The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has agreed to reduce the assessment rate on the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine salmon fishing capacity reduction program loan to 1 percent, effective July 1, 2015. The rate in 2013 and 2014 was 1.5 percent. The Federal Register published notice of the fee change on May 19, 2015.
The Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission has chosen Dr. Jim Unsworth as its new director. Dr, Unsworth has more than 30 years of experience in wildlife management. Since 2008, Dr. Unsworth has served as deputy director of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game.
On December 10, Congress passed the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014. The bill includes a provision extending the moratorium protecting commercial fisherman from the vessel discharge reporting requirements under the Clean Water Act for an additional 3 years. The current moratorium was set to expire on December 18, 2014. The President is expected to sign the bill.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is co-sponsoring legislation to extend the moratorium protecting commercial fisherman from the reporting requirements for vessel discharge under the Clean Water Act. The current moratorium is set to expire on December 18, 2014.
The Alaska Departmet of Fish and Game Division is predicting an actual harvest of 58 million pink salmon in Southeast Alaska in 2015, well above the recent 10-year average and one of the top ten harvests since 1960.
According to the National Fisheries Institute's annual Top Ten list, per capita consumption of salmon in the United States is now higher than tuna for the first time in history.
PSVOA urges Governor Inslee's office to reject Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's budge proposal, which would eliminate funding for the management of Puget Sound commercial salmon fisheries.
