feb. 24-26 FisherPoets Gathering Astoria, Ore. Locations TBD www.fisherpoets.org FisherPoets@comcast.net

To list your event in North Pacific Focus, contact Samuel Hill at shill@divcom.com or (207) 842-5622.

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS President Barack Obama honored 12 industry leaders by naming them Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood for their work and commitment to U.S. fisheries. Linda Behnken, Brad Pettinger and Alan Lovewell represented the West Coast and Alaska.

Linda Behnken

Linda Behnken, a commercial fisherman for 34 years, was honored for her work as executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka. She also served on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council,

• Brad Pettinger was named for his work as director of the Oregon Trawl Commission. Under his leadership, all three Oregon trawl fisheries have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. He has worked collaboratively in the Pacific Fishery Management Council process to improve the Brad Pettinger management of

as an industry adviser to the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission and the National Academy of Science Individual Fishing Quota Review Panel, and co-chaired the council’s Essential Fish Habitat committee.

West Coast groundfish fisheries, in which he is a participant.

• Alan Lovewell was called out for his work as CEO and cofounder of Real Good Fish, a community-supported fishery that connects local fishermen with local consumers through weekly deliveries of high-quality, local, sustainable seafood throughout California. Real Good Fish’s new program, Bay2Tray, brings local seafood to public schoolchildren through their school

lunch program, and brings local fishermen into their classroom to engage in experience-based learning around ocean health.

Alan Lovewell

• Eric Critchlow was appointed as the new U.S. program director for the Marine Stewardship Council.

Critchlow has more than 35 years of

They protect us. Every day. Every night.

And they need your support.

HHH Inspire leadership, learning and a legacy of service by supporting the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard through the Coast Guard Foundation.

USCG photo by pA1 tom SperdUto

To learn how you can help, call (860) 535-0786 or visit our website at www.coastguardfoundation.org. Ask about our Boat Donation Program.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

• The SeaWeb Seafood Summit is being held in Seattle June 5-7, 2017.

The event brings together global representatives from the seafood and fishing industries with leaders from the conservation community, academia, government and the media.

For more information and registration details, visit seafoodsummit.org • The Cornelia Marie will not be filming for the 13th season of “Deadliest Catch” after appearing in all 12 previous seasons.

According to Capt. Josh Harris, the decision to cut his vessel from the show was a creative choice made by Discovery Channel and was not the result of any financial disputes.

“We are fishermen, and we will be doing what we love to do this king crab season, but we will be doing it alone,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “The film crew has been like a family to us, and their absence will weigh heavy in our hearts. It has been a pleasure to take you on my journey as I’ve grown.”

• The International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress voted in favor of protecting Bristol Bay as “an unparalleled ecological and economic resource of global significance.”

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association praised the congress for its work in a newsletter, stating that the assembly’s global reach Sharon ThompSon

experience in the seafood industry.

He got his start as a troll salmon buyer and general production worker. He also worked with Eric Critchlow Ocean Beauty, as vice president of sales with North Pacific Seafoods and vice president of Lusamerica Foods. He will be working out of MSC’s headquarters in Seattle.

is important in bringing attention to large-scale mining in the bay.

• Guy Cotten USA, manufacturer of foul-weather gear, signed a marketing agreement with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to promote the fight against breast cancer in the fishing community. Guy Cotten will donate 5 percent of its U.S. sales of their rain gear, fleece wear and boots to the foundation. The company will also create a line of t-shirts, sweaters and caps called “Fish in Pink,” from which they will donate 10 percent of the proceeds.

The company was directly touched three years ago by the passing of its founder and president, Guy Cotten, from cancer. His daughter Nadine Cotten-Bertholom served the company for 20 years as CEO and is now the prinFor each Guy Cotten rain gear, fleece wear, and boots sol cipal shareholder andResearch president of the Guy Co 5% to the Breast Cancer Foundation®. agroup. merchandising line “FISH PINK” to promote this venture

Join the fight a

Breast Canc

of these products will go to BCRF. BCRF’s mission is to ad most promising research to eradicate breast cancer.

“As a woman running a family owned I am proud to be able to contribute to charitable cause; I will never thank en fishing community for their continuous Nadine Cotten- Bertholom President of Guy Cotten SA.

w w w. G u y C o t t e n U S

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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ON THE MARKET The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

at your service

White House hosts Sustainable Seafood Champions of Change hef Mary Sue Milliken of Los Angeles-based Border Grill prepared Alaska snow crab aguachile with passion fruit and avocado, featuring crab donated by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute for an Oct. 6 event in Washington, D.C., to honor the White House Oceans Champions of Change (read more about the West Coast and Pacific winners on page 6) and highlight the sustainability of U.S. fisheries. For the event, ASMI donated 80 pounds of snow crab for approximately 300 tasting portions of Milliken’s dish. Other chefs preparing dishes were Michael Cimarusti of Providence, William Dissen of the Market Place, Michael Leviton formerly of Lumiere, and Rick Moonen of RM Seafood.

an overview of the Alaska seafood i n d u s t r y.

The trip continued with a float plane ride to Steamboat Bay Lodge on Noyes Island, where the group spent the next few days observing commercial fishing; learning about and tasting the variety of Alaska salmon; whitefish and crab species; hosting chef demonstrations that showcased seafood cooking techniques; experiencing Alaska’s scenery and wildlife via boat; visiting the native village of Klawock for a Native foods luncheon; and touring the Trident Seafoods processing plant in Ketchikan.

A highlight of the trip was meeting Hollis Jennings, seine skipper of the Natalie Gail, where the group toured her vessel and discussed life as Alaska fishermen with the crew.

Logging the first Alaska Wild Salmon Day ug. 10 was the first annual Alaska Wild Salmon Day. ASMI encouraged celebration of the day through a customized Alaska Wild Salmon Day Snapchat geofilter, Facebook cover photo and profile photo, and video slideshow. The holiday also received attention through more than 200 mentions in national media outlets.

Order up! Demand for seafood dishes on the menu is on the rise SMI completed new research via Datassential to help foodservice operators understand consumer seafood preferences at chain restaurants.

The research demonstrates that consumers are looking for more seafood on menus, particularly wild seafood, for taste and health reasons.

Key highlights from the research show that 62 percent of consumers are eating seafood at casual-dining restaurants in any given month; 72 percent of consumers who eat more seafood than two years ago do so for health reasons.

More than half of consumers surveyed would like to see more seafood variety in restaurants and the percentage was even higher for Millennials. The full brochure is available on www.alaskaseafood.org.

C

A

Chefs and media say hello to Alaska seafood rom Aug. 17-21, ASMI hosted the fifth annual hands-on Alaska Seafood Culinary Retreat for top-tier domestic media, including Better Homes & Gardens, FoodNetwork.com, Good Housekeeping, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Real Simple, registered dietitians, U.S. Chef Virginia Willis, as well as chefs from Brazil, China, Germany and Spain.

The tour started in Ketchikan with a sustainability presentation at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and a plant tour of E.C. Phillips to provide

F

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

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James Beard Foundation panel with media demos ver the course of three days in New York City, influential food thought leaders convened at the annual James Beard Foundation Food Conference, which featured a panel discussion about Alaska seafood, as well as a hosted lunch serving up several varieties of Alaska seafood.

Additionally, the ASMI team coordinated with editors of Tasting Table, Good Housekeeping and the Daily Meal to set up media demos while in New York, resulting in a Tasting Table Facebook Live video and Snapchat story, an Instagram story from Good Housekeeping editor and culinary trip attendee Jaclyn London, and Daily Meal video, all showcasing the proper way to fillet an Alaska salmon.

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Captain D’s restaurants will feature Alaska salmon cakes Captain D’s, a fast-casual restaurant with 517 units in 26 states and headquartered in Nashville, is known for providing customers with innovative value fish meals.

ASMI has partnered with the restaurant to include Alaska keta salmon cakes on their menu.

Alaska fuses Brazil and Japan at Seattle’s Sushi Kappo Tamura razil has the largest population of Japanese ex-pats in the world.

ASMI took advantage of this unique pairing to host a workshop showcasing Brazilian flavors with Alaska seafood in Japanese cuisine at Sushi Kappo Tamura in Seattle. Brazil was represented by six food industry members and two chefs who were stateside to tour Alaska seafood processing facilities. Participants from seven Alaska seafood companies, three U.S. chefs, the Washington state Department of Agriculture and the Brazilian trade members all sampled dishes from Sushi Kappo Tamura’s chef. The Brazilian chefs made a dish with cod and pollock roe, and traditional Brazilian ingredients like tapioca and yucca.

B

FISHERPOETS Sophomore seiner blues RICHARD E. KING Richard E. King is a 40-year veteran Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay salmon drift gillnetter and now a Prince William Sound salmon seiner.

I’m going down to Prince William Sound To catch me a humpy or two Get a spot prawn supper on this ole’ fixer upper That to me is still brand new Bought a skiff and a seine, it’s a new poker game And I’m not sure what to do So I’ll do my best cuz I’m all invested In the Sophomore Seiner Blues And I don’t care what the boat average thinks of me And I’m too old to wait in lines The Sound’s a place that I know I deserve to see Because I’m running out of time Well I mortgaged my life, got no time with my wife Cuz this boat wants every day Can’t afford to park it, had to buy a market Now I own some silver bay And my hands ain’t clean, I got holes in my jeans But I know I’ve got to pay my dues So I’ll do my best cuz I’m all invested In the Sophomore Seiner Blues And I don’t care what the boat average thinks of me And I’m too old to wait in lines The Sound’s a place that I know I deserve to see Because I’m running out of time My body’s aching and I’m always taking Those ibuprofen pills I know I’m sinking and I can’t help thinking That I shouldn’t have done this deal But if I let go, then I’ll never know What else that I can do So I’ll do my best, to stay invested In the Sophomore Seiner Blues And I don’t care what the boat average thinks of me And I’m too old to wait in lines The Sound’s a place that I know I deserve to see Because I’m running out of time We’re all running out of time

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SEASON SUMMARY

“

Outlook

ALASKA FISHERIES

ALASKA

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

”

— Nat Nichols, SHELLFISH MANAGER, ADF&G

BRENT PAINE Executive director of United Catcher Boats out of Seattle on the Bering Sea pollock B season “The boats are tied up in Dutch Harbor, Akutan, or they’re headed down here [to Seattle] to get some shipyard work done between the time when we start fishing again in January.

“The acceptable biological catch limit was extremely high, and the allowable catch was 1.4 million metric tons or something like that, so the biomass is at almost an all-time high based on the stock assessment and the trawl surveys. We saw that in spades this summer in the B season. It was some of the best fishing conditions on the eastern Bering Sea that the pollock fleet had ever experienced.

“They’re done early because the catch rate was very high, which is good. When we have high catch rates, we have low salmon bycatch rates because we’re not towing the nets for long periods of time… That tends to allow for a high bycatch rate, so the other thing we always work with is trying to minimize our chinook and chum salmon bycatch, and we’ve come in very good in terms of the number of chinook salmon we’re taking as bycatch.

“We tend to start catching chi-

Tyson Fick

I think it’s fair to look at increased predation as a reason why we don’t have these small [Tanner] crabs making it to legal size.

nook in the Brent Paine later part of October.

The chinook tend to creep onto the pollock grounds in the later part of the season, so it’s always a relief that the fleet gets off the grounds before October 1 to help keep our chinook numbers down. It’s really been a positive season in terms of harvest.”

“The prices don’t get settled until about mid-December. The pollock is basically on a formula type pricing plan in that they do kind of a revenue share with the processors. We really don’t know what the ex-vessel price will be until the processors have a pretty good idea of what the market prices will be. I don’t think we’re going to see a strong price.

“This past B season we saw some really large fish… If these large fish are the spawners of next A season — January, February, March of 2017 — they should have a high percentage of roe, and the roe should be larger and the quality should be better… The bigger the egg sac the better the price.”

TYSON FICK Outgoing Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Communications director, newly appointed executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers “Crabbing is going really well so far from what I’ve heard. Pots are coming up full, and there’s been a broad distribution in age range, which bodes well for the future of the fishery.

And demand has never been stronger.”

KENNY DOWN CEO of Blue North Fisheries, which just launched its flagship 191-foot Pacific cod longliner Blue North (see more on page 16) Kenny Down

“Without a quota system, you could never make this kind of investment.

“The quota for cod is very stable. It does go up and down, so with a vessel like [the Blue North], you need the assurance that you have enough quota within the company to keep the boat fishing year-round, and Blue North does.

“I’ve been in for 30 years. Every year we go up, every year we harvest the fish, every year we stop when we take what we’re supposed to take and go home, and the next year we come back and the cod are there again. It’s really beautiful that way. It’s such a nice renewable resource.

“The cod quota in Alaska will float from about 176,000 metric tons to where it is now. It’s up high, around 235.”

COD

KING CRAB

POLLOCK

CHUM

SEASON SUMMARY

“

I think the universal contract is a good first step, but it’s far from sufficient.

”

— Hawaii Rep. Kaniela Ing (D) commenting on a new contract designed to address concerns of foreign fishing crews that work Hawaiian longliners

JOSHUA JARVIS Deckhand on the 63-foot California squid boat Endurance out of Ventura “Prices are good for squid at the moment, so just trying to be in position.

Joshua Jarvis

If it happens, it happens.

“Because I got here a little later, I don’t know the full details, but guys were catching squid up north around San Francisco. All those boats have come down South now, anticipating that squid are going to show up now…

It sounds like squid are being caught.

It’s looking good.

“If the squid don’t show up, we’re hurting and everyone is in a bind.

Every fishery feels like it’s been a little depressed lately so that’s the worry, but beyond money? That’s my only concern.

“If there’s no squid, I get a lot more time to surf.”

DUNGENESS CRAB

CHUM

SQUID

WASHINGTON OREGON CALIFORNIA FISHERIES

Outlook

WEST COAST

CHRIS BUSCHMAN Captain of the 58-foot seiner and crabber St. Teresa, fishing West Coast Dungeness out of Petersburg, Alaska.

“The unexpected is about all you can expect from Dungeness crabbing. There’s always a surprise somewhere.

Chris Buschman “This salmon season made me realize that a strong winter fishery is really important, and hopefully Dungie crabbing can be that this year.

“I always worry about a bad weather year. Some years are bad and some years are OK. It’s never good. I’d say that’s my biggest worry of every preseason is: is there going to be a big storm season the first part of the season?

Because that’s the time when we have to be pushing hard.

“You always have these preseason rumors about you’re going to have a lot of crab here, a lot of crab there. There’s always speculation, but you never really know what’s going to happen until everybody has their crab pots in the water.

“I think it’s easier to predict than salmon because the crab are living within 10 miles of the coast, not hundreds of miles of the coast. You can track them down in the ocean a lot easier than you can track down salmon in the ocean.

If there are no crab, you know. If there are crab, you know.”

NOAH CASH Deckhand on the 58-foot seiner Noah Cash Challenger, fishing Puget Sound chum salmon out of Bellingham, Wash.

“I’ve heard there’s supposed to be a pretty strong run coming out of Johnstone Strait. That could affect it, and we’ve been quoted at a good price.

“I’m assuming it’s because they didn’t get enough fish this summer, so they probably need more for the market.

They get enough in the summer, so they’re counting on the fall fish now.

“I’m excited to fish out of home, out of Washington. I live up here, and it’s a great way to stay busy and active in the fishery and also get to unwind from the summer season and relax a little bit.

I’m also excited for the good price, to fish with a new crew, and to have a new experience.

“It’s a pretty forgiving fishery. It’s only one day a week so there’s not really a lot to dread as far as fall fishing goes. I think our net is 700 mesh deep for the fall, and it can only be 450 for Southeast (Alaska), so we have to switch the net out.”

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

11

OUR FISHERY

EVEN-YEAR ODDS Does a down year in Alaska pink salmon returns justify federal disaster aid?

Emilie Springer is an anthropology Ph.D. candidate at University of Alaska at Fairbanks, focusing on cultural components of fishing.

BY EMILIE SPRINGER

A

Garrett Mccarthy

cross the Gulf of Alaska this year, the search for pink salmon left many hungry fishermen holding empty nets. The 2016 Alaska pink salmon season has been determined to be a record low, following a record high in 2015. While even-numbered years tend to produce lulls in pink returns, this year’s extreme low was not part of the forecast.

“In general, the pinks were really quite absent this year,” says Brad Marden, a Homer-based seiner who fishes his Omega Centauri out of Kodiak. “There were some really large pinks, but there weren’t very many of them. A lot of the Homer guys scratched out decent years, but looking

12

at the whole harvest in Kodiak, the local guys from the island really seemed hit hard,” Marden says.

In Kodiak, the primary salmon fishery isn’t even pinks, it’s sockeyes. Their fleet struggles were minor compared to the regions that rely on pinks.

“Most of the northern gulf fisheries that depend on pink salmon saw huge decreases: Kodiak, Prince William Sound, lower Cook Inlet were all at about 1/7th of their normal evenyear levels,” says Sam Cotten, commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game. “So, we believe it is clearly a run failure.”

Charlie Russell, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game management biologist in Cordova for the Prince William Sound seine fishery, also weighs in.

“This was a very small run size in volume but with some extremely large fish — we were seeing 10- to 12-pound pinks everywhere in the state,” says Russell. “The sound fish were typically about a 4-pound fish, and usually

it’s about 2 pounds. Some of the Valdez fish were maybe even 5 pounds.”

Size wasn’t the only anomaly in this year’s run, however.

“The south Alaska Peninsula had about half of their average catch, but it was an interesting year because they had a big shot of pinks in June, which is not typical,” Cotten says. “The presumption, in that case, was that they probably weren’t local fish and may have been Asian fish. Their July and August pink season was absolutely nothing. Chignik doesn’t depend on pinks as much as reds, but their numbers were way down as well. This was practically a gulfwide occurrence.”

In Prince William Sound, the pink fleet had three big years — 2013, 2014 and 2015, back to back to back. This year the total catch was 8.7 million fish, and that includes hatchery fish.

That makes 2016 the second lowest year since 2002, in which the fleet harvested 8.1 million fish (though there were fewer permits operating in the sound that year, and the hatcheries took a lot of fish).

“For our wild stock, we achieved escapement goals. The harvest was basically what was projected for wild stock,” Russell explained. “Montague and the Northern districts were down, but overall the wild stock for an even year was pretty average.”

This year, the hatcheries didn’t make out so well, either.

Aquaculture associations can harvest and sell a portion of adult return stocks for cost recovery purposes — in other words, to keep the lights on. They typically contract commercial vessels to harvest cost recovery fish.

The Valdez Fishery Development Association’s return came in at about half of the forecast.

“The projection was about 17.4 million return with 2 million for cost recovery. And they ended up having Pinks escape over the corks.

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

What about Blob?

The now-infamous Blob is a warmer-than-average volume of water shifting around in the Pacific Ocean, wreaking havoc on high-volume and -value species from Alaska pink salmon to California Dungeness crab.

Garrett Mccarthy

about 8 million total catch for the facility,” says Russell.

Given statistics in the rest of the sound, that hatchery actually did alright. The Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. was looking at a forecast 19.6 million fish and ended up with about 2.5 million for cost recovery and about 500,000 for commercial harvest.

“Their runs didn’t come in anywhere near projection,” says Russell. “There was just enough fish to get everything done for corporation requirements.”

Supporting businesses also struggled with the summer’s low returns.

“I’ve talked to some of the different processing companies, and there’s no question that if you have investment in all your equipment and your employees there, you have costs to deal with,” Cotten says. “The processors bring employees in expecting a certain level of production. If the fish don’t show up, you still have to pay those people. I haven’t heard anyone tell me that they’re about to go out of business, but it hurts!”

The Quest heads back to Homer at the end of the season.

“We’ve had some really warm water in the Gulf of Alaska,” Russell says. “When these small fish left to head out to sea, the water temperature was warmer than average, and something knocked them down early. It could have been the water temperature itself or lack of food.”

“A pink salmon doesn’t necessarily try to go further out to sea if they don’t find plankton near shore,” Cotten adds.

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13

“Why wasn’t there any food? We don’t know. Water temperature certainly plays a part.”

Ironically, a lack of food is likely what drove the size increase for individual fish in the year class.

“The fish that survived the kill-off had more food and less competition,” Russell goes on to explain. “This is true from the Southeast stocks all the way out to the peninsula. These were big fish, but there were not very many of them.”

Russell acknowledges that unexpected climatic shifts and events make the job of predicting fish runs that much more difficult and, well, unpredictable.

“We look at the forecast and hope that’s what we’ll get, but we just have to wait and see if the fish show up," Russell says.

“Last year it looked like we had some really good plankton when the fish were released — ideal conditions when they were released. Apparently, the fish went in the water at the right time. We’ll just have to see how it goes out there.”

Is this what disaster looks like?

“I don’t know if we need to go through the steps to call it a disaster and then get the relief,” Marden says of federal disaster relief. “I think in fishing you have to embrace the idea that you have your good years and bad years, and this certainly was a very bad year. I guess the timing of your entry into the fishery would make a lot of difference, to an indi-

Ken Dean

OUR FISHERY

The fleet was packed in at Valdez Harbor, just waiting to start fishing.

vidual. If you just bought your operation and you have all your payment costs and emergency repairs, you might really be hurting this year. But if you have everything paid off, well that’s a different story.”

But it’s not just whether you’re established that could determine your need. Representatives from various affected areas

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Winter work

A

fter a summer salmon season of low pink recruitment, the shoreside communities are left absorbing the impact of an unexpectedly unproductive season.

“Part of what the federal government does is try to look for longer-term trends. But what we can do in Alaska is if people had loans from the state, we can help them wait until next year for their payment,” says Sam Cotten, commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game. “We do have to look at it on a case by case basis, but if a particular fishing business depends on one species and is going to have some trouble with their loan payment, we want to be responsive to that concern.”

In terms of what the captains and crew can (and are likely to) do for themselves, it’s going to be a winter of

are grappling over whether they want to be included in an application for a disaster declaration.

“I’m hearing some mixed opinions,” Cotten says. “Initially we were not going to include the southern Alaska Peninsula, but we had some representatives come and suggest that, ‘If the state is going to declare a national disaster we want to be included, too.’ I thought they made a pretty good case so we did include them.

“We did propose the disaster declarations in south Alaska Peninsula, Chignik, Kodiak, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound,” Cotten adds. In late October, Gov. Bill Walker included Southeast fisheries in the request as a result of evident income loss.

Now those communities just have to wait out a long winter and see what comes next.

“It’s a fairly lengthy process,” Cotten says. “There has to be a determination by the Secretary of Commerce that it meets their criteria for a disaster so that they will agree to the proposal… Even if the federal government declares an emergency, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Congress will put some money into it.

“Most people say that the process of this will be about 1830 months before you actually see tangible financial relief,” according to Cotten. “It’s not necessarily easy to get an appropriation.”

If 2017 turns out to be another big — or even decent — year for pink returns, all this federal declaration handwringing could have been for nothing.

“This is government funding that we’re not going to hear about immediately,” Cotten says. “The federal government is looking for a trend. The state could also remove request for financial disaster assistance.

“Some fishermen caution us not to be too quick to call for disasters, because if you make this call too often, it sets the bar pretty low,” Cotten adds.

A perhaps even bigger risk is than long-term unpredictability could catch enough headlines to influence the way

stringing together odds and ends to pay the bills.

“There are a lot more guys this year who are going to be looking for work” in the off-season, says Brad Marden, a Homer-based seiner who fishes his Omega Centauri out of Kodiak. “In Homer, typical labor rates for skilled technical or mechanical work are about $110-120 an hour.”

That would be a reliable backup for most fishermen looking to bridge the gap of a tough season.

But those rates could very well go down, Marden adds, because of simple supply and demand. Not only will the pool of applicants be larger, making for a larger supply of skilled labor, but more fishermen could put noncritical projects on hold until next year, and the fishermen who do need to hire labor might not be able to pay the typical rates after a tight year.

— E.S. consumers perceive the fishery.

“Typically we don’t have any kind of sustainability problem with pink salmon. You don’t want the market to shy away from pink salmon if they think there’s a conservation reason to do so,” Cotten cautions.

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FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

15

INSIDE the BLUE NORTH

The HULL STORY

F/V BLUE NORTH

The 191-foot Blue North was christened in Seattle on Sept. 9.

T

he 191-foot Blue North — a new hook-and-line cod boat built for Blue North Fisheries

by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, Wash. — received a lot of attention when it was christened on Sept.

9, 2016. The party drew out Washington Gov. Jay Inslee along with hundreds of other guests, and elicited an all day, all night party, complete with a live band, free cocktails, and the best warm chocolate chip cookies I’ve eaten since childhood. Though most fishermen enjoy a good shindig a couple times a year, why did the Blue North merit this much attention? I took a tour of the flagship to find out. Here’s what I learned.

The moon pool will allow the crew to Many European fishing vessels have avoid any poor weather conditions. moon pools, but the Blue North is the first American vessel to include this safety feature. The moon pool, or internal hauling station, is a 5-foot-diameter tunnel at the bottom of the vessel that allows crew members to work inside, even when hauling gear. Kenny Down, CEO of Blue North Fisheries, says it allows the crew to “be fishing inside in the worst weather in the middle of winter in the Bering Sea in a climate controlled atmosphere.”

The moon pool replaces traditional side hauling over rollers. In addition to being a safer working platform, it will improve catch rates because it allows crews to work close to the water surface, reducing the number of fish lost just as they are lifted from the sea.

The Blue North also takes an innovative approach to energy efficiency. While all of the equipment on board is designed to be as efficient as possible, two features stand out.

First, its designers selected the most efficient diesel engines available and used them in combination with a smart grid that selects which size motor to turn on when in order to achieve the greatest fuel efficiency.The smart grid can detect even a gram of fuel savings and act on that data.This platform will be approximately 30 percent more efficient

Sierra Golden

Kevin J. Suver

BY SIERRA GOLDEN

16

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

Home port: Dutch Harbor, Alaska Boatbuilder: Dakota Creek Industries, Anacortes, Wash.

Designer: Skipsteknisk AS, Ålesund, Norway Owner: Blue North Fisheries, Seattle Material: Steel hull with aluminum superstructure Dimensions: 191' 5" x 42' x 18' 8" (depth to main deck) Wheelhouse/upper superstructure plating: aluminum Hull plating: steel, various, 6-13 mm Keel: steel, 150 tons Internal framing: bulb flanges Powertrain: 2 Caterpillar C32 (1,333 hp) with Siemens 910kW liquid cooled generators, Caterpillar C18a (600 hp) with Siemens 500-kW liquid-cooled generator, Caterpillar C9 250kW emergency generator Propulsion: 2 Schottel STP 1010 FP twin-propeller azimuthing thrusters Waste Heat Recovery System: Ulmatec Pyro Accommodations: 6 single staterooms, 10 double staterooms, all with private heads with showers Longline system: Mustad Autoline DeepSea, 75,000 hooks Fuel capacity: 126,000 gallons Freshwater capacity: 4,200 gallons Freezing capacity: 55 tons per day Product freezers: 30,000 cubic feet Frozen bait storage: 3,300 cubic feet Processing: fillet line, head-andgut line, ancillary product line; equipment supplied by Optimar Deck equipment: 2-ton SWL crane, Triplex, amidships; 2-ton SWL crane, Triplex, aft Electronics: Furuno, Simrad, Sailor, ECC Globe, Icom, Standard Horizon, Morad, KVH suits; 3 Imperial 1409 suits

Sierra Golden

richard a. WilliamS

The HULL STORY

The boat is equipped with top-of-the-line electronics.

Skipper Michael Fitzgerald at the helm.

than a traditional one.

Second, the Blue North is the only vessel in the North Pacific with a heat recovery system. This system recaptures energy from seawater heated by the engine cooling process and uses it to heat the entire vessel, make freshwater and make hot water. This reverse heat exchange system makes use of energy that would otherwise be thrown overboard.

allow seafood to be harvested more humanely, and the new longliner manifests those ideals. It is equipped to stun every fish within seconds of leaving the water, and hooks are removed only after the fish are stunned. This reduces stress to the fish and “creates a better-tasting, more nutritious and better quality product,” according to Down. Ultimately, Blue North hopes their innovations in stunning will create a better experience for fish and consumers alike.

Inslee answered my “what’s so special” question well in an open letter to the owners of Blue North Fisheries:“Blue North, as a company, has shown great leadership by creating one of the most environmentally friendly and safe fishing vessels in the word. By utilizing clean technology and building this stateof-the-art vessel, you are leading the way in modernizing the North Pacific Fishing Fleet right here in Washington.”

In short, the Blue North isn’t special just because it’s new — but because it’s uniquely outfitted to be safe, green and humane.

“

Blue North has shown great

leadership by creating one of the most environmentally friendly and safe fishing

”

vessels in the world.

— Washington Gov. Jay Inslee

Sierra Golden is a seiner deckhand and freelance writer in Seattle.

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One of this vessel’s most striking innovations was borrowed from an industry that often feels quite distant to fishing: cattle ranching. Executives at Blue North Fisheries noted that cattle are harvested under ethical treatment guidelines. No such guidelines exist for the fishing industry. Blue North has set out to change that by launching a Humane Harvest Initiative. The initiative calls for the development of new practices that will

richard a. WilliamS

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17

ON THE HORIZON

It doesn’t hurt to ask Markos Scheer practices commercial and admiralty law in Washington and Alaska with Williams Kastner & Gibbs, a full-service firm. He’s the president of the Northwest Fisheries Association, serves on the board of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and has worked in the seafood industry for more than 30 years.

P

erils! Danger! Risk Management!

Insurance! These are terms every attorney and insurance broker uses to get your attention and that clients are tired of hearing. We all know every fishery has its perils, and owners and crews work tirelessly to limit those risks through proper training, maintenance and equipment.

Admiralty law provides seamen a broad range of rights, including the right to maintenance, cure and unearned wages through the end of the voyage or the crew contract, in the event a seaman becomes sick or injured while in the service of the vessel. Seaman liens against a vessel are of the highest priority and potentially provide the seaman with significant collateral to ensure valid claims are paid. And while it is true that seamen are considered wards of the court and there is, justifiably, deference for their position given what can often be an unequal negotiating position and level of sophistication between the crewman beating the docks for a spot and an experienced and longtime owner/operator, these seaman rights are not limitless or a certainty.

A key element in risk management, from the perspective of the owner and crewman, is a good crew contract. (In “Crew contracts: as critical as your permit” NPF, Fall ’14, p. 16, I discussed a broader scope of issues that could be included in a crew contract.)

The crew contract establishes the terms of the relationship between the owner and the crewman. If the owner and the employee do not have a comprehensive contract, risk and uncertainty as to the rights and obligations of each are injected into the relationship and are much more likely to lead to 18

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

litigation if there are issues between the parties. In my opinion, medical disclosures are a key component of any good crew contract.

From the owner’s perspective, a medical disclosure provides the owner with additional information about the crewman and notice as to whether or not the person they are considering for a position has the capability to do demanding work on the boat. AdditionThe Coast Guard medevacs an injured fisherman.

USCG

BY MARKOS SCHEER

From the crewman’s perspective, an appropriate medical disclosure can eliminate an owner’s ability to use the McCorpen defense to liability for maintenance and cure. This arose from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in McCorpen v. Central Gulf Steamship. The McCorpen defense is based on the premise that, in certain cases, an owner can assert a McCorpen defense to withhold maintenance and cure if the owner can establish that: 1) when the owner hired the seaman, the seaman intentionally misrepresented or concealed pertinent medical facts; 2) the non-disclosed facts were material to the company’s decision to hire the claimant; and 3) there was a causal link between the concealed pre-existing injury and the employment injury.

Basically, the owner would not be responsible for maintenance and cure if the crewman willfully fails to disclose

ally, being well informed can allow the owner to do more analysis before making a hiring decision.

For example, if the prospective crewman discloses that they had a back injury seven years prior but seem to have recovered, the owner could ask them to provide evidence of fitness, such as something from the treating physician that confirms they are able to perform the tasks onboard. The disclosure and fitness verification could also help to reduce insurance premiums as well as the likelihood that aggravation of a preexisting injury would result in the vessel operating with short crew.

that they had an injury and that injury is aggravated. This is a result that is bad for everyone involved.

Litigation is time consuming, stressful and expensive. Taking steps to eliminate potential disputes helps ensure that an injured crewman receives their maintenance and cure in a timely manner. Fishing has inherent dangers, so it’s not possible to eliminate that risk entirely. However, just like training and maintenance programs limit the potential for injury or death, a reasonable medical disclosure can limit potential disputes in the unfortunate event of an injury.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

How I spent my summer vacation Lori French is the founder of Faces of California Fishing in Morro Bay.

BY LORI FRENCH

L

ast summer — the one before the Horrible, Terrible, No Good Crab season — the Old Man of the Sea had surgery, and I spent most of the summer telling him no he could not do whatever he was trying to do. I knew I’d reached my limit when I found he had set up a squirrel stand down by the little barn using his mother’s wheelchair. But actually I was kinda glad he was home because the drought here in California made watering the avocados a full-time job.

What I’m trying to say is last summer was pretty dang stressful what with the Old Man of the Sea in recovery and trying to juggle water between the orchard and the house. (The house lost in that battle.) So as we moved into November, I was really looking forward to my Fish Wife vacation. And you know what happened? There was no crab season. And when they did start fishing, they ended up at home instead because of the illness of a family member. So that put me into this last June still looking for my Fish Wife vacation. The Old Man of the Sea had been home for about 18 months. Every. Single. Day. And. Every. Single. Night.

What exactly is a Fish Wife vacation?

It is the time when you guys go fishing; not to be confused with a real vacation. I have felt secretly guilty for a lot of years for looking forward to a bit of time off when the Old Man of the Sea left for the start of any season. Recently I found out I was not alone. In my unofficial poll, I found that we Fish Wives enjoy our time away from you guys.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 14 reasons of what we like most about when you’re gone. But you can’t be gone for too long. Don’t worry, we really do

love you. The feeling only lasts a few weeks — tops.

1. Less laundry. In our house, the Old Man of the Sea is a big guy, and that means big clothes — big, wet, heavy clothes that must go out to the clothesline. (Side note: I hang 90 percent of our laundry because it smells better and I’m cheap, plus the Old Man of the Sea is allergic to softeners and most soaps, and the dryer just makes it worse.)

2. We can have the entire bed to ourselves unless the dog joins us.

This was really important in our house until we moved up from a double size bed to a queen a couple of years ago. We spent 29 years in a double bed. #togetherness 3. We can have popcorn for dinner.

Unless there are children still at home, in which case we can call for a pizza.

4. The TV clicker is ours! I hate watching TV with the Old Man of the Sea. I honestly think our TV only shows ESPN channels 1 through 563 and bad reality shows.

So when you’re gone, we can watch chick stuff.

5. The TV volume is not set on scream.

6. Just because we have the clicker control doesn’t mean we use it. I have gone entire seasons without turning the TV on. There are other things we like to do, like read or craft or go to a movie and not share the popcorn.

7. We can read in bed until 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning without feeling guilty. (OK, not feeling too guilty.)

And if we have young kids in the house, this is when the clicker becomes theirs.

8. No snoring.

9. The toilet seat is down. Unless we have little boys.

10. We don’t have to check our schedules to do something to see if it matches your schedule. Trust me, that one makes sense in our female world.

11. We don’t miss having to make you

huge-ass lunches. This only applies when you fish out of your home port. In our house, one boat has a microwave and one boat doesn’t.

I’m a firm believer in leftovers for lunch the next day because I hate having to figure out what kind of lunch I have to make. And since Tall One #1 lives with us (thank you horrible crab season) that means I make his food, too.

12. I do not have to make coffee and bring it to the Old Man of the Sea in bed. I don’t drink coffee. But we’ve been married for 32 years, and I don’t want a divorce at this stage of the game over the lack of coffee.

13. We like the sweet text messages and phone calls we get when you’re away. Really! Who knew the Old Man of the Sea could flirt using his prehistoric flip phone?

14. Homecoming Nookie Nookie.

That’s all I’m gonna say about that topic.

So this year when it was getting close to salmon season, after the avocados were harvested I was practically pushing the Old Man of the Sea and Tall One #1 out the door. I. Needed. My. Fish. Wife. Vacation.

This year things took a bit of a different twist. Tall One #1 decided to make me a Granny, and the Old Man of the Sea decided to make me a mother once again. Yes, you guessed it, left to their own devices one day in late July, they brought home not one, but two lab puppies, so I “would have company” when they were gone. Nowhere in my Fish Wife vacation plans did I foresee two little Twisted Tornados that believed it was their duty to eat furniture, my chickens, rugs, my garden, crab gloves. My Little White Dog Ruby wasn’t exactly thrilled about these new additions either. (Ruby isn’t really little, nor is she white. Well she’s white underneath the dirt.) So come August, off the Old Man of the Sea and Tall One #1 went for salmon and left me alone with two out of control children. And the morning before they left for salmon, my newest chicken coop caught on fire and almost burned the ranch down — not to mention the entire droughtstricken valley. So much for a vacation.

Next stop: Fish Expo and a hotel room for relief.

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

19

THE LONG HAUL

Boldted shut Vicki Sutherland Horton is an award-winning author based in Port Townsend, Wash., who writes about the commercial fishing life and participates in FisherPoets events. She is working on a memoir of her father and the family’s struggles after the 1974 Boldt Decision.

BY VICKI HORTON

I

one-man demonstration. When the camera moved to the newsroom, this raven-haired announcer continued to explain how my father in protest had set his net in waters where nontribal members weren’t permitted to harvest fish. She stated that Dad was a commercial gillnet fisherman and the

Michael SiegriSt photoS

saw on my television screen the image of my father’s gillnet fishing boat drifting on open water. There was dad aboard the Suds as a camera zoomed in on him standing on the boat’s deck. A smooth voiced newscaster called my father a folk hero as she described how he was staging a

president of the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association. Our announcer described how fishermen in Washington state were struggling on many levels to make sense of the 1974 Boldt Decision, an interpretation by U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt of an 1888 treaty giving 50 percent of the harvest quota to native fishermen.

From my comfy chair, watching Dad on Seattle’s KOMO evening news, I remember how much I admired his passionate conviction and wondered then if I could muster the courage to stand up for what I believed in like he did. His purpose that day was to make public one of many questions that fishermen grappled with during the Boldt Decision. Dad was asking then why salmon originating in British Columbia, managed by a joint agreement between Canada and the United States, were part of Washington state’s allocation of salmon between tribal and nontribal fishermen. It was one of many challenges that emerged during a cloudy time for my father and other fishermen.

My father would later tell me the camera shot came from a helicopter hovering over his boat. I watched — not sure of the issues but proud of his courage — from my parents’ carpeted The 1974 Boldt decision that split the commercial salmon quota between tribal and nontribal fishermen.

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THE LONG HAUL where was the man I knew as a child?

Answers come in a Tacoma Tribune from August 1978. They reported that National Marine Fisheries Service agents testified they had found my father aboard his gillnet boat with full net in the water. The agents boarded the Suds and ordered my father to retrieve his net. He complied, removing six salmon. Later, after Dad offloaded his meager catch, his Cannery Fish Receiving Ticket states that he donated his few salmon to the Senior Citizen Nutrition Program.

Phil Sutherland, president of the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association, was a major force in protesting the decision.

living room. I could see how the helicopter’s downdraft whipped up white caps on gray water, forcing the Suds to pitch. Dad swayed to offset the boat’s movement as the camera scene pulled back. With daughter’s eyes I saw how youthful he looked in shiny oilskins, wind-tossed hair and toothy grin. I noticed that he had one hand wrapped around the tail of a flashing silver salmon; the other hand grasped its jaw.

He held this gleaming fish high above his head as if in offering.

Dad would later show me his salmon-colored violation notice, issued July 7, 1977, that listed his transgression to be “Unlawful fishing for Sockeye Salmon in Convention Waters.”

This would be the first of many media-filled events where my father would be tried, found guilty, fined and sentenced to jail for this violation.

It would be a lifetime before I began to understand my father’s personal sacrifice and risk. Many years later, I find yellowed newspaper clippings tucked within my father’s things, long after his death, that help me comprehend how the man I knew growing up — church leader, coach and mentor, solitude lover, commercial fisherman — became the passionate, often quoted, beloved by some, disdained by others, public figure who fiercely battled his perceived inequity. Now I wonder,

The presentencing report written in 1976 by his lawyer, Chuck Yates, helps me understand, too.

“Philip Sutherland is a crusader with two goals in mind. First, he wants to correct what he perceives is a horrible injustice to his fellow commercial fishermen. Second, he wants to do this in such a way as to prevent anyone from being hurt.” *Phil Sunderland of Port Townsend, Wash., died at sea in 1981, five years after his protests of the Boldt Decision.

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FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

21

GEAR SHIFTS

KEM EquipMEnt photos

UPSTREAM STEAM Oregon’s KEM Equipment cast its net on a riverboat niche

BY JEAN PAUL VELLOTTI

W

It makes no difference if the engines power gillnetters, tour boats or pleasure craft — fast-moving western rivers require faster jetboats.

22

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

hen you think of the opening of salmon season, you might immediately imagine the epic clash of 32-foot aluminum boats fighting for position in Bristol Bay. These plump, sturdy craft hum along as their diesel power plants churn out loads of torque from deep in the hull, with plenty of power to spare for winches and deck pumps. They are also built to withstand the occasional — or not — love-tap from a competing boat.

But there’s a catch.The Bristol Bay boats aren’t the only game in town, and their design won’t work for pursing the inland salmon run. For that, you need small, shallow-water hulls that can skim over the riverbed and pivot around a pile of rocks at a moment’s notice. And they need to be fast. Real fast.

Starting with your standard 20-foot trailerable West Coast aluminum riverboat

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with a refined bow and 10- to 12-degree deadrise, and fitted with an inboard V-8 engine and a jet drive, they cruise at 40- to 50-mph in less than 12 inches of water. At these speeds, there is little room for error, and it takes an experienced design team to put together a successful engine and jet drive package.

That’s where Tualatin, Ore.-based KEM Equipment comes in. They’ve been in the marine OEM engine business for more than 30 years and have become a household name for boatbuilders looking for new installations and owners

TRAINING THAT WORKS FOR YOU! to do the same in a manner of speaking. Instead of pursuing sales of big diesel engines for the Bristol Bay boats, they turned their energy toward the inland river jet boats and have found a very successful niche business.

Ed Stevenson, a long-time sales manager and self-described “old guy” for KEM explains that their current success wasn’t without a few rough waves.

“In 1981, business was low,” recounts Stevenson, who had just joined KEM after several years of selling Ford engines out of Salmon, Ore., parts of Idaho and

“In those days, outboards were much smaller, and

you didn’t have the horsepower. A 100-hp outboard

”

was a big outboard back then.

— Ed Stevenson, KEM EQUIPMENT

looking for a repower.

However, it wasn’t always this way. As they say in fly-fishing, you have to match the hatch to land a keeper, and KEM had

northern California for a company that lost their distributorship. KEM, which had been in business since the late 1960s, sold a variety of equipment, includ-

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23

GEAR SHIFTS ing pump gears and Lister engines and gensets. At the time, KEM also had offices in Seattle and Alaska, with a focus on the industrial side for logging and mining, but as their industries declined, along with competition from direct manufacturer sales, they made a decision to concentrate resources in Oregon for the marine market, which was successful for their office, based then in Portland.

“At that time, we looked into building our own engines, and we decided to build a line of Ford engines for coldweather climates and added heat exchangers. We paired them with Berkley jet drives, which we thought were good for small recreational boats,” added Stevenson. “They were 460-cubic-inch Fords with 4-barrel carburetors and rawwater cooled.”

That initial combination was soon replaced by a similar model Ford 460 using different internals and then in 1984, expanded with additional Ford offerings, including a 302 cubic inch and a 351 cubic inch. Shortly after that, Hamilton jet drives came into favor over the Berkley models.

If the thought of a Ford 460 installed in a 19- to 21-foot boat sounds daunting, and it should, there was a reason for the madness.

“In those days, outboards were much smaller, and you didn’t have the horsepower. A 100-hp outboard was a big outboard back then. You didn’t have the 250- to 300-hp outboards like today,” explains Stevenson. “Another reason is because of clearance, which is why we use the jets.

“An average boat weighs in at 3,800 pounds with two to three people on board and planes at 25 to 35 mph depending on hull design. This is with only 5 to 6 inches of clearance on plane.”

The success of this combination launched the Kodiak brand of marine engines at KEM, which started marketing engines to boatbuilders around 1984.

With around 75 builders of heavy-gauge aluminum boats (defined as boats with 1/4-inch-plus bottoms), the need for engines was steady.

But in the early 1990s, a switch from Ford to GM was imminent. As Ford developed the 4.6-liter overhead cam V8, GM stayed the course with their pushrod 5.0-liter base. But the death knell for 24

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

Most river jetboats range from 19 to 22 feet, but they are all less than 8 feet wide, which allows them to be trailerable on the open road.

The sharp rise of the stem in this welded aluminum boat meets fast currents and rapids head on with ample inboard horsepower moving water through the jetdrive.

Ford came when Mercury Marine began pairing their MerCruiser outdrives with GM engines, successfully killing the long-staying power of the 351 V8.

“In 1993 or 1994, we made the switch to the GM engines. But since we manufactured our own exhaust manifolds, there was retooling that had to be done, and we had a cast manifold made with our name on it,” recalls Stevenson proudly, who also explained how the castings initially were made in New Zealand, and then later in the United States. This

switch in suppliers actually changed the source of jet pumps in an indirect and unexpected way.

The company casting the manifolds was owned by a parent company that also owned American Turbine jets in Lewiston, Idaho. After some discussion, that parent company invested in KEM, refunding the business to great success and allowing the company to grow in other areas while still maintaining the marine business.

“Fifty percent of our business has al-

ways been industrial, especially since industrial certification. Marine is a small niche business, but a good business. Having two areas that aren’t tied to each other allowed us to develop an engineering department for designing parts,” said Stevenson.

With an on-site design team plus service technicians, KEM can work with new models of engines and develop items like new manifolds onsite. That was needed for the current iteration of

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“You can find our

engines in salmon boats running the Rogue River in Oregon, in the Snake River in Idaho, and of

”

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course in Alaska.

— Ed Stevenson

GM pushrod offerings, which offer even more power than the big block Fords of years ago.

With Kodiak engines ranging from 2.4- to 6.2-liter and 110- to 550-hp, most 22-foot salmon boats are getting the 5.3- and 6.2-liter V8s. Nowadays, anything less than 300 hp is considered underpowered. But for comparison, that same boat in 1984 would be pushing a 245-hp Ford 351 Windsor. So while loads of horsepower is the name of the game, what hasn’t changed too radically is the jet pump design, with open vane or mixed load designs utilized.

These LN6 aluminum alloy units are durable, flexible and heat-treated to withstand impact. But many have rubbed rocks in the best salmon grounds in the country, paired to KEM Kodiaks.

“You can find our engines in salmon boats running the Rogue River in Oregon, in the Snake River in Idaho, and of course in Alaska,” said Stevenson. Pressed for which rivers up north, after a pause he continued, “Well in Alaska, you can find them everywhere.”

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Jean Paul Vellotti is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman.

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

25

BOATBUILDING

KNOCKING ON WOOD A Bristol Bay fisherman races to make repairs to his wooden gillnetter before the salmon season strikes

BY CHARLIE ESS

Charlie ess

Moore has kept his corking tools well used since acquiring the Janice E. about 12 years ago.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

He says she’s a plan B in case of a breakdown on the Miss Gladys in the peak of the frenzied fishery — where seasons are made and lost on a single tide. But there are other motives: The windows of the old boat sport for-sale signs. Moore wants it ready to fish and anchored out in the river in the event another fisherman breaks down, which would precipitate an immediate sale of the boat. Then again, Moore exudes a sense of satisfaction in keeping the 49-year-old wooden boat afloat.

The last week of June finds the Miss Gladys tied up to the dock, topped off with fuel, groceries and with nets at the ready to fish. The year’s arrival of herring in April instead of May has left many fishermen speculating that the salmon would arrive two weeks earlier than their usual July 4 peak.

That the fish haven’t yet materialized doesn’t faze Moore, who’s keeping plenty busy in the preamble of launching the Jan, as he affectionately calls the wooden boat, which was named after his mother.

Moore, 55, was born in Dillingham and spent summers in Naknek as a

setnetter, fishing open skiffs along the outer beaches near the confluence of the Naknek and Kvichak rivers. More than a decade ago, he made the leap into the drift fishery, which included his acquisition of a drift permit and a boat. While most fishermen express an aversion to wooden boats, given their inherent amount of upkeep, Moore’s love of them drove him to purchase the Jan, a 32-foot American Commercial Marine gillnetter, built in 1967.

As it turns out, Moore’s propensity

Charlie ess

W

ith the idea, perhaps, that two boats are better than one, longtime Bristol Bay fisherman Harry Moore headed to his summer haunt at Naknek this season to prepare for sockeye salmon. Two years ago he acquired the Miss Gladys, a capacious fiberglass Rawson gillnetter. While the new boat functions as his mainstay fishing platform during the sockeye season, Moore also readies an old wooden gillnetter, the Janice E.

Surface rust is common over winter, as the tools are nearly 40 years old and made of high carbon steel.

in gravel while he works overhead.

Moore inspects the Jan from stem to stern with a series of taps along the hull with a specialized mallet, and we listen to the ever-changing acoustics of the hull. My imagination conjures up pounding hammers, the chirp of handsaws and the conversations of the

The Janice E. at her place in Moore’s Naknek storage yard.

Chrysler, go through its fuel system, check out the reduction gear, the boat’s hydraulics, its electronics and other mechanical features. But these chores seem perfunctory in comparison to recorking the planks and painting the old boat.

On a sunny morning, Moore dons a pair of bib coveralls, faded and with large pockets, suggesting their longterm dedication for holding an assortment tools and the task of sitting

men who toiled in the small shipyard that turned out these boats for the bay.

Already, Moore has introduced me to the beer planks and whiskey planks of the hull, and how reaching these junctures of construction warranted cause for celebration in the arduous process of planking the boat from the keel to the bulwarks.

Moore continues his assessment along the starboard side. Occasionally he stops and taps in a circular pattern that demands a closer ear.

“You hear that?” he asks, with a repetitious thumping of his mallet along a particular plank. “You hear the dif-

Charlie ess

toward wooden boats in his earlier life led him to attend the Northwest School for Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, Wash. Since then, Moore has maintained an assortment of “corking irons,” tools that include straight irons, threading irons, making irons, shouldering and finishing irons; and a wooden box heaping with oakum, cotton strands, shims of white oak, plugs of yellow cedar and other supplies.

“She’s yellow cedar planking on white oak frames,” says Moore as he shows me aboard the dry-docked Jan. He’s invited me out to Naknek to assist him and his daughter Hannah with boat work, but I’ll also supply added muscle on the back deck in the event of an early opening. Moore has fished with his children, Hannah, 18, Makenzie, 28, and Everest, 26, for nearly a decade, while his wife, Jane runs the books, attends to logistics and other details in Palmer, about 500 miles north.

In the next few days, we’ll change the oil in the Jan’s main engine, a marine-converted 440-cubic-inch

Charlie ess photos

Moments before launching, Harry Moore noticed this gaping crack in the planking. The launch was aborted, and the boat was hauled back into the yard for more repairs.

Moore makes haste with corking tools as part of his preseason woodwork.

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

27

BOATBUILDING

Charlie ess

Moore and his crew removed decking and fuel tanks to reveal a half-dozen cracked ribs like the one in the lower left corner.

ference in the sound? This is where I into a sharpened hook. He introduces ing the bay anytime soon. That the me to the threading iron, and demon- fish might show up late — or that the know I have some soft ribs.”

He explains that he replaced some strates how to drive long loops of cot- run has arrived but in abysmally weak of the ribs, years ago, and describes ton rope into the open cracks between proportions — puts many in the fleet the process of steaming the thick planks. I give it a try, but my dexterity on edge. With their boats ready, the fishermen must strips of white endure a waitoak for hours in You hear the difference in the sound? This is ing game. They a 12-foot-long, measure days lost custom-built where I know I have some soft ribs. to cribbage and steam box that solitaire — and has been stored in show up at the a warehouse becannery’s regulonging to his lo— Harry Moore, BRISTOL BAY FISHERMAN larly scheduled cal processor.

By mid-afternoon, Moore has is no match for Moore’s. coffee breaks, mug ups, at 10 a.m. and gouged out much of the old corking Over the course of the next few 3 p.m. to discuss the latest rumors of with a specialized reefing tool he built days, the salmon continue their eva- run strength, which have been prediby forging the end of a screwdriver sive pattern with no promise of enter- cated by Alaska Department of Fish

“

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Charlie ess

and Game test boats far to the south of the fishing district.

But we have our work cut out for us. We finish our coffee and donuts and return to the boat. I begin scraping layers of old paint from the port side of the hull. After that, we plan to mix up a watery concrete concoction and force it into the cracks over the corking. This is the final step before we break out the rollers, brushes and gallons of red bottom paint.

On the other side of the boat, Moore has resumed thumping his mallet along a plank.

“I like to hear that solid sound,” he announces to me from under the keel.

“It tells me that the cotton is set, and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

As for the scraping, we are attempting to get down to bare wood and find a thin scribed groove that the builders used to denote the waterline. We want to use it as our index and paint a dark blue boot stripe between the blood-red bottom paint and the stark white paint that we’ll use above the waterline.

We use up two rolls of blue painter’s tape to define sharp lines and paint on the three colors. After the last coat, we walk ahead of the bow and look back to judge the fairness and symmetry of our waterline. The Jan shows appreciable signs of our labor, and an increasing number of fishermen have stopped by to express their admiration.

“Have you seen the St. Elmo this year?” many fishermen have asked.

Indeed, we watched the launch of the wooden boat with its new corking and new paint. The owner of the St. Elmo threw the rudder hard over and played in the waves shortly after he’d backed it out of the slings. As the boat frolicked in the water, it spun the heads of fishermen and the cannery crew, who gazed upon it like some sacred art exhibit that suddenly transported us back to the time when our predecessors worked these same waters from wooden sailboats.

I, too, have been swept up in the nostalgia of these wooden boats. I was 11 years old when the Jan had been fitted out with its engine and hardware, came off the ways and splashed into the water.

Moore inspects the newly installed sister ribs (black) to ensure they are properly aligned before through-bolting them from the outside planking of the hull.

We’re scheduled to launch the Jan in the morning; so we double check its three bilge pumps, as she’ll take on a lot of water before her planking swells and tightens up on the corking. As a

preemptive measure, we’ve hooked up a garden hose to one of the cannery’s water outlets and flooded the bilges with hundreds of gallons of water. The boat leaks like a sieve for the first sev-

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29

BOATBUILDING

Harry Moore

eral hours but seems to have tightened up to intermittent dripping around the keel by the time we call it a day.

Morning finds us with the Jan in the cradle of a boat trailer. A heavy loader backs the boat down onto the docks, where a huge crane dangles a pair of heavy slings.

As the cannery crew passes one of the slings under the boat, Moore makes last-minute inspections.

“I always do a walk-around before dumping a wooden boat in the water,” he says.

He rounds the boat to check out its port side and stops abruptly near the stern.

“Oh my!”

His face registers incredulity, then defeat, as he runs his fingers along a conspicuous crack that splits the planking in a nearly 6-foot-long scar.

The launching crew draws near and

The Janice E. will undergo some serious work before fishing again.

30

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

seems momentarily confused until Moore informs the men that the crack has been caused by structural damage and won’t swell up to stop leaking.

“If we launched right now, this thing would sink while it’s still in the slings,” says Moore.

He turns to the foreman of the storage yard. “We’d better put it somewhere back in the yard where it’s not going to be in your way. She’s not going anywhere near the water anytime soon.”

There comes a time with woodenboat owners when they must decide to give up, scrap out the hardware, cut up the boat and burn it, tow it out among the groves of alders — or roll up their sleeves, open their wallets and make major repairs.

With the imminence of a fishing opener on hold, Moore waits less than a minute to decide we’re going to rip out the decking and its supporting structure, lift out the port side fuel tank and anything else lying between us and a half-dozen broken ribs.

Though a common hurdle in boat repair for the past decade has been finding a reliable source for white oak, Moore recently learned that the St. Elmo’s original oak ribs were sistered with high-density plastic. Interestingly, the plastic requires the same steaming process as white oak. The intense heat of the steam box softens the plastic so it will bend and can be driven down the inside the hull, alongside the broken ribs and against the con-

tour of the planking.

A day later we’re removing pliable black plastic noodles from the massive steam box and racing against time to drive them into place before they cool and turn stiff. With the sister ribs in place, we drill through the longitudinal stringers, through the new plastic ribs and through the planks on the outside of the boat. I hit the planks lightly with a cordless drill fitted with a countersink bit, driving in large carriage bolts, while Moore tightens nuts from inside of the boat.

Within minutes, the plank begins to move into place, and the gaping crack miraculously begins to close. From up top and inside of the hull, Moore sums up the significance of our work.

“She’ll be refastened, through-bolted, and this low plank will be sucked back into place,” he says. “Once that happens, the boat will be good for another 20 years. That would put it fishing at 70. Wouldn’t that be something?”

Indeed it would. That would put me at 80. I grab another carriage bolt and hammer it home in a silent prayer that Moore and I live long enough to see the fruits of our repairs; moreover that our health permits us to return to the bay each year and watch the Jan playing in the waves.

Charlie Ess is the North Pacific Bureau chief for National Fisherman.

Harry Moore

CHarlie ess

Harry Moore and daughter Hannah put the finishing touches on the boat’s new paint job.

Moore says she’ll be good for another 20 years with the right repairs.

T H E W O R L D ’ S HE WO R L D’S

PR EM I ER C O N FER EN C E O N Photo Credit: Octavio Aburto/Marine Photobank

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CREW LIFE

THE HOUSE THAT FISH BUILT Fishermen-run Tuna Harbor Dockside Market in San Diego serves up surprises from the sea

BY VICTORIA MINNICH

T

GooGle

he documentary “Just Eat It,” an exposé of food waste across North America, chronicles cases of 40 to 60 percent waste from farms to the market, all the way to the consumer level. In contrast, the model of San Diego’s Tuna Harbor Dockside Market — a downtown venue that serves as a farmer’s-market-style retail space for local fishermen to sell their catch to the public — seeks to diverge from the high-volume industrial-scale model to match adventurous eaters with species that might otherwise fall by the wayside.

San Diego’s open-air Tuna Harbor Dockside Market was founded in 2014.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2015

CREW LIFE

Although the highly regulated marine harvesting practices off the San Diego coastline boast very little bycatch, fishermen still harvest underutilized species that otherwise have little or no market.

This marketplace has stepped in to cater to the consumer in search of a rare gem.

The open-air fish hub provides fishermen and other industry innovators the

freedom to create and test new markets for unique marine products that most high-volume seafood wholesalers are unwilling or unable to purchase. Every week, this market offers surprises from the sea: unusual, incidentally caught, yet perfectly healthy and delicious species of funky fish for San Diegan seafoodies to snatch up and enjoy.

For example, a monchong (or pomfret) that was line-caught off San Diego’s deep waters by the 70-foot tuna

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Rockfish is a popular West Coast groundfish species caught by trawl.

Rich King touches up the name of VIGOR.NET MARINESALES@VIGOR.NET the Cook Inlet gillnetter Mayflower in Kenai, Alaska, before the season starts.

FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

33

CREW LIFE

Albacore fisherman J.J. Gerritsen displays a tuna for sale.

Jason Houston

Jason Houston

A FISHERMAN’S DREAM

Norm Abell and Jordyn Kastlunger help out at the red sea urchin tank.

Victoria MinnicH

P

Jason Houston

A market customer buys a 15-pound pomfret — not your typical fish-market find — off the table for just $2.50 per pound.

The market is down on the waterfront, near San Diego’s Seaport Village and is open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

eter Halmay, a local urchin diver and president of the San Diego Fishermen’s Working Group, launched San Diego’s Tuna Harbor Dockside Market in 2014 togegher with Zac Roach Jr., another fisherman; Norm Abell and Rebecca Richards, both aquaculturalists; and attorney Peter Flournoy.

“The impetus for starting the fishermen’s market was to get the fishermen and the community talking to one another. Also to provide a fair price to our customers while getting a more reasonable price for the product,” says Halmay.

The market’s website promotes the principle of connection: “Get closer to your food sources. Gain an understanding and appreciation of fishing and aquaculture. Be inspired to consider careers in commercial fishing and aquaculture. Our fishermen and aquafarmers love to talk. Ask them about what they sell, how they catch and harvest it, and their favorite way to cook it!”

Industry leaders hope this venture can serve as a model for other parts of the state and country. In the meantime, San Diego’s working waterfront is being threatened by harbor development and a plan that would maintain the market but compromise one of the commercial marinas.

The market is located downtown

by Seaport Village, and is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Find them online and on Facebook.

— Jessica Hathaway

vessel Pacific Horizon, is an oddity at a mid-fall fish market. This seafood salon typically features the staple local catch of various species of tuna, blackcod, sheephead, rockfish, thornyhead, sand dabs, mackerel, spiny lobster, rock and spider crab, sea urchin, squid, octopus, and sea snails both seasonally and year-round.

This chunky monchong is a notable standout even among outliers.

of on-site processing at the fish-cleaning station. Before I can ask this eager customer what exactly she was going to do with this prized purchase — pomfrets are often grilled because of their oily meat — she vanishes into the crowd of seafood shoppers and curious tourists.

What a symbolic occasion to seize and quietly savor — a brief, heightened moment of time in which an oddball fish that was accidentally caught was brought to market and sold to a discerning cus-

rine edibles within the clunky treadmill of global seafood production and consumption. Perhaps even more so.

The experience is what leads the San Diego community to praise Tuna Harbor Dockside Market for creating a venue for these funky fish. Timely and direct producer-consumer transactions make this place a little sweet spot of seafood efficiency and elegance. In the predominant American food landscape THE MONCHONG MOMENT of large-scale operations and intermediOn an early Noaries perpetuating surplus vember morning, just and waste, it’s no wonder a half-hour into the the shoppers here find the In the predominant American food landscape market, a keenly enexperience refreshing. of large-scale operations, it’s no wonder the thusiastic Asian cusIn the name of our tomer comes up to own fishing Prawn Stars shoppers here find the experience refreshing. poke at the pomfret’s at Tuna Harbor Dockside firm exterior and Market, “You never know check its gills for freshness. Within a tomer at a price that was equally af- what you’re gonna catch, as you never minute, she decides without hesitation fordable for the buyer as it was fair for know what you’re gonna eat!” to snag this 15-pound fish off the table the hard-working fishermen. The more at a mere $2.50 per pound. Though she offbeat avenues along the local seafood Victoria Minnich is a freelance writer, fisherwalks away cradling this paper-bagged chain are just as noteworthy as the volu- ies storyteller and seafood hustler at the Tuna pomfret in the round, she has the option minous quantities of homogenized ma- Harbor Dockside Market in San Diego.

“

”

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WESMAR

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General Communication Inc (GCI) . . . . .7

North Pacific Fuel . . . . . . . . . .15

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www .petrostar .com

H & H Marine Inc . . . . . . . . . . .17

Ovatek Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

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www .ovatek .com FALL 2016 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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IN FOCUS / OREGON ALBACORE TUNA

The deck of the jig troller Manatee II loaded with albacore tuna during the first trip of 2016 off Charleston, Ore. PHOTO BY PATRICK ROELLE II

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

TIDINGS

Pribilof Islands

NEWS FROM THE WEST COAST & ALASKA

Juneau British Columbia

Locals call for Pribilof Islands marine sanctuary n the Pribilof Islands, two small villages have asked the federal government to create Alaska’s first national marine sanctuary and have it encircle their islands.

The proposal calls for a sanctuary 30 miles around the island, except for the side of the island facing St. Paul to the north, where the restricted area would shrink to 20 miles. The sanctuary would be an effort to save the population of northern fur seals and other animal populations that locals say are declining quickly.

The request filed by the city of St. George, received Oct. 1, is only the second made in the state since the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries be-

gan accepting sanctuary nominations from the public in 2014.

The first request was filed by a conservation group for a sanctuary along the Aleutian Islands, but that was quickly rejected by the agency because it and lacked support from communities in the affected area.

William Douros, West Coast regional director for the agency, said sanctuary designation is a process that takes years of analysis and public comment to complete.

The petition includes support letters from several organizations, including Audubon Alaska, the Alaska Native Science Commission and the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. — Samuel Hill

West Coast crabbers likely to start on time

While a season delay was possible up until opening day, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials were optimistic about the season in early November.

“The water has cooled, and the test results for crab are looking a lot better — most are coming back clean,” said Larry Collins, fisherman and president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. “I think we’ll be OK for the November 15 opening. We’re all very hopeful for the season.”

Oregon delayed the first month of its season last year because of high toxin levels, and Washington closed the southern 13 miles of its coastline as a precautionary measure. State officials check the waters for domoic acid intermittently throughout the year, usually ramping up efforts toward the start of a new season.

— Samuel Hill

A

ChriSty JuhaSz

fter high levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid along the Pacific Coast delayed last year’s Dungeness crab season for 4 1/2 months, crabbers were happy to hear that the Nov. 15 opening looked likely to get the green light this time around.

Last year’s Dungeness crab season was delayed 4 1/2 months in California.

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2016

San Francisco

Kathryn Sweeney/nOaa

I

Northern fur seal pups gather in the rocks on Alaska’s St. Paul Island.

Salmon comes up short, but markets are good

I

t was a rough salmon season across Alaska this summer, with Bristol Bay being the big exception. While sockeye catches exceeded expectations, all other species came up short.

The overall harvest for all five species of wild salmon in 2016 added up to 108.91 million fish, according to preliminary data with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In 2015, fishermen caught 263.5 million fish.

But salmon stakeholders can take heart that the fish are moving swimmingly to market.

“The demand is there. The world still recognizes that this is the best place to go for the highest-quality salmon, including pinks,” said Tyson Fick, outgoing communications director for the

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