Monthly Archives: March 2014
Proposed NSC & Associates Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan: My vote is NO – Dick Grachek
Dear Dick, We need you to review and vote with a YES or NO on the consensus spending plan and respond to us in writing by 10 am on Monday March 17, 2014. If you vote NO – we would greatly appreciate a brief explanation. Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan hereMy vote is NO.
It’s difficult to give a “brief” explanation because there are so many things so terribly wrong with this proposal. In fact most of it is insulting and infuriating! First of all,,, Read more here 19:02
Experience unique seal hunting on Åland
Seal hunting demands much from the hunter, both before and after the hunt. In the outer archipelago of Åland there is a great population of grey seals and the exciting hunt fascinates natives as much as visitors. Read more here vistaland.com 16:59
Disaster funds on hold until state, AVCP agree on split
Alaska is set to receive $20.8 million for the 2012 salmon fisheries disasters, but how the money will be used is still being decided. First the State of Alaska and the Association of Village Council Presidents, or AVCP, must work on how to split the funds between Cook Inlet and Yukon-Kuskokwim stakeholders, said Art Nelson, policy and outreach director for the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association. Read more here 16:20
Maine’s lobster industry might not last forever. Then what?
As marine experts and fishermen made clear at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport recently, the ocean is changing and, with it, the coastal economy. Given the importance of fishing in Maine, particularly the lobster industry, the state needs to learn more not just about how increasing water temperatures Read more here 14:25
Global powers sign declaration on sustainable fishing
ATHENS) – Officials from some of the world’s top fishing powers signed a declaration in Greece on Friday to promote sustainable management of fish stocks. The signatories — the EU, United States, Japan, Philippines, Colombia and Indonesia — pledged to support measures to address fishing overcapacity. Read more here eubusiness.com 14:08
Noted Fishery Economist Releases Ten Commandments of Magnuson-Stevens
The Ten Commandments on Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization was written by John Ward to serve as guidelines for politicians and their staffs working on the new legislation to oversee U.S. fisheries Management. Ward is an economist appointed to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s Standing Science and Statistical Committee, as well as its Social and Economic Science and Statistical Committee Read more here Gulf Seafood News 13:30
Letter to the editor of Fishery Nation
Fishermen In Alaska Should Be Nervous As A Dartmouth College Girl About Community Fishing Associations Acting Like The New Nice Guy In Town. Yes the new nice guy in town is the Community Fishing Association Read more here in the Art of the Rant 12:49
New England: Handicapping our fishermen
Hadddock populations are known to be cyclical. Having recovered from recent lows in the 1990s, the stock is now healthy and abundant. In fact, for nearly a decade, haddock biomass has been hovering at or above the highest levels recorded in 60 years. But you wouldn’t know that by looking at what American fishermen have been landing. Despite being one of the most plentiful groundfish stocks available, our fishermen have been mostly unsuccessful at harvesting their allocations. Read more here bostonglobe 11:30Wal-Mart decision on Alaska seafood could be bad for fisheries
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will once again start selling Alaska salmon, but is its decision good for Alaska’s fisheries and fishing communities? State and federal politicians and industry boosters say yes; but with so many unaddressed social and ecological challenges facing our fisheries and fishing communities, I am not so sure. For those unfamiliar with the story, Wal-Mart had a policy to purchase only seafood that carries certification from the Marine Stewardship Council. Read more here alaskadispatch 09:28
Lobster tariffs drop under free trade agreements
Free trade agreements in Europe and South Korea could mean good things for P.E.I. lobster fishermen. Seafood shipping to both destinations has plummeted over the last few years. Tariffs have been as high as 47 per cent. Federal Fisheries Minster Gail Shea said the new agreements will encourage trade. Read more here cbcnews 08:47
Louisiana Fisheries Summit focuses on seafood quality
More than 250 commercial fishermen, seafood dealers, processors and others gathered at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center to hear of the latest technologies and theories on sustaining Louisiana’s $2 billion seafood industry. Read more here dailycomet 08:19
FFAW President Meeting with Federal Fisheries Minister – proposed cuts to the shrimp quota
FFAW President Earle McCurdy will meet with federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea next week to discuss the northern shrimp fishery. McCurdy attended a special meeting of the Northern Shrimp Advisory Committee in Ottawa yesterday to discuss the implications of proposed cuts to the quota. McCurdy says although he understands that the resource is not at peak levels, and quotas need to be adjusted, he say they must be done with a fair hand. Read more, and listen here
Click – Fundraiser for Fisherman Eric Eder, lost in the Bering Sea
Tragically Eric Eder was lost in the Bering Sea yesterday. with a heavy heart I feel our loving community should raise some money for his young beautiful family. Please keep the Eder Family deep in your prayers. This is the least we can do for them. Read more here gofundme.com 07:40
Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan: NSC, Assoc.Fisheries of Me., CCCFA and Maine Coast Fishermen’s Assoc.
This proposal is meant to accomplish the following: (1) Offer a regional spending plan to ensure consistency in the treatment of fishing businesses affected by the disaster. (2) Mitigate the economic injury incurred to those commercial fishing businesses that have been impacted by the groundfish disaster. (3) Improve the future viability of the commercial groundfish fishery. . Read more here 02:27
Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans – Response to the Report of the Maritime Lobster Panel
OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – March 13, 2014) – The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today issued the following statement: As a Maritimer, I know how important the lobster fishery is to our coastal communities. It is an important pillar in our rural economy and when times are tough I know, Read more here 00:24
F/V Alaska Ocean Crew Member Dies in Explosion
The Coast Guard and Unalaska police are investigating a fatal accident that took place aboard a 376-foot factory trawler this week. Police chief Jamie Sunderland says crew members on the Alaska Ocean were doing some repair jobs at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. The resulting explosion blew a door off its hinges. It struck one of the crew members — 48-year-old Franz Dalquen of Arizona. Read more here kubc 00:13
A CFA or an RSDA for Community Benefit from the Fisheries
In the Magnuson – Stevens Act that was enacted to provide a framework to manage the fisheries in the 200 miles of fish rich waters around U.S. shores, there is an intent to protect the fishing communities themselves. Not just the fishermen, but the downtown businesses, the tax coffers that fund roads, schools, etc, and the airlines and everything else that makes a community viable. Later, ‘community fishing entities’ wording was inserted as an idea to help in this process. This is a look at a current proposal for a ‘community fishing entity’ which is untried and untested and then a look at an existing State of Alaska program that would do the same thing. Read more here alaskacafe 20:36
Finding clues to disappearing king crab – This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch
Did you know that red king crab are cannibals and eat their babies, but blue king crab do not? Or that deep water golden king crabs are almost indestructible and appear to resist ocean acidification? Those are just a few of the things being studied at the nation’s top king crab lab at Kodiak. Read more here 17:25
VIMS professor links sea star die-off to blue crab, lobster diseases – Rising sea temperature, contaminants to blame
As dramatic videos of the West Coast sea star die-off make the rounds on social media, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science professor has been quietly studying similar catastrophes closer to home. (Jeffrey) Shields sees parallels between the “Sea Star Wasting Syndrome,” as the mysterious attack has come to be known, and his own research into similar infections in crabs and lobsters. Read more here virginiagazette 16:21
Oceana Challenge to Fishery Rules Defeated
– The government need not face claims that its amended guidelines for mid-Atlantic fisheries do not protect vulnerable species from overfishing, a federal judge ruled. Read more here 15:14
Eco Based Management Failure: Otter battleground – Fishermen lose lawsuit in battle against sea otter; supporters relieved
If you’re out surfing or walking along the beach, take a peek toward the Channel Islands. Among the seals, dolphins or rare whales, you might once again spot the California sea otter, due in part to the lifting of an artificial “no-otter zone” and a failed lawsuit to have it reinstated. Read more here vcreporter 12:18
Newfoundland Cod Fishery Announces Milestone Sustainability Assessment
ST. JOHN’S, NL–(Marketwired – March 13, 2014) – Newfoundland’s only commercial cod fishery is back on the map following an announcement that it has entered full assessment against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard, the world’s best for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. Read more here 11:58
Geoduck Getdown? Chinese premier admits ‘friction’ with the United States
China is in the midst of a sovereignty dispute with U.S.-ally Japan over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. China also has conflicting territorial claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei across a waterway in the South China Sea that provides 10 percent of the global fisheries catch and carries $5 trillion in ship-borne trade. For its part, Beijing has expressed concern over the U.S. military “pivot” towards Asia. Read more here the star.com 09:23
Actor Rhys Ifans brands seal hunt ‘inhumane’
The Amazing Spider-Man branded the killing of the marine mammals for their skins as “an off-season cash grab” for the Canadian fishing industry in a letter urging the Appellate Body of World Trade Organisation (WTO) to maintain the organisation’s decision to uphold the European Union’s ban against the practice ahead of their meeting in Geneva on March 17. Read more here timeslive 09:07
Seafood exporters hope EU tariff deal will provide much needed boost
OTTAWA — As a major free trade deal with Europe looms, seafood exports to the continent are reported to have plummeted in recent years. Annual Canadian seafood exports to the European Union fell by over $230 million from 2007 to 2012, according to government figures. The federal government says the industry will see a huge boon under the Canada-Europe free trade deal. About 95 per cent of European seafood tariffs will be removed from Canadian products. Read more here chronicleherald 08:24
Greenland telecom goes after Fisheries and Oceans Canada to get Trawler location information
The company wants to know which fishing trawler’s gear broke one of its underwater internet and phone cables. Subsea cables crisscross the ocean so people can make overseas phone calls or surf the web on the other side of the world. Read more here cbcnews 07:55
UK Fishermen – Storm Surges and Wind Farms – Economic Disaster
The government fund will allow people who make their living from the sea to receive up to £5,000 to replace lost or damaged fishing gear including crab and lobster pots. It comes as the Fishermen’s Mission also launched a nationwide appeal for emergency funds to aid people in coastal communities who have been unable to land any catches, as a result of the severe storms. Cromer crab fisherman John Lee, chairman of the North Norfolk Fisheries Local Action Group, said the major issues facing fishermen were offshore wind farms and the possibility of creating a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) off the north Norfolk coast. Read more here 07:40
Coast Guard medevaced an injured crewmember from F/V Shirley R. off Grays Harbor
The U.S. Coast Guard medically evacuated an injured crewmember from F/V Shirley R. The Jayhawk crew arrived on scene and began hoisting the man at approximately 8:30 p.m. The crewmember was taken to the Bowerman Airport in Hoquiam, Wash., where he was transferred to awaiting EMS. Read more here uscgnews 07:11
Lobster trap thief pleads guilty to receiving stolen property and molesting lobster gear.
Kyle Basoukas pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and molesting lobster gear. He was sentenced to 90 days in the house of corrections, suspended, pending good behavior for one year. Basoukas also pleaded guilty to 133 separate violations, ranging from illegal escape panels on lobster traps to uncompliant whale entanglement gear. He will have to pay more than $11,000 in fines and has lost the privilege of obtaining a lobster license for up to five years.Read more here fostersdaily 06:48
Editorial: NOAA no longer has an excuse for grant delays
Six months ago, there was a glow of enthusiasm around the embattled Gloucester waterfront over the news that, while hardly meeting the full demands of the 1954 Saltonstall-Kennedy Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would kick in up to $11 million of its seafood tariff revenue to support innovative projects aimed at improving America’s embattled fisheries and dockside economies. Read more here 02:45
