News Summary: August 27, 2008

Today's main stories: A Japanese company has figured out how to extract chondroitin, widely used in supplements for joint pain, from the heads of fall chum, according to a BANR report.

Alaska voters chose mining over salmon in a ballot initiative that fishery proponents hoped would protect Bristol Bay from possible environmental damage from the Pebble Mine project. Alaska Republicans gave Senator Stevens the primary vote he needed to head into the general election against popular Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Rep. Don Young's Alaska primary result was still too close to call this morning, as he led by a very narrow margin of less than 200 votes.

Negotiators in the Exxon Valdez case have agreed on a payout of the award approved by the Supreme Court, while wrangling continues over whether Exxon will have to pay accumulated interest.

Vietnamese banks have loaned processors $69 million to buy up unsold catfish as the country tries to make sure farmers don't abandon production. Vietnamese catfish processors and exporters are determined to maintain raw material supply for next year. Vietnam expects to export an average of $100 million worth of tra and basa a month, starting this month, and hopes to earn $1.2 billion from these exports this year.

Laine Welch (Fish Radio) reports that Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is going ahead, despite a legal challenge, with its project to see if fish will respond to a ''dinner bell'' tone and can be trained to return to the same area repeatedly to feed, making them easy to harvest.

U.S. fishermen and conservationists are alarmed by a Canadian proposal to drill for oil and gas on Canada's portion of Georges Bank, among the most productive fishing grounds in the world. Denny Morrow, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, joined in with, ''We are saying this is the one place they should leave alone.''

Ken Coons, Annapolis, Maryland
Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441
Email comments to kencoons@seafood.com

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