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LEARN HOW TO DROWN EFFECTIVELY
Y
COMMERCIAL
FISHERMEN’S FESTIVAL
See Page 22
www.pacificfishing.com
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR FISHERMEN
N ■ SEP
SEPTEMBER
S
E TE
EP
T MB
MBER
ER
R 2010
20
01
10
Big money
for salmon
US $2.95/CAN. $3.95
63126
• BiOp: Stop catching Aleutian cod
• Good prices for halibut
• Direct marketing from your boat
09
The first wholesale value of Alaska salmon
reached $1,069,400,000, and the price paid
to fishermen reached a 13-year high, boosting
state and local economies and the private sector.
Photo: © Steve Lee
Photo: © Steve Lee
Alaska Salmon Value Growth:
Ex-Vessel and First Wholesale
Alaska Ex-Vessel Value,
Key Commercial Species
$1,200
$1,000
$1,600
$1,200
$800
2007-2008
Increase 14.4%
$400
$0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Source: ADF&G, NMFS, SMIS estimates
Combined value of salmon, pollock, P-cod, sablefish & halibut,
shellfish, other groundfish
V alu e ($ m illio n s)
V alu e ($ m illio n s)
$2,000
$800
$600
$400
$200
$0
2002
2003
Ex-Vessel
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
First Wholesale Value, selected products
Source: ADF&G, AK Dept. of Revenue
Selected products: fresh and frozen H&G, fresh and frozen
fillet, salmon roe, canned salmon
30th
Check out the industry e-newsletter Newsbrief on the Seafood Industry portion of the ASMI website,
www.alaskaseafood.org. Subscribe to Newsbrief and Seafood Market Information Service. Check out
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute on Facebook, where you’ll find a link to a new 60-second video on You Tube about
Alaska bears, whales and fishermen.
niversary
n
A
1980-2010
IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's note
®
Crapped up
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR FISHERMEN
INSIDE:
Once, in my checkered career, I held a position of
sobriety and trust. (I know it’s hard to believe,
especially the sobriety part.)
I worked for a commercial nuclear plant. Specifically, I had unrestricted
access to everywhere you’d want go in the plant — and plenty of places you’d
not want to go. I learned a lot, some of which was about language.
As with any aloof profession — such as commercial fishing — nuclear
guys had their own jargon. One term I learned and liked was “crapped up.”
If you somehow were contaminated by radioactive material, you’ll have been
“crapped up.”
And, in my mind, that’s the perfect term to describe the salmon farm industry.
It craps up everything it touches. I guess it’d be OK if salmon farmers crapped
up their own piece of paradise and left the hell alone everything else.
But that’s not the way the industry works. It lands in beautiful places —
Chile’s archipelago or British Columbia’s inland waters — and craps them up.
We’ve been trying to
tell that story this year,
and we have the perfect person to tell it:
Kristin Hoelting.
Kristin’s family comes
from Petersburg. She’s
the granddaughter of a
halibut fisherman there,
Oscar Sandvik. She’s also
the daughter of our ad
manager, Diane Sandvik.
Kristin graduated
magna cum laude from
Harvard. She became
interested in salmon
Kristin Hoelting is in front of the fairlead.
farming when living in
Chile for a year. She then received a Fulbright Scholarship for 2007-08 to study
wild salmon restoration in Norway.
Meanwhile, she fished for salmon for five seasons, out of Petersburg and in
Bristol Bay.
Now she’s a graduate student at the University of Washington, and her work
for Pacific Fishing reflects her academic rigor.
In March, Kristen wrote about Norway’s salmon farms now spewing sea lice
into wild waters, much as B.C. fish farms have done for years. In May, she wrote
about sea lice building resistance to the drugs used to control them.
This month, Kristin writes about a horrible wasting disease spread, in part,
by international trade in salmon eggs for farms. See Page 9.
She’ll have a fourth article in a few months — this one discussing another fish
farm disease that could crap up the wild environment.
These articles are long and not very sexy. They take up a lot of space. We
don’t sell many more magazines because of them. We certainly don’t sell more
ads. But we publish them because no one else will.
Because that’s our job. And that’s why I’m pleased that Kristin has chosen to
work with us.
But back to my career in nuclear power: They fired me. It wasn’t my
performance. It probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but it was my
attitude that got all crapped up. Don McManman
Bonanza prices:
Page 4
Learn how to drown:
Page 6
Fish farmers ship disease:
Page 9
It's Alaska's fault:
Page 12
On the cover:
The F/V Sea Fury, skippered by Gregg Lovrovich out of Gig Harbor,
Wash., prepares for another set in Anita Bay, Southeast Alaska.
Josh Zirschky photo
VOLUME XXXI, NO. 9 • SEPTEMBER 2010
Pacific Fishing (ISSN 0195-6515) is published 12 times a year (monthly) by Pacific
Fishing Magazine. Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising offices at 1000 Andover
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Seattle, WA 98188. Copyright © 2010 by Pacific Fishing Magazine. Contents may not
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Pacific Fishing, 1000 Andover Park East, Seattle, WA 98188
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING 3
STATS PACK
Salmon prices
Don’t act so surprised!
PREFERRED PUBLICATION OF:
CORDOVA DISTRICT
FISHERMEN UNITED
UNITED FISHERMEN
OF ALASKA
WASHINGTON DUNGENESS
CRAB FISHERMEN’S ASSOC.
WESTERN FISHBOAT
OWNERS ASSOC.
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WESLEY LOY
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CHRISTIE DAIGLE
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fish. In our coverage three years ago, we focused on
China. Its cheap labor made it possible for frozen,
boneless salmon fillets to reach global consumers at a
cheaper price.
With the exception of 2010, these are the
Result: Lower supply. More demand. Together they
final settlement numbers
mean higher prices, whether sockeye are caught in
NUMBER OF
Bristol Bay or anywhere else.
FINAL PRICE
BUYERS
The average base at Kodiak was $1.49 a pound, up
from $1.11 last year. In Prince William Sound, gillnett1989
2.25
19
ers were getting $2.25, up from $1.72. In Southeast,
1.09
16
sockeye was selling for $2, up about 75 cents from last
0.75
16
1.12
18
year, according to our columnist Laine Welch.
0.67
12
In British Columbia, grounds prices started at $2.20
0.97
16
in the first opening in early July, but rapidly escalated
1995
0.77
22
to $2.75 as buyers scrambled for fish, according to col0.81
19
umnist Michel Drouin. Prices were down to $1.75 per
0.9
18
pound by July 20.
1.22
15
So, the processors have more money into the
0.84
12
product before they take it to the street. Will they be
2000
0.67
12
able to get a higher price?
0.42
11
“Obviously, that’s the question,” said Tom
0.49
8
Sunderland, director of marketing for Ocean Beauty.
0.51
7
“In this business, you gotta be optimistic.”
0.51
6
Sunderland, and the rest of the industry, have a
2005
0.62
8
good sales pitch, though.
0.55
7
“A lot of the demand is attributable to the gen0.64
5
eral good press ASMI and others get for wild fish,”
0.69
7
Sunderland said.
0.7
6
“Continuous marketing over a long period of time
2010
0.95*
is paying its rewards.
*Base price, which will perhaps grow to $1.15 for the final payment.
“Wild salmon, particularly Alaska salmon, is being
demanded by consumers.”
Competition: In the graph, we include the number
It’s not that we didn’t warn you.
Sockeye prices on Bristol Bay were signifi- of buyers on the bay. Unfortunately, this data is kind
cantly higher this year than last year — or than of mushy. The number of serious buyers varies accordthe last 12 years. A base of 95 cents — up 36 per- ing to who you ask.
Welch did some digging: “Tim Sands/ADFG/
cent from last year — will translate to a final price
of up to $1.15, depending on handling of the Dillingham just told me 12 majors are buying,
including Togiak Seafoods [Copper River Seafoods]
fish and final processor settlements.
We promised it would happen on our cover of and one called Coffee Point at Egegik.
“He said it can be confusing, as there are so many
May 2007.
We arrived at the forecast not by speaking with different buyers specific to regions, e.g., the total
number listed for
biologists, fish manag2010 is 39 processors,
ers, fishermen assobut some are momciation presidents, For a look at the British Columbia sockeye
and-pop operations,
politicians, or the local fishery, see Page 15.
or fishermen directfortune-teller.
marketing their own
Rather, we relied
upon basic economics: the Law of Supply and catches, who must be categorized as processors.”
It is reasonable to assume the number of buyers on
Demand.
Supply: Admittedly, we didn’t foresee the huge the bay took a deep dip after 2000. Now, the number
shortage of farmed fish caused by pestilential prac- is starting to build.
Picky, picky, picky: Of course, all of these grounds
tices of aquaculture plutocrats. But even without a
disease epidemic in the farming net pens, the supply price numbers don’t factor in inflation. Let’s assume
of fish worldwide was not keeping up with demand. the final price for 2010 Bristol Bay sockeye will be
Demand: Not only is the global population grow- $1.15. On the face of it, 2010 offered the best price
ing, but in many countries (China, India) people are in the past 12 years. Or, in 21 years, this year was
getting richer — or, at least rich enough to eat more surpassed only once. )
) ) )
Bristol Bay Sockeye Prices
and Numbers of Buyers
4 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
YOUR BUSINESS
Sea lions
by Wesley Loy
Independent
review comes too late
Sea lion BiOp:
Federal plans to close some waters along
the Aleutian chain beginning in January to
protect endangered Steller sea lions could
cost industry millions of dollars annually in
lost Pacific cod and Atka mackerel catches.
But wait a minute. The industry has a
chance for a reprieve.
The National Marine Fisheries Service
has pledged to submit its new “biological
opinion” on Stellers for an independent
scientific review via the Miami-based Center
for Independent Experts.
The review won’t come until next year,
after the closures take effect. Still, it’s an
important development, says Larry Cotter,
a Juneau fisheries executive who has long
tracked sea lion issues for industry.
“It opens up the idea that things could be
very different,” he says.
NMFS released the biological opinion, or
BiOp, on Aug. 2 along with a slate of planned
closures to prevent commercial fisheries
from jeopardizing sea lions and adversely
modifying their critical habitat.
The restrictions are confined to the remote
central and western Aleutians, including an
outright shutdown of cod and Atka mackerel
fisheries in management area 543, a very distant zone that encompasses Attu Island near
the maritime boundary line with Russia.
Aside from the closure of area 543, where
NMFS says the sea lion population decline is
of greatest concern, areas 542 and 541 to the
east would see partial closures.
In releasing the BiOp, federal officials
noted that “a definitive cause for the decline
of sea lions has not been identified, and it
is likely that other factors are important in
understanding the lack of recovery.”
Industry players are pushing the government to weigh all the available science and
not shut down fisheries based simply on the
idea that vessels are robbing sea lions of food.
Alternative theories for the sea lion woes
include environmental change, killer whale
predation, and the effect of toxins. Some
also question whether the western stock of
Stellers truly qualifies as endangered with
some 60,000 animals in Alaska and Russia.
To a degree, the BiOp came as a relief to
some major segments of Alaska’s groundfish
industry, such as the Bering Sea and Gulf of
Alaska pollock fisheries. Already saddled
with myriad sea lion restrictions over the
past decade, these fisheries were spared
further pain. IMS BRINE FREEZING
IT’S FAST.
IT’S COLD.
IT WORKS.
“The 25-ton electric brine
freezing system I got from
IMS three years ago works
so well that I recommend
it to anyone who asks.
It’s an excellent system with simple start up and shut down—it does it all itself.
Seven hundred fish were put down within four hours and the system did not
exceed 12 degrees and within eighteen hours it was back down to 3 degrees.
It freezes just about as fast as you want to put the fish down in the hold!”
— Mark Towle, owner, F/V Contender
Work More Than One Fishery!
IMS Combination Chilling & Freezing Systems Do Just That …
… “When the Victory is not tendering in Kodiak,
we want the flexibility to also freeze aboard for
the high-end market, so our IMS 40-ton dual-temp
condenser system is designed to allow us to chill
now and add freezing equipment later.”
— Gary Nielsen & Steve Spain,
co-owners, F/V Victory
45-Ton Chilling & Freezing System
But
ut let’s figure inflation:
inflati
tion
on:: That $$1.25
earned by fishermen in 1989 would be $2.20
today. The other way around, if fishermen
received the 2010 value in 1989 dollars,
they’d receive 65 cents a pound.
Granted, it’s a shocking letdown, but look
at it this way: Even 65 cents in 1989 currency
surpassed every year from 2001 to 2007. Come
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…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 5
YOUR BUSINESS
Staying alive
by Mario Vittone
What it's like to die!
The faces of Cold Water Boot Camp: Of all the people who die in cold water, 20 percent die in the first two minutes.
Don’t worry about hypothermia
You'll drown first ... if you're not wearing flotation
Mario Vittone is a marine safety specialist
You can’t breathe: The first phase of they have heart problems, the cold shock
with the U.S. Coast Guard.
cold water immersion is called the cold may trigger a heart attack. Surviving this
I’m going to come right out and tell you shock response: It is a stage of increased stage is about getting your breathing under
something that almost no one in the mari- heart rate and blood pressure, uncontrolled control, realizing that the stage will pass, and
time industry understands:
gasping, and sometimes uncontrolled staying calm.
It is impossible to die from hypotherm- movement. Lasting anywhere from 30
You can’t swim: One of the primary
ia in cold water unless you are wearing seconds to a couple of minutes, depend- reasons given by recreational boaters when
flotation because, without flotation, you ing on a number of factors, the cold shock asked why they don’t wear a life jacket is
won’t live long enough to become
that they can swim. Listen up, Tarhypothermic.
I swam for a living for the better
Victims of immersion hypothermia are two zan:
Despite research, experience, and
part of my adult life and, when the
all the data, I still hear “experts” things: lucky to be alive and fragile.
water is cold, none of us can swim
offer completely false information
for very long.
about cold water and what happens
The second stage of cold water
response can be deadly all by itself.
to people who get in it.
In fact, of all the people who die in cold immersion is called cold incapacitation.
When the water is cold (say, under water, 20 percent die in the first two min- Long before your core temperature drops
50 degrees F) there are significant physi- utes. They panic, they take on water in a single degree, veins in your extremiological reactions that occur:
that first uncontrolled gasp, they drown. If ties (those are the things you swim with)
will constrict. You will lose your ability to
control your hands. The muscles in your
arms and legs will just flat out quit working
well enough to keep you above water.
Design - Installation - Service - Repair
Without some form of flotation, the best
swimmer among us will drown within 30
Serving the Southeast Alaska Fleet
minutes. There’s no way around it. Without
since 1988
ever experiencing a drop in core temperaWe work with all manufacturers to supply a
ture, more than 50 percent of the people
system that’s right for your requirements.
who die in cold water die from drowning
Now installing systems using ozone-safe
caused by incapacitation.
EPA-approved refrigerants.
You last longer than you think:
If you have ever heard this phrase —
Wally McDonald, Owner
“That water is so cold, you will die
(907) 772-4625 • ƀ[email protected]
from hypothermia within 10 minutes”
FLEET REFRIGERATION
6 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
— then you have been lied to. In most cases, in water of, say, 40 Exposure Survival Model: It is a program wherein they enter all the
degrees (all variables to one side), it typically takes a full hour available data about the victim (age, weight, estimated body fat,
to approach unconsciousness from hypothermia, the third stage clothing, etc.) and about the environment (water temp, sea state, air
of cold water immersion. But remember, you must be wearing temp, wind), and the software spits out a number that represents
the longest possible time you can survive under those conditions.
flotation to get this far.
I plugged my own information into it once, and it said I could
We are all different in this regard, but I once spent an hour in
44 degree water wearing street clothes, and my core temperature survive for more than four hours in 38 degree water wearing nothing but a T-shirt and jeans —
was only down by less than two
with no flotation.
degrees. Even so, I was not cliniI can tell you from experience
cally hypothermic. It was uncomthat the computer model is full
fortable to be sure, and I wouldn’t
of it. In that scenario, I’d give me
recommend finding your own
35 minutes tops. But the error is
limit, but it probably would have
comforting. If the program that
taken another hour to lose condetermines how long I might live
sciousness, and an hour after that
is going to be wrong — I want it
to cool my core to the point of
to be wrong in that direction.
no return.
The body’s efforts to keep the
Out of the water but not
core warm — vein constriction
out of trouble: I’ve lost count of
and shivering — are surprisingly
the number of survivors I have
effective. The shivering and blood
annoyed in the back of the helishunting to the core are so effec- Here is your author – Mario Vittone, a former Coast Guardsman and expert copter because I wouldn’t let
tive that, 20 minutes after jump- on water safety – after only a few minutes in the water during Cold Water
them move. I had a rule: If they
ing in (twice the you’ll-be-dead- Boot Camp.
came from a cold water environin-10-minutes time), my body temperature was 100.2.
ment, they laid down and stayed down until the doctors in the E.R.
Rescue professionals think you live longer: There is a good said they could stand.
It didn’t matter to me how good they felt or how warm they
side to the misconceptions about hypothermia. Should you ever
be in the water in need of rescue, you can be certain that the Coast thought they were, because the final killer of cold water immersion
Guard is going to give you the benefit of every possible doubt.
continued on page 8
Search and rescue coordinators use something called the Cold
“Drill your crew!”
—U. S. Coast Guard
Face it—you’re all busy. Commercial fishing is a lot of work and your time is valuable. So
why not get the biggest return on your investment by performing realistic safety drills with
your crew? The few minutes they spend each month doing hands-on emergency drills will
reap huge rewards if things go horribly wrong.
The 3 Keys
Drills & Skills
right safety EQUIPMENT
TRAINED in its use
MAN OVERBOARD
-Williamson or other turn
-Eyes on the victim and point
-Throw Life Ring and things that float
-Recovery
Survival ATTITUDE
Sponsored by
FIRE
-General Alarm
-MAYDAY
-Don SCBA & Fire Outfit (if equipped)
FLOODING
-MAYDAY
-Plug & minimize the source
-Close watertight doors & hatches
-Pump & remove excess water
ABANDON SHIP
-MAYDAY
-Don Immersion Suit
-Launch Survival Craft
Contact your Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator
————————————————————————————
Alaska——907-463-2810
Washington/Oregon—206-220-7226
For alerts and safety flyers go to: www.fishsafe.info
U. S. Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Program
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 7
YOUR BUSINESS
Staying alive continued from page 8
The first seconds in cold water could be your last unless you’re wearing floatation.
is post-rescue collapse.
Hypothermia does things besides making
everything colder. Victims are physiologically different for a while. One of the things
that changes is called heart-rate variability. The heart’s ability to speed up and slow
down has been affected.
Moving around requires your heart to
pump more blood. Just being upright is taxing. A number of other factors can come into
play, and the heart starts to flutter — instead
of pump — and down you go.
Victims of immersion hypothermia are
two things: lucky to be alive and fragile.
Mobility comes later, only after you’re
warmed up.
Did you learn anything?
If you did, you’ll use it to make good
decisions when it comes to being safe on
and around cold water — good decisions
like these:
• When working on deck, wear flotation.
This includes, especially, all fishermen
in Alaska and Northern British Columbia. I couldn’t find more recent research,
but the 31 Alaskan “fell overboard”
casualties in 2005 died from drowning, not
cold water. Not one of them was wearing
flotation. Many couldn’t stay above water
long enough for their own boats to make a
turn and pick them up.
• If you witness a man overboard, getting
the life ring directly to them is critical (Vital!
Step one! Must do!). Make certain that the
all-important piece of safety gear is not just
on your vessel, but readily available and not
tied to the cradle.
• When working on deck, wear flotation. I
said that already? Well, when I quit reading
search reports that end with “experienced”
mariners dying because they thought they
understood cold water, I’ll come up with
better advice.
For more advice about how to handle
an accidental immersion into cold water
— watch Cold Water Boot Camp. It can save
your life.
Go to YouTube (www.youtube.com/) and
then search for “Cold Water Boot Camp.”
It is one of the best 10 minutes on immersion hypothermia ever produced. Mario Vittone has 19 years of combined military service in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.
His writing on maritime safety has appeared in
Yachting, SaltWater Sportsman, On-Scene,
Lifelines, and Reader’s Digest. He has lectured
extensively on topics ranging from leadership to
sea survival and immersion hypothermia. He is
a marine safety specialist with the U.S. Coast
Guard. His website is www.mariovittone.com.
The views and opinions expressed by
the author are not necessarily those of the
Department of Homeland Security or the U.S.
Coast Guard.
8 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
Salmon farms
by Kristin Hoelting
y
o
l
ur w
l
i
k
se
are many different strains, including virulent strains that cause
outbreaks of ISA, and strains that are carried asymptomatically by farmed and wild fish alike, but do not produce disease
(avirulent strains).
fish?
ild
Will th
e
YOUR BUSINESS
Crash in Chile: It was a European strain of the ISA virus that
was responsible for the dramatic crash of the Chilean salmon
farming industry in 2007 and 2008. These outbreaks affected
only Atlantic salmon, which made up 46 percent of Chilean
farmed salmon production prior to the crash.
As a result of these outbreaks, Chilean farmed salmon
exports plummeted, and an estimated 20,000 of approximately
50,000 total industry employees lost their jobs in 2009.
It is important to note that ISA first showed up in Chile in
1999, when a North American strain of the virus was isolated
in a coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) farming facility in 1999.
The virus did not lead to outbreaks at that time.
It is impossible to determine exactly how and when these
different strains of ISA came to Chile originally. In the early days of
the Chilean industry, direct transport of live fish or equipment from
the North Atlantic may have carried the virus that was detected in
coho salmon in 1999.
Horizontal transmission: This would have been an example of
the primary mechanism by which the ISA virus spreads, known
as horizontal transmission: Fish are exposed either directly to
an infected agent, such as blood or feces, or indirectly through
British Columbia is one of the last remaining salmon farming the water or via vectors such as sea lice or contact with
regions of the world that is free of the infectious salmon anemia infected equipment.
continued on page 10
(ISA) virus. However, many scientists and
wild salmon advocates fear it is only a matIN MARITIME PERSONAL INJURY CASES
ter of time before ISAV is transmitted to the
Pacific coast of North America.
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are the
only species in which natural outbreaks of
ISA have so far been recorded, but there is
concern that this rapidly evolving virus, if
introduced to the Pacific Northwest, could
spell disaster for wild Pacific salmon stocks
as well.
At Kraft Palmer Davies, PLLC, we are experts
In other regions of the world, the priCRAB BOATS
in fishing injury cases. Let us put our expertise
mary casualty of ISAV has been the Atlantic
FISH PROCESSORS
to work for you.
salmon farming industry itself. This highly
TRAWLERS
Our legal team brings to the table a total
contagious virus has wreaked economDRAGGERS
of more than 65 years’ experience successfully
ic havoc on the aquaculture industry in
GILLNETTERS
representing commercial fishermen and
salmon-producing countries.
PERSONAL INJURY &
processors injured in all fisheries involving
The first recorded outbreaks occurred in
WRONGFUL DEATH
Washington and Alaska vessel owners.
Norwegian salmon farms in 1984, and the
Egg imports to B.C. salmon farms may
bring devastating disease
NOT ALL
LAW FIRMS ARE IN
THE SAME BOAT
virus has since spread and caused outbreaks
in countries including the United Kingdom (Scotland and the Shetland Islands),
the Faroe Islands, Eastern Canada (including New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), the
Eastern U.S. (Maine), and Chile.
There are two primary genotypes of the
ISA virus — one originating on the Atlantic coast of North America and one originating in Europe. Of these genotypes, there
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YOUR BUSINESS
Salmon farms continued from page 9
It is less likely that the 2007 outbreaks
resulted from horizontal transmission,
however. Examination of the contemporary
Chilean and Norwegian strains of the ISA
virus reveal a close genetic relationship,
suggesting very recent transmission from
Norway. But, in recent years, direct transport of potentially infected fish is no longer
common practice. Instead, biological material is transported via the importation of
Atlantic salmon embryos (fertilized eggs).
Vertical transmission: Research increasingly shows evidence that ISA can be passed
from one generation to the next through
the eggs, a mechanism known as vertical transmission. Therefore, importation of embryos is one of the most likely
explanations for the arrival of this most
recent strain of ISA to Chilean coastal
waters.
Importation of embryos is also the most
likely route by which ISA could arrive on
the Pacific coast of Canada. Despite its own
program of embryo importation, so far
British Columbia appears to have been
spared, and ISA has not yet been detected
in the province. However, federal and
provincial governments, as well as the
salmon farming industry, recognize the risk
of possible ISA transmission.
Egg imports: In response to this risk, a
series of regulations are in place to control
egg importation practices. The Canadian
Food Inspection Agency will issue import
permits only for eggs coming from certified
sources. To be certified, embryos must have
been screened for ISA and disinfected in
‘Wild salmon advocates are
concerned that the virus could
evolve into a virulent strain that
would also threaten wild Pacific
salmon stocks.’
their country of origin prior to transport.
Mary Ellen Walling, executive director
of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association,
says that additional precautions against ISA
transmission include a one-year quarantine
period in Canada, during which embryos
are tested monthly for the presence of ISA.
To further reduce the risk of ISAV
transmission, Walling says, the only
country from which eggs are currently
imported is Iceland, where there has never
been an outbreak of ISA in salmon farms.
In addition, she says that imports are
minimized, and the industry increasingly
relies on eggs sourced from local B.C. breeding programs.
However, Are Nylund, a Norwegian
fisheries biologist who has studied ISA
transmission for almost 20 years, warns that
screening brood fish and eggs is not enough
to prevent the movement of pathogens.
Difficult to detect: First, despite the fact
that no outbreaks have occurred in Iceland,
avirulent strains of the ISA virus could
be present there. These strains are more
difficult to detect, as they do not replicate
quickly enough to show up in screening
tests. Avirulent strains are also more likely than their virulent counterparts to be
transmitted vertically (through embryos).
Second, screening and disinfection
practices occur only after eggs have been
fertilized, meaning that pathogens such
as the ISA virus could be present inside
an embryo as a result of the fertilization
process. Once inside the embryo, the
ISA virus would be protected from
chemical disinfectants.
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“Screening of brood fish will only lower
the risk of transmission and not remove it,”
Nylund says.
Given the potential for avirulent strains
of ISA to go undetected for long periods of time, Nylund warns that ISA may
already be present in British Columbia and
will eventually come to Pacific waters if
importation of eggs continues.
Threat from mutants: The ISA virus
is capable of rapid evolution, with high
rates of mutation. As the virus replicates,
small errors, or recombinations, of its RNA
strands (its genetic material) could result
in a shift from avirulence to virulence and
eventually lead to outbreaks in Atlantic
salmon farms in British Columbia.
As in other countries, ISA outbreaks
could result in economic losses for the
salmon farming industry in B.C. It is unlikely that the industry would suffer a dramatic
crash as seen in Chile, however, where poor
sanitation practices and a simultaneous
outbreak of sea lice contributed to the rapid
and uncontrollable spread of the virus.
The B.C. salmon farming industry
‘Screening of brood fish will only
lower the risk of transmission
and not remove it.’
has been willing to accept the risk of ISA;
Atlantic salmon perform much better than
the native Pacific salmon under cultivation,
and importation of embryos has allowed
for a more profitable industry in British
Columbia.
But the risk is not isolated to farmed
salmon. Wild salmon advocates are concerned that the virus could evolve into a
virulent strain that would also threaten wild
Pacific salmon stocks. Ruby Berry of the
Georgia Straits Alliance says, “The key is
that there is no barrier between the farmed
and the wild. There is always a small risk,
and if the salmon farming industry chooses to take that risk, we may suffer serious
consequences to the wild.”
Infection in wild salmon: In other
countries, wild Atlantic salmon have been
found to be asymptomatic carriers of the
ISA virus, but disease outbreaks have not
been observed in wild populations. This
is because wild stocks do not live in high
enough concentrations for the virus to
create an outbreak and/or that outbreaks
have simply not been detected.
However, the conservation community is not ready to accept past experience
from other coasts and ecosystems as a
guarantee for the future of the Pacific
Northwest. There are many unknowns
about how ISA could impact wild Pacific
salmon populations.
“It would be a gigantic experiment with
unbelievably serious consequences,” says
Berry. “Nowhere else that this has happened
has there been the same concentration of
wild stocks that we have here.”
The other question is whether this virus,
which readily infects Atlantic salmon, will
be able to infect Pacific salmon species.
Research has shown that Pacific salmon are
significantly less susceptible to ISA than
Atlantic salmon. There is some evidence,
however, that Pacific salmon could be
affected by the virus.
ISA found in pollock: ISA has been found
to be present asymptomatically in coho
salmon in Chile (as mentioned earlier), as
well as in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and
continued on page 12
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YOUR BUSINESS
YOUR BUSINESS
Your fault
B.C. blames net pen problems on Alaskans
Salmon farms
Open-pen salmon aquaculture isn’t the
problem on B.C.’s coast.
It’s Alaska.
A well-financed campaign by Alaska’s
wild salmon industry is out to discredit
and eliminate the competition from the B.C.
salmon farming industry.
At least that’s the conclusion independent
researcher Vivian Krause has come up with,
according to a story in Canada’s National
Post.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
has received funding from the Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation, the David and
Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Pew
Charitable Trust — all to attack salmon
aquaculture in B.C.
Krause says in her blog — “Fish Farm
fuss” — that the same United States–based
foundations have supplied $128 million in
funding to groups battling open-pen salmon
aquaculture in British Columbia.
The National Post was started by publishing tycoon Conrad Black in 1998 as a conservative media outlet promoting unfettered
business development in Canada.
Atlantic pollock (Pollachius virens). In
addition, experimental infection ha
has achieved replication of
the ISA virus in rainbow trout
(Oncorh
(Oncorhynchus mykiss), Arctic char
(Salveli
(Salvelinus alpinus), and Atlantic
herring (Clupea harengus).
Altho
Although current strains of the ISA
virus ar
are not as successful at infecting
Pacific salmonids, there is a chance
that the virus will mutate to infect
new hos
hosts.
Stan P
Proboszcz, a fisheries biologist
with Watershed
W
Watch Salmon Society, says,
say “We don’t want to assume
!,!3+!4%2-).!,3
12 … PACIFICFISHING …
It’s all
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Black was serving 78 months in U.S.
federal prison for diverting funds for
personal benefit from sales of publishing assets and other irregularities. – Michel Drouin
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continued from page 11
‘If the salmon farming
industry chooses to take
that risk, we may suffer
serious consequences to
the wild.’
there’s no risk to Pacific salmon in
British Columbia.
“This is one of the most diverse
marine ecosystems left on the planet, and we don’t want to take a risk
with a rapidly evolving virus that has
already been shown to replicate in
Pacific salmonids.”
If the B.C. government is serious
about protecting wild salmon runs,
Proboszcz argues that risks such as the
threat of ISA transmission should be
eliminated. “Wild salmon populations
in B.C. are under a number of different
stressors,” he says.
“If we can eliminate those risks we
have control over, such as the spread of
ISAV, this may mitigate against some
of the larger stressors that are more
difficult to control from a regional
perspective, such as climate change.”
The only way to eliminate the
risk of ISA transmission would be to
cease importation of Atlantic salmon
embryos entirely and to rely solely on
local breeding programs.
Too late? But if undetected avirulent strains of ISAV are already present
in B.C., it may already be too late. YOUR BUSINESS
Marketing 101
by Michel Drouin
Gigi Egan explains he
r
wares while selling
salmon at the Vancou
ver
Farmer’s Market.
There’s money in public sales, but lots of work too
continued on page 14
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Even with limited openings, salmon gillnetters in British
Columbia were lucky to get $1.75 a pound for sockeye and 70 cents a
pound for chum salmon in 2009.
Delivering to a major buyer, an albacore troller can expect to be
paid in the neighborhood of $1 a pound for frozen tuna.
But take that same fish to a public sale dock in Steveston or False
Creek, or to one of the farmers markets that have sprung up in the
heart of Vancouver, and you can get $15 a pound for sockeye and $12
a pound for albacore tuna products.
So what’s the trick?
Gigi Egan has been selling salmon, albacore, and shrimp from her
family’s vessel the Iron Maiden for years.
“There seems to be a new breed of direct marketers out there,”
Egan said. “There are many more avenues for food producers, as
well as fishers, to market direct to the public.”
Back to basics: Egan cites the huge movement she says is
occurring globally: Consumers want to get back to basics and want
to purchase from the producer.
“There is a huge demand to connect that way. Not only do they
have a sense of where their food is coming from, they have a good
feeling purchasing from local producers.
“As a small fisher, it is not a good gig to sell to the big companies.
It won’t always keep us in the lifestyle to which we have become
accustomed,” Egan said. “It doesn’t pay for the overhead.
“If you are ambitious and have some business savvy, this is your
opportunity to market direct so you are in contact with the end user
and your profits should be realized.”
Egan says she is frustrated seeing fishers selling product direct
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YOUR BUSINESS
Marketing 101 continued from page 13
to the public for considerably less than
its value because they don’t have good
marketing skills.
“They don’t realize the quality of their
own product or the value of the relationship
with the consumer,” she said. “I’d like to see
fishermen get access to some opportunity to
get some business and marketing skills.”
Here are a few problems fishermen face:
• They don’t consider all their costs to get
their product to the consumer.
• They don’t charge what it is worth.
Egan says it is essential to cover your
costs and make money.
“You gotta get paid for what you do,” she
said. “It is very expensive to be fishers and
small food producers.”
“I think if they are sharp and paying attention to prices and details and, depending on
how many fisheries, you can make a very
substantial comfortable living,” Egan said.
“You are no longer the poor fisherman.”
If you do it right, it can pay off, she said,
explaining that she has gone beyond selling
in markets. Now she takes orders.
Substantial living: “I have set up a
network of a delivery system and a customer
list. It was a whole lot of effort, but you make
a pretty substantial living. You can buy yourself a new truck and not worry about it.”
In order to sell to the public, there are
various requirements in British Columbia.
The fish must be processed at a federally
inspected plant or cannery. Home-prepared
products are not acceptable. A vendor’s
license from the provincial Ministry of
Agriculture and Fish is required.
To sell to the Vancouver Farmers Market,
vendors first of all must be the producer or a
family member of the producer, according to
Roberta LaQuaglia, operations manager for
the market.
“It is a producer-only scenario,” LaQuaglia
said. “It has to be the ones catching the fish
or a close family member like their spouse
or father, for example. They need to submit
Donna Berger sells frozen salmon caught by her husband
husband, Tony
Tony, and son Sasha at the Vancouver
Farmer’s market.
their appropriate licenses, their provincial
vendor license, and federal fishing license.”
LaQuaglia says that vendors must meet
local health authority requirements for keeping fish at a market.
“Right now it is frozen fish only, and
vendors must have coolers or an actual
freezer,” she said. “Other than that, they have
to follow some basic guidelines of behavior
and participation in the market.”
Providing information about how and
where the fish is caught is helpful as well,
LaQuaglia added.
The label: The health department asks
where the food is processed and asks to
see the label, which must tell consumers to
keep the product refrigerated or frozen. The
label also must have a producer’s number, a
tracing number, and the date the product
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was packed.
Down at the False Creek public sales dock
in downtown Vancouver, albacore troller
Gray McPhedran sells seven prepared tuna
products and round fish.
In addition to whole round frozen albacore, McPhedran sells regular canned
no-additives, canned no salt, canned hot
smoked, skinless boneless loins, cold smoked
vacuum packed, maple syrup candied tuna
vacuum packed, and jerky vacuum packed.
At False Creek, fishermen are permitted to
sell portions and prepared products. In Steveston, the rules are different and fishermen
are not permitted to sell portions of fish.
McPhedran says he has to sell to the
public to make any money, despite the expense
of paying for processing and canning.
“We get the same price for albacore tuna
from the buyers as we got 30 years ago. A
buck a pound. Not much more,” he said.
“I pretty much had to. I could sell some
to companies, but at a buck a pound it is
tough sledding.”
The loins are $12 a pound.
“It sounds like a lot of money, but the
loining is $7.50 a pound when you provide
the fish. But for every pound of fish you
get .45 pounds of fish. There are costs for
vacuum packing, labeling, on and on.”
McPhedran sells individual 6.3-ounce cans
for $5 and a case of 24 cans for $100. Canned
smoked tuna is $150 a case.
Canning is done by St. Jean’s Cannery &
Smokehouse in Nanaimo. YOUR BUSINESS
Sockeye
by Michel Drouin
Good news for British Columbia:
Barkley Sound: An excellent return of
sockeye to Alberni Inlet in Barkley Sound
on the West Coast of Vancouver Island
fired up the hopes of Fraser River sockeye
fishermen in mid-July.
On July 23, DFO bumped up the run size
forecast of Alberni Inlet sockeye to 1,100,000
from pre-season expectations of 600,000.
To July 14, July upriver escapement was
287,000 adults (111,200 Great Central, 175,400
Sproat Lake).
The catch estimate was about 312,000
adults, with 73,500 taken by the Somass
First Nation, 16,000 by the Barkley First
Nation, 78,494 by commercial gillnetters,
100,144 by commercial seiners, 42,700 by
sport fishermen, and 1,050 in the test fishery
for biological samples.
Grounds prices started at $2.20 in the first
opening in early July, but rapidly escalated
to $2.75 as buyers scrambled for fish.
“It was the first time in a long time since
we’d seen a bidding war like that,” said
gillnetter John Stevens. Prices were down to
$1.75 per pound by July 20.
The large volume of sockeye into Alberni
Inlet led the DFO to caution the public that
many roadside stands offering sockeye for
sale were selling illegal fish. Illegally sold
fish are those not caught by a commercially
licensed fisherman or under a commercial
sales agreement with First Nations.
North Coast: On B.C.’s North Coast,
what was expected to be a disappointing
season with no fishing openings at all on
Skeena River stocks turned out a little better when gillnetters had a chance on July
12, landing 17,000 Skeena River sockeye.
Fishermen earned $2.20 per pound for the
Skeena sockeye.
The Skeena run size originally was forecast to be in a range between 300,000 and
1.4 million.
By mid-July it appeared that the run
size was about 1 million fish, said David
Einarson, DFO’s North Coast Area chief.
The numbers were preliminary and
anything was possible, Einarson cautioned.
“It changes so much right now,” he said
July 15. “It is fluctuating. The Skeena and
Nass are really in a state of flux.”
The Nass River near the Alaska border had a weaker-than-anticipated return,
Einarson said, with about 400,000 sockeye returning to Canada, well below the
648,000 forecast.
There were gillnet and seine openings in
the area, but catches were modest.
Troll fisheries, on the other hand, looked
very positive.
continued on page 16
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SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 15
YOUR BUSINESS
Sockeye continued from page 15
Sockeye salmon
The North Coast Chinook fishery opened June 15 for the individual transferable quota fishery, with a total allowable catch of
107,100
About half of that was caught by July 15, with a coho opening
for trollers occurring July 22.
Fraser River: On July 16, the Fraser River Panel of the Pacific
Salmon Commission announced that the run size estimate of the
Early Stuart sockeye, the first of the Fraser’s runs, was 90,000 fish,
double the 41,000 forecast.
The panel announced management plans July 9 for 2010 Fraser
16 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
River sockeye salmon fisheries in panel area waters.
R
On DFO’s advice, Fraser sockeye salmon forecasts for 2010
remain highly uncertain. The run size forecasts are based on the
re
low productivity of Fraser sockeye from the brood years of
rrecent
re
e
11997 to 2003.
The panel said that there is a 25 percent probability that the
aactual number of returning sockeye will be at or below 7,028,000
ffish. There is a 75 percent probability that the actual number of
fi
returning
sockeye will be at or below 18,315,000 fish.
rre
e
For planning fisheries, the panel had used a 50 percent
probability pre-season forecast of 41,000 Early Stuart, 783,000 Early
p
Summer, 2,612,000 Summer, and 8,003,000 Late run sockeye.
S
Late-run sockeye have been entering the river early every year
ssince 1996, affecting their survival and productivity. As a result,
ffishing opportunities have been limited on these stocks and on
fi
Summer-run sockeye salmon because the Late fish are mingled in.
S
“The potential continuation of a high in-river mortality rate
eexperienced by several Late-run stocks is still a serious conservation concern, and there is special concern for the very depressed
ti
Cultus sockeye run, for which recovery efforts have been implemented by Canada to ensure this stock’s long-term viability,” the
panel said.
The panel went on to say that commercial fisheries in panel areas
this year will be directed at Summer-run and Late-run sockeye.
Any fishing openings would occur from late July to mid-August to
reduce effects on the weaker Early Stuart and Early Summer runs.
At its July 20 meeting, the panel said run size assessments for
Early Summer and Summer sockeye would not be available until
late July and early August. YOUR BUSINESS
Halibut and sablefish
Lower halibut quota
represents return to
historic levels
Editor’s note: This is from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s
“Seafood Market Bulletin.”
Sablefish and halibut make up less than 2 percent of Alaska’s
total commercial harvest tonnage but typically account for 18 to 20
percent of total statewide ex-vessel value.
The IFQ longline fisheries for halibut and sablefish opened March
6, and through mid-May the pace of landings is slightly above the
five-year average for both halibut and sablefish.
Alaska IFQ and CDQ halibut and sablefish quotas are in a trend
of modest but steady decline in recent years. The halibut quota
peaked in 2003 at nearly 62 million pounds and has since declined
32 percent, to 42 million pounds in 2010. The sablefish quota
peaked at 39 million pounds in 2004 and has since declined 34
percent, to 26 million pounds.
In discussing recent halibut quota cuts, it is important to consider historical perspective. Alaska’s halibut fishery dates to the early
1900s and has been managed by the International Pacific Halibut
Commission since 1923. The U.S./Canada treaty that established the
commission was the first in the world to deal with conservation of a
deep-sea fishery resource.
Historic highs: We examined 60 years of catch records from
1950 to present and found that, with the exception of a 14-year
period from 1971 to 1984 when catches were low (average 22
million pounds), Alaska’s halibut harvest typically ranges between 40
million and 55 million pounds and
rarely exceeds
60 million
pounds.
The most
recent 30year average
is 48 million
pounds.
Since 1950, there have been
only seven years when the Alaska halibut harvest and/or catch limit
was over 60 million pounds. Four of those years were in this decade:
2001 through 2004. Considering the historical perspective, it can be
fairly said that the recent halibut quota cuts represent a return from
unusually high quotas of the early 2000s to levels more typical of the
normal, historical range of the fishery.
Halibut landings: Through May 14, landings of Alaska IFQ
halibut totaled 11 million pounds, or 27 percent of the total
allowable catch for the season, slightly above the five-year average
for mid-May — 25 percent.
Most Alaska halibut landings (70 percent) occur in the fivemonth period between May and September. There is no distinct
spike within that period, although June is normally the strongest
landings month.
While mid–May 2010 landings are up just slightly from the
five-year average, they are up substantially from spring 2009,
presumably in response to improved ex-vessel prices. Halibut prices
softened significantly in 2009, and spring landings that year were
slow as harvesters apparently waited for the market to improve.
continued on page 18
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YOUR BUSINESS
Halibut and sablefish continued from page 17
Market conditions improved significantly
in 2010, pushing ex-vessel prices back up
to the $5 per pound range. Tough weather
conditions in the early season kept
landings volume down initially and pushed
prices well above $5 a pound. As weather
improved and landings increased in April,
prices dropped into the upper end of the
$4 range and through May appear to have
settled there on steady landings volume.
While the 27 percent share of TAC
landed this spring is slightly above average,
the poundage available to the marketplace
has declined substantially as a result of ongoing quota cuts. The total poundage landed
through mid-May (11 million pounds) is
down from 16 million pounds for the same
period in 2004 and 2005.
Sablefish quota: Like the halibut quota,
the allowable catch of sablefish has been
declining slowly but steadily from its recent
peak. The 2010 allowable catch is 26.2 million
pounds, down from the 15-year high of 39.6
million pounds in 2004.
The statewide IFQ sablefish quota is
split among six major areas, four in the
Gulf of Alaska and two more including the
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, collectively
referred to as BSAI.
Sablefish quota changes in the Gulf of
Alaska tend to translate directly to actual
harvest, as virtually all the available quota
in those areas is harvested. Fishing conditions are much more difficult in the BSAI,
and half or more of the BSAI quota typically
goes unharvested.
There are fisheries on the southern
population of sablefish in British Columbia
and West Coast states, but these produce a
relatively modest volume, less than one-third
of the market supply. The Alaskan fishery on
the northern sablefish stock produces most
of the market supply.
The sablefish market is sensitive to
supply and, with the ongoing supply
reduction, prices have increased at a slow
and steady pace commensurate with the
quota cuts in Alaska. Ex-vessel prices for
sablefish are reportedly at or near record
levels, approaching $4 per pound on
round-weight basis.
Sablefish landings: Landings of IFQ
sablefish through May 14 totaled 9.1 million
pounds, 37 percent of allowable catch for the
2010 season. This is just slightly above the
five-year average landing share of 36 percent
through mid-May.
Unlike the steady landings of halibut,
sablefish landings have a distinct peak in
the spring. May and June typically account
for 45 percent or more of the year’s total
sablefish landings. BELLINGHAM
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800-426-8860
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18 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
908 N.W. Ballard Way
206-789-8110
800-647-2135
BOAT OF THE MONTH
Pacific Future
On
DARREN
REEF’s
BOAT,
you STAY
FOCUSED
on the job
I
The Pac
Pacific Future, skippered by Darren Reef, was built in Texas. Major sponson work
done by Fred Wahl Marine Construction in Reedsport.
was don
f you’re wondering about Darren Reef’s style of skippering the
Pacific Future, just take a look at his onboard laundry.
He’s got a washer and dryer in the forepeak, “so there is no
excuse to get off the boat during crab or hake seasons,” Reef said.
“When I was fishing out of Westport, the local laundry there
would give the guys an excuse to get off the boat. It was across the
street from the Fishermen’s Inn, and they’d have a few drinks.”
Not now. If you sign on to the Pacific Future, you work.
It’s such discipline that’s made Reef a highliner off the Northwest
Coast as well as fleet captain for vessels owned by Pacific Seafood.
Reef grew up in Astoria — mostly.
“My dad was the town barber, and he knew everyone in town,
like most barbers do.”
But he always wanted to get out of town. He moved his family
to Houston, Texas, to Klamath Falls, Ore., to Pendleton, Ore., to
Portland. “But we always came back to Astoria. He always kept his
barbershop here.”
Being an Astoria kid, you pretty much had two routes ahead if
you didn’t go to college or the military: Logging or fishing.
“I grew up on the waterfront. I watched the boats, and I always
knew what I was going to do when I grew up.”
Out of high school, Reef got his first job on the deck of the
Sunrise, an old, wooden tuna boat out of Warrenton.
He stepped up to the F/V Leibling with skipper Steve Davis and
crew Kevin Miller. Reef was hired with the idea that the boat would
fish off the California coast. Never made it.
“We ended up fishing out of Coos Bay. I missed my wife, so I
quit and thumbed a ride back to Astoria.”
He worked deck on the F/V David, the F/V Prospector, and the
F/V Lady Diana.
The Diana’s owner, Howard Hanke, gave Reef the chance to
occasionally step into the wheelhouse.
Reef moved to the F/V Captain John, where he was the alternate
skipper.
Finally, at 23 years old, Reef was named full-time skipper of the
F/V Sea Blazer. He and Janey already had two kids, and they had
bought a house.
Then came a succession of boats, “dragging, crabbing,
shrimping, a little tuna”: Pacific Sun 4, the Ashlyne, the Patience, the
Chanalar, and the Sea Valley.
Reef was the hired skipper in all those vessels. But he owned the
F/V Lilli Marlene for a short time.
“It wasn’t what I was used to,” Reef said. “It was a 60-foot
wooden boat, not a steel boat. It wasn’t for me.”
continued on page 20
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WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 19
BOAT OF THE MONTH
Pacific Future continued from page 19
Eight years ago, while driving the Sea Valley after shrimp, Reef
couldn’t restrain himself.
“I was exceeding the boat limits every trip. It just drove the
plant manager crazy. Finally, he asked if I wanted to run the
Pacific Hooker.
“I said no, but they started to pile on the benefits.”
The Hooker is owned by Frank Dulcich and Pacific Seafoods.
It was the first time Reef had worked for a relatively large
corporation, and he liked it.
“We have good benefits. The paycheck is there every two weeks,
no bullshit. You pick it up at the cannery. You don’t have to hunt
them down to get your money,” Reef said.
“I’ve always been a hard worker. All I want is my pay on time.”
Reef skippered the Pacific Hooker for a year and a half, moving to
the Pacific Future six years ago.
“Some of the guys have a bad attitude about Frank’s [Dulcich]
boats because they’re Frank’s boats.”
But Reef hasn’t had trouble attracting or keeping crew.
“You catch a lot of fish, and you get the good guys.” Plus, a
benefit package for deckhands “is unheard of.”
“A couple of crew got hurt, and the insurance took care of them.
Where else do you see that happen?”
Reef also takes advantage of the company’s health insurance. He
has high blood pressure.
Beyond that, Reef feels the weight of years.
“I’m getting older. Sleep deprivation and fatigue. I can’t bounce
back like I could when I was younger. Now, it’s like I’m walking
around in a hangover.” Pacific Future skipper Darren Reef, foreground, and a visiting skipper, Harry
Lewis, who ran the F/V Incentive and appeared on Deadliest Catch.
Ron Williams photo
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ISH A
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Sometimes, knowing where not to fish is the first step
toward success.
At least that was Darren Reef’s experience once he installed a
new sounder/finder aboard the Pacific Future.
West Coast trawlers have long lagged in technology behind the
Alaska battlewagons. But a few are taking steps to catch up — and,
in the process, increase efficiency on the water.
Reef installed a Simrad ES 70, a split-beam transducer fish finder/
sounder, just before hake opened in the spring.
The equipment instantly proved its worth.
There was plenty of hake awaiting the fleet. Trouble was, all
sizes were mixed together, and the packers refused to buy the
small ones.
“The ES 70 has a fish-sizing feature. It told me where not to fish,”
Reef said.
“We took off this season for hake. I started to look around. We
made a few sets, and the fish were all small.” Just like that new
screen in the wheelhouse said.
“So, we went up north, and the fish were big.”
Again, as predicted on the screen.
“If I always knew where not to fish, I’d be a rich man.”
He’s also got an Olex chart building system onboard that gives a
3-D view of the bottom, plus an indication of its hardness.
Next on Reef’s shopping list is a trawl door monitoring system.
“That’ll pay for itself too.”
Getting the job done
Vessel: Pacific Future
Owner: Pacific Fishing LLC
Captain: Darren Reef
Vessel type: West Coast bottom fish, mid-water Pacific
whiting trawl, crab, shrimp.
Builder: J&S Marine, Brazoria, Texas
Marine architect: J&S Marine
Major hull alterations: Fred Wahl of Reedsport, sponsons,
three feet each side
Annual haul-out shipyard: Giddings Boat Works, Charleston
Power, main: QSK 1710 Cummings, 750 hp
Exhaust insulation: Marine wrap by Advanced Thermal
Products
Hydraulic hoses/retailer: Englund Marine
Service for main: Newport Diesel
Starter/alternator: Rod’s Electric, Warrenton
Reduction gear ratio: 6:1
Auxiliaries and sizes: Four-cylinder and six-cylinder
John Deere
Generator sizes: 60 kw and 110 kw
Lubricants: Chevron
Lubricant retailer: Pacific Seafoods fuel dock
Hydraulics: Three 60-gallon pumps driven by an 855
Cummins, plus three 60-gallon pumps off main as a backup
Hydraulics service: Warren Junes
Refrigeration: 60-ton Carrier
Refrigeration service: Northern Refrigeration, Newport
Prop: Kort nozzle 63-inch wheel
Prop tuning: Independent Marine Propeller, Portland
Retailer for miscellaneous fittings: Englund Marine
Crab gear: Trilogy Crab Pots, Bellingham
Winches: Six Gearmatics
Other deck machinery: Forward reel, aft gantry reel
Trawl doors: Thyboron doors
Trawl winches: Gordon Scriber built off Yaquina
Boatworks design
Chart system: Olex, Coastal Explorer, Nobeltec Wind Plot II
Sat phone: Globalstar
Sounder(s) and servicing: Simrad ES 70, Furuno dual band
Sonar and servicing: Furuno CH-37
Radio(s) and servicing: Three VHF radios, one single
sideband
Autopilot: ComNav 2 autopilots: a 1001 and a 2001
Galley equipment: Stove, microwave, refrigerator, washer,
dryer in the forepeak, “so there’ll be no excuses to get off
the boat during crab or hake season.” J&S Appliances,
Warrenton
Fire sensor system: Fireboy
Fire suppression system: Fireboy
Windows: Lexan
Hatches: Freeman Marine Equipment
Insurance/broker: Wells Fargo, John McKnight, Newport
Airline used most frequently: Alaska
Trade magazine most read: Pacific Fishing
Safety equipment retailers: Englund Marine
Others: “Thanks to one of the best net builders I know for
quality work goes to Kevin Dunn of K&K Nets Astoria.
His nets always fish best.”
Pacific Future crew Mike Giles (dark shirt) and Stewart Arnold (white shirt) joined
Robert Irwin (red shirt) of Jessie’s Ilwaco Fish Co. to unload hake.
Ron Williams photo
Rationalization to boost processors
If the new rationalization program for West Coast groundfish is implemented, buyers will become increasingly important,
according to Darren Reef.
“Guys are going to sell their rockfish permits and figure they’ll
keep shrimping. But it won’t work that way.
“Right now, guys down south are on a 17- or 18-day rotation [on
shrimp]. What’s going to happen when even more boats show up
to do a little shrimping? Will they find a buyer who already has too
many shrimp boats delivering?
“Anyone can buy a boat, but you can’t do anything without
a buyer.
“You’ve got to offer the fish plant something other than
shrimp.” TRAWLMASTER
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WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 21
YOUR BUSINESS
Good P.R.
ASTORIA COMMERCIAL
FISHING FEST expects bigger turnout
The folks in Astoria expect up to 20,000
people in September for a festival that’s
both a work-boat trade show and an
opportunity for the public to learn more
about commercial fishing.
A single event incorporating both missions may seem odd, but Astoria has
made it work in the past. Last year, more
than 6,000 people took in the show,
and Commercial Fishermen’s Festival
a variety of vendor and
food booths.
The festival has moved
from the downtown pier to
Tongue Point, which is just
east of town. The area is more
protected from the weather, in
case it’s bad, and offers more
room for exhibitors, demonPlenty of beef showed during a tug-o-war that pitted fishermen against
strations, and moorage.
loggers at the 2009 Commercial Fishermen’s Festival in Astoria.
Various fishing vessels,
including the F/V Maverick,
fformerly of the Deadliest Catch, will be
FREE FOOD!
m
moored,
so crews can describe their work
The doughnuts are on us at the Astoria Commercial
to
t the public.
Fishermen’s Festival.
But a score of industry vendors will be on
That’s right. If you subscribe to Pacific Fishing magazine,
Saturday and Sunday
Sunday,
hand
h
to explain their products to working
we’ll feed you doughnuts for free.
fishermen.
Editor Don McManman and Ad Manager Diane Sandvik
Sept. 18-19
A short list includes boots, weather gear,
will be circulating at the festival, and we’ll have coupons
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
ice-making, power, propellers, floatation
for the free doughnuts.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
devices, buoys, hydraulics, lubricants and
Or, just find The Mini Doughnut Shop. (Let your nose
fuel, safety products, and general marine
follow the aroma.) Step up and say the magic words: “I
Admission:
equipment.
subscribe to Pacific Fishing.”
$5 adults, $3 children
That’s it. You’ll get three free doughnuts.
“We have up to 100 vendors in total,” said
Cyndi Mudge, marketing director for the
Tongue Point, Port of Astoria
show, “but the emphasis —
maybe 50 to 60 exhibitors
— is from the industry.”
organizers have focused more on promotion
“It’s this working view
for this year’s edition.
of commercial fishing that
Ron Williams is a former fisherman (from
non-fishermen find intriguthe California border to the Bering Sea) and
K_\dfY`c\jXk\cc`k\ZfdgXep ing,” said Williams.
director of the festival.
“We want them to get
“When I went to my board about our
to know us, and they’ll
goals, they were pretty clear: ‘We want
be more likely to buy
to increase the demand for seafood,’”
our product.” Williams said.
That means attracting
consumers to the festival.
To do so, organizers have
tied in to the Deadliest Catch
and will bring several of its
celebrity skippers to town.
There will be demonstrations of fish filleting, crab
pot knitting, oyster shucking, and more. J&H Boatworks will have a vessel
undergoing lengthening
and sponsoning.
Also, fishermen will
compete in several contests
to show off their abilities.
There will be cooking
demonstrations by several chefs, but will feature Mike Giles, whom you just met on Page 21 aboard
Graham Kerr, the “Gal- the Pacific Future, races through a course to
loping Gourmet.” As with become the 2009 Astoria festival’s highliner for
any festival, there will be fishermen under 40. Christopher Spence photo
Astoria Commercial
Fishermen’s Festival
22 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
MY TURN
Columbia summer Chinook
by Rob Sudar
Sports anglers looking
for gimmick to oust
Columbia gillnet fleet
The rebuilt Columbia River summer Chinook run is
producing fish for all user groups these days, but that
hasn’t stopped the most outrageous of the sport angler
groups from demanding more.
Even though sports anglers failed to catch their quota
this year, the Northwest Coastal Conservation Association has begun a campaign that would put restrictions
on the commercial fleet that the local gillnet fishermen
feel aren’t warranted.
The summer Chinook season in the Columbia runs
from June 16 through July 31. These days the majority
of the fish are headed for the Wenatchee, Okanogan,
and Methow rivers, among others.
Historically, the famous
“June hogs” were
part of this run, one of the
original main-
For many Northwesterners (at least those not sufficiently affluent to own their own boats)
boats), a
gillnet-caught salmon is the only way to sample an iconic fish from the Columbia River.
stays of the commercial fishery on the
river. Many of the fish were mainstem
spawners, which is why they would get
so big.
However, all of the “June hog” stock
and many of the other components of
the summer Chinook run were eradicated with the construction of Grand
Coulee Dam (1941) and Chief Joseph
Dam (1955), which blocked almost
800 miles of upstream habitat.
At the time, it was generally believed that the fish would
simply redistribute themselves
downstream of the big dams and
continue to maintain the runs.
Even Northwest historian Murray
Morgan, in his Grand Coulee
treatise The Dam, espoused this
viewpoint. Unfortunately, time
has shown that the optimism
was unwarranted, and the fish
have never approached the levels
observed before the concrete
behemoths were built.
The runs dwindled to the point
that commercial fishing for them
was suspended in 1964. For the next
35 years, returns were consistently
in the 10,000- to 25,000-fish range.
In the 1990s, the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife
began working with landowners along the remaining available spawning habitat to improve
stream conditions, and the agency
also encouraged the hydroelectric
operators to manage water flows
with fish in mind.
As a result, the Chinook runs
have been rebuilt over the last 10
years or so to annual returns in
the 50,000- to 90,000-fish range.
The rebuilding of these runs has
created a popular sport fishery in
those rivers, along with a substantial tribal fishery. It has also allowed
the return of a small commercial
fishery in the lower Columbia and
a concurrent sport fishery. Summer
Chinook also are a major component of the troll Chinook fishery in
Southeast Alaska.
One of the most important
features of this run is that it is comprised of both wild and hatchery
fish of the same stock. The wild
fish make up 40 percent of the run
and are making pretty full use of
the available spawning grounds.
However, the lower river fisheries get only a small portion of the
harvestable fish — most are allocated to the sport fisheries nearer
the spawning grounds and to tribal
fisheries above Bonneville. The
lower river sport and commercial
fisheries split the lower river allocation 50/50, so the available quota
has typically allowed for only a 10to 14-day sport fishery and two or
three 10-hour commercial fishing
periods.For several years, sports
groups, such as the Northwest
Sportsfishing Industry Association,
have been pushing for a markselective fishery (adipose finclipped hatchery fish only) so that
the fishery would last the whole
six weeks.
The commercial fishermen always
have been opposed. Here’s why: If a
continued on page 24
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 23
MY TURN
Columbia summer Chinook continued from page 23
selective fishery were granted, the sport anglers would forget the
real reason they supported it — to have a longer season — and
instead attack the non-selective commercial fishery.
Gillnetters on the Columbia feel that the fishery doesn’t need to
be selective because both wild and hatchery components are strong.
Also, 40 percent of the catch would need to be released (compared
to about 15 percent in the spring fishery). Warmer water during the
summer would raise the mortality rate on released fish.
Sure enough, as soon as managers granted the selective sport
fishery this year, extending the season for the full six weeks, out
came an op-ed in the Vancouver Columbian from the Northwest
Coastal Conservation Association touting the conservation aspects
of the sport fishery and slamming the non-selective net fishery. See
Page 29.
In reality, with the 88,000 Chinook prediction and the 5,400 fish
quota for each lower river fishery, it’s highly likely that the sport
fishery wouldn’t have caught its quota anyway, especially with
high river flows, which have kept the water dirty and made fishing
more difficult for boat fishermen, who typically take the majority
of the sport catch.
The flows weren’t a problem for the commercial fleet. In two
10-hour openings in late June, gillnetters caught about 4,700 fish
and were shut down pending further run updates. The sport
fishery had caught about 2,100 fish as of July 7 and had released
another 1,050 unclipped fish.
Portland Oregonian columnist Bill Monroe said that most anglers
were “unimpressed” with the results this year.
Politics aside, there are a lot of positives that have come from the
rebuilding of this component of the Chinook runs in the Columbia.
The fish are beautiful, averaging about 17 pounds, with many into
the 20s and 30s. They have fat bellies and a high oil content.
Many tasters feel the summer fish are comparable to spring
Columbia Chinook. They arrive at a great time of the summer
and usually find a willing market, especially since they are a local
product — only about 120 miles from Seattle and a few dozen
miles from Portland. And finally, they provide a season for
Columbia River commercial fishermen at a time when there
haven’t been any viable fisheries in recent years.
There are some clouds on the horizon for the fishery. The Colville
Indian tribe broke ground on Chief Joseph hatchery this spring,
which will provide a lot more hatchery fish in the run. This may
create a bigger push for a mark-selective commercial fishery.
It’s hard to say how that will play out, especially as the fish and
wildlife commissions in both Oregon and Washington look for new
methods to harvest hatchery fish while avoiding wild fish.
The complication with summer Chinook, of course, is that the
wild run also is healthy and making good use of the available
spawning habitat. Regardless, the rebuilding of this magnificent run to harvestable levels has been a real plus for salmon
management on the Columbia. Hopefully there will be an equal
level of interest in working to keep the commercial fishery a
vital component of the management process, so that Northwest
residents can continue to enjoy this excellent, local salmon. Rob Sudar has been involved with the commercial salmon fishery in
Washington for almost 40 years. He began purse seining in the San Juans
in 1971 to pay for college and has been involved ever since. These days,
he primarily markets salmon and sturgeon from the Columbia, working
with a small group of gillnetters. He is also a member of the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife Commercial Advisory Panel for both the
Columbia River and Puget Sound. He lives in Longview.
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24 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
by Alexandra Gutierrez
LETTER FROM UNALASKA
Competition from East Coast pollock? Don't make us laugh
Editor’s note: We welcome a new columnist to Pacific Fishing: Alexandra Gutierrez, who was recently named news director
for Unalaska Community Broadcasting. She replaces Anne Hillman, who has been promoted to radio director for KUCB.
Although she’s spent most of her life moving up and down the Eastern Seaboard, Gutierrez comes to us directly
from Washington, D.C. While there, she served an editorial stint at The American Prospect. She’s also contributed to The
Economist, The World, and Living on Earth.
They’re laughing: Unalaska processors don’t seem concerned that
NOAA recently announced a six-fold increase in the allowable catch
of Atlantic pollock.
For a year, a dragged-out, busted-knuckles fight had gone on
between NOAA and New England’s fishermen over the catch limit
of Atlantic pollock, which is similar to, but a different species than,
Alaska walleyed pollock.
The fight began in August 2009. The feds initially cut the catch
limit on Atlantic pollock to just a third of what was landed in 2008
after surveys showed a serious decline in the pollock population.
The Northeast Seafood Coalition cried foul, and the
Gloucester Times editorialized ad nauseam. Massachusetts Reps.
Barney Frank and John Tierney called for the resignation of NOAA
chief Jane Lubchenco.
After the case was made that even NOAA’s own trawl survey
showed that the catch limit was too low, the quota was boosted from
3,813 metric tons to 16,000 metric tons.
If New England fishermen are pleased by the news, Alaskan
fishermen, well, mostly don’t care. One manager at Alyeska Seafoods
professed he didn’t know much about the boosted limit and doubted
it would affect the Alaska fishing industry much.
Seeking more expert testimony, we conducted a karaoke-night
straw poll at the Harbor View sports bar. Our question: Would the
catch increase of Atlantic pollock affect Unalaska and its walleyed
pollock fleet?
The most common response began with a well-known four-letter
word, coupled with a declaration of puzzlement: “- - - - if I know.”
A member of the North American’s crew stressed that the New
England quota change didn’t matter much and that there were
more important rules needing change. A bar patron who worked for
Argo-Sea laughed at the idea that Alaska could be affected by this at
all and called the East Coast quota “miniscule.”
New England’s now-boosted catch limit is just 16,000 metric tons.
The catcher vessel fleet out of here already has harvested 85,000
metric tons of the 210,000-ton B Season allocation.
Also, Alaska fishermen have the market cornered on surimi, so no
one here is losing sleep — or money — over the Easterners.
Research fleet: It’s summer here in Unalaska, which means that
bonfires are blazing, sweatshirts are still popular, and the seasonal
beer is a lighter shade of cheap. It also means that there are plenty of
research vessels coming into town.
Instead of shooting astronauts to the moon, NASA sent a few
dozen scientists to Dutch Harbor to launch its first oceanographic mission, ICESCAPE. That stands for Impacts of Climate on
Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment, which
should give you an idea of why NASA went for the acronym.
The team of biologists, chemists, and biochemists set out for five
weeks on the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to look at how Arctic ice
is thinning — and what that means for Arctic marine life. They’re
trying to figure out why the ice cover has declined 30 percent in the
past decade and studying how shifts in kelp production might be
bad news for everything from cod to seals to polar bears.
The Oshoro Maru also made its annual trip out here from Japan.
The researchers’ time seemed to be split between barbecuing at the
Unisea dock and lecturing on subjects like the relationship between
whale distributions and oceanographic conditions.
The research vessel Thomas G. Thompson, owned by the Navy
but operated by the University of Washington, passed through
too, as part of the Bering Sea Project — a collaboration between the
National Science Foundation and the North Pacific Research Board
— to investigate the effects of climate change on the region.
In May, the NOAA ship Oscar Dyson embarked on its annual
pollock survey — another aspect of the Bering Sea Project, and
probably the one most critical to Unalaska’s current economy. The
acoustic and bottom trawl surveys are being conducted over three
trips, and official data won’t be released until September.
But the scientists aboard already have a decent sense of what the
population’s looking like. Last year, researchers found a lot of firstyear and third-year pollock, and — just as they’d hoped — they’re so
far finding a decent number of second-year and fourth-year.
As Pacific Fishing reported last month, the survey was extended
this year because of $l.2 million in new research funding that allowed
sampling all the way north to the Bering Strait.
At the end of June, a pair of investigators working on the pollock
survey presented some of their early conclusions to both the
community and to Unisea. Mike Sigler forecasted a reduced abundance of pollock by 2050, and Patrick Ressler said that pollock hate
frigid water and move depending on the ocean temperature.
The takeaway: In the future, the pollock will be fewer and
farther away.
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SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 25
ALASKA NOTEBOOK
Bristol Bay fleet has most profitable season since 1995
by Wesley Loy
Bristol Bay boom: At press time, gillnetters at Bristol Bay hands at Coastal’s processing plant at the
appeared to be hauling in their most valuable harvest in 15 years, village of Platinum. Coastal mailed each
fisherman a $3,000 check, and gave plant
despite coming up short of the preseason catch forecast.
Through July 18, the total catch was 27.2 million sockeye with workers a $500 bonus.
So how can a business do this? Well,
the fishery rapidly winding down for the season. State biologists
Coastal Villages Seafoods isn’t a normal business. It’s a subsidhad predicted a catch of 30.5 million fish.
The real excitement was at the docks, where many processors iary of Coastal Villages Region Fund, which holds a share of the
sent fishermen home with a base price of about 95 cents a pound. lucrative Bering Sea pollock fishery under the federal Community
That’s a big jump from the 70 cents the major packers paid in 2009. Development Quota program. CVRF’s mission is to help villagers
With the higher price, the fishery was on track for a total ex-vessel economically, and its mantra is “pollock provides.”
payday approaching $160 million, the best result since the $188
million seen in 1995.
Togiak tally: Alaska’s largest sac roe herring fishery by volume
The Bristol Bay run generally was a few days late this season,
wrapped up at Togiak in late May, and the catch was considerperhaps because of colder water temperatures in the region. A
ably larger than in 2009, says a season summary issued June 30
good many gillnetters were still fishing hard two weeks after
by the Department of Fish and Game. The fleet took 25,432 tons of
the fishery’s traditional
herring,
almost the full
h
Fourth of July peak. “Who
quota
and well above
q
knows how long this run
the
t 17,107 tons taken the
is gonna go,” fisherman
prior
year.
p
Dan Barr of Seattle said by
The grounds price for
cell phone from his boat,
both
seine and gillnet fish
b
the Slam Dunk.
stayed
the same as last
s
It wasn’t an entirely
season:
$150 per ton. That
s
pleasant season for everyput
p the ex-vessel value
body, however. Fishermen
of
o this year’s fishery at
in the Egegik District,
$3.8
million, compared
$
more often than not a proto
t $2.6 million in 2009.
lific fishing hole, were disTogiak
herring are valued
T
appointed with a catch of
for
f their roe, with Japan
about 5 million sockeye on
serving
as the primary
s
a forecast of 9.2 million.
market.
Roe demand used
m
Barney Johnson, a stalto
t be much stronger, with
wart Egegik fisherman
the
t fishery value peaking
from Arlington, Wash.,
near
$17 million in 1995.
n
said Egegik was such a
frustration he took his
boat, the Erin L, to the
Observer subsidy
neighboring Naknekrrequested: As we reportPostcard: The crew of the F/V United starts a set in the Nushagak District of Bristol Bay
Kvichak District. Probeed in the July issue of
in 2009. Erik Velsko photo
ably a wise move, as the
Pacific Fishing, federal
P
Naknek-Kvichak was the
ffishery regulators want to
star producer among the bay’s five fishing districts, with a catch restructure and expand Alaska’s groundfish observer program.
exceeding 10.5 million sockeye.
One effect would be to require hundreds of additional boats —
The drawn-out fishery may have had one benefit for fisher- including trawlers under 60 feet long as well as halibut longliners
men: There were very few, or no, limits put on boats because the — to carry observers on selected fishing trips. The industry will
processors couldn’t keep up with the catch.
bear most of the expense.
But the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is looking
A herring happy ending: Fishermen in the Kuskokwim region to Uncle Sam to pick up a bigger share of the tab, noting federal
subsidies for observer coverage are greater in other parts of
caught no herring in this season. But they still got paid.
the country than in Alaska. In a June 30 letter to the Obama
How’s that?
Here’s what happened: In March, the only buyer expected administration, Council Chairman Eric Olson asked for up to
to show up for the fishery, Coastal Villages Seafoods, signaled $17.7 million to cover one-time “start-up costs” for the restrucit would process herring and thus revive a fishery that’s been tured observer program, plus an annual appropriation of 50
dormant since 2005. State fishery managers set a regional quota of percent of the cost of placing observers in any fishery operating with
5,371 tons.
catch shares.
But after substantial herring harvests to the south further
softened the herring market, Coastal backed out rather than take A longtime reporter of commercial fishing in the North Pacific,
Wesley Loy writes for Pacific Fishing and in his blog: Deckboss. (www.
“extreme losses.” So no commercial herring fishery occurred.
But Kusko fishermen weren’t out of luck, and neither were the deckboss.blogspot.com)
26 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
ALASKA WATCH
Computerized tenders, fishing villages, deck wash, scallops
Wired salmon tenders: Tendering vessels from Southeast to
Western Alaska are field-testing an electronic report system for all
salmon deliveries this summer. The process is called “tLandings.”
“Most deliveries of salmon occur onboard tenders, and that is
where most fish tickets are completed. It’s an ideal situation to do
electronic reporting,” said Gail Smith, electronic landings program
coordinator for ADF&G. Between 600 and 700 tender vessels operate
in Alaska each year.
tLandings is the latest in a series of interagency reporting programs. A process called “eLandings” has been used in Alaska since
2002 and is required in halibut, sablefish, Bering Sea crab, and all
groundfish fisheries.
“tLandings for salmon is a voluntary program, and we never
envision it will be mandatory,” Smith emphasized.
In a “proof of concept” project this summer, 22 tenders are
field-testing a new application that computes the number of fish
delivered, the weights, and the running totals of different species,
and then prints out a fish ticket and tally sheet. The tenders are
operating at Bristol Bay, Kodiak, Sitka, and the Kuskokwim region.
All that is required is a laptop computer, an inexpensive laser
printer, a magnetic strip reader for identification, and a thumb drive
(also called a jump drive or a zip drive), which is provided for free
by ADF&G.
Tenders pick up a thumb drive from their processor, which
provides a list of all boats making deliveries. They plug it into their
laptop and enter the landing data. At the end of the trip, tenders
simply return the thumb drive to the processor, where the data is
uploaded to its own system and to Fish and Game.
“It is simple to use and so much more accurate,” said
Randy Swain, who handles computer operations for Alaska Pacific
Seafoods in Kodiak. APS plans to expand tLandings to three tenders
this summer.
Questions? Contact Smith in Juneau at [email protected].
Profiling your town: Social scientists with the Seattle-based Alaska Fisheries Science Center are updating profiles of Alaska’s fishing
communities, and they want input from the people who live there.
There are 136 Alaska communities officially designated as fishing towns. Older profiles done in 2005 need to be updated to
include 2010 census data and other new information, said AFSC’s
Amber Hines.
The center is hosting “community profile” meetings in six Alaska
fishing towns during August and September. The goal is to invite
local leaders and the public to help revise the profiles so they are
more representative of the different communities, said Himes, a
project coordinator.
“We want to know how many people there are, what they fish
for, what kind of fishing permits there are, the kind of governance
structures, such as tribal governments or city government, stuff like
that,” she told KDLG radio.
Questions? Visit www.afsc.nooa.gov or call (206) 526-4221.
Don’t sweat deck wash: Fishermen and other boaters can rest
easier knowing they won’t need a federal permit to hose off their
decks. A bill that passed the U.S. Senate extends the moratorium on
discharge permit requirements for commercial and charter fishing
vessels beyond the July 31 deadline.
In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency came out with
regulations that would require discharges by vessels of any size to be
reportable to the EPA under the Clean Water Act.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
succeeded in getting a two-year time-out for working boats and
other vessels under 79 feet. At the same time, the EPA was given 15
months to study the types and effects of discharges from boats of
varying sizes, and if the exemptions should be permanent.
by Laine Welch
The study has not been completed, according
to Sen. Murkowski.
“It’s estimated that if the moratoria were
not put in place, the EPA would be subject to
issuing up to 140,000 permits by July 31. The
EPA is not poised to do this, and it is not
necessary,” Murkowski said. “Let’s clear the decks and allow fishing
people to be out working, and not worry if they are violating some
reporting requirement.”
Scallops scooped: In July, a handful of boats dredged to scoop
up Alaska weathervane scallops in waters stretching from Yakutat to
the Bering Sea. Most of the catch comes from around Kodiak Island.
Weathervanes are one of the largest scallops in the world, with
a shell diameter averaging 10 inches. Three to four boats target
scallops by making repeated tows along mostly sandy bottoms of
strictly defined fishing regions.
“All boats must carry observers,” said Jim Stone, owner of two
scallop boats, which will remain at sea until Thanksgiving. “It’s a
heavy cost of $350 to $400 a day. But we accept that in order to go
into the areas and make sure our bycatch and impact are minimal.
The yearly statewide harvest has remained steady at about 500,000
pounds of shucked meats, meaning the large adductor muscle that
pulls the two shell halves together.
Prices to fishermen vary widely by scallop size and market. The
statewide average price last year was $8 a pound, for a dockside
value of $3.4 million.
Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch reports on Alaska fisheries
from Kodiak.
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 27
B.C. UPDATE
Fraser certification, hake begin, more on Cohen probe
Certification squabble: Salmon was all over the news in B.C.
An independent adjudicator ruled July 12 to uphold
Marine Stewardship Council certification of Fraser River sockeye
as sustainable.
The certification had been in limbo since three environmental
organizations registered objections to the potential certification
in February.
The Watershed Watch Salmon Society, David Suzuki Foundation,
and Skeena Wild Conservation Trust opposed the certification bid,
arguing that the Fraser River sockeye were in trouble, considering
the collapse in 2009.
On the other hand, the Canadian Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Society argued that DFO’s closing of fishing on all Fraser
River sockeye last year when stocks proved weak was proof of
sustainable management.
Fraser River sockeye now join the Nass, Skeena, and Barkley
Sound units of certification as eligible
to display the MSC logo.
by Michel Drouin
has to be accounted for. If a fisherman doesn’t
have the quota of fish to match his catch, he
has to quit unless he can rent or lease quota
from someone else.
“There is only so much [rockfish quota] to
go around, and the people you lease from, they
have to be careful to keep some for themselves too,” Radil said.
While rockfish bycatch is a pain for hake fishermen, and
they have to seek out rockfish-free areas to catch their hake, the
rockfish stocks are looking very good for rockfish trawlers,
Radil said.
“There is an awful lot of greenies [yellowtail rockfish] and brownies [widow rockfish] around,” he said.
Sockeye inquiry drama: As I mentioned in my column in
August, the federal government–appointed judicial commission
into last year’s Fraser River sockeye disaster was hitting snags as
critics attacked the selection of
DFO-connected scientists for the
Hake season starts: B.C.’s hake
advisory panel.
[Pacific whiting] fishery was well
Well, it appears some of that critiunder way by mid-July, with more
cism seems to have hit a nerve with
boats participating and catches pickone scientist, who resigned July
ing up as well.
7 from the Cohen Commission of
Just like on the U.S. side of the borInquiry.
der, though, at the start of the season,
Brian Riddell, a DFO scientist for
the Canadian fleet had experienced
30 years and now working for the
widely spread-out fish, with lots of
Pacific Salmon Foundation, said
rockfish in the mix.
in a statement that he was quitting
As of July 19, the offshore catch of
Fraser Ri
River
er socke
sockeyee no
now are q
qualified
alified to bear the MSC logo along because he had agreed to sit on the
hake reached 10,108 metric tons out
with other B.C. sockeye from the Nass and Skeena rivers and Barkadvisory panel with the understandof an offshore quota of 54,000 tons.
ley Sound. This load of 2006 Fraser River sockeye was transported
No landings were reported for the in RSW aboard the salmon tender vessel Hesquiat from Johnstone ing that panelists could also appear
Gulf of Georgia quota of 9,298 tons.
as witnesses.
Strait to the Canadian Fishing Co.’s cannery in Prince Rupert.
The offshore joint venture fishery is
“However, that understanding has
designated a quota of 7,353 tons. That fishery also had not started.
now changed,” his statement said. “The commission policy is now
Barry Ackerman, DFO groundfish trawl coordinator for the that panel members cannot also be called as witnesses.”
Pacific Region, said that the fishery was slow to start, but it doesn’t
With Riddell off the panel, he may now appear as a witness.
usually get into full swing until late July or early August.
Member of Parliament John Cummins, one of the main critics of
“Catches have been improving, and we are seeing more effort,” the presence of Riddell and other DFO-connected scientists on the
he said. “They are fishing due west of Ucluelet.”
panel, said Riddell’s resignation was a good start.
Ackerman acknowledged that there was some bycatch of
“It was obvious from the moment of his appointment as a
rockfish, but pointed out that Canada’s quota system regulates the scientific advisor to the inquiry that something was amiss,”
catch numbers.
Cummins said in a statement. “Riddell’s work at DFO will be
“There is concern with bycatch there, but all the vessels are under review by the inquiry. He could not provide advice to
fishing with ITQs [transferable quota] under the integrated Cohen at the same time as Cohen was investigating his work.
groundfish management program,” he said. “Bycatch levels are Furthermore, he is now lobbying for more money from DFO
higher than what we could normally anticipate, but it is early in for the Pacific Salmon Foundation, which he currently heads.”
the season, and I would expect that the bycatch will drop as the Cummins said that most of the other science panelists have been
season progresses.”
intimately involved in the work of DFO and have been providing
Hake trawler George Radil, owner of the Canadian # 1, said in advice to it for many years.
July he had just returned from his second trip of the season.
“We should next see the resignations of Carl Walters, Paul
“We got a load out of it in two days,” he said. “There is some LeBlond, and Thomas Quinn,” Cummins said. “It is time for the
fish there, but not a whole lot — and there’s a big fleet with Cohen Inquiry to start again with a clean slate, with staff and
everybody getting into operating now.”
advisors who have not been involved in advising DFO, which is the
Radil said there was not as much bycatch on his most party under investigation.”
recent trip.
The hearings have been delayed from the planned Sept. 7 start to
Hake fishermen avoid catching the other species anyway, he Oct. 25 while the commission waits for more documents from the
points out
federal government.
“You put yourself out of business if you get too much,” he said.
Under Canada’s West Coast groundfish quota system, every fish Michel Drouin covers commercial fishing in the North Pacific from Vancouver.
28 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
MID-COAST REPORT
Albacore big this year, attack on gillnets, salmon market
Big albacore: In the first few weeks of July, tuna trollers were
hooking hefty albacore, averaging 17 to 18 pounds each, 80 to 100
miles from the Oregon shore.
At $2,900 a ton for blast-bled, the price was nice too.
Albacore typically average 12 to 14 pounds, said Wayne Heikkila,
director of the Western Fishboat Owners Association.
Toward the end of July, the fishing turned south, and the weather
got ugly. Even the price simmered down to $2,700 a ton for blastbled, and fresh albacore was selling between 85 cents and $1 a pound
in Oregon. High winds churned the ocean and chilled the water to a
few degrees colder than normal, cooling off the catch rate.
But Heikkila said the tuna loin market has been improving every
year in the U.S. and Canada. This summer, the European tuna fishery
was catching its fair share, putting a damper on overseas demand for
Northwest albacore, he said.
And Heikkila said buyers were too concerned with economic
conditions to put a lot of stock in the fishery’s new (as of last year)
Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certification.
“It’s going to take some time,” Heikkila said. “We’ll see what
happens when the economy turns around.”
Pressure group denounces gillnets: The politically charged
sport fishing seized on an opportunity to zing Columbia River gillnetters and Alaska salmon fishermen in July, after the Monterey Bay
Aquarium released its new advice on which salmon is eco-friendly.
The aquarium shocked salmon trollers with a new “avoid”
warning on California and Oregon troll-caught salmon, but it listed
Columbia River salmon as a “good alternative.”
CCA’s regional director, Bryan Irwin, responded to the listing with
an opinion piece in The Oregonian newspaper, saying the Columbia
River gillnet salmon fishery is not an ecologically sound option.
(See Page 23).
“Currently, the commercial fishing gear used in the Columbia
River is non-selective,” he wrote. “It does not distinguish between
a hatchery-raised salmon and a wild salmon. … Oregon is one of
the few places in the country to still allow gillnets, a method clearly
at odds with the state’s longstanding commitment to sustainable
practices.”
The aquarium Fish Watch list advocated for wild-caught
Alaska salmon as the “best choice” for environmentally conscious
consumers. But Irwin noted that many fish caught in Alaska come
from the Columbia River and migrate north before returning
to spawn.
“That’s not a ‘Best Choice’ scenario,” he wrote.
Irwin’s posturing confirms what commercial fishermen in
Oregon and Washington suspected since CCA set up shop in the
Pacific Northwest: The group’s members are angling toward a ban
on Columbia River gillnets, but they might not stop there.
Salmon market: Oregon buyers did see a hiccup in demand
for ocean-troll salmon after the Monterey Bay Aquarium
“avoid” listing.
Mark Newell, owner of Newell Seafoods in Newport and a
member of the Oregon Salmon Commission, said prices for Oregon
salmon “bottomed out” right after the news broke.
Of course, part of the decline in price was the result of Alaska
salmon coming into the market.
“But that didn’t help. It definitely hurt,” Newell said.
After some Alaska fisheries closed, prices for troll-caught salmon
went back up to $6 a pound after sinking to as low as $5.25.
Scuttlebutt has it Whole Foods told some of its troll-caught salmon
by Cassandra Marie Profita
suppliers to go tuna fishing instead of continuing to catch salmon in Oregon and California.
“It’s bogus,” Coos Bay salmon troller Paul
Heikkila said of the aquarium rating. “But there
was some pressure on them to do something
about it.”
Heikkila said new reports from the genetic sampling program in
the ocean salmon fishery show about half the fish caught by trollers
off the West Coast comes from the Columbia River.
As noted earlier (see above), Columbia River fish is still rated as a
good eco-friendly alternative.
Screaming for hake: The shoreside whiting fleet tied up for a few
weeks in July to wait for better fishing.
By the time they made it back on the water July 20, fish plants
were hard up for hake.
The price rose to 10 cents a pound (up from 9 cents earlier) for
bigger fish as boats on the Oregon coast ventured out to the one spot
where they could find good-size hake without rockfish interference.
“It’s not going to last very long,” said Warrenton trawler Gary
Wintersteen. “The entire Westport and Columbia River hake fleet
is out here off the Garibaldi reef. They’re beautiful fish, but it’s not a
heavy patch.”
One of the few encouraging signs for the hake fleet this year was
lots of small fish, promising better seasons to come.
Pacific Fishing columnist Cassandra Marie Profita covers commercial
fishing for The Daily Astorian.
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SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 29
What's New...
COAST GUARD FOUNDATION LAUNCHES FUNDRAISING DRIVE
AFTER JULY HELICOPTER TRAGEDY
Non-Profit Organization Issues Call for Assistance to
Provide Support for Families of CG-6017
The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit
organization committed to the education,
welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members
and their families, is conducting a fundraising
drive for its emergency Family Disaster Relief
Fund in response to the Coast Guard MH-60T
Jayhawk helicopter crash off the coast of La
Push, Washington on July 7th, that claimed the
lives of three servicemen. The crewmembers
of CG-6017 were based at Air Station
Sitka, Alaska.
The Coast Guard Foundation is seeking financial
support for the Family Disaster Relief Fund.
This fund provides immediate assistance to the
families of the fallen crewmembers as they deal
with this tragedy, and will provide comfort for
other Coast Guard families who find themselves
in similar devastating circumstances. The Coast
Guard Foundation also seeks support for the
Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund, which provides
college scholarships for the children of Coast
Guard members who perish in the line of duty.
Six children lost their fathers in this tragedy and the “We don’t yet know the details of why this
Foundation will provide scholarship funds to each accident happened; but we do know four
one to assist with higher education expenses.
guardians went out on a mission and did not
all come back,” continued Ms. Brengle. “Every
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the crew, their time they step onto a helicopter, a flight deck, a
families and the entire Coast Guard,” said Anne cutter or a small boat, there’s a risk. But they do
Brengle, president of the Coast Guard Foundation. it everyday to support and serve the individuals
“At this time of great tragedy, we are reminded of this nation. We hope others will join us in
that the Coast Guard is a big family and when supporting these heroes’ families through this
disaster strikes, we all come together to support difficult time.”
one another. By extension, the Coast Guard
Foundation and its donors are a part of that family. The Coast Guard Foundation is working with
Your support is needed now to help the families of Coast Guard headquarters and its Seventeenth
these fallen heroes.”
District to identify the needs of the families and
how it can best provide assistance in response
The Coast Guard has identified the lost personnel to this tragedy.
as Lt. Sean D. Krueger of Seymour, Connecticut,
pilot, age 33; AMT1 Adam C. Hoke of Great Falls, Those wishing to support the Family Disaster
Montana, flight mechanic, age 40; and AMT2 Relief Fund and the Fallen Heroes Scholarship
Brett M. Banks of Rock Springs, Wyoming, flight Fund may visit the Coast Guard Foundation’s
mechanic, age 33. The only survivor of the crash, website at www.coastguardfoundation.org, call
Lt. Lance D. Leone of Ventura, California, co-pilot, the Foundation at 860-535-0786 or fax a note
to 860-535-0944.
age 29, is recovering from injuries.
Cleaning up Puget Sound
C
C
Commercial
and recreational fishing
is a way of life in Puget Sound and
helps define the culture of the Pacific
h
Northwest. Unfortunately, decades of
N
tthriving commercial and recreational
fisheries in Puget Sound have left tons
of old fishing gear behind. This lost
o
gear — gillnets, purse seines, shrimp
g
continue to entangle and kill a variety
and crab pots — can cont
of marine animals and cover up reefs and other marine habitats.
The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative has taken
on the removal of this lost gear. Working in cooperation with
commercial fishermen and using trained divers and removal
vessels, the Initiative has removed more than 3,000 partial gillnets
(average size is 7,000 square feet) and 2,000 crab pots since 2002.
One year ago, the Initiative received $4.6 million in federal stimulus
funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
to remove nearly all of the remaining gillnets from Puget Sound.
The project employs about 30 people including divers, boat pilots
and biologists and will be completed by December of this year.
By cleaning up the lost nets, thousands of fish, birds and marine
mammals avoid being entangled and hundreds of acres of marine
habitat are restored.
The Initiative takes a no-fault approach to derelict gear removal.
It focuses on removing old gear and preventing new losses in a
non-regulatory manner and appreciates its partnership with the
commercial fishing industry. The no-fault approach encourages
fishermen to report lost nets so they can be removed quickly.
To learn more about the Initiative and its derelict fishing program
and to report lost gear, please visit www.derelictgear.org
The OFCC has released the results of their latest undersea cable
inspection. The Alaska United Fiber System — West Cable was
inspected in June at seven sites ranging from 8 fms to over 600 fms.
The sites for inspection were selected based on criteria that included
areas heavily fished, areas close to shore where sediment transport
may occur, areas with steep slopes and areas that were identified
during the installation as having possible hazards such as low
burial, exposed or suspended cable. The inspection was carried out
by the TE SubCom cableship CS Global Sentinel which is based in
Portland, OR.
While the inspection indicated that the cable is well buried for the
most part, two suspensions were discovered during the inspection.
One exposure is about 5’ high over a natural seabed depression that
is about 41’ across. The cable is well buried on both sides of this
sinkhole located in about 430 fms. No trawlers are known to have
hung up on this exposure; this is likely due to its close proximity to
a large seabed obstruction, possibly a barge, which was discovered
using sidescan sonar during the original cable route survey. The other
exposure is located in 546 fms less than 125 yards from the Astoria
Canyon Essential Fish Habitat (no trawl) conservation area. Trawlers
or longliners needing the coordinates of the exposures and the
barge can call the OFCC office at 503 325-2285 or GCI (Alaska United)
at 888 442-8662.
“What's New” is a service of Pacific Fishing's Advertising Department. Contact Diane Sandvik at (206) 962-9315 for more information.
30 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
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email [email protected]
Want to reach fishermen?
Pacific Fishing has the attention of the North Pacific fleet.
Share it with us this fall. Enjoy the visibility and the savings!
NOVEMBER:
Fish Expo: Your customers
are in the buying mood
when they read this issue
DECEMBER:
Logistics: Packaging and
transport of product and
supplies in the North Pacific
2011 CALENDAR
Have the industry’s eyes just on you for a
full calendar month next year.
The calendar will be an insert in the
DECEMBER issue of Pacific Fishing,
so the $1,750 cost is like getting
two ads for the price of one!
RESERVE YOUR MONTH BY 9/16.
Your ads are noticed because
the industry reads every page!
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR FISHERMEN
Call (206) 962-9315 to reserve your space today!
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 31
PACIFIC FISHING market focus
Professional Services
Covered Railways —
Fiberglass, wood and
metal professionals
for all your vessel repair
and maintenance.
Jackson, Morgan
& Hunt, PLLC
(907) 874-4669
Wrangell, AK
4123 California Ave SW #101
VIKING NET SUPPLY
www.jmhseattle.com
UROKO
Japanese
Gillnets
pinnacle
Salmon
Herring
SEINES
Lines, Floats, Twine & Net Loft
1st WASH
PO Box 1233 / 17075 Brunswick St
Mt Vernon WA 98273 (360) 428-7879
Toll Free (800) 553-8601
Establish your real estate
in PACIFIC FISHING magazine!
Make sure that your name, contact
details and services are in
the fleet's hands EVERY month.
Your clients depend on being able to access
this information in each issue.
Set up a single or double Marketplace ad:
Call: 206-962-9315 or
email: [email protected]
Phone:
WE BUY IN ALL FISHING AREAS AND
WE OFFER GREAT PRICES.
“Call us today for a quote on your trip!”
MAIN OFFICE:
Phone ........... 206-232-5040
Fax.................. 206-232-4413
Dana Cell .... 206-295-7500
Tyler Cell ..... 206-354-7717
Dispatch ...... 4944
BELLINGHAM OFFICE:
Phone ........... 360-676-1606
Fax.................. 360-671-7855
Tony Cell ..... 360-739-3656
Dispatch ...... 5644
www
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Splice King Power Block
All Stainless Construction
Greaseable Seal Built into Hub
to Protect Motor Shaft
Direct Drive Tapered Shaft
Char-Lynn Motors
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Peelers
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Stainless Hub
6 Sizes Available
www.osbornepropellers.com
com
Updated weekdays for your reading pleasure
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
HYDRAULIC AND MACHINE WKS.
P.O. BOX 385
ASTORIA, OR 97103
(503) 325-0630 FAX (503) 325-0534
1-800-425-0630
Home of
…
(714) 899-2794
LINE COILER ALSO AVAILABLE
click
SEPTEMBER 2010
Fax:
Web: WWW.OCEANTRAPS.COM
Email: [email protected]
Buyers of high-quality Alaskan and Canadian
caught longline halibut and black cod.
<eiimehai(*^ekhiWZWo"),+ZWoi
Wo[Whje][joekXWYajemeha\Wij
m_j^l[ii[bh[fW_hi"ekjÄjj_d]"
cW_dj[dWdY["cW`ehYedl[hi_edi
WdZ^oXh_ZYedl[hi_edi$
32 … PACIFICFISHING …
(714) 903-0433
DANA F. BESECKER CO., INC.
'6--4&37*$&4)*1:"3%
Plastic traps for spot prawn/shrimp,
crab and lobster
since 1935
Specialists in Marine Propeller
Design, Manufacture and Repair
1865 Spicer Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7H 2V2
Bus 604-929-8407 Fax 604-929-7121
[email protected]
FISH
HOLD
PACIFIC FISHING market focus
PLACE YOUR
AD HERE
Advertise in
Call
(206) 962-9315
RIGBY MARINE
FIBERGLASS FISH HOLDS
CLOSED CELL SPRAY FOAM
FIBERGLASS • GEL COAT
NEW CONSTRUCTION • REPAIRS
MOBILE SERVICE – OR, WA, AK
NEWPORT, OREGON
541-265-8100
N\9lp
High-Quality Long-Line
HALIBUT & BLACK COD
RECOVER 99.9%
:Xcc=fiHlfk\
OF YOUR BILGE OIL
AUTOMATICALLY.
Your quality catch,
teamed with expert marketing,
equals better results.
No need for expensive, messy absorbent pads!
+),$.+*$')''
Cell 206-999-8000
Fax 425-335-3393
Satellite Alaska Dispatch #0423
keith@northportfisheries.com
Delivery Ports: Bellingham,
Dutch Harbor, Homer
www.northportfisheries.com
The FORS T55 Tube Drive
Bilge Oil Collector can
collect up to 5 gallons of
oil an hour. This recovered
oil can then be recycled.
TUBE DRIVE
BILGE OIL COLLECTOR
Tel. 250-616-7817
FULL SERVICE SHIPYARD PROVIDING:
One stop solution for all your vessel needs
• Enclosed paint facility
• Very competitive haul out rates and no lay day charges
• Specializing in large fishing vessels
• Quality workmanship • Exchange rate advantage
•
“Make a stop in Vancouver, BC for on time, on budget,
friendly service. It may be your best catch”
Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd.
50 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver, BC V7P 2R2
Call Randy at (604) 990-3315 Fax (604) 990-3290
Email: [email protected] www.vanship.com
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 33
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
THE PERMIT MASTER
IFQs • VESSELS • PERMITS
EXCEPTIONAL FULL SERVICE BROKERAGE
— PERMITS —
—IFQ—
EXCEPTIONAL “FULL” SERVICE
BROKERAGE SAMPLES
2,700# “C” SE BCOD @ $20
ANY# “B/C” WY BCOD @ WANTED
ANY# “A/B/C” CG BCOD @ WANTED
ANY# “B/C” WG BCOD @ WANTED
4,000# “A” AI BCOD BLKD @ $3
4,000# “A” AI BCOD BLKD @ LEASE
ANY# “B” BS BCOD BLKD @ WANTED
2,000# “D” 2C HAL BLKD @ $19 FISHED
ANY# “C” 2C HAL @ WANTED
ANY# “B/C” 3A HAL @ WANTED
ANY# “B” 3B HAL @ WANTED
3,500# “D“ 4A HAL BLKD @ $11
ANY# “B/C” 4B HAL @ WANTED
25,000# “B” 4C HAL UNBLKD @ $15
NEW LISTINGS DAILY.
CALL FOR QUOTES OR CHECK OUT OUR
COMPLETE LIST ON THE WEB
HERRING
SITKA SEINE ........................ $600K
PWS SEINE ...................... WANTED
COOK INLET SEINE ...................N/A
KODIAK SEINE ..........................N/A
SE GILLNET ........................... $15K
KODIAK GILLNET ................... $10K
NORTON SOUND ..................... $2K
HOONAH POUND ................... $65K
CRAIG POUND ....................... $17K
PWS POUND .............................N/A
SALMON
S.E. DRIFT........................... $67.5K
PWS DRIFT .......................... $135K
COOK INLET DRIFT .......... WANTED
COOK INLET SET ................... $14K
AREA M DRIFT ................. WANTED
BBAY DRIFT ..................... WANTED
BBAY SET............................... $32K
SE SEINE................................ $95K
PWS SEINE ...................... WANTED
KODIAK SEINE ................. WANTED
CHIGNIK SEINE ...................... $90K
AREA M SEINE ....................... $70K
KOTZEBUE GILLNET ................ $5K
POWER TROLL ...................... $30K
HAND TROLL ...................... $10.5K
PUGET SOUND DRIFT............ $15K
PUGET SOUND SEINE............ $80K
SHELLFISH
SE DUNGY 300 POT..................N/A
SE DUNGY 225 POT............... $40K
SE DUNGY 150 POT............... $26K
SE DUNGY 75 POT................. $15K
SE POT SHRIMP .................... $16K
SE TANNER ............................ $65K
SE RED .................................. $85K
SE RED/TANNER .................... $85K
SE RED/BRN .................... WANTED
KODIAK TANNER.................... $29K
PUGET S CRAB ...................... $80K
DIVE
SE GEODUCK ......................... $80K
SE CUCUMBER ...................... $11K
MISC.
CAL LOBSTER ........................ $60K
CAL SPOT PRAWN ............... $250K
CAL SQUID ...................... WANTED
CAL SQUID LITE BOAT........... $70K
CAL SWORDFISH GILLNET.... $20K
LISTINGS WANTED!!!
IFQ: ALL AREAS
BOATS: ALL KINDS
PERMITS: ALL TYPES
JOIN OUR LIST OF
SATISFIED CUSTOMERS.
CALL TODAY.
BUYERS ARE WAITING.
www.permitmaster.com
PARTIAL LIST/CALL IF YOU DON’T SEE IT!
P1698M – NEW CONSTRUCTION 32 X 14 TOP
HOUSE ALUMINUM, FLUSH DECK FISHING
MACHINE BY SOUND CRAFT MARINE. 20 KNOT
BOAT W/500 HP MAIN. TRADITIONAL SHAFT
AND PROP OR JET CONFIGURATION. PACKS
18K UNDER HATCHES. EXCELLENT LAYOUT FOR
LONGLINE, CRAB, OR CHARTER. HULL, DECK
AND CABIN KITS OR COMPLETE TO ANY STAGE.
TAKING ORDERS FOR 2011 SEASON.
P1722M – 31 X 12 MARTIN BOATS COMBO,
BOWPICKER CONFIGURATION, CURRENTLY
RIGGED FOR POWER TROLL. LOW HOUR 6BTA
CUMMINS W/SURFACE PIERCING DRIVE GIVES
15 KNOT CRUISE / 22 KNOTS TOP. COMPLETE
ELECTRONICS PACKAGE, DOUBLE AND SINGLE
BUNKS, ENCLOSED HEAD, OIL STOVE, FRIDGE.
EASY CONVERSION TO DIVE, CHARTER, ETC.
REDUCED TO $54.5K.
P1757M – 78 X 22 X 3.5 SHALLOW DRAFT,
FLAT BOTTOM, STEEL POWER SCOW, TWIN
8V71 MAINS, TWIN DISC GEARS, 6-71 AND
ISUZU AUX, 40 TON RSW, FISH PUMP. PACKS
200K. TURN KEY TENDER WITH CONTRACT
AVAILABLE. ASKING $210K.
P1761M – 32' ROBERTS, 6BT CUMMINS
MAIN, SLUSH TANKS W/BRAILERS, HEAD
WITH SHOWER. TONS OF RECENT WORK.
ALL NEW DECKS FROM HOUSE AFT. NEW
INSULATED FISH HOLD, NEW HYD HOSES,
REBUILT HYD VALVES, NEW CONTROLS,
NEW PACER, NEW GPS. ASKING $45K.
P1772M – ALL AMERICAN BOW/STERNPICKER,
TWIN 400HP CUMMINS, PITTS CLUTCHES
DRIVING 291 HAMILTONS, 7.5 TON IMS RSW,
COMPLETE ELECTRONICS. AVAILABLE AFTER
2010 SEASON. ASKING $200K.
P1792M – 42' DELTA, 8V71 GMC MAIN, TWIN
DISC GEAR, POWER TAKE OFF FRONT AND
BACK FOR DECK GEAR AND RSW, TWIN
PICKING BOOMS W/WINCHES, MAIN BOOM
W/TOPPING AND VANGING. HYD DRIVEN RSW
AND 6KW GEN SET. ASKING $165K.
P1795M – 28 X 11 BUFFALO CRABBER, LOW
TIME ON D4 VOLVO AND DUOPROP I/O,
GIVES EASY 20 KNOT CRUISE OR 30 TOPS.
CRAB BLOCK ON ALUMINUM ARTICULATING
DAVIT. JABSCO WASHDOWN/BILGE PUMP.
WELL SET UP BOAT IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. PERFECT FOR PUGET SOUND OR SE
AK. ASKING $95K.
P1798M – COMPLETE PUGET SOUND BAIT
HERRING OPERATION - 34' SKOOKUM
SEINER, 2 SEINES, SKIFF, NET PEN FLOAT
COMPLEX, DNR LEASE FOR SITE, 2
HERRING PERMITS. RARE OPPORTUNITY
FOR A GREAT BACK YARD FISHERY. ASKING
$225K.
C ALL FOR A COMP LE TE L I S T O F V E S S E L S F O R S AL E
IN C L U D IN G MA N Y BOAT/PERM IT PACKAGES
Toll Free: 888-588-1001
ONLINE @ www.permitmaster.com Email: [email protected] Fax: 360-293-4180
4302 Whistle Lake Rd • Anacortes, WA 98221
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
Need great
CREW?
Use AlaskaCrewFinder.com
to help fill your open positions:
• FREE Job Postings!
• FREE Resume Searches!
• FREE Company Profile!
F/V Nancy Ellen is available to catch Halibut
Quota in areas 3B, 4A and 4B. Interested
parties please call Byron or Paula at (907)
359-3655 or (907) 246-8510. Or email:
[email protected].
Absolutely no cost for
employers
We specialize in all positions including:
• Deckhands & Processors
• Mates & Captains
• Engineers
• Cooks
• Etc.
Go to:
AlaskaCrewFinder.com
FOR SALE
45 ft. glass Sunnfjord longliner/troller: 6552
lb. 2C-C Halibut quota, Choice beachfront
cabin/property in Port Alexander, Alaska. Boat
(only): $130,000. Contact (907) 738-8294.
58' Delta. F/V Cape Reliant is ready to fish your
ifq’s in 2008. Safe and reliable. Flexible schedule/
terms. Call (907) 518-1652 or (907) 772-3737 or
dispatch: 0703 or Sat. phone: (866) 621-8890.
Dock Street Brokers
(206)789-5101
(800)683-0297
58 ft Delta, New L.P. paint, New U.H.M.W.
guards and cap rails, new tail shaft, new intermediate shaft, new bearings, new John Deere
aux., rebuilt refrigeration, A.M. Aluminum 8”
boom w/slider, 28” Marco powerblock with
tire and swivel, new Valvoil hydraulic valves,
two new picking booms, new #8, two #4’s,
and vanging pullmaster winches, new air boot
p.t.o., newer electronics. Asking $800,000;
contact Tom at (310)505-8194.
ALASKA FISHING
INDUSTRY JOBS
Use AlaskaJobFinder.com to help
you land your next position –
deckhands, engineers, mates,
captains, processors, cooks,
management, etc.
BB10-016 32’x15’ aluminum Bristol Bay boat, twin GMC 6V53, flush
deck, auto-levelwind. Many new
electronics. Big, comfortable boat.
Asking $190,000.
HALIBUT IFQ
2C & 3A:
3B-B-B:
3B-B-B:
3B-C-U:
3B-C-B:
4A-B-U:
4A-B-B:
4A-C-B:
4B-B-U:
4B-B-B:
4B-C-B:
4C-D-U:
4D-B-B:
Buyers looking!
12,500 lbs....asking $23.00
12,500 lbs....asking $23.00
22,000 lbs....asking $24.00
5,000 lbs......asking $19.00
20,000 lbs....asking $16.00
6,800 lbs......asking $13.00
3,500 lbs......asking $12.00
10,000 lbs....asking $12.00
7,000 lbs......asking $10.00
7,500 lbs........asking $9.50
4,300 lbs......asking $12.50
2,500 lbs......asking $10.00
SABLEFISH IFQ
CG & SE: Buyers looking!
BS-B-B: 30,000 lbs........asking $4.25
CG-C-U: 10,000 lbs........asking $23.00
WG-C-B: 7,500 lbs.......asking $13.00
WG-C-B: 12,000 lbs.......asking $13.00
WG-B-U: 14,000 lbs.......asking $14.00
CH10-002 42’ fiberglass trawler built
by California Yacht in 1979. Twin
Cat 3208 210 hp mains. Northern
Lights 8kw aux. Complete,modern,
electronics package. Meticulously
maintained, no expense spared.
Asking $125,000.
SE10-006 47’x14.3’x3’ fiberglass
seiner built by Kodiak Marine in
1982. Twin John Deere mains
new in 2006 with only 4,100 hours.
Northern Lights 5KW generator.
12 ton IMS rsw system. 38,000#
capacity.
Kolstrand deckwinch,
twin picking booms, Pullmaster
winches and a slider on the main
boom. Asking $250,000.
Try it FREE at:
www.AlaskaJobFinder.com/trial
CR10-005
93’x30.8’x11.8’ crabber/ tender/ research vessel built
in 1974 by Marine Power & Equipment, sponsoned in 1991. Detroit
V16-149 rated at 940 hp. (2) G.M
Model 50 232 kw new 1999. GM
4-71 75 kw. 30 ton deck mounted
RSW system. Full tendering package. Possible lease of approximately 270,000# of opilio crab.
Asking $850,000.
LL9-005 62.5’x16.4’ halibut schooner. Deere 350 hp main, 12 kw gen
set. Really nice condition. Comes
with locker full of gear. Asking
$210,000.
Come see us at www.dockstreetbrokers.com.
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
F/V SARSEN - 53' ketch rigged motor sailer.
Price $210,000 cash or trade. Boat built 1994
Port Townsend, Skookum mold, Blue Water
boat. Engine 6-71 Detroit, 36-inch prop, FG
construction. Fish hold: 28,000 lbs., frozen 25
minus. 2,000+ gal. fuel, sails perfect condition,
Northern Lights gen. 121/2 kW, all electronics,
top brands, VHF, radar, weather fax, low-freq.
radio, autopilot, GPS. Worked tuna three
years, bottom painted and checked every
season. Selling due to other business, no time
to fish. Phone Capt. Mark Pratt, (pager) (206)
595-3146 or F.W. Pratt, (406) 671-5080. Boat in
Ilwaco, WA.
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 35
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
BOX score
Boats/Permits/IFQs
Alaska Entry Permit Prices
(as of 9-1-10)
Species
Spend your
time looking
for fish.
Not
financing.
We Finance
t1FSNJUT
t3FBMFTUBUF
t7FTTFMT
t&RVJQNFOU
t3FQPXFST
t0QFSBUJOHMJOFTPGDSFEJU
t:PVOHBOECFHJOOJOHGJTIFSNBO
800.372.0112
farm-credit.com/fisheries
Fishery
SALMON
S
SE DRIFT
S
PWS DRIFT
S
COOK INLET DRIFT
S
AREA M DRIFT
S
BRISTOL BAY DRIFT
S
SE SEINE
S
PWS SEINE
S
COOK INLET SEINE
S
KODIAK SEINE
S
CHIGNIK SEINE
S
AREA M SEINE
S
COOK INLET SET
S
AREA M SET NET
S
BRISTOL SET NET
S
LOWER YUKON
S
POWER TROLL
S
HAND TROLL
HERRING
H
SE GILLNET
H
KODIAK GILLNET
H
SITKA SEINE
H
PWS SEINE
H
COOK INLET SEINE
H
KODIAK SEINE
H
SE POUND SOUTH
H
SE POUND NORTH
H
PWS POUND
SHELLFISH
S
SE DUNGY 75 POT
S
SE DUNGY 150 POT
S
SE DUNGY 225 POT
S
SE DUNGY 300 POT
S
SE POT SHRIMP
S
KODIAK TANNER <60
S
PUGET SOUND DUNGY
S
WASHINGTON DUNGY
S
OREGON DUNGY
S
CALIFORNIA DUNGY
SE ALASKA DIVE
SE AK Dive URCHIN
SE AK Dive CUCUMBER
SE AK Dive GEODUCK
Asking Price*
Offer*
State
Value*
62
135
36+
120
125+
92110
28
32+
100+
70
15+
60+
32
8.5
30
10.5+
6013025+
115
120+
87
102+
17
30+
73.5+
60
12
50+
30
N/A
30
10
56.2+
117.3+
26.5106.6+
96.2+
76.1+
87.4
16.9
27.5+
83.1+
59.113.5+
50.6
28.7+
9.1
29.5+
9.9+
16+
5
600
N/A
25
24
17
58
4
14
4
500
30
15
20
16
55
3
15.8+
4
290
10.3
9.3
21.3
18.8
62.5
2.9
14+
24
40
70
15.252680+
1,500-2,750/FT
1,000-2,500/FT
800-1,500/FT+
10
N/A
37
60
1525
75
1,000-2,500/FT
800-2,250/FT
500-1,200/FT+
13.626.540.8
67
15.5+
24.8
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
5
11
77
N/A
10
75
3.6+
10.678.6+
Prices in SEPTEMBER vary in accordance with market conditions.* in thousands
+ denotes an increase from last month. N/A denotes No Activity.
– denotes a decrease from last month.
By Mike Painter and the Permit Master
Gillnet: With ex-vessel advances for the Bay close to $1/lb. demand for permits was up as soon as
the season was over. Offers started to come in @ $120k and sellers were holding out. Interest in SE
permits had dropped off mid-season, with permits available in the low $60s. PWS permits were still
available @ $135k. Good fishing in Cook Inlet had those permits jumping into the mid $30s in late
July. Area M permits were still available with recent offers only coming up to $100k.
Seine: SE permits were holding in the lower $90s, but fishing was slow and interest was down. PWS
permits were available, with a recent sale at just over $100k. Kodiak permits were scarce with offers
coming in around $30k. Area M permits were holding @ $70k.
Troll: Power Troll permits were listed @ $30k or more, but no new offers since King season. Hand
troll permits were still available at $10k plus. Buyers were looking for Washington permits. Interest in
Oregon permits was pretty quiet.
Crab/Shrimp: Puget Sound crab permits were available. The new benchmark for today is $80k, take
it or leave it. Buyers were starting to look for the elusive 500 pot coast permits, but they are pretty
hard to come by.
36 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
Halibut & Sablefish IFQ Prices
Boats/Permits/IFQs
Recent market activity in halibut and sablefish quota shares
Species
Status
Regulatory Vessel Poundage (blocked/
Area Category* (thousands) unblocked)
Ask
Offer
(per pound)
Low High
(per pound)
Low High
H
2C
D
1-10
B
21.00-25.00
20.00-24.00
H
2C
C/B
1-3
B
22.00-25.00
21.00-24.50
H
2C
C/B
4-10
B
24.00-26.00
24.00-25.00
H
2C
C/B
ANY
U
26.00-28.00
24.00-25.00
H
2C
A
B/U
N/A
25.00
H
3A
D
B/U
21.00-28.00
20.00-26.00
H
3A
C/B
1-5
B
22.00-25.00
20.00-23.50
H
3A
C/B
5-10
B
25.00-27.00
24.00-26.00
H
3A
C/B
>10
B
27.00-29.00
26.00-27.00
H
3A
C/B
>10
U
29.00-31.00
27.00-29.00
H
3A
A
B/U
28.00
26.00
H
3B
D
B
17.00-23.00
16.00-19.00
H
3B
C/B
1-10
B
17.00-20.00
17.00-19.00
H
3B
C/B
>10
B
20.00-23.00
18.00-20.00
H
3B
C/B
>10
U
23.00-24.00
21.00-22.00
H
3B
A
B/U
N/A
22.00
H
4A
D
B/U
10.00-14.00
9.00-10.00
H
4A
C/B
1-10
B
11.00-12.00
10.00-11.00
H
4A
C/B
>10
B
14.00-16.00
10.00-12.00
H
4A
C/B
>10
U
16.00-18.00
13.00-15.00
H
4B/C/D
C/B
1-10
B
9.50-13.00
7.00-8.50
H
4B/C/D
C/B
>10
B/U
11.00-15.00
9.00-11.00
S
SE
C/B
1-10
B
19.00-22.00
19.00-21.00
S
SE
C/B
>10
U
22.00-23.50
22.00-23.50
S
SE
A
B/U
30.00
24.00
S
WY
C/B
1-10
B
19.00-22.00
19.00-21.00
S
WY
C/B
>10
U
22.00-23.00
21.00-22.00
S
WY
A
B/U
25.00
23.00
S
CG
C/B
1-10
B
17.00-20.00
16.00-18.00
S
CG
C/B
>10
B/U
20.00-23.00
18.00-20.00
S
CG
A
B/U
20.00
20.00
S
WG
C/B
1-10
B
10.00-12.00
9.00-11.00
S
WG
C/B
>10
B
12.00-14.00
10.00-12.00
S
WG
C/B/A
>10
U
14.00-16.00
12.00-13.00
S
AI
C/B/A
B/U
1.25-5.00
1.00-2.50
S
BS
C/B
B/U
2.00-5.00
2.00-4.00
S
BS
A
B/U
7.00-9.00
5.00
®
(206) 784-3703
FAX (206) 784-8823
4300 11th Ave. N.W.
Seattle, WA 98107
*Vessel Categories: A = freezer boats B = over 60’ C = 35’-60’ D = < 35’
NOTE: Halibut prices reflect net weight, sablefish round weight. Pricing for leased shares
is expressed as a percentage of gross proceeds. ** Too few to characterize.
By Mike Painter and the Permit Master
www.coastalmarineengine.com
Alaska Boats & Permits, Inc.
PO BOX 505, HOMER ALASKA 99603
FULL SERVICE MARINE BROKERAGE
FAX: 907-235-4965 E-MAIL: [email protected]
Offers for quota continued to creep up even though, in some cases, there wasn’t even quota
available. Fished quota is continuing to come on the market, but at prices higher than unfished
from this spring. Offers for fished quota are up also. The only relative deals are out west.
800-992-4960 907-235-4966
UPDATED LISTINGS ON THE WEB
www.alaskaboat.com
IFQs
PERMITS
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
VESSELS
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 37
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
F/V CARLYNN is available to harvest halibut in
areas 2c, 3a, and 3b. Black cod in areas SE, WY,
and CG. Flexible rates and scheduling good references. All #1 fish and best prices at time of
delivery. Please call to plan for ’09 and beyond.
Rob at (907) 321-0486 or (907) 364-3813.
Seabrooke Enterprises LLC, owners of
F/V Seabrooke, are interested in LEASING
CRAB QUOTA. We offer: skipper (father/
son team) with over 30 years of combined
experience; vessel professionally operated/
managed, above average catch history, exceptionally well-maintained (hauled every
two years), economical to operate with
all Caterpillar power, current survey on
request, competitive harvest rates, desire
to stay actively involved in fisheries. If you
are interested in LEASING CRAB QUOTA,
please contact us: office (541) 938-3542,
(509) 522-5252; cell (509) 520-0911,
(509) 200-9508; fax (541) 938-8164;
email [email protected].
F/V QUIK SET – 32x13, 1987 Alucraft BBay
sternpicker. 3208T Cat diesel with approx.
6000 hrs. HD hydraulics, narrow drum w/
auto levelwind. Packs 18000+ under hatches.
Exceptional maintenance of boat-equipment by
same owner for 13 years. Turn key with many
recent upgrades. Owner will help commission
for 2010 season. Call Brad at (253) 261-5340
or (253) 852-5513 wk. for pictures/specifics.
Located Dillingham, AK. 105K
FOR SALE
Three Hamilon 321 jet pumps for sale. Each
unit comes with two impellers (valued at 5K
apiece new). Each unit has been totally gone
thru and rebuilt. Spare impeller is new for
each unit, impeller in the pumps are rebuilt.
Each unit is in “like new” condition. Asking
20K obo for each unit. Please call (360)
961-5747 or email: [email protected]
FOR SALE: Mustad Auto Baiting System for
sale. Includes Baiter, Combe, 20 magazines
of gear, and all rails and hangers. Fits on a
58 foot boat. $45,000 for all OBO. Call: (907)
253-7435 or email: [email protected]
BOAT FOR SALE
LOA 95’; Beam 25’; Gross Tons 160; Net
Tons 48. Built in Bayou Labatre, AL. Year
1999; Engine CAT-3412; H.P. 671; Auxiliary
CAT-3056. Price: $450,000 USD. Location:
Ensenada, B.C. Mexico. Recently hauled
(February) new paint ,new zincs and clean!
Contact Luis Castaneda at: 484 Bonito Ave.,
Imperial Beach, CA 91932 USA. Or email:
[email protected].
FOR SALE
GMC 653 engine block: rebuilt. Zero hours,
$7000.00. Call: (206) 399-1699..
FOR SALE
58' x 24' Jensen designed steel limit seiner,
Dual refrigeration, Cat power, Packs over
150,00#s. 95% complete. Serious inquiries
only. (714) 401-8239.
37' Fiberglass Troller/combo
Economical Isuzu Diesel, electronics,
exceptionally tidy, streamlined and turnkey.
Email for pictures. Located in Victoria BC
– short walk from the Seattle/Port Angeles
ferry. $69K/obo – [email protected] –
(250) 642-3551.
FOR SALE
F/V O-See-O. Length: 44', weight: 13', depth:
7', engine – new 6.7 Gimmy. All geared for
power trolling. Please call 1 (907) 874-2484
or email: [email protected].
F/V POST POINT – 32 X 13.4 1990 ALFA/NW
Marine Fabrication Bristol Bay Gillnetter; 3208
Cat TD5111 Gearbox; IMS RSW Bowthruster;
power steering; load sense hydraulics; powered
off gearbox PTO; 200 fathom piston drive reel
w/autolevelwind; flush deck and much more.
This boat is easy to maintain and fish located
at Leader Creek Naknek Alaska. FOR SALE after
2010 Salmon Season. (360) 223-3583.
F/V TRADITION – 58' x 21' Tradition will fish
your halibut and blackcod IFQs, April through
September. Outstanding experienced crew
with great catch record. We catch ‘em fast
and always target the best grade. We shop
for the hightest prices, traveling the distance
when needed. VERY competitive rates. Call
Blake (503) 440-1523 (please leave message).
The Hawaii Longline Association announces an opening for the
following position:
F/V FISH TRAP – Bristol Bay Jet Boat. 2006
Banner Boatworks, twin 6108 Luggers, 330
hp, 13" Doen Jets, 7.5 ton RSW-IMS. Proven
design, sleeps 6, open deck, set off the bow or
stearn. $310,000. Drift permit available with
sale – at market. Dan (907) 399-1884; (907)
235-6612.
LET'S FISH YOUR IFQ
Halibut and Black Cod. F/V Sierra Mar
58' Delta, works all seasons and all areas
and walkons, leases,crewing owners and
all parteners are welcome to call. This
boat, operation and crew are safe, clean
and reliable. Marco Auto baiter, good
grub, longtime crew and all area experience and best %’s with crew share, no
#2’s and bycatch for Q owner make this
boat a good call. Annual upgrades and
maintainance done every off season.
Please call for more information, schedualing, references and possibilities fro
2010 and beyond. Kevin Seabeck (206)
399-9267 or [email protected].
38 … PACIFICFISHING …
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Interested applicants should submit their professional résumés to:
HAWAII LONGLINE ASSOCIATION
45-519 Mokulele Drive, Kaneohe, HI 96744
or by email to: [email protected]
The Hawaii Longline Association is interested in hiring a full-time, highly
qualified and experienced individual to be the Executive Director of the
Hawaii Longline Association (HLA). The HLA is a 501c (6) non-profit
organization dedicated to supporting the commercial fisheries and
fishermen of Hawaii. HLA members have pioneered and adopted many
of the mitigation measures that have been demonstrated to dramatically
reduce the interaction of the fisheries with sea turtles, sea birds and marine mammals. In addition, HLA members work closely with NOAA Fisheries, the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council, the Inter
American Tropical Tuna Commission and the Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Commission in order to operate in a sustainable and professional
manner. Qualified applicants will possess strong background in state, federal, and international fisheries management and processes. This position will
require strong administration and communications skills and will include:
s!DVOCACYOFINDUSTRYPOSITIONS
s-EDIARELATIONS
s'RANTWRITING
s,IAISONWITHlSHERYMANAGEMENTORGANIZATIONS
s2ESPONDINGTOADMINISTRATIONANDCONGRESSIONALINQUIRIES
This position will offer a competitive compensation package
Résumés will be held in confidence.
Closing date for submission of résumés is October 1, 2010
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
FOR SALE
875 Meshes X 300 F WC salmon seine from BC.
Shirt line and SS rings, well maintained. $4,000.
(604) 619-6090 or email [email protected].
FOR SALE
Salmon seine, herring seine, power skiff with
nozzle, 3/8 Everson halibut tub gear, buoyline,
bladders, anchors, flagpoles, gurdy. 65' boat
with freezer, rigged for tuna, halibut, salmon,
herring, tuna gurdys and gear all discounted
75%. (604) 241-0594. http://us.mc655.mail.
yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=captmike@shaw.
ca"/t"_blank" or email: [email protected].
FOR SALE
Marco 26" block with power gripper and open
shieve, w/o hydraulic swivel. Ten years old:
$7,500 or best offer. Call: (206) 915-8345,
email: [email protected].
FISH WITH THE VIKING!
Maximize your IFQ return on
the F/V Viking Spirit
• Mustad Autobaiter • Great sea boat
w/shelter deck • Outstanding crew
• Can meet or beat any rates
Call Pete (425) 205-0996
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
EXXON PLAINTIFFS (lien agents)
Has distribution of your Exxon funds taken
over 6 months to receive? Join a specialized class action to petition Exxon Qualified
Settlement Fund to promptly process your
payments. If interested, you may fax your
request to (425) 671-0053, Curt Peterson,
co-plaintiff. Requests will be collectively
forwarded to E.Q.S.F. If plaintiffs would like
monthly updated progress reports, provide
an email address.
ALASKA FISHERMEN SERVICES
F/V LISA GAYLE is available to fish your
IFQ. Flexible rates, comfortable boat. Call
to schedule a convenient time to fish. (503)
791-2887 cell. (541) 568-4051. Great rates
for large quotas!
FOR SALE: Three brand new SE nets. 300 fthm
6", 200 fthm 5-1/4" and 200 fthm 7-1/4". A
very good deal at $10K for the package. (907)
539-6178.
* IFQs * Groundfish
* Limited Entry Permits
* Fishing Vessel Sales
* Marine Business Brokerage
* Fleet/Vessel Management
(888) 742-4800
www.AlaskaFishermen.com
BOAT FOR SALE: NEW!
47.5' Seiner/Longliner/Crabber Kodiak, Alaska.
$272,000. Negotiable. Gear and permits for
Kodiak salmon seine, herring gillnet, tanner
crab. Hamm design hull. 8000 hours John Deere
engine. 800 Wesmar sonar/TracPhone. 18 ton
RSW system/ packs 40,0000 lbs salmon. (808)
658-0390, (808) 658-5057 fiorentino.mary@
gmail.com
Harvest your A, B, or C IFQ’s
on the F/V Expatriate
A fully equipped and well maintained 58’ Delta.
Experienced captain and crew with a reputation for
quality; best markets for your catch. Buyer references
available.
Call 907-772-4856 weekdays
OR mobile 602-320-9050
FOR SALE OR TRADE
FOR SALE
39' BHM 1987 New QSM11 350-450 H.P.
(200hrs.) New 10Kw gen. (50 hrs.) Split
Wheelhouse, Hyd., Puller, 2 Radars, GPS Plotter,
Fishfinder, Autopilot, VHF, AM-FM-CD. Ca. Lobster
permit, Socal. Nearshore permit, Gillnet permit,
Salmon Permit. Boat with permits $295K boat
only $225K. Lobster permit-$95K. Nearshore
permit-$50K. Gillnet permit-$10K. After sale of
boat only. (805) 290-5370
FOR SALE: California Commercial Lobster
Operator's Permit, transferable, from San
Diego. CA. We are a private party, not broker.
$51,000 asking price. Email: Itomlins@
san.rr.com or (619) 742-1992.
IFQ-QS
18,000 lbs. Halibut
Class C shares
Sell or trade for:
Black cod, western gulf
and/or 4B Halibut
No Brokers please.
Fax: (907) 235-5412
Cell: (907) 299-4026
CALL THE CLAM MAN
For all your clam needs. Cockles, steamers
butters and horse necks. Human consumption or bait. Also commercial diving supplies.
Call Doug’s Diving, (503) 322-2200 or (800)
355-DIVE, www.dougsdiving.com.
FOR SALE
Togiak Herring Seine and Skiff. $5500 OBO. Seine
hung by Jack & Joe of Bellingham. 50% web
hung in. Good shape. Skiff 16' fiberglass Olsen.
Needs outboard motor. Phone (360) 951-6058.
FOR SALE
S.S. 4 Blade Prop. Skewed Kaplan style, 5" Bore
R.H., 63" Dia. x 58" Pitch. $9,000. Call: (360)
671-1354.
LONGLINE CLIPS
Wanted to buy: Wagner 5" or similar longline clips.
(509) 679-0384
Pacific Fishing
in December:
BROADBAND
UPDATE
Tell your
prospective customers
what’s new in the sky
for them.
Diane Sandvik, advertising manager
206-962-9315 or dianes@pacificfishing.com
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 39
ADVERTISERS INDEX
PACIFIC FISHING classifieds
California light boats and purse seiners for
squid and sardines with permits available
now. Call Don (949) 279-9369.
FOR SALE, LEASE, OR ME W/GEAR, (New!) 100,
90#, 38" airport pots, Rigged ready to splash,
Many extras, 25 years on the ocean, 17 years
crab, Coast guard licensed, Looking for quality
boat, Or sell everything. Call for complete details.
(541) 226-7000
FOR SALE
Large Shipwright Complex close to downtown Petersburg, Alaska. Retail store,
wood working and metal shops, railway,
docks, rental income and tideland leases
for expansion. Located in the busy fishing
community of Petersburg. Call George
Doyle, Broker — Petersburg Properties
LLC at (907) 772-6000 or visit us at
www.petersburgproperties.com.
FOR SALE
Two California purse seiners available. Ready
to fish. Complete boats with market squid
permits and sardine permits. Priced to sell
quick at $429,000. Call Don (949) 279-9369.
FOR SALE
Three California light boats available with or
without permits. One boat and permit at only
$79,000. One 12 ton brail or light boat permit
at only $52,000. All priced to sell. Call Don
(949) 279-9369.
F/V ELIZABETH S (47 ft. Delta) available to
harvest c class 2c, 3a halibut and SE blackcod.
Competitive rates for hired skipper, medical
transfers, or walk-ons. Small blocks welcome.
Contact Daniel Smith at (907) 209-2215.
NEW
Kaplan style prop, 59.5" diameter by 60"
pitch. 4" standard taper with 70% DAR: RH.
For sale at $8,000. Contact: Steve Drage,
(503) 338-6190.
Fishing MASTERS AND ENGINEERS WANTED
for fishing opportunity in South Pacific. USCG
3000T/Unlimited Masters and Chief Engineer
License Required. Send resume to ports@
faststream.us
SMALL BOAT TRAWL WINCHES
Approx. 550 H.P., 500 fath. 5/8 wire. Starting
at $19,500. Available Nov. 2010. Call: (360)
671-1354.
FOR SALE
CAT D375 located in Petersburg.30,000 hours
in federal government service, very well
maintained. RepoweRing vessel – Make offer.
(907) 772-4625.
WANTED
2C unblocked halibut quota. Will pay $24/lb.
Call Roger: (907) 789-9504 or (907) 723-4642
(cell). Email: [email protected].
FOR SALE: 60 tubs dogfish/cod gear, 70 tubs
halibut gear, 20 anchors, 14 flagpoles,chute,
12 buoys, gurdy, herring seine,10" herring
pump, powerskiff-6 cyl ford with nozzle,
salmon seines 5.75, 8.75. ph (604) 241-0594
F/V JAGULAR: 1978 Work Boats Northwest
Aluminum Bristol Bay Gillnetter, 6V53 Detroit
rebuilt in 1997. Borg Warner Velvet drive rebulit in 2006. Packs 16,000 under the hatches,16
mile furuno radar, 2 GPS’s, 2 meter Icom radio,
Horizon VHF, new marine grade Jensen stereo,
Sitex fathometer. New muffler in 2009, new
Jabsco 1".25 wash down pump 2009, slush
bags. Too many upgrades to list. Same owner
for 15 years. Good solid maintained work boat,
$75,000 or best offer. Call (206) 817-2101.
40 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
Alaska Boats and Permits ..........................37
Alaska Division of Investments ..................27
Alaska Fishermen Services.........................39
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute .............2
Alaska United/GCI......................................42
AlaskaCrewFinder.com ..............................35
AlaskaJobFinder.com .................................35
Alaskan Quota & Permits ...........................37
American Seafoods/Coast Guard..................7
Baier Marine ..............................................18
Ballard Electric...........................................33
Black Pearl IFQ Fisheries ............................37
Coastal Marine Engine, Inc.........................37
Copper River Boat & Permits, LLC ...............40
Cummins ...................................................44
Dana F. Besecker Co ...................................32
Delta Western ............................................12
Diesel America West ..................................33
Dock Street Brokers ...................................35
Englund Marine .........................................20
Fisheries Supply.........................................10
Fleet Refrigeration.......................................6
FORS ..........................................................33
Foss Shipyard .......................................11, 32
Gibbons & Associates, P.S. ..........................31
Giddings Boat Works..................................19
Hans Johnson ............................................39
Hawaii Longline Assn ................................38
Hockema & Whalen Associates ..................31
Inmarsat North America ............................23
Integrated Marine Systems..........................5
Inventive Marine Products .........................15
Jackson, Morgan & Hunt ............................32
Kraft Palmer Davies, PLLC ............................9
KVH Industries ...........................................43
Ladner Traps ..............................................33
Law Office of Paul L. Anderson, PLLC .........31
LFS, Inc. .....................................................18
MER Equipment .........................................33
Mikkelborg Law Offices .............................31
Mondo Polymer Technology ......................17
Norm Pillen ...............................................35
Northport Fisheries....................................33
Notus Electronics .......................................21
NPFVOA .....................................................39
NW Farm Credit Services............................36
Ocean Traps ...............................................32
Osborne Propellers Ltd...............................32
PacWest Refrigeration ...............................14
PF’s “What’s New”......................................30
Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op...............8
Rigby Marine .............................................33
Rocky’s Marine...........................................17
Ryco Equipment.........................................16
Satellite Technical Services ........................25
Seabrooke Enterprises LLC .........................38
Seattle Marine & Fishing Supply Co. ..........24
Silver Horde Fishing Supplies.....................33
Spurs Line & Net Cutter Systems ................41
The Permit Master .....................................34
Tom-Mac ...................................................13
Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Corp. HQ........29
Vancouver Shipyards .................................33
Viking Net Supply ......................................32
Viking Spirit ...............................................38
Warren L. Junes Ltd. ..................................32
WESMAR- Western Marine Electronics .......41
Wrangell Boatshop ....................................32
ON THE DOCKS
Floating sharecroppers: As with many B.C. fisheries, in the
albacore fishery there are economic problems in addition to the
low price of fish, and they relate to the costs associated with renting the right to fish from other fishermen.
Since only a limited number of Canadian tuna fishermen won
the right to fish in U.S. waters, some are leasing out their rights
to fish.
“So these guys are staying home and getting $15,000, and it’s
guys like me that want to fish that pay to go fishing,” tuna troller
Gray McPhedran said. “Four of my buddies aren’t even going
this year because of that.”
McPhedran is extremely critical of the system that caused
this situation.
“Why didn’t they say, ‘Here’s your license, and if you don’t
want to fish it, it goes back into the license pool and will get
issued to someone who does want to fish it?’”
New owner for Marine Industries: Vigor Marine LLC, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Vigor Industrial, will purchase the
assets of Marine Industries Northwest Inc. in Tacoma.
The company will operate the facility as Vigor Marine Tacoma and will continue providing vessel repair, conversion, and
construction services at that location.
Vigor Marine LLC, a Vigor Industrial company, is a
provider of marine repair services on the West Coast. The
company has locations in Oregon, California, and the Puget
Sound region.
Feeding farmed fish pig s**t: Pig waste is being turned into
food for the aquaculture industry.
Postcard: A nice halibut is hauled aboard the F/V Orion near Alaska’s Port
San Juan last summer. Bob Widmann photo
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., South
Australian biotechnologist Andrew Ward is breaking down
the waste to create methane, irrigation water, and nutrients
to feed water fleas, which can become fish meal. Ward says
there is big potential for other animal waste too. He says it is
based on methods already used in many Asian countries.
“A lot of the fish meal currently is coming from wild-caught fish
stocks, so with an ever-increasing demand in seafood and less
wild fish out there, aquaculture has to fill this role,” he said.
continued on page 42
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WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
…
SEPTEMBER 2010
… PACIFICFISHING … 41
ON THE DOCKS
continued from page 41
West Coast fishermen supporting IFQs
IMS gets GM: Marty Carothers has joined
I
Integrated
Marine Systems as general manager
o the company’s Port Townsend manufacturing
of
f
facility.
He has years of experience in manufacturi industrial equipment. His expertise includes
ing
i
improvements
for both manufacturing and
s
support
operations,
such as administration,
Marty Carothers
d
design,
facility layout, environmental, and safety.
IMS is well known in the design and manufacture of
innovative marine refrigeration equipment for fishing vessels
and processors.
Obituary: Tom Katica, a long time account manager for the
Western Region of ZF Marine Group, has died after a two-year battle
with cancer.
Born in Seattle, he had been a commercial fisherman. At one
time, he was known as Tommy Cadillac of the Seattle rock band Jr.
Cadillac. He began a career in the commercial marine industry with
MER Equipment in Seattle. He joined ZF Marine in 1997.
Unalaska economy: Unalaska’s economic engine continues to
chug along.
Construction continues slowly on the Carl E. Moses small boat
harbor, and the price tag isn’t getting any smaller. The council just
approved an almost $9 million contract to build a road out to it and
is collectively crossing its fingers that things go smoothly from here
on out.
The city also is at the center of a major social media campaign from
The Oregon Trawl Commission polled 73 boats in the groundfish fleet in July to gauge the level of support for an individual
fishing quota program.
The result? More than half the respondents — 40 fishermen
— voted in support of IFQs. Sixteen voted to delay the program,
currently set to launch Jan. 1. And 17 voted against the IFQs.
A final vote from the Pacific Fishery Management Council on
the groundfish IFQ is scheduled for this fall, as loose ends on
halibut bycatch rules and other sticking points get hashed out.
The results of the trawl commission poll were surprising to
some. But administrator Brad Pettinger said he’s always seen
plenty of support for IFQs. In fact, he said, 12 of the 17 people
opposed to IFQs are shrimpers without groundfish permits. The
shrimp fleet is worried about increased pressure on their fishery
as a result of the IFQ. – Cassandra Marie Profita
the Marine
Mari
Ma
rine
ri
ne Conservation
Con
onse
seerv
rvat
atio
at
io
on Al
Alli
lian
li
ance
an
ce me
mean
antt to
an
o sspread
prea
pr
ead
ea
d th
thee wo
word
rd
d
the
Alliance,
meant
about the sustainability of Alaska’s fisheries and to boost
Unalaska’s profile.
Resource analyst and municipal fishing guru Frank Kelty
has been actively recruiting fans and followers for the new
SeaAlliance Facebook and Twitter pages — and learning
how exhausting it is to feed the Internet when uploading
video takes more effort than kayaking upstream in a river of
Karo syrup.
He tried showing off the SeaAlliance YouTube page to
the community: The island looked resort-worthy, but we
couldn’t make it through all the footage without the video
buffering constantly.
New Telecommunications Cable in SE Alaska
Installation of CGI’s high capacity Àber-optic
communications system linking the communities
of SE Alaska is now complete. The Àber optic
system is now fully operational and has a
minimum service life of 25 years. The cable
provides a vital communication link between
Alaska and the rest of the world. By avoiding
operations directly on the cable route, you can
prevent cutting this link, and possibly damaging
Àshing gear. If you have entangled gear on the
cable, or believe your gear has been in contact
with the cable, please report the incident
by calling:
1-888-442-8662
(24 hours, 7 days a week)
5151 Fairbanks Street
Anchorage, AK 99503-2781
1-888-442-8662
(907) 777-5513 Fax
www.alaskaunited.com
[email protected]
42 … PACIFICFISHING …
SEPTEMBER 2010
…
WWW.PACIFICFISHING.COM
Juneau
Angoon
Sitka
Petersburg
Wrangell
Ketchikan
Call for complete position list and free charts
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Rely on broadband Internet with speeds as fast
as 2 Mbps down and 512 Kbps up while saving
85% or more vs. other solutions.
Crystal-clear telephone calls –
Make calls whenever and wherever you want
using either of the two lines of integrated voice
service optimized for maritime customers or
KVH’s crew calling solution.
Easy to install and setup –
®
ViaSat’s exclusive ArcLight spread spectrum
technology enables a small 24" antenna
with dramatically superior performance, easy
installation and activation in as little as 1 day!
Seamless global coverage –
mini-VSAT Broadband is a rapidly expanding
Ku-band global network with totally automatic
satellite switching and seamless roaming
between regions.
An end-to-end communications
solution with a compact 24"
antenna and a fully integrated
control unit and modem.
“The KVH TracPhone V7 and mini-VSAT
Broadband service are changing how we
do business. The fast, always-on connection
makes it easy to communicate with our
office on shore and get all of the weather
updates and other information we need.
Having the TracPhone V7 onboard allows us
to spend more time doing what we’re out
here to do – maximize our daily production!”
– Scott H. Bryant, Skipper; F/V American No.1,
Fishermen’s Finest, Seattle, WA
Find out how KVH TracPhone V7 can change your business at:
www.kvh.com/pacificfish
KVH Industries, Inc. • 50 Enterprise Center • Middletown, RI 02842-5279 U.S.A. • Tel: 401.847.3327
©2010 KVH Industries, Inc. KVH, TracPhone, and the unique light-colored dome with dark contrasting baseplate are registered trademarks of KVH Industries, Inc. 10_V7miniVSAT_CommFish_PacificFish2
“What broadband at sea was meant to be” and “mini-VSAT Broadband” are service marks of KVH Industries, Inc.
ArcLight is a registered trademark of ViaSat, Inc.; all other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Patents Pending.
EVERY
TIDE
TESTED. CERTIFIED. IN-SERVICE.
Cummins Marine QSK series engines
are setting the durability and fuel
efficiency standard.
s
s
s
s
s
Modular common rail fuel system
Lowest noise and vibration
Triple-wall, water cooled, exhaust manifold
Water-cooled turbocharger
EPA Tier II Certified
For more information contact
Tony Thomas at (425) 277-5330
[email protected]
cumminsnorthwest.com
QSK19
QSK38
QSK50
QSK60
-
500hp,
1200hp
1600hp
2000hp
600hp, & 660hp
& 1300hp
& 1700hp
& 2200hp