Category Archives: South Atlantic
Florida Keys Lobster season starts with record harvest, low prices
The harvest of spiny lobster off the Florida Keys has never been better, but the price fishermen are being paid is down significantly so far because the Asian market has yet to take off this season. The season started earlier this month with trap fishermen catching near record number of lobster, fishermen said. A trap will produce about 10 pounds of lobsters on average over the course of an eight-month season, with the bulk being harvested in the first couple of months. Read the rest here 16:38
Are fisheries overfished or not
Of the 469 stocks managed by the eight regional fishery management councils, the status of 161 stocks is unknown for lack of stock assessments. In the South Atlantic, of the 59 species in the snapper-grouper fishery, the stock status is unknown for 76 percent or 45 species. Additionally, the status is unknown for important top-water species like dolphin (mahi) and wahoo. For stocks with an unknown status, the only way to set an annual catch limit is to use historical landings, which has no real scientific basis, and can unfairly penalize fishermen with artificially low catch limits. Instead of devoting adequate financial resources into stock assessments, NOAA has spent about $160 million over the last six years pushing its National Catch Share Program,,, Read the rest here 09:13
It’s Florida lobster season; here’s how to cook them
There seems to be no debate among Florida lobster aficionados concerning how to cook this delicacy of the sea. You have got to grill them,” said restaurateur Frank Chivas. “There is no other way.” But Chivas and his longtime friend Tom Pritchard, the creative force behind many of his restaurants, disagreed on the next step. Chivas, a Florida native who has spent weeks at a time diving and fishing in Lobsterland, a.k.a. the Florida Keys, had another idea. “I like to cut them in half, then put the meat side down first,” he said. “You let them cook for a few minutes,,, Read the rest here 12:42
FWC to finalize barracuda rules
State fishery managers will give final approval this week to fishing regulations that will finally set commercial bag limits on barracuda. The vote comes after Florida Keys fishing guides, captains and recreational anglers have been calling for years for commercial limits on what they call one of the most important flats fish. Currently there is no limit on the harvest of barracuda. There is a two-fish-per-day recreational bag limit. Read the rest here 10:16
A Day in the Life of a Shrimper
Capt. Tommy Edwards and his crew Kevin, D.J. and Goat trawl for White Roe Shrimp of The Coast of South Carolina by Charleston 16:45
Taxpayers foot bill to retrieve sunken tires from failed offshore environmental project
What to do with a million used tires? Dump them in the ocean, of course. As unthinkable as that idea is today, back in 1972, that was what Florida environmentalists chose to do, in an attempt to create an artificial reef. They gathered up old tires, ferried them a mile offshore from Fort Lauderdale’s world-famous beach and tossed them overboard. “Ummmm, seemed like a good idea at the time. Looked good on paper,” said Pat Quinn, Broward County’s environmental resource manager. It wasn’t. Read the rest here 13:31
Rep. Bob Steinburg and W. Douglas Brady named to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Gov. Pat McCory has appointed a local member of the state House of Representatives and a former Carteret County commissioner to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Rep. Bob Steinburg and W. Douglas Brady were named recently to serve on the panel that represents the interests and needs of east coast marine fisheries, promotes better utilization of the fisheries and develops programs for promotion and protection of such fisheries, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Read the rest here 12:24
State Rep. Goldfinch applauded for stance against offshore no-fishing zones
The Council for Sustainable Fishing, a regional advocacy group for recreational and commercial fishing interests, Thursday applauded state 
, for his letter to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council opposing additional offshore no-fishing zones. “We thank Rep. Goldfinch for standing up for fishing interests and the coastal economy and his recognition that there is simply no justification for any additional no-fishing areas in the South Atlantic,” Council for Sustainable Fishing Executive Director Tom Swatzel said. Read the rest here 09:19
Don’t blame fishermen for fishery problems
After many years of listening to debates over our declining environment and fisheries, I think I have come up with a simple solution to these complex problems. We need to start killing off as many manatees and groupers as we can, as soon as possible. Let’s start with manatees; there are simply too many of them for areas like the Indian River Lagoon. In fact, it is the cute cuddly manatee that has caused the environmental collapse of the lagoon. Of course the estimated 300,000 septic tanks, leaky sewer lines, approximately 545,000 human residents in Brevard County, run-off from agricultural operations, golf courses, lawns, etc.,,, Read the rest here 13:43
In the shadow of Key West, change ahead for a neighboring island
On a morning run between restaurants, he waves to locals as the smell of fish overwhelms the air. Mongelli, a long-time Conch, opened the Hogfish with one sandwich on the menu in 2002. Since then, he has seen Stock Island’s oceanside growth from a Key West outskirt — it’s just five miles from Duval Street — with shrimpers and fishermen to an island on the brink of major development. “Throw Cuba into the mix, I think Stock Island will be a jumping-off point. I think it will be a boom town,” Read the rest here 10:25
No wonder we keep losing ground! Few attend fishery hearing in Morehead City
MOREHEAD CITY | Few people (yeah. two!)showed up for a public hearing on a proposal that federal fisheries officials say could have a big impact on rebuilding declining stocks in the snapper-grouper fishery. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding a series of public hearings this week and next on a proposal that would establish up to nine Special Management Zones from North Carolina to eastern Florida to protect valuable spawning sites. Read the rest here 14:48
Fishermen reeling over proposal to close famed Georgetown Hole to snapper-grouper fishing
Local fishermen and various organizations are concerned about a proposal that could close areas off the South Atlantic coast to snapper-grouper fishing. The Snapper Grouper Amendment 36 is designed to identify important areas of spawning habitat for snapper grouper species, including deep-water speckled hind and warsaw grouper, that can be designated for protection to enhance spawning and increase recruitment by closing snapper-grouper fishing in those areas. Read the rest here 07:43
South Carolina and Georgia shrimpers brace for black gill
While Lowcountry shrimpers have seen little of their catch infected with black gill disease this year, scientists say it’s only a matter of time. The infection, which causes dark spots to appear on the midsection of shrimp, is not dangerous to humans. It remains somewhat of a mystery to scientists and shrimpers, but some of them blame it for reduced shrimp population in recent years. Charles Gay of Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island said his shrimpers began seeing black gill this week. Read the rest here 13:24
Big Pine Key Lobster fisherman court ordered to surrender 400 traps
David Lee Boggs, 51, was ultimately charged with more than 100 counts of misdemeanor fishing without proper tags after state wildlife officers and the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office uncovered more wrongdoing after his arrest, said Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne. Boggs was initially found to be fishing with about 100 untagged traps, but later confessed to Florida Fish and Wildlife officers that he had more in the water that needed to be removed, bringing the final total to more than 500 illegal traps, records state. Read the rest here 09:35
South Carolina eyes protecting the tiger shark
The huge tiger shark caught by a commercial fishing boat last weekend was at least 50 years old. It was brood stock for an important apex predator. It doesn’t even taste that good. And it might not be legal to harvest next summer. A bill now in the state Legislature would restrict fishing for tigers to catch-and-release to protect the large predator and help keep an ecosystem healthy by culling the weak and diseased of other species. Read the rest here 09:52
Be heard on proposed fishery regulations in the South Atlantic Fishery Council Region
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is keeping fishermen busy this summer with public comment meetings. Last month, there was a series of hearings/listening stations on the snapper-grouper Vision Project, which includes overwhelmingly opposed measures such as catch shares, electronic monitoring, and more closed fishing areas. Next week, beginning in South Carolina, the SAFMC is conducting public hearings (close to final action) and scoping (initial stages of development) on four snapper-grouper amendments and will also continue to take comments on the Vision Project. Read the rest here 13:20
Stone crabs most expensive seafood in U.S.
Long considered a Florida delicacy, the stone crab is highly sought after by seafood lovers. Literally tens of thousands of stone crab traps are put into the nearshore gulf waters from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys every season, which runs from Oct. 15 to May 15. The annual harvest of claws in 2008 was estimated to be more than 3.1 million pounds. Stone crab, per pound, is the most expensive seafood served in the U.S. Read the rest here 09:35
‘Summer of the Shark’ continues with 13-foot tiger reeled in off Folly Beach
Commercial fishermen pulled in an 800-pound, 13-foot tiger shark on Saturday less than a mile off the Washout, the popular surfing hangout on Folly Beach. Just what edgy beachgoers need to hear after a few months of big catches and a rash of bites.But the ocean is the wilderness and those big sharks are in coastal waters all the time — they tend to feed behind the breakers or along steep drop-offs. In fact, Joe Morris and Mike Huff of Seasonal Seafood had pulled in a 400- to 500-pound shark earlier that night and on Monday pulled in a 700-pound shark that was 11 feet long. Read the rest here 20:13
The Easy Lady – Restoring the wooden boat from keel to chine and one plank above
More often than not, the sentimental and historical value of something is more than the sum of its parts. Such is the case of The Easy Lady, a well-known commercial fishing boat in Shem Creek. She’s owned by Captain Kenneth Ezell who considers her the crown jewel of his career. The Easy Lady has a hydraulic pot hauler and is designed to catch 100 bushels of crabs a day to be delivered to local picking houses. The ship can also be converted to a shrimp boat in under 45 minutes. There is nothing else like it on Shem Creek. Read the rest here 16:32
Field Hearing Highlights Draconian Rejection of Science, Local Stakeholder Input with National Park Service’s Plan for Biscayne Bay
Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Small Business Committee held a joint field hearing in Homestead, Florida, on the National Park Service’s (NPS) General Management Plan (GMP) for Biscayne National Park released in June 2015. The GMP, which includes a Marine Reserve Zone (MRZ) that would be closed to all commercial and recreational fishing, conflicts with the position of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the recommendations of the park’s own stakeholder working group. Read the rest here 16:06
ASMFC Summer Meeting – August 4-6, 2015 – Alexandria, Virginia, Listen LIVE!
The ASMFC is holding it’s Summer meeting in Alexandria, Va. Issue’s: American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Action, Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan for Final Approval Final Action , Atlantic Striped Bass, Atlantic Menhaden, and more. Click here to listen to the meeting live Click here to review the final agenda.
Shem Creek shrimpers grapple with impending life raft requirement
With an online effort to collect $30,000 to purchase life rafts for Shem Creek’s shrimpers stalled out around the $2500 mark. Matthew Hooper of the USCG’s Charleston sector says he’s not aware of any Shem Creek boats equipped with life rafts; Shem Creek Fisheries estimates the rafts cost about $3000 each.According to Brunson, the fee represents another hardship for local shrimpers who’ve struggled to stay in business in the face of international competition; meager harvests and the demise of area processors. Read the rest here 11:16
Three Lobster fishermen convicted of robbing lobster traps and possession of undersized lobsters sentenced
Three fishermen convicted of robbing lobster traps and possession of undersized lobsters in June stemming from their September 2011 arrest were banned from commercial lobster fishing for life and two of them were given prison time. The captain of the Marathon-based commercial lobster fishing vessel Classy Lady, Nelson Rojas, was convicted of trap molesting, tampering, possession of undersized lobster and interference with a conservation officer, according to court records. Read the rest here 11:17
Trident Seafoods officially opens $40m East Coast plant, which is expected to employ 175 workers
Seattle, Washington-based Trident Seafoods on Thursday officially opened the company’s $40 million value-added processing and research and development plant in Carrollton, Georgia, the company said. The plant comes as the company said it intends to grow business in the eastern United States. With an 88,000-square-foot manufacturing floor, 18,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of support area, the plant will produce seafood products cut from pollock, cod, salmon, halibut, tilapia, sole and mahi mahi. Read the rest here 13:31
Making the Seas Safer for Fishermen
After Congress passed the 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act, which updated fishing industry safety standards for the first time since 1988, activists like Bartlett were grateful their concerns were being taken seriously: Life rafts would be improved, safety training would become mandatory for fishing captains, and new boats would be built to standards set and verified by independent third parties called “class societies.” But almost five years after the law’s passage, the Coast Guard has yet to translate many of its requirements into enforceable rules. Read the rest here 17:57
Florida Fish and Wildlife arrest Four men for Fishery Violations
“These individuals knew exactly what they were doing. They built their vessels specifically to hide fish, and we knew that,” Pino said. “The level of disregard for Florida’s natural resources and the fact that these individuals just chose to violate the law, blatantly, is astonishing to even the most senior investigator that we had on the case.” The investigation targeted Vazquez Acosta and the owner of the second boat, 43-year-old Jorge L. Escalona. The FWC had received tips about illegal activity, all of which Pino said was confirmed by the arrests Saturday. Read the rest here 17:38
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Affected fishermen frustrated with proposed regulations
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is collecting feedback from dozens of fishing areas from Florida up to North Carolina about the snapper-grouper fishery. “We want some controversial items that are opposed by nearly all fishermen removed, like catch shares, which is an effort to privatize the fishery, electronic monitoring of a vessel, and more closed fishing areas,” said Tom Swatzel, a council member with Sustainable Fishing. “We just don’t need those at this time.” “How much consideration was put in about what we the fishermen Read the rest here 13:05
SAFMC Snapper-Grouper Vision Project hearings in SC and GA next week – Be heard on this very important plan.
A reminder of the important public hearings next week in South Carolina and Georgia on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s snapper-grouper Vision Project. This long-term snapper-grouper management plan, which was promised by the SAFMC to be “stakeholder-driven,” contains measures that are overwhelmingly opposed by stakeholders: catch share programs for both commercial and for-hire fishermen that will privatize the fishery, expensive and burdensome vessel electronic monitoring for all fishermen, and more closed fishing areas. South Carolina, and Georgia schedules, locations, webinar info click here 16:24
Plan to privatize snapper-grouper fishery ownership off southeastern states blasted by fishing advocacy group
Tom Swatzel says the SAFMC has purposely not used the controversial phrase “catch shares” in the plan, but instead has used less understood terminology for catch shares such as “sector share management system,” “individual quota management system,” “individual quota programs,” “sector share programs/cooperatives,” “individual quotas,” and “allocations by permit.” “It’s very troubling the SAFMC would resort to using code-speak for catch shares instead of being up front with fishermen about the fact that catch share programs are indeed in the plan,” Swatzel said. Read the rest here 11:07
Florida Congressional Offices Want To Block Biscayne National Park’s Fisheries Plan
A challenge to Biscayne National Park’s efforts to improve the health of their fisheries has been mounted by three of Florida’s congressional representatives, including one who has drafted legislation to require state approval before the National Park Service moves to restrict commercial or recreational fishing access in areas of the Great Lakes or U.S. marine waters that it oversees. “We feel that both of these measures are ridiculous and entirely unnecessary,” Caroline McLaughlin, NPCA’s Biscayne program analyst, said Friday. Read the rest here 08:58
