A serious new player at Bristol Bay

Deckboss was delighted to receive in his inbox yesterday a forwarded email confirming some talk he's been hearing for quite some time.

The email says Silver Bay Seafoods recently purchased eight acres on the Naknek River to construct a high-volume, state-of-the-art freezing and processing facility.

Now wouldn't that be something?

Bristol Bay's processor ranks certainly aren't what they used to be, and the landscape is littered with old, or dead, salmon canneries.

The email says Silver Bay is "optimistic we can provide Bay fishermen the same benefits enjoyed by our member fishermen in Southeast and Prince William Sound."

The company promotes "fishermen ownership" and "a stable rate of return on member investment," the email says.

It appears the email went to potential fishermen investors. It's signed by Rob Zuanich, Silver Bay's managing partner.

Silver Bay is a fairly new, fast-rising processor with plants in Sitka, Craig and Valdez.

Big money for the biggest of salmon

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says his fiscal 2014 budget proposal will include $10 million to kick off a five-year, $30 million research initiative on Chinook salmon, returns of which have been poor in recent years. More details here.

State predicts down year for Bristol Bay sockeye

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting a 2013 sockeye salmon catch of 16.6 million fish.

That would be well below this year's so-so catch of 20.6 million.

EPA fines three fishing companies

Three fishing companies have agreed to pay fines to settle federal pollution violations involving vessels operating off Alaska.

The three companies are Aleutian Spray Fisheries, Ocean Peace and United States Seafoods.

Here's the press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Pollock pointing up

We could well see an increase in the catch limit for Bering Sea pollock next season.

Pollock is the largest U.S. fishery by volume — the feedstock for making zillions of kid-pleasing fish sticks, not to mention that oh-so-versatile protein paste known as surimi.

For the 2013 season, scientists are recommending an "acceptable biological catch" of 1,375,000 metric tons.

That's a nearly 13 percent increase over the 2012 ABC of 1,220,000 tons.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will adopt a harvest limit at its Dec. 3-11 meeting in Anchorage.

Passing the gavel

State Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, will chair the House Special Committee on Fisheries when the Alaska Legislature convenes on Jan. 15.

Seaton takes over for Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, who chaired the committee the past two years.

It's a post Seaton has held previously in his legislative career.

More on that beached barge

According to the state's latest situation report, vessels are transiting to the Cold Bay area to offload the refrigerated shipping containers on a barge that ran aground Tuesday.

Offloading is scheduled to begin the middle of next week.

Deckboss has seen the cargo manifest, which confirms that Trident Seafoods was the shipper of nearly 1.5 million pounds of frozen seafood goods inside the containers.

The manifest lists mostly pollock surimi, but also cod, sablefish, halibut and other fish, plus octopus, fish meal and fish oil. Some other byproducts also are listed, such as cod heads and stomachs.

Seattle-based Northland Services was operating the grounded tug and barge.