Monthly Archives: April 2014
LDWF Adopts Seafood Certification Program Rule Changes
Based on feedback from the seafood industry, The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has adopted program rule changes to their Louisiana Wild Seafood Certification Program (LWSCP). The Louisiana Wild Seafood Certification Program (LWSCP) is a voluntary program for Louisiana wild seafood that was passed by the Louisiana Legislature,,, Read more here 20:23
Experienced Long Line Captain for Hire for East Coast Fishery
The Only People Making Money Off the Seal Hunt Are Anti-Sealing Campaigners – Terry Audla
I understand that PETA brings in about $30 million annually, the Humane Society of the U.S. collects more than $100 million and their executives make six-figure salaries. They and other groups like the International Fund for Animal Welfare are clamouring for this easy target. Who could blame them? After all, it is good money in a competitive charitable market. huffpo Read more here 17:29
Study finds trace levels of Fukushima radiation in albacore
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Albacore tuna caught off the Oregon shore after the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan was destroyed in a 2011 earthquake had slightly elevated levels of radioactivity but the increase has been minute, according to a newly published study. In fact, you would have to consume more than 700,000 pounds of the fish with the highest radioactive level – just to match the amount of radiation the average person is annually exposed to in everyday life through cosmic rays, the air, the ground, X-rays and other sources, the authors say. kval.com Read more here 15:35
Worried about the Cape’s striped bass? Look in the mirror. – A call for anglers’ self-regulation
Once again this summer, a striped bass honey hole off the coast of Chatham will make it difficult for Capegoers to appreciate the severity of the species’ overall decline. Since 2009, the Eastern Seaboard’s most prized game fish has arrived to these waters in droves. No doubt, recreational fishermen, myself included, have taken advantage. capecodtimes Read more here 10:26
Letter: Safety at Pillar Point Harbor should come first
The new hoist location on Johnson Pier at Pillar Point Harbor (“New fish hoist raises concerns at Pillar Point” in the April 18 edition of the Daily Journal) will harm small business owners by causing unnecessary delays in commercial fishing operations, creates a workplace hazard and jeopardizes public safety. smdailyjournal.com Read more here 10:08
Guest Column: A bleak future for fishing in Greenport, Sidney Smith Captain/owner F/V Merit
I am a commercial fisherman, and to be honest, it raises my blood pressure and turns my stomach that Greenport claims the fame as a fishing port. Unfortunately, it seems the village is more interested in being called a fishing village than actually being one. The fact of the matter is, village government has never made it easy for a commercial fishing boat to actually work out of the village. They have a commercial dock but don’t allow fish boxes there. Get that? No unloading. No fueling. No gear on the dock. timesreview.com Read more here 09:55
Campbell River woman helps others cope after her husband’s fishing death
Sean Dorsett knew something was wrong when he dropped anchor off his commercial fishing boat in a sheltered bay by Langara Island. Something just didn’t feel right. Dorsett, 40, who had pulled in to weather a storm, knew he’d have to dive down to unhook the anchor in the morning. For the certified diver, it was all part of a day’s work. But on September 8, 2004, Sean Dorsett didn’t resurface. vancouversun.com Read more here 09:39
Different states with different rules sting SouthCoast fluke fishermen
POINT JUDITH, R.I. — April 9 was a good day for Tony Borges, captain of the Sao Paulo. He only had to throw 100 pounds of fish overboard. That’s 100 pounds of fluke, roughly 33 individual fish, most of which were already dead. Read more here 08:55
The 2014 Togiak Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens Up Sunday Night at 6
The largest herring fishery in Alaska opens up Sunday night but serious fishing could be on hold for a day or 2. The Togiak sac-roe herring fishery will open at 6-pm after biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game spotted enough herring in the district to warrant a commercial fishery. kdlg Read more here 20:31
“I believe BP is winning.” – How a Gulf Settlement That BP Once Hailed Became Its Target
“In the beginning they was all real nice,” said Barry Labruzzo, a 35-year-old shrimper from Slidell, La. Mr. Labruzzo received an emergency payment from Mr. Feinberg’s operation in the early days of the spill, while also putting in a claim for lost business revenue. He was confident he would be paid quickly. “They would tell us we don’t even need a lawyer,” he said. nyt.com Read more here 17:46
Canada – changing its laws to fit salmon farming , Alexandra Morton
The salmon farming industry in BC is on the verge of a major expansion and the federal government is changing Canada’s laws to make sure it happens.,, While there are many forms of aquaculture, the committee seems preoccupied with net pen salmon farming. Farming salmon in net pens is the problem child of aquaculture in Canada, the sqeaky wheel, with lobby presence in Ottawa. Read more here 16:27
Stand behind a sustainable commercial fishery – oppose Oceana and Turtle Island Restoration Network sponsored AB2019
California’s AB2019, The Swordfish Fishery Sustainability and Marine Wildlife Conservation Act, represents the latest attack on a sustainable, highly regulated, commercial fishery. California drift gill net fishermen are the latest targets. This bill will make the use of drift gill nets illegal. On Tuesday, April 29 the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee of the California State Assembly will hold a hearing on AB-2019. The bill’s sponsors are Oceana and Turtle Island Restoration Network. Read more here 11:47
Confessions from the Lone Shark Conservationist Who Supports California’s Drift Gillnet Fishery Read more here
Valuable fishery – Whitefish prices rise, Great Lakes commercial anglers benefit
MARQUETTE – A 30 percent rise in wholesale whitefish prices helped keep the value of Great Lakes fish harvested by licensed commercial anglers above the previous year, according to statistics reported recently by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division. miningjournal.net Read more here 10:20
Connecticut: River herring returning to state waterways
Two factors have contributed to the local river herring boom: a new culvert built at Rocky Neck in 2009 reopened a previously constricted channel; and beaver dams upstream of Latimer Brook that had cut the fish off from ponds where they mate and spawn have been removed,, theday Read more here 10:03
PETA will go nuts over this video! Hunting king crabs on an ice-fishing safari in Norway
Tour guide Michael demonstrates how to trap the cold-water red king crab, or Kamchatka crab, in Norway’s Finmark region. The King Crab Safari thetelegraph Read more here. 09:40
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update April 27, 2014
“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 here 09:19
New clues but no closure in mystery of missing Pompano Beach Fisherman Peter Stilwell
Late on a January afternoon last year, 400 miles out in the Atlantic, Peter Stilwell remained by himself on the aft deck of the Fine Tuna fishing boat. Seas were rolling but not stormy. The captain and two crewmen were in the boat’s pilothouse, talking about fishing. Then the unexplained happened: Stilwell vanished. sunsentinal.com Read more here 07:05
Fishing was his life…and his death. Fisherman Peter Stilwell, Pompano Beach, Fla Read more here January 29, 2013
Coast Guard releases illegally caught fish
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The crew of a Coast Guard Cutter, working with Operation Sea Serpent, recovered fish and shark caught illegally on longline gear by a Mexican lancha Friday in the Gulf of Mexico. The cutter’s crew located a Mexican lancha suspected of illegally fishing in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. They pursued the lancha, but were unable to intercept it. After returning to the lancha’s original location, the cutter’s crew located and retrieved 500 yards of abandoned longline gear with 17 sharks, four Red Snapper and two eels. Approximately 75 percent of the catch was still alive and was released. – Read more here 19:39
Lower river spring Chinook fishing on hold until run update; Bonneville Dam counts building
With catch limits near, planned commercial fisheries targeting spring Chinook salmon in so-called “select areas” in the lower Columbia River estuary were rescinded and/or trimmed back in decisions made this week by Oregon and Washington. dalleschronile.com Read more here 16:21
Ecosystem Based Management Proposed for the Magnuson Stevens Act
The latest draft version of the Magnuson Stevens Act reauthorization includes some substantial changes including a potential switch to “Ecosystem Based Management”. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story. 16:05
Have We Lost Almost Everything in the Name of Science? Ret Talbot
“We have lost almost everything in the name of science. And so look at the big picture. Give us the freedom to fish.” Captain Matt McLeod. It is critical that fisheries managers take fisher observations into account when deciding how to best manage stocks, but it is equally important to not allow those observations to overrun the data. To drown out the science. Put another way, the plural of anecdote is not data. goodcatchblog Read more here 13:07
Video monitoring of Kenai’s dipnetters in the works
KENAI — A camera installed to watch winter ice build-up in Cook Inlet could also be used to monitor the City of Kenai’s busy dipnet beaches. Read more here 09:44
Elver penalties mount amid extra scrutiny in Maine – Up to 14 fishermen face license suspensions
Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the state Department of Marine Resources, sits at the head of a conference table in his office in Hallowell, flanked by three marine resources officers and an assistant attorney general. Across the table sits Sean Manning, an elver fisherman from Sullivan with red eyes, a runny nose and a devastated expression. Keliher slides a box of tissues in Manning’s direction and asks him if he wants to say anything before the state revokes his elver fishing license. portlandpress Read more here 09:28
‘We feel like we have a voice’: Maine Lobstermen Union recognized
LEWISTON, Maine — At the start of 2013, a group of lobstermen from up and down the coast got together and something that surprised many: They formed a union. Read more here 09:04
Like Enron, But With Fish – The Supreme Court Appeal of Fisherman John L. Yates
Consider this one of the fishiest Sarbanes-Oxley suits in the history of the law: an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is urging the justices to weigh in on whether shredding fish is comparable to shredding documents, as both were used to hide violations of federal law, according to Forbes. Read more here One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish — Equals A Sarbox Felony? Read the Forbes article here 08:29
Is there a sustainable future for America’s most popular seafood?
I stare at the beaker of cloudy water, trying to make sense of the slow swirl of particles inside — a mixture of small red specks and pale threads. “Those white squiggles,” Jim Sweeney says, pointing with just the edge of his fingernail to help orient me. “Those are the post-larvae.” He means, those are what I’ve come to see: shrimp. Specifically, they’re Litopenaeus vannamei, or Pacific White Shrimp,,,grist.org Read more here 17:26
Gillnetters critique off-channel plan
Southwest Washington’s regional manager of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife came to Cathlamet Monday to discuss the start of a salmon net pen rearing project, and commercial fishermen used the opportunity to express their displeasure with changes to the Columbia River gillnet fishery. waheagle.com Read more here 15:51
Gulf Reef Fish Data Reporting Proposed
In Florida state waters, a proposed rule from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would give more definition to the numbers of reef species. The proposal, designed to provide more accurate catch and effort data for reef fishing, would require private recreational anglers to take part in the Gulf Reef Fish Data Reporting System. theledger.com Read more here 15:44
Bodega Bay honors fishing tradition at annual event
The annual Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival is 41 years old this year, though its centerpiece — the Blessing of the Fleet — goes back 56 years, to a time the commercial fishing industry was at its height. pressdemocrat.com Read more here 15:33
