Monthly Archives: December 2013
AK New Year kicks off with cod; goes all year round
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch….January marks the start of Alaska’s largest fisheries – and that means more jobs than any other Alaska industry! More here@fishradio 19:07
Mandated elver catch reduction to be discussed Jan. 2 in Brewer, Me
The purpose of the meeting is for Maine Department of Marine Resources officials to talk to elver fishermen and dealers about landings reductions that have been mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission has told Maine that it must reduce its 2014 elver landings total by 25 to 40 percent from the 2013 harvest total. Read more@bdn 18:07
Holiday season is time to crack down on oyster poaching in Chesapeake Bay
The weeks leading to the holidays tend to be the most active for oyster poachers in the Chesapeake Bay, but the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and state police were hoping in recent days that new technology and harsher penalties would help them crack down on illegal oyster harvesting. Read more@baltimoresun 13:10
Top Gloucester Times Story of the Year – Fishing collapse named ’13’s biggest local story
It was an escalating crisis everyone saw coming, yet one that nobody ever stepped up to stop. Already declared a federally recognized economic disaster in September 2012, the Gloucester fleet and the Northeast groundfishery virtually collapsed in 2013 under the weight of tight federal cuts in allowable catch limits. And that ongoing saga — which this year included longtime fishermen selling their boats and/or homes, and other waterfront businesses seeking relief — has been chosen as the year’s No. 1 local story in voting by the staff of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com. Read more@gdt 12:29
The Myopic Ramblings of Talking Fish. ENGO Year in Review – 2013
As 2013 draws to a close, let’s take a look back at some of the ups and downs of fisheries management featured on Talking Fish this year. Read [email protected] 12:15
Boat of the Week from the Athearn Agency:1988, 67 ft. Dragger Fiberglass, CAT, 425HP with permits
Specifications and information here 11:49
Hmm. Fishing quotas causing concern in Morro Bay
Commercial fishing in Morro Bay could suffer a big blow come January 1. That’s because a two-year old program called the “Catch Share System” will allow fishermen to buy and sell fish catch quotas to the highest bidder after the New Year. “It was a big push by most environmental groups across the nation,” said Morro Bay fisherman Mark Tognazzini. “They thought this was the answer to all answers and it really has not been.” Read [email protected] 11:31
Two Charlotte County Fishermen cited for commercial netting
On Monday December 23 at about 3:30 pm, the Marine Patrol unit found Zachary R. Tooker, 21, of 6480 Happy Hollow Road in Punta Gorda, and Clifford E. Brody IV, 23, of Crestview, Florida, travelling south on Coral Creek in Tooker’s mullet skiff. They were coming from the section of the creek north of the Coral Creek Bridge. Read [email protected] 10:45
Processing Asian Carp – Nearly half of Grafton fish plant equipment installed
Falcon Protein Products’ green technology and equipment inventors, Ken Mosley and Rick Renninger, along with others from their company, which partners with American Heartland Fish Products, or AHFP, delivered 40 percent of the equipment package needed to implement a new rendering system that American Heartland’s Grafton fish protein plant will use to turn whole Asian carp into fish meal and Omega 3 oil. The green technology and equipment enables the new system to dehydrate fish offal, or non-edible parts, instead of cooking the animal waste like conventional rendering. Read [email protected] 09:08
Your View: Groundfish fishery has struggled for generations
The historical record makes it clear that the current New England groundfish fishery disaster is but one of many disasters that have threatened the industry over its 400-year history (“Our View: Complex fisheries need the best minds,” Dec. 22). The fishery has endured chronic crises since at least 1789, Read more@southcoasttoday 05:14
Tarr Senate bill targets seafood marketing
BOSTON – State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, renewing his call to confront “serious threats to the survival of the groundfish industry in Massachusetts,” has filed legislation aimed at putting the state’s clout behind marketing seafood products. Tarr, the Gloucester Republican, said his bill is aimed at aiding an industry that remains caught in a federally recognized “economic disaster” since September 2012 and now continues to deal with NOAA-imposed groundfishing landing limits of up to 78 percent in the current fishing year, which runs through April 30. Read more@gdt 20:37
Mike Voisin’s Widow to Walk the Hill A Year After Husband’s Death
The owner of one of Louisiana’s oldest and best known oyster-processing companies, Mike Voisin was instrumental in founding the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board in 1984, as well as the Oyster Walk. He was an outspoken voice, supporting both the quality of Gulf seafood, as well as the culture of its community. Read [email protected] 20:23
Kodiak’s Local Fishermen Voice Opinions For New Gulf Catch Share Plan
This is Fish Radio. I’m Stephanie Mangini. Kodiak locals take action in new Gulf catch share plan. More after this…listen @fishradio 16:45
Bristol residents question offshore wind project – Fishermen voice concern
BRISTOL, Maine — A committee appointed by the Bristol Board of Selectmen plans to determine whether the town has any say over a proposed offshore wind project 2 ½ miles off Monhegan Island — and 10 miles away from Bristol. Read more@bdn 15:18
Yuba County Water Agency’s FERC relicensing applications – Conservation groups decry lack of protection for fish
While some groups are excited about the what the Yuba County Water Agency’s FERC relicensing applications contains, other groups are lamenting what is missing — namely, provisions that address removing barriers to native spawning habitat for endangered fish. Charles Sharp’s comment at the article clarifies some real issues. Read more@appealdemocrat 14:35
Texas’ Matagorda Bay suffering from drought, water use
Dwindling rains, a stubborn drought and more demand for water upriver in Austin have taken a toll on the crabs, shrimp, oysters and fish that provide livelihoods for coastal communities. “We’re in bad shape already. The shrimp and oysters are almost gone,” said Treybig, a self-appointed defender of the bay and an advocate for people who depend on it to make a living. Big shrimp boats are chained up on shore; Treybig said their owners couldn’t make enough fishing to pay for fuel. Read more@dallasnews 12:53
Oregon Coast to see new restricted areas – become off-limits to fishing and other “consumptive” recreational pastimes and commercial fishing beginning Wednesday.
Restrictions begin at two new marine reserves at Cascade Head just north of Lincoln City and at Cape Perpetua south of Yachats, as well as slightly less-restrictive rules at marine protected areas north and south of both reserves and on the western edge of the reserve at Cascade Head. All fishing is prohibited inside the boundaries of the reserves, and the taking of invertebrates as well as seaweed and wildlife also is banned. Along the shoreline, the prohibitions apply to areas that are marked in orange on the reserve/protected area maps. Read more@statesmanjournal
Rocky Barker: The Endangered Species Act survives, but not all species will
Aldo Leopold’s seed of wisdom grew into the law that has become the foundation of ecosystem protection for 40 years. President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law Dec. 28, 1973. It put into U.S. statutes what Leopold’s classic 1940s essay, “Round River,” called for — saving all the parts of the natural world. “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering,” Leopold wrote. Read more@idahostatesman 09:50
Secret Memo Casts Doubt on Feds’ Claims for Science Library Closures
A federal document marked “secret” obtained by Postmedia News indicating the closure or destruction of more than half a dozen world famous science libraries has little if anything to do with digitizing books as claimed by the Harper government. Read more@thetyee 09:38
Editorial: NOAA leadership grades spotlight agency’s low credibility
The word that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s strategic management has drawn scathing reviews in a new survey assessing federal worker satisfaction should come as no surprise. By all appearances, NOAA has no meaningful national leadership since last February’s overdue exit by then-administrator Jane Lubchenco, whose willful destruction of the fishing industry through her catch share policies and other actions helped plunge Gloucester’s diminishing fleet and the Northeast groundfishing industry into the economic disaster that even her own Department of Commerce recognized in September 2012. Read more@gdt 05:33
Saving the Antarctic scientists, er media, er, activists, er tourists trapped by sea ice
UPDATE: get a load of the hilarious announcement from the expedition, where they claim sea ice is disappearing, see update 2 below. There’s quite an ongoing worldwide fascination over the So much sea ice in Antarctica that a research vessel gets stuck, in summer! episode with the ship Akademik Shokalskiy we first reported on WUWT. I think it was best summed up by this Tweet: Read more @wattsupwiththat.com 18:29
Laine Welch: From sockeye to basketballs, the notable fishing news of 2013
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard again in 2013 to ramp up its message to policymakers, most of whom still tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance to the state and beyond. What is that message? That “the industry” is made up of thousands of small businesses — the fishing boats that each supports one or several families. That the seafood companies in coastal towns provide one of the state’s biggest tax bases. Together, fishing and processing provide more jobs in Alaska than oil and gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. Seafood is Alaska’s top export, far exceeding all other natural resources. Here are some other “news notes” from 2013, in no particular order. Read more @fishradio 12:43
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update DECEMBER 29, 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 09:44
Baker: The year that cod could not be sold at any price
In the fishery you can always tell if something is going pretty well because you don’t hear a lot about it, and that was the case this year in both the crab and shrimp fisheries. They make up about 80 per cent of the entire industry’s wealth in this province, and it seems things went well on the water and in the market for the most part in 2013. That said, it is clear there are some resource challenges coming: the ocean is changing, groundfish are returning and we may see crab and shrimp stocks taking dips as a result. Read more @cbcnews 06:05
Offshore Wind Scam?: Beating the Jones Act – Offshore wind developers outsmart century-old federal law
The Jones Act, initially passed to protect maritime merchants, requires vessels transporting cargo or equipment between two U.S. points to be American flagged and manufactured. But because the offshore wind industry has not yet taken off in the states, the only vessels in the world capable of helping it along are manufactured in Europe. That could leave Massachusetts stuck in a Catch-22, in which manufacturers don’t want to construct vessels for an industry that does not yet exist. Read more @southcoasttoday 05:50
Revealed: how global warming is changing Scotland’s marine life – Kinda like here!
The report points out that over the last 30 years landings of cold-water fish like cod, haddock and whiting from the north-east Atlantic have halved. This trend is predicted to continue in the coming decades. Kinda like here! Read more @heraldscotland 05:28
Rising sea threatens wetlands and seafood species, NOAA NMFS/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study says
Rising sea levels are swamping coastal wetlands at an alarming rate, threatening migratory birds and some of the most valuable seafood species, a new federal study shows. NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, issued a report that also found losses tied to traditional problems, such as urban and rural Read more @pressofatlanticcitty 21:16
New Bedford Marine Commerce Ocean Terminal Another “Big Dig”? – Massachusetts Another Renewable Energy Failure – Posted by Paul Shaw
New England: They say they support the Fishermen, while they support offshore wind? Check these interesting New Bedford facts! New Bedford Marine Commerce Ocean Terminal Another “Big Dig” – On October 20,2010 Governor Deval Patrick announced the building of the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. The projected cost of the project was 35 million dollars. The project is located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Many ask if this is another in a long string of failed renewable energy projects in Massachusetts. Evergreen Solar tops the list in 100 million dollar losses to Massachusetts taxpayers. Read more @southendpatch.com 16:54
The Endangered Species Act Turns 40—Hold the Applause – Schiff and MacDonald – Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
The badly administered law has had a limited effect on wildlife while inflicting great social and economic costs. Forty years ago, on Dec. 28, 1973, the Endangered Species Act became law. If you want to celebrate, you’ll need to close your eyes to hard truths. Read more @facebook.com 16:26
