Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative – Check it out before NOAA WIPES IT OUT!
The Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative was founded in 1990 to meet the needs of the local NH fishing community. The Co-op’s sixty plus members consist of ground-fishermen (catching cod, Pollock, haddock, flounder, etc.), lobstermen, lobstermen, and shrimpers.
YFC will be offering shares for the upcoming Northern Shrimp season. As a participant in the community supported fishery, you will support ecologically minded New Hampshire commercial fishermen and sustainably wild caught shrimp. Your shrimp will also carry the NH Fresh and Local brand which ensures that it was landed in NH and is the freshest available.
Rumor about ending commercial fishing addressed; hundreds show up – More than 100 fisherman showed up
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – More than 100 fisherman showed up Wednesday at the Division of Marine Fisheries over a misleading message…..
They all thought the board was going to vote to end commercial fishing,
but that was not the case….Shrimpers also felt the issue of ending commercial fishing was something that would soon be brought up and when it does, they are all going to fight it.
http://www.wect.com/story/19589863/rumor-about-ending-commercial-fishing-hundreds-show-up
Long-term fisheries sustainability discussed at NAFO annual meeting
RUSSIAN FEDERATION Friday, September 21, 2012, 01:10 (GMT + 9)
The 34th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) being held this week in St. Petersburg is taking place to make decisions on the long-term sustainability of Northwest Atlantic fish stocks and to look into ways to step up the protection of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems, based on the scientific advice and the recommendations of a dedicated Working Group within NAFO.
Pacific Oyster Genome Shows Stress Adaptation And Complexity Of Shell Formation- Brett Smith for redOrbit.com
Some proteins such as Laminin and different collagens were highly expressed in shells, suggesting some relation to animal connective tissues.
MD’s Crab Harvest Leads Nation – WBAL News
Maryland’s crab harvest last year led the nation. That’s according to figures released Wednesday by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
http://www.wbal.com/article/94116/2/template-story/MDs-Crab-Harvest-Leads-Nation
Abundance of Squid Leads to New Commercial Fishery in Maine – mpbn
The changing climate may be responsible for the emergence of a new commercial fishery in Maine. Earlier in the summer we heard a lot about the abundance of early-appearing soft-shelled lobster. Well, the warmer months also bought a lot of squid into Maine waters — much more than usual.http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/23770/Default.
Fishermen fight NOAA penalty for accidental catch of porpoises – Bullard Meets NH Fishermen –
PORTSMOUTH — Seacoast-area fishermen told new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Administrator John Bullard on Wednesday that a pending “consequence closure” of a section of the Gulf of Maine could spell the end of the fi,,,,,,,,,Read More http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120913-NEWS-209130409
Are You Confident in NOAA/NMFS Trawl Surveys?
Are you confident in these government agency’s suedo scientific trawl surveys?
At 2:05.00 Russ Brown, Deputy Science and Resource Director of
the Northeast Regional Science Center gets invited to address Mr. Kendalls
questions by Dr Chris Legualt. He was also the lead scientist fot the ECO
SYSTEM SURVEY BRANCH, explains why they are using the gear they are using on Bigelow.
They went through a six year advisory process which included stake holders to get the right gear for surveys,
consulting with industry, the NEFMC, Mid Atlantic FMC, along with key academic stakeholders,
(whoever they are), professors who study fish behavior, and fishing gear, and things like that. Things like that? Fishing gear?
The group then decided what the objective would be, including the protocols to be used on the vessel itself.
He goes on to say,”The Center is conducting an ECO SYSTEM SURVEY.” “A multi specie survey that is not targeting any single specie,
but the objectives of the group was to design a survey to sample a variety of habitats, a variety of species, a variety of sizes within those species,
to really get a picture of what the eco system looks like.
“When you design a survey like that, there are a lot of trade offs you need to make in terms of spatially where you sample,
the types of gear you’re using, etc.”
Trade off’s? In like not collecting the data needed to sample abundance?
Fisherman survives day at sea adrift in fish bin, “I’m Ryan Hunter Harris and I’m not going to die here.”
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A fisherman who spent a night adrift in a 4-by-4 foot plastic fish bin after his boat sank off Alaska says he gave himself pep talksand sang
“Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” to keep his spirits up.
His fellow crewmember managed to get into a survival suit and washed ashore on a beach after his own night afloat.
A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted Ryan Harris, 19, of Sitka, from his plastic “lifeboat” on Saturday,
more than 24 hours after the boat sank on Friday, the Daily Sitka Sentinel (http://is.gd/bgoPcT) reported Monday.
Two hours before Harris’ rescue, crewmate Stonie “Mac” Huffman of Sitka was rescued from a beach about 25 miles northwest of Sitka.
Industry silenced locals on coastal planning- “onslaught of massive, unplanned development from federal Outer Continental Shelf oil leasing” By LISA WEISSLER
In developing Alaska’s coastal management program, it soon became clear that coastal communities wanted an effective voice in decisions that could affect their livelihood and quality of life. They wanted a program that would accommodate the great variation in Alaska’s coastal resources and uses. They wanted local control. Read more
Kodiak memorial held for lost fisherman
KODIAK, Alaska – As mourners prepared to release balloons into the air above Kodiak on Wednesday, the clouds parted and the rain stopped. Then, incredibly, a rainbow appeared.
It was a perfect ending to the memorial service for Jaime Gallegos, 31, who disappeared at sea after the fishing vessel Advantage sank on Friday. Three other men were rescued from the Advantage, but one, boat captain Leif Bolan, died after the rescue. The family of Leif Bolan announced that a memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday in St. James the Fisherman Episcopal Church in Kodiak..
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – Kodiak memorial held for lost fisherman
Fed probe of NOAA rules due in November – By Richard Gaines GloucesterTimes.com
The U.S. Commerce Department’s inspector general expects to make public in November a procedural review of how NOAA and its regional fishery management councils make rules governing the fishing industry. 
The review of procedures that go into the setting rules and regulations for fisheries was undertaken in January at the request of Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, and amid concerns that non-governmental environmental organizations were given undue influence over fisheries mandates and limits.
“Our review of fishery management councils and rulemaking will be conducted in phases and result in interim reports produced at several intervals,” said Ann C. Eilers, the principal assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, in a release dated Jan. 10. “In this phase of the review, we will evaluate the role of NOAA and the fishery management councils in the fishery rulemaking process and the transparency of the rulemaking process.”
”We are anticipating having a report ready for the public in November,” Clark Reed, spokesman for the inspector general, said Friday in a telephone interview.
The impetus for the request by Tierney and Frank, they said in a letter to Inspector General Todd Zinser dated Aug. 17, 2011, was the “high degree of mistrust” that existed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its subsidiary agencies by the fishing industry. Read more http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1709876008/Fed-probe-of-NOAA-rules-due-in-November
Bay Area enviros target use of drift gill nets – litigation threat from Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network
SANTA CRUZ – Calling them “curtains of death,” Bay Area environmentalists have put the federal government on notice that they intend to sue to halt the controversial use of drift gill nets for commercial fishing. Sometimes more than a mile long, the nets are used in the waters off California to catch shark and swordfish. But because they can sweep up unintended catch – including rare and endangered species such as sperm whales and leatherback sea turtles – environmentalists have long criticized their use. “Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is eliminate drift gill nets from being used off the California coast altogether,” said Dr. Geoff Shester, California program director for Monterey-based Oceana. “These are the lions and tigers of our blue Serengeti, but here we are allowing this fishery to continue.” The litigation threat comes from Oceana and the San Francisco-based Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network – groups that have pushed aggressively for everything from fishery changes to marine habitat protections to designation of the endangered leatherbacks as California’s official marine reptile. In operation since 1980, the drift gill net fishery has long been under fire from environmentalists. While allowed under federal law, both Oregon and Washington have banned them along their coasts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was too early to comment on the potential suit, which would be filed under the Endangered Species Act. “We’re still evaluating it,” NOAA spokesman Jim Milburn said. In announcing the suit, environmentalists said they are concerned that two endangered sperm whales were caught by a drift gill net in December 2010. Based on,,,,,,,,Read More http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_21483913/bay-area-enviros-target-use-drift-gill-nets
Reduce commercial fishing permits through attrition – J.B. Friderici – Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Wasilla, Alaska
Posted: Thursday, September 6, 2012 9:40 pm To the editor:
The Aug. 24, 2012, edition of the Frontiersman published a column by Howard Delo about fishing and the lack of Cook Inlet salmon. His conclusion that the Cook Inlet commercial fishing industry is over-capitalized is correct. I agree that the reduction in the number of permits is desirable. Rather than a permit buyback program, we should seek other ways to reduce the number of permits. A buyback program implies fisherman have property rights in permits. This is not correct since under the Alaska Constitution the fish belong in common to the people of the state of Alaska. Commercial fishermen are not entitled a preference over other Alaskans, to say nothing of the permits held by non-Alaskans. We should make permits nontransferable. We should institute a requirement that a permit be fished each year with some minimum catch and enforce the requirement the permit holder be on the vessel while fishing. The only penalty for violation is cancellation of the permit. This would reduce the number of permits through attrition without anyone getting paid. J.B. Friderici Willow
Washington State Awarded $22 Million for Salmon Recovery – Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund
OLYMPIA – The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board has received a $22 million federal grant to continue the state’s salmon recovery efforts in Washington. “A healthy Washington state economy is reliant on healthy salmon populations,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “Salmon support jobs and small businesses – especially our mom-and-pop tackle shops, restaurants, fishing guides and hotels. This grant not only will help Washington keep people employed, it will help our efforts to restore and protect our natural resources, making Washington a better place for all of us to live.” Of the $22 million, $15 million will be awarded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board as competitive grants for projects statewide that will restore and protect the rivers, streams and bays that salmon need to recover. “The grant process is very competitive and works from the ground up,” said Kaleen Cottingham, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office, which administers the federal grant and supports the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. “Local communities wrote salmon recovery plans, which were approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Local watershed groups, called lead entities, select projects based on the priorities in those plans and community needs. State scientists review the projects to make sure they will be effective. The process helps us ensure we are investing in projects that will do the most to recover salmon.” Read more http://www.lakestevensjournal.com/county-state/article.exm/2012-09-06_washington_state_awarded__22_million_for_salmon_recovery
The federal Department of Commerce’s NOAA administers the fund and will competitively award the $65 million for Fiscal Year 2012 among the states of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and California, and to the west coast tribes.
“We are pleased to continue this investment in salmon recovery in the Northwest,” said Will Stelle, NOAA’s Northwest regional administrator. “In addition to improving our environment, salmon restoration projects generate jobs on par with dollars spent on infrastructure projects like roads and highways.”
BP to investigate new tar balls, oil on Louisiana coast – By Jimmy Isaac
GRAND ISLE, La. (CNN) – BP said Wednesday it is heading to the Louisiana coast to test whether tar balls and oil found on shore after Hurricane Isaac are from the company’s 2010 Gulf oil spill. State officials reported tar balls and a large oil mat along the Gulf shore south of New Orleans, and the U.S. Coast Guard reported finding three oiled birds in the area on Monday. BP spokesman Ray Melick said the area is one where BP teams were already helping with cleanup from the 2010 spill before Isaac arrived. As soon as they’re given the all-clear, they will return to do more cleanup and test whether the new oil is from their spill or another source. “There’s a lot of oil out there that may not be ours,” Melick said. The area is near Fourchon Beach and Grand Isle. Certain areas are still closed to recreational and commercial fishing because of the BP spill, state officials said. People on Grand Isle said they were hopeful Isaac would stir up the waters and move leftover oil out of the area so it could help revive the fishing waters off the coast http://www.cbs19.tv/story/19475707/bp-to-investigate-new-tar-balls-oil-on-louisiana-coast
Apalachicola Bay-Franklin County Oysterman: “We’re going to lose everything we’ve ever worked for”
“I don’t know how families are going to survive,” said his wife and fellow oysterman, Betty Shiver. For the oystering couple, making a decent living these days seems down right impossible. They say the Apalachicola Bay, known for its big beautiful oysters, isn’t producing. The cause? Perhaps a lack of fresh water, over harvesting, or even possible remnants of the BP oil spill. They just don’t know, but their situation grows dire. “A lot of people, all they do is depend on this bay out here oystering and if it’s not here they can’t make it, and it’s not here and everybody knows it’s not here,” said Mr. Shiver. Read More
News analysis: More NOAA appeal talk fails truth test ! (who knew?!) CLF Shyster in Denial.(yeah.that too.)
By Richard Gaines, Heading altered by Bore Head
The lead attorney for the government was not the only one whose statements before the second highest court in the land this week ran contrary to documented evidence.
Justice Department lawyer Joan Pepin, defending the legality of the federal government’s conversion of the Northeast groundfishery into a commodities market, was joined in that realm by her co-counsel, Peter Shelley, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation.
Appearing Wednesday in Boston before the First U.S. Court of Appeals, Pepin introduced a claim — contradicted by records and comments from the New England Fishery Management Council — that federal fishery regulators had already put into place a system to prevent industry consolidation that would destabilize the way of life and underlying culture of the ports, Gloucester and New Bedford and beyond from New Hampshire to North Carolina. A check of record and talks with council officials confirmed that’s not the case, as the Times reported Friday.
Following Pepin, Shelley said the New England Fishery Management Council, the arm of the federal fishery regulatory system, had adopted fishery consolidation as its official policy.
But Patricia Fiorelli, spokeswoman for the council — a part-time, 16-member panel charged with researching and writing policies for approval by the federal government — said Friday that “the council does not have a policy supporting consolidation.”
Shelley’s argument to the three-judge panel on Wednesday also condescended to scoff at concerns held and expressed by many plaintiffs — including Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, former New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney and others — that major environmentally-rooted nonprofits and foundations, including the Walton Family Foundation, which operates as an adjunct to and with endowment from Wal-Mart, had gained improper influence over federal fisheries polices.
“The plaintiffs (believe),” Shelley argued, “(that) some dark force of privatization was at work — nothing could be farther from the truth. This is not Wal-Mart vs. the corner pharmacy.”
Yet the common fear among many plaintiffs that Wal-Mart, through the Walton Family Foundation and in concert with a Wal-Mart corporate partner, the Environmental Defense Fund, has achieved a controlling position in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is grounded in documented fact.
The catch share policy instituted by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco after her appointment by President Obama and confirmation in 2009 was precisely the policy that was advocated in a policy paper written in 2008 by Lubchenco and a team of scientists and politicians. And The Walton Foundation was lead underwriter for the paper, “Oceans of Abundance,” which warned that overfishing was so depleting the oceans that jellyfish would be masters of the seas by the
middle of this century.
Lubchenco at the time was vice chairwoman of EDF board of directors; the paper has since been widely discredited in both scientific and academic spheres.
One of the appeal plaintiffs’ attorneys, Gloucester fisheries lawyer Stephen Ouellette, alluded to the concern across the industry that the catch share system creates a business model that invites external investment. The worry, he said, is over the future erosion of the local ownership feature that has defined the groundfishery for centuries.
“There is a large political movement seeking to force a catch share system on all the fisheries,” Ouellette said. READ MORE!
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x550068870/News-analysis-More-NOAA-appeal-talk-fails-truth-test
Tina Jackson AAFC Running for District 36 RI Seat
Small boat fisherman and advocate for the fishing industry, Tina Jackson President of American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities, is running for election in Rhode Island as the District 36 State Representative seat.
She’ a tough, honest, strong willed woman that has been a staunch advocate for fishermen everywhere.
From her web site:
Presently, I am a small boat fisherman and advocate for the fishing industry. My experience on fishing boats during the past several years has introduced me to the over-regulation of the industry at both the state and federal level. To address these issues, I co-founded the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities (AAFC), which includes members from Maine to New Jersey. In this capacity, I research issues affecting the industry in great detail and testified before both Congress and the R.I. General Assembly. My principal goal is to maintain and strengthen the independent small business structure of the R.I. fishing fleet. Many people may not realize the ripple effects, including the devastating job/revenue loss, caused by faulty science and government regulations on the vibrancy of our fishing communities. I have fought hard to keep these jobs in the Ocean State.
The issues facing the fishing industry are no different from the various challenges facing Rhode Island small businesses and individuals. To that end, I look forward to introducing myself to the voters of Block Island, Charlestown, South Kingstown, and Westerly. I want to hear from you about your concerns for our district and the Ocean State. I am eager to meet you and ask for your support in my effort to bring common sense, a fresh face and a new perspective to our General Assembly
