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#09-22-2012 - ComFish News Roundup

Ohmer discusses ‘12 season
September 20, 2012 | Vol. 39, No. 38
Dave Ohmer presented his annual end of the season fishing report to the Petersburg Rotary Club last week and his comments mirrored statewide reports and comments made by Gunnar Knapp, longtime fishing economist at the University of Alaska. Ohmer, like Knapp cited that huge volumes of cheaper farmed salmon has driven prices for salmon, halibut and black cod lower. Chile, the world’s number two producer of salmon had to get back into the market after killing off their farmed fish stocks due to disease problems for the past three years. “They rebuilt their stocks quickly and sold their product to Japan,” said Ohmer. “To drive sales, they continually reduced prices on.... http://www.petersburgpilot.com/story/2012/09/20/dockside/ohmer-discusses-12-season/600.html

Coastal villages seek CDQ changes
September 21st 5:56 pm | Hannah Heimbuch
The Coastal Villages Region Fund is asking leaders of the Community Development Quota Program to change its policies on allocating shares of fisheries resources. CVRF, which represents 20 of the 65 CDQ villages on the Bering Sea shore, is asking that CDQ allocations be distributed by population. The current policies, they said, do not allow for fair distribution of CDQs. "The injustice in allocations has gone on for 20 years," said CVRF President John O. Mark of Quinhagak in a release. "We can no longer sit back and let it continue.  We can do more to improve the lives of our community members with.... http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1238coastal_villages_seek_cdq_changes

Tribal fish rights in Aleutians?
September 21st 5:51 pm | Jim Paulin
David Osterback says the Aleutian region could use a good regional cookbook, combining the recipes from local cookbooks already published in area villages, especially seafood dishes. Osterback spoke at a fisheries workshop at the Regional Wellness and Self-Governance Conference in Unalaska last week, sponsored by the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association. Osterback, a Sand Point fisherman and fisheries activist, also laid out a political agenda, what might be called an "Activist's Cookbook," taking aim at the large-scale commercial fishing industry that he said deprives the declining... http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1238tribal_fish_rights_in_aleutians

Adak hopes oil, trans-Arctic shipping will revitalize island
September 21st 5:39 pm | Jim Paulin
ADAK -
Signs of a huge investment in the past abound here. The huge storage buildings, long docks for ships, and stylish suburban housing for thousands of military personnel and families are nearly all empty, following the end of the Cold War between the United States and former Soviet Union. The Naval Air Facility closed in the 1990s because of the absence of an enemy that made the remote site's high maintenance costs worthwhile, thanks to fear as a funding source. Now, the new owners see a model for the future in Memphis, Tennessee, and they're not talking about going to Grace Land, even though some.... http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1238adak_hopes_oil_trans-arctic_shipping_will

EPA should extend Pebble comment time
COMPASS: Other points of view
By KATHRYN THOMAS
Published: September 21st, 2012 09:20 PM
Last Modified: September 21st, 2012 09:21 PM
The Environmental Protection Agency's Dennis McLerran is claiming overwhelming public support for the agency's Draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, a controversial report on the potential effects of mining in the region. What he fails to mention is the source of most of this purported support: pre-written mass emails generated by national environmental groups. The EPA describes the messages as identical in both form and content..... http://www.adn.com/2012/09/21/2634959/epa-should-extend-pebble-comment.html

Petersburg: City officials have questions about ferry schedule
September 20, 2012 | Vol. 39, No. 38
Questions regarding the decrease in port departures were a topic of discussion by Petersburg City Council Monday evening. Petersburg Mayor Al Dwyer addressed a letter to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Deputy Commissioner of Marine Operations Michael Neussl asking about the reduced ferry schedule for 2013. “Our community has seen an overall decrease in port departures by 19.5 percent since 2002 and an 18.6 percent decrease in passenger disembarkment over the same time period,” Dwyer noted. “These two facts are clearly linked, the more the AMHS reduces service to our community the fewer people use the service thereby justifying additional reductions the following year.”.... http://www.petersburgpilot.com/story/2012/09/20/news/city-officials-have-questions-about-ferry-schedule/611.html

September 21, 2012
Marketing bill targets U.S. seafood
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) recently introduced a bill to create a national seafood marketing and development effort. Anyone in Congress wondering whether they should support the bill need look no further than the Fisheries of the United States 2011 report NOAA released this week.  NOAA reports U.S. fish and shellfish landings reached a 17-year high of 10.1 billion pounds worth $5.3 billion in 2011, up 1.9 million pounds and $784 million respectively from 2010 totals. The agency attributes the landings increase to... http://thesortingtable.nationalfisherman.com/2012/09/marketing-bill-targets-us-seafood.html

Fish on Fridays: Innovations to Increase and Stabilize Fishing Profits
Posted by Michael Conathan of Center for American Progress in Ocean Views on September 21, 2012
The following piece was originally published by the Center for American Progress.
Earlier this week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its annual report on the state of U.S. fisheries and overall, the news was fairly positive. U.S. fishermen caught 10.1 billion pounds of fish in 2011, up nearly 20 percent from 2010. They did so while remaining increasingly within science-based total catch limits intended to end overfishing and rebuild depleted stocks. But the news wasn’t all good: Some fisheries still face severe uphill battles to remain profitable. And while Americans’ consumption of seafood per capita declined by about 5 percent last year, the total amount of fish we imported shot up—increasing from 86 percent to 91 percent..... http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/21/fish-on-fridays-innovations-to-increase-and-stabilize-fishing-profits/













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