Bering Sea tests show big change change
A just-completed trawl survey in the Bering Sea found major shifts in ocean species that are believed linked to climate change. Fish were found in places they were previously not; some species were diminished in biomass and others were missing completely in the test areas. Northern Bering Sea cod was down 11 percent in biomass while Pacific cod was up 30 percent in the northern Bering Sea. Arctic cod, a colder-water fish, was down in biomass. Water temperatures in the region were at record high this summer, at 68 degrees F. NOAA scientists are recommending that the survey be done every year given the pace of change. Normally they are done every other year.

BBNC in seafood after 40 years
Bristol Bay Native Corp. purchased two Seattle-based longline fishing companies, Blue North Fisheries and Clipper Seafoods. The companies operate in the Bering Sea cod fishery. The purchase closed Sept. 30. BBNC owned Peter Pan Seafoods, a major shore-based processing company in the 1970s but sold the company. This is the first foray into offshore fishing by an Alaska Native regional corporation. Alaska Community Development Quota nonprofits, including Coastal Villages and Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., own companies that mainly fish the offshore harvest quota rights assigned to the CDQ groups under federal law. BBNC is a private corporation and does not own a CDQ-type fishery resource allocation.