Alaska divers’ geoduck, sea cucumber fisheries on rebound
Published onAlaskas dive fisheries appear to be recovering after covid-related transportation delays kept live geoducks from getting to key markets in China. Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) levels, another factor that has limited the supply of giant clams to the market, have been favorable in test samples this year. This past season went as normal, says Justin Breese, area management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, in Ketchikan. The geoduck season for 2021-2022 ran until Sept. 30. With every fishery the supply chain is sometimes the issue, but (product) has been moving. The 2022-2023 dive season for geoduck clams opens on Oct. 1 (depending upon PSP levels from test samples) and runs through next September, and sea cucumber seasons generally run from Oct. 1 through March 31 of the following year. The seasons also have a weekly schedule conducive to getting samples of geoducks to the ...
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Judge tosses Washington state shellfish permit
This week, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik threw out a federal permit for Washington state’s shellfish industry, saying that the permit does not do enough to protect the environment. According to a Seattle Times report, the judge ruled that the federal permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2017 violated the Clean Water and National Environmental Policy acts. The Corps permit authorizes most of the shellfish operations in the state. Lasnik wrote that although he could have completely terminated the permit, he chose to allow operations to continue so as to not disrupt Washington’s $150 million shellfish industry while the Army Corps “performs an adequate analysis to correct its unlawful actions.” Lasnik wrote that there was “insufficient evidence in the record” to back up the Army Corps’ argument that the shellfish permit would affect the environment minimally. Critics of the shellfish industry in the state ...
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