Daily Archives: October 13, 2012
Stone crab season to help commercial fishermen – MARATHON, Fla – WTSP.com
MARATHON, Fla. (AP) – Florida’s commercial fishermen are hoping winter visitors will flock to the Sunshine State for stone crab season. Gary Graves is vice president of Keys Fisheries, the largest processor of the crab’s tasty claws in the Florida Keys. He says a strong winter tourism season for the state normally translates into higher fiscal yields for the commercial fishing industry. Read More
http://www.wtsp.com/news/florida/article/278047/19/Stone-crab-season-to-help-commercial-fishermen
From Surf to Serfdom – By Kenneth Levin Frontpagemag.com
Unemployment in my home state of Massachusetts is less than the national average. In August, it stood at 6.3% compared to 8.1% nationally.
The state benefits from very robust high-tech sectors. But, of course, low-tech industries also figure in its economy.
Particularly hard hit among the latter in the current downturn has been the state’s large fishing industry. Its problems, and the plight of workers dependent on fishing for their livelihood,
are illustrative both of the general difficulties of the economy across the country and of ways in which specific Obama administration policies have compounded the overall decline. ,,,Read More
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/kenneth-levin/from-surf-to-serfdom/
Fisherynation thanks Ray Lamont, Editor, Gloucester Daily Times
Ray, thank you for keeping this obscene issue in the mainstream in the persuit of justice.
October 13, 2012
Why Did My Newspaper Do That? Keeping up pressure — and coverage — of overdue report
Why Did My Newspaper Do That? Ray LamontGloucester Daily TimesThe Gloucester Daily TimesSat Oct 13, 2012, 12:00 AM EDT
Our front page today includes a story about the latest update regarding the so-called second Swartwood report — essentially the findings of an in-depth look by a special investigator into some 66 cases of alleged abuse and excessive enforcement by NOAA policing personnel against New England and other Northeast fishermen. By my count, and according to our archives, this is the 16th news story on the report, which was completed and submitted to the Department of Commerce in March. And there have been a handful of editorials about its status as well. Yet the basic core nugget of news is the same – that Commerce officials still have not released the report, and will not provide a time frame for when they will. So is it really news? If there is, on the most basic level, no hard news to update, is it even worth updating? Why, you might ask, would your community’s newspaper keep doing that?,,,,,,,,,,,,Read More
Tierney pushes for shielded NOAA report- Kerry said he “has been assured” the administration is working to bring out Swartwood II. Yeah, right.
Congressman John Tierney Friday pressed Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank to release what is widely believed within industry and legal circles to be an explosive set of 66 case studies into possible law enforcement abuses of the fishing industry completed and delivered by a special judicial master nearly seven months ago……..A week ago, a spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry said he “has been assured” the administration is working to bring out Swartwood II out at the earliest possible date” after making sure it is “comprehensive.”http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1684126211/Tierney-pushes-for-shielded-NOAA-report
Northeast Seafood Coalition issues statement on Accumulation Caps, Fleet Diversity, and “Amendment 18” – savingseafood.org
NSC believes any and all groundfish management measures must be highly sensitive to the potential for unintended consequences to all segments of this fragile fishery.
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) October 12, 2012 — On Wednesday, October 10, the Gloucester Daily Times reported that “NOAA’s regional administrator, joined by the Environmental Defense Fund,
the Pew Environment Group, the North Atlantic Marine Alliance and Food & Water Watch, is supporting a belated effort by the federal government to limit the accumulation of catch shares and thus provide
safeguards to smaller independent boats in the Northeast groundfishery…”