Daily Archives: January 29, 2013
Fishing was his life…and his death. Fisherman Peter Stilwell, Pompano Beach, Fla.
After a painful recovery from a bacterial infection that nearly killed him, Peter Stilwell told his family in Pompano Beach he was finally ready to go back to sea and his first love: the deep-water hunt for swordfish.”He wanted to get his life back,” said Martin Stilwell, who dropped his 55-year-old brother at the train station last week so he could join the crew of a commercial longlining boat at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. “He had fishing in his blood.”But on his first day back at work in what is ranked as the nation’s most-dangerous profession, Stilwell disappeared without a life jacket from the deck of the 57-foot Fine Tuna. Read more
UPDATED – Ex-AG Harshbarger report clears fisheries group, but raises questions By Richard Gaines
A 48-page report released today by a former state attorney general has found allegations of wrongdoing by Vito Giacalone in his role heading the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund “without merit” and with no “credible 
basis.”,,,,The investigation and report, filled with compliments and praise for Giacalone, in one place noting that his many admirers consider him a “genius” of foresight, was commissioned and financed by the preservation fund, for which Giacalone serves as president and executive director. Read more Todays Update January 30, 2013 Read more
Virginia Delegates pass bill to reduce menhaden harvest; 25 jobs at risk
Delegates voted unanimously Monday to reduce the commercial catch of Atlantic menhaden in Virginia waters by 20 percent, mirroring similar action last week in the Senate. Read more
Seasonal Prohibition on Fishing Grouper in Caribbean Federal Waters
US – NOAA Fisheries reminds the public there is a seasonal prohibition on fishing for or possession of red, black, tiger, yellowfin, and 
in Caribbean federal waters from 12:01 a.m., local time, 1 February through 30 April, 2013. This prohibition on possession does not apply to such grouper harvested and landed on shore prior to the closure. Read more
Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga wants fishing in research zone of National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa.
Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has asked the US Department of Commerce to allow bottom fishing in one of the two areas of Aunu’u that is now part of the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. His request was made in a letter to Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank. Specifically, Lolo is requesting changes to the two areas of Aunu’u that’s now part of the sanctuary. Read more
A desperate try to restock the Potomac’s sturgeon
Believe it or not, there’s a Chesapeake Bay fish in even worse shape than the recovering striped bass, the troubled blue crab and even the imperiled bay oyster. The Atlantic sturgeon, pushed to the brink of extinction by overfishing and development, is little more than a memory in the Potomac River, ready for a spot in a museum. Read more, and treat yourself to the Wapo comments.
Crippling ‘reality’ arrives for New England fishermen
The few fishermen who still ply New England’s waters for cod, haddock and other groundfish are bracing for a double dose of bad news this week…..as expected, slash already reduced catch limits by another 70 percent to 80 percent to protect fish populations that scientists now say are much smaller than previously thought….”If the collective goal is to rebuild stocks … then if we don’t start looking at the causes of the problem, we are not going to find a solution.”…..”I don’t know why we should believe the science when three years ago they said the stocks were rebuilding,” Read more
A Must Read – Common-sense fisheries oversight needed By Daniel Goethel. “Extinction”
As the debate looms over whether Gulf of Maine cod catch limits for 2013 and beyond should be cut by 90 percent or a mere 80 percent, I found myself drawn to a piece of writing that I submitted as part of my college applicatio
n in 2002. Dramatically enough, it was titled “Extinction” and recapped my naive first 18 years of life as part of a small-boat New England fishing family. The essay started ominously enough by stating that “every year, New England’s fleet shrinks and approaches extinction.” Typically enough, for a pro-fisherman piece, it bashed government science for using incorrect data and ignoring fishermen’s observations, while bemoaning the days of 30-pound trip limits. However, it ended on a cautiously optimistic note highlighting the then-recent increase in cod trip limits to 400 pounds a day.
Looking back at this work, written more than a decade ago, I am dumbfounded to see that New England groundfish management has once again regressed. Today, I am deep into my pursuit of a PhD in fisheries stock assessment,,,,,,,,Read the rest
