Wild!

Check out this panoramic promotion from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

The package, running today as a banner ad on the Food Network website, features profiles of fishermen as well as state biologists.

In case you care

Once again this year, a great deal of herring is expected to be up for grabs in remote Western Alaska waters including Norton Sound, Goodnews Bay and Security Cove.

In fact, a harvest up to the anticipated quota of 23,172 tons would be "one of the largest on record" in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region, says this news release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The perennial question with AYK herring, however, is whether any processors will show up to support a fishery.

We want in

Deckboss reported in December how The Boat Co., a Southeast Alaska sportfishing outfit, had filed suit challenging the federal government's expanded fishery observer program.

The suit argues program regulations don't ensure adequate observer coverage to estimate bycatch of halibut and Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries.

Now a group called the Fixed Gear Alliance is looking to intervene in the case, also to challenge the expanded observer program.

This memorandum in support of the motion to intervene explains the group's many complaints, including "excessive and unnecessary costs" and other burdens associated with the program.

The memo says the Fixed Gear Alliance is "an Alaska nonprofit corporation whose membership represents commercial fishing vessel owners, commercial fishing vessel operators, commercial fishing crewmembers, halibut and sablefish Quota Share holders, and commercial fishing associations who operate, or who have members that operate, fixed longline or pot fishing gear in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, or Aleutian Island management areas."

Juneau attorney Bruce Weyhrauch is representing the Fixed Gear Alliance.

Larger salmon haul expected this year

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting a commercial catch of about 179 million salmon this year, which would be a big jump from last year's harvest of 127 million.

A greater abundance of pink salmon will drive the larger catch, the department says.

See the 2013 forecast here.

Can hatcheries help?

We've heard plenty about the poor Chinook salmon returns to some parts of Alaska in recent years.

One possible fix is to supplement wild runs with hatchery fish.

Here's a new report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that examines the idea. Recommendations are on page 14.

A leadership change at Icicle

Amy Humphreys is the new president and chief executive officer of Icicle Seafoods Inc., taking over for Dennis Guhlke, who has resigned.

So says this press release from Paine & Partners, the private equity firm that holds Icicle.

Icicle is a major processor of Alaska salmon, pollock, halibut, crab and other seafood.

Humphreys comes to Icicle from Delta Western Inc., where she was president of the Alaska petroleum distributor. She previously was an executive with American Seafoods.

In the press release, Humphreys says she believes Icicle has "many opportunities to continue its growth in both wild and farmed seafood product offerings."

A hundred bucks a hide!

State Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, has introduced a bill to authorize the Department of Fish and Game to pay a $100 bounty for each sea otter taken lawfully under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Now why would anyone want to kill our cute and furry friends the sea otters?

Because they're rapidly recolonizing Southeast Alaska waters, consuming mass quantities of commercially harvested species such as Dungeness crab, urchins, clams and sea cucumbers.

McDowell Group, a Juneau consulting firm, in 2011 issued a study on the problem.