F/V Jennifer A, Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers
Alaskan Snow Crab is the next major fishing to getting underway in the Bering Sea. In the Pacific Northwest and the Seattle Ship Canal there is a lot of marine traffic right now; especially seafood processors heading through the Ship Canal out to the Ballard Locks headed north. A lot have left this past week and the remaining processors in the lower 48 are leaving any day to get up to Alaska’s Bering Sea. Snow crab is Alaska’s largest crab fishery, the Fleet has increased by 61 million pound catch quota.
Alaska’s Bering Sea commercial king and tanner crab fisheries opened, October 15, 2014, they will remain open for the next 3 to 6 months, depending on the species. According to the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers – ABSC, association, Bristol Bay red king crab season runs through January 15, 2015. St. Matthew’s blue king crab season runs through February 1st; Bering Sea snow crab season ends May 15th in the Eastern sub-district and May 31st in the Western sub-district. The total allowable catch (TAC) for all species will be up from the previous year – TBA. According to ABSC, the increased quotas are “testament to science-based, stakeholder-informed management.”
F/V Jennifer A.- Alaska Bering Sea Crabber, Dwyer Family Jewel
The big snow crab harvest kept Alaska Bering Sea fishermen hard at work through the holiday season this year; not much down time to fly home to be with family. Now, it’s overlapping the start of a major ground-fish season! Fish on in 2015!
The Pacific cod fishery kicked off in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. There’s about 250,000 metric tons of Pacific cod up for harvest in state and federal waters. Sinking nets and happy fishermen hit the sea running hard in early 2015.
F/V Jennifer A. Bering Sea Crabber, AK
“Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers – ABSC welcomes the increased quota for all major species, they remain concerned of a repeat topic of the over volume of illegal Russian crab that continues to flood the world market and depress the price paid to legal U.S. fishermen.” ABSC added that in a statement that in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available, the McDowell Group of Juneau, Alaska, estimates that 40 percent of the king crab sold in world markets was from illegal Russian harvests. Oooo the Russians!
F/V Jennifer A, Bering Sea, AK Crabber
The TAC for Bristol Bay red king crab is 9.986 million pounds, a 16% increase over 2013; the IFQ portion of the quota is 8.987 million pounds. The Bering Sea snow crab fishery quota is 67.950 million pounds, a 26 percent increase over 2013; the IFQ portion of the quota is 61.155 million pounds.
M/V Golden Alaska, Seafood Processor, Western Tow Boat Giving a Push Home
Seafood Processors like M/V Golden Alaska spend less than a few months a year in the lower 48. Golden Alaska is a modern sophisticated floating processor, a leader in the seafood industry guided by an excellent salty season captain with consistency in crew. Home port is in the Ship Canal of Seattle, WA. Processors in Seattle are like ‘ants at a picnic, they are scattered all over the waterfront!’ They are floating cities that can support themselves at sea for 6 – 9 months a year. Life on a processor is for the strong in mind, body, spirit – life on these floating cities plays by its own set of floating rules.
Icicle Seafoods, M/V Northern Victor, Pulled by Western TowBoat, Ballard Bridge
The Eastern Bering Sea tanner crab fishery TAC is 8.48 million pounds, a whopping 480 percent increase over 2013; the IFQ portion of the quota is 7.632 million pounds. The Western Bering Sea tanner crab fishery TAC is 6.625 million pounds, a 303 percent increase over 2013; the IFQ portion of the quota is 5.952 million pounds.
M/V Northern Victor, Icicle Seafoods, Headed to Anchor Near Dutch Harbor, AK
The largest fishing fleet in North America is located between Washington and Alaska; the world’s best commercial fishing is in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay, Alaska. Fishermen & Fisherwomen may you have a blessed season in 2015. May your pots be full and your nets sink! God Bless your Boat & your crew!
Icicle Seafoods, M/V Northern Victor, A Push by Western TowBoat, 12 Seahawks!
Icicle Seafoods employees a great number of men and women in the Pacific Northwest; they own and operate fishing boats, onshore plants and processing vessels throughout Alaska. They are where the seafood is during every season of the year, they process it when it’s freshest and capture its peak quality. Their fishing fleets are managed from three regions in Alaska.
Icicle Seafoods – vessel operations enable them to move our harvesting and processing activities to remote fishery locations to match the fish runs. The Northern Victor anchors near Dutch Harbor and produces individually quick frozen (IQF) and pollock block for customers worldwide. The ship is attended by a number of catcher vessels that bring in pollock and cod from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. May all fishermen and seafood companies have a blessed and safe fishing season in Alaska’s Bering Sea!
