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#06-27-2013 - ComFish News Roundup

Halibut bycatch delivered to Kotzebue food bank
Welcome to Kotzebue, Alaska
Welcome to Kotzebue, Alaska (Photo credit: J. Stephen Conn)
Posted: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 1:47 pm
Associated Press | 3 comments
KODIAK, Alaska - A U.S. Coast Guard cargo plane made a special delivery this week to a food bank above the Arctic Circle: halibut that otherwise would have gone to waste. The C130 Hercules delivered 13,000 pounds of filleted and vacuum-packed fish to the food bank in Kotzebue, KMXT reported. The halibut is the bycatch from trawlers that is delivered to Kodiak. The delivery was arranged by Bainbridge Island Wash.-based Sea Share, an organization that redirects..... http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/halibut-bycatch-delivered-to-kotzebue-food-bank/article_0bd33a1a-deaa-11e2-8066-001a4bcf6878.html


12:58 PM WED JUNE 26, 2013
Kevin Washburn to Visit King Cove, Cold Bay
By DAVE BENDINGER
The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs will get a firsthand look at why King Cove residents want a road through the Izembek refuge.... http://kdlg.org/post/kevin-washburn-visit-king-cove-cold-bay

Drift fishermen ease into season
Under way
Posted: June 25, 2013 - 10:06pm  |  Updated: June 26, 2013 - 8:32am
By Rashah McChesney
Peninsula Clarion
With each noisy grinder, vacuum cleaner, paint touch-up, bag of trash cleared from the cabin and flick of a water hose over the deck, commercial driftnet fishing boats in the Kenai Dock get closer to being ready. The Kenai Dock is busy this time of year as drift gillnetters put the last touches on their boats, launch them into the mouth of the Kenai River..... http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2013-06-25-0

2:43 PM WED JUNE 26, 2013
5-Million Sockeye Harvested in Bristol Bay
By MIKE MASON
The commercial sockeye catch in Bristol Bay has topped 5-million fish. On Tuesday commercial fishermen across Bristol Bay hauled in over 989-thousand sockeye. The district leading the way is the Egegik District where fishermen hauled in 217-thousand sockeye on Tuesday. The District total is 1.8-million fish. Next up is.... http://kdlg.org/post/5-million-sockeye-harvested-bristol-bay


With Recent Victories, Movement to Label GMOs Gains Steam
English: Logo of the .
English: Logo of the . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
BY HELENA BOTTEMILLER | JUNE 27, 2013
More than six months after a big defeat in California, the movement to label foods containing genetically modified organisms appears to be picking up steam across the country. In the past three weeks, Connecticut and Maine passed labeling bills, the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time approved a non-GMO label claim for meat products, Chipotle began voluntarily labeling menu items containing GMO ingredients online, and, perhaps most notably, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted last week to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration funding to label genetically modified salmon if the agency approves the fish. These are all small steps compared to what California’s Proposition 37 would have accomplished – since the...............
.......................A handful of U.S. lawmakers, mostly from states like Alaska, Washington and Oregon, whose wild salmon fisheries are highly lucrative, have opposed approving the GM salmon and have argued that if the fish is approved it should be labeled as a GMO. The labeling amendment that succeeded in the Senate Appropriations Committee was co-sponsored by Sens. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). In the House, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has made similar attempts at mandating labeling for GM salmon. Colin O’Neil, a regulatory analyst for the Center for Food Safety, an anti-GMO advocacy group, called the amendment “a big step forward for labeling in this country” because clearing the committee is a “huge hurdle.” The bill will next head to the Senate floor. The group said it’s not aware of efforts to strip the Begich-Murkowski amendment from the appropriations bill, but said it would be closely monitoring the legislation when it goes to conference to be reconciled with the House version because “we have not seen something like this get that far before.”.... http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/06/movement-to-label-gmos-gaining-steam/#.UcxAl_nVB8F

Letter to the Editor
Map of Bristol Bay, Alaska
Map of Bristol Bay, Alaska (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Too great a risk to Bristol Bay
Published: June 26
Regarding the June 24 editorial “Save the salmon”:
Forever is a very long time, but that’s how long the massive Pebble Mine and its toxic waste would have to be contained at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay wild salmon fishery in southwest Alaska..... http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/too-great-a-risk-to-bristol-bay/2013/06/26/6ac2c116-ddb6-11e2-bc84-8049224b33e1_story.html


Anadromous stream ordinance revisions expected at assembly’s meeting on July 2
Posted: June 26, 2013 - 1:18pm
By Greg Skinner
Morris News Service — Alaska
It boiled down to science vs. emotion and personal property rights vs. communist encroachment by the United Nations, as scores spoke about the future of salmon habitat regulation on the Kenai Peninsula. One man, who said he was a Russian immigrant, warned of eventual gulags. Following 315 minutes of testimony made by nearly 100 citizens, the most any sitting assembly member can remember, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted 6-3 to keep the current ..... http://homernews.com/homer-news/business/2013-06-26/anadromous-stream-ordinance-revisions-expected-at-assembly%E2%80%99s-meeting

The Gov’t Will Soon Be Implementing New School Food Rules…Including Regulating Your Kids’ Bake Sales
Jun. 27, 2013 7:26am Jonathon M. Seidl
WASHINGTON (AP) — High-calorie sports drinks and candy bars will be removed from school vending machines and cafeteria lines as soon as next year, replaced with diet drinks, granola bars and other healthier items. The Agriculture Department said Thursday that for the first time it will make sure that all foods sold in the nation’s 100,000 schools are.... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/27/the-govt-will-soon-be-implementing-new-school-food-rules-including-regulating-your-kids-bake-sales/









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