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UFA Update August 24, 2005 The UFA Office is reachable from the fishing grounds on Alaskanet satellite dispatch #6449, thanks to equipment and service provided by Vessel Connection and Satellite Alaska. See useful links for fishermen at http://www.satellitealaska.com/links/news.htm To get connected, call Harold Whittlesy at 206-321-6896. Contents 1. Two Atlantic salmon caught in SE Alaska 2. Federal Agriculture officials to visit Palmer for Farm Bill 2007 comments 3. DEC NPDES Primacy - meeting #7, August 25, Anchorage 4. Mecum Takes NOAA Fisheries Post 5. Kodiak Meeting held for conflicting fish seasons – will Pollock end pink processing? 6. Bristol Bay Harvest Tops 24 Million- Managers call it pretty darn close 7. Laine Welch: UAA uses Net to hook students on seafood 8. Ulmer: Halibut passes salmon in value 9. Juneau COTP Advisory – Recent Commercial Fishing Vessel Casualties 10. DIPAC Call goes out for sea denizens 11. Cannery reunion days in Juneau 12. My turn: Chilkat jet boat permit defies state's conservation history 13. Judge rules Valdez can tax oil ships 14. McCain, Clinton probe melting Arctic 15. OR: Congresswoman Hooley finds consensus against fish farms off Oregon coast 16. Invasive species of fish found in Rock River in Illinois 17. Seafood surprise — where is your fish from? 18. Arkansas congressman calls for ban on Vietnamese basa fish - Malachite Green 19. Malachite green makes HK gov't strengthen food safety 20. Sea Turtles: Ban on long-line commercial fishing may be lifted 21. Gulf of Maine bluefin tuna not as healthy as before 22. Baltimore Sun Editorial: Wiping out watermen 23. Scottish Fish farms plead for aid to survive 24. New EU health rules for fish farms 25. Laine Welch's Fish Radio 26. Deadline August 29 for written comments on the Crab Buyback proposed rule 27. Comment period extended on NS1 bycatch regs –new deadline October 21 28. NOAA Groundfish Observer Program for AK EEZ - Comment deadline Sept 7, 2005 29. NOAA Revised Guidelines for NOAA's Community-based Restoration Program 30. NMFS Crab Rationalization Workshop Sept. 1, Seattle 31. NPFMC Crab Plan team to meet, Sept 7-9, Anchorage Hilton 32. BOF & NPFMC Committee meeting Tuesday August 30 on Pollock, Prop 455 33. NPFMC GOA Overview & BSAI Crab Documents: 34. BOF ACR deadline August 29, 2005 for 2005-2006 cycle 35. PSMFC Annual meeting, Aug 21-24, Girdwood 36. MAP HAACP Trainings in Naknek, September 19 & 20-22 37. DEADLINE Sept 1 for comment on CFEC permit fees 38. ADF&G 2005 Inseason Alaska Salmon Summaries online 39. Salmon Price Report for week of August 8 40. Catch or See an Atlantic Salmon? - Please Call 1-877-INVASIV (1-877-468-2748) 1. Two Atlantic salmon caught in SE Alaska First one shows up and then, before you know it, there goes the neighborhood… or the salmon spawning grounds in this case. Two Atlantic pen-raised, invasive-species salmon have been caught in the last week in the waters around Petersburg and Wrangell…
http://www.petersburgpilot.com/www/stories/2005/ 2. Federal Agriculture officials to visit Palmer Senior officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay Alaska an unprecedented visit Thursday afternoon, when they swing through downtown Palmer for a one-stop public forum to discuss Alaska concerns regarding the shape of the federal 2007 Farm Bill. "This is the first time we have had senior officials from USDA in Alaska,"
http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2005/08/23/ Farm Bill Forum 2007 - Palmer - August 25, 1 – 4 p.m. The public is invited to provide input into the 2007 Farm Bill by responding to one or more of the following six questions at the forum or on-line at http://www.usda.gov/farmbill . All responses are limited to two minutes per speaker. The forum will also allow an open comment period for general farm bill comments. More info is at Alaska Farm Service Agency Home Page: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/AK/ 3. DEC NPDES Primacy - meeting #7, August 25, Anchorage On May 10, 2005, the
Legislature passed Senate Bill 110 (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session= All meetings are open to the public. The agenda and most of the handouts are currently posted at: http://www.dec.state.ak.us/water/npdes/work_group.htm 4. Mecum Takes NOAA Fisheries Post Doug Mecum, currently Director of the Division of Commercial Fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, has accepted the position of Deputy Regional Administrator for the Alaska Region of NOAA Fisheries. He will take up his new responsibilities in Juneau’s federal building September 6… http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/newsreleases/mecum0805.htm 5. Kodiak Meeting held for conflicting fish seasons – will Pollock season end pink processing? With the Gulf of Alaska pollock C season opening Thursday, some salmon fishermen are concerned it could bring an early end to a salmon season trying to make a rebound… http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=1862 6. Bristol Bay Harvest Tops 24 Million- Managers call it pretty darn close by John van Amerongen, Alaska Fisherman’s Journal No surprise was a pleasant surprise for Bristol Bay sockeye fishermen this year. The combined harvest of 24.2 million reds was remarkably close to the 25.6 million projected by Alaska Department of Fish & Game biologists in November 2004. Bristol Bay gillnetters were happy to put all of those “paper fish” into the hold this season. With a base price of $.60/lb for sockeye—up 20 percent from last year—the value of the Bay catch should exceed $80 million before any retro payments… For full story see… http://www.afjournal.com/magazine-content/features.asp 7. Laine Welch: UAA uses Net to hook students on seafood Making people more savvy about the seafood business is the focus of new courses starting this fall at the University of Alaska Anchorage… "It doesn't matter if you're sitting in Kodiak, Cordova, Cold Bay or Florida, for that matter. Folks can log on and be part of the class,"… http://www.adn.com/money/story/6837989p-6733278c.html & UAA - New courses about seafood business Making people more savvy about the seafood business is the focus of new courses starting this fall at the University of Alaska/Anchorage. And students won't even have to travel to Anchorage for a semester to attend them. Interestingly, the need for college courses that teach the "business of seafood" prompted lively discussion during the last legislative session. Obviously, it was not lost on state educators… http://www.sitnews.us/LaineWelch/082205_fish_factor.html 8. Ulmer: Halibut passes salmon in value Economic research has shown halibut has surpassed salmon as the most valuable species for Kenai Peninsula fishermen. That news was delivered at the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce Tuesday by former Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer.
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/081705/news_ 9. Juneau COTP Advisory – Recent Commercial Fishing Vessel Casualties My office has recently noted a high incidence of commercial fishing vessel accidents that could have been avoided had crew been alert and observed navigational rules… The scanned letter is posted at: http://www.ufa-fish.org/update/05/COTP.pdf 10. DIPAC Call goes out for sea denizens DIPAC aquarium needs volunteers who can bring sealife back alive …About 40 volunteers donated 380 hours to Douglas Island Pink and Chum, or DIPAC, last year, Aquarium Manager and Education Services Coordinator Rich Mattson said. It continues to look for more…
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/082305/loc_ 11. Cannery reunion days in Juneau Relentless hard work, punctuated by song, dance and learning, have made for undying memories
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/082105/loc_ 12. My turn: Chilkat jet boat permit defies state's conservation history …The executive board of the Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society is very concerned about the way the Department of Natural Resources reached its recent decision to open parts of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve to very large commercial jet boats…
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/082305/opi_ 13. Judge rules Valdez can tax oil ships An Anchorage judge has ruled that the city of Valdez has the right to impose a property tax on tankers coming in to pick up crude oil .. But the judge indicated the city probably has overtaxed them, raising the possibility that it will owe refunds to oil companies Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil…
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6848646p- 14. McCain, Clinton probe melting Arctic Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton, touring Alaska this week to view melting permafrost and shrinking glaciers, said the evidence is mounting that global warming is real and human activity is significantly to blame… http://www.dec.state.ak.us/water/npdes/work_group.htm 15. OR: Congresswoman Hooley finds consensus against fish farms off Oregon coast With the Bush administration having, only two months earlier, come out in support of large-scale aquaculture - "fish farms" - off the nation's coasts, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley (D-5th Dist.) came to Newport last Thursday to listen to the views of political leaders, government agency officials, environmentalists and others on the subject. "I hear today that you are either against it, or want strong standards for it and a state right to opt out of it," she said after the hour-and-a-half long discussion…
http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2005/08/ 16. Invasive species of fish found in Rock River in Illinois …The Mississippi and Illinois rivers have established bighead populations, which entered those waterways after escaping fish farms during flooding… http://www.gazetteextra.com/carpriver082305.asp 17. Seafood surprise — where is your fish from? "A lot of people don't eat the farm-raised," said Jay Bernard, the Bristol Stop & Shop seafood manager. "That's the only thing they ask about." … The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is investing in aquaculture research to create new jobs for Americans and meet the growing demand for seafood. But most of the farm-raised fish and shellfish in East Bay supermarkets appears to come from outside of the United States. For example, the mussels at Shaw's were raised in Canada on Prince Edward Island and the bay scallops at Stop & Shop were raised in China. According to Ms. Tate and Mr. Bernard, the signs don't stop customers from purchasing seafood harvested outside of the United States, which is ironic because the labeling program was created, in part, to promote domestic seafood products. Dr. William Hogarth, an assistant administrator in the National Marine Fisheries Service, said domestic fishermen face significant competition from foreign imports… http://www.eastbayri.com/story/284065838976942.php 18. Arkansas congressman calls for ban on Vietnamese basa fish - Malachite Green Research findings that show traces of an antibiotic in Vietnamese basa fish has U.S. Rep. Mike Ross asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a temporary nationwide ban on the sale the of fish because of health concerns. The agency recently found traces of fluoroquinolone, a forbidden antibiotic, in imported samples of the fish and issued an alert to inform states of the finding.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? 19. Malachite green makes HK gov't strengthen food safety The Hong Kong government has taken active measures to guard the food safety of Hong Kong as worries intensified after malachite green, a cancer-causing chemical, was found in freshwater fish in local markets… http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/22/content_471242.htm 20. Sea Turtles: Ban on long-line commercial fishing may be lifted Restyled hook won't spare sea turtles, opponents contend Marine conservationists say the West Coast's last sea turtles could be wiped out if federal agencies decide to overturn a ban on long-lining, a form of commercial fishing that has killed hundreds of thousands of turtles over the past 20 years… http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/05/BAGJIE3H0I1.DTL 21. Gulf of Maine bluefin tuna not as healthy as before Bluefin tuna caught in the Gulf of Maine these days are a lot leaner than they were in the 1990s, suggesting a major shift in the ecosystem, according to scientists at the University of New Hampshire…
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/ 22. Baltimore Sun Editorial: Wiping out watermen The individual waterman seems headed in the same direction as the family farmer and may well reach extinction first…. In fact, the Bush administration has conceded the collapse of wild fish populations in U.S. coastal waters, with a proposal that fish farming be permitted in the zone from three miles to 200 miles offshore where most commercial fishermen have traditionally plied their trade. Plus, the proposal is designed in such a way - with no environmental safeguards - to ensure that whatever wild fish remain will be killed off in the process. 23. Scottish Fish farms plead for aid to survive Scottish fish farmers meet for crisis talks today in an effort to win the government cash they say is necessary for survival, with fears of imminent company closures and job losses in some of the most remote parts of Scotland… http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/44874.html 24. New EU health rules for fish farms Prevention is the best cure for tackling disease in farmed fish said the European Commission, after revealing proposals for new rules on aquaculture. Brussels is concerned that current EU laws, developed more than 20 years ago covering mainly salmon and oyster farms, are out of date and could lead to the spread of diseases within the aquaculture industry… http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200508/9d0dc4e4-11b3-4e32-a658-7bbb379b98de.htm Norway: 'Tide has turned' in favour of fish farmers http://business.scotsman.com/agriculture.cfm?id=1773372005 25. Laine Welch's Fish Radio This weeks topics: Thursday 8/25/05 - Dogs smell off flavor in fish better than high tech methods Wednesday 8/24/05 - Halibut and black cod prices: HIGH Note advisory below Tuesday 8/23/05 - New electronic reporting starts w/gold crab; will soon replace all fish tickets Monday 8/22/05 - Eating fish reduces hyperactivity in kids, hip fractures in elderly Friday 8/19/05 - USDA Farm Bill hearing next week in Palmer wants input from seafood industry http://www.marineconservationalliance.org/fishradio.htm ….& see Laine Welch's Fish Factor at http://www.kinyradio.com/fishfactor.html 26. Deadline August 29 for written comments on the Crab Buyback proposed rule Federal Register Notice:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ 27. Comment period extended on NS1 bycatch regs –new deadline October 21
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ 28. NOAA Groundfish Observer Program for AK EEZ – Proposed rule & call for comments – Comment deadline Sept 7, 2005
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ 29. NOAA Revised Guidelines for NOAA's Community-based Restoration Program Request for comments on proposed revisions to Program Guidelines for the NOAA Community-based Restoration Program… NMFS initiated a Community-based Restoration Program (Program) in 1996 that provides Federal financial and technical assistance to encourage locally led coastal and marine habitat restoration, and to promote stewardship and conservation values for NOAA trust resources…NMFS is seeking comments from interested parties on the revised guidelines…
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ 30. NMFS Crab Rationalization Workshop Sept. 1, Seattle NMFS will present a public workshop on the new Crab Rationalization Program (Program) for participants in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) king and Tanner crab fisheries. At this workshop, NMFS will review the Program, discuss the key Program elements, provide information on the application process, and answer questions. This workshop is specifically intended to address issues related to the Arbitration System portion of the Program. NMFS is conducting this public workshop to assist participants in complying with the requirements of this new Program. Thursday, September 1, 2005, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). Leif Erickson Hall, 2245 Northwest 57th Street, Seattle, WA. CONTACT: Glenn Merrill, telephone: 907-586-7228; e-mail: glenn.merrill@noaa.gov .
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ 31. NPFMC Crab Plan team to meet, Sept 7-9, Anchorage Hilton The committee's agenda includes the following: Update on Information Quality Act relevance to Crab Plan Team role in reviewing stock assessment products, Review of state/federal action plan, Review summer research including: NMFS survey, Bering Sea Fishery Research Foundation survey; snow crab tagging results. Model and assessment results on Golden King crab, Red King crab and Snow crab. Review Status of stocks, stock status relative to overfishing, and current harvest strategies, state annual management reports, review, revise, compile Stock Assessment Fishery Evaluation Report. Review progress on revised overfishing definitions, Bairdi Tanner crab harvest strategy and rebuilding plan, review membership… issues.http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan NPFMC Crab page:
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/ 32. BOF & NPFMC Committee meeting Tuesday August 30 on Pollock, Prop 455 A committee of the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) will meet with a committee of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (council) on Tuesday, August 30, 2005, at the Hawthorne Suites, 1110 W. Eighth St., in Anchorage, Alaska. The committee meeting begins at 10:30 am. The board/council committee will discuss further information needs and scheduling considerations for addressing open and closed state and federal waters to fishing for pollock. The board has deferred action on related proposal 455 in order to receive input from the council… BOF Notice:
http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/meetinfo/ 33. NPFMC GOA Overview & BSAI Crab Documents: GOA Rationalization Overview of Alternatives and Preliminary Analysis 10/05
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/ Environmental Assessment Regulatory Impact Review Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for proposed Amendment 20to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea and Aleutian IslandsKing and Tanner Crabs
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/analyses/Baird 34. BOF ACR deadline August 29, 2005 for 2005-2006 cycle
http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/news/ 35. PSMFC Annual meeting, Aug 21-24, Girdwood Documents have been posted at:http://www.psmfc.org/content/view/115/218/ Meeting info and Agenda: http://www.psmfc.org/content/view/100/139/ 36. MAP HAACP Trainings in Naknek, September 19 & 20-22 Courses in Sanitation and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) will take place in Naknek in September. Both courses result in a certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials upon successful completion. To register for the courses go to http://www.uaf.edu/map/haccp/register.html . For more information about the courses call Liz Brown at 842-1265. 37. DEADLINE Sept 1 for comment on CFEC permit fees CFEC Notice: http://www.cfec.state.ak.us/notices/NO_2005_0519.htm Proposed Regulation & Fees page: http://www.cfec.state.ak.us/pregs/PR_2005_0801.htm 38. ADF&G 2005 Inseason Alaska Salmon Summaries online
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/finfish/salmon/ 39. Salmon Price Report for week of August 8 http://www.alaskaseafood.org/fishingprocessing/080805smb.pdf & look for latest report and Salmon Market Bulletins at ASMI SMIS Homepage: http://www.alaskaseafood.org/fishingprocessing/bulletin.htm 40. Catch or See an Atlantic Salmon? - Please Call 1-877-INVASIV (1-877-468-2748) call ADF&G hotline, keep fish whole and refrigerate if possible.
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