Upcoming

Here are a couple of significant Outside events to watch.

• On June 4 in Washington, D.C., the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a hearing on "Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness." More details here.

• The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet June 5-10 in Newport, Oregon. The council, based in Anchorage, manages fisheries off Alaska and includes voting members from Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

NMFS Alaska loses nearly a quarter of its staff

The National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region, had 115 federal employees on Jan. 1. Now, the count is 87, down 24 percent.

The staff losses are "due to a combination of probationary terminations, the Deferred Resignation Program, Voluntary Early Retirement, and voluntary separations in anticipation of a Reduction in Force," NMFS says in this report to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The agency names many of the departed folks, saying something nice about each.

Hannah heads to the bay

Northline Seafoods says its 400-foot processing barge, the Hannah, is on its way to Bristol Bay for its second salmon season.

The barge was cleared to depart Bellingham after its owner posted a special bond to free the vessel from arrest in a court case involving a nearly $1.3 million debt claim.

Copper River closure

The Copper River District is closing to commercial driftnetting because "the Chinook salmon return may be weak and conservative management at this time is warranted," the state says in this advisory announcement.

It's a start

The Copper River salmon fishery kicked off a new season on Thursday, with the district producing a modest 27,368 sockeye and 1,083 Chinook on 353 deliveries during a 12-hour opener.

The fishery opened six days later than last season, which saw a surprisingly large opening day haul of around 43,000 sockeye.

The Copper River District will open tomorrow for another 12-hour driftnet fishing period, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced.

Mark your calendar

Organizers of the Pacific Marine Expo trade show have announced the dates for this year's event: Thursday, Nov. 20, through Saturday, Nov. 22, at Lumen Field Event Center in downtown Seattle.

What the Legislature did

The first session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature came to a close on May 20, with legislators managing a modest slate of actions important to the fishing industry.

This could be disappointing in many minds, as the industry has been mired in an economic crisis and a special legislative task force had made numerous recommendations ahead of the session.

The Legislature operates on a two-year cycle, so bills that didn't pass this session will remain alive in the second session next year.

Here's a rundown of what happened during the session that just adjourned.

• Legislators included $10 million in the budget for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to boost domestic marketing. This might have been the session's most significant fishery action. Now, we wait to see if the sum survives the governor's veto pen.

• Legislators passed House Bill 116 to help commercial fishermen form insurance cooperatives to reduce costs.

• House Bill 31 passed to eliminate the need for state Division of Motor Vehicles registration of commercial fishing vessels already tracked by the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

• Senate Bill 156 provides for a temporary state investment of $3,693,500 in the struggling Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank. United Fishermen of Alaska explained the situation in this letter of support for SB 156.

All the bills now await the governor's signature.