Daily Archives: July 23, 2019
More needs to be done to identify travel paths of North Atlantic right whales, scientist says
The Canadian and U.S. governments need to know exactly where North Atlantic right whales are travelling to better protect them, a whale researcher says. “There have been whales in locations that the Canadian government may not have known about, at least early enough, ” said Charles (Stormy) Mayo, director of the North Atlantic Right Whale Ecology program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass. “It’s a very thorny problem and the more that Canada can do, the better off we are.” >click to read< 20:29
EU bans cod fishing in Baltic Sea
The EU announced Tuesday an immediate ban on fishing cod, the staple of Britain’s fish and chips, in most of the Baltic Sea in response to an impending stock collapse. Alerted by scientists, the European Commission, which oversees the management of fish stocks in European waters, warned of ‘a rapid decline’ in cod stock ‘if no action is taken’. ‘We must act urgently to rebuild the stock, both in the interests of fish stocks and fishermen,’ said European Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella in a statement. >click to read< 18:30:
What It’s Like Fishing for Lobster as a Woman
It’s 5 a.m. and Krista Tripp is loading her 36-foot boat, preparing to head out on the waters off of Spruce Head, Maine. She’ll spend roughly the next 12 hours on the boat, working either by herself or with a stern(wo)man to bait traps, measure lobsters, pull up buoys, hauling anywhere from 200 to 300 lobsters in the day, which she’ll sell at the local wharf.,,, A third-generation fisherman, she grew up going out on her dad’s boat, watching the crew work from the time she was a little girl. >click to read< 17:01
P.E.I. Fisherman lost at sea off Naufrage to be remembered this weekend
Friends and family of Jordan Hicken will gather this weekend to remember the 23-year-old fisherman who was lost at sea May 21. Hicken went overboard while fishing off of Naufrage, off the North Shore of eastern P.E.I. He was from Montague and was fishing with his father, Trevor Hicken. His family said he was an experienced fisherman who has fished for several years, including in Nova Scotia. >click to read< 16:10
2019 shrimp season is worst Pass Christian seafood dealer has seen in more than 40 years
Jeremy Forte’s family seafood business has never seen a shrimp season as bad as this year. Not only are they seeing the affects of the Bonnet Carré on the ecosystem, but the algae warnings for seafood has been detrimental to their business. Video, >click to watch< 14:18
New bill would pay Coast fisherman for losses after Bonnet Carré opening, algae bloom – >click to read<
Humpy catch hits 7.4M
Humpy harvests in Prince William Sound jumped from 3.4 million to 7.4 million, as the overall wild salmon harvest for the Sound rose to over 14 million fish. Along with the growing pink salmon harvests, area processors have received 4,386,000 chum, 2,120,000 sockeye, 18,000 Chinook and about 1,000 cohos through July 16, according to the latest preliminary Alaska commercial salmon harvest report updated daily during the season by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. It’s been a good season for setnetters and drift gillnetters, according to Jeremy Botz, gillnet area management biologist at Cordova with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. >click to read< 13:19
Commercial Fisherman Sentenced in Federal Court for Assault with Intent to Murder
Christopher Shane Dreiling was sentenced in federal court on two counts of assault with intent to murder within the special maritime jurisdiction of the United States. Dreiling received a thirty year prison sentence, consisting of fifteen years on each count of assault to run consecutive to each other. At trial, a jury found that at dusk on August 20, 2017, Dreiling attacked the captain and another crew member of the Billy B. a commercial fishing vessel. After stabbing both victims multiple times with a fillet knife, Dreiling forced the victims off the boat and into the Gulf of Mexico >click to read< Original December 5, 2018 post, >click to read< 12:22
P.E.I. lobster fishing industry looking at replacements for traditional bait
A Tignish lobster fisherman says he would welcome new bait sources for the fishery “as long as it is environmentally-friendly.” Kenneth LeClair,,, was commenting on news that a Canadian fish broker was recently granted permission to bring in blackbelly rosefish from Uruguay to use as bait for the lobster fishery in Maine. The company, New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture, is still awaiting Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s decision on whether it can also market the bait in Atlantic Canada.,,, Meanwhile, a P.E.I. startup company, Bait Masters Inc., is in the research and development phase of testing the potential for an all-natural bait made of fish products and fish oils. >click to read< 11:35
The Hibernia spill – Regulator fumes as Hibernia shutdown costs N.L. $2.5M a day in deferred revenue
Hibernia ceased operations Wednesday after accidentally releasing an estimated 12,000 litres of oil into the Atlantic Ocean from a storage cell containing a combination of crude oil and water.,,, The Hibernia spill comes eight months after an estimated 250,000 litres of oil leaked from a faulty connector in the sprawling network of cables beneath the SeaRose production vessel in the White Rose oil field. >click to read< 10:52
Lobstermen from Machias to Boothbay Harbor hold rally in Stonington about federal moves to limit trap lines
Lobstermen gathered on the Stonington Commercial Fish Pier to draw greater attention to the issues facing the survival of their industry and the livelihoods of coastal Maine communities. Julie Eaton, who fishes for lobster, said at the outset of the rally: “NOAA [The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] knows that not one Right Whale has been proven to have been entangled in Maine rope in many years and the new proposed regulations would only cause extreme danger to our lobstermen. >click to read< 09:56
Offshore Wind: Cuomo’s incredible wind-power pander
Flanked by former veep and climate-crusader Al Gore, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week signed a wide-ranging “climate-action” bill. He also announced that New Yorkers would subsidize construction of more than 200 wind turbines off New York City and Long Island — one of the biggest efforts of its kind in the United States — all in the name of reducing the state’s carbon emissions to “net zero” in about 30 years. Amid what he described as the “chaos of political pandering and hyperbole” surrounding the issue of climate change, Cuomo portrayed his plan as grounded in “facts, data and evidence.” >click to read<09:14
New England Fishery Management Council Update, meetings lined up between now and mid-September
July 22, 2019 The New England Fishery Management Council has a number of meetings lined up between now and mid-September. Here’s a rundown of what’s currently posted on the Council’s calendar, along with a few highlights of related activities. One item, ENFORCEMENT: The Enforcement Committee and Enforcement Advisory Panel (AP) will be meeting jointly to discuss the enforcement aspects of a number of groundfish actions, including Monitoring Amendment 23 and the Groundfish Catch Share Program Review. The joint meeting will be held on Thursday, July 25 in Portsmouth, NH. >click to read<08:10
