Daily Archives: January 25, 2017

New SMAST camera can help assess cod stocks in Gulf of Maine

Researchers from UMass Dartmouth say they have successfully tested an underwater video-survey system that they hope will provide an accurate method to assess Atlantic cod stocks. In collaboration with fishermen, the research team recently placed high-resolution cameras in an open-ended commercial trawl net on Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine, known as one of the world’s most active marine sanctuaries. The cameras captured images of cod and other groundfish as they passed through the net. Periodically, researchers from UMD’s School for Marine Science & Technology closed the net for short periods to collect length, weight, and take other biological samples from some of the fish. The fish are unharmed and are returned to the sea. The system is design to be portable, so scientists can set it up on different fishing vessels. Professor Kevin Stokesbury, head researcher on the project, said the video system is an important tool at a time of uncertainty about the groundfish stock in the Gulf of Maine. Read the story here 17:57  Read the press release and watch the video here

White House removes climate change from website, but don’t blame Trump

Shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration, George Takei tweeted the administration had removed pages related to Climate Change, the LGBT community, and healthcare from the official White House website. The former “Star Trek” actor and gay rights’ activist created a firestorm when it got re-tweeted 119 thousand times and media outlets started picking it up as actual ‘news.’ Left-wing activist groups like the Sierra Club and Think Progress quickly began a campaign of misinformation. But as PolitiFact points out, the Trump administration had nothing to do with the missing pages. Before Donald Trump was even sworn in, his transition team was toiling away with President Obama’s administration on backing up and transferring the White House website. That involved getting help from the National Archives Records Administration, which is tasked with preserving the “nation’s record.” PolitiFact also notes the Obama administration removed the pages regarding healthcare, LGBT issues, and climate change (plus hundreds more), and not the Trump administration. Read the story here 16:07

Trump’s nixing of trade pact disappoints Alaska seafood exporters

Alaska seafood exporters are disappointed by President Donald Trump’s decision to officially withdraw from a sweeping trade agreement among Pacific nations that would have eradicated import duties imposed by Japan and other countries on pollock and salmon, the two fish species that bring in the most revenue and create the most jobs in the industry. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have been former President Barack Obama’s signature legacy on trade, would have helped the pollock industry by cutting import taxes of 4.2 percent to zero in Japan, the largest consumer of pollock surimi and roe. Japan imports $248 million of Alaska pollock annually. The tariff costs importers $10 million annually in Japan alone for imitation crab, or surimi, and pollock roe, meaning similar products from nations that don’t face tariffs are more price-competitive. Existing tariffs on red salmon imported to Chile, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam also would have been removed, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Read the story here 14:21

Large Whale Seasonal Trap Gear Closure is Effective February 1 – April 30

This advisory serves as a reminder to recreational and commercial trap fishermen. The annual large whale seasonal trap gear closure is in effect from February 1st through April 30th.  During this period all trap gear must be removed from the . This area encompasses waters of Cape Cod Bay, Stellwagen Bank and the Eastern Cape Cod. A description of the closed area and its coordinates are in the adjacent map and full regulatory text is located at 322 CMR 12.04 and 12.11. This closure was implemented in 2015 under the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and subsequently codified in state regulations. Its purpose is to reduce the risk of endangered North Atlantic right whales becoming entangled in trap gear buoy lines while migrating through and aggregating in this important seasonal feeding area. For more information regarding the Large Whale Seasonal Trap Gear Closure and the North Atlantic right whale, please visit our website: www.mass.gov/marinefisheries  13:47

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 50′ Duffy Tuna/Charter, CAT 3408, Lister 7.5 KW Genset

Specifications, information and 4 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:33

Two more plead guilty to poaching of striped bass 7 years ago in the EEZ

Two more commercial fishermen have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the illegal catch and sale of striped bass from federal waters nearly seven years ago. The United States Attorney’s Office announced that Ellis Leon Gibbs Jr., 53 of Englehard and Dawyne J. Jopkins, 43 of Belhaven entered the guilty plea Monday on a charge of , which prohibits transporting, selling or buying fish and wildlife harvested illegally. Hopkins also pleaded guilty to obstructing a boarding by the U.S. Coast Guard.  A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 24, when Gibbs will face up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, while Hopkins could receive a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Nine local commercial fisherman, including Gibbs and Hopkins, were among a group of 13 from North Carolina and Georgia indicted in March 2015 in a federal investigation into the illegal catch and sale of striped bass in 2009 and 2010. Read the story here 11:36

The International Pacific Halibut Commission meeting is underway in BC

The International Pacific Halibut Commission will be deciding on catch limits, other proposed changes to management and season length though Friday in Victoria, British Columbia. “The way we apportion the resource it’s been probably the subject of the most dissatisfaction on the U.S. side over the past couple of years,” said U.S. commissioner and vice-chair Jim Balsiger at the start of the meeting Monday. “All the commissioners I believe on both sides are anxious to come to grips with that, find a harvest policy and apportionment method that works for everybody that we can explain to the people who use the resource and make some progress on that.”  Read the story here  For agenda details of the meeting and link to the webinar, click here 10:40

Kolkata: the city that eats fish reared on untreated wastewater sewage

It all started as an accident, if you believe the story that the fishermen of the east Kolkata wetlands tell. Around a century ago, a cultivator named Bidu Sarkar accidentally allowed untreated wastewater from Kolkata’s sewage pipes into his fish pond. Realising what had happened, Sarkar expected disaster. Instead of killing his fish, however, the water doubled his yields. When fishermen from the surrounding area came to find out more, they discovered that the combination of sewage in the water and sunshine broke down the effluent and allowed plankton, which fish feed on, to grow exponentially. Soon thousands of fish farmers had set up bheris, or fishponds, across 12,500 hectares on the eastern fringes of the city. Today, according to Dr Partha Prathim Chakrabarti, principal scientist at the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, the east Kolkata wetlands provide a living for some 50,000 cultivators and fish traders, most of them small-time private entrepreneurs who earn an income rearing 10,000 tonnes of wastewater-fed fish a year. Read the story here 09:50

Oregon lawmaker promises ‘dog fight’ over gillnets in legislature

Oregon and Washington approved different plans for managing commercial fishing on the Columbia River this month, and one elected official predicted “there will be consequences” for walking away from a two-state compromise that would’ve phased out gillnets this year. Sen. Fred Girod (R-Stayton), said he was outraged by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s vote Friday to keep allowing gillnets on the river, and he’s considering introducing either a ban on the fishing method altogether or charging a fee to commercial fisherman on the river. “We’re all trying to figure out what we can do,” Girod said. “I can guarantee there’s going to be a dog fight.” Oregon and Washington had pledged to phase-out gillnets on the main channel of the river as part of a compromise that averted a messy ballot fight in Oregon in 2012. The reforms didn’t apply to tribal fisheries. Read the story here 08:44

Is commercial squid fishing damaging the Massachusetts striper fishery?

Man, I (John McMurray) hesitate to write this, because I don’t wanna cause any more economic harm to the islands’ charter fleet, by, well, saying it publicly… but I think it’s become so obvious that most striper fishermen already know it… The historically significant striped bass fishery that made Martha’s Vineyard (and Nantucket) the iconic fishing destination it is, just ain’t what it used to be.,, Over the past few years, it’s been filled with squid trawlers, sometimes a dozen, sometimes upwards of two-dozen, trawling back and forth, mowing the lawn… not just within eyesight, but often pretty damn close to the beach. (you can see where this is going, right?) Read the story here 08:00