a pdf of the Fall 2014 Edition

Transcription

FALL EDITION 2014
Presented by
NET PICKERS
CREWING
COOK INLET
BOATBUILDING \ CALIFORNIA
SPONSON AND STRETCH
GEAR SHIFTS \ HOOKED
LONGLINE LINEAGE
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SM
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Cheryl ess
FALL 2014
MiCk kronMan
30
24
Debbie long
COLUMNS
FEATURES
14
24
COMFORT ZONE
Make a fire-prevention plan.
16
ON THE HORIZON
Crew contracts protect all.
26
DEPARTMENTS
2 PILOTHOUSE LOG
4 INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS
6 TIDINGS
7 CALENDAR
8 SEASON FORECASTS
10 OUR FISHERY
ALSO
34
36
AD INDEX
IN FOCUS
18
HOOK-AND-LINE SHIFTS
The development of the gear used by
Santa Barbara fishermen can be traced
back to the Chumash Indians.
26
SLOW YOUR ROLL
ON THE HOMEFRONT
How fishing affects holidays.
Sponsoning and lengthening the 48-foot
Viking eases the ride of the vessel and
allows it to safely work multiple fisheries.
20
30
YOUNGBLOODS
Keeping advocacy alive.
21
SALMON SPREAD
Brothers Chris and Charlie Ess fish
together for the first time in years while
gillnetting for sockeyes in Cook Inlet.
THE LONG HAUL
Feeding fish to the hungry.
22
MAKING THE RULES
Tackling issues old and new.
Cover: Charlie Ess, Matt Stillman
and Chris Ess pick sockeyes on the
Chipmunk in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
Cheryl Ess photo
FALL 2014 / NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS
1
PILOTHOUSE LOG
FORTUNE AND FATE
f
almon may be the most celebrated commercial fshery
in Alaska, but the start of the most bountiful fshery is
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is up from last year, but the fshery faces other challenges.
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fshery, which kicked of in October with an unexpectedly
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never far from many fshermen’s minds. Our North Pacifc
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The camaraderie on fshing boats often leads to fondness and
fghting akin to kin. In Charlie’s case, the bond between
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the case for extending your fshing family by joining an
organization. Fishing associations are often fshermen’s only
hope for defending their fshery when it comes to a confict.
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battle that threatens to take this fshery management decision
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salmon fshery.
PUBLISHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
SENIOR EDITORf
BOATS & GEAR EDITORf
ART DIRECTORf
ONLINE EDITORf
PRODUCTION DESIGNERf
PRODUCTION ASSOCIATEf
PRODUCTION ASSOCIATEff
V.P., STRATEGIC MARKETINGf
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Where fshery
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most Alaska fshermen
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JESSICA HATHAWAY
Editor in chief
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herring fshermen were gearing up to start their season.
The fshery has yet to recover in the sound. Freelance
Heather Wiedenhoft explores the problems the fshery
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connected with us here, online at www.nationalfsherman.
Pacifc Marine Expo. I look forward to hearing from you.
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING COORDINATORff
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ff oducer of Pacifc Marine Expo
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NORTHEAST
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NORTHWEST
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Diversifed Communications
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GULF COAST
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© 2014 Diversifed Business Communications
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North Pacifc Focus, Fall 2014, Vol. 1, No. 2, is published quarterly by Diversifed Business Communications, 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. READERS: All editorial
correspondence should be mailed to: National Fisherman, P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438.
2
NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS / FALL 2014
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DELTA
United Fishermen oF AlAskA
INDUSTRY WAYPOINTS
The United Fishermen of Alaska honored its 2013 and 2014
Fisherman of the Year award winners and its Person of the
Year in Fisheries Politics during its 40th anniversary celebration
banquet in late September.
This year’s Fisherman of the Year honorees are Jim and
Rhonda Hubbard, owners of the Kruzof, an innovative
small, direct-marketing freezer-longline vessel that produces
onboard top-quality halibut, blackcod and rockfish p oducts
caught throughout Alaska. The Hubbards have also been
advocates for the development of fair and reasonable fishing
industry regulations.
Also honored were UFA’s 2013 Fisherman of the Year recipients. Fishing industry veteran Jim Butler is the volunteer
president of resources for All Alaskans, an organization that
works to oppose the misuse of ballot initiatives to improperly
allocate or restrict Alaska’s vast natural resources, particularly
the proposed initiative to ban setnet fishing. U A also
• During its annual banquet, UFA
inducted five new members into the
association’s Hall of Fame.
State Sen. Fred Dyson (R, D-F), who
has served in the Alaska House and Senate since 1997, is known for keeping an
open-door policy, the association says.
Dyson has always used his vast experience in fishe ies and other careers to
address the concerns of coastal Alaska’s
families and communities.
Four industry champions crossed the
bar in 2014 and were inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame.
Bob Tkacz, described as “a tenacious,
fearless, doggedly persistent reporter,
seeker of fact and truth,” was honored
for his beat on Capitol Hill, which resulted in the informative quasi-fishe ies
publication “Laws of the Sea.”
Albert W. Ball Sr., a Bristol Bay commercial fishe man for 82 seasons, worked
until he was 98. Missing only one season,
Ball had one of the longest commercial
fishing ca eers in Alaska.
Jim Kallander made significant co tributions to the seafood industry while
building a loyal and committed family
of friends, UFA says. Kallander fished
a range of fishe ies from Hawaii to the
Bering Sea.
4
recognized Bruce Schactler, whom the organization calls a
tireless advocate for Alaska seafood in the global marketplace.
Schactler has worked on issues like country of origin labeling,
Trade Adjustment Assistance for depressed salmon markets and
efforts to establish a national seafood marketing coalition.
UFA also named state Rep. Alan Austerman (R, D-35) its
Person of the Year in Fisheries Politics. Austerman, who has
been a crab, halibut, salmon and shrimp fisherman, was also a
state senator. He left office in 2003 to become policy adviser
to then-Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski. Additionally, he passed
legislation that has benefited the state’s fishing industry, UFA
says, and he has been a strong supporter of innovation in the
processing sector.
Keith Jeffe ts founded Northwest
Marine Technologies in 1974 on Shaw
Island, Wash., and was instrumental in
introducing the coded wire tag to Alaska
fishe ies.
• Ballard Hardware
and Supply, a familyowned company in
Seattle, has changed its
name to Ballard Industrial.
Since 1952, it has provided marine,
manufacturing, construction and
industrial clients with an expanded
range of industrial supplies, services and
solutions. “For many years now, we have
operated as an industrial supply and
services company. We’ve known that
‘Hardware’ in our name has hindered the
perception of our business, particularly as
we are expanding into new markets,” says
Ballard Industrial’s Greg Hartje. Hartje
and Doug Freyberg, sons of company
founders Lyle Hartje and Jim Freyberg,
are Ballard Industrial’s managing
partners. The company launched a new
website (www.ballardindustrial.com) in
November, and its e-commerce portion
is being developed and progressively
introduced to provide customers with
easier access to Ballard’s catalog of
products and services.
• Bodo, Norway-based deck machinery
manufacturer
Rapp Marine,
with a service
and sales office in Seatt , has opened a
factory in Gruza, Serbia. The new $8.68
million facility has 9,100 square meters of
production area. “Our goal is that the factory in Gruza, Serbia, will be one of the
most modern and efficient winch an
deck machinery factories in the world,”
says Helge Vatnehol, Rapp Marine’s
CEO. Rapp Marine, which has been in
business for more than a century, says the
investment in the new facility is key to
sustaining its competitiveness.
• The Seattle-based
Purse Seine Vessel
Bob Kehoe
Owners Association,
has joined the nationwide fishing industry
advocacy group Seafood Harvesters of
America. “PSVOA is pleased to join the
harvesters as a united voice of accountability for sustaining American-caught
seafood for tens of millions of consumers
across the country,” says Bob Kehoe, the
association’s executive director. Kehoe
mentioned Alaska Sen. Mark Begich’s
promise “to extend an existing moratorium on incidental discharge requirements
expiring on Dec. 18.” Though Begich
recently was defeated in his re-election
bid, Kehoe pledges to continue working
toward that goal. “Working together with
the harvesters, our priority is to extend
this moratorium and save thousands of
commercial fishe men from a ‘fish cli ’ of
burdensome red tape and costly fines for
the normal operations of their boats.”
Alaska didn’t jump on t e
SUSTAINABILITY trend.
WE STARTED IT.
Marine conservation isn’t new to Alaska Seafood.
In fact, a precautionary approach to setting harvest
levels has been in place for decades. Look at the
BSAI Catch Limits chart and see how the numbers tell the story. Each year
scientists conduct surveys of the available biomass and use this data
to calculate conservative catch limits – Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC).
Then, fisheries managers go a step further and set harvest quotas –
Total Allowable Catch (TAC) – that never exceeds the sustainable ABC.
And, with the FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM)
Certification, you have even more assurance that conserving our oceans
is anything but trendy to us. Learn more at www.alaskaseafood.org
1981-2012
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI)
Groundfish Catch Limits
TIDINGS
Norton Sound
Bristol Bay
Kodiak
NEWS FROM
THE WEST COAST & ALASKA
Fraser River
Pebble Mine battle brings flurry of autumn activity
Organization seeks name
change for Alaska pollock
asMI
W
hat’s in a name? Plenty, says the
Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers. The organization is asking the federal Food and Drug Administration to
change the fish’s trade name from
“Alaska pollock” to just plain “pollock.”
The reason? The marketing organization says pollock from Russia can still be
called Alaska pollock. Consumers
seeking Alaskacaught fish may
unknowingly
be buying pollock from Russia,
where sustainability standards
are less stringent
than those Alaska
harvesters
fish
Alaska pollock’s
name may change.
under.
6
Klamath
if legislators deem the activity would
harm the bay’s wild salmon resource.
“This victory, however, should not be
seen as an opportunity to rest,” says Katherine Carscallen, a salmon fishe man and
the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association’s sustainability director. “The EPA protections we have been
seeking are the only true way to give our
industry certainty upfront that Bristol
Bay’s salmon runs will be protected.”
KatherIne CarsCallen
Bristol Bay harvester
Katherine Carscallen picks
salmon from the gillnet of
her boat the Sea Hawk.
Better news came in November when
Alaska voters approved a ballot measure
giving the state Legislature the power to
prohibit mining projects in Bristol Bay
Alaska’s and Washington state’s Congressional representatives added their
support for the name change in a letter
to the FDA.
“This administration should act to
counter Russia’s recent actions to harm
Alaska’s seafood industry,” said Sen.
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), referring to Russia’s ban of seafood imports
from the United States and other countries, “and the FDA should take action
promptly to make it easier for consumers to tell good Alaska pollock from inferior Russian product.”
Salmon Cannon offers
a fish passage alternativ
W
hat began as a system to transport fruit may provide a new way
to safely deliver migrating West Coast
salmon around dams and other obstacles.
The Salmon Cannon, developed by
Bellevue, Wash.-based Whooshh In-
Fish safely exit the
Salmon Cannon’s
soft, flexible tube
novations, sends fish as far as 250 feet
through a flexible tube at speeds of up
to 22 mph before dropping them into
the water.
The system uses vacuum technology to transport fish. The salmon travel
through a soft thermoplastomer tube. A
mister creates a layer of water vapor to
move the fish along. The tube won’t
crack if it’s cold, and it has no seams for
bacteria to cling to.
“Transporting fish over dams is the
goal,” Bryan says. “There are 80,000
dams in the United States, and less than
10 percent have any sort of fish passage because it’s cost- or engineeringprohibitive.”
Whooshh InnovatIons
F
all brought Alaskans a mixed bag
of news regarding the proposed
Pebble Mine.
In September, the Pebble Limited
Partnership filed a new la suit asserting that the Environmental Protection Agency had colluded with antimining forces to develop a
strategy to stop the project,
a violation of the Federal
Advisory Committee Act.
Report says illegal Russian
crab hurts Alaska industry
I
llegal Russian crab is a serious issue for
Alaska’s $910 million crab industry,
which competes directly with the Russian product, says a World Wildlife Fund
report released in October.
fishing. The crab group’s executive director, Mark Gleason, testified in February at a Senate hearing about the effect
the influx of Russian product has had on
Alaska crab economics.
Gleason cited NOAA data indicating
that illegal Russian crab has cost U.S.
fishermen $560 million since 2000. “As
long as illegal Russian crab is afforded
unfettered access to the world market,”
Gleason testified, “the playing field will
not be level.”
percent jump to 505.6 million pounds.
Pacific salmon landings increased by
more than 433.3 million pounds —
a 68 percent increase — to 1.1 billion pounds. The value of the salmon
catch also rose by 55 percent to more
than $267.5 million. Alaska accounted
for almost 95 percent of the Pacific
salmon total.
Alaska, West Coast states
post volume, value increases
Alaska’s crab industry supports
federal legislation that would curb
illegal Russian fishing
The report takes aim at Russia’s illegal, unregulated and unreported
crab catch, which it says is flooding
global markets and artificially lowering
prices paid to harvesters.
The Seattle-based Alaska Bering Sea
Crabbers urged Congress at the end of
October to pass legislation that would
implement a program to combat IUU
laska and West Coast fisheries enjoyed a stronger year in 2013 than
they did in 2012, according to the annual Fisheries of the United States
report NMFS released in October.
Alaska, Washington, Oregon and
California all enjoyed volume and value increases in 2013. Their combined
landings rose from 6.42 billion pounds
worth $2.37 billion in 2012 to 7.06 billion pounds worth $2.7 billion.
According to the report, Alaska pollock landings hit 3 billion pounds,
648.6 million pounds higher than the
five-year average from 2008-12. Pacific
cod landings dipped by 5 percent, but
whiting landings enjoyed a nearly 46
DECEMBER
Dec. 6
Lighted Boat Parade
and Tree Lighting
Morro Bay, CA
(805) 772-4467
www.morrobay.org
Dec. 8-17
North Pacific
Fishery Management
Council Meeting
Hilton Anchorage
West 3rd Ave.
Anchorage, AK
(907) 271-2809
www.npfmc.org
Dec. 12
Harbor Lights Festival
St. Paul Harbor
Kodiak, AK
(907) 486-0384
[email protected]
www.kodiakmaritimemuseum.org
Dec. 17-21
Christmas Boat Parade
Newport Beach, CA
(949) 729-4400
www.christmasboatparade.com
JANUARY
Jan. 21-27
Alaska Board
of Fisheries Meeting
Nolan Center
286 Campbell Drive
Wrangell, AK
(907) 874-3699
www.adfg.alaska.gov
Jan. 26-30
International Pacific Halibut
Commission Annual Meeting
Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle
Downtown Hotel
1128 W. Hastings St.
Vancouver, British Columbia
(604) 684-1128
www.iphc.int/home.html
SuSAn ChAMberS
ASMI
A
Pacific salmon landings g ew by 433.3
million pounds in 2013, according to
NMFS’ annual report on U.S. fisheries
FEBRUARY
Feb. 2-11
North Pacific Fishery
Management Council Meeting
Renaissance Hotel
515 Madison St.
Seattle, WA
(206) 583-0300
www.npfmc.org
Feb. 23-March 3
Alaska Board
of Fisheries Meeting
Harrigan Centennial Hall
330 Harbor Drive
Sitka, AK
(907) 747-3225
www.adfg.alaska.gov
To list your event in North Pacific
Focus, contact Linc Bedrosian at
[email protected] or
(207) 842-5622.
7
SEASON FORECASTS
King crab
Outlook: ALASKA
Jessica HatHaway
King crab surveys launch larger Bering Sea TAC;
Russian certification, bycatch challenge pollock fleet
BY CHARLIE ESS
K
ing crab pots splashed
Oct. 15 with an unexpected 9.9 million pound
total allowable catch. The
Bering Sea fleet fished on
an 8.6 million pound TAC
last season, which was up
from 7.85 million pounds in
the 2012-13 season.
The surveys that spurred the increase
baffle biologists, who in recent years
have seen fewer crab. The slight TAC increase is based on poundage in the total
biomass. As the older crabs mature and
gain body weight, the TAC increases.
This year’s survey produced more crab
than biologists had seen in previous years.
“That’s the puzzler,” says Heather
Fitch, area management biologist for
groundfish and shellfish with the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game in Dutch
Harbor. “Water temperatures were quite
a bit warmer than recent years, which is
the only notable diffe ence. The survey
showed definite increases to Bering Sea
red king crab.”
Ex-vessel prices will continue to respond to volumes of unreported illegal
crab harvested in Russia funneling its way
into markets in Japan and elsewhere.
The 2014 pollock TAC for the Bering
Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, meanwhile,
had been set at 1.37 million metric tons,
down slightly from 1.39 million metric tons. The 2015 TAC stands at 1.45
million metric tons. The 2015 pollock
A season kicks off on Jan. 1. Roe taken
during the A season goes primarily to Japan and South Korea. In 2013, around
6.5 million kilos made their way from
the United States to Japan, but South
POLLOCK
8
PACIFIC COD
Korea took 7.4 million kilos. As of
August 2014, Japan claimed
more than 11 million kilos
of roe, while South Korea had taken around 8.8
ALASKA
FISHERIES
million kilos.
Though the resource
is healthy, the industry
faces two threats on the
marketing front: MSC
certification of the Russian
pollock fishe y, which could
put additional volumes of product
into ecoconscious markets throughout
Europe, and bycatches of king salmon. In
2014, trawlers caught 14,066 incidental
chinooks, up from 9,818 in 2013.
On Jan. 1, the fleet will begin launching pots for Pacific cod and working on
TACs of 258,199 metric tons in the Bering Sea and 6,487 in the Aleutian Islands.
That’s up slightly from the respective
245,897 and 6,997 metric tons 2014.The
Gulf of Alaska TAC, meanwhile, declined
slightly from last year’s 64,738 metric tons
to a 2015 quota of 61,519 metric tons.
Ex-vessel prices, meanwhile, have fallen from around 40 cents a pound in 2012
to 30 cents in 2013 and rebounded slightly to around 35 cents per pound in 2014.
The 2014 IFQ seasons for halibut and
blackcod wound down in November.
Prices held strong, with halibut from 10
to 20 pounds fetching $7.45 per pound
and fish weighing from 20 to 40 pounds
bringing $7.70, according data from the
Fishing Vessel Owners Association in Seattle. Prices for the larger fish from 40
to 60 pounds, meanwhile, brought longliners $7.95 with fish 60 pounds and up
running at $8.05 per pound.
Retail prices varied from $17 to $25
per pound in response to sharp reductions in TACs in Areas 3A, 3B and 4A.
HALIBUT
BLACK COD
As of October, IFQ holders had harvested
15.08 million pounds, which was 95 percent of the 15.95 million pound quota.
Blackcod fishe men were treated to
healthy ex-vessel prices, despite a weakening yen, thanks to increased sales and
demand in domestic markets. Small fish
weighing 1 and 2 pounds started at $3.55
per pound, and the prices jumped sharply
to $5.05 for fish in the 2-and-3-pound
range. The 3-to-4-pound fish meanwhile, brought $5.45 with 4-5s fetching
$5.95 and 5-7s getting $6.75. Fish running 7 pounds and up brought dockside
offe s of $7.85 per pound.
According to Bob Alverson, manager
of FVOA, the blackcod abundance appears to be holding steady, with slight increases found in surveys along the West
Coast. TACs for the 2015 halibut and
blackcod seasons were expected to be announced in January. (The results of 2014
longline surveys for halibut stock assessments had been scheduled for release at
the IPHC meetings in Seattle, during the
fi st week in December.)
A bumper crop of Bristol Bay sockeyes surprised Alaska’s salmon fishe men
in 2014. The extra fish meant more volume for folks with gillnet operations in
the bay, but harvest areas elsewhere in the
state saw ex-vessel prices drop in response
to the extra fish
The Bristol Bay sockeye harvest had
been forecast at 16.9 million sockeyes, but
the fleet landed nearly 32 million. Cook
Inlet saw dockside offe s of $2.40 per
pound, but prices dropped to less than $2
per pound as the bay’s volume came in.
Prices in Bristol Bay, meanwhile, hovered
at just over a dollar a pound.
Charlie Ess is NPF’s North Pacific bureau
chief.
SOCKEYE SALMON
KING CRAB
SEASON FORECASTS
Dungeness opener a prelude to main seasons;
opportunity knocks for petrale, spiny lobster
Spiny lobster
around $1 a pound.
According to Pacific Fisheries In- 60 percent of the total petrale quota had
t’s no secret that Dungeness crab formation Network data, the average been caught; by the first week of Octodominates the West Coast fisheries price for petrale in 2013 was $1.25 a ber this year, about 70 percent had been
during the winter months, but there’s
pound. So far this year, the price has caught.
also some opportunity for a
been lower, averaging $1.10 a
Southern California fishermen will
greater petrale harvest and
pound.
continue to deliver spiny lobster to
for consistent spiny lobAdams says more trawl- the docks at prices that will likely rise,
ster landings in Southern
ers will still pursue pe- thanks to increasing sales to China.
WASHINGTON
California.
trale this winter, but it
According to the California DepartOREGON
Many fishermen and
will
be
primarily
the
ment
of Fish and Wildlife, the median
CALIFORNIA
processors will use the
bigger
boats,
bringing
ex-vessel
price ranged from $6.75 to
FISHERIES
central California crab
in 45,000 pounds or $8 per pound in the early 2000s. But
season to gauge just how
more of petrale per trip by the 2010-11 season, market dewell main Dungeness crab
over just a couple months. mand pushed the price up to $18.50 per
seasons will be in northern
“They have big quotas and pound in some cases.
California, Oregon and Washthere’s lots of fish,” he says.
By 2014, during the first three
ington. While the central California
Many of the smaller boats have been months of the year, the price rose to an
season opens in mid-November, the delivering small loads, fewer than average of $22 per pound. The lobster
primary seasons can open on Dec. 1, 10,000 pounds, consistently during the fishery is considered sustainable, with
according to regulations, but they’re summer, when the petrale move onto about 150 permits actively fished.
sometimes delayed while tests are con- the continental shelf. At that time, peducted to determine whether the crabs trale are mixed with more rockfish. By Susan Chambers is a freelance fisheries
are ready for market.
the first week of October in 2013, about writer based in Coos Bay, Ore.
The 2013-14 season, which ended in
August, was one of the best on record
in terms of value. Per-pound prices to
fishermen were upward of $9 a pound
in some instances, particularly to buyers who shipped the crab live to China.
FAR21x7:
Standard processors generally paid a high
• X- or S-Band Radar
of $5 to $6 a pound as the season wore
• IMO Compliant
on and crab became scarce.
DUNGENESS
• ARPA and AIS
Fishermen were getting a lot of crabs
CRAB
in their pots at the end of the season
in August, says Hallmark Fisheries
Production Manager Scott Adams, but
many were just shy of legal size. That
may bode well for the 2014-15 season,
PETRALE SOLE
he says.
“Yeah, I think there will be some
4020 23rd Avenue West
crab around,” he says. “There’s a lot of
Seattle, WA 98199
feed in the ocean.”
Before the West Coast catch-shares
Main: (206) 282-8080
SPINY LOBSTER
program, many trawlers would tarDutch Harbor: (907) 581-1679
get petrale when it schooled up in the
http://www.HarrisElectricInc.com
winter. The price typically dropped to
BY SUSAN CHAMBERS
I
9
AngelA Coulombe
Outlook: WEST COAST
OUR FISHERY
SOUND SCIENCE
25 years after the Valdez oil spill, biologists
in Prince William Sound are studying the slow herring recovery
I
exxon Valdez oil SPill truStee council/noaa
n the early hours of March 24, 1989,
a large tanker went aground on Bligh
Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound,
spilling 11 million gallons of oil into this
thriving ecosystem. The historically important herring and roe fisheries were
among many commercial species under
threat in the sound.
Pacific herring has been a critical subsistence fishery for Alaskan coastal com-
Prince William
Sound, Alaska
10
munities, as well as
being commercially
harvested for food
(including for their
roe, a delicacy in
Japan) and for bait
for more than 100
years at the time of
the spill. In addition
to their commer-
Prince William Sound Science center
Heather Wiedenhoft is a research scientist at Washington State University and has worked on herring
and hatchery-wild salmon programs for the Prince
William Sound Science Center in Cordova, Alaska.
Researchers Stan Bosarge (left) and Brad Reynolds set a
gillnet to catch predators of juvenile herring.
QUICK LOOK at
Prince William Sound Herring
“
GooGle Maps
cial value, herring provide a key link
between primary producers and larger
animals in the food web. While a viable
herring fishery still exists in some areas
of Alaska, in Prince William Sound the
population has never fully recovered in
the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil
spill. Recent data, however, hint at the
possibility for change.
The sound’s herring population is
classified as an “injured resource” that
is “not recovering.” Prior to the spill,
herring populations were increasing in
the sound, with record harvests (up to
121,000 metric tons) in the late 1980s.
After the spill, the population became
depressed, and collapsed to only 30,000
It all comes down
”
to recruitment.
BEFORE AND AFTER THE VALDEZ SPILL
— Scott Pegau,
Prince William Sound Science Center
1987-88 (LAST YEAR BEFORE SPILL) ADULT HERRING BIOMASS
124,043 metric tons of fish worth $12.24 millio
1988-89 (YEAR OF SPILL) ADULT HERRING BIOMASS
111,000-121,000 metric tons
1993 ADULT HERRING BIOMASS
30,000 metric tons
SPAWNING BIOMASS
FIVE YEARS BEFORE SPILL
SPAWNING BIOMASS
IN RECENT YEARS
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
424.2 million fis
150.2 million fis
133.1 million fis
1.07 billion fis
85.4 billion fis
39.5 million fis
80.7 million fis
59.9 million fis
125.5 million fis
2.1 million fis
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game estimates about 80 million fish
for a stable population, but the fishery has been closed since 1998
Source: Alaska Department of Fish & Game
metric tons in 1993; since then it has
fluctuated between 10,800 and 32,500
metric tons. Not surprisingly, the herring fishery in the sound has been closed
for 15 of the 21 years since the spill.
There are many theories about why
the herring in this area have never recovered — from concern over growing whale populations, growing salmon populations and outbreaks of viral
hemorrhagic septicemia causing hemorrhaging in fish. Equally complex
is the question of how to best address
the situation, with studies looking into
the feasibility of a herring aquaculture
program in Alaska. The idea is con-
troversial, and Doug Hay, an expert in
herring biology and ecology, says that
“while technically possible, a program
like that could fail on any number of
biological levels.”
What has been done is the funding of
two main research projects, the Prince
William Sound Herring Survey Program
(2009-2013) and the Herring Research
and Monitoring Program (2012-ongoing) conducted through the Prince William Sound Science Center. Ultimately,
the two projects point to a problem
with recruitment of juvenile herring.
As Project Manager Scott Pegau points
out, even small adult populations, like
11
OUR FISHERY
in Sitka Sound, can produce many offspring and large recruitment numbers,
enough for a robust fishery in years to
come. The fishery for herring this year
in Sitka Sound alone targeted 16 thousand tons of herring with an average
Prince William Sound Science center PhotoS
“
While technically
possible, a herring
aquaculture program
could fail on any number
of biological levels.
”
— Doug Hay, herring biologist
Research scientist Scott Pegau of the Prince William Sound Science Center
castnets for juvenile herring in Simpson Bay during a March 2011 research cruise.
worth to fishermen of nearly $6 million.
While Prince William Sound has adequate adult numbers to stimulate future
populations, not enough of the larval
and juvenile fish survive to adulthood to
provide a high enough overall biomass
ULTRA CROSS
for the fishery. “It all comes down to
recruitment,” says Pegau, and lists factors like predation, food availability and
currents causing larval drift as potentially
limiting the juvenile herring population
in the sound.
The conclusion comes from years of
data collected from the science center
and employing a variety of techniques
to study herring, including aerial sur-
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OUR FISHERY
veys, acoustic surveys, trawl sampling
and seasonal tracking of adult herring.
Researchers now have a better understanding of not only the numbers of
adult herring in the Sound, but also
their health, fat supplies, and where
they travel to feed and spawn.
It’s because of this ongoing research
that a glimmer of hope has surfaced
about future herring populations: researchers at the science center saw a
favorable year for recruitment in 2012
(often called a magical year), when
many species seemed to flourish. It was
a record year for young pink salmon
and pollock, and the herring studied
that year were also healthy, eating
well and in large numbers. Problem
is we won’t know just how successful a year 2012 was until those herring return to spawn in 2015.
So there may be signs of better
days to come. 2015 could be the year
of new beginnings, as well as a potential turn-around for the devastated
herring population in Prince William Sound, a truly magical year.
Researchers deploy an ROV in Prince
William Sound to detect juvenile herring
under surface ice.
Technician Jennifer Todd samples
for herring disease during a March
2010 research trip.
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13
COMFORT ZONE
Michael Crowley is
the Boats & Gear
editor for North
Pacific Focus
BY MICHAEL CROWLEY
U
nfortunately more things can go
wrong on a fishing boat than
can go right. You plug her, get a good
price at the dock, nobody was hurt on
the trip and everybody agrees to come
back. That’s about as good as it gets.
The flip side of the ledger includes
collisions, gear entanglement, man
overboard, flooding, engine failure, being hit by a rogue wave, prop entanglement, instability and fires.
Many of those have been addressed
by fishing safety groups attempting to
reduce the number of fatal and nonfatal disasters, though not as much has
been done for fires. A fire aboard a fis ing boat can result in minor injuries and
damage to the boat or quickly become
a horror show with frightening consequences.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s 2010 study of
commercial fishing fatalities from 2000
to 2009 found that on the West Coast
fires were responsible for 16 percent of
the incidents leading to non-fatal injuries. On the East Coast fires led to two
fatal vessel disasters and two in Alaska.
The most well-known incident is the
The problem is that any boat — not
freezer-longliner Galaxy that sank in just fishing boats — is “a floating ignithe Bering Sea in 2002, killing three tion source. There are tons of ignition
people.
sources onboard, especially when dealIn the journal Marine Policy’s Decem- ing with machinery spaces and engine
ber 2014 issue is the article “Primary rooms,” says Randy Hyde, firefightin
prevention of fishing vessel disasters: instructor at Fremont Maritime ServicEvaluation of a United States Coast es, a marine safety and survival training
Guard policy intervention.”
company in Seattle.
Looking at 17 freezer trawlers for the
He categorizes the causes of fires.
period 2003 to 2012, the authors of One is “housekeeping,” properly storthe report found
that fires resulted
in 27 casualties or 13 percent of the total
injuries.
The
figures weren’t
much different
for freezer longliners with fires
responsible for
21 casualties or
12 percent, with
injuries ranging
from minor to
serious.
Make no mistake about it,
there are plenty Good Samaritan boats aid the Galaxy crew after an
of opportunities explosion and fi e on the freezer longliner in the Bering Sea.
for a fire on a
fishing boat. A leaking fuel line on the ing flammable liquid containers, avoidGalaxy was the initial cause of the fire. ing spontaneous combustion by taking
Once exposed to a blast of fresh air, the care of oily rags, not having oily bilge
fuel exploded into flames and engulfed water in the engine room. Poor mainmuch of the vessel within minutes.
tenance is another category, the lack of
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14
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Fire! Can you deal with it?
COMFORT ZONE
which can result in ruptured fuel lines.
Cigarettes fall into another one of
Hyde’s categories. “We are basically
throwing that category into company
policy,” he says. “Where you can and
cannot smoke, and the discarding of
cigarette butts properly.
“Realistically one of the major causes
of fires in the maritime industry, and
it’s a big deal in the Coast Guard’s
mindset,” says Hyde, “is a lack of due
vigilance. That means the boat’s operators have a lack of situational awareness,
a sense of urgency. They are poorly
trained and poorly equipped.”
Hyde always asks companies that
come to Freemont Maritime for training, “Do you feel your company has a
comprehensive fire prevention plan in
place?” Those who raise their hand, he
asks, “Do you feel it can be better? ”
Ninety percent agree it could be better.
In the case of the Galaxy, among the
Coast Guard’s recommendations were
better fire-safety training, especially
“Does your company
have a comprehensive
fire prevention plan
”
for non-English-speaking crew, and
that engine room fire detection and
monitoring equipment have alarms and
monitors in the wheelhouse. There was
also a recommendation for handheld
radios for the captain, engineer and first
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mate, thus avoiding running up and
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Along with having a fire prevention
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Plus you need to have fire hoses
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breathing apparatus, and though not all
boats are required to have them, fir fighting outfits are always a good idea.
Though it seems obvious, Hyde emphasizes that once a fire is detected, “it’s
critical to sound an alarm so everybody
onboard is aware a fire is happening.”
After that you want to “isolate the fire,
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15
ON THE HORIZON
Crew contracts: as critical as your permit
Mark Scheer is an attorney with Young deNormandie, P.C.,
in Seattle and has been involved in the fishing industry
in Alaska and on the West Coast for nearly 30 years.
By MARK SCHEER
T
he 2014 fishing season is in the
books, and for most, planning for
the 2015 fishing season is under way.
While you are working on your gear,
refitting or repairing your vessel and
planning where and when you will
fish the next year, you should consider
contracts for your next crew as part of
your preparation.
The topic of crew contracts came up
a short while ago while I was talking
at lunch with several fishermen. Remarkably, a number of them admitted
either that they did not require a written agreement or that the agreements
they had were very limited.
Surprised as I was, it struck me that
this was not the first time the issue had
come up in my career. Each time, I
have tried to explain that having comprehensive crew contracts is not only
required by law but is a good mechanism to control risk and potential li-
ability by providing definiteness to the
crew-member/owner relationship.
First, what does a good crew contract look like? The law requires, at
a minimum, that before leaving on a
voyage, the owner, charterer, managing operator (captain) or authorized
representative and the crew member
sign a written agreement that includes
the term of the agreement (i.e., start
and ending date or the applicable season, such as the Bristol Bay salmon
season) and the terms of the wage or
share agreement (for example, 8 percent of the net proceeds from the sale
of fish landed during the term).
Beyond the basic legal requirements, the agreement can and should
include other terms. It should explain
the calculations for determining the
net proceeds on which the crew share
is based, including what is deducted
from the gross stock, when payments
to the crew member are to be made
and how crew payments are made (direct deposit or by check).
The contract also should set forth
what happens in the event there are
later price adjustments. It should
grant authorization to deduct certain expenses and state the grounds
for the crew member’s termination.
The agreed maintenance rate, consent to drug testing, policies about the
“Crew contracts
reduce the number of
disputes and provide a
backstop to the crew
member and owner if
there is a dispute.
”
use of drugs and alcohol, who pays
if the crew member violates fishing
regulations, allocation of repatriation
expenses, medical history and pre-
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scription drug disclosures, any bonus
structure and expectations regarding
pre-season and post-season boat and
gear work are issues that should be
spelled out, too.
If you do not have a written crew
agreement, there are many remedies
available to a crew member who disputes the payment amount, is not paid
or is terminated. The crew member
may be entitled to be paid the highest rate of wages paid to any crew
member at the port of engagement
— which could be much higher than
what you had actually agreed to pay.
If the owner fails to provide an accounting as to how the share is calculated, the vessel is liable for the
“highest value alleged for the shares.”
Additionally, depending on the circumstances and which state’s laws
apply, the crew member may also be
entitled to penalties, such as daily penalty wages or even double damages,
plus interest and attorney fees. Moreover, the crew member may put a lien
against your vessel for the principal
amount of the wage claim, have the
U.S. Marshal seize the vessel and have
the court sell your vessel to satisfy the
lien claim.
Comprehensive written crew contracts are just good business. Crew
contracts set out the terms of the relationship so everyone is on the same
page. They also reduce the number of
Jerry Fraser
ON THE HORIZON
Beyond the basics, a good contract should explain the way crew shares are
calculated, what is deducted, and when and how crew payments are made.
disputes and provide a backstop to the
crew member and the owner if there is
a dispute, because each can look to the
contract for guidance. Further, written contracts limit the owner’s exposure to potential claims.
With a written contract, a crew
member must bring claims within
six months or be barred. Also, in the
event of a claim for an injury while in
the service of the vessel, the medical
disclosure can be useful evidence in
defending the claim, and an agreedupon, reasonable maintenance amount
can control the cost to the owner.
Indeed, a limited and defined term
in an agreement can also control the
unearned wage portion of an injury
claim, as earned wages would only be
due through the end of the contract
term.
In sum, it is well worth the time,
effort and cost to draft a comprehensive crew agreement. Once you have
a good, basic crew contract, it is easily adapted to each season and fishery.
Use a written agreement every time.
As Benjamin Franklin famously said,
“An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.”
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17
ON THE HOMEFRONT
Dreaming of the perfect
crab season and Christmas
Lori French is the
founder of Faces
of California Fishing
in Morro Bay.
BY LORI FRENCH
I
n a perfect world, the crab price is
set, and it’s good. The weather is
good, the fishing is good, all the gear
is set and fishing well, there are no
mechanical problems, and Christmas
comes as the most joyful time of year.
Sure, yeah, OK.
After enduring the stress of seeing
the guys off (the Old Man of the Sea,
brother-in-law and our oldest son),
this Super Glamorous Fish Wife sets
her eyes toward the holidays while
waiting for a phone call from the boat
to enlighten me about how the crab
season is starting out. In our house, as
in many other crab family houses, the
Dungeness crab season is our bread
and butter. In my 30 years as a Super
Glamorous Fish Wife I’ve never seen
a perfect crab opener, but hey it could
happen, right?
I’ve become used to the fact that
they will miss birthdays, holidays and
parties. Just because I’m used to doing
the holidays and making plans by myself
doesn’t mean my side of the family is.
Every year I get the same question, “Is
the Old Man of the Sea going to be
here?” And every year I give the same
answer, “It depends...” Someday, when
we have the perfect crab season I’ll be
able to give them an answer.
“I’m one of the
lucky wives. My Old Man
of the Sea does come
home for Christmas.
”
It’s a given that they won’t be home
for Thanksgiving and if they are
home they shouldn’t be (read: strike).
Following Thanksgiving we have my
birthday. I usually get a phone call, but
not always. I’ve never known a crab
fisherman to get off the boat and go
birthday shopping for his wife, have
you? If you do know of one, please have
him teach my husband that fine art.
The day after my birthday, the
Christmas holiday season officially
begins. Every now and then, when our
boys were little, the Old Man of the Sea
was home to help cut the tree and set
it up in the stand
(read:
strike).
More often than
not, the boys
and I would cut
the tree and put
it in the stand.
On
these
occasions,
the
boys
took it upon
themselves to
imitate
their
father and cuss
like the best
construction
worker around while putting up
the tree. The first time it happened,
I reprimanded them for using
bad language. “But Mom,” they
said, “Dad told us to act like the
men of the house.” Now it’s become a
tradition.
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18
ON THE HOMEFRONT
Lori French
bag with the accompanying message,
“Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas”
• A tool box
Above: The
French family
fishermen enjoy
a Christmas
morning nap.
Left: Santa brings
the author a dust
mop.
gathering system,
Facebook, I’m not
the
only
one
who does all the
shopping, planning, decking the halls,
wrapping, food planning, food prep
and goody making for the crab buyers,
harbor patrol and other folks who help
the Super Glamorous Fish Wife out
over the course of the year. Nor am I
the only one who has dreams of the
“perfect Christmas or Hanukkah” with
the family gathered around in one happy
scene. There are Super Glamorous Fish
Wives who even put the lights up on
the house. I am not one of them. Not
because I wouldn’t do it, but because we
live on a ranch and the cows really never
cared if lights were up or not. Ladies,
we are all in this together. We are the
STRONG home front and we rock!
In the perfect crab season, there is
always money to pull off this festive
time of year. In the real world, well,
Christmas can be skimpy or in January
or February. Again, according to
Facebook, I am not alone.
Some years I have my act together
and shop early and stash. Some years,
I manage to actually tell the Old Man
of the Sea what we are giving his mom
and the boys. Other years, when the
presents are opened he puts on a great
act of acting like he helped and knows
what the gift is. It’s always a crapshoot.
As for the Old Man of the Sea’s
presents to me, here are some of the
most infamous ones. I get a gift about
every five years or so.
• A TV antenna so I could watch
Monday Night Football
• A live Dungeness in a brown paper
Basically, if he gets home on Christmas
Eve he shops the local hardware store.
There are three things I can count
on for Christmas. One, he will be
home for Christmas Day. Two, he will
bring an ice chest of live crab in right
when I am in the throes of cooking
Christmas dinner and tell me “these
need to be cooked now.” And three,
he will be an absolute zombie because
they’ve been pushing it really hard,
and he will smile when we drive three
hours to visit my side of the family,
when all he really wants to do is be in
his own bed.
I’m one of the lucky wives. My Old
Man of the Sea does come home for
Christmas. To those ladies who pull off
the holidays all by yourselves or wait
until he gets home, I wish you the
best and I’m passing you a special tiara
because you deserve it.
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19
YOUNGBLOODS
United for 40 years
BY JULIANNE CURRY
2
014 marked United Fishermen of
Alaska’s 40th year of working to
protect Alaska’s fisheries and the seafood
industry. To celebrate, we hosted an
anniversary banquet, awards ceremony
and silent auction coinciding with our
fall board meeting at the Hotel Captain
Cook in Anchorage, the ASMI AllHands meeting and Great Alaska Seafood Cook Off.
The anniversary banquet was an opportunity to bring together decision
makers, fishermen and folks from state
and federal government to help celebrate seafood in Alaska. Like every other
region in the country, Alaska fishermen
are facing challenges from all sides.
One of the highlights of the event
was a brief overview of UFA’s history,
presented by past UFA Executive Director Mark Vinsel. Since incorporating in 1974, UFA has built a solid reputation of dealing with the tough issues
facing the seafood industry in Alaska.
UFA first dealt with the Limited Entry
Act and the formation of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. Also
in the 1970s was the creation of finan ing bodies — such as the Commercial
Fishing and Agriculture Bank and the
Division of Investments — the foundation for the Alaska Seafood Marketing
Institute and the Magnuson-Stevens
Act, which established the 200-mile
limit for U.S. waters.
In the 1980s, UFA dealt with the
complicated issues surrounding the Forest Resources Practices Act and worked
toward protection of salmon resources.
The 1990s resulted in UFA’s participation in the defeat of the FISH Initiative,
which sought to reallocate fish by ballot.
The 2000s brought the salmon price crisis and the Joint Legislative Salmon Industry Task Force. UFA also developed
a marketing plan, including National
20
Seafood Marketing, access to USDA
programs, the inclusion of salmon in
global and domestic Food Aid programs, USDA country of origin labeling
(COOL) and wild and farmed seafood
labeling, and the USDA Trade Adjustment Assistance.
UFA is currently fighting one of the
latest attempts to restrict the public’s
access to fishing resources is the Alaska
Fisheries Conservation Alliance’s proposed initiative to ban salmon setnets in
urban areas of Alaska, mainly in Cook
Inlet. The alliance was founded by
longtime guided sport fishing advocate
Bob Penney. In order to highlight the
importance of locally available seafood,
our guests at the anniversary banquet
enjoyed sockeye salmon from Snug
Harbor Seafoods and 10th and M Seafoods, two Cook Inlet-based seafood
companies who help bring the resource
to the public.
Clem Tillion helps to
induct UFA Hall of
Fame members.
The banquet also included addresses
by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, and Alaska
Sen. Mark Begich (with Alaska Sen.
Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Congressman Don Young providing video addresses). In addition to the high-profile
speakers, we were pleased to have UFA
Hall of Fame member and fisheries
politics legend Clem Tillion to help us
with the UFA Fisherman of the Year
award, Person of the Year in fisheries
politics award, and induct new members into the UFA Hall of Fame. It was
an honor to recognize a number of individuals for their service to the seafood
industry in Alaska.
UFA was honored to host an event
UFA
Julianne Curry is the
executive director of
the United Fishermen
of Alaska in Juneau.
that helped educate decision makers
about the importance of the seafood
industry in Alaska. Like all fishermen,
Alaska’s harvesters are rarely seen trumpeting their impacts on the economy,
let alone the fact that they are the avenue by which the majority of the public accesses the resource. One of UFA’s
most successful endeavors is our Commercial Fishing Fact Sheets that promote the value of the seafood industry
in Alaskan communities and statewide.
These fact sheets work to highlight
the revenue and jobs that the industry
brings into the state and into our communities. We encourage members of
the seafood industry to present them
to their local city council, chambers of
commerce, and to sit down with their
legislators to discuss the importance of
the seafood industry, which is Alaska’s
top private sector employer.
UFA has had an amazing 40 years. If
we learn to work together to help promote our own industry, hopefully we
can have another 40 more. However,
we cannot do it alone — we need the
next generation of fishermen to join
the organizations that help protect
your fishing business. Organizations
like UFA help to coordinate the messages and speak with a collective voice.
The power of one organization speaking for more than 63,000 individuals in
the seafood industry is immeasurable.
Without a collective voice, the seafood
industry will begin to see significant reductions in the budgets for agencies that
affect your fishing business. By joining
organizations like UFA, you can help
prevent the reallocation of fishing resources, which reduces the access of the
general public to one of the most nutritious protein sources on the planet.
Even if you don’t agree 100 percent
of the time with the direction taken
by a fishing organization, the benefits
of joining far outweigh the drawbacks.
Protect your business and your livelihood by joining an association or renewing your dues today.
UFA is the statewide commercial
fishing trade association, representing 36
commercial fishing organizations participating in fisheries throughout the state
and its offshore federal waters and over
475 individuals and businesses. For more
information or to join United Fishermen of Alaska, visit www.ufafish.org.
THE LONG HAUL
The food thing
For 22 years John van Amerongen commented
on commercial fisheries as editor of Alaska Fisherman’s
Journal. Currently engaged with matters of seafood
sustainability, he shares this personal perspective.
BY JOHN VAN AMERONGEN
ecades ago, when my son Hans
was 10, we traveled back roads
to shooting competitions to see what
we could hit with muzzle-loading
plains rifles, commonly used to bring
home the bacon prior to the Civil War.
They shot pretty well out to 100 yards,
though 50 was maximum for a ragged
one-hole group.
We camped in the “primitive” area,
sleeping in a teepee elaborately painted
by our red-haired Plains Indian companion, Dan Liddell. He loaned us coonskin
caps, scalps lifted from masked garbagecan raiders on Vashon Island, and hometanned deerskin jerkins to help us look
the part and avoid the ire of the true
believers — haughty historical nitpickers who’d size up our eyeglasses, leather
boots and even the zippers on our pants
to point out we were out of costume and
character and didn’t belong anywhere
near the primitive camp.
One afternoon there was a “trail walk”
competition where we stopped at various stations to shoot lollipops drilled into
tree limbs, fire lead balls into bent sewer
pipes to ring a frying-pan gong, throw
knives at trees, toss rocks at tin cans and
tumble tomahawks at tree rounds cut
from giant pines. Putt-putt golf with real
guns, knives and hatchets — a delightful diversion for black-powder buffs who
could maintain their aim and sense of
humor. The highlight for us was ringing
the frying-pan gong and snapping the
smooth maple handle of Dan’s favorite
’hawk. Oops.
Primitive life was no game in early
America. Tools were treasures, and food
was hard to kill, much less drag home
and store without spoiling. Nobody
worried about dietary salt unless they
didn’t have any. Thankfully, there were
relatively few mouths to feed.
Looking at estimates from the United
We have
doubled
or tripled
recoveries from
each pollock
we harvest.
Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, global population was only about
500 million when the Pilgrims sat down
to that first Thanksgiving turkey with
the real Native Americans in 1621. If
you believe the romantic myths, game
was plentiful and codfish so abundant
you could walk on their backs out to
Georges Bank. But recently we’ve uncovered grizzly evidence that the Pilgrims were no strangers to hunger. So
desperate was the famine of 1609, some
resorted to cannibalism.
John van amerongen
D
The simple point of this gruesome
turn is that good people do terrible
things to each other, and to the environment, when they’re desperate for food.
They don’t fret about green footprints
when death is running close and next
year is a far-off dream — often a bad one.
America has come a long way in 400
years. Most of our pantries and freezers
are packed with bounty. Yet, there are so
many sharing this planet now — 7 billion and counting — that the pace of
global food production and distribution
is still behind the population curve. The
FAO estimates more than 800 million
people remain chronically undernourished — nearly twice the earth’s population in 1621.
What can we do? Energize the global
fishing industry to continue rebuilding
fish stocks and continue investing in
technologies that harvest target species
efficiently and maximize their utilization for human consumption. Convert
more of what we now consider “fish
waste” into supplements, sustainable
feeds and fertilizers to grow the food
supply further.
In the North Pacific we have doubled
or tripled recoveries from each pollock
we harvest. That’s the same as doubling
or tripling the number of fish in the
ocean. Great news for us here, but let’s
find the will and the way to scale up, scale
down and share these technologies globally. We know how to do this. We know
it’s only part of the solution. But it’s our
part, isn’t it?
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21
MAKING THE RULES
Solutions for issues new and old
Chris Oliver has been
a staff member of the
North Pacific Fishery
Management Council
for 25 years, serving
as executive director
since 2002.
By CHRIS OLIVER
T
lenges, or developing new solutions to
old challenges. We simply do not know
exactly how our fishe ies will be affected
by major sea change events like climate
Jerry Fraser
he North Pacific Fishery Management Council has never been
shy about making the rules. With more
than 100 plan amendments to each of
our primary groundfish management
plans in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, and hundreds
of additional regulatory amendments, it
can sometimes be difficul for fishe men
to keep up with the changes.
Blessed with an incredibly productive
ecosystem, strong scientific support
from NMFS and other agencies, and
arguably the most sustainable fisheries in the world, it might be tempting
at times for this council to operate on
cruise control, do just enough to make
sure the wheels don’t fall off the proverbial tracks; however, recognizing
challenges early on and applying a proactive approach to the details of fisheries management is a key part of what
makes the fisheries off Alaska among
the best managed in the world.
While much remains the same — we
still harvest nearly 3 million metric tons
of groundfish per year in the North Pacifi , and provide more than half of the
nation’s seafood production, yet on average across all species we leave more than
80 percent of the biomass in the water
each year — we never run short of new
issues, developing solutions to new chal-
Alaska fisheries p ovide more than
half of the nation’s seafood from
bountiful waters, yet there are always
management challenges.
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22
change or ocean acidification yet our
management system must arm itself with
as much information as possible, and be
flexi le and poised for timely response
when necessary.
To that end the North Pacific council
is an active participant in the scientific
research necessary to be adaptive managers, through its participation in forums
like the North Pacific Research Board;
its partnerships with NMFS and state
agency research and stock assessment;
development of its own research priorities guided by a world-class Science
and Statistical Committee; and striving
to better implement an ecosystem based
management approach through its very
active Ecosystem Committee.The council also looks for innovations in management, or lessons we can learn, from areas
outside the North Pacifi .
And while all of that may sound well
and good, the 800-pound gorilla in the
room (though at times it seems like an
MAKING THE RULES
8,000-pound gorilla) remains bycatch
in our groundfish fishe ies, particularly
bycatch of prohibited species like halibut and salmon.This issue has dominated
the council agenda the past few years and
will likely do so for at least the next few.
“The 800-pound gorilla
in the room (though at
times it seems like an
the intent is to give fishermen the tools
to maximize groundfish catch while
continuing to minimize halibut and
salmon bycatch. This program will also
come with significantly increased observer coverage levels.
In the midst of all of our regional
focus, our nation’s landmark fishe ies legislation, the Magnuson-Stevens
Act, is undergoing reauthorization. Our
council has commented extensively this
past year on draft bills from both the
House and Senate subcommittees, and
our message has been clear — while we
are not opposed to changes, particularly
changes that allow councils greater flex bility to address rebuilding schedules and
other issues, we believe the current act is
working quite well and major changes
are not necessary.
Finally, the federal fishe ies rulemaking process can be extremely cumbersome. The good news? It’s also probably
the most transparent, participatory regulatory process in existence. Your voices
do get heard; you are all a part of it.
8,000-pound gorilla)
remains bycatch in our
groundfish fisherie
”
While we have successfully implemented chinook salmon bycatch
caps in both the Bering Sea and
Gulf of Alaska groundfish fishe ies, and the groundfish industry itself
has responded with innovative “comanagement” approaches (I say successfully because, for example, the chinook
bycatch level in the Bering Sea pollock
fishe y has remained below 15,000 fish
for three years running), there is tremendous pressure to ensure that bycatch levels of salmon remain at low levels, and
the council is in the process of considering several additional regulatory measures later this fall, including a significantly lower bycatch cap in years of low
chinook abundance.
Regarding halibut, the council recently lowered the bycatch cap for halibut
for all gear types in the Gulf of Alaska,
and will be considering similar or even
greater reductions in the halibut prohibited species caps for the Bering Sea/
Aleutian Islands fishe ies when it meets
in early 2015.The council is also considering a meeting with the International
Pacific Halibut Commission in the near
future to discuss an overall total halibut mortality accounting approach applicable to both directed removals and
bycatch.
A major focus of the council in the
coming year or two will be its Gulf
of Alaska trawl bycatch management
initiative. Currently being designed
around a fishery cooperative structure,
23
GEAR SHIFTS
HOOK & LINE FISHING, SOUTH
Chumash ancestors developed the gear
Santa Barbara fishermen use today
By Michael Crowley
M
ost
commercial
fishermen would
probably say that
the circle hook
is a fairly modern
idea. Well, that’s not quite the case,
as Mick Kronman details in his book
“From Hooks to Harpoons: the Story
of Santa Barbara Channel Fisheries.”
Kronman, the Santa Barbara, Calif., harbor operations master and a
former National Fisherman Pacific bureau chief, examines the area’s fisheries through the evolution of five gear
types fishermen have used over the
past 3,000 years. Hook-and-line gear
is among the types he explores.
The
Chumash
tribes
settled
around what is now Santa Barbara
and the Channel Islands thousands of
more often, red abalone. Some circle
hooks were barbless, while others had
a barbed point.
Long before our time, Native Americans had figured out that the circle
hook’s radical bend helped keep a fish
on the hook. The shoulder of an abalone shell was broken off, formed into
an approximate triangle and perforated
with a chert drill. It was then smoothed
on a stone slab, and the point was separated from the shank. Thousands of
circle hooks have been recovered from
Chumash sites, Kronman says.
Into the 1930s, Santa Barbara
fishermen caught ockcod with
handlines. Today, the fishery
has evolved to longlining.
“I found the entire thing
stacked top to bottom
with sash weights.
I slowly closed the door,
subconsciously nervous
that another fisherman
might have seen
”
the booty.
years ago. They forged hooks from
cactus spines, bones, shells and, later,
iron. Kronman says the hook of choice
was the circle hook, usually made
with the shells of clams, mussels or,
24
Tim AThens
— Santa Barbara fisherman 1970s
GEAR SHIFTS
OUTHERN CALIFORNIA STYLE
Weight Management
Natives used
circle hooks
thousands
of years
ago, though
Santa Barbara
fishermen
didn’t realize
their value
until the
1970s.
O
ne of the variables over the years was the weight used to keep
a rockcodder’s line on the bottom. Some fishermen employed
sacks of rocks, but the ideal sinker was the sash weight that allowed
windows to be raised and lowered.
Fishermen searched junkyards and wrecking yards all over Los
Angeles for the prized sash weights. A local fisherman described how
he felt in the 1970s upon finding a stash of window weights: “This
junkyard lady told me to look in a shed, where I found the entire thing
stacked top to bottom with sash weights. I slowly closed the door,
subconsciously nervous that another fisherman might have seen the
booty.”
He paid the junkyard lady 2 cents a pound for the whole lot, which
kept him in sinkers for 10 years.
Eventually sash weights became nearly impossible to find, and
fishermen had to buy ebar to hold down their line.
Whether they used sash weights or rebar, they hooked plenty
of rockfish.
— M.C.
Hooks were attached to lines twisted
from wild hemp or surf grass that was
often coated with tar and weighted
with a stone. It might take a week to
build and tar a line with 6-inch-long,
leader-like extensions. The hooks
would then be baited with clams,
mussels or sand fleas or left unbaited;
sometimes the hooks carried only a
piece of colored cloth.
The Chumash either cast the lines
from the shore or trolled with them
behind a canoe.
From the Chumash to modern
times, hook-and-line gear design
evolved only modestly, while materials changed drastically. Still, at the end
of the 1800s and into the 1900s, Santa
Barbara hook-and-line fishermen followed the Chumash example, hauling
their gear by hand.
A hook-and-line rockfish fishery
had been established by 1895. And
though trawl nets proved more efficient for taking many species that hook-and-line
fishermen sought, hook
fishermen were able to
earn a living by going after rockfish. However,
working a handline was
a tough way to fish; harvesters hauled in a single
line holding up to 200
hooks and weighted with
rocks taken from creeks
and beaches.
Former Santa Barbara fisherman Red Allen told Kronman
what fishing for rockcod was like in
the 1930s “when a swell lifted the boat
and brought the line tight, we’d stop,”
said Allen, who recalled hand-lining
rockfish on a 36-footer with his father, Vince Kulgis, in 1935. “When
the boat came down and provided
some slack, we’d pull a few feet of
line. We kept that up until the fish
came aboard.”
By then a 140-pound-test mainline
might have two hundred 7/0 J-hooks
— each baited with a sardine — on
short, light-cotton leaders. That didn’t
make for easy hauling. To keep from
losing the gear on a “hang,” a length
of sacrificial older line was tied in at
the bottom; it would break before the
mainline would.
In 1938, 160,000 pounds of rockfish were landed in the Santa Barbara
region, and most of it was hook-andline caught.
Eventually, fishermen gave up
pulling fishing lines in by hand and
switched to mechanical power. DrivContinued on page 34
25
BOATBUILDING
BIGGER IS
BETTER
Ted Long
Fashion Blacksmith
specializes in
boat expansion
By Michael Crowley
R
26
andy Pincombe was tired, tired of rolling,
always rolling. “My back is tired of it,” he’ll
tell you. And he knows the culprit; it’s his
48-foot Viking with its 1960s troller design.
“It cuts in so hard at the stern and with that
double chine, it just made it roll hard.”
A man doesn’t want to take that kind of beating forever,
so this past summer, Pincombe tied the Viking up to Fashion
Blacksmith’s dock to be sponsoned and lengthened.
It was the second time the Viking has visited the Crescent
BOATBUILDING
The new sponsoning and lengthening sections are matched up to the
Viking’s original 48-foot hull.
City, Calif., boatyard. The first time was
in 1968, when the Viking was just the
second boat built at Fashion Blacksmith.
And built by a couple of guys who
hadn’t been in the business of building boats for very long. Dale and Roger
Long had a sheet metal fabrication shop
when the tidal wave of 1964 washed
away much of the local fleet.
A local fisherman who had lost his
boat asked the Longs if they could build
him a steel boat. “They didn’t know
stink about building fishing boats,”
says Ted Long, Dale’s son and owner of
Fashion Blacksmith. “They went to the
library in San Francisco, got a couple
of books on boatbuilding and started
reading.”
“So many boats are fishing in fishe ies and conditions they never really were
intended for,” Long says. When they
were built they didn’t need a large back
deck to carry gear and they didn’t need a
lot of fish hold space. “Most were packing salmon or tuna. It was a high-value
fishery with minimal weight.” Plus you
didn’t necessarily have to go out if the
weather was cruddy.
But now the boat also goes shrimping
and Dungeness crabbing. “If everyone
else is carrying a whole load of pots and
fishing where you want to, you kind of
need to do that, too,” Long says. “It’s
still a derby fishery — first out, first
catch. Everyone is going crazy, and the
weather may be marginal. I think that’s
one of the drivers of the jobs we do.”
Pincombe and the Viking go crabbing
and shrimping in California, and chase
salmon, albacore and shrimp in Oregon.
Lengthening the boat out to 53 feet and
increasing its beam from 15 feet to 22
“So many boats are
fishing in fisheries an
conditions they never
”
really were intended for.
— Ted Long,
FASHION BLACKSMITH
They launched the first boat in 1967
and the Viking a year later. She was built
for local fisherman Leo Wilson and designed by Ed Monk, a naval architect
who was the go-to guy for many fishe men at that time. Pincombe bought the
boat from Wilson in 1991. Except for
expanding the wheelhouse in 2003, not
a lot has been done to the Viking over
the years. “We cut the flying bridge off
and stepped the house up with aluminum for better visibility,” explains Pincombe.
Fashion Blacksmith does a lot of
sponsoning work. “It’s what we do
day in and day out,” says Long. A lot
of the work arrives at Crescent looking
like the Viking — a troller design that’s
now doing a lot more than trolling for
salmon or albacore.
27
BOATBUILDING
tect to rebuild boats it works on, but
then, as Long says, “We put our own
stamp on them.” That includes removing the stern, generally just aft of the
lazarette bulkhead, while leaving the
rudderpost in place.
“We cut the entire stern off,” says
Long, “and cut it way down. It’s dropped
almost 2 feet to a point where it’s still
on an incline and not a flat level.” The
new stern is faired into the chine lines
and sponsons, but not dropped so far it is
dragging water when the boat is loaded.
“Then you’ve gone too far,” says Long.
Better to have it level or slightly inclined
when the boat is loaded.
That gets more boat in the water to
provide more buoyancy. The buoyancy
Ted Long
feet 6 inches will make for a safer boat,
while at the same time increasing the
number of pots that can be carried on
deck and the amount of fish and crabs
that can go in the hold.
The stern on the Viking and other
boats of its type, from the late 1960s to
the early ’80s, whether it was “a Monk
design or a copycat Monk design,” Long
The Viking at 53' x 22' 6" is ready
to go back into the water.
says, had a short back deck and raked up
considerably. “They felt, probably basing
it on earlier wood boats, that you need
that to go through the water fast.”
At Fashion Blacksmith’s that type of
stern is the first thing to go. Fashion
Blacksmith works with a naval archi28
debbie Long
Randy Pincombe (left), the boat’s
owner, and Fashion Blacksmith’s Ted
Long before the Viking’s bulbous bow.
BOATBUILDING
The bulb, along with the lengthened
out and wider stern gives Pincombe the
ability to more effectively trim the Viking. The bulb can be pumped out or
flooded and behind the lazarette is a new
1,200-gallon water tank. Outside the
water tank and into the sponson area on
each side of the stern is a 1,000-gallon
fuel tank.
Those tanks and the bulb can be filled
for trimming the Viking as needed for
different fisheries. “We found that to be
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cabinets and significantly reduce the need for
expensive and limited bridge equipment.
“We cut the entire stern
off. It’s dropped almost
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two feet to a point where
it’s still on an incline and
not a flat level
”
— Ted Long,
FASHION BLACKSMITH
ing jobs they do include a bulb. Pulling
the stem out allows the bow and anchor
roller to get further out over the bulb,
which is painted inside for potable water.
Long adds that the boat will also go
through the water easier and compares
that easy entrance on the boats Fashion
Blacksmith lengthens to the bow on a
modern limit seiner. “The great big 58'
x 26' and 58' x 27' seiners can pack a
ton but they’ve almost approached the
point of going too wide. The ride on the
boats can be real stiff and sharp. I think a
sharper entry is still important.”
pretty good for these guys when they
went from crabbing to shrimping,”
says Long, “and needed to change the
boat’s trim.”
Sponsoning not only created additional space in the stern for extra fuel
tanks, the two fuel tanks were cut out
of the engine room and new tanks built
in the sponsons. The old tanks held 600
gallons each. The new tanks hold 730
gallons. “We went from 1,200 gallons
Continued on page 35
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comes in handy when carrying a deck
load of pots or mounting double-rigged
shrimp gear. With his wider boat, Pincombe intends to do just that when
shrimping, switching from a single rig
to double rig. He says, “We’ll be towing
two 70-foot shrimp nets instead of one.”
Despite the fact that earlier designers felt a narrow hull with a stern raked
considerably up would be the best design for speed and efficiency Long says
the alterations Fashion Blacksmith does
to the stern by widening it and immersing it more in the water “doesn’t make
the boat any slower, and when the boat
is in a light-ship condition, it is faster because there’s less wetted surface.
While the stern was extended 4 feet,
the bow was pushed out 18 inches. “We
wanted to make the bow more tapered,
streamlined with a pleasing entry, not
just a barrel-shaped rounded bow,”
says Long.
Stretching out the bow has another
advantage for when a bulbous bow is
added to the stem — Long notes that 90
percent of the lengthening and sponson-
29
CREW LIFE
M
orning. Cell phone
alarms are going
off in the dimness
of the fo’c’sle. We
emerge from our
berths to the ancient Perkins 6-cylinder
diesel as it sputters to life. In so many
ways we are like that little engine as we
pull on our Xtratufs and sweatpants to
embrace the day ahead.
The engine quiets as oil works its way
to the rocker arms at its top end. Blood
begins flowing to my extremities. My
dreams dissipate and I grasp the reality of grabbing buoys and picking fresh
sockeye salmon from the 150-fathom
net in the day ahead.
The delineation of one day at sea to
the next turns delightfully permeable
as the earth yaws on either side of the
Alaskan solstice. It is nearing the middle
of July, the apex of the salmon season,
and I’m on the Chipmunk, a 32-foot
aluminum drift gillnetter that hails out
of Homer. My younger brother, Chris, leased
the boat for the Cook Inlet salmon
drift-gillnet season. I’m one of two
deckhands. Matt Stillman and I cast off
the lines and idle out of the harbor at
3 a.m., graced by the presence of my
wife, Cheryl, who is along to take pictures to chronicle this day chasing salmon, for better or for worse.
This particular summer represents
a grand reunion of sorts: Chris and I
grew up together in pursuit of fish. We
were raised in northern Minnesota and
spent memorable days lugging canoes
overland to remote lakes in pursuit of
northern pike and panfish. Fishing together this summer in Cook Inlet has
Charlie Ess, NPF’s North Pacific
bureau chief, jumped aboard the
Chipmunk with his brother, Chris,
for a season of drift gillnetting Cook
Inlet sockeye salmon.
The Chipmunk’s bridge and deck
provide storage for food, rain gear and
other equipment. Charlie (left) acts
as a level wind, while Matt Stillman
runs hydraulics to haul in the net.
&
OF SIBLINGS
been nothing short of a manifestation
of our youth.
We left Minnesota, yearning for an
intensity that our piscene pursuits with
fly rods couldn’t fulfill. We quickly found it in Alaska’s commercial
fisheries, where the fate of our salmon
30
or herring seasons determined whether we’d be buying a new vehicle, fixing our teeth and buying real estate or,
in poor years, finding filler work during the winter.
As it turned out, we only fished herring, salmon and halibut together for
one year, in 1979. A year later, an attractive young woman hired me to help
her run a salmon setnet operation out
on the windswept beaches of the Aleutians near False Pass. Cheryl and I hit it
off immediately, fell in love, got married
and fished 15 glo ious years out west.
CREW LIFE
Charlie Ess (left),
Chris Ess (on bridge)
and Matt Stillman
(right) idle the
Chipmunk over
to the fuel dock.
&
SALMON
Brothers revisit the past by gillnetting on Cook Inlet
Photos by Cheryl ess
By Charlie Ess
CREW LIFE
Charlie Ess fills
the Chipmunk’s
portside tank
with diesel.
The crew of
the Chipmunk
picks sockeyes
out of a set.
Skipper Chris Ess
watches for jumpers
in anticipation of
making his next set while
the crew hauls in the net (below).
Chris (right) jumps
into the well deck
to help brother
Charlie and Matt
Stillman
pick fish
Charlie holds
up a well-iced
and bled
sockeye
salmon.
32
Charlie retrieves
a buoy at the
end of the net in
preparation to
wind the net
on the reel.
The Chipmunk
heads out of Homer
and Kachemak Bay.
CREW LIFE
Fish prices tanked in the mid-1990s,
and political action curbed our fishing
time. With the numbers against us,
we sold out. Life has never been the
same since.
Today, however, we are doing a
pretty good job of revisiting the aesthetics we clung to so dearly before taking
steady jobs, raising a bunch of kids and
putting more than two decades behind
us. Is there anything that quite matches
the taste of boat coffee?
The drone of the engine becomes
medicinal with each hour that ticks by.
Today all talk is small talk among us as
we embrace the oh-so-familiar mix of
optimism and angst that precedes the
day in terms of fate and fish. The Homer
Spit has faded to a faint, thin line on the
northeast horizon. Groundswells of the
open ocean begin rocking us from the
south, and rain gear hung in the rigging
swings like a pendulum.
The opener will come at 7 a.m. But we
went on deck an hour earlier, searching
the calm waters for the silver glint of
jumpers. The fleet has been confined to
a corridor of water hugging the eastern
shores of Cook Inlet, and we vie for
position on the southwest corner of the
area when the clocks strike 7. We toss out the buoy and make our
set. Chris throttles up the Chipmunk,
tows the net and holds its west end to
the line, as the tide wants to push us
to the east. In the course of about 20
minutes, fish are hitting. They splash
near the corkline and leave us with the
impression that we’ve caught between
30 and 50 fish
Alas, when we pick the net an hour
later, we have only 20. We run east
for nearly an hour, then set again. This
time we catch only five fish. We run
north and set again, pick up a few and
repeat the running and setting process
no fewer than five more times for a
total of 77 fish by the 7 p.m. closure.
Though it’s not the 1,000-fish day
we were hoping for at this juncture of
the season, there is something else here
that warrants measure: a man and his
wife, his brother and friend, a boat, the
open water, another day of life fishing
on the sea.
Charlie Ess is the North Pacific bureau
chief for North Pacific Focus
COOK INLET DRIFT-GILLNET
DRIFT GILLNET FISHING FACTS
Cook Inlet’s first drift-gillnet opene usually
comes in the third week of June; it was June 19 this
year. The peak week comes in mid-July, and fishing
tapers off fast after July 25. Fishing usually takes
place on Mondays and Thursdays for 12 hours, from
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The fishing a ea lies north of Anchor Point and
extends to Colliers Dock, north of Kenai. Fishing in
recent years has been limited to corridors, which
keep drift gillnetters within boundaries on Cook
Inlet’s east side. Fishermen hope for openings that
would allow them to fish the enti e inlet, west of
Kalgin Island, but the Alaska Board of Fisheries’
action to conserve stocks for recreational fisherme
in northern drainages makes such openings rare.
Some 516 drift-gillnet permits were active
in the 2013 fisher , the most recent year for
which statistics are available. Average permit
values during the same year totaled $83,000.
Average gross earnings per permit holder
totaled $52,000 in 2013, according to the Alaska
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. Deckhands
receive between 5 and 10 percent of that average
when there are two of them, and a little more if
the skipper hires just one.
The size of participating boats in the fishery
ranges from 30 to 45 feet, and this year there were
even a couple of 50-footers and a 58-footer. Boats
are made of wood, aluminum or fibe glass, with
fibe glass being the most popular choice.
The cost of fishing boat varies widely in Cook
Inlet. Boats range from $40,000 to more than
$300,000. Gear costs include buoys, $200; lines,
$150; and nets, $3,000.
Local processors in Homer, the main port
used as the fishery opens, include the Auction
Block, Snug Harbor Seafoods, Inlet Salmon, Great
Pacific Seafoods and Icicle Seafoods. As the run
progresses, Ninilchik becomes a common port, and
fishing moves to the Kasilof and Kenai Rivers. Most
of the aforementioned processors have buying
stations or tenders up in the rivers.
Homer also has a plethora of companies that offer
a wide variety of marine services, from boat repair
to engine service, parts and supplies, ice, cold
storage, bait, safety equipment and more.
33
GEAR SHIFTS
Continued from page 25
Mick Kronman
brings aboard
a load of rockcod.
their J-hooks for circle
hooks (remember the
Chumash? ). It paid off
with landings for some
of a ton a day.
By the late 1980s,
things weren’t looking
so good for the hookand-line crowd, what
with offshore oil companies’ seismic blasting,
fewer fish and competition from trawlers
catching rockfish from
California to Canada.
Many rockcod fis ermen abandoned their
vertical hook-and-line
fishe y for longlining,
but that’s another part
of Kronman’s gear story,
and he tells it well.
Mick kronMan
ing the pullers were
gear boxes taken out of
cars or trucks. These,
in turn, were powered
by shafts connected by
belts to a boat’s main
engine.
By the 1960s, hydraulics, rod-and-reel
gear and electric line
haulers replaced mechanical pullers. One
guy in 1971 hooked his
hydraulics to a trucktire rim and called it
a 96/0 Conkmaster.
Most line reels were
good to about 100 fathoms, but the Conkmaster brought fish up from
130 fathoms. In one
case, he pulled 56 cow
cod — all 20-pounders
— on one line.
The 1970s were the
hook-and-line rockcod
fishe y’s heyday, and with an increasing number of boats entering the fishe y, fishe men were looking for more efficien
gear. Many turned toward monofilament line and exchanged
Michael Crowley is the Boats & Gear editor for North
Pacific Focus.
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
Alaska Seafood
Marketing Institute ........................ 5
www.alaskaseafood.org
Bulletproof Nets LLC .................. 22
www.bulletproofnets.com
Cascade Engine Center LLC ....... 14
www.cascadediesel.com
Coast Guard Foundation ............. 35
www.coastguardfoundation.org
Compass Courses
Maritime Training ........................ 21
www.compasscourses.com
Delta Marine Industries Inc. .......... 3
www.deltamarine.com
Dock Street Brokers .................... 15
www.dockstreetbrokers.com
34
Fremont Maritime ....................... 19
www.fremontmaritime.com
NET Systems Inc .......................... 12
www.net-sys.com
Harris Electric Inc........................... 9
www.harriselectricinc.com
Pacific Power P oducts ................ 16
www.pac-power.com
Kodiak Shipyard .......................... 18
www.kodiakshipyard.com
Petro Marine Services ................. 35
www.shoresidepetroleum.com
Lunde Marine
Electronics, Inc ............................ 17
www.lundemarine.com
Satellite Technical Services .......... 13
www.satellitealaska.com
Lynden Logistics ....................... CV2
www.lynden.com
Seattle Marine
& Fishing Supply ........................ 23
www.seamar.com
Marport ...................................... 29
www.marport.com
Simrad Fisheries ....................... CV4
www.simrad.com
National Fisherman ..................... 15
www.nationalfisherman.co
STORMR ...................................... 27
www.hendersonsportgroup.com
BOATBUILDING
Debbie Long
Continued from page 29
Ted Long (white shirt) and the Fashion Blacksmith crew gather under the
Viking’s stern after another successful sponsoning and lengthening job.
to 1,460 gallons,” Pincombe says, “and
we have room if we want to put in refrigeration.”
The fish holds also picked up space.
The forward hold was pushed all the
way into the sponsons, as was the forward crossing in the aft fish hold. The aft
crossing became a bait tank. Pincombe
figures the larger holds will allow him to
pack another 10,000 pounds of crab for
a total of up to 32,000 pounds.
The Viking was repowered just before she was hauled at Fashion Black-
“I know I’m still goin’ roll
4-cylinder Kubota generator to go along
with the existing 22-kW Mitsubishi
generator. “While we were changing
the main, it was kind of silly not to put
the auxiliary in there, with everything
Michael Crowley is the Boats & Gear editor
for North Pacific Focus
It’s possible to be in more
than one place at one time.
Petro Marine Services has always made
a habit of being in the right place at the
right time. Kodiak, Wrangell, you name
it — if you want the most reliable fuel and
petroleum products your hard-earned
money can buy, make certain you’re
running with the Petro Marine brand.
No brand works harder. Our marinas are
open early, open late, open when you need
us. So stop by before heading for open
water. We’re pretty sure there’s a marine
docking station near you, at all times.
but nothing as fast and as
”
quick as it used to be.
— Randy Pincombe,
VIKING OWNER
smith, so her owners won’t be able to
compare fuel consumption before and
after the refit.
The old engine was a 280-hp Caterpillar D334. “The Cat was getting
tired, and you couldn’t get parts for it,”
Pincombe says. He replaced it with a
Cummins QSM11. It’s now rated at
355 horsepower but can go up to 455,
he says.
The engine room was also pushed
out to the sides, making space for a new
torn open,” Pincombe says.
When it comes to comparing how
much fuel the rebuilt Viking requires,
compared to what it previously used,
Long acknowledges it won’t be an “apples to apples comparison.” But he says,
in his experience with sponsoning and
lengthening jobs that included a bulb,
there have been differences
“The boat is usually between half
a knot and a knot faster. It’s about the
same fuel consumption but usually turning about 100 rpm less. You are pushing more boat through the water, so it
comes out to be an even trade.”
Pincombe will find out just what his
fuel consumption is when he heads out
to the crabbing grounds, but one thing
he already knows is that the ride will be
a lot better.
“I know I’m still goin’ roll but nothing
as fast and as quick as it used to be.”
800-478-7586
Alaskan owned and operated since 1959.
petromarineservices.com
35
IN FOCUS / ALEUTIAN ISLANDS ATKA MACKEREL
Deck crew Sean Fowler (left) and Francis Nansen shake out the cod end of a trawl
while fishing for Atka mackerel on the factory trawler Seafreeze Alaska near
Seguam Pass in the Bering Sea.
PHOTO BY COREY ARNOLD / www.coreyfi hes.com
36
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Every day. Every night.
And they need your support.
HHH
The United States Coast Guard
Inspire leadership, learning and a legacy of service by supporting
the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard
through the Coast Guard Foundation.
To learn how you can help, call (860) 535-0786 or visit our website at www.coastguardfoundation.org
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