Monthly Archives: March 2014
Gloucester Daily Times Editorial: Saltonstall-Kennedy grants should be just the beginning
The word that the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange has drawn NOAA’s recommendation to receive a grant of nearly $400,000 under Saltonstall-Kennedy Act certainly represents good news for the seafood auction — and, to an extent, for the city. Read more here 05:08
Its Crazy! I’m getting Talking Fish Eco Shyster Peter Shelley Comments! Acknowledge Your Posts, Dude.
Seems as though CLF Eco Shyster Peter Shelley is selective about what comments he puts up at his Talking Fish blog. He’s a real Cherry Picker! Anyway, the stuff is coming here. It may be a bad connection, but Hell. I’ll post it! Read it here, cause ya can’t read it there! A Real Inconvenient Truth. 19:41
Army Corps to begin killing birds at Columbia River dam
CLARKSTON, Wash. (AP) – The Army Corps of Engineers this spring will begin killing birds at some Snake and Columbia river dams to help protect juvenile salmon and steelhead. The corps has long used non-lethal methods to scare away birds. The plan has critics. Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said there are better ways to protect the fish, such as removing the dams. Read more here 17:44
Coast Guard halts engagements after Russian annexation
JUNEAU — Political fallout from Russia’s military-backed annexation of the Crimean Peninsula has hit Alaska’s fisheries. The annual U.S. Coast Guard/Russian Border Service meeting to coordinate spring enforcement plans of the United Nations ban on high seas drift netting is on hold. Read more here 14:07
American Seafoods refutes quota sale reports – Total Speculation?
American Seafoods Group refutes it is looking to sell quota and lease it back, after media reports surfaced stating this was underway on March 26. A statement from the company dismissed a media report, from Intrafish, asserting that American Seafoods is pursuing a proposed deal where an “investor or investors would acquire only American’s quota holdings, then lease that quota back for American Seafoods to harvest”. Read more here 11:28
Lobster industry needs to stop infighting, fisheries minister says
Enough already. Knock it off!
Shea says the federal government wants to work with lobster fishermen to resolve challenges, but the industry needs to take the lead. Read more here 09:07
Lawmakers sink Passamaquoddy bid to exempt tribal fishermen from individual elver catch quotas
Due to concerns about the impact on the population of American eels from Maine’s elver fishery — the only such fishery on the East Coast that nets any significant amount of the newborn eels — Maine, for the first time ever, has imposed individual quotas on elver fishermen. Read more here 08:45
Cape Ann Seafood to market redfish – Auction wins $391K to build fishery
GLOUCESTER — Cape Ann Seafood Exchange is the lone Gloucester-based applicant that NOAA is recommending to receive a grant under the long-awaited 2013 Saltonstall Kennedy Grant dispersal of funding. Read more here 08:22
Topless Shrimp Trawl project recommended for federal fisheries grant
A UMass Dartmouth project to design and test a topless shrimp trawl to reduce finfish bycatch in Pamlico Sound, N.C. is among 22 from New England and the Mid-Atlantic that have been recommended to receive nearly $5.6 million in federal funding, according to an announcement Thursday by NOAA Fisheries. Read more here 08:05
Louisiana shrimp harvest slightly down in 2014, and prices up
Consumers, however, should expect some relief later in the spring, when shrimp landings are typically much higher. Larger Gulf shrimp — 15 or less shrimp per pound — sold for about $9.25 per pound in February, compared to $6.45 in the same month last year and $6.60 in February 2012, according to the federal data. The price is also higher for smaller shrimp — 41 to 50 shrimp per pound. That shrimp sold at about $3.70 per pound in the Gulf in February, compared to $2.35 last year and $2.30 in February 2012. Read more here 07:41
Grachek – Seismic Blasting: More Dots
Stay with me on this one. Press briefing on Atlantic seismic surveys, Erik Milito, API director upstream and industry operations Thursday, February 27, 2014 “The economic benefits of opening the Atlantic to offshore oil and natural gas development will be felt all across the country…” The oil companies are among the most powerful entities on the planet and they want the ocean.They also want to know the “most efficient drilling locations” so they’re going to start seismic blasting along the East Coast and are busy sending out their initial public opinion cover-stories; what’s really interesting though, is how the agencies of the government, the academic institutions, and the environmental groups, all in a coordinated way, seem to fall in line to be the point men dutifully performing the marketing prevarications for these mammoth companies. Read more here 04:40
Lobster industry claws out levy to promote Canadian crustaceans – $2.5-million annually
About 200 fishermen, processors, industry officials and politicians from the three Maritime provinces agreed at the two-day summit to introduce a two-cent levy – one cent from harvesters and one cent from processors – for each pound of lobster landed. The money – about $2.5-million annually – will go mostly towards marketing Canadian lobster as a premium product in North America, Europe and Asia. Read more here globeandmail 21:14
Fisheries Science Stewardship and Sustainability Board (FSSSB) Releases 2014 Atlantic Halibut Sustainability Plan
The Atlantic Halibut Sustainability Plan represents the first step in a long-term process to address ongoing conservation challenges associated with the fixed gear under 65’ halibut fishery. The plan provides fish harvesters with the flexibility to better utilize the limited, but highly valuable, halibut resource in Division 4RST and to contribute to improving their income levels and the economic viability of fishing enterprises. Read more here ffaw.nf.ca 20:50
NOAA NMFS and ASMFC Team Up to Help River Herring – and they opened with a half assed Webinar!
More than 80 experts from Canada to Florida participated in the first technical working group meeting for river herring (i.e., blueback herring and alewife) on March 27. NOAA Fisheries NMFS and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission organized this meeting to kick off a strategic effort to advance the restoration of river herring throughout its Atlantic coastal range. Read more here noaa.gov 20:34
The Webinar for todays four hour meeting required the use of a computer AND a telephone for sound! EPIC FAIL.
One a those things: Kodiak bookkeeper allegedly paid for plastic surgery with stolen fishery funds
A 57-year-old woman working as a bookkeeper at a fishing operation in Kodiak — a city on the Alaska island of the same name, where life largely revolves around the surrounding sea — stands accused of stealing money from her employer and using it for plastic surgery, among other expenses. Read more here alaskadispatch 17:35
That Peter Shelley. He’s got all the answers! – Why can’t the US be more like the Canadians?
You don’t usually hear much Canada envy from New England’s fishing industry. But last week, commercial fishermen Vito Giacalone, Richie Canastra, and Jimmy Odlin wrote to the Boston Globe to praise Canada’s haddock regulations, which they say have allowed Canadian fishermen to catch a far larger portion of their haddock quota—93 percent between 2004 and 2011, compared to United States fishermen’s 11 percent over the same period. These fishermen say United States haddock fishery regulations,, Read more here talkingfish 17:19
National Marine Fisheries Service violated law – Federal Ruling on Allocation Favors Gulf Commercial Red Snapper Fishermen
Federal Ruling on Allocation Favors Gulf Commercial Red Snapper Fishermen A federal ruling has been handed down that the U.S. government violated the law by failing to properly manage the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper fishery. Read more here 16:16
NOAA Looted SK Money: Research projects in New England and the Mid-Atlantic are expected to receive nearly $5.6 million
“Today’s announcement is great news for fishing communities in the Greater Atlantic Region,” said John Bullard, administrator, NOAA Fisheries NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. “Many impressive proposals were submitted for these grants and the funds will support a wide-range of projects to help fishermen and the fishing industry. I’m pleased that so many of the selected projects were from partnerships of fishermen and scientists from this region.” Read more here 16:06
Cooke Aquaculture announces $203M Scottish purchase
New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture is buying the Scottish subsidiary of Marine Harvest in the Orkney and Shetland Islands in a deal worth $203 million. The company operates several salmon farms and a feed mill in Nova Scotia. Read more here 14:58
Maryland Seafood labeling legislation could pose problems for restaurants
ANNAPOLIS — Marylanders — lawmakers included — take their crabs very seriously, which prompted a legislative proposal that would let residents know when their “Maryland style” crabcakes aren’t the real deal. Some members of the seafood and restaurant industries fear that legislation introduced in the state House of Delegates proposing tighter regulations on seafood labeling could be impractical and costly for Maryland restaurants. Read more here somdnews.com 13:31
Oceana’s dirty tactics – Editor in Chief Jessica Hathaway, National Fisherman Magazine
Oceana made a big splash last week with its “Wasted Catch” paper touting details on the nine dirtiest American fisheries. Like many of Oceana’s campaigns, this “report” goes to great lengths to vilify U.S. fisheries for their bycatch rates without mentioning the efforts made on the industry side to reduce bycatch. (What better way to beat the drum for donations than to tell only half the story?) Read more here 11:48
Green crabs as lobster bait working in Nova Scotia
It’s a fishing version of the old “If life gives you lemons…” adage. Instead of passively watching invasive green crabs devour native species, fishermen and scientists in Nova Scotia have acted, turning the invader into an asset. At the Maine Green Crab Summit in Orono in December, Chris McCarthy, ecologist with the province’s Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, explained how the commercial green crab fishery was established,,, Read more here workingwaterfront 10:43
Eight Regional Fishery Management Council Nominations & Appointments Under Review
In accordance with Section 302 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) is required to appoint the voting state specific, or obligatory, members and at-large members to the regional fishery management councils. On the Secretary’s behalf, the NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator for Fisheries NMFS solicits nominations from governors and facilitates the annual appointments process. The appointments process begins each year in mid-January with nominations due from governors by March 15. Lots of links, and information here 10:27
NOAA and partners release first federal ocean acidification strategic research plan
Today, NOAA and its partners released the first federal strategic plan to guide research and monitoring investments that will improve our understanding of ocean acidification, its potential impacts on marine species and ecosystems, and adaptation and mitigation strategies. Read more here 10:04
Fink forecasts end of seal industry
Sheryl Fink is forecasting the demise of the seal industry, but how that happens should be determined by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. “It’s not for a group like (International Fund for Animal Welfare) or Pam Anderson or anybody else to sort of provide the solution,” the wildlife campaigns director for IFAW Canada said during an interview at The Western Star in Corner Brook Tuesday. Read more here westernstar 09:46
With Florida Keys lobster season closing Monday, fishermen say it’s been a good harvest.
One of the most successful Florida Keys lobster seasons in recent years comes to a close Monday. As the eight-month season winds down, the spring prices paid by buyers for live lobsters sold to the Asian market may hit $16 per pound or higher. “The Chinese have a live [lobster] market that can and will pay the higher price,” Cramer said. “The frozen market cannot compete with the prices for live lobster.” Read more here 19:24
Rhode Island company proposes wind farm 30 miles off Montauk
The queer minded notions of Deepwater chief executive Jeffrey Grybowski
“It’s green energy for investors only,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Assoc., a Montauk-based group that has opposed some of the projects because of impacts on sea bottom and reduced fishing access. Grybowski said the federal government and Deepwater have met with fishing interests and have agreed keep turbines off the most important fishing sectors. Read more here 19:07
Lobster levy gets boost at industry conference in Halifax
Fishermen and processors attending an industry conference in Halifax appear to be on board with a levy to fund a campaign promoting Maritime lobster. Read more here 18:06
Maritime Storm: What can satellite images tell us? – CBC meteorologist Kalin Mitchell explains how this storm is different from a hurricane
Meteorologists make use of many tools to assess the strength of powerful weather systems and one of the most useful — especially when dealing with a storm that is over the ocean and away from radar coverage — is satellite imagery. This is a satellite shot from this morning, examining the powerful nor’easter moving past the Maritimes. Read more here
Updated – Maritime storm: Worst still to come Read more here 17:16
Groups oppose three universities and the National Science Foundation ocean blasting plan off N.J. coast
Environmental and fishing groups are opposing a plan by three universities and the National Science Foundation to carry out seismic blast tests on the ocean floor off the New Jersey coast this summer. The groups say the tests could harm or kill marine life including dolphins, whales and many types of fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service has,, Read more here 16:30
