Daily Archives: August 17, 2019

NOAA Seeks Nominations for Scientific Review Groups under the Marine Mammal Protection Act

NOAA Fisheries will publish a Federal Register Notice on Monday, August 19, 2019, soliciting nominations to three independent marine mammal scientific review groups (SRG). We would like your assistance to identify qualified candidates. The three independent regional SRGs, covering Alaska, the Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico), and the Pacific (including Hawaii), were established under section 117(d) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to provide advice on a range of marine mammal science and management issues. >click to read< 16:27

Greenland, the new US Alaska? Trump mocked, as Some Canadians Say “We Should Outbid Him!”

Greenland, the new US Alaska? –  The United States’ interest in Greenland is not new. In 1867, secretary of state William Seward, then of the Andrew Johnson administration, showed interest in purchasing Greenland and Iceland from Denmark. >click to read< Trump Wants to Buy Greenland? We Should Outbid Him! – from the article, What would we get if we did obtain Greenland? It would certainly complete our set of Arctic islands. We would possess over two million square kilometres of land, almost all of it covered by an ice sheet with a volume of 2.8 million cubic kilometres. >click to read< 15:40

Prince William Sound Pink salmon fishery back in business

Pink salmon commercial harvests are still below forecasts, but even with no prospect of rain predicted so far until Aug. 22, the catch in Prince William Sound rose from 17.6 million to 22.2 million within the past week. Preliminary harvest figures posted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed that 22,904,000 pinks comprised the bulk of the overall Prince William Sound harvest as of Aug. 14. The rest of the overall catch to date of 30.5 million fish in the Sound’s commercial harvest includes 5,026,000 chum, 2,526,000 sockeyes, 18,000 Chinook and 15,000 coho salmon. >click to read< 13:13

Lobster catch ‘slow’, cold spring may be to blame

Fishermen say lobster landings in July were noticeably less than in recent years and that so far, the catch hasn’t improved a lot in August. Fishermen and scientists are putting much of the blame on the cold weather in the spring that lasted almost to the end of June, saying that coastal water temperatures on the bottom, where the lobsters live, have been slow to warm up to make the lobsters active. Video, >click to read< 11:57

‘Mackerel wars’ Scottish fishermen at risk as Iceland & Greenland plot to target UK stocks

Scottish fishermen face an uncertain future after greedy decision makers in Iceland and Greenland announced they would dramatically increase they amount of mackerel they intend to catch.,,, The clash has been dubbed “mackerel wars” by a senior British MEP, who is chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee. Liberal Democrat Chris Davies said: “Partnership is essential if shared fish stocks are to be managed sustainably. Iceland’s actions are greedy and irresponsible. >click to read< 11:16

New Brunswick: Previously entangled right whale spotted free of gear

A North Atlantic right whale that was seen entangled in fishing gear in late June has now been spotted swimming free of any gear, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The whale was partially disentangled on July 16 by the Campobello Whale Rescue Team,,, The whale was swimming off the coast of Miscou Island on New Brunswick’s northeastern shore, according to a tweet from the department posted on Friday. >click to read< 10:29

Lobster boat captain says he saw no sign of Carman’s boat or life raft

For 10 hours on Sept. 18, 2016, Alex Aucoin testified Friday, his lobster boat trawled back and forth through Block Canyon off the coast of Long Island and not once did he see the familiar silver captain’s perch of Nathan Carman’s boat, or any life rafts. “I knew his boat personally because I thought it was an attractive boat,” Aucoin said. “I would have remembered a life raft because I would have gone to assist it.” Aucoin took the stand on the fourth day of Carman’s federal civil trial,,, >click to read< 09:46

Opposition Grows Against Vineyard Wind Ocean Wind Project

Local residential groups between Centerville, Marthas’ Vineyard and Nantucket meeting Monday 8/19 to discuss Environmental oversight of the ocean wind project. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his underling/hacks tried to railroad the Vineyard Wind ocean wind project through past the local people, past the fishermen, past the other fauna and flora, without a proper Environmental Impact Study by the federal government. >click to read< 08:40