Daily Archives: June 3, 2017

Environmentalists outraged after ‘green’ wind turbines murder family of whales

Some environmentalists are saying wind turbines pose a threat to whales after a family of minke whales were found dead in the United Kingdom. According to reports by the Times (London) and Daily Caller, a young minke whale was found dead in the United Kingdom on May 20. Its mother was found dead on a nearby beach the same day, and a third whale washed ashore on May 21. It’s believed the three whales were part of the same family. According to marine wildlife experts, the whales were likely disoriented by nearby wind turbines, which can affect the sonar whales use to navigate. click here to read the story 19:57

New Zealand: Sealord’s new $70m freezer trawler will shortly be recruiting staff

Sealord’s new $70million freezer stern trawler will be making regular appearances in Dunedin next year, sharing its port calls equally with its home port, Nelson. The 81.7m-long stern trawler is barely into week 20 of its build in Norway. The first few of eight “blocks” that will be joined together to make the hull have recently been delivered from Poland. The new vessel will expand Sealord’s overall fleet to six owned vessels and two leased and is expected to be operational from May next year. Once finished, it would complete sea trials in Norway by March next year, then would be partially rigged during its 40-day delivery passage to Nelson.,, Gillanders said unemployment in the fishing industry was at present quite low and filling vacancies was “challenging”. click here to read the story 13:17

Unexpected Nazi-era legacy: Fish tumors

German researchers have uncovered a 25 percent incidence of tumors among a type of flatfish inhabiting one area of the Baltic Sea, close to the northern German city of Kiel. They believe the cancerous growths found on the species known as the common dab could be linked to the estimated 1.6 million of tons of armaments that were dumped at the bottom of the Baltic and North Seas at the end of World War II. The high prevalence compares to a 5 percent tumor rate in three other areas of the Baltic, researchers said. Presenting their evidence to a conference in Rostock on Monday, scientists from the Thünen Institute of Fishing Ecology said the rate of tumors among dab fish in shallow coastal waters was much higher than previously thought. Empasizing that their findings are preliminary, researchers warned that as the munitions continue to rust and leak discharge, the environmental impact of the mass dumping of Nazi-era weapons is likely to be much greater than earlier estimates. click here to read the story 11:18

So many kings

With the commercial catch of king salmon off the mouth of the Copper River steadily growing, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has gone all in on the idea that a preseason forecast that suggested a return of only 29,000 of the big fish was in error. The agency on Friday announced it will lift a restriction that limited subsistence fishermen on the Copper to two fish, and open sport fisheries along the river it had ordered closed before the season even began. The action comes amid mounting public pressure for the agency to see the annual catch of kings, or Chinook as they called elsewhere, is shared among subsistence, commercial, sport and personal-use fishermen. The subsistence fishermen, who are supposed to have a legal priority on harvest, started the season limited to two fish, and told they would get only one-fifth slice of an allowable harvest of only 5,000 kings. That whole plan has now been ditched. click here to read the story 10:37

New Anacortes-built trawler could be grounded by old law, endangering two local firms

The largest, most modern American-made trawler built in nearly three decades may be barred from fishing in U.S. waters, with financial repercussions to its local builder and buyer “so draconian that neither company may survive.” That’s the scenario painted by the law firm that Anacortes shipyard Dakota Creek Industries has hired to seek a rare waiver from a century-old law called the Jones Act, which they acknowledge wasn’t properly followed when the shipyard began building the state-of-the art, $75 million vessel Americas Finest. The shipyards mistake using too much foreign steel that was modified before coming into the U.S. could mean the advanced ship must be sold abroad at a big loss. click here to read the story 08:40