PACIFIC BEACH – For every macho couch potato who wants to live the life of crab boat fisherman Phil Harris, the perpetually angry captain on the reality TV hit “Deadliest Catch,” Harris has this advice: Don’t do it.

“You haven’t got what it takes,” Harris said yesterday with a mix of disdain and empathy for adventure-seeking amateurs. Harris and the four other captains of the crab boats featured in the popular Discovery Channel series left the rough seas off Alaska for a round table at RT’s Longboard Grill in Pacific Beach this week. The captains are in San Diego until tomorrow taping a companion segment called “After the Catch,” which will begin airing Tuesday following the weekly installment of “Deadliest Catch.” Sig Hansen, the Seattle-based captain with Nordic good looks, is here. So is Johnathan Hillstrand, a resident of Homer, Alaska, with intense eyes and a rough-hewn nature.

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The future of this fishery’s continuing success will depend on Alaska’s decisions regarding industrialization of her resources and her continuing commitment to the care and protection of her living natural resources.

It’s unusual for a “Deadliest Catch” crew member to take a hard stance in a big Alaska resource battle like Pebble. Hansen, who lives in Seattle, said he usually shies away from requests to get involved in anything political.

Because Hansen exploits crab stocks and other Alaska fisheries, he said, he can’t be opposed to all resource development.

“I’m not your typical greenie,” Hansen said.

For example, he supports offshore oil drilling in the Bering Sea if it can be done safely, he said.

 

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 The Copper River Salmon fishery is opening today and it is a big deal! 

“…Renowned for its succulent king and sockeye salmon, opens at 7 a.m. on May 14, signaling the unofficial start of the summer salmon season in Alaska.”
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, theking salmon run will be some 77,000 chinooks, about 24,000 more than the 2008 run produced, albeit 3,000 less than the 10-year average, with about 53,000 fish harvested.

Biologists are also predicting a run of about 1.3 million sockeyes, about 840,000 less than the five-year average and the fifth lowest run since 1980…  
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The Annual Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial Service will be Sunday,
May 3, 2009 at 2:00pm at Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard.

2009 Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial Auction November 17, 2009

2009 The Fall Fishermen’s Festival (date to be determined) at the Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard. Bring your families!, great food, fun entertainment and it is free!

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We did pretty well at Catch Con earning over $5000 for SeaShare. Be sure to join the Face Book Cause

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves.

The ruling came on a lawsuit brought by three environmental groups that want to protect the ecosystem and the Native Village of Point Hope, a tribe that lives off the wildlife on the Chukchi Sea coast. The seas are home to wildlife including polar bears, whales, seals, walruses and seabirds.

A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi seas…

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California and Oregon chinook fisheries in limbo

The coveted Copper River salmon fishery, the unofficial start of Alaska’s summer salmon season, is about two months away, but buyers can already expect availability of king salmon to improve this year.

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game released its 2009 Copper River forecast last month, and scientists are projecting a king salmon run of 77,000 fish, which would be about 24,000 more fish than the 2008 run but 3,000 less fish than the 10-year average; about 53,000 kings would be harvested.

Copper River king salmon was a difficult buy last year. The unprecedented closure of the California and Oregon fisheries, weaker-than-expected Copper River landings and burgeoning demand for wild salmon resulted in tight supplies and high prices for the fish, which at the onset of the Copper River harvest in mid-May pushed the $40-a-pound mark at retail…

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In the U.S.,  Pollack sales in the form of fish sticks are now outselling the Cod version of the same product and the trend is expected to continue. The Pollack is very popular.  In the U.S. however Pollack  remains Pollack. 

And in the UK alone, Pollack sales were recently up 144%.

So you may want to keep in mind that should you be in France ordering seafood at a restaurant–if you order the ‘Hake’, you’ll get a plateful of ‘Colin’, which is the fish formerly known as ‘Pollack’ in the UK!

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