Check out our Spring Newsletter, hot off the press!
F/V Drill Conductor course in Sitka February 12th
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) will offer a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor class in Sitka on February 12 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the NSRAA building at 1308 Sawmill Creek Road. The class is free to commercial fishermen. The cost is $185.50 (including sales tax) to all others. Online registration for the class is available at www.amsea.org. Phone registration is available by calling the AMSEA office at 747-3287.
The class will include training with marine safety equipment, firefighting, flooding and damage control and other drills. The class will meet U.S. Coast Guard training requirements for drill conductors on commercial fishing vessels.
2019 IPHC Catch Limits Set
2019 IPHC Catch Limits
Alaska/Canada season dates: March 15--November 14
Results in SPR 47%
2019 IPHC Catch Limits
Remember 2C and 3A include catch sharing allocations to charter fleet.
Last years numbers (2018) for reference:
2A 1.32
2B 7.1
2C 6.34
3A 12.54
3B 3.27
4A 1.74
4B 1.28
4CDE 3.62
AMSEA Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor Class in Sitka Friday January 18
Laurie Mastrella fishes halibut, 2018. Photo credit: Celia Bower
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) will hold a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor class in Sitka on Friday, January 18th from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the NSRAA office at 1308 Sawmill Creek Road. There is no charge for commercial fishermen attending the class. Online registration is available at www.amsea.org or by calling (907)747-3287. The class will cover cold-water survival skills, marine distress communications, man-overboard drills, flooding, firefighting and use of safety equipment. The course meets U.S. Coast Guard training requirements for drill conductors on commercial fishing vessels.
AMSEA First Aid/CPR course in Sitka January 17
Photo credit: Graham Kraft 2018
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association will hold a first aid, CPR and AED class from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the NSRAA building, 1308 Sawmill Creek Road, on Thursday, January 17, 2019. Participants will receive a Coast Guard accepted, two year certificate. The cost is $100.00. Interested persons can register online at www.amsea.org or call (907) 747-3287.
NOAA report recommends employing more rural and Native Alaskans
A recently published report by the Alaska Region of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that the agency could improve the representativeness of Alaskans in the agency workforce, particularly rural Alaskans and Alaska Natives. Alaska’s coastal communities are primarily rural areas, and Alaska Natives comprise half of the coastal community population. The agency will begin to work to address the need for a diverse workforce.
The report recognizes that a broader range of local perspectives and skills will be valuable as the agency faces unique challenges, particularly ecosystem changes associated with melting sea ice, warmer weather and related changes to the marine environment. Also, most of the agency’s work occurs in Alaska’s coastal communities, heightening the need for local engagement. Additional benefits that may accrue from a more local workforce include reduced staff turnover and an improved policy decisionmaking process.
Council sets 2019 sablefish quotas
On Thursday, December 6th, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted harvest specifications for the 2019 season. The sablefish quota will be 11,571 metric tons (25.5 million round pounds). The projected harvest will be similar to the 2018 catch of 11,716 metric tons (with deliveries reported through November 8th). The breakdown by fishery area is as follows:
Southeast Outside: 2,984 metric tons/6,578,526 round pounds
West Yakutat: 1,828 metric tons/4,030,008 round pounds
Central Gulf: 5,178 metric tons/11,415,418 round pounds
Western Gulf: 1,581 metric tons/3,485,472 round pounds
Projections are for increased catch limits in 2020, with a total catch limit of over 34 million round pounds with increases of roughly 25 percent in each fishery area.
Federal Communications Commission prohibition on use of AIS for fishing buoys
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued Enforcement Advisory No. 2018-04 on November 28, 2018 advising fishermen and merchants that its rules prohibit the use of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) frequencies on fishing buoys. The FCC authorizes AIS solely for marine navigation purposes and believes that using it on fishing buoys would disrupt maritime communications and increase the risk of accidents. The FCC may impose substantially monetary penalties - thousands of dollars per day - on anyone advertising, selling, or using non-compliant buoys or other non-compliant AIS equipment.
The full notice is available at:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-18-1211A1.pdf
More information is available from the U.S. Coast Guard website at:
https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISFAQ.
AMSEA Drill conductor workshop in Sitka December 1st
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) offers a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor workshop in Sitka on Saturday, December 1, from 8:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. at NSRAA at 1308 Sawmill Creek Road. The workshop is free to commercial fishermen and will help fishermen meet U.S. Coast Guard requirements for drill conductors on fishing vessels. Online registration is available at www.amsea.org or by phone at 907-747-3287.
New Offshore Aquaculture Bill Threatens Commercial Fishermen
The push to open oceans to industrial fish farming is moving forward. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is prioritizing the development of ocean factory farms, which add pollution, threaten commercial fish species, produce unhealthy seafood and harm coastal communities.
Now Congress is catering to offshore aquaculture. There is now a new bill to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act introduced in Congress: “Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture” or AQUAA. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association has prepared a sign-on letter for commercial fishermen. As explained in the letter, “industrial seafood farms threaten the integrity of the wild fish populations that are key to our industry’s success, and the coastal communities we support.”
Farmed fish escape, competing with wild stocks and introduce a host of lethal diseases and parasites to healthy wild fish. Marine pollution degrades the marine ecosystem through wastes, feed, and chemical treatments. ALFA asks fishermen to read and sign on to the letter.
The sign-on letter is available through the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdx6VjmFa3Hkc4saDkDvN2nq0YU5pb8rXmhrD_j7tzRPdJ7UQ/viewform