Federal loans help crabbers buy into Bering Sea fisheries

After a six-year delay, a federal loan program is finally taking applications from crew members wanting to buy into the Bering Sea crab fisheries.
"We really encourage crew to be invested in the Bering Sea crab fishery," said Edward Poulsen, director of the Alaska Bering Sea crabbers. "It helps align everybody and makes everyone better stewards of the resource."
The group is hosting a May 3 workshop in Seattle designed to help crews work through the loan process. Roughly $8 million will be available for low-interest loans, similar to the loan program for halibut and sablefish. Crabbers will be eligible for 80 percent of the purchase price of crab shares, which can be repaid over 25 years.
"We've seen how the model has worked in halibut, where guys working on deck buy a little bit of quota and then buy more; eventually they've got a pretty good chunk. That's where we are going with crab," Poulsen said.
Poulsen said arrangements have been made to teleconference the workshop to Fishermen's Hall in Kodiak and the CFAB office in Anchorage. The session will begin at 8 a.m. Alaska time and run for about three hours.
Contact Poulsen at alaskaberingseacrabbers@gmail.com.

Cod jig fishery grows
The jig fishery in the Gulf of Alaska took its Pacific cod quota in record time this year. The fishery, which opens in January, ended April 14 rather than the usual early June, with a catch of 7.4 million pounds. That's an increase of about 1 million pounds from last year. There also was an increase in the number of jig boats on the fishing grounds: 144 compared with 90 in 2010.
"I don't know whether it's because the cod are close to shore and fishing is particularly good and the quotas are higher, and the price is moderately strong compared to past years. It is attractive to people who want to give it a try," said Nick Sagalkin, a fishery manager at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Kodiak. Another reason for the increased interest has been speculation about future limits on entry into the fishery.
"People are fishing for history because they are worried about being left out, or they are looking for an investment," Sagalkin said.
Jig fisheries have been ongoing since the early 1990s in Cook Inlet, Kodiak, Prince William Sound, Chignik and the Alaska Peninsula. Jig trips usually last a day or two and fishermen can stay close to home. The price this year is about 37 cents a pound; a trip can fetch $100 to $1,500 a day.
Sagalkin said the small boat fishery is attracting a lot of new recruits.
"Younger guys starting out don't need a huge investment -- they get a couple jig machines, make some money, and then three to five years later you see them getting a bigger boat and maybe diversifying into something else. It's a neat fishery from that perspective," Sagalkin said.
The Gulf fleet will be back out jigging for cod in September.
Also in Kodiak: Only eight seiners are fishing and two processors are buying herring since the fishery opened on April 15. That compares with last year's 36 seiners, seven gillnetters and five processors buying the herring roe that goes to a single market: Japan.

Fishing Samaritans
It's been little more than a month since the earthquake and tsunami devastated major fishing communities in Japan. Within a week of the disaster, Alaska's seafood industry members started giving and fundraising. By last week, donations to the Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission had topped $200,000.
The relief mission was formed in 2005 to help Gulf of Mexico fishing towns after Hurricane Katrina. It re-launched last month for Japan.
"Fishermen are the most competitive people around but when one of them is having trouble out at sea, they are the first to respond. This is similar," said Mark Vinsel, volunteer director of the charity. "We are all part of the global seafood industry and Japan is Alaska's largest customer for seafood."
AFIRM is online at www.akjapanhelp.org.

Trash update
Since Earth Day (April 22) began in 1970, trash pickup has been a tradition. Over the past 25 years, the Ocean Conservancy has cataloged the trash picked up on Earth Day into more than 7 million items. The results?
About 6 percent of the trash pulled from an ocean was fishing gear. The most trash, about 57 percent, came from food wrappings, beverage containers, cups, plates and plastic eating utensils. More than 9.5 million plastic bottles were collected, 8 million plastic bags and 1.2 million balloons.
Thirty-three percent of ocean trash came from cigarette smokers: 53 million butts, filters and cigar tips were collected over the past 25 years.
The Juneau-based Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation has led ocean cleanup efforts in Alaska. In partnership with local communities, since 2003, the foundation has hauled away more than 2 million pounds of coastal debris from Southeast to the Pribilofs (including a derelict fishing vessel).
There are some signs the tide is turning on trash. Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed in a recent Gallup Poll said they have made lifestyle changes to protect the environment. And 16 years after it was first proposed, the United Nations last year officially designated June 8 World Oceans Day.

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Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday in the Anchorage Daily News. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your website or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.