Daily Archives: April 5, 2013
Asian American Fishermen Accuse BP of Discrimination
NEW ORLEANS (CN) – Half of the commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico are Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans, but BP discriminated against them during the oil spill cleanup by hiring only 7 percent of boats in its Vessels of Opportunity program from them, 55 fishermen claim in court. Before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, “the Gulf Coast seafood industry was a vibrant and lucrative business employing more than 213,000 people and producing continued
My Turn: Support reductions of Chinook salmon bycatch By Gary Ault and Eric Jordan
Juneau Empire – Alaska’s king salmon are facing troubled times. Returns to state rivers stretching from Cook Inlet to the Yukon have been much lower than needed to sustain the health of runs that support commercial, sport and subsistence fisheries. continued
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council creates electronic monitoring working group, takes final action on flatfish flexibility, AFA vessel replacement
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council created a taskforce to discuss electronic monitoring as an option for marine observation today after significant public testimony and deliberations. continued
The council agreed to provide Amendment 80 cooperatives and Community Development Quota entities with some flexibility in its flatfish harvest each year. In another action, the council decided that American Fisheries Act, or AFA, vessel owners can rebuild or replace their vessels and still utilize Gulf of Alaska sideboards, subject to certain restrictions. In both cases, the motions for action passed unanimously. continued
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
The “blame it all on fishing” management philosophy “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” (A. Maslow, 1966, The Psychology of Science)
NILS STOLPE Fishnet USA – 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
New Seafood Board has Big Job Representing $2.4 Billion Industry
by Springfield Lewis/Louisiana Seafood News – The 12 new members of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board inherit an organization proven many times over as an advocate for the state’s commercial fishing community – in good times and especially bad. They begin their terms representing six distinct industries: crab, finfish, oysters, shrimp, alligator and crawfish. And as diverse as those industries might be, the board’s overall effectiveness will come down to its ability to work together to benefit the entire community of 12,000+ fishermen. continued
More Seal Issues from the other side – Grey seals robbing Danish fishermen of their livelihood
FishUpdate.com – From southern Zealand it is reported that 60-70 per cent of the cod is now either being torn out of the nets by seals or they are being mutilated, which means they cannot be landed or sold. In other places up to 30 per cent of the cod is being bitten or mutilated. continued
China’s fishing numbers don’t add up, UBC researcher Pauly says
But the impact of that wasn’t known until Daniel Pauly at the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Centre used a statistical technique known as the Monte Carlo method to determine unreported catch data. A spokesman for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which gathers and reports international fishing catch statistics, has criticized the study continued
NOAA’s Fisheries Service Seeks Comments on Proposal to List Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks under Endangered Species Act
WASHINGTON, April 4 — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued the following news release: NOAA’s Fisheries Service, in response to a petition submitted by the WildEarth Guardians and Friends of Animals is proposing to list four populations of scalloped hammerhead sharks under the Endangered Species Act, two as threatened and two as endangered. continued
Research questions need for Ottawa to streamline environmental assessments
De Kerckhove, a University of Toronto PhD candidate, analyzed 10 years worth of data from Department of Fisheries and Oceans annual reports on the progress of environmental assessments triggered under the Fisheries Act. That legislation generates more such reviews than almost any other — anywhere from 7,700 to more than 12,000 in a single year. His paper, published last month in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Acquatic Sciences, found that simple reviews in which impacts on fish habitat could be fixed were completed within months, 19 times out of 20. continued
N.L. snow crab fishery news from DFO
ote on MSC, 60 Massachusetts Lawmakers urge Governor Patrick to seek fishing aid from Obama, his personal friend from their Chicago days
A group of more than 60 state lawmakers, including many with districts far from the sea, asked Gov. Deval Patrick Thursday to appeal directly to President Obama, his personal friend from their Chicago days, to grant emergency relief from impending cutbacks in commercial fishery landings widely feared to render the commercial fishing industry “non-viable.”President Obama has kept a stony silence in the face of the growing crisis once he appointed Lubchenco to administer the nation’s oceans and fisheries. And he failed to respond to requests for her dismissal from Reps. Barney Frank, John Tierney, Walter Jones and Sen. Scott Brown. Frank, now retired, and Tierney, whose district includes Gloucester, are Democrats. Jones, who represents the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Brown, defeated last November by Democrat Elizabeth Warren, are Republicans. continued
A Community Fishery Starts In Montauk
New York Sea Grant, based in Riverhead, has been advocating the new wrinkle on the old fish business, and in Montauk, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk is helping to research successful community-supported fisheries endeavors elsewhere in the country to see if they might apply here. continued
New Jersey Fisherman Josh Catlett missing after F/V Linda Claire suddenly rolled over. Acts of Heroism, Search suspended – Video
It was 8:45 a.m. Thursday when the Linda Claire, a 44-foot commercial boat, started taking on water about six miles west of Cape May Point and capsized, sending the three men on board into the bay. Fishermen from a the F/V Sandra Lee and another boat, F/V Katherine Brown, were able to rescue two of the men: 25-year-old David Wood and 27-year-old Chris Serra. “I said a prayer to God. It’s a dangerous life, we take that risk, I’m sorry,” said fisherman Robert Brown. continued
Frosh bill banning shark fin trade passes both Maryland chambers (filed under “another dumb politician”)
Gazette.Net – “We have a global problem. We have a problem in the Chesapeake Bay, because sharks are being killed just for their fins in many places in the world,” Frosh said. “This is a bill that takes a small step toward fixing that.” continued
Campaign seeks veto or red-drum restrictions
ATLANTA — A small but determined effort is under way to convince Gov. Nathan Deal to veto legislation that would protect the red drum, or redfish, from commercial fishing. continued
BP: Chef Folse’s company not a seafood processor, shouldn’t get claim money
BP is arguing that Chef John Folse & Co. is not a seafood processor at all — and therefore should not get the millions of dollars a court-appointed claims administrator recently awarded it to cover its spill-related losses. BP complains that these claimants, mostly in non-Gulf-related industries like farming, construction and professional services, are being paid millions for “fictitious losses.” continued
U.S. plans to stay out of dispute over elvers
A top federal fisheries official says the government has no plan to intervene in a dispute between Maine and the Passamaquoddy Tribe over the harvesting of elvers, even though the tribe has issued so many permits that it put Maine in violation of federal standards. continued
