Green Piece                                         

F/V Lady Simpson

 

Going green is a term that you hear a lot lately, but in the harvesting sector of the fishing industry there's not a great deal of options to move in that direction, right? 

Wrong!  Ask Mr. Ken Simpson, owner of the F/V Lady Simpson, a 98 ft. aft-cabin crabber/longliner.  He's done two things that are not only moving to the green side of fishing vessel operation, but they will save you money and product. 

First, he's replaced the fluid in the hydraulics system with vegetable oil, leaving no worries about contaminated catch with hydraulic hoses breaking, but also no EPA or ADEC fines for any inadvertent oil spills with hydraulic fluid going into the water from the deck after the break.

Second, you may have heard the buzz about hydrogen generation and increased efficiency.  Ken has initiated his own test of a hydrogen generator by installing a unit on one of his two gen sets.  Although the boat is in dry dock for the winter, come spring halibut season, he'll be having the crew monitor fuel consumption on the two gen sets and comparing the one with the hydrogen generation unit installed against the one without.  If the increase in efficiency (or decrease in fuel burn) is as advertised, he'll be installing a larger unit on the main and the other gen set. 

Our "Green" cap is off to Ken Simpson for his quiet efforts to move the fishing fleet in the right direction.

AFDF Awards 4 Grants for Salmon Quality Enhancement, Education/Celebration
 

AFDF circulated a Request for Proposals (RFP) in September 2010 announcing almost $100 K in funding for salmon-related projects.  This funding originated as a NOAA earmark to the Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund administered by Alaska Department of Fish and Game under the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund. 

The RFP asked for project proposals that enhanced the utilization of salmon byproducts, furthered salmon education, raised public awareness regarding the benefits of Alaska's salmon resource, or gathered information on energy use in salmon fishing vessels. 

The foundation received 5 proposals and several other inquiries by the closing date.  The AFDF board of directors reviewed the proposals and agreed to award 4 recipients funding.  The 4 projects funded were:

1) Alaska Commercial Salmon Fishing Industry Education and Awareness Campaign submitted by Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association;

2) Kodiak Sustainable Salmon/Renewable Power campaign submitted by Kodiak Chamber of Commerce;

3) Planning for a Direct Marketing Facility for Juneau Harbors submitted by City & Borough of Juneau; and

4) Setnet Salmon Quality Enhancement & Chill Monitoring submitted by Aleutia, LLC.

AFDF decided to expand the 2011 Alaska Symphony of Seafood to our capital city, Juneau. 

 For the 18th Annual Symphony, we will have the judging event and reception in Seattle on February 3rd at the Palace Ballroom, the results will be kept in a hermetically sealed mayon jar in a Brink's armored car until the Gala Soiree in Anchorage @ the Hilton on February 11th. Tickets are on sale for the Anchorage event on CenterTix.  

We will then bring all the new products to Juneau on March 8th and have an Alaska Symphony of Seafood "Sampling The Entrees" evening at the Baranof Hotel. 

To learn more about Sympony of Seafood, visit www.symphonyofseafood.com. 

AFDF provided funding through AKSSF for sponsorship for the International Symposium on Energy Use in Fisheries in Seattle, November 14 - 17, 2010.  

 This international symposium provided a forum for commercial and recreational fishermen, processors, engineers, boat and engine developers, aquaculturists, fisheries managers, administrators, scientists, and others from around the world to meet, address both the direct and indirect effects of energy costs related to fisheries, and share solutions.

Symposium results included a set of alternative operational and management strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of commercial and recreational fishing fleets, demonstrated strategies of potential financial gains to symposium participants through reduced energy use, the potential role of the government in reducing the carbon footprint associated with fisheries and aquaculture, proposed sustainability certification criteria for seafood products related to energy efficiency, and a set of metrics to be used to measure the level of energy reduction or improved environmental efficacy of different fuel types used by fishing fleets.

A particular emphasis of the symposium was the transfer of energy-related information between the developed and developing world and across industry sectors.  AFDF looks forward to the publication of the proceedings from the symposium sometime in 2011. 

See http://www.energyfish.nmfs.noaa.gov/  for proceedings when available.

Ian Fisk, President

F/V Morgan Anne

Catcher-Processor Region I

Trident Seafoods Corporation

Brandon Basso