Monthly Archives: March 2014
Support the Seal Hunt. Boycott The Ellen Degeneres Show – Petition published by Robert Byrne
Petition Background (Preamble): Ellen Degeneres’ campaign of misinformation against the seal hunt has gone to new lengths with the famous oscar selfie, raising $1.5 million dollars to the HSA to further propagate lies and misinformation about the Canadian seal hunt. Sign the petition here Some back ground of Ellen’s efforts from Newfoundlander Christopher Mitchelmore here 21:48
UPDATED:SEARCH SUSPENDED – Search on for overboard fisherman from F/V Seeker 10 miles northwest of Unimak Island
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Coast Guard and good Samaritans are searching for a mariner who reportedly fell overboard from the fishing vessel Seeker 10 miles northwest of Unimak Island in the Bering Sea Wednesday morning. Read more here uscgnews 21:32
The Coast Guard suspended the active search for a fisherman 10 miles north of Unimak Island in the Bering Sea Wednesday. Read more here 07:20
Fairness and equality
How many threatened loggerhead, green and marine sea turtles and the endangered Kemps Ridley turtle are off the coast of the United States? How many are off the North Carolina coast? These questions need answers. Because for years and years only commercial fishermen — those who provide restaurants and markets with seafood — have been required to report any interaction they have with sea turtles. Read more here 17:48
As Our Climate Changes, We Must Base Our Policies in Sound Science – Richard Merrick, Chief Scientist for NMFS
For some people, climate change is just a theoretical possibility. But ask fishermen, and many will tell you that climate change is well underway. Along the Atlantic Coast, commercially valuable species of fish, including silver hake and winter flounder, are moving north to stay within their preferred temperature range. Read more here noaa.gov 16:47 about nmfs
Kodiak fish processor slapped with $205,000 fine for illegally dumping ammonia
Kodiak fish processor North Pacific Seafoods pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to illegally dumping ammonia into the Kodiak city sewer, while the processor’s chief engineer faces charges of his own. North Pacific Seafoods is a Seattle-based company and a subsidiary of Japanese corporation Marubeni. It owns five seafood processing plants in Alaska. Read more here alaskadispatch.com 15:51
O’Malley has failed to protect the Chesapeake Bay [Letter]
In his recent State of the State Address, Gov. Martin O’Malley touted his accomplishments in Chesapeake Bay restoration. On closer examination, the record reveals that his claims were misstatements, at best. Robert Lyon, Annapolis Read more here 15:43
A Maine lobstermen union?
Maine lobstermen may not initially strike you as the type of workers who would join a union. Yet as of this past fall, approximately 600 lobstermen from up and down the coast had done just that. Why would lobstermen join a union, and what does this say about the state of organized labor in today’s economy? Read more here blr.com 15:12
Bradley Beach says ‘no’ to offshore seismic oil and natural gas exploration
One Jersey Shore borough is telling the Obama Administration that it doesn’t want to gamble the region’s tourism economy for a shot at lower fuel costs. Seismic testing could also impact fisheries, Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf said. Read more here NJ.com 14:35
Ketchikan commercial fisherman charged in death of sea cucumber diver
KETCHIKAN, Alaska — A 32-year-old Ketchikan commercial fisherman has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminal negligent homicide in the death of man who died while diving to harvest sea cucumbers. Read more here ADN 11:39
Improving the Endangered Species Act for the 21st century
Over forty years ago, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with the noblest of intentions – conserve and recover wildlife facing preventable extinction. This is a moral obligation on which we can all agree. But with a species recovery rate of only two percent, the ESA has proven to be ineffective at protecting truly imperiled species and has unnecessarily hurt people’s livelihoods in the process. Read more here dailycaller 11:20
Bucking conventional wisdom, researchers find black sea bass tougher than expected – discard mortality rates
The researchers had put the fish in the experimental group into one of four categories: those without visible injury; those with visible barotrauma; those with hook trauma (meaning the hook had caused significant internal injury); and “floaters” – those that couldn’t swim down into the water at all. To their surprise, the researchers found that approximately 90 percent of the fish,, Read more here phys.org 09:57
Boat of the Week from the Athearn Marine Agency: 56′ Fiberglass Lobster/Tuna, 550HP Volvo Diesel
Specifications, and information here 09:01
Massachusetts: More cuts for commercial striper fishermen
CHATHAM — Commercial striped bass fishermen will have to make do with a lot less this year as state fishing regulations for the summer season cut in half the number of days they can go fishing and the number of fish they can catch each day. State fishery officials at public,, Read more here capecodonline 08:46
Fairhaven Shipyard proposes controversial wall
The North Shipyard has been the subject of environmental investigations in recent years. In 2012 EPA cited it for violations of the Clean Air Act. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is in ongoing negotiations with the yard’s owners about dust and noise pollution. Read more here southcoast 08:27
Fisherman on board F/V Miss Courtney Kim near Sanak Island, medevaced numerous injuries after a crab pot fell on him
JUNEAU, Alaska — A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew forward deployed to Cold Bay conducted two medevacs, for one infant and one mariner, from King Cove to Cold Bay Tuesday morning. Read more here uscgnews 21:39
Bermuda, the Azores, Monaco, United Kingdom and the United States signed a declaration committing to the conservation of the Sargasso Sea
Government representatives from Sweden, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, the Netherlands, Bahamas and South Africa expressed support for the declaration, together with five international organizations including IUCN, the Oslo and Paris Commission from the neighboring North-east Atlantic regions, the International Seabed Authority, the Inter-American Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Sea Turtles and the Convention on Migratory Species. Read more here scoop.au 21:01
10 times more fish in the sea? Context matters.
Earlier this year, a research team from Spain released a surprising new estimate of mesopelagic fish biomass that is 10 times greater than previous estimates. This new study raises the total estimated biomass of mesopelagic fish from 1 billion tons to 10 billion tons, accounting for 95% of all fish biomass. Read more here southernfriedscience 18:35
NMFS accused of letting Stanford University harm fish, sued by ecoquack Our Children’s Earth and Ecological Rights Foundation
Our Children’s Earth and Ecological Rights Foundation filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claiming the service is not properly protecting steelhead trout in San Francisquito creek. Read more here mymotherlode 18:13
Northern Peninsula inshore Shrimpers reject Area 6 quota cuts
“People have got million-dollar boats to pay for, and with cuts like this coming down they aren’t going to be able to make those payments,” he said. “It’s less shrimp going into the four plants on the Northern Peninsula, which means less work for their employees. “Just try and imagine the Northern Peninsula without those four shrimp plants and boats.” Read more here thetelegram 15:56
LSU AG Center will hold its annual Louisiana Fisheries Summit for commercial fishermen at Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center
March 12 – 13, 2013 – Topics will include fisheries and seafood industry status updates, marketing, refrigeration, shipping and boats and motors. The summit will also include demonstrations on innovative handling and processing equipment. There also will be a trade show. Registration can be made online at www.bayoulog.com. 14:29
Fishermen, welfare-bums, friendly drinkers? East Coast stereotypes, fact or fiction
British Columbians are left-wing pot-smoking radicals, Albertans are ultra-conservative cowboys and Ontarians believe they’re the centre of the universe. Then there’s Atlantic Canada, to most Canadians the home of friendly, roughspun fisherfolk scratching out a living in quaint villages scattered across the lovely expanse of land between Montreal and the ocean. Read more here capebretonpost 14:08
DFO extends cod fishing season ‘indefinitely’ in the fishing zone known as 3PS on south coast of Newfoundland
According to Dave Coffin, cod fishermen had a disastrous 2013 with around 70 per cent of the quota left in the water. The extension was requested in part by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers — the union that represents the province’s fishermen and plantworkers. Read more here Listen to the interview on the Fisheries Broadcast here cbcnews 13:43
Meager aid for N.J. marine industry stirs anger
Despite a pool of more than $75 million in federal appropriations for fisheries disaster relief from Hurricane Sandy and other storm damage, at only $1.5 million, New Jersey has received a pittance compared with other regions, according to state legislators and anglers associations. Read more here philly.com 09:49
GDT Editorial: Harbor report shows need for new fishery life line
Amid all the talk of promised federal fishing aid, and Saltonstall-Kennedy Act tariff money — still tied up in NOAA’s grant evaluation process (see news story, Page 1) — let’s not forget that the same commercial fishing limits that have sent Gloucester’s fleet into a downward spiral are due to remain in place for the 2015 fishing year as well. Read more here 09:17
Canadian offshore shrimp sector braces for cuts – “We’re all shocked by the conclusions of the science.,,
Canada’s inshore coldwater shrimp fishery is not the only one fearing large reductions in quotas for 2014. The offshore sector is also bracing itself after scientific surveys returned a surprisingly poor picture of the biomass in some of the key fishing areas, said some industry players. While they might not end up as big in terms of absolute volume, the cuts for the offshore sector could be much steeper proportionally. Read more here Undercurrent News 09:00
Farmed fish can only spare the ocean if we can swap out the fish oil that feeds it
Fish farming gets a lot of flack, and salmon often bears the brunt of it. Much of this has to do with the fish food — namely, the old saw that it takes an average of three pounds of wild fish to make one pound of domesticated salmon. Read more here 08:51
In severe drought plan, California salmon may be moved by truck
Starting next month, millions of young California salmon could be migrating to the ocean in tanker trucks instead of swimming downstream in the Sacramento River. Read more here sacbee 08:31
and in Fisherynation Sports, A finish for the ages, Dallas Seavey claims glory in Iditarod 2014
Just when everyone thought the strange Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race of 2014 couldn’t get it any stranger, it turned really bizarre. (kinda like this place!) Dallas Seavey ended up the winner at 4:05 a.m Tuesday morning, but it was a very twisted trail he followed to get there. Read more here alaskadispatch 08:21
Wait goes on for NOAA S-K grants
In the interim, February has come and gone, one-third of March is in the books and NOAA appears no closer to announcing the successful recipients than it was in late January. “The overwhelming number of applicants and the volume of reviews needed for a robust review process takes time, Read more here 04:13
Head of fisheries enforcement didn’t understand laws, trial hears
The province’s head of fisheries and aquaculture enforcement has admitted he didn’t understand his department’s laws and policies in 2011, when he was dealing with a case involving the brother of Deputy Premier Paul Robichaud. Read more here cbcnews 22:54
