Which boats will conduct halibut survey?

The vessels are named in this media release from the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

The situation with the halibut survey

The International Pacific Halibut Commission will meet in special session on Oct. 31 to talk about the setline survey.

The annual summer survey is crucial for managing the halibut fishery. But it's facing serious financial challenges as the halibut stock struggles.

"The spawning biomass of Pacific halibut is near the lowest levels observed since the 1970s and catch rates in nearly all IPHC regulatory areas are at or near the lowest levels observed in 40 years," says this brochure posted on the IPHC website.

The commission historically has paid for the survey by selling catches, but low catch rates and low fish prices coupled with rising costs have created a funding crunch, the brochure says.

In the special session, commissioners plan to discuss survey design for 2025 and beyond.

Kids and permits

The Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission has launched a survey on minors owning commercial fishing permits. Take the survey here.

Is Bristol Bay facing a processor crunch?

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has surveyed Bristol Bay sockeye processors with the following outcome:

The results of this survey found the 2015 Bristol Bay total intended purchases of 35.5 million fish is approximately 2.1 million fish (6%) lower than the forecast harvest of 37.6 million fish.

Read the full report for a lot more detail.

Watch your mailbox

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is preparing to survey its members — again — on potentially buying back some of the drift gillnet permits in the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery.

"BBRSDA is sending a postcard survey seeking the advice of its members as to whether or not to proceed with a socioeconomic impact study," the association says on its website. "The analysis would provide valuable additional information to the fleet as they weigh the pros and cons of proceeding further."

More information here.

Russia's Stellers

Goodness knows the Alaska groundfish industry has taken some hits over the endangered Steller sea lion.

Just last year, you'll recall, federal regulators closed big stretches of water in the western and central Aleutians to commercial fishing to preserve prey for Stellers.

Of big interest to the industry, and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, is the status of Steller stocks much farther west, in Russian waters.

Well, we might soon find out.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking a contractor to conduct a boat-based survey of Steller adults and pups at rookeries and haulouts in East Kamchatka, the Commander Islands, the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk and the western Bering Sea.

All told, the field work will cover 1,160 nautical miles of coastline and run into the summer of 2015.

"The contractor must have necessary personnel who are fluent in Russian and English and experienced in surveying and collecting this type of data in the Russian Far East and the ability to obtain the appropriate Russian permits," the contract solicitation says.

Bristol Bay processors: We can handle 'em

Salmon processors say they can handle the 28.5 million sockeye gillnetters are expected to catch this summer at Bristol Bay.

And more.

That's the upshot of the Department of Fish and Game's annual processing capacity survey.

Near as Deckboss can remember, the processors always say they have enough capacity to deal with Bristol Bay's sockeye hordes.

But much depends on how evenly the salmon enter the fishing grounds.

The survey indicates the processors collectively can handle a little over 2 million fish per day.

If the run is heavy and catches exceed that level, especially on consecutive days, processors often must limit their purchases until they can work the excess fish through their plants.

This, in turn, can set off howls of protest from fishermen asked to sit idle just when the fish are running thickest. To them, it's money swimming up the river.

Anyway, for more details, read the survey. It's a quick eight pages.

This will take only a few minutes...

The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to know: What is the contribution of fishing and seafood processing to the Southeast Alaska economy?

The agency is conducting a survey to find out, and you might be asked to participate.

More information here.