Personnel file

• Silver J. Prout is communications director and fishery liaison for Congressman-elect Nick Begich. Her family owns and operates the F/V Silver Spray out of Kodiak. Here's an announcement with other Begich staff appointments.

• Shannon Mason is now public information officer at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Previously, she was a communications aide for Congresswoman Mary Peltola.

A Maersk update

Unalaska's city manager, in a memo for Monday's special city council meeting, advises the following:

Maersk intends to pull operations out of our community by February 2025. I received confirmation about the matter via various channels. I also learned that America's Finest may move operations from the Light Cargo Dock to trampers in the bay. The discussion I'm hearing is that CMA should pick up the Maersk cargo. The America's Finest news is related to Maersk. We anticipate most of the revenue will still come in due to the fish tax, however we will lose wharfage and tariff at the city docks.

On the horizon

Here are upcoming events of importance to Alaska's fishing industry:

NMFS three-day Alaska pollock workshop

International Pacific Halibut Commission annual meeting

Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting, Ketchikan

NPFMC special meeting on chum bycatch, Cook Inlet salmon

ComFish Alaska, Kodiak

NTSB to investigate Wind Walker tragedy

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate and determine the probable cause of the deadly Wind Walker sinking, the agency announced.

The U.S. Coast Guard will lead the investigation into the casualty, which resulted in five deaths. Two bodies have been recovered.

The boat reportedly was heading out in poor weather to fish for halibut and black cod.

The NTSB has set up a webpage for the Wind Walker case.

Waste of rockfish, cod charged

Details in this press release from the Alaska State Troopers.

Visit our companion blog The Brig for lots more fisheries enforcement news.

Canadian competition

The Wheel Watch, a newsletter of the Seattle-based Fishing Vessel Owners' Association, offers this interesting note:

Something of concern for halibut is that the Canadian Maritime communities will produce 12 to 15 million pounds next year. This begins to rival Alaska landings which are now about 17 million lbs. Harvest limits in Alaska will all likely be reduced in 2025.

A big announcement from Maersk

The shipping giant Maersk today posted this advisory saying in part: "We will no longer be calling terminals in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak on the Transpacific Network in the coming year."

How will this affect Alaska's fishing industry?

Bering Sea pollock stays strong

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council recently set the 2025 total allowable catch (TAC) for Alaska groundfish.

Here are the TACs for key fisheries and the percent change from 2024.

BERING SEA AND ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

Bering Sea pollock, 1,375,000 tons, up 5.8 percent

Bering Sea Pacific cod, 133,602 tons, down 9.6 percent

Bering Sea and Aleutians sablefish, 16,436 tons, no change

GULF OF ALASKA

Pollock, 186,245 tons, down 4.8 percent

Pacific cod, 23,670 tons, down 0.4 percent

Sablefish, 22,836 tons, up 10.6 percent

Here are the council-recommended harvest specifications across all groundfish species for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska.

TACs are subject to U.S. commerce secretary approval.

More marketing money

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute says it has secured $8.5 million in new federal funding to increase international marketing.

"While these funds will help ASMI grow our international efforts, they will also allow ASMI to direct additional state funds toward the U.S. market, where consumer demand for seafood has fallen dramatically," ASMI Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow says in this press release.

Bart Eaton crosses the bar

Bart Eaton, who died Dec. 14, was "an icon in the Alaska fishing industry," says this remembrance from Trident Seafoods.

Juneau watch

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing $10 million for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to spend over a three-year period.

The funding would allow ASMI to implement "a comprehensive marketing plan in the U.S. domestic market to recover lost sales and historically low ex-vessel values across all commercially harvested Alaska seafood species," a budget description says.

One goal of the marketing plan is to "counter the Marine Stewardship Council ecolabel that continues to certify Russian seafood in the global marketplace," the description says.

Washington watch

A huge year-end funding bill includes $300 million in a section titled "fisheries disaster assistance."

The bill is meant to avert a government shutdown, but some GOP lawmakers and President-elect Trump don't like it.

A done deal in Kodiak

Pacific Seafood has completed its acquisition of Trident's Kodiak processing operations. Here's a press release.

John Bruce crosses the bar

A celebration of life for John Bruce is set for Jan. 18 in Poulsbo, Washington.

We best remember Bruce as a former chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel.

State posts Southeast Chinook run forecasts

Details in this advisory announcement.

Seafood industry task force to meet again

Here's a press release with details.

Board of Fisheries to weigh PWS proposals

The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting this week in Cordova to consider dozens of proposals for the Prince William Sound region.

Here are a few attracting our interest:

Proposal 16, from the Chenega IRA Council, would close the Prince William Sound pollock trawl fishery.

Proposal 43, from Cordova District Fishermen United, would establish a directed octopus fishery in Prince William Sound.

Proposal 73, from James Burton, and several other proposals deal with permit stacking in the salmon seine and driftnet fisheries.

Proposal 78, from Virgil Umphenour, would reduce Prince William Sound pink salmon hatchery production by 25 percent.

It's all over

Another long commercial halibut season closes at midnight tonight.

Canned pollock for school kids?

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is holding its annual All Hands on Deck conference this week at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage.

One interesting item on the agenda is a proposed pilot project to demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of canned Alaska pollock in international school meal programs.

Search underway for multiple people in Southeast

The U.S. Coast Guard and good Samaritans are searching for five people from a fishing boat that reportedly capsized near Point Couverden in Icy Strait.

The boat involved is the Wind Walker, the Coast Guard says.