With a pre-season forecast calling for a lower return of early kings to the Columbia River this year, Washington and Oregon managers unveiled the management regime for first half fisheries Wednesday, Jan. 30.
The working estimate for the 2013 overall upper Columbia spring chinook run is 141,400 fish. That compares to the circa 203,000 springs that ventured above Bonneville Dam last year.
The lowest reaches of the Columbia (below Interstate 5) currently are open for personal use fishing for salmon and steelhead under rules set last year allowing the retention of hatchery fish (limited to marked chinook, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat) as well as bass, walleye and catfish.
Expansion of the sleek fish opportunity occurs the first of March under the recently agreed upon updated Columbia Compact terms.
Read the full story at the Bellingham Herald>>
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.