Other New England Groundfish Sectors Demand Equitable Distribution of Rafael Permits The Sustainable Harvest Sector, one of the fishery cooperatives authorized by the New England Fishery Management Council, has called again for NMFS to redistribute Carlos Rafael's fishing permits to the entire industry, by returning the catch history to the entire region. They also rightly state that any geographic preference, such as permanently awarding a portion of quota to New Bedford, requires an extensive public consultation and rulemaking, as such geographic allocations are outlawed under Magnuson except in very special and specific cases. We run the full statement from the Board of this Sector, making the case as to why NMFS should act in this manner. The first big fishery for Alaskan sockeye and king salmon is set for May 18 at Copper River. Fishery managers expect a Copper River salmon catch this season of just 889,000 sockeyes, 4,000 kings and 207,000 coho salmon. Alaska's total commercial salmon catch for 2017 is projected to be 204 million fish, nearly 1 million more than last year. In other news, Terry Cosgrove, a well known figure in Seattle's crab industry, will be sentenced in federal court this week after pleading guilty to mail and wire fraud. Cosgrove embezzled funds from his fishing partners and stole money from the trust of his friends. The government is seeking a seven-year prison term and nearly $3 million in restitution. Cosgrove is very ill and is asking U.S. District Judge John Coughenour to forgo prison and impose probation and community service. Meanwhile, seasonally thin domestic shrimp inventories should get a boost over the next couple of weeks now that a portion of Louisiana’s commercial shrimp fishing season started today. Another opening is scheduled for next week on May 15. The 2016 Gulf shrimp was season was considered a bust. This created a shortage of raw materials, which started a bidding war among processors for product. This raised the cost of the shrimp at the docks and increased wholesale prices to current levels. Traders tell Urner Barry domestic shrimp inventories are in position to accept new season production. Finally, the Pacific Halibut Management Association of BC (PHMA) blasted a report from Oceana. The PHMA said Oceana "relied on a data set that is a decade old and incomplete. As a result, the data could not be fully analyzed and is misinterpreted." Lyle Pierce, master and owner of the commercial halibut vessel Bold Pursuit and PHMA President said "We think Oceana Canada can bring a lot to the fisheries discussion and debate in Canada, however, we wish they would have taken a more collaborative approach and reached out to us to ensure they fully understood our fishery, how it is managed and monitored and how to interpret the data."