News Summary July 18, 2017 

Today's Main Story: Bristol Bay Run Exceeds 50M, Catch Over 33M, Season Not Over Yet 

Opening the news today is a look at the Bristol Bay sockeye run which sailed past 50 million sometime Sunday, July 16, with a cumulative catch of 33 million sockeye. This exceeds both the ADF&G preseason forecast of 27.5 million fish and the University of Washington's 30.5 million sockeye estimate. The 800,000-fish daily catch on Saturday was under a million fish for the first time since July 2. With escapement still strong, and another two million sockeye expected in the Naknek-Kvichal District, the 2017 season could be among the top three largest since 1995. Last year's harvest was 37.3 million sockeye out of a 54 million total run. In 2015, the sockeye harvest was 35.7 million out of a 58 million total run. 

In other news, the United States' Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump's "Hire American" rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers. The increase represents a 45 percent bump from the number of H-2B visas normally issued for the second half of the fiscal year, said senior Homeland Security officials in a call with reporters. The visas are for workers taking temporary jobs in the seafood, tourism, landscaping, construction and other seasonal industries — but not farm laborers. 

Meanwhile, the cold saltwater along Maine’s coast harbors a growing oyster industry that is riding the bivalves’ blossoming popularity and the state’s reputation for quality seafood. Experts predict that the industry, which had a record year in 2016, could triple in size within the next dozen years. “It is actually quite simple, the Maine oyster is viewed as the preeminent oyster in the marketplace because of water quality and low water temperature,” said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association. 

Finally today, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance announced their support of the lawsuit brought against the Department of Commerce's decision to re-open the federal recreational red snapper season. The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Ocean Conservancy. The suit was filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Commerce's decision to "increasing ...