Daily Archives: September 1, 2013

Reg Hazelton has seen a lot of changes over the 70 years he’s been hanging around the Digby wharf. Story of an old wharf rat

The chair of the Digby Harbour Port Association first came down to the wharf as a youngster in the early 1940s. “If our parents knew the stuff we were up to,” he says without finishing the sentence. “We’d be crawling around under the wharf throwing rocks at rats.” That’s one change – there are no more rats to speak of around the wharf. more@digbycountycourior 23:11

Amerian Samoa: STP/Tri Marine makes steady progress

Samoa Tuna Processors went to great lengths to save corals and sea grass  near its plant at Atu’u before it begins construction of a small vessel dock. The US Army Corps of Engineers issued the permit for the dock in May. The statement also announced that owners of STP. Tri Marine International, has launched a  new brand of canned tuna in the US market.  This is Ocean Naturals brand, canned Skipjack tuna in water which is in nation-wide distribution at all Walmart stores. [email protected]  13:14

Take a tour of new Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife headquarters

You can get your first look  behind the scenes Friday at the new Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife headquarters in Salem. Staff-guided tours are scheduled at 2 p.m. in conjunction with the September meeting of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, the first to be held in the new building. more@statesmanjournal  12:29

Most comprehensive, user friendly report on Alaska’s seafood industry released – Laine Welch

What is likely the most comprehensive, user friendly report ever done on Alaska’s seafood industry by region was just released by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.  Titled “Economic Value of the Alaska Seafood Industry,” the report was compiled by the Juneau-based McDowell Group, and it includes all of the direct and indirect economic effects of the industry for Alaska, Washington and the nation. more@sitnews 12:16

DFO Relaxes Fishing Restrictions Kamloops-area fishery – Video

863a4ac9dc_64635696_o2The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has begun to relax certain fishing restrictions after an unprecedented shut down earlier this month. The summer run sockeye, that officials feared were threatened by unusually high water temperatures, are starting to show up. more@cfjc  12:10

Living the blues: Southwest Florida’s blue crab industry on track for great year – Video

Florida’s commercial blue crab fishery is a multimillion-dollar industry. Over the past 10 years, commercial fishermen landed an average 9.28 million pounds of blue crab statewide with an average dockside value of $9.65 million. After a series of below-average landings, Lee County commercial fishermen are landing a lot of crab in 2013.  more@newspress  11:56

Something different today: Why commodity markets are in for a rude awakening

Hedge funds and large commodity traders have reportedly been stockpiling copper in China since 2004-2005. The purpose, according to a Dow Jones exposé published in mid-2008, was to create the appearance of a shortage of said metal by hiding it outside of London Metal Exchange warehouses (markets use LME inventory data to get a sense of supply and demand trends). This stockpiling helped keep prices high, to the benefit of those allegedly involved in the scheme. The International Copper Study Group, which produces widely-quoted data on the metal’s supply and demand picture, detected that something was amiss. Those concerns emerged in a seemingly accidental email to the group’s public distribution list recipients, including this author. One of the attachments in the email described the purpose of an upcoming meeting: more@macleans  11:34

Does the future of the fisheries rest on dry land?

Fancy some Manitoba cod? How about Saskatchewan salmon? The idea of Prairie seafood may seem outlandish, but with soaring demand running headlong into environmental concerns over fish farms, some believe the future of the fisheries industry rests on dry land. more@macleans  11:17

Fukushima’s comeback: Radiation from unending mess could threaten Alaska’s fisheries

FAIRBANKS — The Obama administration’s failure to alert Americans to the danger of Fukushima radiation is motivated by corporate politics and the interests of the nuclear power industry.,,The U.S. government organized a multi-agency stealth response in the wake of the reactor meltdowns. Friends of the Earth and others filed FOIA requests to learn how the crisis was being managed in days after March 11.,,Supervisors demanded confidentiality while maintaining a press blackout, assuring that most Americans had no chance to prepare or mitigate. more@newsminer 11:07

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update September 1, 2013

rifa“The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the Update 10:51

Breeding area for endangered species found in Gulf of Maine

A Halifax university professor is among a consortium of scientists in Canada and the United States who have located the mating ground for the endangered North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of Maine. Now that we’ve found it, the next step will be to look at vessel traffic through that area and look at the amount of fishing that’s going on in that area to see what we need to do to best protect that area which would, in turn, kind of increase the chances of survival of the species,” Frasier said. In recent years, there’s been a high rate of mortality among the whales from getting hit by ships or entangled in fishing gear. “And, actually, 85 per cent of the whole species have scars from entanglement,” Frasier said. more@chronicleherald  08:29