Some fish were landed in Seward as early as Monday, but Seward Fisheries plant manager Charles McEldowney said that deliveries were down compared to the last couple of years.
There have been several reports of boats fishing the Seward Gully catching an unusual amount of spiny dogfish, a small shark that shares the bottom with halibut. Boats delivering in Homer reported similar high rates of dogfish from the area. While it is legal to keep dogfish in federal waters, there are currently no markets in Homer or Seward for the product. Global Seafoods in Kodiak will accept them as bycatch but do not pay fishermen anything for them. National Marine Fisheries Service biologist Tom Pearson in Kodiak reported that he was aware of one processor who would pay 25 cents per pound for headed and gutted dogfish.
Pearson said that NMFS is keeping a close eye on dogfish deliveries, and if they begin to be targeted by a large number of boats, NMFS may look at creating a separate quota for them. They are currently managed with a large group of species that include shark, octopus, sculpin and other non-targeted fish. The overall quota for the "other" species is 5 percent of the total groundfish guideline harvest levels. Skates were recently separated from the "other" quota because they were being targeted by longliners. Dogfish, skates and other shark species are prone to overfishing because they are slow to mature, have relatively low birth rates and are long-lived.
The tanner crab fleet in Kodiak finally went fishing after six weeks of price negotiations. The fishery opened Jan. 15, but the 72 boats signed up for the season kept their pots on the beach when processors offered prices that were half of what fishermen received in 2004. Initial offers were as low as $1.25 per pound, too far off last season's final price of $2.50 per pound to motivate the fleet. Price offers climbed to $1.85 per pound about two weeks after the season opened, but fishermen pointed to the $2.50 per pound being paid to Dutch Harbor and Southeast tanner fishermen and asked for at least $2.25 per pound. The $1.85 price offer subsequently fell through, and the fleet stayed put.
In the meantime, the state-waters cod season opened up Feb. 2 for pots and jig gear, and some of the tanner fleet opted to participate in that fishery. The pot cod quota of 4.56 million pounds was caught in 11 days by about 50 boats. Regulations in Kodiak stipulate that boats that fish cod must have their pots out of the water for two weeks before fishing crab, to prevent prospecting. Fish and Game in Kodiak did not have figures for how many crab boats went cod fishing, but the crab fleet voted Friday to get under way with a 72-hour fair-start delay, meaning they would actually splash pots 14 days after the cod season closed. Western Alaska Fisheries is paying $1.95 per pound to its 17-boat fleet for 90,000 pounds of crab, but other plants are offering between $1.50 and $1.65 per pound with the potential for an increase based on the wholesale price.
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978, and has also designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish, and gillnets salmon in Upper Cook Inlet.
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