Fish Inc.
This has been a tumultuous year in New England. The switch-over to a catch-share based system of management for the groundfish fleet did not go as smoothly as hoped (as far as the fishermen are concerned) and has led to calls for the ouster of NOAA director Jane Lubchenco, pleas to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to bump the quotas to keep struggling groundfishermen on the water, and lawsuits aplenty from fishermen desperate to get this new program to work for them.
On the flipside, 2010 was the first year since we've been keeping track (which comes out to about a century) that zero species in the country were experiencing overfishing; bycatch is significantly reduced in the New England groundfishery; and I was thrilled to get the news that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is upgrading several New England groundfish stocks to their "best choice" or "good alternative" ranking from "species to avoid."
What makes me worry is the idea that we have to put so many small-business men and women out of work to do it. The West Coast groundfish fleet is looking at the same prospect of consolidation with their new catch share system.
What if our new management policies were closing down Main Street storefronts and throwing money at the feet of big-box stores? Would we hear as many cheers from the "green" sector? I suspect not.
So why is it that consolidation in fishing fleets is seen simply as a fait accompli, just one bump in the road toward sustainable fisheries? We are a nation of innovators, thinkers and marketers. There has to be some way to keep the independent guys on the water and not turn our fishing industry into yet another American business sector friendly only to corporations.
I'm not asking to change our market system or bring corporations to their knees. I believe in the free market. But that's not what we have when the supply is being managed so tightly by people who don't fully understand what they're doing or even have a broad perspective on the system they are using to manage all of these people and fish.
We can praise a move away from overfishing, as we should. And we most certainly ought to encourage people to eat the product of the fisheries that are recovering and being managed sustainably.
But at what point can we move beyond patting ourselves on the back to look at how these changes are affecting working waterfronts, historical fishing villages and fishing families? When can we stop looking at columns of numbers and take a glance at the people on the docks?
Now that it looks like we have found a way to save the fish, it's time to start looking for a way to preserve the American fisherman.
—Jessica Hathaway
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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