Daily Archives: March 19, 2015

This post is about seals and contains a video of dead fish, from the deck of Girl Pamela, Newyn

So here we go again. . . As a fisherman I’m sure I speak for all of us, we just do what we do to try to make a living. We are a breed of sea-going men and we love/respect all sea-life, we are not murderous horrible monsters.So before you ‘Tree hugging eco warriors’ go slating us for having a grievance over the seal population issue please let me put you all straight on something, I know your argument will be “awww, it’s the seals territory and they’ve got to eat. Ok, yes they have and we do share the ocean with them and honestly we are more than happy to let them take a fish, or two fish or half a dozen fish from our nets to feed themselves Watch the video here 22:16

Listening for Cod in the Gulf of Maine

“I’m a semi-retired fisherman,” said Frank Mirarchi, “but not willingly.” Mirarchi is a commercial fisherman out of Scituate, Massachusetts. He’s fished his whole life for, the species that famously supported generations of New England fishermen. Today, cod stocks are in bad shape, and regulators have significantly cut catch limits to give stocks a chance to recover. Scientists and fishermen don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to cod.  Read the rest here 21:29

Ice sinks early start for Lake Erie commercial fishery

iced1Easter is coming early. The ice stayed late. That’s a bad combination for Lake Erie commercial fishermen who wanted to be out catching fish for Lent earlier this month. Fishing boats are stuck in ice in the shallow Kingsville harbour but in Wheatley two fishing boats spent three hours Wednesday breaking up ice in the harbour to reach the lake. Read the rest here 19:30

North Carolina fisheries news updates

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries announced that as of Thursday, new tie-down and distance-from-shore restrictions will apply for gill nets in the western Pamlico Sound and rivers., In other fisheries news, the DMF announced that as of Wednesday, the striped bass season closed in the Central/Southern Management Area for the commercial striped bass fishery. Read the rest here 18:48

Investigating how trawling affects the prey and diet composition of two flatfish species in the northeastern Irish Sea

This article appears at mongabay.con, an environmental blog, written by Joanna Parkman. Read between the lines.- Investigating how trawling affects the prey and diet composition of two flatfish species, plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and dab (Limanda limanda), Andrew Frederick Johnson, found that bottom trawling leaves plaice with reduced biomass. In other words, the fishing technique could be responsible for skinnier plaice. Read the rest here 17:22

Transferring red-snapper control to states is adored and despised – the current mess created by federal mismanagement.

“There is now no question in our minds that our state directors do not represent the best interests of commercial fishermen. They fight us at every turn, trying to destabilize our business plans and promote half-baked ideas that hurt conservation and undermine sustainability. This scam will hurt hardworking commercial fishermen and the American public that wants to eat fresh, sustainably harvested red snapper.”  — Buddy Guindon, executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Read the rest here photo  16:33

A New Life for the Boat Immortalized by John Steinbeck

Sitting in dry-dock, covered in barnacles, is the Western Flyer, a piece of literary history that has been threatened by time, the sea, and a restauranteur. No more. “Some have said they have felt a boat shudder before she struck a rock, or cry when she beached and the surf poured into her. This is not mysticism, but identification; man, building this greatest and most personal of all tools, has in turn received a boat-shaped mind, and the boat, a man-shaped soul. His spirit and the tendrils of his feeling are so deep in a boat that the identification is complete.” John Steinbeck, The Log From the Sea of Cortez Read the rest here 15:44

From the PETA Playbook? – CEO works toward a ‘humane harvest’

Kenny Down grew up in Ballard, and went to sea while still a teenager. Working for years aboard Bering Sea longliners, he never thought much about the stress that fish might go through as they were unhooked and then — while still conscious — cut open and bled. Now, the 52-year-old Down thinks about it a lot as chief executive of Blue North Fisheries, a Seattle-based company that on Monday will be launching a “humane harvest initiative” at the industry’s annual Seafood Expo in Boston. Read the rest here 14:56

Cooke deal for Wanchese, Rafael scallop vessels, off table for now

Canada WancheseMultiple sources close to Wanchese said the deal is off the table, and Rafael confirmed to Undercurrent News a sale of his vessels is not going ahead. On Feb. 9, he said a sale would have to be agreed before March 1, as this is when the new scallop season starts every year.“The deal is off. I won’t sell unless I get my number. I do not need to sell,” he said, speaking to Undercurrent at the show. Although he has not named the possible buyer, Rafael has been open about contemplating selling to an “international company”, thought to be Canadian salmon farmer and processor Cooke. Read the rest here 14:08

Always Top Quality! Your Seafreeze Ltd. Preferred Price List for MARCH 19, 2015

Contact our sales team today @ 401 295 2585 or 800 732 273  Click hererelentless for the complete price list from Seafreeze Ltd. We are Direct to the Source-We are Fishermen-We are Seafreeze Ltd!  Visit our website! EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY for QUALIFIED FISHERMEN! 11:47

Scallop survey technologies get grilling by select NOAA panel

mkIn the scallop science world, what’s going on this week on the waterfront is a little like a battle of the bands: three competing methods of surveying scallops, pitted against each other in front of a panel of tough scientific judges. Dr. Kevin Stokesbury of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology said, “What is happening here is that they’re examining the different survey types.”. “Because NOAA wanted to have a review of all the survey techniques as the basis for what they are going to finance,” Stokesbury said. Read the rest here 11:21:

Court of Appeals rejects gillnet lawsuit – may go to Oregon Supreme Court.

A lawsuit challenging changes to the  lower Columbia River gillnet policy was rejected Wednesday morning by the Oregon Court of Appeals. Steve Fick, owner of Fishhawk Fisheries, and Salmon for All President Jim Wells sued the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife over the process of rule-making regarding a proposed gillnet policy. The policy, created by former Gov. John Kitzhaber in August 2012, orders that gillnetting be phased out on the Columbia River’s main stem. Read the rest here 10:54

Darien, Ga. – Fort King George looks back on Scottish heritage

Before modern-day Darien was considered a hub for commercial fishing and shrimping, it was the territory of Highland Scots from 1736-1750. Sailing from Inverness on the Prince of Wales, under the direction of Hugh Mackay and George Dunbar, a group of Highlanders made their way to Savannah before British General James Oglethorpe instructed them to make settlements at the mouth of the Altamaha River to ward off Spanish invaders. Read the rest here 10:25

Alaska fishermen consider leaving Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association

In 2005, the fleet of Prince William Sound fishermen who hang curtain-like nets from their boats to catch salmon voted to assess itself a 1 percent tax to fund Alaska’s first regional seafood development association. The fishermen who let out nets from shore joined in 2009. The Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association has since helped boost earnings for the two groups – the drifters and setnetters – by creating brand-name recognition for their fish. It also helped raise the price of the region’s sockeye to the highest in the state. Read the rest here 09:33

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Address Hawai’i, American Samoa, Protected Species Issues

HONOLULU (18 March 2015) The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management CouncilWPFMC sidebar concluded the second day of its three-day meeting in Honolulu yesterday with recommendations for federally managed fisheries in Hawai’i and American Samoa as well as protected species. Federally managed fisheries operate seaward of state waters, which generally encompasses waters 0 to 3 miles from shore. Read the rest here 08:03