Trawl operator sued

A Tokyo insurer has filed a lawsuit against United States Seafoods, claiming the Seattle-based factory trawl operator shipped frozen fish to Japan that lacked "proper freshness."

To the deep

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Anacapa opened fire today on the Ryou-Un Maru, sinking her in 6,072 feet of water 180 miles off the Southeast Alaska coast.

Click here for Coast Guard video and photos.

Sinking imminent?

Here's another look at that derelict Japanese fishing vessel, the Ryou-Un Maru, as seen Wednesday about 170 nautical miles southwest of Sitka. The unmanned boat, drifting northwest, got loose after Japan's massive tsunami in March 2011. CNN and other media outlets are reporting the owner of the squid boat has been identified, and that the U.S. Coast Guard today might sink the vessel as a hazard to shipping. USCG photo

Tsunami ghost ship adrift off Southeast Alaska

Unmanned and unlit. USCG photo

The U.S. Coast Guard says a derelict Japanese fishing vessel, the Ryou-Un Maru, has drifted into Southeast Alaska waters and is posing a navigational hazard some 180 miles west of Dixon Entrance.

The vessel was first sighted more than a week ago in Canadian waters.

The Ryou-Un Maru has been drifting unmanned and unlit at sea presumably since Japan's massive tsunami more than a year ago, the Coast Guard says.

The Coast Guard has dropped a data marker buoy near the vessel to track its location, and a cutter is heading out to assess the situation.

ASMI selects representative in Japan

Here's a brief announcement from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute website:

After an extensive RFP process that was conducted this summer, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is pleased to announce that AVIAREPS Marketing Garden (Holdings) Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan was selected and will be its new In-Country representative in Japan to market Alaska Seafood effective Oct 1, 2011.

Locke addresses post-tsunami seafood safety

Back in April we showed you a letter U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, sent to President Obama urging seafood industry protections in light of Japan's tsunami and nuclear crisis.

Begich has now received a reply from Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who details some recent federal efforts.

Tsunami relief effort tops $300,000

An Alaska fishing industry group says it has raised more than $300,000 in donations to help victims of Japan's earthquake and tsunami. Details here.

Feds say radiation poses no seafood safety threat

A trio of federal agencies today issued this fact sheet concluding that seafood imports and U.S. fishing grounds are free of contamination from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Begich to Obama: Protect our seafood industry

Here's a letter U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, sent today to President Obama requesting certain federal assistance in light of Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

Japan relief organization rallies $140,000

Here's an update from an Alaska fishing industry group raising money to help victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

April 12, 2011

Alaska fishing industry generates funds for tsunami relief

The Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission (AFIRM) has announced major donations from Alaska- and Seattle-based seafood industry participants towards its efforts to aid fishing communities affected by the earthquake in Japan.

"The Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association has donated $20,000, and UniSea has pledged to match donations to AFIRM from its employees and crab fleet up to $50,000," said AFIRM director Terry Shaff, president of UniSea Inc. and chairman of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

"In addition," Shaff said, "Tatoosh Seafoods has donated $5,000, Northwest Farm Credit Services has donated $5,000, United Fishermen of Alaska $1,000, and other individual donations are pushing AFIRM over $140,000 raised or committed in its first week of active fundraising."

"This week's significant aftershock is a reminder that this will be a long-term project, with many decisions to be made and problems to be overcome," said Larry Cotter, AFIRM chairman. "We ask those who make their living from the seafood industry to remember our long-term partnership with and many friends in Japan. AFIRM is seeking to accelerate our fundraising efforts within and outside of the seafood industry to provide meaningful assistance to Japan's fishing communities."

Many people are interested in how AFIRM plans to use the funds it raises. AFIRM board members and advisers are in contact with the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Japanese Fisheries Association, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Maruha Nichiro, Nissui and other Japanese companies to seek their input on the most effective way to directly assist people and communities in need. We are interested in any ideas the public may have as well.

AFIRM, a 501(c(3) nonprofit charity, was first formed to assist the Gulf fishing communities following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The group has zero overhead given its volunteer board and staff, so 100 percent of all contributions go directly for assistance. AFIRM will collaborate with fishing industry and governmental leaders to best leverage cash contributions with other available industry assets to help fishermen get back to harvesting and processing seafood for the public.

All donations to AFIRM are tax-deductible.

It's all over at Sitka

The Sitka sac roe herring fishery is done for the season as seiners reached the full quota Saturday after a fifth and final opener.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is estimating the cumulative catch at 19,636 tons.

The "guideline harvest level" coming into the season was 19,490 tons.

So this is really interesting. The industry has taken all the fish it could, despite the considerable uncertainty in disaster-wracked Japan, the only serious market for herring roe.

Reliable information on herring prices at Sitka has been scarce. The reason could be that prices simply don't exist yet pending some sense of what the market is willing to pay.

Naturally, Deckboss is aiming to find out more.

Alaska industry rallies for tsunami relief

An Alaska seafood industry charity, originally formed to provide relief after hurricane Katrina, is reactivating to help tsunami victims in Japan, Northern California and Oregon.

More details and how to donate here.

Knapp: Alaska losses likely after Japan disaster

Deckboss asked Gunnar Knapp, a University of Alaska Anchorage economics professor and an authority on world seafood markets, to talk about potential implications of the Japan disaster for Alaska's fishing industry. Here's what he had to say:

Like everyone else, I'm shocked by the videos and photos and stories of the effects of the earthquake and tsunami.

I'm particularly shocked because in 2004 I spent several days touring several fishing ports near Sendai with a group of fisheries economists prior to an international meeting in Tokyo. According to an e-mail from the director of our fisheries economics association, the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, "most of the coastal and fishing areas in the region around Sendai were completely destroyed and thousands are dead — the death toll will probably rise. Matsushima and Kamaishi, where we enjoyed such friendly hospitality and had fun visiting the market, wandering the docks and chatting with fishermen and coop managers, were largely destroyed."

It's very sobering and very sad.

Here are a few general thoughts — I doubt that any of them are original:

Most of the effects upon the Alaska seafood industry probably would derive from Japan's very important role as a market for Alaska seafood. The importance of Japan as a market varies widely depending on species and products. I haven't reviewed the data for the past couple of years, but here's my general sense of the relative importance of Japan for different species and products.

Japan is by far the most important market for:

• Sablefish
• Pollock surimi
• Pollock roe
• Salmon roe
• Herring roe

Japan is an important market but not necessarily the most important market for:

• Frozen salmon
• King crab and opilio crab

Japan is not a particularly important market for:

• Canned salmon
• Halibut

So different parts of the Alaska industry are likely to be affected to differing extents. My general instinct is that the events in Japan will be a significant disruption and will cause significant losses for some parts of the Alaska seafood industry, but that it will not be an economic catastrophe for the industry as a whole.

Alaska's seafood industry is diversified across many species and products and geographic markets. It does not depend entirely on Japan. Japan is a big country. There are large parts of the country that are not directly affected by the earthquake or tsunami or radiation concerns. And many of the effects will be fairly short-term.

For those species and products for which Japan is an important market, it may be useful to think about three potential kinds of effects:

Effects on Japanese companies that buy Alaska fish — Any Japanese companies that buy Alaska fish, or that are actively involved in Alaska, are likely to be, to put it mildly, distracted. They have a lot going on that will distract them from and interfere with normal import business. They may have employees and their family members who died or were injured; they may have facilities which were destroyed or damaged, and even companies a long way from the center of things are facing disruptions because people can't get to work. So hardly anyone is likely to be in a "business as usual" mode.

Effects on Japanese facilities and infrastructure — The press has a lot of reports about damage to processing facilities in the Sendai area; damage to transportation (railroads, roads, ports, airports); damage to cold storage facilities; loss of power (which is hugely damaging to cold storage), etc. This is going to cause a lot of disruption for quite a while, the extent of which will vary for different companies and species and products.

Effects on Japanese consumer demand for Alaska fish — Everything that's happening is going to affect consumers across Japan to varying degrees. It's going to be harder to get fish and they aren't going to have as much money to buy fish. The general rule of thumb is that the higher-priced products are likely to be the most affected.

A nuclear catastrophe could have many additional effects. If a catastrophic meltdown and widespread radiation contamination happened, there could be all kinds of additional impacts on the Japanese economy and society which would be more bad news for anyone trying to sell fish to Japan. However, if the Japanese felt that their own products were unsafe, that might work in favor of imported fish. As far as effects of radiation reaching Alaska, my instinct is to be skeptical that that's a major concern. But all of this is just speculation at this point.

Events in Japan could work against the Pebble mine. My sense is that when there's a big natural disaster (like the earthquake and tsunami) or a technological disaster (like the Exxon Valdez oil spill or now the problems at these Japanese reactors) it has a psychological and political effect: people become more aware of and scared of the potential for future natural or technological disasters, even though the actual risks haven't changed. Part of the psychology and politics of the Pebble mine issue is "how big a risk is it?" Regardless of the objective merits of the arguments, people are more likely to distrust industry assurances that the Pebble mine can be developed safely.

Alaska waters, seafood remain safe from distant nuclear crisis in Japan, state officials say

The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan have shocked and saddened the world, and have raised concerns about the possibility of a widespread radioactive release.

What does this mean for Alaska's air, water and seafood?

The governor, along with state military affairs and health officials, yesterday issued this press release that said in part:

There is no immediate or anticipated threat of harmful radiation reaching Alaska or its waters, therefore all seafood and other food items produced in Alaska are safe to consume.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has established an internal "incident command structure" to track developments and "make sure we are getting correct information out to our seafood industry partners and customers regarding the current situation in Japan," spokesman Tyson Fick told Deckboss today in an e-mail.

"Although we do not consider the events in Japan to be a crisis for Alaska Seafood at this time, establishing an Incident Command Structure allows us to be ready should the situation escalate," Fick said.

He added that ASMI's long-time marketing representative in Tokyo, Lee Sung Hwa, and her family "are okay and doing as well as can be expected."

Japan tragedy affects Alaska seafood industry

Here's a story by Hal Bernton of The Seattle Times on the impact of Japan's earthquake and tsunami on the seafood industry.

Big Togiak herring quota announced

The Togiak sac roe herring fishery, one of the Alaska's biggest herring harvests, has really struggled the past few years. But it hasn't been for lack of fish.

Seiners and gillnetters willing to keep fishing in the face of Japan's weakened appetite for herring eggs can expect to find plenty of fish again come spring.

A state Department of Fish and Game forecast issued today sets a harvest quota of 25,905 tons of herring for the 2010 season.

That compares to last season's harvest of 16,571 tons on a quota of 21,260 tons.

The sac roe fishery typically plays out in May.

Commission: Most of N. Pacific awash in salmon

The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission yesterday issued this press release via the U.S. Coast Guard summarizing last week's commission meeting in Niigata, Japan.

For those who don't care to read the full and rather lengthy release, here is the first and most interesting paragraph:

"Unprecedented high catches of Pacific salmon continue in most areas of the North Pacific, reports the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Only at the southeastern part of their range off British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California are Pacific salmon stocks in low abundance."

Reaction from Japan

My recent rant about the lack of information as to just what the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission would be discussing at its meeting this week in Japan drew some quite reasonable criticism of Deckboss for suggesting the international panel might be operating under a degree of "secrecy."

It also yielded this agenda, which was all I was after as an ordinary, interested citizen.

Salmon, sake and secrecy in Japan

Regular visitors to this blog know Deckboss doesn't spend a lot of time complaining about what a tough job we journalists have.

But I'm breaking form now to carp a little about an outfit called the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.

The commission is holding its annual meeting this week in Niigata, Japan.

For those unfamiliar with the organization, the commission draws together Canada, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States under a convention to "promote the conservation of anadromous stocks in the convention area."

An excellent mission, I'm sure you'll agree.

Naturally, I was curious to see what was on the agenda for this big annual meeting.

Salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea, perhaps? Genetic testing to pin down whose salmon are headed where? Or maybe an update on the effects of large-scale Japanese and U.S. hatcheries on wild fish?

But no agenda is on the commission's Web site. At least none that I could find.

All I saw was this barebones notice of the meeting.

Apparently, much additional information is behind a wall labeled "member's area." Click it and all you get is a box for plugging in a password.

I'd be less annoyed with the uncooperative Web site were it not for the lack of a reply to my Oct. 28 e-mail to the secretariat in Vancouver, British Columbia, requesting an agenda.

Here's what I can tell you: For travel opportunity, it must be nice to be a representative on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.

Since 2000, the commission has met in such cities as Tokyo, Victoria, Vladivostok, Honolulu, Sapporo and Seattle.

Now the commission is talking salmon and trout in Niigata, which Lonely Planet describes as a "lively capital" where "sake reigns supreme."

Far East opportunity

Want a job marketing lots and lots of Alaska fish to China and Japan?

Check out this want ad.