******* Happy Canada Day! *******
Alaska/Pacific Coast
Exxon isn't cutting any checks
yet
ADN, July 1,
2008
DELAYS? Oil giant hasn't said if it will fight
recently reduced punitive damages.
Alaska scallop season, summer
troll fisheries get underway (fish radio)
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Fish Radio with
Laine Welch] July 1, 2008
AK scallops, summer troll fisheries get underway. A handful of fishing boats will drop their dredges today as Alaska's annual Weathervane scallop fishery gets underway on July first. The fishery in most areas runs through mid-February. Weathervanes are the largest scallops in the world with a shell diameter averaging ten inches. Historically, scallop fishing began in Alaska in the late 1960's around Kodiak and Yakutat and soon expanded to Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, the south side of the Alaska Peninsula and the Bering Sea.. Just ten boats have permits to fish for scallops in Alaska, although fewer actually fish. The fishery has 100 percent observer coverage and strict crab bycatch caps. The statewide catch limit this year is up slightly to 513-thousand pounds of shucked meats Đ meaning the, large adductor muscle that pulls the two shell halves together. Scallop prices last year averaged $7 per pound, worth about $3.5 million at the Alaska docks. And it's scallops each year that nudge Dutch Harbor out of the nation's top spot in terms of the value of seafood landings. That honor goes to New Bedford, Massachusetts. In all, East coast scallop catches last year yielded over 60 million pounds of shucked meats'. Also today, the summer troll fishery gets underway in Southeast Alaska. The king salmon quota is so small that managers announced fishing will last just five days. Trollers can catch a mix of just 61,000 wild and hatchery kings Đ nearly 83-thousand fewer fish than last year. Fish Radio is also brought to you by the Marine Conservation Alliance - Alaska harvesters, processors and communities promoting science based solutions to fishery conservation. Find past programs at www.MarineConservationAlliance.org.
AK scallops, summer troll fisheries get underway. A handful of fishing boats will drop their dredges today as Alaska's annual Weathervane scallop fishery gets underway on July first. The fishery in most areas runs through mid-February. Weathervanes are the largest scallops in the world with a shell diameter averaging ten inches. Historically, scallop fishing began in Alaska in the late 1960's around Kodiak and Yakutat and soon expanded to Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, the south side of the Alaska Peninsula and the Bering Sea.. Just ten boats have permits to fish for scallops in Alaska, although fewer actually fish. The fishery has 100 percent observer coverage and strict crab bycatch caps. The statewide catch limit this year is up slightly to 513-thousand pounds of shucked meats Đ meaning the, large adductor muscle that pulls the two shell halves together. Scallop prices last year averaged $7 per pound, worth about $3.5 million at the Alaska docks. And it's scallops each year that nudge Dutch Harbor out of the nation's top spot in terms of the value of seafood landings. That honor goes to New Bedford, Massachusetts. In all, East coast scallop catches last year yielded over 60 million pounds of shucked meats'. Also today, the summer troll fishery gets underway in Southeast Alaska. The king salmon quota is so small that managers announced fishing will last just five days. Trollers can catch a mix of just 61,000 wild and hatchery kings Đ nearly 83-thousand fewer fish than last year. Fish Radio is also brought to you by the Marine Conservation Alliance - Alaska harvesters, processors and communities promoting science based solutions to fishery conservation. Find past programs at www.MarineConservationAlliance.org.
Miscellaneous:
Man found
guilty of harassment of fisheries observer
Kodiak Daily Mirror, June 30th,
2008
A Seattle man pleaded guilty to sexual harassment of a
federal fisheries observer aboard a fishing vessel. Lauti Fale Tuipala, 33,
served 21 days in the charge and was sentenced to six month of probation. He
must pay the victim restitution of $461, complete sexual harassment training,
and stay at least 50 yards from the observer, according to U.S. attorney Nelson
P. Cohen. “Those observers labor in especially difficult conditions, and we hope
to spread the word throughout the fishing industry in Alaska that sexual
harassment of an observer is a crime treated very seriously by this office,”
Cohen said. Tuipala and the observer were working aboard the Seattle-based
fishing vessel Aleutian Spray at the time of the harassment.
Oil industry trumpets its
economic impact
ADN, July 1,
2008
JOBS: Companies responsible for 21 percent of
private-sector payroll. The
oil industry wants to remind us how big it is in Alaska.
Politics
Study: News media bias can net mistakes at the ballot
box
Sitnews.org, June 30,
2008
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The media slant political news to the left or right to increase ratings and profits, spinning up an information vacuum that can lead to mistakes at the ballot box, a new study by three University of Illinois economists says.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The media slant political news to the left or right to increase ratings and profits, spinning up an information vacuum that can lead to mistakes at the ballot box, a new study by three University of Illinois economists says.
International
Poor catches, surging demand have mackerel prices
jumping
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [The Nikkei Weekly] July 1, 2008 - Shift in African diets from meat to fish strains tight supplies. When Japanese people talk about the possible disappearance of fish from the dining table, the focus is usually on tuna - the delicacy. But it may be time to pay heed to the quiet but significant change in the situation regarding a more common species of fish - horse mackerel. A serious shortage of mackerel for processing in various parts of the country, including Kyushu, is causing sharp increases in catch prices. Even minimum requests for imports from Europe are hard to fill due to growing demand from African nations, heightening the anxiety over short supplies of dried mackerel - a traditional and popular Japanese food. Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, accounts for about 40% of the country's dried fish production, and dried mackerel apparently makes up some 70% of the products made in the city. Lately, however, the percentage of other fish, including alfonsino, appears to be increasing. Once rarely used, small horse mackerel is now being processed for food as well. At the Matsuura Port in Nagasaki Prefecture, where fishermen land horse mackerel they have caught, auction prices have been about 4,000 yen to 6,000 yen ($37-56) per 15kg, or about 150 fish - a 30-50% increase in price from a year earlier. Horse mackerel is caught in the summer, then frozen and processed, but the supply has tightened because catches were also poor last year. 'The quality of the fish is not quite worth the market price, but our priority is to secure supplies,' said one industry source.
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [The Nikkei Weekly] July 1, 2008 - Shift in African diets from meat to fish strains tight supplies. When Japanese people talk about the possible disappearance of fish from the dining table, the focus is usually on tuna - the delicacy. But it may be time to pay heed to the quiet but significant change in the situation regarding a more common species of fish - horse mackerel. A serious shortage of mackerel for processing in various parts of the country, including Kyushu, is causing sharp increases in catch prices. Even minimum requests for imports from Europe are hard to fill due to growing demand from African nations, heightening the anxiety over short supplies of dried mackerel - a traditional and popular Japanese food. Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, accounts for about 40% of the country's dried fish production, and dried mackerel apparently makes up some 70% of the products made in the city. Lately, however, the percentage of other fish, including alfonsino, appears to be increasing. Once rarely used, small horse mackerel is now being processed for food as well. At the Matsuura Port in Nagasaki Prefecture, where fishermen land horse mackerel they have caught, auction prices have been about 4,000 yen to 6,000 yen ($37-56) per 15kg, or about 150 fish - a 30-50% increase in price from a year earlier. Horse mackerel is caught in the summer, then frozen and processed, but the supply has tightened because catches were also poor last year. 'The quality of the fish is not quite worth the market price, but our priority is to secure supplies,' said one industry source.
Emptier nets: Domestic catches of the fish
have been poor. The total weight of mackerel caught nationwide in May was about
11,500 metric tons, more than 20% less than the average of 15,000 tons in the
month for the past five years. Researchers
have been predicting a downturn in catches for some time, but some industry
officials say the fish is also maturing a month slower than usual. Higher crude-oil prices are contributing to the
problem too. Around this time of year, catches in the East China Sea increase,
but higher fuel costs are discouraging fishing boats from venturing far. 'Fewer
fishing boats means less chance at locating schools of fish - it's a vicious
cycle,' said Kenso Tanaka, managing director of Nishinihon Uoichi Co., a fish
wholesaler at the Matsuura fish market.
Imports make up a good portion of processed mackerel, with the
Netherlands, Ireland and Norway being major suppliers. All those countries
reported poor catches last year, and at the same time, demand from African
countries like Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana has risen sharply in recent years.
Demand from the African continent is turning to fish because it is a 'less
expensive source of animal protein than meat,' said a source with trading firm
Hanwa Co. Prices on purchases by African
nations have nearly doubled in the last five years, and Japanese import prices
have also been rising across the board. Mackerel from the Netherlands in 2007
cost 124 yen per kilogram, up 36 yen, or 41%, from 2005. Fish from Ireland was
108 yen, up 19 yen, or 21%.
Rippling over: Processing companies are raising their shipment prices to cover the rising cost of ingredients. Some companies raised prices of deep-fried mackerel, which is usually processed in China, as demand for the prepared food is steady from households.Dried food demand, however, has been weak, and large retailers are reluctant to raise price tags. As a result, they are maintaining the low prices and are instead selling products in smaller sizes, according to a source at an urban supermarket.
Rippling over: Processing companies are raising their shipment prices to cover the rising cost of ingredients. Some companies raised prices of deep-fried mackerel, which is usually processed in China, as demand for the prepared food is steady from households.Dried food demand, however, has been weak, and large retailers are reluctant to raise price tags. As a result, they are maintaining the low prices and are instead selling products in smaller sizes, according to a source at an urban supermarket.