Daily Archives: January 6, 2017
Breaking: Crabbers end strike – heading out to drop their pots
Commercial crab fisherman bargained for a little bit of an increase in the landing prices for their crab. The crab processors agreed to raise their last offer of $2.75/lb up to $2.875/lb and so the crab boats are headed out to sea. Read the story here 19:05
Opinion: State, council fail to help Kodiak trawl fisheries
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has a record for successful fishery management, built on principles known as the Alaska Model. Recently, the council abandoned the Alaska Model and its solid reputation for progressive fishery management. In doing so, the council failed the Gulf of Alaska trawl groundfish fisheries and our community of Kodiak. Led by the state of Alaska, the council voted at its December meeting in Anchorage to “postpone indefinitely” any further work to address the goal of bycatch reduction through a cooperative management program for Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries. Instead, the Council ended a four-year public process to develop a program to achieve this goal. By their action, the state and the council put politics first, and the health of our fisheries and coastal communities came in dead last. Read the op-ed here 17:46
Warming trend continues in waters off Atlantic Canada
Warmer ocean temperatures off Atlantic Canada continued in 2016, maintaining a trend that started earlier this decade, according to survey results from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. On the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, temperatures last year were as high as three degrees above the 30-year average used to establish climatic norms. “It’s not quite the same [record] level of 2012, but it’s getting close to it,” said Dave Hebert, a research scientist with DFO. He added that 2016 was probably the second warmest year on record. Scientists have struggled to explain what is causing the most intriguing aspect of the recent trend: the warming of ocean bottom water, which is not influenced by surface weather events. Hebert said the latest theory is based on model results that see the Gulf Stream moving northward and intersecting with the tail of the Grand Banks. “That is stopping the cold Labrador Sea water from coming around the tail of the Grand Banks,” he said. “That’s where we normally get the cold water that refreshes the [Scotian] Shelf. That hasn’t been happening. Read the story here 16:48
“Fostering a New Generation of RI Fishermen” Fisheries workshop to be held Monday in Wakefield
Not enough young people are entering into Rhode Island’s fisheries. The problem is affecting the state’s commercial fishing industry in a number of ways – from an untrained workforce to an unsure future. An in-depth interview with almost 50 RI fisheries last year identified the low level of participation by young fishermen as one of the most “overriding aspects” of vulnerability in the current industry. On Monday, Jan. 9 starting at 4 p.m., a workshop on the absence of young people in the fishing trade will be held at The Contemporary Theater, 327 Main St., Wakefield. The workshop, entitled “Fostering a New Generation of RI Fishermen” aims to address the problem by collaborating with local young fishermen and examining what other states have done to overcome similar circumstances. Read the story here, and find more info here! 15:35
Man gets harpooned on fishing trip
A fisherman is lucky to be alive after he was shot in the head with a harpoon during a fishing trip in Brazil. The 27-year-old man — identified in local television reports as Hugo Pereira da Silva — was on a fishing trip with a friend at the Rio Paranaiba dam in Araguari when the 3-foot spear pierced his face on Tuesday, according to officials. “Unfortunately, they were not careful with the positioning, the distance,” Araguari fire department Deputy Lt. Lucenildo Batista Alves told the site. “And the waters of the river in our region are murky, especially in the very dirty rainy season.” The metal shaft — which was just inches away from causing more serious injuries or even death — was removed and the man was released from a hospital Wednesday. Read the story here 14:42
NOAA plans to open federal waters in Pacific to industrial-scale fish farming – Even Sylvia Earle thinks its wreckless
As traditional commercial fishing is threatening fish populations worldwide, U.S. officials are working on a plan to expand fish farming into federal waters around the Pacific Ocean. The government sees the move toward aquaculture as a promising solution to overfishing and feeding a hungry planet. But some environmentalists say the industrial-scale farms could do more harm than good to overall fish stocks and ocean health. NOAA has been trying to establish an aquaculture industry in federal waters for many years. But attempts to get legislation to implement open-sea aquaculture have failed. “And so (NOAA) moved into the fishery management process … as a means to move forward with ocean aquaculture under the radar of the public,” said Marianne Cufone, executive director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition. NOAA received input from thousands of people during a public comment period last year on its plans. Cufone’s New Orleans-based organization has been developing land-based aquaculture systems that are fully contained. Cufone says these types of farms are more sustainable than ocean aquaculture, and Earle agrees. Read the rest here 12:42
Fire extinguished on Renaissance Offshore LLC oil production platform in the Gulf, no sign of pollution
A fire broke out on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico early Thursday (Jan. 5), forcing four workers to evacuate by lifeboat before the blaze was extinguished. There were no injuries and inspectors found no sign of pollution, authorities said. The blaze was reported about 2:30 a.m. on a platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and was extinguished nearly four hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The four workers were rescued by the crew of the 130-foot Mary Wyatt Milano, a supply vessel, the Coast Guard said. They were flown to a hospital in Houma to be evaluated, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in a statement. Read the story here 11:05
Craziest lobster contest winners announced in Yarmouth!
The Craziest Lobster Contest was run through the Murray GM Facebook Page during December. Lobster fishermen were asked to submit photos of their most unusual catches for a chance to win a $500 gift card. The winner was determined on Jan. 3 by the most likes. Marketing manager Billy Mole says he didn’t expect such a huge response. “The lobster submissions even got a bit overwhelming for me at times with them coming in all hours of the day and night,” he said. There were blue lobsters, spotted lobsters, bi-colour and more. That’s not even counting the bizarre specimens with extra appendages. The contest even pulled in submissions from Hawaii, Ecuador and a fish market in Tanzania. The winner was a rainbow-coloured lobster, which had close to 1,600 votes. Read the story here See more contestants here 10:41
Indefinite ban on prawn imports after outbreak of white spot disease in Queensland
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has this morning bowed to pressure from prawn farmers and indefinitely banned importation of the frozen crustacean, following an outbreak of the devastating white spot disease in Queensland. Farmers have been lobbying for the suspension of Asian prawn imports following the discovery of the disease in five separate locations of the Logan River, south of Brisbane, last month. Mr Joyce said he was concerned the prawns infected prawns could make it into the waterways, further spreading the disease in Australian prawn farms. The biosecurity minister urged people who have bought raw green prawns not to put them in water ways, like using them as bait for fishing, with fears it could contaminate local prawns. Mr Joyce said a white spot disease outbreak could devastate Australia’s $360 million prawn industry. Read the story here 09:44
Congress Members Ask Commerce Secretary to Stop Summer Flounder Quota Cuts
Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) and a bipartisan group from the New Jersey Congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker asking her to prevent rulemaking that would reduce the summer flounder quotas for recreational and commercial fishing from going into effect. The letter asks the Secretary to direct NOAA Fisheries to reexamine its methodologies and conduct a new benchmark summer flounder assessment before making any decision to reduce summer flounder quotas. Under the rule, the summer flounder Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) would be reduced 29% in 2017 and 16% in 2018. The recreational and commercial limits would both be reduced by approximately 30% in 2017 and 16% in 2018. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker and Congressmen Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02) and Tom MacArthur (NJ-03), joined Pallone in the letter. Read the rest here 09:12
Virginia Delegate moves to roll back penalties for commercial fishing violations
Virginia’s 18-month-old effort to crack down on oyster theft and other fisheries violations with stiffer penalties for offenders would be rolled back with a bill sponsored by Del. Gordon Helsel, R-Poquoson. Another measure would end a six-decade-old prohibition on taking oyster dredges through the sanctuaries the state set up to give undersized oysters a chance to grow. Helsel is proposing to cut the maximum penalty for violating state rules for harvesting shellfish and fin-fish to a two-year license suspension from the five-year limit the General Assembly unanimously approved in 2015. Helsel voted for the measure, which had strong backing from commercial fishermen. His bill, H.B. 1573, would also allow offenders to continue to catch other fish or shellfish than the type they took illegally — so, a waterman who violated rules about taking oysters from polluted waters or from a sanctuary would be allowed to continue crabbing or gill-netting. Legislation in 2013, which also passed unanimously, allowed the state to suspend all tidal water fishing privileges for offenders. Read the story here 07:48
