Daily Archives: January 28, 2017
Northeast Fisheries Science Center director steers a new course
It was last Halloween when Jon Hare
took over as Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. He was aware he was jumping into a cauldron but it hasn’t spooked him yet. “I knew it was going to be a challenge and that’s why I was interested in it,” the career NOAA scientist said. Hare does understatement well. The director’s job description includes managing “the living marine resources of the Northeast Continental Shelf Ecosystem from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras,” according to the NOAA website. If that in itself were not sufficient, these resources include commercial fisheries, and in New England that is synonymous with controversy. Federal fishery management in general, and the efficacy of NOAA’s survey work on fish stocks in particular, have been heavily criticized by fishermen in the Northeast, almost without cessation for the past 15 years and the NEFSC has been at the sharp end of much of this disaffection. Read the story here 20:22
Fishing chiefs insist the industry is doing all it can to adhere to the discard ban
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) insisted fishers were doing “everything possible” to comply with the rules following claims by conservation group WWF the ban is being undermined by poor enforcement. SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: “No-one hates discarding more than our fishermen, who are making a comprehensive effort to comply with this largely unworkable regulation. “Fishermen are doing everything possible to adhere to the rules, and industry and government are working closely together to develop more selective types of fishing gear that will reduce discarding even further. “Installing cameras on fishing vessels is no more than a side show and the presence or absence of them will not solve the problem. The real issue is getting the rules right and the proper refinements in place.” Read the rest here 16:57
Warren Maine man admits to helping sink lobster boat
A 21-year-old Warren man was sentenced Thursday, Jan. 26, to three months in jail for his role in the sinking of a lobster boat off St. George last summer. Devin Meklin pleaded guilty in Knox County Unified Court to aggravated criminal mischief and theft in connection to the Sept. 1 sinking of the 36-foot lobster boat Oracle owned by Joshua Hupper of St. George. Meklin was one of three people charged in the case. According to investigators, 47-year-old Alan B. Norwood Jr., a St. George lobsterman, paid his sternman, Vincent Hilt, 22, of Vinalhaven, $500 to sink Hupper’s boat. Norwood and Hilt have both pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. Norwood is charged with felony aggravated criminal mischief. Hilt is charged with felony criminal mischief and theft. Read the story here 15:52
Oregon details its Columbia River fee expenditures
Since 2014, Oregon has spent $2.4 million it collected from a $9.75 Columbia River Endorsement tag on largely recreational fishing enhancements and research. None went to the commercial gill-net industry. At the request of The Oregonian/OregonLive, the released a dollar-specific, detailed accounting of expenditures from the endorsement fund late Friday. Agency officials hope to have the information available soon on the department’s Web site. Also detailed is $2.5 million set aside by the Oregon Legislature — $1.5 million per biennium – for assisting a transition of commercial fishing away from mainstem gill-netting. None of that money went directly to the commercial industry either. There is an additional $500,000 biennial fund for commercial netters to invest in newer, alternative fishing equipment, but department officials said no one has yet applied for any of the accumulated $1 million. Read the story here 12:04
Queensland Prawn importers under investigation for biosecurity breach
A number of prawn suppliers and importers are under investigation for not meeting biosecurity measures in the time leading up to a disease outbreak. The Department of Agriculture and Water Services had been investigating the suppliers and importers since August 2016, five months before it became public that white spot disease had been detected in Queensland. Since December five prawn farms had tested positive for the virus, which causes a high death rate in the crustacean, and the import of green prawns had been banned indefinitely. The maximum penalty if the suppliers and importers are found to have been illegally importing goods for a commercial advantage under the Biosecurity Act 2015 is 10 years in prison or $360,000 or both. Read the story here 10:06
COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Several private anglers and the Coastal Conservation Association, a group representing private anglers (collectively, CCA), appeal the district court’s summary judgment dismissal of their lawsuit, which challenged Amendment 40 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan and the Final Rule implementing that amendment. Because we find that Amendment 40 is consistent with its organic statute and was properly devised and implemented, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. This dispute centers on the management of the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. Read the complaint here 09:28
Shad: Following the history and biology of a East Coast transplant
Shad were one of the largest commercial fisheries in the East during the 19th century, but overharvesting and heavy pollution prior to the environmental enlightenment of the 1970s saw the population drop faster than heavy shad dart in a slow current. Commercial harvests on the East Coast declined from nearly 20 million pounds in the 1870s to less than 2 million a hundred years later. In 1871, forward-thinking individuals at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service decided to transport shad from New York’s Hudson River to the Sacramento River in California’s Central Valley. The reasoning for this move was, in part, to add commercial and sport fisheries, as well as add another plentiful food source to the quickly swelling population of a post-Gold Rush California. Read the story here 08:41
Value of Maine lobster exports to China on pace to triple for 2016
Live lobster exports to China are on pace to triple in value in 2016, despite the incursion of some new lobster suppliers to the growing Asian market. Final figures for 2016 won’t be known until February, but through November, the value of live lobster shipments from Maine to China climbed to $27.5 million, nearly tripling from the $10.2 million reported in November 2015. That’s roughly half the total export of live lobsters from Maine to date, excluding Canada, where many Maine lobsters are processed and then imported back into Maine for distribution. And those figures don’t include the traditional year-end surge leading up the Chinese New Year on Jan. 28, when Chinese celebrants have been serving up lobster from Maine, Massachusetts and Canada in ever-increasing numbers. Read the story here 08:17
Fishing industry backs Chris Oliver for NMFS director
A coalition of commercial fishing, Native and environmental entities is backing Chris Oliver, executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, to become the next head of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The more than four dozen signers of a letter sent to the Trump administration on Jan. 23 included processors Trident Seafoods and Icicle Seafoods, Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, Alaska Marine Conservation Council, At Sea Processors Association, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., Fishing Vessel Owners Association, Pacific Seafoods Processors Association, United Catcher Boats, and United Fishermen’s Marketing Association. Read the story here 07:42 More information can be found here
