Salmon fry

It appears that Alaskan wild Salmon are not only good at swimming up stream, but they can also swim against the current trends in the rocky waters of the global economy.

Even though there are many workers suffering hardship at this point in time, the commercial fishermen of the state are busy clinking their glasses, they just received the most money they have in eighteen years – a staggering $533.9 Million, according to rough calculations made by the state.

Generally speaking when harvests are at a high – at 169 milion salmon reeled in, this is one of the biggest harvests on record – the price of fish tends to drop. The whole “Supply and Demand” theory.

However, contrary to that theory, for a myriad of reasons, which include the problems facing the farmed-salmon industry, the prices of fish did not drop this 2010.

“This was the first year where I saw a good volume (of fish) and a good price at the same time,” commented a tickled pink Cordova gillnet fisherman who targets sockeye but harvests all five of Alaska’s salmon species, Kim Menster.

Ever since Menster became a gillnet fisherman back in 1998, the price of fish she has paid has doubled in terms of sockeye, and quadrupled for chum, she has roughly calculated.

Now, during this same time frame, the value of a gillnet permit took a dive from $60,000 down to $40,000 and then took an abrupt emplosive shot upward to $160,000 she commented.

Salmon fry

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the speculation, which was tossed around this week, that a volcanic eruption on an Alaskan island back in 2008 is somehow responsible for the boom in the salmon population this year in the rivers of British Columbia in Canada.

If this speculation proves to be correct, it will help biologist’s to shed some new light on the rather unpredictable sizes of the populations of salmon year in and year out. It will also lend credence to the controversial idea of seeding the oceans of the world with iron to help lend a helping hand to other fish species, who have seen a decline in their populations. However, some scientists, who were contacted by Nature, have cautioned that the theory is “far fetched”.

After the salmon population took a nose dive back in 2009, the sockeye salmon made a big comeback in British Columbia’s Fraser River this year. It has been suggested that the reasoning behind this is that the iron in the ash from the volcanic eruption on Kasatochi island, which created a rather huge influx of phytoplankton, may have indirectly provided the salmon with the food they needed to stage a miraculous comeback. This suggestion was made by Tim Parsons, a prominent Canadian scientist, and has a government-awarded medal named after him for ocean scientists.

It looks like he may be getting yet another feather in his hat, if the scientific community chooses to explore this theory further. If its possible to refurnish fish stocks around the globe by seeding the ocean with some iron, we should take the opportunity.

Steve Wozniak

Well it certainly seems to be a time for breaking records. An angler has just become the first person in the world to break the ultimate fishing record, by reeling in an astounding 1,000 different species of fish.

Steve Wozniak, a native Californian 47 years of age, has spent a decade on his quest for mastering the creatures of the sea, and he has made his rounds in over 63 different countries to accomplish his goal. He has spent an astonishing 20,000 hours fishing on piers, beaches, riverbanks and boats just waiting for a fish to take the line. He has caught everything from a small minnow to a giant 900 pound beast of a shark.

Steve has shelled out an amazing amount of money, more than 50,000 Great Brish Pounds and has stored up somewhere in the neighborhood of one million air miles by traipsing around the world, his rod and his tackle box his only companion for 10 years.

Steve has made his rounds on every continent minus Antarctica, including such places as the exotic Isle of Wight and the far reaches of Cambodia.

He has managed to capture just about every freshwater fish which calls Britain home and has spent 2 years and 4,000 Great British Pounds trying to land himself an Atlantic salmon from Scotland.

What can we say? The man loves his fishing. In a week full of broken records, we’d like to welcome Steve to the ranks of the Big Fish.

Steller's sea lions

The poor endangered Steller’s sea lions are surviving so poorly, and their populations decreasing alarmingly, at the point of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands that the Obama administration is stepping up, and calling for the immediate cease and desist order for the commercial fishing of two very prominent species of fish; the Atka mackerel and the Pacific cod.

This shutdown being proposed by the Obama administration would only hit a small, yet vital portion of Alaska’s largely Seattle-based fishing industry.

However, it is also the latest proof that the sea lions have become a proxy in a heated battle over fishing in Alaska. Both environmentalists and big Industry are keeping their eye on what’s happening to the $1 billion a year pollock industry in the Bering Sea nearby. The fishery there supplies half of the country’s catch of fish.

On Monday the fishing industry expressed their concerns at the rapid and sever proposal put out by the Obama administration. It should be noted however, that this proposal was made in response to a 45 percent drop in the western Aleutians’ sea lion population since 2000. That’s quite a dip in only 10 short years.

The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to have everything closed down and other preventative measures in place by next year.

“What they’ve put on the table today is a head shot for us,” exclaimed counsel for United States Seafood in South Seattle, Dave Wood.

A team of U.S. scientists has documented the first transmission of the lethal phocine distemper virus from the Atlantic Ocean to a population of sea otters living along the coast of Alaska.

The presence of phocine distemper virus has been confirmed in nasal swabs take from live otters and through necropsies conducted on dead otters found along the Alaskan coast. The findings also indicate that the virus was passed between seal species across Northern Canada or Arctic Eurasia before reaching the otters in Alaska’s Kachemak Bay.

Prior to this study, PDV had never been identified as the cause of illness or death in the North Pacific Ocean and researchers suggest that diminishing Arctic sea ice may have opened a new migration route for both animals and pathogens.

The study was carried out by researchers from two California universities and the Alaskan branch of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It has been published in ”Emerging Infectious Diseases”, a journal published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What is phocine distemper virus (PDV)?

Phocine distemper virus (PDV) is a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. It is dangerous for pinniped species, especially seals, and is a close relative of the canine distemper virus (CDV).

PDV was first identified in 1988 when it caused the death of approximately 18,000 harbour seals, Phoca vitulina, and 300 grey seals, Halichoerus grypus, in northern Europe. In 2002, the North Sea lost approximately 21,700 harbour seals in new a PDV outbreak – estimated to be over 50% of the total population.

Infected seals normally develop a fever, laboured breathing and nervous symptoms.

Four Pacific Angel sharks have been born at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, USA. The pups weighed between 115 and 120 grams at birth and measured 21-24 cm.

“We’re thrilled to have these rare births at Aquarium of the Bay,” said Christina Slager, Director of Husbandry at the Aquarium. “Very little is known about the reproductive behavior of these beautiful sharks, so the information we gather from these pups will be really valuable.”

The Pacific Angel shark (Squatina californica) is found from South Eastern Alaska to the Gulf of California and the San Francisco birth coincides with the pupping season for many local shark species.

The newborns have been moved from the exhibition to more secluded nursery tanks where they will be able to enjoy some peace and quite while being monitored by the husbandry team.

The Aquarium of the Bay is the only nature centre to consistently exhibit, study and care for Pacific Angel Sharks. The Aquarium of the Bay Foundation is currently funding a research project related to Angel sharks, where the collected data on breeding patterns and migration will be made available to government agencies, with the hope of protecting the animals’ habitat.

This Thursday, the Anchorage-based North Pacific Fishery Management Council[1] approved an unprecedented plan to ban commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean, as a part of their Arctic Fishery Management Plan. The council voted 11-0 in favour of the plan, which essentially bans all commercial fishing from the Canadian border down to the Bering Strait, and it is now up to the U.S. Commerce secretary to approve or reject the ban.

Before approving the ban, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council spent two years developing an Arctic Fishery Management Plan in response to global warming and the retreat of sea ice along Alaska’s northern coast. As of today, fishing is not carried out on any major scale in the Arctic Ocean, but commercially interesting species like crab and pollock may expand in this part of the sea and this could make the area attractive for fishing fleets. The council therefore decided to develop a plan in advance to be prepared for any future developments.

Environmentalists and fishing industry groups alike have praised the Arctic Plan, since both parties recognize the need to enforce strong management control over the Arctic Ocean. We still know very little about life in this remote part of the world and the few fish stock surveys that has been carried out in these waters has not managed to find any larger fish populations. The area could be opened up for regulated commercial fishing in the future, if more thorough research of the Arctic Ocean would show that sustainable fishing could be carried out without injuring the ecosystem.

“Climate change is having a significant effect on the Arctic, opening previously ice-covered waters and drawing cold-water species farther north,” says Dave Benton of the Alaskan Marine Conservation Alliance[2]. “The council’s action to close these waters as a precautionary measure gives us the opportunity to conduct the scientific review necessary to develop a plan for how sustainable fisheries might be conducted in the Arctic in the future.“

The sea cucumber, which has been an appreciated traditional food item along the coasts of South East Asia for many generations, is now beginning to show up on dinner tables across the globe. The vast majority of the captured sea cucumbers are however still devoured in South East Asia and countries such as China and Japan are big importers of the delicacy.

This time of year, divers canvass the waters of Alaska in search of a particular species of sea cucumber for the export market; the long and warty Parastichopus californicus. Parastichopus californicus, also known as the giant California sea cucumber, has a soft, cylindrical body and can reach a length of 50 cm. The endoskeleton is found right under the leathery yellowish skin and five rows of tube feet extends from the mouth to the anus on the underside of the body.

giant California sea cucumber

In Alaska, sea cucumber catching is strictly regulated and a diver is not allowed to catch more than his or her daily bag limit. When an area opens during the cucumber season, the catchers have seven hours on Monday and four hours on Tuesday to collect their daily bag limit – 2,000 pounds per person. With one sea cucumber weighing 0.5 pounds or less, you can actually catch thousands of cucumbers without reaching your daily limit. Last year, 179 divers participated in the event, which is well below the authorized maximum of 389.

In most cases, only the skin of the cucumber is shipped off to Asia, not the entire animal. Before being exported, the skin is typically boiled and salted until it shrivels and turns black.

Exotic sea cucumber (giant California sea cucumber)

Enokitake Soup with Clams and Sea Cucumber

Ingredients

1.2 kg whole chicken (no skin)

1 large sea cucumber

30 g dried scallops

1 can clams

80 g fresh enokitake (golden needle mushroom)

30 g coriander leaves

salt and pepper

Method

1.) Cut the chicken into pieces. You can remove the bones or leave them, it’s up to you.

2.) Soak the sea cucumber and cut it into big pieces.

3.) Bring 2.5 litres of water to a boil in a pot.

4.) Add chicken, scallops and sea cucumber.

5.) Bring the water to a boil again.

6.) Reduce to low heat and leave to simmer until ingredients are tender.

7.) Add clams and enokitake.

8.) Add salt and pepper to taste.

9.) Bring to a boil.

10.) Place in soap bowls, sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve.

I thought I would report on a few good news in the world of marine conservation. First of we are going to look at tuna fishing and the endangered Mediterranean Blue fin Tuna. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) an organization consisting of NGOs and governments surprisingly voted to cut tuna quotas in half (almost) in the Mediterranean as well as instituting a complete fishing ban during the spawning season in May and June when they meet at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. The surprising result came after Spain (an important fishing nation) and Japan (the key blue fin market) supported the restricted fishing to prevent the tuna population from collapsing. The IUCN Decision is not legally binding but puts a considerable amount of pressure on the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which will decide the future of tuna fishing for the coming years at a meeting in December. The effects of diminished quotas remain to be seen as a rapport from the WWF earlier this month showed that half all tuna caught in Italy was caught illegally and that illegal fishing was rampant in Italy.

I am going to leave tuna and talk about something completely different, Beluga whales. The US government this week listed the Beluga whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet as an endangered species / population. The decision means much stricter rules about what can and can’t be done in the area and local authorities need to get the permission of the National Marine Fisheries Service before they can approve a number of activities in the area. Governor and GOP vice president candidate Sara Palin is worried that the decision will prevent economic growth in the area. She fears that the decision among other things will prevent the expansion of the harbor. The population declined nearly 50 percent between 1994 and 1998 and has not yet recovered. This is believed to be due to developments in the area, predation from killer whales and frequent whale strandings. Environmentalists hope that the new found protection will help increase the population again.

Beluga whale

It seems like every blog have published at least one post about republican vice president candidate Sara Palin. I therefore thought I would write a few words about her policy and history in relation to environmental protection, something that likely is important to all those who read this blog.

I am sorry to say that Palins record in regard to environmental protection is less than stellar and if she is elected it can be a disaster for the environment if the history says anything about the future. Why do I say this? This is why!

She advocated AGAINST pollution control

She supports aerial hunting of wolves even though it was outlawed by Congress and is using a loophole in the law to allow it.

She fighting to prevent Belugas from being listed as endangered.

She is supporting hunting black bear sows and cubs.

She is trying to get polar bears delisted as a threatened species.

She wants to permit oil drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge. An action that might threaten to destroy 1.5 MILLION ACRES all though oil companies claim only 2000 acres will be effected.

I normally don’t post about political issues here but I thought I would make an exception in this case as it is frightening to think about what she might do to conservation efforts on a national scale if she was to become vice president or even president considering her actions so far in Alaska. The other candidates might not have the best environmental platforms but Palins record makes the other three involved in the race at this stage (McCain, Obama, and Biden) look like saints. She might have other qualities but it seems to me that McCain would have had a hard time to choose a worse vice president candidate if you look at environment alone.