Is 'merger' another word for this?

Here's big news from longline heavies Blue North and Prowler Fisheries.

EPA fines three fishing companies

Three companies operating large groundfish vessels off Alaska have paid fines to settle pollution cases, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

The three companies are Blue North Fisheries, Fishing Company of Alaska and Golden Fleece.

Here's a press release.

Something old, something new

While in Seattle last week for Pacific Marine Expo, Deckboss naturally took time to go check out the boats at Fishermen's Terminal in Ballard.

Above is the Blue North, a 174-foot cod freezer longliner built in 1945.

At right is the Optimus, a gleaming new combination boat.

Blue North fined, ordered to pay $179,000 in restitution after guilty plea to illegal cod catch

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Dutch Harbor
Type: Sentencing
On 12/15/10 Alaska Wildlife Troopers in Dutch Harbor were contacted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which reported that the F/V Blue Ace, a 124-foot catcher-processor, had taken Pacific cod with longline gear in state waters closed to vessels 60 feet or greater in overall length. Investigation revealed the Blue Ace was owned by Blue North Fisheries Inc. and operated by Boi Njardvik, 51, of Seattle, and over the course of three separate trips during the B season for Aleutian Islands District cod had taken 417,436 pounds of round-weight cod inside state waters closed to fishing vessels of the Blue Ace's size and gear type. The case was referred to the state Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals for review. On 6/5/13 Njardvik pled guilty to commercial fishing in closed waters and was fined $3,000 with $1,500 suspended. Blue North Fisheries also pled guilty to commercial fishing in closed waters and was fined $10,000 with $5,000 suspended and placed on probation for three years. In addition, Blue North Fisheries was ordered to pay the state restitution of $179,145.68 for the cod that was taken illegally.

Freezer longliners modernize fleet

We're seeing quite a boat-building boom in a major fleet that targets Pacific cod and other species off Alaska.

The latest example: Seattle-based Blue North has signed a contract with Dakota Creek Industries of Anacortes, Wash., for a new 191-foot freezer longliner (rendering above).

A freezer longliner is a factory vessel that catches fish with long strings of hooks, then brings them aboard for processing and packing.

Blue North says its new vessel, designed by Skipsteknisk of Norway, will be state-of-the-art.

The boat will feature an internal haul station — a first in the United States. This means the longline will be hauled through a moonpool in the centerline, so crews will "no longer be exposed to rough seas and freezing temperatures for hours on end," a Blue North press release says.

The boat also will be the first purpose-built hook-and-line processing vessel in the country with a molded hull, which should reduce resistance through the water, Blue North says.

The vessel will have diesel-electric propulsion, and accommodation for a crew of 26.

The price of the new longliner wasn't disclosed. The boat is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Blue North says it holds an option to build a second vessel starting late this year.

Two other freezer longline operators are wrapping up construction of new boats.

Petersburg-based Alaska Longline Co. is getting the Arctic Prowler, a 136-footer, from the Vigor yard in Ketchikan.

And Alaskan Leader Fisheries, of Lynden, Wash., ordered the 184-foot Northern Leader from J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding in Tacoma. The Seattle Times reported the cost of the boat at nearly $35 million.

All these fishing companies are part of a trade group known as the Freezer Longline Coalition.

In 2010, Congress passed legislation allowing freezer longliners to establish a fishery cooperative and catch shares in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.