Daily Archives: December 12, 2014

NCFA Weekly Update Dec. 12, 2014

NCFAWeekly Update for Dec. 12, 2014 as a PDF 23:06

Warming Waters Could Shift Salmon, Other Species on West Coast

Fights over salmon have raged for decades in the Pacific Northwest. Overfishing in the late 19th century, the proliferation of dams in Oregon and Washington in the 20th, and more recent ecological shifts have set tribes, conservationists and the fishing industry head to head over the diminishing resource. Read the rest here 20:40

Coast Guard conducts medevac of Injured Fisherman near Cold Bay, Alaska

KODIAK, Alaska — The Coast Guard medevaced a 23-year-old man with an injured hand from 120-foot crab fishing vessel approximately 75 miles north of Cold Bay, Thursday. Coast Guard 17th District command center watchstanders received the call for assistance from the operator of the F/V Trailblazer that a deckhand had crushed his hand in a crab pot launcher and needed immediate medical attention. Read the rest here 19:53

After a long battle, Drake’s Bay Oyster Co. packs it in

US BuffaloOn Dec. 31, after a long battle with the National Park Service, the California Coastal Commission, the Department of the Interior and wilderness advocates, owner Kevin Lunny and his family will vacate the starkly beautiful Drake’s Estero, a 2,500-acre estuary where some of the tastiest oysters on the West Coast have been farmed for more than half a century. Read the rest here

Jim Talbot left ‘huge legacy’ in Bellingham, but his biggest deal was with Soviets

A prominent Seattle resident who had a profound impact on the Bellingham community is also being remembered for his role in the regional commercial fishing industry. jim talbotIt was a prickly time for the West Coast fishing industry, as U.S. Sen. Warren Magnuson was proposing legislation to establish a 200-mile “exclusive economic zone” for U.S. waters that would become a part of the Magnuson Act in 1976. Read the rest here 17:03

Norway scraps controversial seal hunting subsidy

“It’s important to emphasise that parliament has not decided to ban the seal hunt, but we fear that the hunt will actually disappear along with the subsidies,” said Pollestad, head of the committee on trade and fisheries, who himself is opposed to abolishing public aid. Read the rest here 15:25

Why was this NOT used in the Surprise Gulf of Maine Cod Assessment?

Most models of fish population dynamics are based on fisheries-independent surveys, fixed over a particular area during a specific season, and rarely cover the entire range of habitat that fish use. Many fish are highly mobile ectotherms – an animal that cannot regulate its own body temperature, so its body temperature fluctuates according to its surroundings. They often shift their distributions in response to dynamic properties of the ocean such as changing water temperature. When surveys do not sample the entire range of habitat fish use, systematic shifts in species distribution into, or out of, survey areas can be misinterpreted as increases or decreases in population size. Read the rest here 14:25

New species of razor clam was right under our noses, says Philip Sargent

Scientists have identified a new species of razor clam, based on samples collected more then seven years ago from the ocean just off Long Pond, Conception Bay. “It was right under our noses,” said Philip Sargent, a technician with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s. Read the rest here 10:52

Letter to NOAA RA John Bullard, From Fisherman Sam Novello – Open Area 1 Early for Whiting

130307_GT_ABO_BULLARD_1TO  REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR  MR. JOHN  BULLARD, AT THE PRESENT TIME, THE  WHITING  STARTS (  JULY  15  AND   ENDS  NOV. 15  ) ,DUE TO GLOBAL  WARMING AND  CHANGES  IN OUR  OCEAN , WHITING HAVE BEEN  ARRIVING  EARLIER , AND  ARE GONE  SOONER . THIS  PAST  YEAR, THE  WHITING  LEFT AREA  BY  AUG. 30 , 2014. Read the rest here 09:39

When Green is Grey

From the article: ONE of the striking things about the “green” movement, from big-G political parties to environmental NGOs, is how little connect it has with anything actually green. “Greys” would be a better collective noun,,, But this is where the Greens got involved: righteous zealots descending on Brussels with money to burn, much of it from shadowy American foundations and, incredibly, the EU itself.  Read the rest here 09:20

NFFO – MARIA Damanaki’s impact as the EU Fisheries Commissioner is not as impressive as she believes

damanaki,lubchencoWith the Commissioner coming to the end of her tenure, two facts are important in judging the Commissioner’s legacy, the NFFO argues.,,”The other principal claim to posterity made by the Commissioner’s self-promotion machine is that she is ‘the woman who ended the scandal of discards in Europe.’ “The facts point to a different conclusion. Read the rest here 07:51