As of October 29, the most recent figures available, there were 1,800 tons remaining on the quota in the central gulf for inshore processors, and the harvest rate was about 200 to 300 tons per week, compared with about 300 tons per day when dragging opens. However, according to Tom Pearson, a NMFS biologist in Kodiak, offshore processors have a remaining quota of 2,150 tons which is not being touched, and will most likely be rolled into the inshore quota.
“I anticipate that if the inshore guys catch what remains of their quota, we can continue to let them fish on the offshore quota that’s not being used,” Pearson said. “I expect cod to remain open for the rest of the year.”
Fishermen can use pots, longlines or jigs to harvest cod in federal waters (more than three miles from shore), while state waters (within three miles of shore) are open to pot and jig fishermen. Trawlers begin fishing January 20. The state-water cod fishery also is expected to remain open until the 2006 quotas go into effect, with more than 500,000 pounds remaining on the 2005 quota. Since only one boat is currently making deliveries in Homer, the catch rates are confidential.
NMFS officials meet next week to set the quotas for the 2006 season for all gear types in the Gulf of Alaska.
Time Magazine recently printed an article about a company that is farming cod in the Shetland Islands, 150 miles off the northern tip of Scotland. According to Time, two business men, Laurent Viguie and Karol Rzepkowski have worked to secure financing to set up what they consider an environmentally friendly cod farm in the clean, cold water of the Shetlands, and have begun exporting cod to U.S. restaurants and specialty markets.
According to the article, cod has been a staple food throughout European history, but cod populations have plummeted. The worldwide catch has declined from 3.1 million tons in 1970 to around 800,000 tons today. The fishery collapsed off the east coast of Canada, and fishing there was banned in 1992; the North Sea cod take is now down 75% from 15 years ago. Farming cod “was a no-brainer, really—you have a fish which is endangered that is also a big part of many nation’s diets,” Viguie told Time.
The article states that the company, Johnson Seafarms, ran into problems trying to attract backers. The $60 billion fish-farming industry has a foul reputation from problems associated with caged salmon, such as parasites and pollution from concentrated fish wastes. Investors were leery. Viguie and Rzepkowski argued that farming cod would be cleaner. Cod is white fleshed, so it doesn’t require dyes that are added to farmed salmon; nor does cod attract sea lice, so chemical pesticides aren’t needed, according to Time.
However, a 2003 article in National Geographic News states that environmentalists are concerned that cod farming in Scotland endangers already depleted Atlantic salmon and sea trout populations. NGN said at the time that recent research showed that cod farms discharge 50 percent more waste into coastal waters than farmed salmon. Government scientists from Scotland’s Fisheries Research Services found cod discharge 159.4 pounds of nutrient nitrogen into the surrounding environment per ton of production. This compares with 106.3 pounds per ton for salmon.
To keep their product eco-friendly, Johnson Seafarms feeds its crop pellets of commercially caught herring and mackerel. Predators like seals and otters are repelled by a second net around the cages, instead of being shot or trapped. “We want to innovate the whole aquaculture industry to show it can be environmentally sound,” Rzepkowski told Time.
By 2005, Johnson Seafarms had raised $38 million and had begun exporting cod to U.S. restaurants and specialty markets. The company aims to ship some 20,000 tons of cod annually by 2010.
The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is seeking public and industry proposals and statements concerning regulatory (season length, clearances in Area 4, logbook reporting requirements, etc.) or administrative issues to the IPHC for inclusion in the 2006 IPHC Annual Meeting.
Blank submission forms are available through the IPHC office or from the Web page, www.iphc.washington.edu. All completed submissions that are received or postmarked by the deadline will be included at the annual meeting. Proposals will be posted on the IPHC homepage and copies will also be available by mail or fax by calling the IPHC office at (206) 634-1838.
The deadline for regulatory proposals is November 15, 2005. All forms and supporting material must be postmarked or received at the IPHC office by the submission date. Proposals received after the deadline may not be reviewed and considered at the annual meeting.
The annual meeting takes place January 17 to 20, 2006, at the Bellevue Westin Hotel at 600 Bellevue Way N.E in Bellevue, Washington.
Christy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978 and also has designed and buit geat for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.
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