Commercial fishing is a bedrock industry in Alaska, and has been for more than a century. Every year scores of fishermen net millions of migrating salmon, challenge the icy Bering Sea to trap king crabs, lay miles and miles of baited hooks for halibut, and scoop up enough pollock for a zillion fish sticks. And when fishermen aren't out fishing, they're usually talking about fishing. That's what this blog is all about. Cast your net here for commercial fishing news and notes. And if you've got a bone to pick, post a comment.
About me:
I've pounded the commercial fishing beat for the Anchorage Daily News since 1999. I hail originally from Tennessee. I've never fished commercially, but I've spent much time as a journalist aboard boats and inside fish-processing plants. Of course, I'm a big consumer of Alaska seafood. One of my favorites: canned sockeye.
Contact Wesley Loy at wloy@adn.com.
Catching a taste of Alaska in Seattle - 11/30/2008 5:04 pm
Expect Exxon payments by mid-December - 11/26/2008 1:31 pm
FCA nets $450,000 penalty - 11/25/2008 11:33 pm
Halibut to take a hit in 2009 - 11/25/2008 11:00 pm
The Highliner hits Seattle - 11/23/2008 12:24 am
Call to service - 11/18/2008 5:12 pm
Sea Hawk keeps fighting - 11/18/2008 4:42 pm
How much for the lawyers? - 11/17/2008 10:53 pm
About those Exxon Valdez lists - 11/16/2008 3:19 am
More Exxon payments proposed - 11/16/2008 1:28 am
Halibut is done - 11/15/2008 9:55 pm
$400 million fish haul – again - 11/14/2008 5:29 pm
Bristol Bay sockeye to dip in 2009 - 11/12/2008 5:26 pm
Judge rejects Sea Hawk motion - 11/12/2008 3:58 pm
Pollock catch pointing way down - 11/12/2008 12:31 am
Campbell's seat now open on Fish Board - 11/10/2008 9:46 am
Processor shares come to West Coast - 11/9/2008 2:29 am
How much will you get? - 11/6/2008 12:04 pm
UFA stands by Stevens - 11/3/2008 12:39 am
Personnel file - 10/30/2008 11:22 pm
Mysterious mayday surfaces; Katmai calling? - 10/29/2008 11:48 pm
‘Gone on long enough’ - 10/29/2008 9:59 pm
Posted: January 2, 2008 - 10:35 am
Gov. Sarah Palin: Can the Bristol Bay gillnetter hold onto her popularity? Governor’s office photo
So what can we expect in the new year?
The Highliner knows it’s risky, but he offers these 10 predictions. Please, no wagering, and I’ll thank you not to rub it in a year from now when I’m proven wrong.
Off we go!
• The Bering Sea crab fisheries will go another calendar year with no fatalities, further making a mockery of that TV show, “Deadliest Catch.”
• Look for consolidation in the Bering Sea pollock fleet. Fishing cooperatives will park some boats with the quota going down substantially. And expect one factory trawler to sell to a bigger competitor.
• Jim Balsiger of Juneau will be named the new director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Bon voyage, Mr. B.
• The bluster will continue over Pebble, a copper and gold mine that isn’t and might never be.
• Exxon Mobil will emerge the victor in the spill case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Retail halibut prices, already at blueblood levels, will go even higher due to a smaller catch limit. Can you say consumer revolt?
• We might see more public corruption indictments this year, but no fishy ones. And no, The Highliner has no inside information.
• Gov. Sarah Palin, so very popular now, will lose some of her shine in the commercial fishing industry. That’s what happens when you start making decisions.
• Bering Sea trawlers will get that chinook bycatch under control. They’d better.
• Bob Thorstenson Jr., who occasionally swears off The Highliner, will break down and keep posting. And his blogger buddies will gladly take the bait.
Happy New Year!
2 January 3, 2008 - 3:11pm | globalwarming
bobbyt is heading over to wakizaki's revamp party for a blog roll this weekend...
toasty
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1 January 2, 2008 - 7:29pm | akwapsc
and only this one.
I began serining in SE out of Petersbiurg. where my family had lived for 3 proud prior generations. Makes me a 4th gen AK fisherman, But I only fish salmon in SE and Hood Canal. This summer is my 32nd season.Real Petersburg fisherman I am not as a real Petersburg fisherman fishes lots of things.
The last 4 years I moved up to Juneau, after living in Tacoma,Everett, Salem and Seattle in the wintertime.
For the first 10 1/2 years I was a 100% conplete volunteer for this industry. My Father said that this was a genetic defect that happened to him as well Only when I turned 40, in 2003, was I in a position (maritally) where I had to get a job.
And that's why I live in Juneau and all the little towns and villages in SE while I'm fishing in the summer.
My motives are the same as most in the industry--- to better our lot when it comes to price-- to not get killed by the lower priced seafood imports-- to not let the big boys get away with a wink-wink price that would leave us holding the bag-to seek out lower diesel costs.
Politically, we need to continue that which was started under Ted Don and Lisa.... AFMB ASMI and other great programs to propel us into the 21st century.
I may talk alone at times on here but our success has been nothing less than the great effort of Aspelund, Crome and Bedford==when they were with us at UFA.
When I was president of UFA, I spoke for everyone, whether you liked it or not. Now I speak for my clients and nonprofits, which only number in the 1500 range.
And now with Wallace, Schactler, Kevin Adams, and more more more
I'm not going to on here as I'll be busy taking care of my clients needs and not dealing with the unnamed riffrrraff on here as well as it's time to move on.
The new leadership at UFA, Kathy Hansen, JoeChilders, Rob Zuanich, Duncan Fields, Wallace Fields, Deb Lyons, et. et. and there are many more. It's up to these good folk to carry on what we've already started.
This past year, there are many many lobbyists who deal with big, big issues.
I'm one of the little guys. My total income from lobbying was slightly less than my fishing income this summer _$250.000.
And these are folks who have known me for a while and hired me even when the whackjobs like Taufen, Smith, EngeJR and WhackiZaki on the AK Report had been writing me a non-so-spectacular resume.
The key is longevity. As a 10 1/2 year volunteer and coming from a family where integrity is the first word you utter in the morning, any bad news subtley became good news, in my case.
I feel for the less fortunate who either made mistakes or allegeedly made them, but this is a great way to make a living. On some years it beats fishing and that's saying something.
And that's all you'll get from me in 2008 Wesley.\
The corruption trial stuff will be going full speed by late next week and the Calhoun Gang will be watching intently from our lair on 410 Calhoun for the 6pm news on January 11.
Have a good year Wesley. Hope your last year was as good as mine when my client list went from 4 to 12, and I caught 1.9 million salmon and sold my 3% stock in a $200 million company I owned.
But of course beyond financially, this has been a relaxing year, without having to keep the 39 people who run this commfish business UFA in tow. It was a heavy job for 7 years. My hats off to Joe Childers, Jerry McCune and Mark Vinsel.
And one more thing.
Nice to have those finishing touches on that long awaited SE fleet consolidation program. Now that was a well rewarding ending for the majority of the guys that I represent. That's what I was hired to come to Juneua to do in the first place,get the buyback. And here it is.
Cheers and Here's to 2008. If it's a tenth as good to me as 2007, I'll be a happy camper.
bobbyt
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January 10, 2008 - 9:59pm | TruthforAlaska
Where's the big news tonight moron??? Its Thursday. 9pm. Oops, looks like you've been caught in another lie.
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October 30, 2008 - 1:48am | megal_i
You can download to ipod shuffle without itunes(sync to ipod without itunes) or transfer windows to ipod without itunes.
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January 3, 2008 - 4:21pm | peter1
Help. There is a tilapia product being sold under the brand name Pure Catch at a local Safeway in socialist Ballard, Washington. Where did it come from? How did it get there?
Right next to it is a Pure Catch Pacific Salmon, same packaging as the tilapia. The salmon says wild caught, but the tilapia says nothing. Was this farm raised in Arkansas, under strict water and processing controls, or did it come from a tilapia farm in Quindao?
Don't you think the tilapia, that probably came from a tilapia farm in China (re:NY Times 12/15/07 front page, China farmed fish dangers), demands that warning label?
Most folks won't drop English marmelade, Italian wine, German sausage, Norwegian lutefisk on the floor at Pike Place fooderies, but when it comes to Chinese seafood, that's a different question - with the highest rate of rejected seafood in world markets.
So, who or what is Pure Catch? Did you know that Pure Catch is sold by a company named Trident? I think I've seen that name before in Ballard, between Pac Fish and - Archie McPhee. Isn't it one of those Alaska seafood companies that has a satelite in liberal, socialist Washington?
Those AFMB funds generated from foreign fish imports sure look fishy - take $'s for US resources lost to foreign goods, and turn around and sell the exact same foreign product in a Ballard Safeway (a 5 minute walk from Trident headquarters).
Capitalism is what put a man on the moon, win 2 world wars (one, by the way, by 2 liberal presidents), and drive the Soviet Union "out of business" (?). But there are limits - would you please call Chuck up and tell him to get some stickers on his Pure Catch tilapia, no doubt the same farmed tilapia being imported into the US as fish protein refuse.
Thanks.
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January 4, 2008 - 2:50pm | ufa1
Seafood that is sold in U.S. supermarkets and not cooked, canned, smoked, or otherwise substantially transformed, must be labeled as to country of origin and whether wild and farmed, under USDA Country of Origin labeling regulations.
Peter and others should report any violations of the USDA Country of Origin Labeling that you see to email address COOL@usda.gov . Include the supermarket name and address and the product description.
Details are online at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/
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January 4, 2008 - 6:52pm | peter1
156 tilapia fish farms in the U.S., according to Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.
So, giving Pure Catch the benefit of the doubt, why aren't they smart enough to put on a U.S. label of origin?? This would resolve confusion over polluted, unstickered Asian tilapia, and "benign", unstickered, domestic tilapia.
If Pure Catch is selling China/Viet/Indian farmed tilapia, they're compromising US food safety and should be summarily slapped.
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January 5, 2008 - 9:01pm | peter1
The tilapia is in fact US farmed, as the sticker says in fine print.
How, though, is Trident permitted to sell farmed fish at all, while collecting AFMB funds that are, in fact, intended to protect against aquaculture losses - ? Hello? This is going on in plain sight, in broad day light, at 2 Ballard Safeways (an old ethnic neighborhood in liberal Seattle).
This is kind of Keystone Cops. Shouldn't Trident's AFMB allocation be reduced by the amount of profits it generates from aquaculture sales? How many fishermen could collect same funds after revealing similar business ventures? Someone straighten me out.
-Sleepless in Ballard
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January 19, 2008 - 7:54pm | peter1
Cosco selling Trident panko breaded tilapia. Where is the loophole in AFMB funds permitting this????? There has to be somewhere, big enough for the FV Billikin to sail thru. The ship that "revolutionized Alaska fishing" (according to package advertising) is prominently displayed on the back; obviously the vessel, or one similar to it, actually caught the delicious white fish, somewhere in the warm waters of - Arkansas?
BTW, "Pure Catch", as in Safeway's product, is false advertising, not that that matters these days, what with patriots sucking up Chinese farmed fish at Walmarts (only libs read the fine print to look for REAL Alaska product).
Years ago, Safeway did away with regional NW seafood purchasers, and now rely totally on California decision making. What has that led to? Safeway now buys its salmon from Muckleshoot Indians gillnetting in the Duwamish. You know what that means - perhaps the most polluted river on the entire West Coast, heavy metals, the worst that industry has thrown at it for 100 years. The salmon Safeway is selling from the Indians is not caught in Elliot Bay, but IN, from the river. Think about it. And Chuck is glad to sell his crap tilapia next to it.
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January 3, 2008 - 1:54pm | akwapsc
And that's my keyboard, not a spellling glitch JT
1.9 million "pounds" of salmon
Also the misspelling of Petersburg, Wesley and seining, all of which I know how to spell quite well.
guess the keyboard is worn out by now.
Have a great year, "Wesley"
bobbyt
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January 4, 2008 - 6:08am | gretzmacher
Well of course it's worn out, Bobby - EVERY blowhard needs a new horn now and then! What's truly amazing is that your breastbone has held up to all the beating. Most genuine achievers allow their accomplishments to speak for themselves; only the "wish-I-was's" feel compelled to shout out chapter and verse. You've made it quite clear, over time, what you consider to be "good" and "right", both in yourself and in others. So you go ahead and wallow in that, with or without your new keyboard - but you'd better keep your boots on!
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January 2, 2008 - 8:19pm | crabmandan
my money says wesley's predictions will come true about bobby t and he wont be able to refrain himself from posting. I predict he will read something that will start his lips flapping and get his stubby little fingers going on the keyboards. theres no way bobby will be able to keep quiet. And the hiliner is way more interesting when he's posting, he just seems to get everybody started. BTW bobby happy new year.
CrabmanDan
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3 January 7, 2008 - 1:07pm | jgmac
forecast
Hey Wesley
Wasn't this supposed to be the forecast thread not the 100th rerun of the Bobby T bio thread. Delete his off topic self promotion or give him his own thread.
My predictions;
1. Cod hits $1/lb in the round.
2. NPFMC does nothing about Gulf crab and halibut bycatch
3. Southeast longliners craft endless reasons not to take
recommended cut in the 2C halibut catch but still manage to
cast themselves as good stewards of the resource.
4. Related to #3, Ralph Hoard once again votes Icicles'
pocketbook at the IPHC annual meeting.
5. Red and Pink salmon prices continue to climb. Not because
of ASMI or AFMB but because of individual fishermen selling
more and more quality fish directly.
6. Holdovers from the Murky admin. within ADF&G and on the
NPFMC continue to stifle any real reform of fisheries policy.
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