October 23, 2012 – fisherynation.com

Daily Archives: October 23, 2012

BP asks for Gulf spill deal ok despite objections – calls for BP to pay $2.3 billion for seafood-related claims by commercial fishing vessel owners, captains and deckhands

October 23, 2012 National

IT AIN”T ENOUGH! Nov. 1 is the opt-out deadline. BP says only a minuscule percentage of eligible claimants have asked to be excluded so far. The settlement calls for BP to pay $2.3 billion for seafood-related claims by commercial fishing vessel owners, captains and deckhands. Several objectors argued the seafood program doesn’t adequately account for uncertain future risks to Gulf fisheries. “The continuing decline of the fisheries and the possibility of a fishery collapse or closure expose commercial fishermen to significant future risk,” wrote an advocacy group called Gulf Organized Fisheries in Solidarity & Hope, or GO FISH. BP countered that objections about the seafood program are based on “anecdotal and unreliable evidence, unsubstantiated allegations, and mere speculation.” The agreement also calls for paying medical claims by cleanup workers and others who say they suffered illnesses from exposure to the oil or chemicals used to disperse it.http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/bp-asks-for-gulf-spill-deal-ok-despite-objections/article_252e8b63-6f76-5634-ac42-268af12fb3f1.html

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Scientists offer tips for Alaska king salmon study – Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

October 23, 2012 North Pacific

Oct 23, 2012 ANCHORAGE, Alaska – State fisheries biologists planning research to determine the cause for Alaska’s poor king salmon returns were urged to focus studies on near-shore marine waters and the human effects on the fish.

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Canada Plan to cull 70,000 grey seals gets Senate panel’s approval.

October 23, 2012 Uncategorized

The Senate’s fisheries committee has endorsed a contentious cull of 70,000 grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence over a four-year period, in a bid to conserve cod stocks. But critics say that plans for a cull have been driven by politics, not science.

A group of marine biologists at Dalhousie University in Halifax issued an open letter last fall that said a cull could produce unintended consequences, including further depletion of the cod. (now THAT makes alotta sense!!!) One cannot credibly predict from a science perspective whether a cull of grey seals would have a positive impact on cod or negative impact on cod … or no impact whatsoever,” he said. (I’m thinkin’ outside the box. It’ll help the cod!)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/10/23/nl-senate-grey-seals-cull-1023.html

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Salmon won’t be getting help from Delta gates, This year the gates will not be closed.

October 23, 2012 National

Water diversion gates in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta near Walnut Grovewill not be closed this month to assist migrating salmon, as they were last year. The Delta Cross Channel Gates, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, were built in 1953. They are typically open in fall to divert fresh water from the Sacramento River to the interior of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This reduces the salinity of water exported from the Delta for urban and farm use. In recent years, concern has emerged that salmon migrating upstream to spawn in the Mokelumne River are disoriented by flows diverted through the gates and often end up spawning in the wrong stream. So the gates were closed last year for 10 days in October, which may have contributed to a rebound in salmon production at the Mokelumne River Hatchery, operated by the state Department of Fish and Game.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/23/4930924/salmon-wont-be-getting-help-from.html

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Scraping the Seafloor Smooth,impact of bottom trawling. The New York Times

October 23, 2012 National

Click the link in the article for a study conducted by somebody. A real sleeper. These people will not rest until fishermen are eradicated.

It is hard to grasp just how industrialized commercial fishing has become. You may know about the problems inherent in fish farming. You may have read some of the stunning accounts of work aboard the factory ships that catch, process and freeze fish. But there is no better way to grasp the scale of industrial fishing than to consider the impact of bottom trawling. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/opinion/industrialized-fishing-scrapes-the-seafloor-smooth.html?_r=1

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Economic relief needed for fishermen – US Senator Jeanne Shaheen

October 23, 2012 New England

In recent years, New Hampshire fishermen have seen their incomes decline as federal regulations designed to end overfishing have limited the amount of fish they can catch. To make matters worse, these often-onerous regulations haven’t helped the cod population rebound as expected. In fact, a 2011 scientific study by the National Marine Fisheries Service found so few codfish in the Gulf of Maine that the quota for the upcoming fishing year must be set extremely low — so low that it jeopardizes the survival of New Hampshire’s fishing industry. The Survey SUCKS!BH

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121021-OPINION-210210309

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Ocean Resource Privatization

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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