Monthly Archives: September 2013
Ayotte: ‘NOAA Is Not Balancing Its Own’ Fishing Standards – Presses for answers at Dr.Kathryn Sullivan Confirmation Hearing – Video
At a Commerce Committee hearing Thursday focusing on the nomination of Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to serve as the next NOAA administrator, Ayotte noted that NOAA guidelines stipulate that the agency must take into account the impact of federal catch share limits on fishing communities when it sets quotas – and she emphasized that NOAA needs to do a better job of adhering to its own standard. more@northhamptonpatch 23:03
Center for Biological Diversity criticize Coral protection plan delay – deal with it!
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Friday a final decision on whether to protect 66 corals as endangered species would be delayed until June 7. That will allow scientists to consider a substantial amount of new information that arrived in response to the original proposal. Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These corals desperately need the safety net that only the Endangered Species Act can provide.” Prove it! more@sunsentinal 20:13
Somethin’ ain’t adding up here – NSEDC fisheries dispute with long-time critic gets nasty
A Sept. 30 Superior Court hearing in Nome could determine whether a protective order commonly sought to protect potential sexual assault victims was improperly employed to prevent an outspoken critic from speaking directly to the board of the Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. The order sought against Tim Smith, president of the Nome Fishermen’s Association, was requested by Kyan Olanna, the staff attorney for NSEDC. more@alaskajournal 16:48
2012 07 31 NSEDC fisheries development committee meeting – Published on Aug 13, 2012 On July 31, 2012 at the request of Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation, Tim Smith was ordered to leave a public meeting for openly recording the meeting. The policeman alleged that recording violated Alaska’s Eavesdropping law. NSEDC president and CEO Janis Ivanoff subsequently published a letter in the August 9, 2012 Nome Nugget newspaper accusing Mr. Smith of a variety of misdeeds leading to his expulsion. As you can see from this video clip, none of what Janis alleged actually happened and Alaska has no law prohibiting a person attending a public meeting from recording. you tube video
NOAA awarded 16 grants totaling nearly $2.4 million as part of its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.
The newly-awarded projects address a variety of species, including river herring, butterfish, summer flounder, halibut, coastal sharks, black sea bass, Atlantic sturgeon, monkfish, sea turtles, sablefish, West Coast groundfish, Pacific rockfish, baleen whales, Eulachon, and ocean shrimp. A list of grant recipients by region is listed below. For more details on each project, explore the project abstracts. [email protected] 14:08
EDF say’s Closed areas can decrease uncertainty in effects of climate change on New England Fisheries!
As fishermen around New England will be the first to point out, this summer, much like last year, has been abnormal. The ocean waters were warmer and cod, haddock, and flounders—the mainstay of our fishing industry for centuries—are increasingly elusive. There’s plenty of blame to go around, including decades of mismanagement and overfishing, inexact science and an overabundance of certain predatory species. more@edf 13:53
The Fisheries Broadcast with Jamie Baker
Protecting sensitive coral zones – Sensitive coral zones in the offshore may be off-limits to fishing, but what about oil drilling? We find out more about corals and sponges and how they may or may not be protected. And a new study looks at ways to predict fishery declines long before they happen. An update from the Matthew Legacy Committee – A pilot project was put in place on the south coast this year, allowing many harvesters to get access to extra cod quota. But with the depressed market conditions and nobody apparently buying cod in 3Ps, some of those harvesters are now left wondering what all the fuss was about. more@thefisherybroadcast
Former Springfield resident Lt. Brian Ward piloted a helicopter as part of a “textbook” response to sinking fishing vessel “Kellan A”
On Friday afternoon, Sept. 6, a garbled mayday call from a commercial fishing vessel roughly 40 miles off Cape Mendocino, Calif., meant Coast Guard Lt. Brian Ward would get a rare chance at a major rescue. more@connctionnews video 12:31
Straight out of Frelard: Leaner, greener fishing boat engines
Erling Skaar started worrying about the way fishing boats burn dinosaur juice in 1973, when the Arab oil embargo drove prices up and supplies down. This choked off fuel to Dutch Harbor, the base camp and truck stop for Seattle’s Alaska fishing fleet. At the time, Skaar, who’d started out in the Norwegian merchant marine at age 15, was running a new crab boat, the Silver Dolphin, out of Dutch. He started wondering how fishermen might burn less fuel and be less vulnerable to shortages and price hikes. more@crosscut 11:30 http://www.gentechglobal.com/
Bill Nemitz: Lobsters feel pain? Let’s ask expert
Everyone has a routine for cooking lobster. For me and the missus, it goes like this: more@portlandpress 09:06
Cantwell questions NOAA nominee about ocean acidification
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell on Thursday sought a commitment from the Obama administration’s nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that she would make ocean acidification a significant priority. But the exchange briefly turned, albeit obliquely, to an issue at the heart of the debate about the U.S. response to ocean acidification: funding. more@seattletimes 08:53
Maine shrimping shutdown on horizon this winter – Scientists say the shrimp index is the lowest it’s been since the annual survey began in 1984.
This summer’s shrimp index was at its lowest point since the annual trawl survey began in 1984, said Maggie Hunter, a scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources who sits on a three-state technical committee that analyzes the data and recommends what the rules should be for the upcoming season. Regulators will use the survey when they meet in November to decide the dates of this winter’s shrimp-fishing season — or if there will be one at all. more@portlandpress 08:31
Commercial king mackerel season closes noontime Friday
The closure was set based on data gathered by state biologists and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The data shows that the annual quota for king mackerel of 1.07 million pounds for the western zone of the Gulf of Mexico would be met by that time. [email protected] 07:08
Blame Game Excuses – “You know what it’s like down here right now,” Warren on fisheries aid bill – SBA loans Better ‘n Nuthin’!
Warren also understands why the same fishermen and shore-side businesses might be underwhelmed by the offer, given the advanced state of the industry’s demise against the backdrop of the immutable equation: no fish, no money to pay back loans. Still, she said, any offer of help is better than no offer at all. Warren understands, She recognizes, “The way I see it,,,,,,,, (yawn) more@GDT 06:42
UMass Dartmouth’s Marine Fisheries Institute Renews Mission with Formation of Advisory Council
New Bedford, MA (September 18, 2013) –UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), in partnership with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), is pleased to announce the formation of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute Advisory Council. (Plenty of known, and trusted leaders of the New England fishing industry are on this council. BH). [email protected] 21:13
Law enforcement to review complaint of lobster cruelty against Bean’s Rockland processing plant
District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau and Rockland police Chief Bruce Boucher both said Thursday they had received the complaint filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. more@bdn 20:20
Tacky video bashes MSC biggest client base – MSC is on its way to irrelevance
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – A cartoon video lampoons the MSC’s biggest clients. The fishing industry is not happy. More after this –Listen to alaskafishradio 16:51
McLaren New Interim Head of Seafood Board While Dardenne Searches for Replacement
Almost a month after Ewell Smith resigned as the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne has named the current assistant director Kristin McLaren as interim executive director while a search is conducted for a permanent replacement. more@gulfseafoodnews 14:29
In its election platform the Liberal Party has identified $500,000 in new spending for a lobster marketing board.
Liberal leader Stephen McNeil told The Vanguard that stabilizing the price of lobster is one of the most important economic development goals for rural Nova Scotia. more@novanewsnow 14:20
Exploratory turbot fishery underway in high Arctic
The Arctic Fishery Alliance has a new locally owned vessel in the high Arctic at the moment looking into the possibility of a commercial fishery there. The ship, the Atlantic Prospect, is doing exploratory turbot fishing near Grise Fiord. The Alliance is made up of the hunters and trappers organizations in Qikiqtarjuaq, Grise Fiord, Arctic Bay and Resolute. more@cbcnews 14:04
Lot’s of “green” hyperbole here. – The Environmental Promise of Open Ocean Fish Farms
These are not the crowded, close-to-shore pens where fish are trapped like caged chickens, requiring doses of antibiotics that leak, along with the concentrated wastes, into surrounding waters, oh no! more@paramuspost 13:42
Speaking of Dr. Brian Rothschild,,,
In addition to the news of he and fellow Patent applicant Glenn Chamberlain filing to the Patent and Trademark office, Dr. Rothschild, Emily F. Keiley, and Yue Jiao had a paper published at the ICES Journal of Marine Science, “Failure to eliminate overfishing and attain optimum yield in the New England groundfish fishery”. I’ve made a pass through it, and it is a fascinating read. If you follow New England fishery issues, you must review it. Read the report here 10:46
COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN CHARGED WITH WITNESS TAMPERING RELATED TO AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ILLEGAL HARVESTING OF STRIPED BASS
Baltimore, Maryland – Michael D. Hayden, Jr., age 41, of Tilghman Island, Maryland, was arrested yesterday on charges of witness tampering and retaliation in connection with an investigation of felony Lacey Act violations related to the illegal harvesting of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay. [email protected] 10:12
Chamberlain and Rothschild Apply for Patent – METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETERMINING FISH CATCHES
Abstract: The present disclosure is directed towards determining, at sea, the respective weights of fish species that are part of a fish catch. By way of the present disclosure, images of a fish catch are taken using triangulation techniques involving stereo-photogrammetry. According to one embodiment, a method for estimating a total weight of a fish catch includes receiving a fish catch on a fishing vessel and capturing images of the fish catch. From the images, fishes are identified and the species to which the corresponding fishes belong are also identified. Using the images, lengths of the identified fishes as well as the total volume occupied by the fish catch are determined, which can be used to estimate the total weight of the fish catch. (A very strong patent application, backed with 20 claims, and eight images.) [email protected] 10:02
Rare mola mola washes up in Miramichi River – Unusual ocean sunfish may have been lured to river by jellyfish
Scott Campbell was out for a walk with his dog when he found the mola mola along the banks of the Miramichi River. Campbell said he knew right away the fish wasn’t native to the area. more@cbcnews 09:34
Because people will be injesting the chemicals, not just the fish in the polluted eco system.
A new study by the Silent Spring Institute in Newton shows that sewage treatment plants aren’t any better at removing a new class of contaminants from treated water than septic systems. The results weren’t surprising because wastewater treatment systems are made to remove pathogens and solid waste, not the chemicals contained in medicine, herbicides, plasticizers and other products, Silent Spring Institute research scientist Laurel Schaider said. more@capecodonline 09:16
Watermen,scientists in Maryland – worst crab season in recent memory,blaming weather patterns, an abundance of predators and cannibalism.
It’s definitely an off season,” John “Willy” Dean of Scotland, a crabber who is the president of the St. Mary’s Watermen’s Association, said this week. He said last year he saw lots of very small crabs as he hauled in his pots, evidence supported by the results of an annual survey conducted by Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “We never caught those crabs. Nobody did,” he said. more@somdnews 08:48
Letter: Time for some fishing ‘civil disobedience’ – Stuart Diamond, Rockport, Ma (thank you, Stuart)
Here is a quote from Thoreau’s essay called “Civil Disobedience” which was originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government”: From the letter – The Gloucester fishermen are being tyrannized by John Bullard and the NOAA, robbed of their noble vocation by a bunch of bureaucratic bandicoots and losing their boats, homes and dignity as hard-working Americans. more@GDT 08:06
Volunteers will be dishing out some free surplus salmon from Michigan DNR weirs.
American Canadian Fisheries and area veterans groups we will be distributing fish to the general public at several locations throughout northern Michigan. The cost of distributing the fish is supported by the veterans groups and individual volunteers. The surplus salmon community giveaway began four years ago when workers at the weirs discussed what happened to the fish that were harvested. [email protected] 07:42
Attorney General Martha Coakley rolled into Gloucester Wednesday shaking hands and conversing with fishermen, community leaders and residents
Three days into her 2014 campaign for governor, state Attorney General Martha Coakley rolled into Gloucester Wednesday, braking at the brewing company on Rogers Street to spend a half hour shaking hands and conversing with fishermen, community leaders and residents who gathered and rotated around her. As attorney general, Coakley has stepped into a key role fighting for Massachusetts fishermen, filing a federal lawsuit challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. more@GDT 04:17
