Daily Archives: July 7, 2017

Brad Gentner: It’s time to rethink ‘catch shares’

Catch shares in marine fisheries is a concept unfamiliar to most people, and it is probably completely alien to most hunters and anglers in this country. It is a system of wildlife management that bestows some percentage of a public marine resource, like red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, to private businesses for free, to use and sell for their own profit. It was thought that by giving away ownership rights to individuals, the fishery would consolidate and ultimately become easier to manage. While the same number of fish would be caught, the benefits of funneling access to the resource through fewer entities was thought to remove some of the uncertainty in the industry and thus would be worth the price of privatizing a public resource for free. While catch shares are still the darling of some fisheries economists, there is a growing backlash against this management tool worldwide for a variety of reasons. At the heart of these complaints is fleet and wealth consolidation, extraction of public wealth for private profit, and failure to capitalize share-cost into production costs. click here to read the op-ed 21:46

Scania powers up its marine engine range

Scania is launching a new six-cylinder 13-liter inline marine engine. The new engine, which combines new power levels ranging from 650 to 925 hp with reduced fuel consumption, consolidates Scania’s position as a leader in power-to-weight ratio. The engine is the second platform in Scania’s marine engine portfolio to use common rail XPI fuel injection technology to reach higher power levels and lower fuel consumption. XPI technology was first introduced in Scania’s marine engine range in 2015 when the 1,150 hp V8 engine was launched. However, the system has been used in its engines for trucks and industrial applications since 2007; As well as lowering fuel consumption and noise levels, the common-rail XPI fuel injection system also gives a faster engine response and a quicker torque build-up. The first appearance of the new, and powerful 13-liter engine will be on display at the Lobster Boat Races in Stonington, ME on July 9, 2017. click here to read the story 17:36

Meanwhile, at Brooks Falls – Katmai National Park Live Feed – Brown Bears feast on the largest Sockeye Salmon run in the world

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Mooloolaba tuna skipper and crew survive frightening freak wave at sea

Skipper Myles McIntosh and his crew have survived a frightening encounter at sea after a freak wave shattered four windows on their tuna long liner, sending water coursing through the Santa Lucia’s cabin. It took two days to travel the 483 kilometres back from Lord Howe Island to their home port of Mooloolaba, for repairs to the gaping holes that exposed the wheelhouse to the elements early this week. “We were just operating, winching up as normal, when a little freak wave built in front of us and hit us the wrong way,” Mr McIntosh said. “It was a bit hairy, smashed a few windows.  The Santa Lucia is one of five long liners in the Walker Seafoods Australia fleet owned by Heidi and Pavo Walker. Mr Walker said the tuna industry was dangerous to invest in, with more challenges than freak waves at sea. click here to read the story 16:24

Baby lobster abundance suggests strong harvests will continue

Lobster fishermen and government officials are seeing indications are that lobster stocks will be plentiful in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the next few years at least. Fishermen have been reporting a lot of smaller lobsters in their traps this year, which Fisheries and Oceans Canada preliminary monitoring has confirmed. Amelie Rondeau of Fisheries and Oceans said the abundance of lobsters has been building in the last five years, with lobster landings going up as well. “All the stars are aligned: favourable environmental conditions, combined with proper management of the stocks,” said Rondeau. click here to read the story 14:01

7th right whale found dead in Gulf of St. Lawrence

The carcass of a seventh North Atlantic right whale has been found off the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reports Radio-Canada. The Canadian Coast Guard discovered the dead whale near Havre-Aubert on Wednesday night. Quebec’s marine mammal research network, known by its French initials GREMM, confirmed to CBC’s French-language service that it was not previously aware of the carcass. Tonya Wimmer, with the Marine Animal Response Society, said the whale is a male, and it was badly decomposed. She also said it isn’t clear yet what caused the whale’s death, The Canadian Press reported. click here to read the story 13:06

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for July 7, 2017

Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 12:28

On-board accident claims fisherman

A 60-year-old fisherman from Rowley died Thursday after an accident aboard a fishing vessel off the town’s shores, local harbormasters confirmed. Harbormasters Rosemary Lesch and Scott Story said they responded along with a crew from U.S. Coast Guard Station Gloucester to a call reporting an accident on board the 42-foot Intuition in Sandy Bay around 8:30 a.m. Story said it appeared that the man had been struck by an object on the boat while working. Both he and Lesch declined to elaborate further, and they did not identify the victim. click here to read the story 10:24

F/V Bunchie towed back to Dillingham Harbor after near sinking Monday

The fishing vessel Bunchie was overloaded with sockeye on Sunday night when the boat began to list and eventually take on water. The crew aboard were picked up by another boat as they were putting on their survival suits and getting ready to board a life raft. “We got 50 (fathoms) on board and we started listing really low in the water, and waves were coming over in the back and everybody was scrambling to try to find the water pumps to pump the water out,” said John Casteel, a crew member aboard the Bunchie. The boat was deck-loaded. Casteel estimates more than 12 thousand pounds of sockeye were aboard when the Bunchie started to take on water. click here to read the story 09:37

N.J. anglers get staggering $2.8M for giant tuna following court decision

The tuna that Rich Kosztyu, Brian Suschke and Damien Romeo hauled onto Romeo’s boat last summer at a Maryland fishing tournament weighed 236.5 pounds. At the time, it earned them a staggering $767,091 at the White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Md. Eleven months later, after legal wrangling and a trial in federal court in Baltimore, the fishermen friends are getting another $2 million for the catch. Court documents filed in the case – which wrapped last month with a judge stripping a Florida fisherman of his $2.8M top prize – lay out how the prize money will be divvied up among the remaining winners. click here to read the story 08:39