Monthly Archives: September 2013
Record Breaking Salmon Harvest This Year in Alaska
The commercial salmon harvest this year in Alaska has set an all-time record due primarily to huge returns of pink salmon. The latest statewide total from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game puts this year’s salmon harvest at over 269-million fish. more@kdlg 15:08
Funding advances Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation research into new shrimp trawl design
The Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation will conduct research into the effectiveness and efficiency of a new shrimp trawl with assistance from the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial government. more@sou’wester 14:54
US Shrimpers get a Slap in the Face – Trade commission votes against countervailing duty on imported shrimp
Frozen shrimp imported from Ecuador, Vietnam, China, Malaysia and India does not pose a threat for the US domestic seafood industry, the International Trade Commission (ITC) determined in a final ruling last week. Therefore, countervailing duties will not be imposed on imports of shrimp from these five nations. more@fis 14:36
How many of these nut’s are running around?!! Is the Louis LaPierre scandal is an isolated incident?
LaPierre admitted in a statement released last week that he lied when he claimed to have a PhD in ecology from the University of Maine. An investigation by CBC and Radio-Canada New Brunswick found LaPierre’s doctorate came from Walden University in Minnesota, and was in the field of education, not science. more@cbcnews 14:16
Chinook salmon returning to Yukon’s Fox Creek – 57,000 salmon introduced to river in 2009 starting to reappear after spawning
It’s a 5,000-kilometre trek over dams and up the Yukon River, but this month, a good number of five-year-old Chinook salmon spawners are returning to Fox Creek, Yukon, just north of Whitehorse. more@cbcnews 14:05
Sept 24 – 26 NEFMC Meeting – Live Streaming Information
The public is invited to attend the September 24 – 26, 2013 New England Fishery Management Council meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Cape Codder Resort, 1225 Iyannough Road, Hyannis, MA. For further information about the location click http://www.capecodderresort.
RI Coastal Resources Management Council Hearing – September 24 – 6:00 PM – State Administration Building, Conference Room A, One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI
Many of you have this already but this meeting on September 24, regarding the Deepwater Wind’s opportunity in getting the language changed in this proposal needs to be forwarded to as many people as possible. Please log onto DeepwaterResistance website to find details in time and location. Tina Jackson, President AAFC Proposed changes here Deepwater Resistance.org 10:28
Rocky Barker: A quick guide to the salmon-dam debate
The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tribal, state and other biologists to test higher spill — water that doesn’t go through power-generating turbines — at the eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers is a continuation of a long debate among scientists. So what are the biologists proposing? more@idahostatesman 07:38
Fairhaven Shipyard and its neighbors are at odds over noise and dust complaints
Residents of Middle and Water Streets describe living near the shipyard as living in “a nightmare,” “a war zone” and “a dentist’s office.” It’s not just the noise, but also potential pollution that has them wary of the shipyard and concerned for their health. Shipyard owner Gail Isaksen denies that her business has broken any environmental regulations. She said residents should expect noise when living near “the working waterfront.” more@southcoasttoday 07:14
Lobster fishermen wary prices will sink industry
Lobster fishermen in Nova Scotia say if they don’t find a way to get more cash for their catch when the season opens in November, the entire industry will flounder. more@cbcnews 06:39
N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries remains cautious before opening fishery to gillnets
Fishermen remain unable to set gillnets in the state’s estuarine waters, despite an announcement last week that state officials had obtained a permit allowing the inland fisheries to reopen. The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries shut down the fishery in August after sea turtles became entangled in the nets, a legal precaution necessary until the state received an “incidental take” permit allowing a certain number of interactions with the endangered species. more@starnewsonline 19:04
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Vessel Monitoring Systems – HMS Webinar – Monday, September 23, 2013 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
NMFS proposes to modify the declaration requirements for vessels required to use Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) units in Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) fisheries. This proposed rule would require operators of vessels that have been issued HMS permits and are required to use VMS to use their VMS units to provide hourly position reports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7). Additionally, these changes will continue to provide NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) with information necessary to facilitate enforcement of HMS regulations. This rule would affect all commercial fishermen who fish for Atlantic HMS who are required to use VMS. more here register for webinar here 12:59
Ocean of change – Changing chemistry of seawater poses lethal threat to marine life
Oregon fishermen tell stories of strange events on the Pacific Ocean that have made them shudder over the past half dozen years. The Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery on the state’s north coast watched oyster larvae die en masse for three years in a row in the mid-2000s — depriving oyster farms along the entire West Coast of seed oysters. Florence crabber Al Pazar saw baby octopuses, an inch or two long, climb up his crab lines to escape the sea waters in the 2005 season. When he pulled up his pots, the crab were dead. more@registerguard 12:22
This woman is crackers! – Ocean is being bled dry
In the last 50 years, commercial fishing has engaged in ocean-looting of unimaginable magnitude. Consequently, 90 percent of the biggest fish have disappeared, and every fishery is in a state of collapse. more@wyomingnews 11:56
Pipe Had Leak 1 Year Before Hawaii Molasses Spill
Department of Transportation Deputy Director Randy Grune said Friday he sent a letter in July 2012 to Matson Navigation Co. notifying the company of the leak. The letter, provided to reporters Friday, asked Matson to tell the state when the pipeline was repaired. [email protected] 11:44
First Cowichan River flow boost starts Sept. 22, Catalyst says
Spawning Chinook salmon are being helped by bigger Cowichan River flows starting Sept. 22, Catalyst’s brass says. The move will be conducted to help the upstream migration of spawning Chinook, says a release from Catalyst, owners of Crofton pulp mill that ‘s held two provincial river-water licences since the 1950s. more@cowichannews 11:17
Input on possible Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary fishing closures sought
Sanctuary officials agreed to the four additional meetings to address the issue last month after fishermen and divers loudly voiced their opposition to a series of maps that proposed new closed areas and the expansion of existing closed areas. more@keysnet 11:06
Rutgers fish surveys show effects of climate change
On a dark night in the middle of a wide marsh near Tuckerton, N.J., a team of Rutgers University researchers lowered a net over the railing of an old wooden bridge. Then they turned off their flashlights and waited. Below, in Little Sheepshead Creek, the incoming tide was washing hundreds of tiny fish larvae into the net. [email protected] 10:52
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update September 22, 2013
“The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update 10:35
SITTING IN: How wrong is the Pew mantra? Dr. Carmine Gorga
Gloucester —I have heard it so many times, that I call it the Pew Mantra. What is the evidence that NGO’s environmentalists offer to prove that family fishing vessels engage in overfishing? What are the “facts” on which they build their case? Well, this is what they tell us: At each passing, bottom trawlers scrape the floor of the ocean and, just like clear-cutting forests, make a desert out of it. Sounds so convincing doesn’t it? more@wickedlocalGloucester
It’s like, I keep puting this up! Climate change pushing lobster north, study says
The study, co-authored by Dalhousie University marine biology professor Dr. Boris Worm, compiled 40 years worth of data to explain several significant marine species shifts seen in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “The question we asked was ‘Are fish on the move?’ — generally — and if they are, are they moving in the direction the temperature is moving or are they doing something else?” he said. more@cbcnews 20:13
Coast Guard rescues 4 F/V Chaos fishermen from beach near Dutch Harbor, Alaska
Coast Guard watchstanders at the 17th District command center in Juneau received a call from the Chaos crew Friday night, relayed through the Dutch Harbor harbormaster, reporting that the 54-foot longliner had been at anchor and adverse weather had caused the anchor line to break and forced their vessel ashore. more@uscgnews 18:42
Haddock research could lead to increased opportunities – “What we’re seeing on the south coast of Newfoundland is so interesting.
Thanks in large part to acoustic surveys conducted in 3Ps in 2012 and 2013 — by the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research of the Fisheries (CFER) of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University — which suggested that the haddock might be making a comeback in 3Ps, the provincial government is providing $25,000 for CFER to pursue research into the abundance of haddock off the south coast of the province. more@thetelegram 12:47
A follow up to yesterday’s Somethin’ ain’t adding up here – NSEDC fisheries dispute with long-time critic gets nasty
Fisherynation Featured writer and Groundswell Fisheries Movement’s Stephen Taufen sent me an email last night with an article attached that he wrote that ran in Alaska Report that should be read when looking at the history of Alaskan CDQs and of course, the history of Tim Smith and Norton Sound Economic Development Corp (NSEDC). An article linked here from Alaska Journal “NSEDC fisheries dispute with long-time critic gets nasty” was short on detail’s of the beginning of a very long running tussle that has turned into accusations Tim Smith being a stalker, while in reality, he seeks open process. 12:11
But Taufen’s 2009 article opens up much more than the feud, it brings back the issues of the Community Development Quota (CDQ) and raises the question, should this issue be addressed in the Reauthorization of MSA?
The Alaska Fisheries Report – KMXT Kodiak
Coming up this week, Southeast fishermen get extra time to target coho this month, NOAA wants your feedback on Amendment 95, we’ve got a review of this summer’s Yukon fisheries, and the backlash over a cartoon, all on the Alaska Fisheries Report. We had stories from KYUK’s Angela Denning-Barnes in Bethel, and KFSK’s Joe Viechnicki in Petersburg. listen@kmxt 09:35
No Impacts Expected to Next Year’s Fishery from the Sinking of the Lone Star
For the next several day’s a group of salvage experts will try once again to raise the sunken tender Lone Star from the bottom of the Igushik River. The impact of the sinking on the local commercial salmon fishery was outlined this week during a meeting in Dillingham. KDLG’s Mike Mason was there and filed this report. listen@kdlg 09:23
Anyone want a boat? Fishing boat stuck in Penobscot River flats for more than 2 years up for salvage
HAMPDEN, Maine — More than two years after it ran aground, a 57-foot fishing boat remains firmly lodged in the flats of the Penobscot River. The boat, which has the name “Roamer” painted on its hull, was declared abandoned in January of last year. It is now up for salvage, according to Dan Prichard, director of the state Bureau of Parks and Lands Submerged Lands Program. more photos more@bdn 09:04
Baker | Are coral beds protected from oil drilling?
Corals are a relatively new concern on the marine environmental radar and there’s apparently still quite a lot left to be learned about them — but that doesn’t mean they’re not important. Those zones have been closed to any fishing activity that involves gear coming into contact with the bottom. In an interesting twist, however, those fishing bans do not necessarily prevent oil companies from doing drilling or exploration around sensitive coral zones. more@cbcnews 07:49
Point Judith gets out-of-town boost
The port of Point Judith, which has seen a steady reduction in the size of its local fishing fleet since the 1990s, received a much-needed economic boost this year from out-of-town vessels. Hailing from mid-Atlantic ports from Wanchese, N.C., to Cape May, N.J., these vessels began coming in the spring and used the Narragansett port through the summer in many cases to offload their squid or scallops and to take on fuel, ice and supplies. They came for one simple reason, they were following the fish. more@providencebusinessjournal 07:33
Letter: Lingering questions over NOAA’s perpetrators – Marty Stillufsen , Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.
I was on a first name basis with the late Times staff writer Richard Gaines, and I am writing to see if there are any answers to lingering questions surrounding issues he had covered within the fishing industry. Have Chuck Juliand (Northeast region attorney) and Dale Jones (head of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement) been promoted, given any new raises, reassigned — or fired? Furthermore, was special investigative master Judge Swartwood paid with Asset Forfeiture Funds or the operating budget of the National Marine Fisheries Service? more@GDT 04:08
