Daily Archives: June 8, 2017

Lobster prices climbing as export market grows

While consumers may not like the high cost of lobster, it is good news for lobster fishermen like Clinton Pendleton. He fishes with his father and grandfather from Deer Island, N.B., in the Bay of Fundy. Pendleton said recent cold temperatures are driving down landings because lobsters don’t feed when it’s too cold. That means they don’t crawl into the baited traps. “This year, compared to recent years, I don’t remember anytime in June when you were able to see your breath all day long,” he said. Cold weather and high demand have driven the price up and kept it there this season.  click here to read the story 21:25

Oil spill spared fish

Almost 30 years after the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef and smeared Prince William Sound with more than 11 million gallons of Alaska crude oil, a team of state and federal scientists have concluded the spill – as bad as it looked and as much impact as it had on marine mammals and birds – appears to have done no real damage to fisheries. “We found no evidence supporting a negative EVOS  (Exxon Valdez Oil Spill) impact on herring, sockeye salmon, or pink salmon productivity, and weak evidence of a slightly positive EVOS signal on Copper River Chinook (king) salmon productivity,” the study says. “It is unclear how EVOS may have impacted Chinook salmon positively.” Somewhat surprisingly, however, the study found two non-oil spill events – one natural and one manmade – that appear to have caused significant changes in Sound fisheries. And one of them, a naturally occurring spill of fresh water, appears to be what crippled herring stocks there.  click here to read the story    link to the study   20:16

Yarmouth Sea Products fined after man fractured skull on scallop fishing boat

Yarmouth Sea Products will pay a $41,500 fine and is also required to hold two seminars on workplace safety as part of a sentence issued in Yarmouth provincial court Tuesday after an incident on board one of its fishing vessels two years ago. The company was sentenced by Judge James Burrill after pleading guilty to three charges under the Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act. On June 7, 2015, Clayton Joudrey was hit in the head by a metal ring after a cable snapped aboard the Compass Rose II, a scallop fishing boat in the Bay of Fundy. Joudrey had only been working for the company for 17 days and it was his third trip on the vessel. Joudrey, then 43, suffered a fractured skull, a fractured eye socket and a broken neck. click here to read the story 18:10

Scientists to Advise on Marine Monument Fishing Regulations, American Samoa Large Vessel Prohibited Area, Kona Crabs, ACL’s

Renowned scientists from throughout the Pacific will convene in Honolulu June 13 to 15 to provide recommendations on managing fisheries in Hawai‘i, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the US Pacific Remote Islands Areas.  The meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) is open to the public and runs 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400. Major agenda items include the following: Click here to read the press release 17:18

Pyrosomes: The Borg of the ocean, clogging fishing and research gear

A strange organism has taken over the ocean waters off Oregon this spring, clogging fishing and research gear and confounding beachcombers and biologists. Fishermen compare them to pickles, gummy bears and sea cucumbers. They are the Borg of the ocean, one researcher suggested, referencing characters from the “Star Trek” TV show. They are called pyrosomes, and they are everywhere. In all his decades doing survey and research work off the coast, Richard Brodeur, research fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has never encountered pyrosomes in these kinds of numbers, or really at all. He knew about them, had seen them down in California, but never off the Oregon Coast. Then, “starting in 2014, we started seeing a few of them,” he said. In 2015 and 2016, he saw a few more. This spring, on a survey cruise, they pulled up 60,000 pyrosomes in a five-minute tow. click here to read the story 15:15

Looming state gov’t shutdown threatens AK’s $500M salmon industry

Alaska’s half-billion-dollar salmon season is in jeopardy if lawmakers don’t pass a state budget by the end of June. Without one, state government shuts down July 1. That’s also a big deadline for the fishermen statewide — that’s when they’ve got to be out on the water if they want to catch quality salmon. They need the Department of Fish and Game to do it. For Zack Worrell, fish and crab are his bread and butter. Worrell is looking forward to what could be a profitable season with well-priced salmon, but, if lawmakers don’t get a budget passed, his livelihood could swim away. Indeed, July 1 is the worst time to shut down the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. That’s when hundreds of millions of dollars worth of salmon swim back to Alaska shores. Video, click here to read the story 14:21

Controversial bill allowing secret tracking devices on lobster boats wins Maine Senate approval

A compromise has been reached over a controversial bill that would allow the Department of Marine Resources to secretly place tracking devices on lobster boats. The measure is aimed at cracking down on violators of lobstering laws. The Maine Lobstermen’s Union had been strongly opposed to the bill, saying it gave the commissioner too much authority by allowing him to covertly track boats. But after a discussion with the commissioner this morning the union now backs the bill. “So we have a lot more people fishing offshore, much more difficult to catch violators offshore,” said Patrice McCarron of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. McCarron said if allowing investigators to covertly place tracking devices on boats of suspected cheaters leads to more arrests, the industry will be better off. Video, click here to read the story 11:30

Maine Lobstermen Support GPS Tracking of Lawbreakers Fishing Vessels – Lobstermen from Swans Island are fed up with the bad behavior of fellow fishermen who violate regulations within the states most valuable fishery.  Video, click here to read the story 12:02

New Jersey has good reasons to resist federal rules on fluke

If federal fisheries managers got fan mail from some flounder these days, would it side with their catch limits or New Jersey’s defiant alternate rules? State and local officials and the N.J. congressional delegation pushed hard against this year’s federal plan to reduce the catch of summer flounder, also called fluke, by 30 percent. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission wanted to require fish to be an inch bigger to be kept — 19 inches in the ocean and nearby waters and 18 inches in Delaware Bay. Since last year’s limits were already tough on fishers and marine businesses, the plan prompted an uproar. Rep. Frank LoBiondo said “unelected bureaucrats in Washington use questionable methodologies and outdated science to cut us off at the knees.” He and fellow Rep. Frank Pallone introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent the new flounder quotas from taking effect. click here to read the story 10:28

Garnish fishermen facing big bill after boat sinks

Preston Grandy, a fisherman from Garnish, is facing a big repair bill after his longliner sank less then a quarter mile from the community on June 5. “I was over lobster fishing in new grounds, unfamiliar grounds, and I hit an unmarked sunker as the tide was falling,” he explained. “When the tide fell out, then she rolled over.” Grandy said the vessel sustained a hole in the stern, as well as other damage along the side of the boat and the interior. “Complete write off for electronics,” he said. On board the vessel, Grandy had a new plotter capable of creating 3D images, radar, newly installed lighting and other equipment. Tim Ball, a commercial diver who fishes with Grandy, was also on board the vessel at the time it rolled. click here to read the story 09:51

Shrimp season opens in Mississippi Sound

The 2017 brown shrimp season opened 6 a.m. Wednesday and Mississippi Department of Marine Resources officials are hoping the season will be bountiful for recreational and commercial shrimpers in South Mississippi. DMR public affairs director Melissa Scallan said the season opened with almost 700 permits issued. Scallan said there were about 250 boats in the water on Wednesday and most were between Gulfport and Biloxi. Video,  click here to read the story   Some fishermen, however, were disappointed by their early catches. Shrimper Sam Huynh said, “Little shrimp and a lot of trash.” Video, click here to read the story 09:30

La Scie store owner explains why fishermen risk pack ice – ‘People are desperate’

“Desperate times” are driving fishermen to risk their boats and their lives by heading out into waters clogged with heavy pack ice, according to a store owner in La Scie, who is also the father of one of the crew members rescued Wednesday off Newfoundland’s Baie Verte Peninsula. “This time of year, you got your insurances and payments and things and you got to get fishing. Most people around here haven’t drawn EI [employment insurance] or anything from probably the middle of January,” said Neil Ward, who runs the La Scie Stop ‘N’ Shop. “People are finding the pinch, finding it hard going … People are desperate.” Ward’s son was on the Avalon Princess, which started taking on water Wednesday afternoon and eventually sank.,,”All the inshore boats are not fishing, their EI has run out and it doesn’t seem like anyone gives a crap about it.” click here to read the story 08:18