Ocean Resource Privatization
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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
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Recent Posts
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52-year-old Fisherman medevaced from F/V Katie Ann in Bering Sea – reportedly suffering from symptoms of intestinal bleeding
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced a fisherman reportedly suffering from symptoms of intestinal bleeding more than 110 miles Read More » -
Editorial: Fishery aid package should be among top Markey priorities
To some, the special election victory by Congressman Ed Markey Tuesday leaves Gloucester and Massachusetts fishermen without a definitive voice in the U.S. Senate. Just 3 Read More » -
NOAA Seeks $3 Million in Civil Fines against Carlos Rafael, Takes Aim at 20 Captains
NOAA hasn’t removed Carlos Rafael from its crosshairs. It’s requesting more than $3 million from the fishing tycoon and also took aim at 20 additional Rafael Read More » -
PFAS contamination: Fishermen still not consulted after being forced to cease work in Victorian wetland
A Victorian commercial fishing family says it has still yet to be consulted by the Department of Defence about PFAS contamination in a Gippsland wetland which Read More » -
Sockeye food, recreational fisheries banned for Skeena River First Nations
TERRACE, B.C. – Sockeye salmon returns have plunged to historic lows in the Skeena River system of northwestern British Columbia, forcing drastic, never-before imposed, fishing closures. Read More » -
New Gov’t plan to track small fishing boats
Proposals to introduce electronic tracking and monitoring technology for small fishing vessels will be consulted on as part of package of new fisheries measures. The consultation Read More » -
Brian Locke’s marking setting day milestone, 100th season-opening
When Brian Locke sets sail Tuesday morning from Howard’s Cove with Captain Jimmy Reilly, it will be his 100th time participating in the lobster fishing industry’s Read More » -
Markey, Warren seek answers from NOAA on stock assessment and interim cod measures
Massachusetts’ two U.S. senators didn’t waste much time in the New Year before demanding answers from NOAA on the unscheduled stock assessment last summer that led Read More » -
New generation longliners
BP Shipping is unveiling designs for new longliners that are to be presented at IceFish, with plans for the new vessels already at an advanced stage. Read More » -
NC Fishermen: An Endangered Species
For years, the North Carolina commercial fishermen have been bearing the brunt of attempts from outside interests to seize control of North Carolina residents’ food supply. Read More » -
FISH-NL to proceed with second application for certification; internal polling puts support at up to 66 per cent
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) will proceed with a second application for certification — including a province-wide membership drive to Read More » -
Tri Marine disappointed with outcome of tuna treaty talks
The Treaty governs access for US tuna boats to fish in the exclusive economic zones of Pacific island countries. Last year there was a drastic reduction Read More » -
Alaska crab fishery collapse seen as warning about Bering Sea transformation
Less than five years ago, prospects appeared bright for Bering Sea crab fishers. Stocks were abundant and healthy, federal biologists said, and prices were near all-time highs. Read More » -
Video – Samson ropes live up to their biblical name
Inside a nondescript industrial building on Thornton Street, workers are tending complex machinery that turns wispy skeins of synthetic fiber into ropes robust enough to tie Read More » -
Federal trial starts for five fishermen accused of multi-year scheme
The jury trial of five people charged with a multi-year scheme to sell unreported Atlantic herring and falsify fishing records began Thursday, March 7. The trial Read More » -
Oceana claims 2/3 of Tuna sold in Restaurants and Stores is really dangerous Escolar!
The findings were made by Radical Oceana, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for the protection and restoration of the world’s oceans. (no fishing) Oceana took 1,215 samples Read More » -
P.E.I’s spring lobster fishermen in favour of size increase
The president of the Western Gulf Fishermen’s Association says he’s confident Prince Edward Island’s spring lobster fisheries will have a one-millimeter increase in the minimum carapace Read More » -
LISTEN LIVE: Attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting October 7-10, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA
Click here to open the meeting agenda – Location: Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown, 21 N. Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, phone 215-496-3200. Webinar Registration http://www.mafmc.org/ 19:41 Read More » -
Hard-hit Bayou La Batre shrimpers say they need all the help they can get
Shrimpers say this is the best time of the year to harvest the crustaceans, but most of the shrimp boats in this seafood capital are tied Read More » -
Grieving widow of Scots fisherman killed in North Sea tragedy says family left in ‘awful’ situation
The Thai family of a Scots fisherman who was tragically killed in a North Sea boating accident have been left in an “awful” financial situation since his Read More » -
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 52’x16′ Millennium Tuna, Twin C15 Cat Diesels
To review specifications, information, and 15 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:53 Read More » -
Biloxi, Ms. Fisherman and tourists prepare for shrimp season
Many say that shrimp are one of the most beloved types of seafood. “We’re looking for some shrimp for the gumbo, and also for the grill, and Read More » -
El Niño pushes California calamari landings down
After several years of bounty, California’s commercial landings of market squid — the species better known to hungry diners as calamari — are down by about Read More » -
A Funeral of fisherman who died off Wexford coast takes place
Fisherman Willie Whelan, who was missing for almost three weeks after his trawler sank early this month, has been buried in Co Wexford. Funeral mass for Read More » -
Robert Morrissey cautions P.E.I. fishermen about future of lobster stock
The lengthy discussions on lobster carapace that kept the Prince County Fishermen’s Association’s annual meeting running for nearly five hours last week were largely missing from Read More »
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The truth always hurts, Bullard is nothing more or less than a political hack who went from one political job to another. He will retire with a fat pension on the backs of the Fishermen that are being forced out of work. All Federal and state fishery agencies are well beyond saving and should be shut down, period. These people are bullet proof and their track records as “political scientists” speak loud and clear on the low level of performance at all levels. When a person knows they can’t be fired they have no reason to maintain a high work ethic. In any private sector you either produce accordingly or you are terminated.
The existing research programs should be “privatized” and put out to bid with a performance bond posted so there is some recourse if the project is not carried out to the highest standard possible.
There is a total lack of accountability from the top down in these agencies and they must be held responsible or face termination.
Spot on EE. These bureaucrats are teflon and they know it. Zero accountability, do and say anything they like.
How about Mr. Bullards private verbal assault of the young lady who read my prepared statement to the council in NY last year, complete with F-bombs and all. I was not able to attend this sham meeting unfortunately and she read my statement as a favor to me, so Mr. Bullard took the time after she read it to find her privately and dress her down. Not for her comments but for the comments she read on my behalf.
This coward would never have said to me what he said to her that I’ll guarantee. If he had I would have knocked his teeth out. This is what bullies and cowards do, go after those who they know they can get away with it and in a setting where no one can hear it.
This is what I asked her to read on my behalf that he took so much offence to. All I can say to the coward Bullard is prove me wrong.
And if by any chance the coward reads this, please feel to get up with me, any time, any place. Again these are my words and not hers.
Question: Why did you have to go after her, and do you deny doing it? Answer: Because you are a bought and paid for coward.
And by the way, nothing has been done to this day to address the explosion of Black Sea Bass on our coasts that are destroying the Southern New England lobster fisheries. Why?
Dear council members,
I write this letter to the council to voice my concerns with the way it seems to cherry pick the rules and the letter of the law it is sworn to uphold.
As a commercial fisherman who tries to fish responsibly and minimize the effects of the rules and regulations forced upon me by government agencies that seem to have no idea whatsoever of the effect of the rules they hand down, I have had enough. In the past I tried to attend many council meetings in order to voice my concerns and offer the fisherman’s perspective that should be part of the process but as we all know seems to fall upon deaf ears. I stopped attending council meetings in New England and in the Mid Atlantic because frankly I felt the process had been hijacked by special interest groups who have infiltrated these government agencies at their highest levels in Washington DC. These NGO’s who have taken over the leadership positions within the agencies that govern fisheries management now have become partners with government in order to push their industry destroying agenda’s.
It started with EDF’s Jane Lubchenco and her ill advised catch share plan in New England and seems to have continued unabated. And I have to ask the question, Is this part of an overall plan to rule management from within to see to it that the plans forwarded are constructed from theirs and only theirs playbook?
Now on to the source of my issues. For years now there has been an explosion of black sea bass up and down the eastern seaboard. This council has been hearing it and has been told for years about this problem. From Maine to Florida the cries of both commercial and recreational fishermen have fallen upon deaf ears. I ask myself why? Why would so many people who have taken the time to voice their concerns be ignored? To me there can only be two answers.
1. I am right about the agencies being taken over from the ranks of the NGEO’s or
2. There is gross incompetence and a total lack of reasonable leadership that is either totally blind, or totally ignorant.
Does it seem possible that people from all sectors of fishing, commercial and recreational alike, from up and down the Atlantic coast have colluded and conspired to attempt to pull one over on the government? Your inaction on sea bass over the years would seem to suggest that.
Now I hear through the grapevine that there is a plan to possibly increase the take on sea bass next year. That those in charge of managing this resource have finally seen the light. If this is true than it is welcome news. However I will tell the council this. As you sit here today there are literally hundreds of thousands of sea bass being caught and discarded every week. This is a result of the inaction of government agencies once again not listening to those who have the eyes and ears on the water.
Another question: Why have we not instituted an emergency action to allow for the harvest of these fish rather than this continuation of regulatory waste? These actions have been used in the past to close fisheries when there was a perceived problem, yet when a problem arises that screams of waste and mismanagement nothing is ever done to mitigate these problems. I would suggest that such an action would possibly restore some faith in the system that has brutalized this industry. You all have an opportunity and a legal obligation to do what is right. Please consider fixing this problem so we can stop this sickening waste.
The good lord put those fish in the ocean for a reason and it was not to be caught and discarded only to be eaten by the birds and crabs.
I will end this with a reading of national standard 9 which seems to have been forgotten, not only in this fishery but in a whole multitude of fisheries which are managed by this council and other councils.
National Standard 9 – Bycatch
Conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (a) minimize bycatch and (b) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.