Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) has announced the pending acquisition of two major operators in the freezer longline cod sector of the Bering Sea fishery. The Alaska regional native corporation, with offices in Anchorage and Dillingham, plans to acquire Blue North Fisheries and Clipper Seafoods on September 30. This would put the company in a […]
The largest commercial harvest of seaweed in Alaska is taking place this month. Blue Evolution, a California-based company that cultivates, harvests and distributes Alaska-grown seaweed, is expected to haul in up to 200,000 pounds from waters near Kodiak Island within the next two weeks. Previous harvests have been a fraction of that size, but, as […]
Longline harvesters in Southeast Alaska are embarked on the development of a new user-friendly tool to detect sperm whales and avoid depredation on longline gear. The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) was awarded a one-year, $245,000 grant from the NOAA Bycatch Reduction and Engineering Program to adapt towed array hydrophone systems that can spot whales […]
So how does longlining work? I wasn’t sure myself before I got on the boat other than guessing that there was probably a line and it was probably pretty long. Turns out I was right. The line used is miles long and sectioned into groups of hooks called “skates.” In each skate there are 45 […]