PACIFIC BEACH – For every macho couch potato who wants to live the life of crab boat fisherman Phil Harris, the perpetually angry captain on the reality TV hit “Deadliest Catch,” Harris has this advice: Don’t do it.

“You haven’t got what it takes,” Harris said yesterday with a mix of disdain and empathy for adventure-seeking amateurs. Harris and the four other captains of the crab boats featured in the popular Discovery Channel series left the rough seas off Alaska for a round table at RT’s Longboard Grill in Pacific Beach this week. The captains are in San Diego until tomorrow taping a companion segment called “After the Catch,” which will begin airing Tuesday following the weekly installment of “Deadliest Catch.” Sig Hansen, the Seattle-based captain with Nordic good looks, is here. So is Johnathan Hillstrand, a resident of Homer, Alaska, with intense eyes and a rough-hewn nature.

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The future of this fishery’s continuing success will depend on Alaska’s decisions regarding industrialization of her resources and her continuing commitment to the care and protection of her living natural resources.

It’s unusual for a “Deadliest Catch” crew member to take a hard stance in a big Alaska resource battle like Pebble. Hansen, who lives in Seattle, said he usually shies away from requests to get involved in anything political.

Because Hansen exploits crab stocks and other Alaska fisheries, he said, he can’t be opposed to all resource development.

“I’m not your typical greenie,” Hansen said.

For example, he supports offshore oil drilling in the Bering Sea if it can be done safely, he said.

 

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 The Copper River Salmon fishery is opening today and it is a big deal! 

“…Renowned for its succulent king and sockeye salmon, opens at 7 a.m. on May 14, signaling the unofficial start of the summer salmon season in Alaska.”
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, theking salmon run will be some 77,000 chinooks, about 24,000 more than the 2008 run produced, albeit 3,000 less than the 10-year average, with about 53,000 fish harvested.

Biologists are also predicting a run of about 1.3 million sockeyes, about 840,000 less than the five-year average and the fifth lowest run since 1980…  
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The Annual Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial Service will be Sunday,
May 3, 2009 at 2:00pm at Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard.

2009 Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial Auction November 17, 2009

2009 The Fall Fishermen’s Festival (date to be determined) at the Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard. Bring your families!, great food, fun entertainment and it is free!

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A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves.

The ruling came on a lawsuit brought by three environmental groups that want to protect the ecosystem and the Native Village of Point Hope, a tribe that lives off the wildlife on the Chukchi Sea coast. The seas are home to wildlife including polar bears, whales, seals, walruses and seabirds.

A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi seas…

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California and Oregon chinook fisheries in limbo

The coveted Copper River salmon fishery, the unofficial start of Alaska’s summer salmon season, is about two months away, but buyers can already expect availability of king salmon to improve this year.

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game released its 2009 Copper River forecast last month, and scientists are projecting a king salmon run of 77,000 fish, which would be about 24,000 more fish than the 2008 run but 3,000 less fish than the 10-year average; about 53,000 kings would be harvested.

Copper River king salmon was a difficult buy last year. The unprecedented closure of the California and Oregon fisheries, weaker-than-expected Copper River landings and burgeoning demand for wild salmon resulted in tight supplies and high prices for the fish, which at the onset of the Copper River harvest in mid-May pushed the $40-a-pound mark at retail…

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In the U.S.,  Pollack sales in the form of fish sticks are now outselling the Cod version of the same product and the trend is expected to continue. The Pollack is very popular.  In the U.S. however Pollack  remains Pollack. 

And in the UK alone, Pollack sales were recently up 144%.

So you may want to keep in mind that should you be in France ordering seafood at a restaurant–if you order the ‘Hake’, you’ll get a plateful of ‘Colin’, which is the fish formerly known as ‘Pollack’ in the UK!

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As a matter of fact, 2008 was the first year since the 9th century that no crew member has died from drowning!

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Freddie, a 14-year-old cairn terrier, became disorientated in the fog while on a walk with his owner Jean Brigstock.  It slipped into the water as Mrs Brigstock, 73, searched for it but had no success and assumed he was hiding in a nearby holiday park.  However, Freddie was swimming against the tide, almost a mile out to sea.  He was only saved when the two fishermen spotted what they thought was an otter, went to investigate and saw the dog…  Read more

A class ring lost for decades in an East Texas lake is back with its owner after turning up in a fish caught the day after Thanksgiving.  Joe Richardson of Buna told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he wishes he knew “how many fish it’s been in.  “Richardson was fishing at Lake Sam Rayburn about two weeks after his 1987 graduation from Universal Technical Institute in Houston when he lost the ring…  Read more

• Alaska is indeed still the #1 fishing state in the nation and has been since 1975.                 
• The value of Alaska’s 2007 total harvest was 3.6 times the value of Massachusett’s harvest–which is the #2 fishing state.
• Salmon related employment is the biggest, and for 2007 it was 3759 workers and the overall salmon harvest for 2007 was 950 million pounds valued at $417 million.
• The total numbers for fishing industry workers for all of Alaska’s fisheries in 2007 was 54,000.

Interested in data on crab fisheries, halibut, salmon, and others?  Check out  Alaska’s Economic Trends

Dungeness crab

Dungeness crab season on the upper Pacific coast opened on December 1 and the sounds of holiday music and cracking shells is upon us!

On the down side, Oregon crabbers agreed to an initial somewhat low price of $1.60 per pound but on the up side, supply and demand actually will officially set the price some time next week.  Get your crab!

Concerning the crab itself and availability– the pacific ocean floor reveals several interesting tidbits…According to surveys there may be less Dungeness to catch this year, but the positive is that crabs observed in October revealed that meat-fill will be high! 

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