Daily Archives: October 11, 2013
“I feel like we’re putting the Russians to work and American fishermen out of work,” Kieth Colburn
Speaking before the Senate Commerce Committee, Colburn said the furloughs of staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mean they won’t be around to assign quotas before the start of Alaska’s crab fishing season next week. The quota assignments, required for all fishermen in the area, are doled out to prevent overfishing, with each fisherman entitled to a percentage of the total catch. [email protected] 23:04
Conservation and commercial fishing groups sue EPA over fish consumption in Wash.
SEATTLE (AP) — A fight over how much fish people eat in Washington — and thus, how much toxic pollution they consume — is now in federal court. more@westportnews 22:50
F/V Lone Star recovery efforts begin to pay off – “The Lone Star is currently being pumped out and floating,,,”
“The Lone Star is currently being pumped out and floating, and they’re going to move it away from its current location Monday night at high tide and work on getting it seaworthy and ready to be towed,” said Magone. “We’re towing the ship to Unalaska, and we’ll most likely leave when we see a weather window that allows it.” more@bristolbaytimes 14:22
Bering Sea crabbers feel like they’ve been ‘rammed’ by Congress
The scheduled opening of the Bristol Bay red king crab season Tuesday could be delayed because of the shutdown of federal agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service’s RAM program, which issues individual fishing quota permits. “We’re pretty concerned about it,” said crab fishermen’s representative Jake Jacobsen of the Inter Cooperative Exchange. “We can’t set pots until we have an IFQ permit on board the vessel.” He hopes the RAM staff in Juneau will soon be “unfurloughed.” more@bristolbaytimes 14:13
To NEFMC stakeholders – Groundfish Economic Analysis
The NEFMC has contracted an economic analysis of the Northeast multispecies (groundfish) fishery with the economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon. The purpose is to provide the NEFMC with an analysis that would help determine whether there are excessive shares of fishery access privileges in the multispecies fishery, and if so, what form those excessive shares take. More detail’s in Public Notice’s 11:44
Sheeeit Judge! It was only 3.26 million barrels! (I think he’s lyin’)
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BP’s Macondo well spilled only 3.26 million barrels of oil during the 87 days that followed the April 20, 2010 blowout that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers, a witness for the company testified Thursday. Martin Blunt, an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at Great Britain’s Imperial College, said his estimate takes into account the geology of the area of the Gulf of Mexico where the Macondo reservoir was located, unlike the 5 million or more barrels estimated by expert witnesses for the Justice Department. more@nola 11:27
Huge Weekend Event in Port Angeles – The 12th annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival – kicks off today with PDN community crab feed
The festival, held at City Pier and in the Red Lion Hotel parking lot at the intersection of Lincoln Street and Railroad Avenue, celebrates the Dungeness crab, first commercially caught in Dungeness Bay and historically an economic boon to the region. more@pdn 10:41
ESA Working Group Hears from Participants from Across the Nation on the Need to Improve and Update the Law
At the forum, there was widespread acknowledgement of the need to review the ESA, which hasn’t been reauthorized by Congress in 25 years. Christy Plumer, Director of Federal Land Programs for the Nature Conservancy, even noted that the law “could benefit from a review by Congress for the purpose of improving its effectiveness.” [email protected] 10:27
The “Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment” Discussed During Congressional Oversight Hearing – audio
Many of the recent policy and enforcement efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency came under fire Thursday during an oversight hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. Much of the hearing was focused on the EPA’s “Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment”. KDLG’s Mike Mason listened in and filed this report, which is part 1 of a 2 part series. more@kdlg 10:15
“So far it looks like a good season,” “So far all I’ve heard is good news.” – Chuckie White, President of the Kent County Watermen’s Association
There have been no reports of dead or dying oysters, and prices are up because the Gulf Coast fishery is still crippled after the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in April 2010. more@myeasternshoremd 09:04
Booming Southeast pink returns fuel Alaska’s biggest salmon harvest ever
JUNEAU — Booming pink salmon runs made Southeast Alaska the state’s top salmon fishery this year, as the state itself set a record for the number of salmon caught, the Department of Fish and Game said Thursday. In 2013, there were 219 million pink salmon caught across te state, where a total of 272 million salmon were landed. Both numbers were records. more@alaskadispatch 08:35
The Northeast Seafood Coalition digs in vs. fed ‘habitat’ plans
“It’s all about habitat,” NSC executive director Jackie Odell said when asked what’s next on the coalition’s agenda. And with good reason. It is an extraordinarily complex process, now moving into its sixth year. It is heavily driven by science and varying perspective — and thus often rife with the contention and disagreement that have emerged as the hallmarks of the effort to sustain and govern the American commercial fishing industry. more@GDT 07:54
