Daily Archives: February 20, 2014
Climate Change Forces Reevaluation of Fishery Management. (Isn’t that right, John?)
Scientists now think that altered zooplankton populations may be one reason cod stocks haven’t rebounded as quickly as expected. In addition, water temperatures in southern New England are getting uncomfortably warm for cod. So they’re moving northward and offshore in search of cooler water.. And they’re not alone. Over the past fifty years, more than half of all commercially exploited species have responded to warming waters by changing where they live. That includes the fish that used to fill Eldredge’s weir. Read [email protected] 21:57
Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority hears proposal for fishery quota loans
The program as discussed today would specifically allow low-interest loans for quota purchases by community-based nonprofits, municipalities, and community quota entities. Community development quota, or CDQ, groups would not be eligible for the loans. Those groups would then need to form joint-ventures with others in the industry, like fishing companies or CDQ groups, to fish the quota. Read more#Alaskajournal 21:32
City of Gloucester lands fish processing plant, 225 jobs
An Illinois-based seafood processor and wholesaler is moving into Gloucester to operate a processing plant in the Blackburn Industrial Park — a move that is expected to bring 125 full-time positions, 100-plus seasonal positions and as much as $7.5 million in new capital investments to the site of the former Good Harbor Fillet plant. Read more@GDT 21:26
Cape May announces its first Seafood Festival
CAPE MAY — There will be flounder, clam chowder and scallops, but seafood lovers will also be able to taste spiny dogfish, skate wings, whelk and scup. One of the goals of the first Cape May Seafood Festival, set for June 28 on the beachfront, is to feature the unusual species that have helped make the Port of Cape May the second largest fishing port on the East Coast. Read more@PresofAC 21:15
Maine DMR closes two more areas to scallop fishermen
An emergency rulemaking by the Department of Marine Resource will close the Machias Bay Limited Access Area and the Sheepscot River, effective Saturday. The action is the latest in a series of conservation measures taken by the agency in recent weeks to curtail the scallop harvest during a season when fishermen are enjoying record high prices. Read more@BDN 20:38
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea visits Ladner for roundtable talk with fisheries groups and First Nations
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea visited the West Coast this week to sit down with fisheries groups and First Nations and listen to their concerns about the industry. The minister is following up on the 2012 Cohen Commission Report which made 75 recommendations, most of which apply to her portfolio. Read more@southdeltaleader 20:19
Legal harvest of marine turtles tops 42,000 each year
A new study has found that 42 countries or territories around the world permit the harvest of marine turtles – and estimates that more than 42,000 turtles are caught each year by these fisheries. Read [email protected]
New fish fight for New England
The New England Fishery Management Council is looking at a plan to take 55 square miles of Stellwagen Bank, a section due east of Scituate and due north of Provincetown, where commercial fishing is already banned and put it off limits to recreational fishermen and charter boats. Read more@necn, Video Report 13:09
Blue crab bait could improve crab, shrimp industries, LSU researchers say
BATON ROUGE — A new gelatin-like bait using shrimp waste could improve the way blue crabs are caught along the coast of Louisiana and add value to the state’s shrimp processing industry, an LSU researcher says. Read more@dailycomet 11:46
Boat of the Week from the Athearn Marine Agency: 60′ Live-Aboard/Shrimper – Twin Detroit 671’s
Specifications and information here 11:14
Panel endorses changes to tribal elver bill, deal ‘pretty much gone,’ says tribe
AUGUSTA, Maine — Changes that a legislative panel made Wednesday to a tentative agreement, state fisheries officials had made with the Passamaquoddy Tribe over elver fishing mean that the agreement is “pretty much gone,” according to a tribal official. Read more@BDN 09:15
Lobsterman to find new place for traps after lobstering banned downstream from former chemical plant
“It’s a very unfortunate thing,” he said Wednesday. “I hope that the state’s making the decision on good facts. I certainly do understand that decision. We have to protect the status of the Maine lobster at all costs. We’ve got to make sure we don’t do anything to jeopardize that. It’s unfortunate [the closure] is in the area where I’m fishing.” Darren Shute of Stockton Springs. Read more@BDN 08:49
B.C. judge certifies class-action lawsuit launched by halibut fishermen
Her written ruling states that under the program, the Fisheries Department allegedly held back 10 per cent of the total allowable catch and assigned it to the Pacific Halibut Management Society. The society then resold shares to fishermen at higher costs and used the money to fund fisheries management activities. Read [email protected] 08:01
Gang Green Extorting NMFS – Speed up sea turtle analysis – Or Pay Our Litigators.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Sea Turtle Conservancy and Oceana contend that shrimp nets in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Atlantic drown more than 53,000 threatened and endangered sea turtles a year. A letter sent Wednesday began a 60-day settlement period required before suing under the Endangered Species Act. Read [email protected] 07:13:54
Stellwagen alarm premature, says NOAA
NEW BEDFORD — Recreational and charter boat owners are up in arms over a NOAA proposal to establish a research “reference area” that includes a slice of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Read more@southcoast 05:01
GDT Editorial: State investment in city’s waterfront
OK, it will only add two berths for boats roughly 50 feet in length. And yes, a project cost of $100,000 is a zero or two short on the kind of overall harbor investment Gloucester truly needs. But no one should underestimate — or underappreciate — the message behind a MassDevelopment Corp. plan to build a new, 100-foot extension onto the Jodrey State Fish Pier. Read more@GDT 00:10
