Up and down in Puget Sound
Die-hard salmon gillnetters ride the waves of fish politics, variable returns and creative marketing in the Pacific Northwest
By Matt Marinkovich
The sun was low in the November sky as I drifted for chum salmon on my Puget Sound gillnetter, Satisfaction, just south of Seattle in 2009. I kept watch for sport boats so I could flag them off my net, when I saw Joe Popich on his bowpicker, the Big Dog, round Alki Point.
Building a bridge
The abrupt about-face on the part of NOAA and the Commerce Department as we were going to press with this issue in mid-March was a huge step forward for fishermen who are fighting to preserve their industry.
ATY North
Cat decision frustrates builder; museum rebuilds side-trawler
At Wesmac in Surry, Maine, Steve Wessel is both glad and frustrated. He's glad that a boat is being built in each of the boatshop's six bays. Five of those are commercial fishing boats, and one is a pleasure boat.
He's frustrated with Caterpillar because they've pulled the engine a lot of fishermen want.
Gulf/South Atlantic blue crab
Mystery illness puts La. fleet in limbo; Florida, Mississippi harvests stay strong
The Gulf of Mexico's blue crab fishery and market prospects for the coming year are mixed almost a year after the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
In Louisiana, many fishermen have temporarily stopped crabbing.
All PFDs on deck
From U.S. Coast Guard reports
The image of the Gloucester fisherman in his Sou'wester has eternally linked fishermen with foul weather. Even on a short trip in sight of shore, you are at the mercy of the elements.
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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