The proposals cover a wide range of concerns, but we're particularly interested in this raft of 10 proposals addressing the bay's longstanding 32-foot length limitation for drift gillnet boats.
Proposals to increase the length limit, which many fishermen feel is outmoded and overly confining, have come before the board and failed regularly since 1991.
Now, we see more proposals. For example, Proposal 83, from fisherman Abe Williams, would extend the length limit to 36 feet. Proposal 84, from fisherman Matt Marinkovich, would extend it to 34 feet 2 inches.
A major objective for fishermen offering the 10 proposals is clearing up confusion over whether certain attachments may somewhat exceed the 32-foot limit. Attachments include anchor rollers, fish dropout baskets, gillnet rollers, outdrives and outdrive guards, trim tabs, transom coolers and more.
In a letter to the Board of Fisheries, Alaska Wildlife Troopers Capt. Derek DeGraaf said the agency doesn't have an opinion on vessel length, but believes allowing no exceptions is best for enforcement.
"Having a maximum distance from the most forward extremity to the aft extremity eliminates all confusion on what is allowed," DeGraaf wrote.
Relaxing the vessel length limitation in Bristol Bay would be a big deal. Proponents argue bigger boats would be safer with more space aboard to produce better quality products. Others, however, raise concerns about the costs involved and potential for creating competitive mismatches in the fishery.
Could be a lively discussion at the Board of Fisheries.
So the guys that are breaking the law and have boats over 32ft are trying to legalize their fish baskets and anchor rollers?
ReplyDeleteKeep deck loading, and never figure out why a No. 1 is also mostly extinct in Bristol Bay. The ignorance of this State is unbelievable, with the limit went into effect in 1951, so the processors could re-power their worthless sailboats, and keep the quality outside. When they banned engines in 1921, they also banned fish traps Bristol Bay. They still cannot figure out what Century we are in.
ReplyDeleteDon’t fix what isn’t broken.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not broken, when every single farmed salmon is a No.1? In 1951, there were no Farmed Salmon. You need to charge up those 32 brain cells someday.
DeleteMaybe we can get Trooper DeGraff to go measure some gillnet boats in S.E., PWS, and Cook Inlet, and report back about why he can't find a plum bob that works in those areas?
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, Peter Pan posted a $1.15 base price, for 80 million sockeye on their way to the Bay in 2022. Whoops! We forgot they would all be round hauled into the stern and turned into No.3's $0.50 is way better for 2023, so you can take the Company into Receivership. The General District of 1965, 1980, and 2004, confused em in 2022 too! It's better to go Generally Out of Business!
ReplyDeleteLarger vessel size is never going to help the continued problem of quality from Bristol Bay. Fish handling and concern is very weak compared to salmon fisherman across the state. I’m not sure why quality cannot be educated into the Bay fleet. Size doesn’t matter quality does.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to put a 30,000 lb set, into a RSW system in a boat that only holds 20,000 lbs. You obviously have never caught any fish in Bristol Bay. You can't educate people, who couldn't catch their ass with two hands.
DeleteUntil AGS and leader Creek stop buying inferior quality fish, quality will remain the problem. Not size. Just ask Dave Hambleton. Size doesn’t matter.
ReplyDeleteJimmy Pattison could care less about your quality, thats why he own's every Toyota Dealer in the Lower Mainland, making it up with QC from Japan. Have You Driven a Packard Clipper lately?
DeleteAsk Dave Hambleton how many Pontiac's Jimmy Pattison sells today, after buying his first Pontiac Car Dealership in 1963? Size does matter, at the Pattison Auto Group, selling Nissan, Infinity, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Subaru, and why he deal's in Chrysler's is like his deal in Bristol Bay. For the dumb asses who want to buy Detroit scrap, along with Jeep and Dodge. Shall we discuss his Grocery Story Chain's too? The Pattison Food Group, SIZE MATTERS! Sun Rich, Monte Cristo, Imperial, Choices Market, Buy-Low Foods (thisonefits, Hambleton's Program), Everything Wine, Save-On-Foods, Pure Pharmacy, Quality Foods, Natures Fare Markets, Buckeley Valley Wholesale, Price Smart Foods, More Rewards, Associated Grocers, Van Whole Produce, Meinhardt Fine Foods, Nesters Market, Western Family Foods, and Urban Fare. How do you fit all these Grocery Stores into a 32 footer? You people are not sharp enough to run a Cash Register at Buy-Low Foods.
DeleteLet’s face it, the fish chokers in Bristol Bay are not really fisherman. But they do deserve longer boats for safety.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, most of them are not fishermen, that's why all they worry about is their boat value, instead of the value of the product. A bunch of worthless dipshit school teaches, and you know it at every Board of Fish Meeting, and listen to their BS, now playing again, the same for decades! The Limited Entry Act gave the whole state Limited Entry, and they cant figure out today why the processors got the 32 foot limit enacted in 1951, convincing the morons that their $200.00 sailboat was worth saving. Too bad we couldn't get a straight 8 Packard anymore, and make that sailboat fly!
DeleteForty years ago, farm raised salmon was of insignificant volume in the world market. Today, it is 80% of the world market. Wild fish, mostly from Alaska, but also from Russia, is the other 20%. And, the farm raised market share continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteIf you believe that the quality of Alaskan fish from any of the Alaskan fisheries is even close to that of farmed fish, you are mistaken. Bristol Bay quality is the worst and increasing vessel length is not going to change that. Now, seiners in Southeast and the Peninsula will say they run their RSW properly and the fish is great. But when you drive around with it for two days, then pump to a tender, which then pumps to a plant, where it may be held in another tank, how does that compare to farmed fish? It doesn’t. This reality is reflected in the price paid over the last decade.
Is that why Maruha Nichero always held a Area M Bristol Bay Sockeye for a higher price in Japan, than their Dillingham Bristol Bay Sockeye? Did you get that info from the BBRSDA taxing authority too?
DeleteMaruha saw the writing on the wall and so sold the PeterPan plants and Western in Kodiak. This happened several years ago. Time moves on and so did Maruha.
DeleteMaruha is in a joint venture in Nyuzen, Japan to produce large volumes of farmed salmon. First product is due out in 2028. You have to ask why they sold off salmon plants in Alaska (and remember King Cove was a massive producer) and then invested more money in farmed fish. The answer is that the world’s largest seafood processor doesn’t want Alaska salmon. That goes a long way to explaining why prices seem to be back in the 1980s.
DeleteLength limits are probably the dumbest way to limit efficiency and over capitalization. Any argument in favor of it seems to be "because that's how it's always been done" like the limited entry act was handed to moses along with the 10 commandments.
ReplyDeleteAfter Moses, Jesus had a little discussion with some stupid fishermen. They were quite under capitalized and couldn't catch shit, until they let her go on the Right side of the boat.
DeleteAny way to improve the fish quality, I would go for, because we all know what the bay gets paid for reds the rest of us not in bay will get same price.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite the usual comic show at Egan Center same old people, crying about the same old issues, and the Chairman of the BOF seems to think she controls everybody's speech. It's the usual hoot and toot, and, like usual another 8th grade dropout at the helm of the BOF. I guess those "redress of griveances" Congress wrote about in our Bill of Rights in 1791 still don't apply in Alaska. How the Fuck did they get Statehood, is the Real Question.
ReplyDeleteThe Board of Fisheries concluded its Bristol Bay meeting yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThe board voted 6-0 (with member Svendsen absent) to pass a motion keeping the 32-foot fishing vessel length limit in place. The motion clarifies how much certain fixtures such as anchor rollers, fish dropout baskets and outdrives may extend beyond the 32-foot limit.
Here's the motion the board passed:
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/fisheriesboard/pdfs/2025-2026/bb/rcs/rc137_Board_Member_Carpenter_Substitute_Language_Proposal_85.pdf