Alaska coastal communities will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod.
The stock, which crashed after a multi-year heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska.
No cod fishery occurred at all this year in federally managed waters (from three to 200 miles out) where the bulk of the harvest is taken, and a catch of under six million pounds was allowed in state managed waters (out to three miles).
For 2021, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the federal cod catch at just over 38 million pounds and nearly 11.7 million pounds for the state. While itâs a bump up, managers caution that the stock remains very low.
Fish Factor: Pacific cod rebound; Trade troubles; Seafood donations
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Dec. 21, 2020 13:51 GMT
Undercurrent News is now featuring Fish Factor , a weekly column featuring the reporting and perspective of Alaska seafood journalist Laine Welch
Coastal communities in the US state of Alaska will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod. The stock, which crashed after a multi-year heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska [.]
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The Atlantic
Alaska’s abandoned ships are turning into a multimillion-dollar environmental nuisance.
Pieter Ten Hoopen / Agence VU / Redux
The Lumberman, a 107-foot World War II–era steel-hull tugboat, has been floating for months at the quiet cruise-ship dock in Juneau, awaiting a watery grave. Abandoned for nearly a decade, the Lumberman was moored in Juneau’s Gastineau Channel in the early 2000s by its last owner. Two years ago, the 192-ton tugboat’s anchor line broke, stranding it in state tidelands and creating a jurisdictional hot potato for city, state, and Coast Guard officials as they debated how to dispose of the vessel.
Industry fairly optimistic about seafood sales for 2021 December 11th, 2020 |
A lack of fish in the freezers is an encouraging sign for Alaska salmon as we head into the new year, a year likely to be driven by increasing customer demand. But headwinds from trade disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic also loom large on the 2021 horizon.
Those are some prime takeaways shared by Mark Palmer, president and CEO of OBI Seafoods, and Allen Kimball, vice president of global operations and sales for Trident Seafoods. We don t see entering the 2021 season with any real big carryovers. And that s always one of the downsides as we head into a new season, if there s an abundance of 2 to 4 (pound) sockeyes or something. We ve gone into seasons like that and it influences the new season pricing. But as we go into 2021, we should have a pretty clean slate and be ready to buy and ideally put it up in a better product form than we did this last year, said Palmer, speaking at a webinar ho