Pay the man

The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against factory trawl operator Fishermen's Finest, which had challenged the state landing tax as unconstitutional. Here's the court's 31-page opinion.

Fishermen's Finest to build advanced trawler

Fishermen's Finest Inc. is planning to build a highly advanced new factory trawler. That's an artist's rendering above.

The Kirkland, Washington, company last week signed a deal with Dakota Creek Industries Inc. to construct the vessel, to be named America's Finest.

Fishermen's Finest says the 262-foot trawler will be "the first carbon-neutral fishing vessel in the world and will fully utilize every fish caught."

The company already operates two factory trawlers, American No. 1 and U.S. Intrepid. Both were built in the late 1970s.

Fishermen's Finest is part of the so-called Amendment 80 fleet, which targets species such as yellowfin sole, cod and Pacific ocean perch in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

Trawl company fined over illegal lingcod catch

Here's the press release.

A new player enters rockfish legal fray

Fishermen's Finest Inc. is seeking to intervene in the lawsuit major Kodiak processors have filed against the federal government over the new Central Gulf of Alaska rockfish catch shares program.

As you will recall, the processors argue the program is unlawful because it created shares only for fishing vessel owners.

Seattle-based Fishermen's Finest operates two large and well-known trawlers in Alaska, the American No. 1 and the U.S. Intrepid.

In its motion to intervene, Fishermen's Finest argues that if the processors win, the company would lose valuable quota.

What's more, a processor victory "would upend the rationalization process for many fisheries in the North Pacific," the motion says.

Rationalization means cutting up a fishery into individual shares. Fishery managers in Alaska have embraced rationalization as a way to alleviate safety and other problems that arise when boats "race for fish."

The processor lawsuit strikes at a burning policy question: Should the government award shares only to fishermen, or should processors receive them too?

While Gulf rockfish is not among Alaska's largest or richest commercial fisheries, it's apparent the rockfish lawsuit could turn into a titanic legal battle.

Deckboss hears we are likely to see more fishing vessel owners file to intervene in the case.

Fishermen’s Finest loses cod appeal

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday rejected a complaint from Fishermen's Finest Inc. that it was shortchanged under Amendment 85, a federal action that divided the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands cod fishery among various fleets.

Seattle-based Fishermen’s Finest operates a pair of head-and-gut trawl vessels, the American No. 1 and the U.S. Intrepid.

Here’s the 28-page decision.

Be sure to check out Judge Richard R. Clifton’s dissenting opinion at the end.

Besides suggesting the American Fisheries Act factory trawl fleet is enjoying favoritism on top of its “lucrative monopoly” in the huge pollock fishery, the judge offers a dandy quote from Mark Twain.