Daily Archives: April 24, 2013

High hopes for lobster season in Pictou County !

The sou’Wester – As lobster fishermen in Pictou County, N.S. have been gearing up for the start of the lobster season, they are holding out high hopes. Ronnie Heighton, president of the Northumberland Fisherman’s Association, said he’s hoping the price of lobster will be as high as last year. continued

Maine lawmakers unanimously reject lobster bycatch bill

AUGUSTA – Lawmakers on the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on  Marine Resources effectively killed a bill Wednesday that would allow  fishermen to keep and sell lobsters caught in trawling nets. The  panel voted unanimously — with two members absent — to defeat the  bill, a move that likely means it will fail when it comes up for full  votes in the House and Senate. continued

Begich on Observer Program

7 charged with smuggling endangered fish bladders to China; hundreds seized at US border

SAN DIEGO –  Federal prosecutors in San  Diego say seven people have been charged in a scheme to sell the bladders of an  endangered Mexican fish considered a delicacy for use in Chinese soup. continued

 

 

 

 

Arctic Commercial Fishing Deal Would Set a Precedent

World Politics Review – Later this month, representatives from Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States will meet in Washington to discuss a possible accord that would regulate commercial fishing near the North Pole. continued

Chinook salmon research gets legislative funding

Capital City Weekly – Chinook salmon research money made it through the Alaska legislature this session but most other fish bills flopped. “The department asked and the legislature funded,” said Kevin Brooks, Deputy Commissioner of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. “There is a little bit of repackaging, if you will, but there is a lot of money in this budget to do some good work on Chinook, and all species of salmon statewide.” This and more, continued

NOAA Responds to Massachusetts legislators on cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder: the answer is still no

Many legal observers, Members of Congress and elected officials disagree with that interpretation. Saving Seafood requested the legal opinion of the General Counsel under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department found 2logo9 pages of written material constituting the advice, but refused to release any of them under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which exempts from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Saving Seafood continues to ask the agency to explain their legal rationale in the face of such widespread disagreement from numerous legislators and lawyers with qualifications to comment. continued

Ottawa distances itself from N.S. senator on fishery – Conservative Senator Stephen Greene wrote of “immoral” fleet separation policy

CBCNews – Federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield has reaffirmed so-called fleet separation, distancing the federal government from a letter written by a Nova Scotia Conservative Senator that questioned the Atlantic fisheries policy. Early in 2012, the Conservatives issued a white paper on the future of Canada’s commercial fishery that omitted fleet separation, which ensures companies that catch seafood cannot also process it. The future of another policy called owner-operator, which requires fishermen to own the boats that catch fish, was also up in the air. continued

The Fisheries Broadcast with John Furlong

Just Say No – The union says it wants a pilot project to see if the issue of outside buyers would work for some fishermen. They won’t get support form the Opposition Liberals. They’re already telling the Fisheries Minister to just say “NO”. audio

East Coast seal hunt continues amid legal wrangling over European ban

HALIFAX – A ruling Thursday from a European court is expected to reignite an international debate over Canada’s annual East Coast seal hunt, which started with little notice earlier this month off the north coast of Newfoundland. continued

Current Cod Crisis 500 Years in the Making

In his latest book, The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail , Professor Jeffrey Bolster chronicles more than a millenium of overfishing. continued

NW chefs (that feed wealthy people) join boycott of Canadian seafood in protest of seal hunt – What about hungry people in third world country’s?

KING 5 News – Chef Holly Smith of Café Juanita in Kirkland is one of dozens of local chefs that have joined “Chefs for Seals,” part of the Humane Society of the United States’ Protect Seals Campaign. Thousands of restaurants and grocery stores across the U.S. are boycotting some or all Canadian seafood, promising not to purchase seafood from Canada until the annual seal hunt is stopped. continued

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Lured by the sea – Walt Fossek, 84 years old owner the 100-year-old commercial fishing boat Otter

Wood and fish. Both essential to the economy of early Florence, they captured the heart of Walt Fossek from a young age. Now 84 years old, the pull of both has never let him go. continued

Why roll the dice on Alaska’s Kenai River kings by cutting escapement goals?

 The basic principle of fisheries management is simple. Fish come first. Use science to ensure adequate escapement and then allow harvest by users. When uncertain about the science, act conservatively to prevent overfishing. If precautionary measures must be taken, share the burden of conservation fairly among all users. continued

New Brunswick lobster fishermen brace for more low prices

CBCNEWS – With just a week to go before lobster traps are set for the spring season in northern New Brunswick, fishermen are bracing for another year of low prices. Gilles Thériault, a fisheries consultant, said record breaking lobster catches in Maine once again are expected to drive prices down. “With the Americans, we need to sit down as an industry, we need to spend more than half a day, probably weeks, weeks in order to resolve our problems,” he said. continued

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick ignores state attorney general and more than 60 lawmakers recomendations and settles for second string

Patrick urges new look at fish limits – Gov. Deval Patrick has aimed lower than the state attorney general and more than 60 lawmakers had requested in seeking an 11th-hour reprieve for the groundfishery. Instead of appealing to President Obama as Attorney General Martha Coakley and lawmakers had hoped, the governor asked the acting commerce secretary, Rebecca Blank, to “encourage” NOAA to reverse a legal position, explained in an undisclosed memorandum, and allow a second consecutive year of lesser catch reductions in Gulf of Maine cod than the 77 percent the agency is targeting now. continued

Letter to the Editor: Fishermen deserve the chance to earn a living – Rick Beal, Gloucester Ma.

I’m writing because I’m tired of the misinformation I hear and read in coffee shops, on websites and in newspapers. Even our local newspaper had an online ad from the PEW Foundation saying we destroy the ocean floor. Most but not all that is false. The vast majority of the ocean bottom we fish is sand and mud and while it is true that our nets disturb this bottom, it is also true that currents erase our footprint. continued

WOW BABY! Now THIS is Somethin’! factory-fishing trawler “American Dynasty” T-Bones docked Canadian navy frigate HMCS Winnipeg – video

The STAR – VICTORIA, B.C.—A huge American factory-fishing trawler smashed into a docked navy frigate, sending a wall of waves over the bows of both vessels in a spectacular morning crash, witnesses say. (its on video) The American Seafoods Company “American Dynasty” vessel sits seemingly embedded in the docked HMCS Winnipeg, which has just undergone a massive refit and systems upgrade. The trawler came in hard, Edwards added, and the subsequent dull boom of the two enormous ships colliding rang out over the harbour. HOLY MACKEREL! continued

Fishing Vessel Nite Owl was from Golden Meadow

HoumaToday – As he mourns the loss of a close friend claimed by the Gulf of Mexico, Golden Meadow fisherman Larry Moore said he won’t return to the commercial fishing business. Moore owned the Nite Owl, a fishing boat that sank Friday in the Gulf. Four of its five crew members are presumed dead. “To all the families of the guys that are gone, if I could trade places with any one of them, I would,” Moore said. continued

Locals say blue crab catches plummeting – “The BP oil spill was in 2010. You do the math.”

blue crabLocal blue crab catches are reported more scarce than ever this year, and nobody is sure why. “There are absolutely no crabs,” said Keith Watts, Crab Task Force representative for the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “We’re not catching anything. It’s ridiculous.” Watts has made up his mind the BP oil spill of 2010, which leaked roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is responsible for the declining blue crab population. “It’s just too much of coincidence for it not to be,” he said. “Crabs live for two to three years. The oil spill was in 2010. You do the math.” continued