Huge Win for Commercial Seafood as Alaska Supreme Court Rejects Sport Fish Ballot Initiative  On New Year's Eve, Alaska’s Supreme Court upheld the principle that fisheries allocations in Alaska cannot be subject to ballot initiative. The Court's decision validates a core section of the Alaska Constitution, and reversed a lower court ruling that would have allowed a statewide referendum to put a ban on set nets in the Cook Inlet salmon fishery. The referendum was sought by recreational harvesters and guides. Alaska’s commercial salmon sector and entire seafood industry considered the court decision a major victory. “The Court has ruled against the proposed set net ban initiative as being in violation of core objectives in the State Constitutional, including the prohibition against appropriative initiatives because they would transfer salmon to a majority user group at the expense of a minority user group,” said Arni Thompson of the Alaska Salmon Alliance. A depressed tuna market and high stakes changes to a 28-year old treaty between the U.S. and 17 nations in the South Pacific served as catalysts to a Christmas Eve order from NMFS Hawaii to the U.S. tuna fleet to cease fishing operations in the South Pacific write Peggy Parker.  In other news Seatrade International, a sister company to East Coast Seafoods--under the ownership of American Holdco Group (AHG)--announced the purchase of the former Mar-Lees Scallop processing plant in New Bedford, Ma. Seatrade plans to relocate its fresh scallop processing operations from its current New Bedford location to the newly acquired waterfront facility. “This new processing facility (which we intend to be re-certified as BRC) will propel growth throughout the company’s network of operations and allow for an increase in the processing and sales of other seafood products,” said Michael Tourkistas, AHG’s President and CEO. Meanwhile, recreational Dungeness fishing was given the go ahead in parts of Southern California after tests showed the crabs were safe to eat. However, the state’s commercial sector remains closed indefinitely. Finally, Pacific Andes will sell its stake in China Fishery Group (CFG) along with its Peruvian fishing assets in order to end the liquidation process for CFG. The transaction is valued at $1.7 billion. Pacific Andes and China Fishery’s largest asset in Peru is Copeinca, the country’s largest fishmeal producer.