Monthly Archives: October 2012
Commerce head seeks ‘more info’ on NOAA probe
Acting Commerce Secretary Roberta Blank has asked her staff “to gather more information regarding issues identified” in the 554-page report on 66 case studies into alleged abuse of the fishing industry by NOAA law enforcers,
delivered about seven months about by Special Master Charles B. Swartwood III. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x964643670/Commerce-head-seeks-more-info-on-NOAA-probe
Study: Fraud growing in scientific research papers
WASHINGTON — Fraud in scientific research, while still rare, is growing at a troubling pace, a new study finds. A review of retractions in medical and biological peer-reviewed journals finds the percentage of studies withdrawn because of fraud or suspected fraud has jumped substantially since the mid-1970s. In 1976, there were fewer than 10 fraud retractions for every 1 million studies published, compared with 96 retractions per million in 2007.
Pot cod fishing dismal – Bristol Bay Times Pacific cod fishing in the Bering Sea
The Pacific cod fishing in the Bering Sea has been slow enough to make some pot-cod boats quit and wait for red king crab to open next month. Click Title to Leave a Comment!
“It was pretty bad. I’ve never given up on a cod season before, and I’ve given up on this one,” said Bob Perkey, captain of the fishing vessel Ramblin’ Rose. “It’s not worth it financially to keep fishing.”
Early results were only briefly promising, said deckhand Geno Holmes. “We were getting 40 to 70, and then it just dropped off cold. We were getting two, three, four fish in a pot,” Holmes said, adding that his boat was earning 29 cents per pound of cod. http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1239pod_cod_fishing_dismal
Gloucester fishermen in spotlight — again History Channel’s ‘Nor’easter Men’ debuts this week – By Nancy Gaines
The fish and fishing boats are fewer and farther between, but the media fascination with the nation’s oldest, imperiled industry is spawning like guppies.
In addition to “Wicked Tuna,” back for its second season on National Geographic TV, this fall’s small screen lineup includes a miniseries on the History Channel called “Nor’easter Men.”
The three-hour documentary follows four draggers out of New England ports, including one from Gloucester, Capt. Gus Sanfilippo’s 80-foot fishing vessel
The program debuts this Thursday from 9 p.m. to midnight.
The two cameramen who accompanied the crew “asked us to do a couple of things, but there was no script,” said crew member Sal Ciolino, “and they didn’t try to make us do anything that might get us hurt.
“But that time of year, we had some good weathers,” he added, meaning rough seas, “and it was real cold. All you can see of me is my eyeballs.”
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x708370797/Gloucester-fishermen-in-spotlight-again
Yellowtail flounder giveaway will not harm scallopers this year
The scallop fleet heaved a collective sigh of relief Friday when NOAA Fisheries announced the industry would not suffer for a good deed. Every year, groundfishermen and scallopers share the allowable catch of yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank. In June, to help groundfishermen struggling with low catch limits, the scallopers gave the dragger fleet 150 metric tons of yellowtail quota, half of their 2102 allocation. That equals more than 800,000 pounds of fish. Alarm bells began to ring when figures emerged showing the scallop fleet had taken about 136 metric tons of its remaining 150-ton allotment as of Wednesday — more than 90 percent — with five months remaining in the current fishing year. However, a NOAA Fisheries release Thursday eased fishermen’s concerns. The scallop fishery is exempted “from accountability measures for any Georges Bank yellowtail flounder catch below their initially allocated 2012 catch limit of 307.5 metric tons,” the press release said. Scallop boat captain Tom Quintin on the Patience said the news came as a relief to him. “I was just telling my boss we shouldn’t have given the yellowtail away when I heard we’d caught almost all of the quota,” he said. Boat owner Dan Eilertsen said the news was reassuring. “I have 13 trips left that I could have lost if they had shut us down. So I am glad to hear that,” he said. But Eilertsen, who owns the Liberty, Justice and Freedom, said scallopers would not have agreed to the transfer initially without assurances that it would not hurt them. “That’s what eased the deal,” he said. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120929/NEWS05/209290325/-1/SPECIAL77
9th Working Waterfront Festival winds down with blessing of fleet
NEW BEDFORD — With an invocation to “bless, preserve and protect” the city’s fishermen, the ninth annual Working Waterfront Festival wound down Sunday afternoon with its traditional blessing of the fleet ceremony.
The yearly festival takes over three piers each September to showcase the city’s commercial fishing industry and the people who work in it with boat tours, talks, music and even a fish cook-off between professional chefs. The festival’s theme this year was “fish tales,” and speakers were brought in to explain the facts and fictions, myths and legends of the ocean and the men who fish it, said Kirsten Bendiksen, associate festival director.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121001/NEWS/210010363
