N. Pacific Council Threatens New England Style Fisheries Management Collapse in Gulf of Alaska  John Sackton reports and comments on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's decision to table, without further action, all options for the Gulf of Alaska groundfish rationalization on the last day of their December meeting. In doing so, they violated a promise made to the Gulf of Alaska Trawl Fleet, and in Sackton's view, have emulated one of the fateful decisions that doomed fisheries management in New England. "The Alaskan members of the council have a responsibility to tackle the problems, not throw up their hands and say we give up. All the concern in the world about future fishermen and entry opportunities mean nothing if the structure and productivity of the industry erode. This was truly a cowardly and perplexing decision," writes Sackton. No fatalities or major damage were reported to Chile's salmon farming sector in the southern Los Lagos region after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake stuck the region on Christmas Day. There were no signs of structural damage at salmon farms or processing plants in the Valdivia region according to Jose Miguel Burgos, director of Chile's National Fish and Aquaculture Service. "Damage was limited, and neither fishing nor aquaculture activity will be affected by this event," Burgos said. Indian shrimp exporters have turned to cashless methods in order to pay shrimp farmers for their harvest as a work around for India's demonetization policy. Exporters in Odisha say farmers have been more willing to take payment using online transactions since India removed about 80 percent of its paper money from circulation in order to stamp out rampant currency fraud. India's shrimp exporters and farmers say cashless payments have actually helped them reduce theft. In other news, China’s online seafood sales platform Gfresh posted the single largest sales day in its history this month. The online retailer credited seafood certification and distribution partnerships along with other incentive programs for the record sales performance. “China cross-border e-commerce continues to expand at a rapid rate, exceeding China’s yearly GDP growth. Gfresh has grown by leveraging a network of dedicated refrigerated delivery trucks, inspection and customs staff, and global offices in Europe, North America and Oceania,” Gfresh said in a press release. Finally, Virginia's 2015-16 oyster harvest dipped slightly from the previous year. But the marginal decline in the haul was mostly expected since it reflects the low spat sets surveyed in 2013 and 2014, when there were simply fewer baby oysters in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to grow to market size.