Daily Archives: January 4, 2021

North Pacific Pollock fishing crews on edge after a tough 2020 of small fish and COVID-19

Skipper Kevin Ganley spent most of the summer and fall pulling a massive trawl net through the Bering Sea in a long slow search for pollock, a staple of McDonald’s fish sandwiches. The fish proved very hard to find.,,, Fishermen, for example, helped in taking bottom temperatures with equipment they brought on board their vessels. >click to read<  And scientists figured out a way to roughly measure the pollock abundance through acoustic sonar mounted in three Saildrones, which are remote-controlled 20-foot boats. >click to read< 14:05

North Atlantic Right Whales – Proposed Pot/Trap Fisheries Regulations – Available for Public Comment

Today, we released our proposed modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to further reduce the impacts of entanglement in fishing gear on right whales in U.S. waters. The proposed modifications focus on the Northeast Jonah crab and lobster trap/pot fisheries, which deploy about 93 percent of the buoy lines fished in areas where right whales occur. In 2021, the team will be asked to recommend risk reduction measures for other Atlantic trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. We also released the associated Draft Environmental Impact Statement. >click to read< 12:02

Bocaccio rockfish are still endangered, but a huge birthing event in 2016 has it popping up everywhere

A species of fish you’ve probably never heard about has made a major comeback from being endangered, but now B.C. fishermen can’t avoid catching it, threatening their ability to earn a living. “This is a great news and a terrible news story,” said Brian Mose, a skipper and representative of the Deep Sea Trawlers Association in B.C.,, Some fishermen are worried that if they go out on the water, they’ll catch their limit of bocaccio and then be prevented from fishing at all. >click to read< 08:49