Southeast sablefish drawing winners announced

Here's the lucky list.

Southeast buyback approved

Southeast Alaska salmon purse seiners have voted to permanently retire another 36 permits from the fishery.

So says this brief announcement from the Southeast Alaska Seiners Association.

Another buyback vote for Southeast seiners

A federal notice published yesterday sets up another referendum on further reducing the number of Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon permits.

"The referendum, if approved, will result in a loan of $10.1 million and permanently retire an additional 36 permits from the fishery," the notice says.

The notice lists all the permit holders eligible to vote in the referendum.

The voting period will start Jan. 15 and end on Feb. 14.

Trimming the fleet

Southeast Alaska salmon seiners are mounting yet another effort to reduce their ranks.

Recently, seiners were invited to submit bids to sell and permanently retire their state fishing permits.

A total of 37 bids came in, and the Southeast Revitalization Association board on May 24 voted to accept 36 of them.

The 36 accepted bids total just over $10.1 million, which is right around the amount of federal loan money available for the permit buyback.

What's next?

Probably after this fishing season, Southeast salmon seine permit holders — currently 315 of them — will vote in a referendum on whether the fleet agrees to shoulder the loan to complete the buyback.

In 2012, Southeast seiners approved a $13.1 million loan to remove 64 permits.

But in 2017, a vote to retire 22 more permits from the fishery failed.

Buyback fails

We told you in November that Southeast Alaska salmon seiners would vote on whether to buy out more permits.

So, how did the election turn out?

"We received 180 ballots of which 132 were for and the remaining 48 against," said Michael Sturtevant, with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the referendum to be successful, at least 158 of the 315 permit holders would have had to vote in favor, he said.

A notice with more details will be published soon in the Federal Register, Sturtevant said.

Another Southeast seine buyback?

Here's a federal notice indicating Southeast Alaska salmon seine permit holders soon will vote on whether to shoulder a $5.8 million loan to retire 22 permits from the fishery.

The voting period starts Dec. 13, the notice says.

In 2012, Southeast seiners approved a $13.1 million loan to remove 64 permits.

Currently, there are 315 permits in the fishery.

Man found dead on boat in Southeast Alaska

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Ketchikan
Type: Death investigation
On 7/30/16 at approximately 0547 hours, the Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan were notified by the U.S. Coast Guard of an unresponsive male aboard the F/V Odin in Anita Bay. The male was identified as Charles Richards, 28, of Seattle. Crewmembers found Richards in his bunk unresponsive. Wrangell Search and Rescue was notified and responded. Wrangell SAR transported Richards to the Wrangell clinic where he was pronounced deceased. An Alaska wildlife trooper in Wrangell responded to investigate. The state medical examiner's office was notified and the deceased was transported for examination. The exact cause of death is unknown pending results from the SME. Next of kin have been notified.

Chinook situation brightens for trollers

The state has announced the Chinook salmon quota for this year, and it appears Southeast Alaska trollers will enjoy a substantially better catch this summer season compared to last.

Feds see no need for Southeast herring protection

Listing Southeast Alaska herring under the Endangered Species Act is "not warranted at this time," the National Marine Fisheries Service has concluded.

Since 1980, herring in Southeast have shown positive trends in abundance, growth rate and productivity, the agency says.

Here's the press release.

Chinook quota soars for Southeast trollers

Here's the gist of today's announcement from the Department of Fish and Game:

The preseason troll treaty harvest allocation for 2014 is 325,411 Chinook, an increase of 195,549 fish when compared with last year's preseason troll allocation of 129,862 fish.

Explosive catches of pink salmon reported

Deckboss just got off the line with Dan Gray of the state Department of Fish and Game down in Sitka.

Purse seiners are making what are believed to be record catches in Southeast Alaska.

"It's just more and more and more fish piling in here," Gray says.

State fishery managers and overwhelmed processors have been talking about how to "keep things orderly and under control," he says.

The state's preseason forecast was for a Southeast seine harvest of 54 million pinks, but now managers believe it'll be 60 to 70 million or even more.

To cope, processors have placed vessels on delivery limits.

Such limits also are reported in Prince William Sound, which likewise is seeing huge catches. Through Monday, seiners had taken an estimated 49.4 million pinks in the common property fishery.

Hatchery pinks dominate the runs in Prince William Sound, while Southeast pinks are predominantly wild fish.

Dismal news for Chinook trollers

Here's the announcement on this year's Southeast Alaska Chinook salmon quota.

"The commercial troll fishery preseason Chinook salmon harvest allocation for 2013 is 129,862 fish, a decrease of 67,410 Chinook when compared with last year's troll allocation of 197,272 fish," the announcement says.

So far, a savvy deal for salmon seiners

Back in January, we told you how Southeast Alaska salmon seiners were considering another round of permit buybacks to further trim the fleet.

That's not going to happen, at least not this year, says this update from buyback organizers.

As for last year's buyback of 64 permits, the update indicates the fleet is having no problems at all repaying its federal loan.

In fact, the fleet is looking to reduce its 3 percent landings tax to only 1 percent.

Get your bids in, boys!

Looks like Southeast Alaska salmon seiners are pursuing another buyback to further reduce their ranks.

Here's a letter that went out to permit holders recently.

You'll recall that last year, the fleet bought and retired 64 permits using a $13.1 million federal loan.

The fishery currently has 315 permits.

In the pinks!

The state is forecasting an excellent harvest of 54 million pink salmon next year in Southeast Alaska.

For the record

Here is the official notice on the results of the Southeast Alaska salmon seine permit buyback referendum.

The notice names the holders of the 64 permits to be purchased and retired using a $13.1 million federal loan.

More details on permit buyback vote

Here are the results from the Southeast Alaska salmon seine permit buyback referendum.

The bottom line is 215 permit holders voted in favor of the buyback, well in excess of the 190-vote majority needed.

Salmon seiners reportedly OK permit buyback

The Southeast Alaska Seiners Association is reporting that voters have approved the permit buyback "by a relatively wide margin."

More details as soon as we can gather them.

Buyback balloting under way

The voting period has opened for the proposed Southeast Alaska salmon seine permit buyback program.

Permit holders eligible to vote were mailed ballots on Thursday.

Voters must return their ballots by April 30.

If a majority of the 379 ballots come back in favor, the government will proceed with a buyback of 64 permits at a cost of $13.1 million.

Seiners remaining in the fishery will then repay the money over time.

For more information, click here.

Chinook take a dip for Southeast trollers

Southeast Alaska commercial trollers have a Chinook salmon harvest allocation this year of 197,272 fish, down 20,788 from the 2011 preseason allocation.

Here's the announcement from the Department of Fish and Game.