Daily Archives: May 5, 2016

Maine’s rebuilt scallop fishery is enjoying high demand from the culinary world

scallopMaine’s rebuilt scallop fishery is enjoying high demand from the culinary world for its prized meaty mollusks, and the 2016 season that ended last month is likely to go down as another strong year. All sea scallops have been growing in value over the past 15 years, and while Maine’s catch is a small fraction of the national total, they are a premium product for which restaurants and consumers pay top dollar. The Maine scallop fishery dwindled to just about 666,000 pounds in 2009 before rebuilding to more than 3 million pounds in each of the last three years. State fishing managers credit new regulations, including a rotational management system that protects localized areas from being too heavily fished. Read the rest here 16:30

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 2, 2016

ncfa 3 finishedClick here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 15:45

Rum-Running: Montauk’s Economic Engine, 1919–1932

Montauk is the fishing capital of the world, a small town with more world fishing records than any other town anywhere. It is also one of this country’s great surfing spots. A recent rating organization ranked it #8 for surfing on the East Coast. There was a time, however, when Montauk was the rum-running capital of America. In 1919, Congress passed the 18th Amendment, making it illegal to buy and sell alcoholic beverages in America. For the next 13 years, the people of this country, the vast majority of them anyway, ignored the law, drank as much illegal alcohol as they could find and partied every weekend late into the night. The era was called the “Roaring ’20s.” Read the story here 15:12

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backs fishermen in antitrust suit

judgementA federal court order blocking Pacific Seafood Group from purchasing Ocean Gold Seafoods will remain until a trial into whether the sale would create a monopoly. Commercial fishermen won a preliminary injunction against the sale last year in U.S. District Court in Medford. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s order Tuesday. The fishermen allege that Pacific Seafood’s acquisition of Ocean Gold, a large fish processor in Westport, Washington, would establish a monopoly in the groundfish, whiting and coldwater shrimp markets. “Fishermen in Warrenton and Astoria have a significant stake in this battle,” Haglund said. “If Pacific Seafood were successful in acquiring Ocean Gold, industry sources tell us that the Warrenton plant will never be rebuilt and would be little more than a landing station.” Read the story here 14:00

Proposal For At Sea Observers Could Further Hurt U.S. Purse Seiner Fleet

obs_logo_lgA new fishery rule that the federal government is moving to implement is expected to deal another financial blow to the US purse seiner fleet, which is already faced with stiff competition from foreign vessels such as the Chinese fleet, who are subsidized by their government, China. US National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) has proposed a rule which would require Observers to be on board US purse seiners fishing in the western and central Pacific ocean (WCPO). The proposal was issued last week under authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act. It is a three-pronged proposed rule, which includes a move to establish restrictions in 2016 and 2017 on the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) by U.S. purse seine vessels in the WCPO; and to establish limits in 2016 and 2017 on the amount of bigeye tuna that may be captured by U.S. longline vessels in the WCPO. Read the rest here 11:54

Mariner Rescued after 2 Months Adrift at Sea

coast-guard-rescue-manA 29-year-old man arrived in good condition to Honolulu Wednesday aboard a Coast Guard small boat after being rescued by merchant mariners in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean and surviving a two- month ordeal at sea. A Coast Guard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Station Honolulu safely transported the man from the motor vessel Nikkei Verde offshore of Honolulu to the Coast Guard Base Wednesday morning to meet awaiting EMS in stable condition. According to the survivor he and three companions set out from Columbia more than two months earlier. Once the skiff’s engine became disabled they were adrift. He said he caught and ate fish and seagulls to stay alive. The three other men reportedly perished at sea. Read the rest here 11:30

New Jonah crab rules for East Coast fishermen

jonahFishing regulators say there will be a new limit on how many Jonah crabs fishermen will be allowed to harvest. East Coast fishermen’s catch of Jonah crabs has been growing in recent years as the crustacean grows in popularity. They are used in processed products and as an alternative to the more expensive Dungeness and stone crabs. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission  has set a bycatch limit of 1,000 pounds of crabs per trip for trawl and net fishermen. Fishermen who unintentionally catch Jonah crabs using certain kinds of traps will face the same standard. Bycatch is incidental catch by fishermen who are seeking something else. The commission says the new standards will prevent increases in proliferation of traps. AP

Fin Clipping – R.I. Adopts Laws to Curb Illegal Sale of Striped Bass

Striped BassThe Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) recently enacted new regulations to help prevent the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic striped bass. The new rules, outlined in Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Regulations, Part XII Striped Bass, require recreational anglers to clip the right pectoral fin of striped bass 34 inches or larger at the time of harvest; fish with a missing right pectoral fin can’t be sold commercially in Rhode Island. DEM said the new regulations, adopted following considerable public input, will help prevent “stockpiling,” which occurs when fish are harvested on a day closed to commercial fishing and then offered for sale on an open day. The new regulations also address fish being illegally transported and sold in neighboring states, according to DEM. Read the rest here 09:00

Working Waterfront – Purchase of family-owned fish pier on Chatham town meeting docket

Shareen Davis will miss the briny smell of nets drying in the loft overhead, the totes of silver-sided fish glinting in the sun, the black arcs of squid ink tattooing the decking.To her husband, Ernie, the small pier on Stage Harbor with its two-story fish house has been a second home. His father Lester “Bony” Eldredge and a partner bought it back in the late 1940s, and it has been in the Eldredge family for nearly 60 years. A pier has been on the same spot since the 1700s, Eldredge said. It is the longest continuously operated commercial pier in town. Once it was known they were considering a sale, the Eldredges received offers from people in the private sector but preferred to sell it to the town, even at a lower price, because they felt Chatham would maintain it as the town’s only pier on Nantucket Sound for offloading commercial catch. Video, read the rest here 08:17