The Bering Sea pollock mothership Golden Alaska, tied up recently at the Kloosterboer cold storage at Dutch Harbor. Kloosterboer, based in The Netherlands, officially opened the big Ballyhoo Road plant on Aug. 29 of last year. Jim Paulin photo Wednesday, August 11, 2010
View from Dutch Harbor
The Bering Sea pollock mothership Golden Alaska, tied up recently at the Kloosterboer cold storage at Dutch Harbor. Kloosterboer, based in The Netherlands, officially opened the big Ballyhoo Road plant on Aug. 29 of last year. Jim Paulin photo 
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Crash victims included pollock player Phillips
Among the four others who died with former Sen. Ted Stevens in the Dillingham plane crash was Bill Phillips, a Bethesda, Md., lawyer and lobbyist and the senator's former chief of staff.
Phillips was well-known in Alaska commercial fishing circles as the long-time owner of the Bering Sea pollock processing ship Excellence.
In January the Excellence merged with the partners in another processing ship, the Ocean Phoenix.
The ships market their products through a Seattle-based company, Premier Pacific Seafoods.
The vessels are known in the industry as motherships, taking fish from catcher boats for processing at sea.
Phillips was well-known in Alaska commercial fishing circles as the long-time owner of the Bering Sea pollock processing ship Excellence.
In January the Excellence merged with the partners in another processing ship, the Ocean Phoenix.
The ships market their products through a Seattle-based company, Premier Pacific Seafoods.
The vessels are known in the industry as motherships, taking fish from catcher boats for processing at sea.
Ted Stevens, Nov. 18, 1923 — Aug. 9, 2010
Here's a statement from the National Marine Fisheries Service on Ted Stevens, who died Monday in a plane crash north of Dillingham:
Aug. 10, 2010
Regional Administrator's statement regarding the passing of former Senator Ted Stevens
This is an especially sad day for the Alaska Region of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, where we have worked in cooperation with former Senator Ted Stevens to make Alaska's fisheries among the best managed in the world.
Senator Stevens was distinguished as a champion of sustainable ocean policy and influenced nearly every marine environmental and resource management law in the U.S. Senate over the past four decades. Alaska waters were often the test bed of revolutionary new ways of science-based fishery management and resource allocations that promoted safety and incentives for sustainability.
Senator Stevens was a tireless advocate for U.S. fisheries and marine science. He was instrumental in promoting the new Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau which replaced the aging Auke Bay Lab. This laboratory honors his legacy with the name, the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute.
Our deepest, most heartfelt thoughts are with his family during this time of loss.
Jim Balsiger
Regional Administrator
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
Alaska Region
Aug. 10, 2010
Regional Administrator's statement regarding the passing of former Senator Ted Stevens
This is an especially sad day for the Alaska Region of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, where we have worked in cooperation with former Senator Ted Stevens to make Alaska's fisheries among the best managed in the world.
Senator Stevens was distinguished as a champion of sustainable ocean policy and influenced nearly every marine environmental and resource management law in the U.S. Senate over the past four decades. Alaska waters were often the test bed of revolutionary new ways of science-based fishery management and resource allocations that promoted safety and incentives for sustainability.
Senator Stevens was a tireless advocate for U.S. fisheries and marine science. He was instrumental in promoting the new Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau which replaced the aging Auke Bay Lab. This laboratory honors his legacy with the name, the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute.
Our deepest, most heartfelt thoughts are with his family during this time of loss.
Jim Balsiger
Regional Administrator
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
Alaska Region
Monday, August 9, 2010
How are we doing on salmon?
The Alaska salmon season is heading into the homestretch now, and we've seen plenty of positives this year.
Overall, the commercial catch through Aug. 6 stood at 93 million fish on a forecast of 138 million.
The catch of sockeye, the state's top money fish, stands at nearly 40 million, about 6 million shy of projection. This could be the most valuable sockeye harvest in years thanks to substantially higher prices at Bristol Bay, our main sockeye fishery.
Upper Cook Inlet gillnetters surely have enjoyed this season with a commercial catch so far of 2.7 million sockeye, or nearly 800,000 more than forecast.
Much of the fishing effort this time of year is focused on pink and chum salmon.
This wasn't projected as a big year for pinks, but the news is hot nonetheless. Returns to Prince William Sound hatcheries are robust, and the pink salmon harvest on Aug. 3 shattered the daily record at 15.2 million pounds or 4.2 million fish, the Department of Fish and Game reports.
Parts of Southeast also have seen some strong pink harvests, with the fishing effort perhaps "influenced by the increased demand and price for pink salmon this season," the department says.
Way up north in Norton Sound and at Kotzebue, they're seeing great chum runs and catches.
Overall, the commercial catch through Aug. 6 stood at 93 million fish on a forecast of 138 million.
The catch of sockeye, the state's top money fish, stands at nearly 40 million, about 6 million shy of projection. This could be the most valuable sockeye harvest in years thanks to substantially higher prices at Bristol Bay, our main sockeye fishery.
Upper Cook Inlet gillnetters surely have enjoyed this season with a commercial catch so far of 2.7 million sockeye, or nearly 800,000 more than forecast.
Much of the fishing effort this time of year is focused on pink and chum salmon.
This wasn't projected as a big year for pinks, but the news is hot nonetheless. Returns to Prince William Sound hatcheries are robust, and the pink salmon harvest on Aug. 3 shattered the daily record at 15.2 million pounds or 4.2 million fish, the Department of Fish and Game reports.
Parts of Southeast also have seen some strong pink harvests, with the fishing effort perhaps "influenced by the increased demand and price for pink salmon this season," the department says.
Way up north in Norton Sound and at Kotzebue, they're seeing great chum runs and catches.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
'I want to thank the employees'
Deckboss on Wednesday linked to a press release about Icicle Seafoods Inc. selling the assets of its Bellingham, Wash., surimi business to Trident Seafoods Corp.
Funny, though, how press releases sometimes don't give us the full story.
Turns out that on Aug. 2, the very same day the release came out, the Washington State Employment Security Department received word from Icicle that, well, 71 workers would be permanently laid off in Bellingham beginning Oct. 18. The notice specifies "closure" as the reason for the layoff.
Dennis Guhlke, Icicle's chief executive, was quoted in the Trident-issued press release as saying: "I want to thank the employees of the Bellingham plant, whose contributions over the years are very much appreciated."
But the release didn't mention any worker layoff or closure of the plant, which Icicle's website says has been making imitation crabmeat and other surimi-based goods since 1986.
Seattle-based Icicle, born 45 years ago in the quintessential Alaska fishing town of Petersburg, today is a chip in a San Francisco private equity firm's "portfolio." The firm, Paine & Partners, holds all sorts of investments, from vegetable seeds to telecom to oil industry services to French perfume.
Trident's existing surimi operations include its Louis Kemp plant in Minnesota.
Funny, though, how press releases sometimes don't give us the full story.
Turns out that on Aug. 2, the very same day the release came out, the Washington State Employment Security Department received word from Icicle that, well, 71 workers would be permanently laid off in Bellingham beginning Oct. 18. The notice specifies "closure" as the reason for the layoff.
Dennis Guhlke, Icicle's chief executive, was quoted in the Trident-issued press release as saying: "I want to thank the employees of the Bellingham plant, whose contributions over the years are very much appreciated."
But the release didn't mention any worker layoff or closure of the plant, which Icicle's website says has been making imitation crabmeat and other surimi-based goods since 1986.
Seattle-based Icicle, born 45 years ago in the quintessential Alaska fishing town of Petersburg, today is a chip in a San Francisco private equity firm's "portfolio." The firm, Paine & Partners, holds all sorts of investments, from vegetable seeds to telecom to oil industry services to French perfume.
Trident's existing surimi operations include its Louis Kemp plant in Minnesota.
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