Alaska enduring wild winter

Football players want to be selected for the NFL Pro Bowl because it brings them notoriety and money. But nobody really wants to actually play the game. Even the prospect of spending a week in Honolulu in late January isn’t enough to entice star players to attend.

Here’s the forecast for Honolulu for this weekend: Friday, sunny, 80 degrees; Saturday, sunny, 80 degrees; Sunday, sunny, 79 degrees. Ooh! Bundle up for the game on Sunday, boys.

Well, before Pro Bowlers decline their Hawaii invitations, they should consider what the folks in Alaska are enduring. A normal Alaska winter isn’t for sissies. But this year, Old Man Winter is being especially punishing.
 
Consider the brief update I received Thursday from our North Pacific correspondent, Charlie Ess.
 
“We have had well below zero as the norm here since the turn of the new year: today 17 below, yesterday 20 below, day before that, about 8 below,” Charlie says. “In the outlying areas we've seen lows of 63 below in the village of Hughes and lots of 50-plus-below days on end in the areas around Kalskag and along the Yukon River.”

It’s no fun for fishermen out on the water, either. Imagine working under the physical and mental stress of constantly having to break up ice forming on the boats in such brutal conditions. Even boats at the docks are imperiled by the snow and ice that collect.
 
This week we learned that sea ice is forming unusually early in the Bering Sea, threatening Alaska’s snow crab fishery. According the Anchorage Daily News, the cold temperatures and high winds are pushing the ice south at the rate of 10 to 15 miles a day towards prime crab grounds. Millions of dollars worth of already deployed crab pots could be jeopardized, and the ice could have a truly chilling economic impact upon crabbers and their families.

Earlier this week, the 58-foot Kimberly ran aground off the Alaska Peninsula. The Coast Guard was able to rescue all four crewmembers, but not before the crew endured a night aboard the vessel amidst high winds gusting up to 100 mph.

In closing, Pro Bowlers, I submit at left a photo Charlie sent me that demonstrates how brutal winter’s been so far in his neck of the Alaska woods. 

I suspect Charlie and plenty of Alaska fishermen will happily take any All-Pro’s place in Honolulu.

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Fo’c’sle Library: Hooked!

Everybody's a greenhorn at some point: Mike Crowley (National Fisherman's boats and gear editor) had been working dockside at Seward Fisheries when he got his chance to sail out of Petersberg on the halibut schooner Attu. The promise of a quarter share if he proved his worth was more than enough for Mike, who admits he would have gone for nothing (even though he spent the first part of the trip hanging over the railing, puking). Before they set gear, he was told to watch the water and "holler out" as soon as he saw the first halibut come to the surface. After hearing laughter from the fo'c's'cle, he very soon leaned that halibut are bottom feeders.

That story is part of the new anthology Hooked! True Stories of Alaska's Commercial Fishermen and Women edited by Leslie Leyland Fields. What I liked most about these stories was the honesty of the writers: Nobody comes across as a know-it-all or preachy, and they freely admit their mistakes — which of course make for good stories. On his first time out as a skipper, Sig Hansen tells the story of dropping two lines of 20 crab pots into 400 fathoms of water that he thought was 120 fathoms because of a double echo off the fathometer (that's $50,000 worth of pots gone forever). And Mary Jacobs admits that her bitchiness didn't disappear with maturity. 

These are stories about fishing, the good times, bad times and sometimes tragic. I think Hooked! could be helpful reading for the next generation of greenhorns as a reminder that everyone has to start somewhere. We forget this over time, but we've all experienced that knot of anticipation in our stomachs and sleepness nights.

On his next trip, Mike remembers being nervous that he'd end up like the greenhorn he had heard was so incompetent that the crew put him the fish hold for a couple hours then sent him to his bunk for the remaining two weeks of his trip (allowed out only to use the head).

As you can probably guess, Mike turned out all right.

You can find Hooked! at Amazon.com.

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Get on the bus and get onboard

It’s time to get on the bus, folks. Plans are afoot once more to have commercial and recreational fishermen alike gather in Washington, D.C., in March for a rally aiming to support efforts to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
 
The rally’s organizers, Keep Fishermen Fishing, say the law “has been transformed from its original intent, to conserve our nation’s fish and support our nation’s fishermen, into a weapon employed by a handful of megafoundations and the anti-fishing ENGOs they support to drive fishermen off the water.”

The inspiration for the demonstration is the February 2010 United We Fish rally, which brought an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 commercial and recreational fishermen together in the nation’s capitol. It, too, sought to shed light upon the plight of U.S. fishermen and to back legislation aiming to make Magnuson-Stevens stock rebuilding timelines more flexible.

That 2010 rally attracted plenty of media coverage, and the support of more than two dozen Congressmen and Senators from both sides of the aisle as well as state lawmakers and mayors.

Despite the impressive turnout of fishermen who stated their dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms, the bills to amend Magnuson-Stevens fizzled. Does that mean the rally was a bust?

No, not considering the glacial pace at which anything in Washington gets done. The 2010 rally garnered mainstream media coverage, exposing John and Jane Q. Public to the plight of U.S. fishermen. But more importantly, it showed fishermen gained the ear of politicians. And as the latest bills to amend Magnuson-Stevens attest, they’ve been able to maintain that support.

So it will be well worth it for fishermen to attend the March 24 Keep Fishermen Fishing rally. For more information on the rally as it becomes available, including bus sign-up information and details from the 2010 rally, visit the Keep Fishermen Fishing website and the organization’s Facebook page.

The major rallying cry in 2010 was “I fish! I vote!” In the presidential election year of 2012, fishermen who want to preserve this historic and important industry that’s been feeding Americans for more than 400 years, will hop on a bus to Washington once more to say it loud and proud, “I fish! I vote!”

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Big in Japan

It almost seemed like déjà vu all over again last week when the news broke that a rather large bluefin tuna was sold in Tokyo for crazy big money.
 
In fact, just about a year earlier, it was announced that a 754-pound bluefin had sold for nearly $396,000 at the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji wholesale fish market. It eclipsed the former record set when a 445-pound bluefin sold for $246,861 in 2001.

Well, the new record didn’t last long. According to an Associated Press story, the first auction of the new year at the Tokyo fish market brought the sale of a 593-pound bluefin for a staggering $736,000.

Care to try some of this historic tuna? You’d best have a healthy limit on your credit card because you’ll drop $1,238 a pound for the privilege, the story says.

Perhaps you only need to taste but a slice of tuna goodness to sate your appetite. If you pop into one of Tokyo’s top sushi bars, the story says, it’ll cost you $24 per piece of bluefin heaven.
 
Should that still prove too pricey for your budget, you could instead sample tuna sushi from the record-setting bluefin. It’ll only cost you $5.45 a piece.
 
One might wonder why a bluefin that wasn’t as big as last year’s whopper commanded so much more money. Is the meat from this year’s record-setting bluefin of superior quality, thus commanding a substantially higher price?

Perhaps, but according to the AP story, one reason for the high price is the celebratory atmosphere that accompanies the first auction of the year at the Tokyo market.
 
But what’s even more fascinating to me is that the article notes that the buyer, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, felt it was important to give his country's morale a boost after last year's punishing earthquake and tsunami. Kimura, it was reported, said he couldn’t let the tuna, which was caught off northeastern Japan, be sold to another country.

Hence, he plunked down $736,000 for the bluefin. That, boys and girls, is a man who truly loves his country.

 

 

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Some humble suggestions for Baby New Year

Welcome aboard, Baby New Year! Look, I know you're not on the job until Sunday, but if it'll help get you ready for the next 365 days, let me offer you some suggestions that would help U.S. fishermen enjoy your reign.

Let's start with Northeast groundfishermen. Low cod numbers have driven groundfish management for a long time now, Baby New Year, and in the process crippled New England's historic fleet. So anything you can do to get the cod to get busy with the procreating would be greatly appreciated.
 
While you're at it, encourage our Congressional delegates to approve bills that have been introduced that aim to relax Magnuson-Stevens Act stock rebuilding timelines so that fishermen and regulators alike get a little more breathing room. And maybe get Congress to require better and more frequent stock assessments, too. More accurate data can only lead to better fisheries management.

How about showing a little love for our fishing brethren in the Gulf of Mexico? Over the last six years, they've been plagued by a deluge of seafood imports, hurricanes, floods and a massive oil spill. I don't know how much you can do about the imports and oil spills, but if you could chat with Mother Nature and ask her to ease up on the weather-related disasters, it'd be a step in the right direction. 

I'm sure West Coast harvesters would be ever so grateful if Pacific salmon and groundfish stocks grow healthier, too. A strong squid season would be nice, and your popularity will soar if you can arrange for a Dungeness crab season that is strike-free and devoid of protracted price negotiations. As for the Alaska fisheries, they're doing well. All you really need to do is stay the course there.

Lastly, plant a seed in the minds of the folks at NOAA to ease back on the throttle where catch share management programs are concerned. Pushing programs that eliminate jobs instead of creating them isn't sound strategy, especially in the presidential election year you're presiding over, Baby New Year.

I could go on, but I don't want to overwhelm you — you're an infant, after all. Allow me to wish you the best of success, Baby New Year, and wish all U.S. fishermen and their families a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

 

 

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Are you there, cod? It’s me, Lincoln

Dear cod,I know it’s been awhile since I’ve reached out to you, but, well, if you could spare me a couple minutes of your time, I’d appreciate it. I just want you to know I believe in you.

Sure, I know, the latest stock assessment of the Northeast population suggests that you are weaker than you were even two years ago when it appeared that you were gaining strength.

Maybe the survey numbers don’t confirm the magnitude of your existence. But Northeast groundfishermen say they see you in abundance. Cod, they say, is everywhere.

But cod, the survey results could result in dire consequences for a beleaguered groundfish fleet that has long been hamstrung by Magnuson-Stevens Act timelines for rebuilding lagging fish stocks.

There’s bipartisan support in Congress for a new emergency assessment of the Gulf of Maine population.  Groundfishermen are hoping another assessment of you would be more favorable and stave off even more severe catch limits that could cripple the fleet.

Cod, I know you’re out there. You’ve been an integral part of this nation’s fishing industry for some 400 years. It’s hard to imagine a U.S. fishing industry without you.

But if you could do us all a favor and be fruitful and multiply, I think everyone — fishermen, scientists, regulators and environmentalists alike — would breathe a lot easier. 

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Fo’c’sle Library: Christmas story has a fishing flavor

How often do you come across a Christmas story that has a commercial fishing backdrop? “The Scallop Christmas,” does and it will make a nice addition to your family’s holiday traditions.

According to author Jane Freeberg, who lives on Maine’s Georgetown Island, the book is based on a true story told to her by a friend who lived most of the story. “It rattled around in my brain for 35 years,” Freeberg writes, “and when it came to mind, I’d think, ‘That’s a great story, I ought to write it down.’”

The story she finally penned takes place in small New England fishing village; most of the men there are either fishermen or farmers, save for 10-year-old Marcie’s dad, Lucas, the teacher in the town’s one-room schoolhouse. One fall an unexpected bounty of scallops fills the town’s bay.  Lucas grants the local fishermen’s request to shut school down for a week so they can take their children scalloping for a week.

The reason? Times are hard and scallop prices are good. But local rules state each fisherman can only sell one bushel of scallop per day for each person on his boat. Hence, the more family members you have on the boat, the better.

Marcie’s five-member family goes scalloping, too, heading out on Lucas’ old boat, the Pineapple. While the town’s more experienced fishermen can use faster methods of harvesting the scallops, Lucas only has an extra-long rake to collect them from the bay bottom.

It’s backbreaking, daylong work for Lucas to fill the family’s five bushel baskets — especially since he has a trick shoulder that’s all too prone to slipping out of joint. The week of scallop harvesting brings unexpected adventure — and eventually a wonderful Christmas morning surprise that Marcie never forgets.

The beautifully illustrated children’s book has won Honorable Mention in the Maine Literary Award, and won the Maine Lupine Honor Award for a picture book of outstanding merit. It should be a welcome present for your child to find under the Christmas tree this year. 

The Scallop Christmas

By Jane Freeberg, illustrated by Astrid Sheckels

Islandport Press, 2009

Hardcover, 34 pp., $16.95

www.islandportpress.com

 

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‘Brain food’ may keep Alzheimer’s disease at bay

For years, fish has been called “brain food” because eating it makes you smarter. And given the variety of health benefits protein-and omega-3-rich seafood offers, people are indeed smart to make fish a regular part of their diet.

But a study presented at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting, held recently in Chicago, indicates that eating baked or broiled fish may benefit your brain in another important way.

The paper, authored by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the university’s School of Medicine, is entitled, “Regular Fish Consumption Is Associated With Larger Gray Matter Volumes and Reduced Risk for Cognitive Decline in the Cardiovascular Health Study.”

Catchy title, isn't it?
 
The study says that people who eat baked or broiled fish weekly may be making their brain healthier and reducing their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Wait, what about fried seafood? To be sure, it’s tasty. But, according to the study, it doesn’t offer the same protection against cognitive decline.

It’s estimated that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s disease. The incurable, progressive brain disease slowly destroys memory and other cognitive skills.

According to a radiology society press release, out of the 260 cognitively normal individuals selected for the study, 163 consumed fish weekly, and most did so one to four times a week. 3-D volumetric MRIs of the brain, and a brain mapping technique that measures gray matter volume enabled researchers to examine the relationship between weekly fish consumption and brain structure 10 years later.

Researchers say that gray matter volume is vital to brain health; the more you can pump up the volume, the better off your brain is.
 
The study found that eating baked or broiled fish weekly was positively associated with greater gray matter volume in several important regions of the brain. Consequently, the study says, fish eaters reduced their risk for five-year decline to MCI or Alzheimer’s by almost five-fold.

Keeping a cruel disease like Alzheimer’s at bay sounds like an awfully good reason for folks to up their fish consumption and dine on baked or broiled seafood once a week, if not more. 

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Christmas wishing for a flexible Magnuson-Stevens Act

While the One Percenters are bestowing bow-festooned luxury cars upon their loved ones this holiday season, fishermen would be more than pleased to find a revised Magnuson-Stevens Act under their Christmas trees this year.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee held a legislative hearing this week on eight bills, all of which seek to alter the nation’s federal fishing law. Some bills are a reaction to regional issues, others address national concerns.

In his opening statement during the committee hearing, Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) noted that when the Magnuson-Stevens Act was reauthorized in 2007, it “placed a new emphasis on science with the expectation that all of the eight regional fishery management councils would have the same high level of scientific information that the North Pacific Council has enjoyed for years. Unfortunately, we have learned that several regions of the country do not have frequent stock surveys or stock assessments and, with the current budget climate, that is unlikely to change.”

Consequently, Hastings said, regulators have been erring on the side of caution and setting lower annual catch limits.
 
“Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, there has always been a balance between conservation and the full utilization of our Nation’s fishery resources,” Hastings said. “The trend toward more precaution in setting harvest levels has altered this balance and is resulting in lost economic opportunity and lost jobs.”

No doubt at the top of fishermen’s Christmas wish list would be a revised Magnuson-Stevens Act that provided for sound science (along with the funding for it), that relaxed stock rebuilding deadlines, that gave greater weight to socio-economic data before regulations are implemented, and that prevented catch share management programs from being foisted upon fisheries that don’t want or need them.

If it’s amended that easily, then we could safely conclude that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. The cynical Scrooges among us, however, believe it will be quite a battle to get Congress to approve a more flexible Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Well, if the Scrooges are right, then fishermen would be wise to badger their Congressmen and Senators until their elected representatives commit to voting in favor of a more flexible Magnuson-Stevens Act. It’d be well worth the effort, wouldn’t it?

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Prehistoric fishermen and hi-tech tuna

Two items in the news this week had me thinking about tuna and technology, which we've been using a long time to catch and now protect this favorite fish.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) in Turkey agreed to replace a paper system with an electronic one for tracking catches of bluefin tuna. The Commission hopes that the updated system will cut down on illegal fishing of bluefin, which has been a big problem in the Mediterranean. The Pew Environmental Group reported that 140 percent more Mediterranean bluefin tuna entered the market than was declared last year, a problem they blame partly on the previous paper-tracking system's susceptibility to abuse.

Also in the news this week was a report in Science magazine that archeologists had found remains of fish bones, which include tuna, that date back 42,000 years in East Timor. What's especially important about the discovery is that it is the first evidence of the sophisticated maritime skills that are required to catch tuna, which are both fast-moving and live in deep water.

Fish hooks 11,000 years old have also been found in East Timor. While not the oldest ever found (other hooks have been found that date back 16,000 and 23,000 years), these are the most intact and show that ancient fishermen used the classic bait-and-hook method, which at that time must have been on the cutting edge.

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