North Pacific Focus 2019 Fall Edition

ASMI UPDATE / ROPELESS TRAPS / THE GIVING SEASON FALL 2019

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COLUMNS

FEATURES

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OUR FISHERY Kings rule the salmon season in California.

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BREAKER DORY

VINNIE VASQUEZ

Fall 2019

ON THE HORIZON Alaska salmon hatcheries need research, regulations.

16 DEPARTMENTS DEPARTMENTS 22 PILOTHOUSE PILOTHOUSELOG LOG 44 TIDINGS TIDINGS 64 INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS CALENDAR 76 FISHERPOETS INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS 87 ON THEREVIEW MARKET BOOK 8 GALLEY WATCH ALSO

FISHERPOETS 359 AD INDEX 10 SEASON 36 IN FOCUSFORECASTS 12 OUR YARD

ALSO

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AD INDEX

ON THE HOMEFRONT Balancing Dungie disaster with the call of Seattle’s Expo.

GEAR SHIFTS

California crabbers test a suite of ropeless trap prototypes.

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BOATBUILDING

Oregon beach fishermen surf the big ones with Breaker Dory.

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EXPO EVENTS

New products, Pebble Mine keynote, port improvements, and Fisherman of the Year.

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FRIENDS WITH FISH Cover: Jonathan Tin hoists a king salmon caught off the coast of northern California on the F/V Kvins. Brand Little photo

The Local Catch Network connects small-scale fishermen to consumers.

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BENEVOLENT BYCATCH

America’s Gleaned Seafood brings Alaska seafood sharing to the East Coast.

IN FOCUS FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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PILOTHOUSE LOG

FEED YOUR FRIENDS I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Mr. Rogers is having a moment. Those of us with little kids obsessed with Daniel Tiger may not be surprised by the resurgence. As a child, I didn’t understand the magnitude of his kindly approach to people and celebration of community. My appreciation for those values didn’t come until I was older and realized they were hardly a given among adults. My favorite parts of the show were the factory tours and discovery of places where Mr. Rogers’ neighbors worked. Over on Sesame Street, the “People in your neighborhood” song reminded us that everyone had a job to do.

The message in that song is especially poignant today, since we’ve moved so far away from what now seems like a quaint, old-timey notion of community and individuals thriving because we can rely on our neighbors for vital goods and services. It’s still true, of course, but we spend so much time in the ether that it becomes easier to ignore the fact that our neighbors are still critical to our day-to-day lives.

But there’s a movement back toward local buying and community focus. Small-scale fishermen, especially, are working to take advantage of that trend. The question is: What’s the best way to go about that? The Local Catch Network is working to share the answers to that question — and many others — asked among fishing families working to build (or rebuild) community supported fisheries.

Freelance writer and former National Fisherman staffer Samuel Hill reports from Portland, Ore., on the Local Seafood Summit held in October, hosted by Local Catch and supported by community fisheries from coast to coast (as well as the Fish Monger’s Wife in Michigan).

This feature on community supported fisheries (page 32) got me thinking about our national seafood supply chain.

If Americans are often willing to pay more for premium, local, sustainable seafood, then is this not an opportunity

EDITORIAL PUBLISHER EDITOR IN CHIEF ASSOCIATE EDITOR BOATS & GEAR EDITOR ART DIRECTOR

Bob Callahan Jessica Hathaway Kirk Moore Paul Molyneaux Doug Stewart

www.divbusiness.com

for some of the larger processors to take advantage of this growing market?

With so much focus on value-added products, it seems likely that the big players would have the capacity to cater to local supply chains. What if every seafood processor in Alaska had a local cut that was sourced directly to community JESSICA HATHAWAY markets?

Editor in chief Of course SeaShare has long been driving the wider channels of U.S. seafood into local food banks.

This model of ensuring that some of the best of our nation’s harvest goes to our own people in need is beginning to spread.

Associate Editor Kirk Moore writes about the New Jersey-based effort America’s Gleaned Seafood on page 34.

Winter is often the season of giving, and we also celebrate that with the Salmon Sisters’ milestone donation to the Food Bank of Alaska (page 6). And last but certainly not least, we give you our editor’s picks from events and products featured at the 2019 Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle on page 28. We hope to see you there next year!

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“Your Success is Our Business”

North Pacific Focus, Fall 2019, Vol. 6, No. 4, 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 2019

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TIDINGS

PETER THOMPSON

HALIBUT IN STEADY DECLINE THROUGHOUT PACIFIC

Longlining Alaska halibut on the F/V Duespayer II out of Kodiak.

L

ower catches for Pacific halibut are in the forecast for the foreseeable future.

That was the message from the International Pacific Halibut Commission at its November meeting in Seattle. The commission oversees halibut stock research and sets catch limits for nine fishing regions ranging from northern California to British Columbia to the Bering Sea. There are fewer of the prized flatfish (down 4 percent), they weigh less (down 5 percent) and no big pulses appear to be coming into the stock, according to the grim summary of the 2019 halibut fishery. The assessment included the results of summer-long surveys at nearly 1,370 fishing stations, including 89 added to the Central Gulf of Alaska, the biggest halibut fishing hole.

The numbers of spawning halibut also appeared to continue their decline over the past year, said the commission’s lead scientist Ian Stewart.

The commission calculates the amount of removals of halibut over 26 inches for commercial, recreational, 4

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

sports charter, subsistence and bycatch in other fisheries, called a total constant exploitation yield. For 2019, the coastwide TCEY was 38.61 million pounds.

The decline was projected, Stewart said.

“This has been predicted for several years. This is projected to continue for all 2020 [Total Constant Exploitation Yields] greater than approximately 18.4 million pounds,” Stewart said. “It’s essentially the breakeven point over the next three years. So, we’re looking at a period of relatively low productivity for the Pacific halibut stock over the next three years.”

Stewart added that more female fish are showing up in the stock and lower halibut yields will be necessary to “reduce higher fishing intensity.”

After four years of analysis and deliberation, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council began moving in 2019 toward a new “abundance based” management plan that would tie bycatch levels to the health of the halibut stock as determined by annual surveys. (Prior to that, the issue had not been discussed for 20 years.)

Meanwhile, bycatch allowances,

combined with new rules in setting halibut catch limits, could mean Bering Sea communities get squeezed out of the upcoming fishery.

It’s déjà vu for Jeff Kauffman of St. Paul, Alaska, where emergency measures were implemented in 2015 to enable a halibut fishery to open in the region, and fishermen’s catch limits were slashed to a half million pounds.

“There has been a de facto reallocation from the directed fisheries to the bycatch fisheries,” he said at the time. “Conservation of the stock is riding solely on the backs of the halibut fishermen.”

The Pacific halibut fishery ended on Nov. 14 amid little fanfare. Most dock prices ticked up during the eight-month fishery, hovering in the $5- to $6-per pound range, likely a result of bad weather hampering landings of competing halibut from Canada.

“Their hurricanes and everything may have disrupted some of the fisheries there and allowed some of the product from Alaska to make it into those higher end East Coast markets. So, we got a little better price,” said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.

— Laine Welch

Unalaska flights still up in the air after fatal accident

H

igher costs and uncertainty surround air service to Unalaska, after a fatal Oct. 17 runway overrun accident that resulted in Alaska Airlines’ suspending regular flights to the Aleu-

NTSB

S

A passenger died after a turboprop overran the Unalaska runway.

tian port.

Regional carrier Ravn Air Group began filling the gap with additional flights, but without Saab 2000 aircraft like the one involved in the runway accident. Standing in for the 45-passenger, 400-mph Saab is the de Haviland Dash 8, a slower aircraft that can require refueling to make the distance to Unalaska.

A construction worker from Washington state died of injuries in the crash, leading to suspension of regular service and an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Unalaska-Dutch Harbor city officials were able to organize charter and cargo flights easing some pressure during the fall Bering Sea crab season.

In mid-November city officials got a commitment from Ravn to increase daily service and step up the number of flights during the peak midwinter travel season through January.

Ravn now has flights scheduled through May 31, 2020. In the meantime, costs are higher, both in ticket prices and for longtime Alaska Airlines customers now unable to use their amassed mileage and other benefits.

Unease about safety and flight schedules has also been aired in local news and social media, including a live callin show hosted by radio station KUCB on Dec. 3. The feedback rattled Ravn officials, who had scheduled a community meeting to review their plans and public concerns.

The company said Dec. 6 it would not hold the public forum in light of “recent comments made in the news and newspapers about our accident and air service to Unalaska,” but a day later assured that company officials were meeting with city officials and other community groups.

— Kirk Moore

perms to the east and killers to the west, but the Gulf of Alaska’s longline fleet is anything but stuck.

Whale predation of longline gear has been “the best-kept secret of Alaska fisheries,” says Buck Laukitis, a longtime Area M fisherman, who now fishes out of Homer.

“People are at the end of their rope, so to speak, with the whale problem.” says Laukitis. “The council has given us the ability to use a different type of gear.”

Three years ago, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the use of pots on blackcod longline gear to prevent predation.

“The first year with sablefish, it didn’t work very well,” Laukitis says.

But trial and error, along with growing interest and increasing longline catch loss, have led to a growing user group of more than 30 longline boats now fishing blackcod with pots in the Gulf of Alaska.

“Thirty boats caught 42 percent of the central gulf sablefish and 40 percent of the western gulf sablefish” last year, Laukitis says. “The whales are so persistent and so smart that avoidance has become nearly impossible.”

“The pots have proven to be 100 percent effective,” says Bernie Burkholder, who runs Buck and Ann Fisheries out of Kodiak, Alaska, and Astoria, Ore. Laukitis, Burkholder and Paul Clampit make up a trio of longtime Alaska longliners who have founded the Sablefish and Halibut Pot Association. The group wants to make sure the North Pacific Fishery Management Council hears the feedback of the user group when the trial fishery comes up for its three-year review in April.

“What the group is trying to do is work through some of the problems together and have some best practices,” says Laukitis. “We definitely want some research. This is such a rapidly changing problem that the science is really way behind the fishermen.”

NMFS estimates the predation loss off longlines is about 3 to 4 percent.

“The number’s just not even close to being accurate,” says Laukitis.

“Fifty to 75 percent is probably a realistic range,” Burkholder adds.

The group is Alaska based but hopes

to incorporate fishermen from California north.

“We’re here to promote this new fishery,” Burkholder says. “We’d like to see more fish caught with pots, not less. It is really important to us that we have regional balance.”

“These big fish are disappearing, and it was seen on the ground by the fishermen,” says Burkholder. “It’s not that they’re dying. They’re aggressive, they get on the hooks first, and the whales are eating them.”

Some fishermen report being followed by whales on every longline set.

“They’re so smart. They used to follow us,” says Laukitis. “But what happens now is we don’t even see whales anymore. They know everything about us.

They see us now and they go the other way.”

BUCK LAUKITIS

Hot for pots: Longliners advocate for new gear

The F/V Oracle comes into Dutch Harbor with blackcod pots.

It almost seems too good to be true.

“The good news is there is a solution, but it doesn’t work for every boat,” says Laukitis.

“You’re going to need bigger hydraulics,” says Burkholder. “Five-eighths- to 1-inch pots can vary from 40-60 pounds up to 120 pounds per pot. You have to have some deck space, and you have to have a boat that has some stability, which is oftentimes relative to the width of the boat.”

“It’s a relatively expensive conversion — $300,000 to $750,000, depending on if you have to put bigger generators in and increase the hydraulic system,” Burkholder adds.

But the return on investment is recognizable, especially for fishermen who see devastating predation.

“I was spending $20 grand a year on longline gear,” says Burkholder. “Once you’ve got the pots, you don’t have much pot loss. Last year we lost three pots all year long.” — Jessica Hathaway FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

5

INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS

• Just as farmed salmon grown in sea cages toppled markets for wild fish a few decades ago, land-based farming is set to change the game again over the next decade.

It will come in the form of recirculating aquaculture systems and will cause even more disruption to world markets.

That is the conclusion of Rabobank, a Netherlands-based leader in food and agriculture financing that is among the 30 largest groups in the world.

A Rabobank report in October identified more than 50 proposed RAS projects around the world with an estimated output to equal 25 percent of current salmon production by the year 2030.

That totals roughly 550 million pounds of fish — in comparison, Alaska’s 2018 salmon catch produced 605 million pounds of salmon.

In the United States, Maine is taking the lead, where Portland-based Whole Oceans has received two leases. It plans to break ground on a $180 million facility next year and begin output of 11 million pounds of Atlantic salmon annually.

The report said recirculating systems could disrupt ocean-based fish farming over the next 10 years, adding, “It’s not a question of if, but of how much.”

• The Alaska Ocean Cluster, an arm of the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, is seeking a manager for its Blue Pipeline Incubator in Seward.

“This is a blended position made possible through a partnership between the Ocean Cluster, the city of Seward, the Seward Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center,” said Casey Rangel, program manager.

The manager will oversee all operations of the incubator and act as the liai6

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

Bull kelp in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park.

son to Seward’s ocean-based industries.

Requirements include a bachelor’s degree in business administration or a related field. Salary is $65,000 -75,000plus, commensurate with experience.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

• Sand Point will be home to Alaska’s farthest west seaweed startup beginning next year. With an assist by Alaska Sea Grant and the Aleutians East Borough, growers plan to test run two different kelp species and harvest them in the spring of 2021.

“Our hope is that we can develop an innovative type of farm that can withstand our weather conditions,” said Melissa Good, a Sea Grant agent in Unalaska, speaking to KFSK in Petersburg.“We are living within an extreme environment; they call it the birthplace of the winds for a very good reason. So, we need to show that this can be done here.”

“People also are calling from St. Paul and St. George in the Bering Sea,” said Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation. “They want to know what they need to do to get started.”

The global commercial seaweed market is projected to top $22 billion by 2024, with human consumption as the largest segment. Growers in Maine fetch

The new Everett Ship Repair yard includes a 492' x 148' drydock.

50-60 cents a pound for edible grades; their rock weed crop brings in $20 million a year. Chile estimates a kelp industry would bring in $540 million annually. Japan’s $2 billion nori industry is one of the world’s most valuable crops.

Seaweed also absorbs five times more atmospheric carbon than land-based plants.

• The Salmon Sisters, Claire Neaton and Emma Teal Laukitis, have been delivering fish from their Alaska-based family fishing business since they can remember.

This fall, the company the sisters founded made a special delivery to the Food Bank of Alaska.

“We’re celebrating our 130,000th can of salmon donated with the help of Silver Bay, Alaska Airlines and Lynden Transport,” said Laukitis.

The Salmon Sisters’ Give Fish Project began in 2016 as a mission to donate a can of salmon for each can they sold.

Their first donation was 15,000 cans.

This spring, the team upgraded their efforts to matching 1 percent of the

The Salmon Sisters have donated 130,000 cans of salmon to the Food Bank of Alaska.

DAWN HEUMANN

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders’ new sister company, Everett Ship Repair, will offer expanded ship repairs and service capability in the Northwest.

Established in Everett, Wash., in October by Nichols Brothers corporate parent Ice Floe Holdings, “the expansion creates a diverse shipbuilding portfolio between the sister companies, offering NBBB’s new-build expertise and ESR’s repair and service capabilities,” according to a statement from the companies.

Everett Ship Repair will focus on vessel repair, maintenance and conversion with key customers, including commercial operators, government agencies and military vessels. The yard is strategically located within Puget Sound, offering drydock and pierside services for vessels under 430 feet. The Faithful Servant, a 492' x 148' drydock formerly located in Bellingham, Wash., that arrived in Everett Oct. 1. The drydock is capable of docking vessels up to 430 feet in length.

company’s overall profits with donations of canned salmon, both larger cans of red salmon and smaller cans of pinks.

•

FISHERPOETS

MENDING HOLES

BY PATRICK DIXON

Patrick is poet, writer and photographer based in Olympia, Wash. He spent 20 years gillnetting in Cook Inlet, Alaska, and is among the organizers for the annual FisherPoets gathering in Astoria, Ore. I touched the past even as it disappeared before me.

I placed my hands upon the backs of hours loaded heavy with gear, and pushed them down an elevated boardwalk toward oblivion.

I mended holes in the days with a needle and twine; swatted mosquitoes like seconds as summers sped beneath me.

I painted coats of the present upon planks of history, then years later spent months of chainsaws cutting them into pieces bulldozing them onto the beach where I lit the match that burned them to ashes.

I even hoisted a beer in their honor.

I’ve seen compasses lose direction, watched a fleet of seasons sink over the horizon; seen sail give way to power, wood give way to glass; species disappear under thick coats of oil, and lifestyles vanish beneath politicians’ dark coats.

I pulled decades of tradition onto shore, put them on barrels and walked away, leaving them to decay.

Winter storms weakened them.

Summer sun bleached them, and I returned years later to feel them crumble between my fingers.

What my eyes have forgotten my hands remember: cool, wet cotton gloves, stiff, rough, manila line and the heavy chains of anchors covered in generations of mud.

I lean into the cool plastic of this buoy: like seconds into hours it gives before resisting, and reminds me that ebbing times, with all the gear, work, and fish, are like a boat on a set in a strong tide: from on board all we see is the set; but from anywhere else, the boat and net grow smaller as they drift into the distance.

An ASRC Company

FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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ON THE MARKET New Board Members The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is pleased to welcome two new board members. Michael Erickson of Alaska Glacier Seafoods has been appointed to fill a processor seat, and Alf “Gus” Skaflestad has been appointed as a harvester. The ASMI board consists of seven voting members appointed by the governor, including five processors and two harvesters.

Jann Dickerson returns to Foodservice On July 1, Jann Dickerson was hired for domestic Foodservice National Accounts. Dickerson worked in this capacity for many years, as well as other marketing firms. She also served as the director of customer solutions at Datassentials, and ran her own consulting firm. Dickerson brings institutional knowledge, enthusiasm and market savvy to the Domestic Marketing Program.

including Markos Scheer, CEO of Premium Aquatics, and Seattle Chef and Restaurateur Tom Douglas.

New Digital Asset Library ASMI’s new Digital Asset Library can be found at netx.alaskaseafood.org. All photography, video and sales materials are available on NetX. The new system allows for easier searching, grouping and sharing of assets. The ASMI Digital Asset Library is a resource provided to promote the sale of Alaska seafood.

Tuesday webinar speaking on “The Potential of Alaska’s Seafood Resources” and the opportunities and challenges of Alaska’s underutilized species and specialty products to increase the value of Alaska’s seafood resources. Ocean Tuesday is a weekly webinar that offers key players in the blue economy a platform to discuss their ideas, industries and challenges.

Plant-based diets and seafood A new ASMI white paper on synthesizing plant-based diets with Alaska seafood was produced through collaboration with registered dietitian Kari Natwick to highlight the state of research on common nutrition gaps and how Alaska seafood can be used to fill them in plant-heavy diets. This paper supports the technical program’s objectives of educating and informing the industry, market, trade, and consumers on the technical aspects of Alaska’s seafood products.

Customer Advisory Panel

INTERNATIONAL

The CAP met in Sitka on Aug. 6.

The panel consists of domestic and international experts from the foodservice, wholesale and retail grocery industry. The group meets every other year to advise the board on market challenges and provide feedback on the effectiveness of ASMI marketing. This year’s meeting included: seafood vs. other proteins; nonmainstream species and product innovation; health and functional nutrition; seafood as a convenience food; and social responsibility in the industry. ASMI will use the feedback to align global marketing activities with the needs of global customers.

Funds mitigate trade disruption

Alaska Business Forum in Seattle Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow presented an Alaska seafood industry market overview to the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Alaska Business Forum on Sept. 12.

Woodrow was one of three panelists,

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

SUSTAINABILITY/ TECHNICAL Fact Sheet: Pink Salmon ASMI produced a new technical fact sheet on wild Alaska pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). The sheet is a part of a series that highlights the nutrition, sustainability, harvest procedures, utilization, biology, and culinary features of wild Alaska seafood.

The fact sheet is available online.

Ocean Tuesday ASMI Seafood Technical Director Michael Kohan recently presented to the Alaska Ocean Cluster’s Ocean

In July ASMI International was awarded an additional $2 million in Agricultural Trade Promotion Program funds from the Foreign Agricultural Service, bringing the total program award to about $7.5 million. The program is a one-time opportunity designed to help mitigate the effects of trade and tariffs disputes. This significant award was made with acknowledgement of ASMI International’s solid program foundation and the quality of the application.

Sustainability in Japanese ASMI Japan was invited to speak to an audience of more than 100 corporate social responsibility representatives from Seven & i Holdings group, the largest retailer in Japan, and select trade media as part of the company’s Green Challenge 2020. ASMI served Alaska Sustainable Seafood Lunch Boxes, featuring grilled Alaska cod and crab paella.

Quick bites Madrid celebrates salmon On June 6, ASMI Southern Europe hosted a party at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to celebrate the start of the 2019 salmon fishing season. Two hundred people attended, including chefs, foodservice press and foodservice distributors. Attendees were treated to an Alaska seafood tasting menu that included mini salmon burgers, smoked salmon pizza, cod bites in chickpea tempura, and an array of Alaska seafood sushi.

Association of College & University Food Services Conference and Showcase in July in Denver. The conference supports the college and university foodservice market by providing members with the programs and resources they need to excel, from benchmarking and best practices to educational programming and professional networking.

Alaska pollock block training ASMI Brazil conducted a successful training on Alaska pollock blocks with Sapore, the largest industrial kitchen and institutional meal company in Brazil.

Sapore serves more than 1.3 million meals per day and recently started sourcing Alaska pollock. The company, which employs 15,000 people, provides catering, pre-made foods, and food services throughout Brazil and Latin America. An ASMI chef ambassador and ASMI Brazil worked with the Sapore chefs and their research and development team.

EVENTS National Association of College & University Food Services ASMI attended the annual National

Publix pairs seafood with wine Publix stores around Florida partnered with Alaska Seafood and ASMI’s preferred wine partner, Chateau Ste. Michelle, to showcase wine displays in their seafood departments.

Albertsons features Alaska Albertsons stores in Southern California promoted Alaska cod and salmon during the month of June. Both species were advertised as lead items under the “Catch of the Day” during the month, and in-store demos gave customers the opportunity to try them.

Brazilian chef delegation Through a USDA Cochran grant, ASMI hosted a two-week delegation of four chefs from Brazil to Alaska, Washington and Oregon. The Cochran Fellowship Program funds training for middleincome and emerging market countries.

This mission focused on the design and delivery of a training program on sourcing U.S. seafood for chefs from Brazil. The four fellows chosen for the mission consisted of restaurant owners, a quality analyst for Swift Foods Co. and a high-end retailer/chef consultant. The goal of the training was to teach the chefs and trainers about the varieties, qualities and uses of U.S. seafood.

Alaska sockeye at Costco Costco promoted its Kirkland Signature frozen Alaska sockeye salmon at 116 locations through May and June.

Customers were offered $4 off a 3-pound package of frozen Alaska sockeye. The national retailer reported a 147 percent year-over-year sales lift from 2018.

Feast Portland ASMI took part in Feast Portland for the first time, sponsoring chef stations at The Big Feast hosted by New Seasons Market. This two-day event hosted more than 6,000 guests and featured a trade/ retail buyer hour. Dishes at the chef station were prepared by well-known Portland chefs and featured Alaska halibut, sablefish, and full utilization of Alaska salmon. ASMI also provided halibut for Chef Nite Yun of Nyum Bai restaurant to prepare a halibut dish as the main course at Bon Appetit’s Hot 10 Dinner, an exclusive event hosted by the Bon Appetit editorial team.

Japan Seafood Show ASMI participated with a booth at the Japan International Seafood Show in Tokyo Aug. 21-23. The event, organized by the Japan Fisheries Association, drew retailers, caterers, prepared meal producers, trading companies, wholesalers, distributors, processors and more. ASMI sponsored the World Sushi Cup Japan competition that took place at the show and hosted a Trade Reception on Aug. 22 for approximately 100 seafood industry professionals, including seafood media.

ShopRite (Wakefern) summer promo Alaska pollock, cod, salmon, surimi and crab were featured at 235 ShopRite (Wakefern) stores in the U.S. northeastern region in July. The retailer’s Alaska Seafood Festival included social media posts as well as coupons featuring Alaska seafood. The promotion resulted in a 24 percent sales increase in salmon and 16 percent increase in cod over last year.

Giant Eagle’s VIP Grilling ASMI sponsored Giant Eagle’s BBQ with a View in Pittsburgh, serving up fresh samples of grilled Alaska coho salmon seasoned with Mediterranean spices, alongside chefs representing the National Pork Board, Certified Angus Beef and McCormick & Co. Summer Ibotta campaign ASMI ran a digital Ibotta offer in July featuring $2 off fresh and frozen Alaska pollock, salmon and cod. There were two separate recipe engagements (offer unlocks) for fresh and frozen offers: a new grilled Alaska salmon slider recipe for fresh, and a new parmesan-crusted Alaska cod recipe for frozen. The offer budget was exhausted after just 10 days with 4 million impressions, 129,000 offer unlocks and 16,000 redemptions.

Costco Canada Frozen Alaska sockeye salmon was featured in 100 Costco stores across Canada during a summer promotion.

ASMI coordinated in-store demos to take place at 60 club locations, featuring Alaska Seafood-branded table tents.

Costco Canada reported an 8.2 percent year-over-year increase.

FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

9

OUR FISHERY

KING-SIZE SEASON Salmon surge gives California fishermen a strong season for the first time in years

BY NICK RAHAIM

D

avid Toriumi motored his 33-foot troller F/V Grinder south from Monterey Bay, Calif., in late May, chasing schools of king salmon as far south as Santa Barbara. It’s a trip he wouldn’t have made in years past, and not only because below Point Conception pushes the southern range of the species.

In seasons prior, Toriumi, now 37, ran a much smaller 22-foot Aquasport that he didn’t take much farther than

day trips from his home port of Santa Cruz. But he wanted to upgrade his operation. So he took a bet that buying a bigger boat would pay off, even as the past few years have been hard on fishermen up and down the coast. A new boat and rumors of a big run also spurred him to do something he hadn’t done for a California salmon season: hire a deckhand.

“There were also a lot of other people who are used to fishing by themselves, but they hired more people this

year,” Toriumi says. “And crews stuck around the whole season because there was money to be made.”

While California Fish and Wildlife won’t release estimates on the salmon run and the 2019 commercial salmon harvest until early 2020, the words “banner year” have been thrown around by fishermen and fisheries managers alike. The summer’s king salmon run exceeded the prediction of 379,600 fish headed to the Sacramento River and gave fishermen nearly four months on the water, as opposed to only a handful of weeks each of the past few years.

The main factor to boost the 2019 salmon run was normal ocean temperatures, a few years of rainy winters and heavy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which fed cold water to the state’s salmon streams, Fish and Wildlife officials said.

“It was good enough,” Toriumi says wryly, with an understatement typical of fishermen after a good season. “But yeah, it was the best season I’ve had since I started fishing salmon in California about six years ago.”

Troll-caught king salmon in totes on the F/V Grinder off the California coast during the prolific summer 2019 salmon season.

10

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

“

It has been a rough

stretch for a few years with the marine heat wave, El Niño and the

”

drought.

— Alex Letvin, Environmental scientist, California Fish and Wildlife

Around the docks, fishermen and people working in the fishing industry say the summer of 2019 was the biggest summer run in 10 to 15 years.

The average annual landings for the five years prior brought in $7.57 million, according to NOAA and California Fish and Wildlife data. The biggest season in the past 10 years was 2013 when fishermen hauled in $22.9 million of king salmon.

“Anecdotally it was a banner season,” says Alex Letvin, an environmental scientist with California Fish and Wildlife. “But fishing was incredibly good on just part of the coast.

Along the North Coast (above Point Arena) it wasn’t all that good.”

Letvin called the southern abundance of the king salmon run, espeKing salmon and a Dungeness crab block — two fisheries small boats like the F/V Grinder depend on.

DAVID TORIUMI PHOTOS

Deckhand Vinnie Vasquez about to handle a bucket of king salmon gills and guts on the F/V Grinder.

cially in waters outside Santa Barbara, “unique.” He also refrained from going into too many specifics until the official estimates on the salmon run come out in early 2020.

“It has been a rough stretch for a few years with the marine heat wave, El Niño and the drought,” he said.

National Fisherman Highliner Larry Collins has seen a lot of salmon seasons in his four decades in the busiFALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

11

OUR FISHERY “It was good fishing, it was a good season,” he says. “But I’ve been doing this a long time. I remember when this kind of fishing was a normal year, and I remember banner years like 1988.”

In that year, 16.57 million pounds of king salmon were harvested for a market value of $41.1 million dollars making it the most lucrative season recorded in California, according to data from NOAA. Fishermen netted almost twice as much money in 1988 than in any other season. Second was 1987 when $25 million in kings were hooked off the California coast.

While that volume of salmon might be a thing past — given climate change and the degradation of salmon habit in California rivers and streams — there’s now more to go around for fishermen on the water, Collins says.

VINNIE VASQUEZ PHOTOS

Captain David Toriumi says with a smile that the season was “good enough.”

Captain David Toriumi (above) with twin kings in what was a banner summer for California fishermen.

ness. While he’s no longer on the water, Collins is the president of the San Francisco Community Fishing Association and is on the pulse of the northern California fleet. He says he hasn’t seen so many 100-fish days trolling for kings as he did this past year. But notes he didn’t see any 35- to 40-pound fish either — the king salmon aren’t as big as they once were.

12

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

DaviD Toriumi

“We used to have 4,700 salmon boats on the water; now there’s a fleet of 50,” he says.

The volume of salmon pushed the price down to around $5 a pound for fishermen on the dock, say Collins and Toriumi. But fishermen were able to stay on the water from May to September, more than making up for the drop in price.

While fishermen don’t like to get paid less per pound, on the marketing end of the business a lower price point could spur local interest in the local product, making it more competitive with farmraised imports, says Alan Lovewell, owner of Monterey Bay-based Real Good Fish, a direct-to-consumer seafood business.

“Overall the price is one of the few things the consumers see,” says Lovewell, who bought all of Toriumi’s catch. “When prices drop, it does a few different things. Some restaurants and markets that might not have carried local king before can now.”

Lovewell echoes others in saying 2019 was a good year for salmon, the best season he’s seen since he started his business in 2012. “When we have a banner salmon season, everyone benefits,” he says.

But further up north in the Klamath River management area, that crosses over the Oregon border, fishing was slower. George Bradshaw who owns

Salmon jig worn from a heavy bite.

“

Clean, cold water is

what salmon respond

to, and we’ve had a lot of rain with good ocean conditions.

”

— Larry Collins, SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY FISHING ASSOCIATION

and operates the F/V Swan out of Crescent City, says he typically makes San Francisco his home away from home

during the salmon season, but points out the north wasn’t a complete bust, as fishermen was able to catch their quota for the first time in a few years.

But after a good season, there’s still the concern of how long it will last.

There was no commercial fishing season in 2008 and ’09, and since that time droughts on land, an extreme marine heatwave and El Niño as sea have made things difficult for fishermen.

“Clean, cold water is what salmon respond to, and we’ve had lot of rain with good ocean conditions.” Collins says, noting the spat of wet winters since 2016. “Basically, I think we’ll have good seasons until 2022. When you have a winter with 150 percent precipitation, we can’t fuck it up.”

For Toriumi, even being a young skipper in the fleet, he always has an eye to the weather. In late November the winter rains had yet to come to California and he was thinking years into the future.

“I am optimistic, but I’m a little concerned we haven’t seen rain yet,” Toriumi says. “I hope we don’t stay into the pattern into January and February.

We need snowpack for healthy salmon stocks.”

Nick Rahaim is a writer and commercial fisherman based in Monterey, Calif. Check out his blog at www.outside-in.org or follow him on Instagram and Twitter @nrahaim.

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ON THE HORIZON

Unpopular questions Josh Wisniewski is a salmon and halibut skiff fisherman and a cultural anthropologist who lives in Seldovia, Alaska.

BY JOSH WISNIEWSKI

A

fishermen all want the same thing: a wild healthy ecosystem supporting healthy fish stocks, access, and the opportunities for our future generations to have the same viable fish stocks we have been blessed with.

We are in a period of unprecedented, rapid ecological change. The Gulf of Alaska and Pacific ecosystems are experiencing a decline and alteration in productivity.

We have witnessed a collapse of some Pacific cod stocks, toxic algae blooms, melting sea stars, and completely unprecedented salmon run failures in places like Chignik and the Gulf of Alaska.

The old solutions to address fluctuations in salmon abundance by ramping up and dispersing hatchery production into remote release sites have contributed to changing the salmon species composition in the marine environment. It is naive and irresponsible to future generations of Alaskan fishermen to not consider the impact these management actions are having on our wild stocks.

Remote releases known to contribute to the issues of straying have in some cases resulted in hatchery fish from one fishing district contaminating wild systems of neighboring districts. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game cannot continue to manage one fishery to the detriment of another. All sectors of Alaska’s fishing industry have had to undergo major adjustment to support the long-term viability and health of stocks. The trawl sector with bycatch reduction and caps that rightly need to continue; the halibut fleet has continued to adjust to fluctuations in abundance through management and quota adjustments since 1932; North Pacific cod fishermen have

laska news recently reported that the British Columbia salmon industry withdrew from its Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certification, citing dwindling stock assessments and the impact of hatchery produced salmon on species diversity and wild stocks.

Anyone following the politics of salmon in Alaska has heard this same growing chorus of concerns relating to unreliable escapement goals, hatchery straying and numerous impacts of hatchery production on wild stocks in the marine environment.

There is a growing body of scientific literature linking trends in the decline of the size and abundance of wild salmon with expanded hatchery production of pink and chum salmon. This creates a direct loss to the fisherman’s catch. These fi ndings present an uncomfortable set of complexities for many in the commercial fishing industry concerned with marine conservation.

Recent proposals before the Alaska Board of Fisheries have requested more state oversight of hatcheries, including calling for more independent peerreviewed research on the interaction between hatchery fish and wild stocks. Such a request is consistent with Alaska’s constitutional mandate for sustainable management of our wild fish and fisheries.

This request for more robust oversight and independent review of our state’s hatchery programs has resulted in significant pushback from the hatchery industry, which views such proposals as an attack, resulting in these proposals being characterized as anticommercial fishing.

Yet, I believe that, despite our propensity as fishermen to retreat into our respective gear Alaska salmon and halibut fisherman Josh Wisniewski calls for better state oversight of and user group camps, Alaska’s hatcheries, including peer-reviewed, independent research.

14

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

ON THE HORIZON experienced significant reductions, requiring challenging unprecedented stress, and we cannot ignore these changes. adjustments for small-boat jig fishermen.

Each of us needs to take any action we have control over to As we learn more about the minimize additive adverse effects of limitations of the carrying capacity climate change. of the Gulf of Alaska and the growth Commercial fishermen asking Fishermen all want the patterns and competition between unpopular questions about the same thing: a wild healthy different species compounded with potential impact of broad scale the known and unknown impacts hatchery production of billions of pink ecosystem supporting of climate change and ocean or chum salmon on the integrity of our acidification, our salmon fisheries rapidly changing ocean environment healthy fish stocks, access, is not anticommercial fishing. These will also need to continue to adapt.

Hatchery-dependent commercial are important questions that deserve and the opportunities for fisheries will need to do their an open-minded dialogue for the part to share the responsibility for long-term benefit of our fisheries. our future generations preservation of food web integrity Seeking more robust scientific food and for marine survival of high value web-based management is critical for to have the same viable wild sockeye, chinook and coho. maintaining healthy, commercially While politically unpopular, this viable wild marine and anadromous fish stocks we have been would likely include reducing the fish stocks. production and dispersal of already “Sustainable fisheries” is not a blessed with. abundant salmon species such as pink marketing catch phrase. As fishermen, or chum. we collectively need to place fish ahead The productivity of our marine of the politics of fish. Questioning the food web is the foundation of all of our fisheries in Alaska. status quo supports sustainable independent small boat wild This includes wild populations of all species, as well as fish commercial fisheries. Preserving these fisheries is the hatchery salmon interacting with and competing for collective responsibility of all sectors of our industry and shared and limited food resources. That food web is under fisheries management.

“

”

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ON THE HOMEFRONT

Expo express Lori French is the president of Central Coast Women for Fisheries, the executive wife and mother of a commercial fishing family, and serves on the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations’ board of directors.

BY LORI FRENCH

A

hhh, it was the most wonderful time of the year, until it wasn’t. Fish Expo time, or as the young folks call it: Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. But this was not to be confused with the start of crab season. That’s the most, mostest wonderful time of the year. Until it wasn’t.

The week before Expo, I was packing up, when the Old Man of the Sea started his traditional singing of “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille.” With crab season starting and pots to be filled, food to be made. Who will make my coffee?

You get the drift. He guilt tripped me all the way to the airport. I gave him a kiss of good luck for the start of the already delayed crab season. Crab Romance at its finest.

Our season was delayed because ONE, uno, one, crab out of the city tested “dirty” for domoic acid. ONE! The morning after I left they were supposed to set gear.

My first flight was late, and I missed my connecting flight, but I finally made it to Seattle six hours late. I checked into the hotel and went up to my room. I walked in and stood there.

No I couldn’t do this room. I just couldn’t do it.

Now before you all think I’m a spoiled Princess Whiner, let me explain: This past year has been total hell. We’ve had two family members pass this year, and I nursed them both at night while working full time. Tie in the crab/whale fiasco, and you come up with complete and total exhaustion.

So when I looked out my fourth-floor window, heard and saw the I-5 right there, I just said no. The front desk upgraded me to a suite! I was flabbergasted and reiterated that I only wanted a room higher up. The front desk insisted. I went up to my new room and walked into an apartment-sized hotel room with complete and total, beautiful, silence, and not one, but two TVs. I had a guilt moment when I realized just how much the Old Man of the Sea would love two TVs. I had set aside the next day for Christmas shopping and being a tourist. Then my phone started ringing. There had been a whale-count flyover, and a high number of whales had been spotted exactly where the majority of the gear is set off of Pt. Reyes.

All hell broke loose in California. Did we set our gear and hope we didn’t entangle a whale? Did we trust the process?

What was the process anyway? Would the season be closed before it opened? Would an immediate gear reduction take place?

Would Fish & Wildlife throw us under the bus?

Meetings were held in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay with calls flying back and forth.Tempers flared, rumors started. Instead of shopping, I locked my credit card in my wallet and walked around downtown Seattle aimlessly thinking about the disaster of 2015 and wondering what I could cut out 16

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

of the budget. How long would it last? Would we ever have a normal season again? It’s a pretty awful feeling and I really wish I could bottle up that feeling of panic stress and send it straight to the Center for Biological Diversity.Taking money away from the programs already in place and spending it on frivolous lawsuits has become the new way of managing our fisheries.

In the middle of this mess was Dick Ogg, one of National Fisherman’s Highliners of the year. Dick has a different approach. Rather than pounding his fists on the table, he uses his martial arts training of overcoming your opponent in a more peaceable manner. Now many of us Screamers don’t understand this tactic, but in this new world, we need both Screamers and Calm fishermen at the table. Dick was waiting until the last minute to see if he would be able to fly up to Seattle to accept his award. He made it for the last 45 minutes of the show on Thursday, came to the dinner, graciously accepted his award, and flew back before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Meanwhile, back in California, the media got wind that the fishermen were asking for the crab season to be delayed, which in turn made Fish & Wildlife look bad. That didn’t sit too well with some, but what in God’s name were we expected to do?

Set the gear and hope there were no entanglements and be shut down if there were? The risk was just too great from our point of view. We’re in this for the long haul and want to protect this fishery for the next generation. It’s the responsible thing to do.

So by 5:30 p.m., Fish & Wildlife delayed the season officially, and the Old Man of the Sea called to have me find him a flight up to Seattle. He had to pack in a backpack, as I had booked him on the Lower Than Economy class.The conversation went like this: “Take the cherry print backpack and put your shaving kit and some underwear, socks and one shirt in it. I have everything else you need.”

“Where is this backpack?”

“On my end of the table on my chair.”

“You mean this really girly looking thing? Don’t we have another one?”

“Yes we do, and it’s with me.”

“Oh well I guess I can do this.”

(In the middle of all this, I also had to find a Chicken Sitter for my girls at home. Do you know how hard it is to find a last minute Chicken Sitter for 500-plus hens? My little boutique fresh egg business is quickly becoming the New Crab Season.)

Thursday night was the Highliner Awards dinner, and I attended as Dick’s Emotional Support Wife and sent his real wife pictures and text updates. Who knew that so many fishermen who can take on any battle are so afraid to stand up and say a few words? Apparently it’s an industrywide thing. It was pretty awesome to see the history of our battles laid out in one room.

Since the inception of this award, fishermen have been fighting for the rest of us.

On the East Coast, Kristan Porter has been fighting the right whale battle, Ryan Bradley is fighting for all things in the Gulf Coast, and here on the West Coast, Dick Ogg is in the battle against CBD. Kristan and Dick bonded over dinner. Across the table Bill Webber Jr. and his lovely wife, Lori, joined in the conversation. A shout out to Lori for her love of Stress Peanut M&Ms. Peanut M&Ms happen to be my stress tab of choice. I think it could quite possibly be a fishwife thing, and I will no longer feel any shame in my stress consumption.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

Lori FrENCH

Saturday, we headed back over to the Expo for the last half Friday morning rolled around, and I was faced with a new learning curve: How to get the Old Man of the Sea from day. He had a couple of very long conversations about the crab SeaTac to the CenturyLink Field Event Center. A shout out situation at home. It was kind of amazing how quickly the bad to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute folks for helping me news of our crab season had spread.

Nearing the end of the day it was Happy Hour. For those of figure out how to Uber remotely.

When he landed I received a one-word text: “Cold.” The you who have never attended the Expo, this means Free Beer Hour. I took full advantage of next text was: “It’s snowing, this by procuring said Liquid where’s my Uber?”

Tranquilizer for my husband, The Old Man of the as I had planned to drag him Sea proudly rocks his oldto Pike Place, where there school flip phone and rewere 20,000 people. That’s lies on my phone for all 19,995 more people than he things this century. He was is used to. My plan worked. dropped off and the fun beAnd who knew my husband gan. He’s always wanted to would be totally happy havsee the Expo, but it’s always ing another beer and a sauconflicted with crab season, sage sandwich in downtown so I guess this is the silver Jeff “Old Man of the Sea” French takes advantage of the Seattle? Sometimes you have lining to the delay. to grab the little happy things To say he was like a kid California crab delay at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. in a candy store would be a total understatement. Everything as they come along.

At this point I would personally like to thank the Center for was so bright and shiny! I got to show him the ropes and the ways of scoring swag. He got to fiddle with the fathometers Biological Diversity for providing me with the second most and fondle the LED lighting while I grabbed chocolate. Once stressful Expo experience. (The winner of most stressful Expo we got back to the hotel, he asked what I had done to get such was 2015, the Domoic Acid year.) I’d also like to thank them a nice room, plopped himself on the couch and grabbed the on behalf of all fishing families for testing our strength.You will not win. We are stronger. clicker.

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17

GEAR SHIFTS

ON THE ROPES California’s Dungeness fleet continues to research a range of gear solutions to avoid entanglements as NGOs push for ropeless traps

By Paul Molyneaux

TRAP TRIALS Dick Ogg participated in a gear innovation day organized by Geoff Shester of the NGO Oceana. He helped test five types of gear: • Galvanized Timed Release, in which a buoy and line are released when a zinc trigger holding them on bottom erodes, allows the buoy and line to break free.

• The Desert Star system, which involves a bagged buoy and line that are released by an acoustic trigger.

oCEaNa PHoToS

• The Fiobuoy system, a buoyant spool of line also released with an acoustic trigger.

D

ick Ogg has never seen a whale entangled in crab gear or any other kind of gear in his long fishing career out of Bodega Bay, Calif. But a rash of entanglements that arose from a perfect storm of environmental factors in the 2015-16 season led to a lawsuit being filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. The defendants in that suit were the state of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its director, Charlton Bonham.

According to Kristen Monsell, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, the settlement of the lawsuit determined that California Dungeness crab fishermen will need an incidental take permit because some of the whales are listed under the Endangered Species Act, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973. While humpback whale populations have rebounded significantly worldwide, two 18

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

The galvanized timed-release system is one of the simplest and most affordable. The zinc trigger corrodes and releases the buoy.

of the populations that frequent the coast of California are listed as threatened and endangered.

“The Central America population has only about 700 animals,” says Monsell.

“An incidental take permit will allow for a take of whales, provided the fishery has a mitigation plan and that the take does not threaten the survival and recovery of the whale population.”

Ogg, a National Fisherman Highliner, has been part of the working group organized to deal with the entanglement issue and find ways for fishermen to reduce entanglement while awaiting an incidental take permit for the fishery in general. “I do a lot of testing,” says Ogg, who has worked for several years with fishermen, regulators and NGOs to try

• The Ashored system, developed by a company in Nova Scotia, is a variation on the theme of a container holding rope and buoy that are deployed by an acoustic trigger mechanism.

• Richard Riels’ SMELTS lift bag system is the only negatively buoyant system. It uses a compressed air tank activated by an acoustic trigger to inflate a lift bag.

The fishermen working with Oceana did not test the EdgeTech system, which uses a buoy attached to the lid of a pot. An acoustic trigger releases the lid and the buoys lift the line to the surface.

Ogg saw promise in the Galvanized Timed Release system, thanks to its simplicity. He remains open minded, but he believes a functional system is still a long way off.

— P.M.

to solve the whale entanglement issues.

But he makes clear that the Dungeness crab fishery is only a part of the problem — and a small part at that.

Ogg notes that entanglements have dropped significantly since the worst

years. “We had only three in the 201819 season that were proven California crab gear,” he says. While he is actively testing ropeless gear, Ogg also believes that entanglements can be minimized by changing the buoy line profile. “We’ve tried shorting our lines,” he says. “We’ve shorted the line between the main buoy and the trailer buoy. We tried weighting

With the Desert Star system, fishermen stuff line into a plastic mesh bag and reset the trigger with a small filament.

possibly adding multiple traps on one buoy, Ogg is also testing the Yale grip.“It’s like a weak link,” he says. “When there is enough force put on it, it pulls loose, and Unlike the acoustic release systems that flake line into a container of some sort, the Fiobuoy spools the line around the buoy itself.

the line near the surface, weaving 4-ounce lead into it, but that still gave us the W profile that the whales get entangled in.

Finally, we tried a neutral-buoyancy rope with a shorter scope, and that’s been the best so far.”

Ogg believes that continuing work on the buoy line profile can reduce and possibly eliminate entanglements with crab gear.“But we’re not the only vertical line in the water,” he says. “There’s coon stripe shrimp, spot prawn, slime eel, and NOAA’s got their own lines.”

In August 2019, whale rescue teams successfully untangled a whale from commercial crab gear and a NOAA weather buoy. “After working for hours to liberate the whale from the mooring and crab gear, the animal was cut loose and swam off,” reported the Sacramento Bee. Another young female humpback washed ashore on the day I interviewed Ogg. It was reportedly tangled in commercial crab gear and was the second confirmed whale death resulting from entanglement in 2019.

Besides working with buoy lines and

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The Ashored unit is shown here upside down. A proprietary acoustic signal frees the buoy from the base, and allows it to lift the line to the surface.

oCEaNa

maybe the whale can free itself. And there’s a computerized cutter that can determine if an animal is pulling on it, and it cuts the trap loose.”

These changes to crab gear are pretty straightforward and don’t require significant changes in the way fishermen work, but NGOs like Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity are interested in eliminating as many vertical lines in the water as possible and are promoting ropeless fishing, or popup gear, as they like to call it, since most of the prototypes involve buoyed lines that are acoustically released from bags, spools or cages on bottom.

“It’s not really functional with our systems,” says Ogg, noting that most of the pop-up gear has positive buoyancy, which he believes could lead to the gear landing on bottom a long way from where it gets set. “Taking the gear out and setting it, that’s a nobrainer,” says Ogg. “But redeploying is time consuming. Think about it, if you add one minute to the time it takes to handle a trap and multiply that my 350 traps, that’s six hours added to my day.

I ask these guys, how would you like to be told you have to work six more hours a day and not get paid?”

Nonetheless, Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity believes pop-up gear will be part of the future of crabbing. “I’m excited about what’s coming,” she says. “We look forward

oCEaNa

GEAR SHIFTS

Unlike its competitors, which rely on a trigger releasing a buoy and line, the SMELTS system uses a lift bag to float the entire trap to the surface.

to new rules that will allow the use of ropeless gear and start to get this stuff off the shelves. If an area is closed, fishermen

can still fish there using ropeless gear,” she says. Monsell acknowledges that gear modifications and early closure of the

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season have led to a dramatic decrease in entanglements, but contends that popup gear is essential to the mitigation plan. “It’s the only way to eliminate the risk of entanglement when whales are present,” she says.

Engineer Richard Riels, who launched the nonprofit Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society in 2014, believes a good pop-up system could result in trade-offs that actually save fishermen time. The lift bags he developed under the name SMELTS start transmitting their position as soon as they break the surface.

“How much time do fishermen spend hunting for gear?” says Riels. “And that’s just one thing.” Riels adds that his lift bags could potentially save space on a boat, be faster than hauling long buoy lines and be equipped with hightech modems, leading to the creation of smart traps.

“With the right technology, the modem could tell a fisherman how much bait is left, and how many animals are in the trap and whether he needs to go out and haul it at all,” Riels says.

“Then you’re talking about time and fuel savings.”

Riels acknowledges that the solution is still a way off. “We’re going to get there through testing and development, and I’ll be the first one to admit it if something’s not going to work,” he says. But he believes his lift bags will work and that the acoustic modems on the pots could be opening doors to paying for it.

“I’m looking at solving the problems of the ocean, and this is the fi rst,” says the Plymouth, Mass., native, now based in Bellingham, Wash. “My grandfather was a lobsterman. He freed a right whale from a gillnet off Mattapoisett when I was 5 years old,” says Riels.

“I started looking at the salvage industry and what they could bring to the surface using lift bags.” Riels started making his own bags and then met a guy named Jim Carter who was already making bags. Carter shared his knowledge with Riels. “He saved me at least five years of work,” says Riels, who wants fishermen to try his system.

“Fishermen are the problem solvers,” he says. “They can figure out how to make this work.”

Riels does not believe fishermen

EDGETECH

GEAR SHIFTS

The EdgeTech system, seen here on Canadian snow crab gear, relies on an acoustic modem that engineer Rob Morris says can be adapted to almost any fishery.

should have to pay for more than the pots they would buy anyway. “The modems could be collecting information that other industries and researchers need and are willing to pay for.”

Riels envisions modems that could listen for whales and transmit that information to the shipping industry and reduce ship strikes. “Researchers spend big money collecting information about sea conditions and temperatures that these modems could be collecting

every day. Modems are cell phones, and look at what cell phones have done to our world. This is bringing the Internet to the ocean.”

The SMELTS system is still under development and has no products on the market. “People ask me what it costs,” Riels says. “I tell them a million dollars.

Hey, what’s a good idea worth?”

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for North Pacific Focus.

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FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

21

BOATBUILDING

SAND SURFERS Pacific City, Ore., builder Breaker Dory caters to a class of beach launchers

BY PAUL MOLYNEAUX

I

n Pacific City, Ore., commercial fishermen blast out through the waves in outboard-powered dories to fish for salmon, albacore, crab and rockfish. “You can fi nd dories in other places,” says Tony Butkovich, owner of Breaker Dory. “Seaside, Gearhart, anywhere there’s a beach. But here we have a point that sticks out and protects the beach, and makes it an easy launch.”

Butkovich, who has been fishing and working on dories in Pacific City since the 1970s, started building fiberglass dories with his wife, Janey, in 2014. But his ties to the world of dories go back three generations.

“This fishery started around the early 1900s. People used to gillnet in the river, but when they closed the rivers to gillnetting, fishermen had to modify their dories so they 22

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

could work on the ocean,” says Butkovich. “My grandfather started fishing down here in the 1920s or ’30s. They lived in Reedville and they’d come here in the summers and fish.

“How he got started, it was just word of mouth. It was a tight-knit community and people would talk about fishing down on the coast, and he thought he’d give it a try. Back then they had to build their own boats. They would float across the river and row down every morning to go fishing.

They built their own cabins, and they built a beach buggy, a Model A with big airplane tires on it so they could drive on the beach. I guess people were more adventurous back then, they didn’t have any Internet. That was their entertainment.”

BOATBUILDING

“This fishery started in the 1900s. When they closed the rivers to gillnetting, fishermen had to modify their dories so they could work the ocean. Back then they had to build their own

”

BrEaKEr DorY PHoToS

boats.

— Tony Butkovich, Breaker Dory

According to Butkovich, the early dorymen would row out through the surf. Most had motor wells in their dories, and when they got through the surf they would put the engine into the well and power out to go fishing.

As engines got bigger, boat builders squared off the stern and started widening it.

“It used to be one or two would broach every year,” says Butkovich.

“They’d be going out and the engine would die, and a wave would catch them before they could get to the oars.” There was also the danger

Launching from the beach. Anthony Butkovich designed his dories with a finer entry so they will cut through the surf without standing up too high.

of broaching coming into the beach.

“They used to row in, turn bow out, and back in slow,” says Butkovich.

“That was easy.”

These days the dories come in at high speed with a horn blowing to warn swimmers, and slide up the beach as far as they can. “If there’s a big swell you let it go under and ride the trough behind it, and when it flattens out just go right through it,” he says.

Albacore are a favorite target for Oregon’s dory fleet. The dory fishing community has always been a mix of recreational and commercial fishermen.

The work of getting off and back onto the beach has been the primary driver in the evolution of the Pacific dory design. Once dory builders started widening the transom for larger outboards the dories became more like skiffs, and design changes happened more on the front end.

“It’s the Pacific Northwest, so there’s plenty of plywood, and in the 1950s and early ’60s most guys built theirs out of plywood on sawn frames,” says Butkovich. “Then there was a guy came out here in the late ’60s or early ’70s and started building the Clipper Craft dory.”

Butkovich describes the Clipper Craft dory as being a lapstrake boat that used three 12-inch planks on each side. “I always liked the lapstrake,” he says. “I like the look, and they give more lift. When you’re trying to get out and you stuff a big wave, each lap is lifting.”

Butkovich used a fiberglass Clipper Craft style boat for 35 years. “I like fiberglass,” he says. “I like to fish, not do maintenance.”

When Butkovich decided to start building boats, he started with what he liked and made some modificaFALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

23

BOATBUILDING

A Breaker Dory gets a layer of Kevlar covered with a layer of Stitchmat in the bottom for extra protection.

Every Breaker Dory comes with options, including gas tanks, bait wells and removable fish coolers.

Most buyers put a 75- to 150-hp engine on their dories. The transducer tube can be raised and lowered.

tions. Beginning with the dimensions of his old boat, he made a plug. “I met a guy who used to work for Seaswirl, and he helped me with all the tooling.

We pinched the bow in a little so that it wouldn’t lift so high when it hit a wave.

My old boat would stand right up.”

With an experienced helper, Butkovich made the molds for the new hull and other parts of the boat, including the cabin, sides and splash well. While Butkovich notes that the methods of building a fiberglass boat have not changed appreciably, the materials have, and that makes all the dif-

ference. “Our boats are all fiberglass,” Butkovich says. “The new materials add strength.”

Boats coming into shore can drop as much as five feet off a breaking wave and hit the beach hard. “We use vinyl-ester resin, which doesn’t get the spider-like cracks that polyester resin can get,” says Butkovich. “And we use Stitchmat, a multidirectional woven mat that stiffens and strengthens the hull.”

Breaker Dory offers a variety of colors, and Butkovich applies the gel coat color to the mold, followed by a layer

of chop. “Then we put a protective layer of Kevlar on the bottom for extra protection, and start laying in the Stitchmat.”

Butkovich builds the bottom up to 3/8 inches thick with around 10 layers of stitchmat, and builds up the sides to 3/16. He then runs three 1.5-inch stringers along the flat bottom and glues down a panel of spaceboard — a strong waferlike board developed for the aerospace industry. “We glue that down with Plexus glue, which is so strong the material will break before the glue comes undone.”

They protect us. Every day. Every night.

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To learn how you can help, call (860) 535-0786 or visit our website at www.coastguardfoundation.org Ask About our boAt DonAtion ProgrAm 24

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

BOATBUILDING Butkovich then fiberglasses the deck in, creating an airtight space in the bottom of the hull. If the boat is a commercial boat, the customers often order extra layers of glass on the floor. Butkovich offers other options, including a bait station, a removable cooler and a 20-gallon fuel tank. Once the options are in, Butkovich adds the cuddy cabin, splash well and sides.

Finished, a Breaker Dory is 21' 3" by 7' 4". The dry hull will weigh 1,200 to 1,300 pounds and cost about $29,000.

According to Butkovich, his clients put anything from 75- to 150-hp outboards on their new dories. “I’ve used a 75-horsepower E-Tec,” he says.

“Some guys use Suzukis, and I’ve seen some use Mercs.” Butkovich has put a 150 G2 E-Tec on his newest boat. The E-Tec 150 is a super efficient inline direct-injected two-stroke 3-cylinder, 1.9 liter engine. “It’s pushing 500 pounds, which is a lot. You can put a 90-hp Suzuki on there; it weighs about 300 pounds.”

Butkovich can’t say enough about the new engines. “I can’t remember the last time I saw a boat broach. They’re so reliable now, and efficient.”

According Butkovich, when he was running a 115-hp G1 E-Tec, he could go 65 miles offshore, fish albacore all day and come back having burned only 30 gallons of fuel. “I could run that as much as 40 knots,” he says. “I just launched this new boat in May. I make what I call demos, and eventually someone will buy it. I haven’t seen how fast the 150 will go, more than 40 knots I’m sure.”

For electronics, Butkovich uses a Lowrance GPS fishfi nder with a 12inch screen mounted on the bulkhead of the cuddy, and a VHF radio. “A lot of people use the Garmin,” he says. “They make a 9-inch screen.” Butkovich mounts the transducer on the transom in a stainless steel tube that can easily be raised for getting on and off the beach.

While the dory fishery began as a commercial fishery, only a few of But-

kovich’s customers are commercial fishermen these days. “About 10 to 15 percent,” he says. “They mostly fish for salmon, ling cod and rockfish, depending on what they have for permits. A few go for crab and some chase albacore.”

Butkovich says most commercial fishermen use electric haulers for their salmon gurdies, pot and fish haulers.

“They’ll use an Electrodyne hauler and maybe mount a fish hauler on it,” he says. “Some guys will mount a hydraulic pump on their engine. It voids the warranty, but commercial guys void the warranty pretty quick anyway.”

By the time a boat is rigged and ready to go fishing the price tag is knocking on the door of $50,000. “You could do it for $45,000,” says Butkovich. “Depending on what you want, a smaller engine, regular push pull steering or hydraulic — things like that.”

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for North Pacifi c Focus.

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25

EXPO IN ACTION Highlights from Seattle’s 2019 Pacific Marine Expo

KEYNOTE

Bristol Bay advocates ask for a Pebble Mine review

A

packed audience heard updates from longtime participants in the fight to protect the Bristol Bay watershed at the keynote event hosted by National Fisherman for the 2019 Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.

Advocates for Bristol Bay said they need to keep pressure on federal agencies for an environmental reassessment of the Pebble Mine proposal — and on ways to keep the world’s greatest salmon fishery in the national eye.

In November, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Trans26

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portation and Infrastructure Committee asked the Army Corps of Engineers to undertake a new environmental assessment of the mining plan that the Corps moved to clear in June, reported Mike Friccero, a 39-year Bristol Bay fisherman and activist.

Despite the federal Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration reversing its earlier position against the mine, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also asking to revisit the mine’s potential impacts, Friccero told the audience.

In Congress, Rep. Jared Huff man, D-Calif., has an amendment to the House appropriations bill that would prohibit the Corps of Engineers from

spending money to work on permitting the mine, a process that on the current timeline could be fi nished in spring 2020, said Lindsey Bloom, a Bristol Bay gillnet captain and campaign strategist with the group Salmon State.

On the Senate side, Sen. Lisa Murkowski inserted language in a spending bill to express her concerns about Pebble Mine, but short of a spending block that advocates want to see, said Bloom. They hope that can be achieved in conference committee, she added.

“We have a few weeks in Congress to make that happen,” she said. With the corps on track to release a permit in spring it is a critical time “to stop this

2019 PME ROUND UP

corrupt process,” said Bloom.

The project dangers center on the future of waste from the proposed mine pit, and “the assumption that Pebble Mine can make time stand still,” said Daniel Schindler, director of the Alaska Salmon Program at the University of Washington.

Despite a projected 50-year lifespan, in reality acidic mine tailings “will be there until the next ice age, thousands of years from now,” said Schindler.

The danger of planning to contain the waste dammed onsite includes dam failure — in floods or earthquakes — spilling sediment miles downstream into the watershed’s salmon spawning habitat, he said.

“There’s no plan for… who’s going to pay for this pit (maintenance) in perpetuity,” said Schindler.

Bristol Bay fishermen can’t count on Alaska state authorities for backup on that, given the state government’s perilous fi nancial state, added captain Mike Friccero.

“The stage is set for engineering disasters,” he said. “It’s a real effing mess in Alaska right now, in my opinion.”

It’s been a decade now since the Bristol Bay Native Corporation deter-

NF STaFF PHoToS

Daniel Schindler, director of the University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program, addressed the long-term danger from Pebble Mine waste.

“The stage is set for engineering disasters,” said Bristol Bay fisherman Mike Friccero.

The Bristol Bay Native Corporation saw in 2009 that the mine would be a threat, said member Everette Andersen.

mined the Pebble Mine proposal poses a threat to the longtime “fish fi rst policy” that is central to both the region’s subsistence culture and economic wellbeing, said corporation board member Everette Andersen.

“This is a very special place in the world,” he said. “Not just for the people

who depend on it, but for the world.”

With so much at stake, Andersen said people need to focus on their common interest in pushing for Bristol Bay’s protection: “Take the politics out of this process. I know that’s almost impossible.”

Grassroots action by fishermen activists, including YouTube videos and other social media, have helped spread the word around the United States and “the boots on the ground are just amazing,” said Andersen.

Breaking through to a larger national audience remains challenging. Chef and author Renée Erickson, owner of Seattle-based Sea Creatures restaurants, said in talking to her guests, “I don’t think people know anything, basically,” about wild Alaska salmon.

At one culinary industry event in

“

This is a very special

place in the world, not just for the people who depend

”

on it, but for the world.

— Mike Friccero, Bristol Bay fisherman and activist

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2019 PME ROUND UP

Symphony of Seafood selects fish and chips

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he Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition this year awarded four winners with top prizes in Seattle. Thirteen companies entered 20 products in three categories — Retail, Foodservice and Beyond the Plate. The Seattle People’s Choice rounded out the awards for the competition.

Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, announced the winners at Pacific Marine Expo on Friday, Nov. 22.

Barnacle Foods’ Bullwhip Hot Sauce took first place in the Retail category.

High Liner Foods won the Foodservice category with its Alaskan Wild Wings, a cornmeal crusted, boneless pollock “wing.”

Wild by Nature took the Beyond the Plate with fish skin jewelry.

The foundation launched the annual competition 27 years ago to encourage the development of value-added products and maximize utilization of wild Alaska seafood. Part of the competition is a series of receptions in Seattle and Alaska fishing towns, where the products are available to sample.The Seattle reception was attended by more than 150 taste testers and voters, whose ballots were tabulated to determine the Seattle People’s Choice award.

That prize went to Alaskan Leader Fisheries for its Wild Alaska Cod Fish & Chips Kit. “This is the second time we’ve won in 28

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

Keith Singleton, of Alaskan Leader Fisheries, accepts the Seattle People’s Choice prize in the Symphony of Seafood for Wild Alaska Cod Fish & Chips.

three years, and it’s amazing,” said Keith Singleton, president of foodservice and retail at Alaskan Leader.

Decker also announced that the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is major supporting partner of the foundation with a three-year contribution totaling $150,000.

The competition winners will be entered in Seafood Expo North America’s Seafood Excellence Competition for new products. The foundation also hosts exhibit space for the category winners at the Boston show. Prizes for that global seafood products contest will be announced at the show in March.

— Jessica Hathaway

It’s part of a $345 million capital plan that includes a joint venture with the Port of Tacoma to the south improving Terminal 5 with deeper berths and rail connections to serve the new generation of 1,200-foot-plus containerships. To the north on Elliott Bay, $35 million in upgrades to Terminal 91 are planned by the end of 2021 including pier improvements for the port’s larger fishing vessels.

At Fishermen’s Terminal, $2.5 million in dock upgrades including new electrical and Wi-Fi equipment will be accompanied with 60,000 square feet of new light industrial space for maritime uses, said David McFadden, the port’s managing director of economic development.

Port of Seattle seeks growth in technology

S

urging cruise ship traffic, ultra-large containerships and a rebuilding fishing fleet are driving more than $500 million in long-term improvements at the Port of Seattle — even as real estate and housing demands put pressure on the maritime economy.

The process is underway at Terminal 46 near the city’s Century Field sports complex, where port planners are designing “a flexible marine transportation facility” — the northern third to be a new cruise port terminal, the remaining area to continue handling cargo, said Stephanie Jones Stebbins, managing director of the port’s maritime division, in a conference session at Pacific Marine Expo.

DoN WiLSoN / PorT oF SEaTTLE

California, “one prominent chef was so proud to tell us he flew in Atlantic salmon. I wanted to kick him,” said Erickson. “So, I think there’s a lot to do about that.”

The stakes in Bristol Bay are plain to anyone who looks at the fate of other salmon fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, said Schindler.

“Take a tour through salmon watersheds here in the Pacific Northwest and you’ll see mistake after mistake. It’s our arrogance,” he said. “It’s the assumption we can do what we want to these ecosystems without harm.”

Now, he added, “no matter what we do, these salmon runs are not coming back.”

— Kirk Moore

Plans for modernizing the Port of Seattle include $2.5 million in dock upgrades at Fishermen’s Terminal.

2019 PME ROUND UP That’s needed because port officials are increasingly concerned about pressure around Ballard and North Seattle from the relentless pressure for more housing a modernized commercial space, fueled by the region’s booming tech sector.

“There’s a lot of gentrification here.

There’s not a lot of space for light industrial and rents are climbing steadily,” said McFadden. Port officials are getting inquiries from businesses interested in finding space around Fishermen’s Terminal and Terminal 91, he said.

Port planners are looking for ways to synthesize that tech strength with the city’s legacy maritime industries. One step is a “maritime innovation center” to be co-located with the new north end improvements, with $10.55 million in funding including $5 million from the state of Washington.

The center will be a home for the “blue tech sector,” a space to support emerging maritime technology and workforce development, said McFadden.

The idea is modeled on centers in Iceland and the Netherlands, including Port XL, a “maritime accelerator” in Rotterdam, he said.

“There are 60 different (tech) accelerator programs in Seattle. Not one of them is focused on maritime,” McFadden added.

The port is meanwhile keeping a focus on its fleet of 226 fishing vessels with a direct annual payroll of $313 million.

As the fleet is recapitalizing with new construction, “we need to get in front of that,” said Fishermen’s Terminal general manager Kenneth Lyles.

“These fishing companies need to turn over their fleets,” he said. “We’re right in the middle of that now. We’re trying to provide the infrastructure.”

In all of this port officials say they are acting as advocates for preserving the city’s maritime industrial land too.

“There are folks who would pay a lot to put something else there,” said Jones Stebbins.

— Kirk Moore

Fisherman of the Year contestants prepare for the blind-folded knot-tying heat.

Co-host Sean Dwyer awards the line-splicing heat winner with his $100 prize.

Fisherman’s title goes to surprise contestant

S

pectators at Pacific Marine Expo’s Fisherman of the Year Contest saw a first-of-its-kind upset when a nonfisherman took the title.

Contestants (and co-host Claire Neaton, with mic) prepare to mend nets.

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29

2019 PME ROUND UP

Bering Sea crab skipper Sean Dwyer and Salmon Sister Claire Neaton pose with Fisherman of the Year Steve Ramp, a Coast Guard examiner out of Sitka, Alaska.

The annual contest was hosted this year by the all-star duo of Sean Dwyer and Claire Neaton. Dwyer is captain of the Bering Sea crabber Brenna A, one of the featured boats on the “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery.

Neaton fishes for salmon, halibut and cod. She is half of the Salmon Sisters, who grew up in the Aleutian Islands, fishing with their family in Alaska’s Area M. Dwyer and Neaton walked contestants through the fi rst three heats — blind-folded knot tying (sheep bend, square knot and bowline), net mending, and splicing (three tucks).

Kelly Greenwood, who works for the Seattle Skills Center and sails “all over the world,” took the knot tying heat at 26.98 seconds.

David Wakefield, skipper of the F/V Voyager out of Port Townsend, Wash., won the net mending round in 55.6 seconds.

Steve Ramp, a U.S. Coast Guard examiner from Sitka, Alaska, won the line splicing round at 52.16 seconds and went on to take the survival suit contest in 37 seconds — well below the Coast Guard standard of one minute.

Ramp advised the crowd to follow this order for getting in fast: legs, weak arm, hood, arm, zipper, flap.

Ramp’s speed in donning his suit gave him the title of Fisherman of the Year.

Join us next year in Seattle on the last day of Expo!

— Jessica Hathaway 30

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FisherPoets read the room

B

reaking into an all-male crew. Surviving when the sea breaks in the wheelhouse. Savoring time at home.

The FisherPoets readings are a traditional last-day feature of Pacific Marine Expo. Author Laura Hartema read from “Bering Sea Strong,” her account of working in Alaska waters in the 1990s.

“I had landed on a singles’ cruise and discovered I was the only woman who signed up,” Hartema wrote. After her initial experience, including “my close encounter with Underwear Man” in a crew cabin, Hartema had her first ter-

rifying exposure to Bering storm and sea conditions.

“It’s a sea story, but it’s really about overcoming difficult circumstances,” said Hartema.

Jeff Stonehill, who wrote “the Last Great Wild West Show,” an account of Cordova, Alaska, fishing life in the 1970s, read his poem of setting out on a 63foot boat with a steel whaleback house: “You’d think that would be enough.”

“How thick is this Plexi?

“Damn, should have got the Lexan…

“The windshield wiper waggles witlessly in the hole.”

“I hope that hasn’t happened to you,” Stonehill quipped to the audience.

Sierra Golden’s “The Slow Art” is a finalist for the 2019 Washington State Book Award. Her poem “Some Ghosts” reflects on the now-legendary — mythical, according to official government history — remembrances of “June hogs,” giant salmon on the pre-dam Columbia River.

In “Gracias,” Golden salutes migrant cannery workers. In “Not Fishing,” she expresses the Northwest fisherman’s gratitude for a winter break: “I don’t want to hear the VHF sputter sweet nothings on Valentine’s Day.” Guitarist and songwriter Brad Warren, executive director of the National Fisheries Conservation Center, sang of those June hogs, too.

Those memories are more important than ever, said Stonehill, who sported the Bristol Bay salmon fishermen’s symbol protesting the Pebble Mine plan.

The next few months may tell, Stonehill warned, if future generations will sing those kinds of sad songs about Bristol Bay. — Kirk Moore PRODUCTS

Rogue warning system Rutter’s new WaveVision warns boats of anomalous waves at sea

W

Poet Sierra Golden, a finalist for the 2019 Washington State Book Award, reads from her collection.

hat could you do in a minute?

Quite a bit, says Canadian company Rutter Inc., like maybe even save a life or two. And a minute is what Rutter’s new Sigma S6 WaveVision gives boats before they encounter anomalous waves at sea.

“We’re able to actually detect and

2019 PME ROUND UP measure individual waves in a wave field out to kilometer from a vessel, all this in real time.

We can even say how high each wave is in that wave field, so if one wave is a rogue wave or significantly higher than the general sea state, we can actually give you an advance warning by way of an alarm,” said Brian Johnston, who does strategic and business development for Rutter, which rolled out the new product from show floor at Pacific Marine Expo.

Not only does WaveVision pick up on rogue waves, which are about one and half times the general sea state, it can also be manually set to warn of any waves beyond a specified height.

“Let’s say your operating conditions are up to three meters and you want to know about any wave above that that’s approaching your vessel. We can give you that with a warning up from 45 to 60 seconds in advance,” Johnston said.

“This means you can begin to turn or maneuver or throttle back, whatever you need to mitigate or minimize the strike from the wave.”

The forewarning also allows skippers to announce the approaching swell over the intercom or hit an alarm to notify crew, allowing for them to prepare for a big bump.

“If you’ve got crew working on the deck, and it’s a low deck, you don’t want those guys to get hit by an unexpected wave. It can allow for the mitigation of damage to equipment on the back deck as well,” said Johnston, adding that the technology is even more useful at night.

After 10 years in development, Rutter is launching the WaveVision. Johnston explained that the company “develops systems that repurpose radar signals from existing antennas by looking for information that standard radars are not looking for.”

Over the years, Rutter has developed radar processing technology for ice

field navigation, oil spill detection, and small target detection for search and rescue. And they hope the new WaveVision will help boats navigate more safely at sea.

The Sigma S6 Wave is available for trials now, with full commercial availability to begin in January 2020. The technology is compatible with most commercial fishing radar systems, although it requires a certain amount of resolution to function properly.

“The little radome radars don’t really work. We’re looking at 4-foot antennas, preferably 6- or 8-foot antennas, so with the bigger fishing boats that’s not a problem. The smaller ones we’d have to see if they have the right radar,” Johnston said.

While Rutter Inc. works with existing radar, the system does require the installation of a PC and monitor, both of which are marine grade and made to hold up on boats. — Brian Hagenbuch

Light up your lines Fishtek Marine’s new pot and net lights bump up catch rates

T

wo new lights from Fishtek Marine are proving to increase catch rates for pot and net fishing across a number of fisheries and species. The Deep Set Pot Light and Net Light, both released in the last few months and on display at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, Washington, are a bit of happy accident for Fishtek.

“We designed them initially to reduce seabird bycatch, but the outcome was that we saw these spikes in catch rates,” said Robert Enever, the company’s head of science and uptake.

“Some guys in a snow crab fishery we work with noticed that when they used lights in their pots they caught the same amount of crabs while

not using any bait. Then they noticed that when they used light along with bait they saw like a 70 percent increase in catch rates.”

Both the lights are rated to 1,000 meters and fitted with auto immersion switches that fl ip on when they hit the water, and the batteries are replaceable.

They are small, durable, and built to be unobtrusive and easily hauled in with gear, and, at just $5 and $7 dollars respectively, the lights are affordable.

“Previously, lights were too expensive and they didn’t go deep enough.

When units cost $30 each and you’re shooting a thousand pots, you might try a few but you’re not going have them all lighted,” Enever said.

The working hypothesis on the lights is that fish are not attracted to the light itself, but rather their bait — like krill, for example — are drawn to the light, and the fish can see the bait swimming around the halo. Whatever the mechanism, the lights are working across a wide range of fisheries, from lobsters to cod.

“The other fisheries we’ve used them in in the North Sea around Europe, like cod and hake we’ve seen a massive uplift in catch rates,” Enever said.

Enever noted the lights provide environmental advantages as well, with higher catch rates adding up to fewer lines the water and savings on fuel and labor.

The next frontier is salmon, where the product is largely untested. Enever said several salmon fishermen took the lights away from the Expo to try them in their fisheries.

“It does need to be tried, but we don’t have any reason to think it wouldn’t make a difference,” he said.

Fishtek is a UK-based conservation engineering company that designs and manufactures products to improve sustainability and efficiency in fishing. For years, they have been making acoustic pingers that are installed to alert cetaceans of the presence of nets, reducing entanglements and bycatch. They also make pelagic longline lights and longline hook covers that keep seabirds like albatross from snagging on hooks.

— Brian Hagenbuch FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

31

COMMUNITY SUPPORTED FISHERIES

FISH WITH A TWIST Local Catch unifies the mission and vision for community supported fisheries Story and photos by Samuel Hill

O

n every coast, U.S. fishing operations are bypassing the traditional off-load and delivering their catch directly to consumers through farmer’s markets, home delivery and dockside pick-up. Modeled after similar systems in agriculture, these community-supported fisheries aim to relocalize seafood, taking a step back from corporate relationships in favor of local connections.

In this Instagram Age, small-scale harvesters can connect directly to potential customers. Although the concept of community-supported fishing isn’t new, it’s still on the rise. And there’s no manual for newcomers.

That’s where the Local Catch Network steps in to connect like-minded fishermen and guide conversations about making these businesses work.

The network is a mainly volunteerrun organization that fosters a community-of-practice made up of fishermen, researchers and organizers supporting the CSF model and direct marketing.

The founding of the network stems from the work Joshua Stoll, a professor of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Maine, completed to help the Walking Fish, a North Carolina fishermen’s co-op, launch in 2008.

“It was one of these unbelievable experiences where we anticipated where there would be interest in local seafood but were blown away with the scale at which people came out of the woodwork to say, ‘This is amazing,’” said Stoll.

“Through that experience, people from all over — from North Carolina, from all over the Southeast, from all over the country, from all over the world — started reaching out to ask, ‘How do we do this in our own community?’”

It turns out, there were communities attempting to establish similar models across the country that were taking steps but feeling isolated in their mission.

Through these inquiries, the seed for the 32

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

network was planted and has grown.

The organization has hosted networking and education events — the 2012 National Summit on Community Supported Fisheries in Portsmouth, N.H., and the 2016 Local Seafood Summit in Norfolk,Va., and its first West Coast summit in October 2019.

This year’s event was hosted in Portland, Ore., in October and was attended by more than 100 Pacific seafood stakeholders (plus a handful of East Coast and Gulf of Mexico panelists who came to give testimonials for the network). Over the two-day summit, attendees swapped fishing stories and direct-marketing tips and participated in a series of workshops focused on three tracks: The Business of

Joshua Stoll is a professor of Ecology and Environmental Sciences and founder of Local Catch.

Colles Stowell is the founder and president of the One Fish Foundation.

CSFs; Marketing, Branding and Developing Supply Chain Relationships; and Environment and Resilience.

Sonia Strobel of Skipper Otto in British Columbia, and Nicolaas Mink of Sitka Salmon Shares — the largest CSFs in North America — headlined a discussion on the development and adoption of the model in their own experiences.

Strobel married into a fishing family — her husband, Shaun, has learned to fish from his father, Otto, the company’s namesake.

“Immediately I was horrified at what I saw, which was that small-scale traditional fishing families were being paid terribly for their sustainable catch. And at the same time, people I knew who wanted to eat local seafood couldn’t access it,” said Strobel, noting that, in Canada, the majority of seafood landings are exported, while most seafood found at major retailers has been imported from elsewhere.

“I realized we weren’t going to be a third- or fourth-generation fishing family,” she said. “That this way of life of life in our family was disappearing, as it was also in indigenous and coastal communities throughout B.C.” Being a subscriber to a communitybased agriculture program, Strobel had an “Aha!” moment. In 2008, she assessed applying the agriculture-based model to her family’s seafood business to see if she could swing a more premium price for her father-in-law’s catch.

The movement started slow, but a decade later, business is booming. A collective of about 30 fishing families catches 20 species that wind up on the dinner tables of more than 2,800 CSF members. Skipper Otto sells shares of their catch to consumers throughout Canada, who can order fish throughout the year directly from the company and shipped to 42 pick-up points in 25 cities across Canada.

Sitka Salmon Shares works with around 30 Alaska fishing families and ships seafood to 8,500 CSF members in the Midwest, primarily in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison.

Mink earned a Ph.D. in history and environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, before working in Sitka on fisheries issues. After working with two students in Southeast Alaska for a time and learning more

XXXXXXX XXXXXXX about the coastal communities there, Mink returned to the Midwest in 2010 with boxes of line-caught, wild Alaska salmon. The catch, and Mink’s stories of sustainable harvesters, were so wellreceived that the connection couldn’t be ignored. Sitka Salmon Shares was born.

“We wanted to do all of those things that were in our soul — supporting fishermen and delivering the highest quality product and deliver food that was traceable and sustainable,” said Mink.

The company is now an integrated boat-to-doorstep seafood company under a fishermen-ownership model with its own small processing plant.

These origin stories are key to building their brands, customer bases and turning a profit for their fishermen.

Kirk Hardcastle, a member of one of the original Sitka Salmon Shares fishing families and former owner of Taku River Reds, says the story is important to consumers now more than ever.

“The story behind a product is a really big thing these days,” he said. “Consumers are looking beyond the plate, thinking more and more about where their food comes from. These stories add a value to a seafood product that you cannot gain any other way. Big processors aren’t seeing that pinch on their bottom lines yet, but consumers are leaning in that direction, moving toward more emotional purchasing decisions.”

For many CSF managers, involved fishermen and interested parties, the tales behind these community fisheries can be looked at as an alternative to expensive third-party labeling, like the Marine Stewardship Council standards.

“My observation with third-party certification is that they certainly serve an important role in fisheries conservation,” said Stoll, “but there’s also research that suggests that the programs don’t work well for small-scale fisheries.”

Stoll notes that there are plenty of sustainable small-scale fisheries that don’t have certification because of the financial demands of the process.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of work to be done, but we’re looking at this model as a legitimate alternative to those processes,” said Stoll.

While CSF programs are still scattered, the Local Catch Network aims to unite similarly-minded fishermen and give

In October, fishermen and seafood organization leaders from across the country gathered in Portland, Ore., to swap stories about community-supported fisheries.

them an opportunity to explore these ideas via constructive forums and networking.

Through a series of roundtable discussions, attendees in Portland discussed the challenges of reaching more people. It was suggested that the Local Catch Network develop a database to house information on launching and maintaining a community-supported fishery that could be accessed by all. A mentorship program could partner those interested in launching CSFs with an established champion

its efforts to reach more people.

“A network is a living thing,” said Stoll.

“So, while we might not have the resources to host these events regularly, the network is constantly evolving. Once you’re connected, you’re connected. There are plenty of conversations and connections being had behind the scenes in ways we can’t track, but we know we’re making an impact and helping folks out.”

As long as the network is helping to connect people, Stoll says it’s serving its purpose.

“Not every fisherman can work like this. But I do think there’s a space for this sort of business in every coastal community.”

— Joshua Stoll, Professor of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine

in the space to learn and grow their operation from an experienced leader.

There were talks about how the network can expand to assist CSFs globally, potentially partnering and assisting groups like Low Impact Fishers of Europe.

This year, the network is focused on increasing funding for these sorts of events and projects, increasing internal capacity for organizing events and building the organization. Stoll said he felt that attendees of the latest event had a positive postsummit energy and that the network has significant momentum going forward in

“The end game here is not to force every seafood product in the country to flow through a community-supported fishery, but I do think this model is extremely important to the resiliency of the fishing industry,” said Stoll. “Not every fisherman can work like this. But I do I think there’s a space for this sort of business in every coastal community and that anyone interested in taking this approach has the resources to try.”

Samuel Hill is a freelance writer based in Portland, Ore. FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

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GOOD DEEDS

SHARING THE CATCH, ALASKA STYLE America’s Gleaned Seafood brings bycatch donation to East Coast

KirK moorE

By Kirk Moore

America’s Gleaned Seafood began donating bycatch to the Fulfill food bank in New Jersey in late summer 2019.

A

newly launched volunteer effort is bringing once-unused bycatch ashore in the Mid-Atlantic to supply food banks, and organizers hope it can be the start of a new national program.

America’s Gleaned Seafood landed its first donations of rays, scup, skates and sea robins in New Jersey in late summer 2019, when fishermen working with processer Trinity Seafoods delivered to the food bank Fulfill.

“They have a lot of leftover fish they can’t use. But its’s perfectly good fish,” said Kim Guadagno, Fulfill’s CEO and president, at a media conference at the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. After more than two years of careful organizing, gleaning advocates made the first deliveries in August, moving 2,300 pounds of unregulated species — mostly cownose and bat rays — that were processed and frozen into 630 pounds of kitchen-ready product at Trinity’s facility 34

NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

in Lakewood, N.J., said company president Mike Carson.

“Fishermen want to do this. One of the worst things is having to throw fish overboard,” said Brick Wenzel, a Lavallette, N.J., fisherman and project organizer. The initial effort is backed by a $50,000 grant from the Tyson Foods Protein Innovation Fund, and support from Trinity’s corporate parent Sysco Foods.

Organizers hope America’s Gleaned Seafood can grow along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. Its business model of bringing together fishermen, processors and food banks could follow a path trailblazed in Alaska by SeaShare, a program founded in 1994 to put regulatory bycatch from the North Pacific into better use as a supplement to food banks.

“It was just for one (pollock groundfish) program back then,” said Jim Harmon, executive director of SeaShare.

“They were just fishermen who respect the resource and didn’t want to throw

anything overboard… So we put a program together with NMFS.” From that beginning SeaShare grew to a national network that has delivered more than 220 million servings, with a steady supply stream of first-run, marketable product that otherwise would be discarded over the side by regulations governing the North Pacific trawl fisheries.

Depending on the season, that can include salmon, halibut, blackcod and rockfish that are untargeted bycatch with the fleet’s vast hauls of pollock and Pacific cod.

“Even though it’s 99.4 percent clean, you do get some bycatch from time to time,” said Harmon. Up to 138 boats can donate fish, and onshore 14 processing plants can process and ship the harvest.

“It works for the groundfish fishery because there’s two major ports” for landing in Alaska, plus transportation support from other participants, said Harmon. SeaShare gets donated freezer container space on truck and barge to Seattle, then “all the way the Missouri” and onward to 25 to 30 states, he said.

Much of its does not go as far to communities of need in Alaska, a longtime priority. Homer, Bethel and other towns get regular shipment to local storage facilities.

“Our goal is to ensure that a good portion of that bounty stays in Alaska, to feed Alaskans across the state who struggle with hunger,” according to SeaShare’s website. During 2019 the organization’s plan included delivering 800,000 servings of seafood across Alaska.

In August 24,000 pounds of halibut handled by Ocean Beauty Seafoods were sent to Nome and Kotzebue, delivered by a Coast Guard HC-130 crew from Air Station Kodiak. It’s an annual mission that started in 2013 and has delivered more than 73,000 pounds to Kotzebue and 45,000 pounds to Nome.

Other August shipments included 18,000 pounds of salmon, halibut, and lingcod to the Kenai Food Bank, enabled

by Trident Seafoods, with North Pacific Seafoods helping to regularly supply halibut and salmon to Kodiak.

Given the high level of management and regulation on commercial seafood harvest, it takes a lot of work to build a nonprofit food program using regulatory

Noaa

GOOD DEEDS

The Alaska pollock fishery is one source of bycatch that supplies SeaShare donations to food banks.

discards. “NMFS has been very supportive,” said Harmon.

The SeaShare effort is authorized by NOAA and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council under the Prohibited Species Donation Program, governed by a set of regulations that date back to around 1996 and are unique to the region, said Megan Mackey, a fishery management specialist with the NOAA Sustainable Fisheries Ecosystem Branch office in Juneau, Alaska.

Those detailed rules require documentation of participating vessels, dealers, processors and distributors, with permits updated every three years. Harmon himself personally presents an annual report on SeaShare’s results to the North Pacific council.

“It’s always one of those presentations that the council members really appreci-

ate and enjoy hearing about,” said Mary Fureness, the resource management supervisor at the sustainable fisheries office.

Fish retained for the prohibited species program must be packaged and labeled with the date of processing, the name of the processing facility, the contents and the weight of the fish contained in the package. A prominent label on each package declares: “NMFS Prohibited Species Donation Program — Not For Sale — Perishable Product — Keep Frozen.”

Participating processors and distributors must keep all documentation on file, including receipt and cargo manifests showing the origin, weight, and destination of all prohibited species bycatch.

Organizers of America’s Seafood Gleaning knew going in they would need similarly rigorous accounting. Ex-

ecutive Director Martin McHugh is a former director of New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife, so he planned for a system that all participants — fishermen, law enforcement, docks, processors and nonprofit groups — could buy into.

“It’s an ecosystem of people you need to make this work,” McHugh said. The New Jersey state departments of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and his old colleagues at Fish and Wildlife have been especially supportive, he said.

State and NMFS law enforcement agents work with the program, observing bycatch pack out into designated containers with tickets for delivery to Trinity.

Ultimately, the goal should be to get beneficial bycatch use made part of every fishery management plan, he said.

“We’re anticipating 30, 40, 50 years to get this fully running,” considering the decade-long cycles that the regional fishery management councils and interstate commissions work on, Wenzel said, “to get this into every fishery management plan.”

“If that could be replicated in other parts of the country with economic need, that would be awesome,” said Fureness of NOAA. To learn more about seafood donation programs check out SeaShare at seashare.org and America’s Gleaned Seafood at facebook.com/ AmericasGleanedSeafood.

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FALL 2019 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS

35

IN FOCUS / SOCKEYE

David Wasinger and Taylor Layland deliver fresh sockeye from slush-ice bags. Working in open boats, the salmon are picked wet and delivered every three hours from the setnet site to the tender Elektra Blue. Ugashik District \ Bristol Bay, Alaska Photo by Zed Blue

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NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2019

We Work So The World Sees It Too. We’re bringing to the surface the story of Alaska’s fishing fleet to hook customers all over the globe. Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s robust public relations and social media marketing campaigns show the world every angle of Alaska Seafood from beautiful fillets to hardworking hands.

This is just one example of how Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute puts all hands on deck to tell the story of wild, sustainable Alaska seafood so you and your family can focus on fishing today and for generations to come.

alaskaseafood.org Stay updated via our fleet-focused page!

@ASMINewsAndUpdates

PX TRAWLEYE FINALLY SOME DETAILS! The PX TrawlEye is normally mounted on the headrope of a trawl, but it can also be mounted in the intermediate section to monitor fish entry to the cod end.

The PX TrawlEye works at 200kHz with a 33° beam opening angle. This enables high resolution and large coverage of the water column.

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Protective deployment housing makes it easy to remove and reinstall sensor for charging

High resolution echogram from shrimp fishery.

Trawl opening is 10m, trawling depth is 200m, towing speed 1,6kn

33º

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