Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Alaska Southeast Alaska’s upcoming tanner crab fishery could be the best in decades KFSK by Angela Denning - January 31, 2022 The upcoming tanner crab fishery in Southeast Alaska is looking very promising. The fishery starts on Feb. 11, and the harvest and price could be historic. https://www.ktoo.org/2022/01/31/southeast-tanner-crab-season-could-be-historic/ Murkowski, Young Welcome additional H-2B visas KINY - January 31, 2022 Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The Department of Homeland Security announced the availability of 20,000 additional H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the first half of fiscal year 2022, Reaction from Alaska Congressman Don Young was positive. https://www.kinyradio.com/news/news-of-the-north/murkowski-young-welcome-additional-h-2b-visas/ Environment/Science Salmon Strongholds: Huffman brings back Salmon FISH Act National Fisherman by Jessica Hathaway - January 25, 2022 The Tongass and Chugach rivers contribute on average 48 million fish to Alaska's salmon fishery every year. Sitka Conservation Society. https://www.nationalfisherman.com/west-coast-pacific/salmon-strongholds-huffman-brings-back-salmon-fish-act FYI’s Sanitation Control Procedures for Seafood Processors Alaska Sea Grant April 1, 8:30 am–4:30 pm AKDT $200 Seafood processors are required to monitor sanitary control procedures used during processing, to document conformance with proper sanitary conditions and practices. This one-day Sanitation Control Procedures for Seafood Processors online workshop teaches people in the seafood industry how to develop and implement FDA-mandated sanitation control procedures, covering the basic eight points of sanitation and documentation requirements. https://alaskaseagrant.org/event/sanitation-control-procedures-for-seafood-processors-2022/ IPHC Media Release 2022-002 Completion of the 98th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM098) International Pacific Halibut Commission - January 31, 2022 SEATTLE - The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) completed its 98th Annual Meeting (AM098) electronically on 28 January 2022 with decisions on total mortality limits, fishing period dates, and other fishery regulation changes. A total of 172 individual Pacific halibut stakeholders attended the meeting via the electronic platform, in addition to the delegations from Canada (12) and the United States of America (15). https://iphc.int/library/documents/post/iphc-media-release-2022-002-completion-of-the-98th-session-of-the-iphc-annual-meeting-am098 Get Ready for Halibut! Area 2A License Applications Open for This Summer's Fisheries SeafoodNews.com by Susan Chambers - February 1, 2022 It's time to apply for an Area 2A halibut permit for those who want to participate in the commercial fishery this summer. Charter vessel operators also must apply. The International Pacific Halibut Commission requires halibut fishermen on the West Coast -- Washington, Oregon and California -- to apply for a permit., the IPHC said in a press release. The IPHC sets the overall total fishery removals (mortality limit) for the Regulatory Area; the domestic Catch Sharing Plan for IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, as adopted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and NMFS, is then used to further allocate the total fishery removals among user groups/sectors. Only vessels with a license issued from the IPHC are eligible to receive allocation within the directed commercial fishery as a fishing period limit, which is also set and issued by the IPHC. However, the IPHC, NMFS and the Pacific Council have been working on transferring governance of the Area 2A directed commercial fishery to the U.S. Fishery managers anticipate that change will take place in 2023. For now, the IPHC will distribute the licenses. Applicants may choose from among three commercial and one recreational charter fishery licenses by the application deadlines as noted. All applications must be completed no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on the applicable deadline date; late applications will not be accepted. Federal and state licensing requirements may also apply. Application Deadlines for 2022: Recreational Pacific halibut charter: no deadline; Incidental commercial Pacific halibut during salmon troll season: March 15, 2022; Incidental commercial Pacific halibut during the sablefish longline fishery: May 20, 2022; and Directed commercial halibut fishery: May 2, 2022. Applications must be submitted via the IPHC website at the following link: 2022 license application form: https://www.iphc.int/management/fisheries/directed-commercial-fisheries/directed-iphc-regulatory-area-2a For further information applicants contact the IPHC Secretariat via email to Secretariat@iphc.int or by phone to 206-634-1838. Secretariat@iphc.int https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1217833/Get-Ready-for-Halibut-Area-2A-License-Applications-Open-for-This-Summers-Fisheries Pacific Seafood Processors Association 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: admin@pspafish.net; Website: www.pspafish.net Our office days/hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. *Inclusion of a news article, report, or other document in this email does not imply PSPA support or endorsement of the information or opinion expressed in the document.