Monthly Archives: May 2014
Silver Bay Seafoods expands into squid with deal to buy California plant
The Sitka-based company’s managing director Rob Zuanich told the newspaper the company has closed on a deal to buy a 4.6 acre lot in Ventura, California. The company paid $2 million for the lot and plans to spend $20m on the facility, said Zuanich. Read more here 19:47
Plastic floated as commercial catch for fishing industry
The plastics industry has introduced a trawling net specially fitted to fish plastic waste out of the sea into in the fight against debris in Danish waters. In the North Sea alone it is estimated that over 20,000 tonnes of waste winds up in the sea each year. Much of it is plastic, and members of the Danish plastics industry felt they had a responsibility to help clean up the mess. Read more here 18:13
Council convenes in Nome, familiar bycatch topics on tap
Bering Sea fishery issues will top the agenda when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in Nome this month. Several agenda items revolve around incidental catches of halibut, chum and king salmon in the Bering Sea. The council will also discuss the Norton Sound red king crab fishery, a potential new Pacific cod fishery for the Community Development Quota organizations, and,,, Read more here 17:21
SURETTE: Sharks in fishing waters, no lifeguard
What is it about the Harper government’s special kink about fisheries — and the media’s failure to hold it to account for its unrelenting assault on it and everything related to it (including environment, foreign affairs and the abuse of Parliament) — which, more than anything, reveals the government’s nasty streak? Read more here 12:46
Coast Guard medevacs ailing fisherman at Prince of Wales Island, Alaska
KODIAK, Alaska — A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a 68-year-old man who fell ill aboard the 35-foot fishing vessel docked in Point Baker on Prince of Wales Island, Thursday. Read more here 11:49
North Carolina: Less seafood harvested in 2013
MOREHEAD CITY | A variety of factors contributed to an overall decrease in seafood harvested in North Carolina in 2013, but the dockside value showed an increase. But the value of the catch jumped to $79 million, a 9-percent increase over the $73 million in 2012. Read more here 09:37
Nearly naked PETA activist covered with BBQ sauce in Vancouver – Video!
Amy Balcome, an almost naked PETA activist, was drizzled with barbecue sauce on a giant plate in downtown Vancouver Friday, asking people to “Try to Relate to Who is on Your Plate.” “PETA is challenging people to think about what ‘meat’ really is: the corpse of an abused animal who did not want to die,” Read more here 09:08
UNE seal rescue facility closes, says animals no longer endangered – (They never were!)
It was heading into the traditionally busy Memorial Day weekend that Lynda Doughty, executive director of Marine Mammals of Maine, said she received a press release that the MARC facility was closing. The news, she said, was “devastating.” (I just don’t feel devastated) Read more here 08:40
Elver season falls short of statewide quota – Feds suspect significant illegal activity, though.
ELLSWORTH, Maine — The 2014 elver fishing season is expected to come to a close Saturday, without the statewide catch quota being reached, according to state officials. Read more here 08:25
Open invitation issued for Parade of Boats to welcome the Charles W. Morgan
NEW BEDFORD — Almost anything that floats, that is at least 15 feet long and is fast enough is welcome in the Charles W. Morgan Homecoming Parade of Boats set for Sunday, June 29. Captains are being encouraged to “dress ship” with signal flags or other decorations. Russell said that a scalloper and a dragger will be near the front of the parade, “to honor the fact that the Morgan was a commercial fishing boat.” Read more here 08:08
Lots of salmon out in the ocean pasture means good fishing likely in months ahead
The commercial troll fishery off the southern coast at Ilwaco has been on fire in recent days, and that should bode well when the hatchery-marked selective chinook fishery opens coastwide on Saturday (May 31). Read more here 20:52
Veteran Alaska Journalist Tkacz Found Dead
“Bob was dogged,” said Gregg Erickson, editor-at-large of the Alaska Budget Report. “If you didn’t answer his question to his satisfaction, he didn’t mind who cared, he was going to do his best to get the truth out of you.” Tkacz covered the Legislature and specialized in writing about the commercial fishing and seafood industries. Besides writing for other outlets, he had his own publication, Laws for the SEA. Read more here 17:00
The Corporate Take-Over of Fisheries Policy Making – Click Here
In the past couple of years a number of international conferences and gatherings of key policy makers, corporate representatives and international NGOs have taken huge strides in setting the global agenda in fisheries policy. A worrying pattern has begun to emerge: the interests of small-scale fisheries peoples are consistently sidelined as representative organisations are rarely invited and, if so, are barely listened to. This article will run through some of the most recent events, and documents how a corporate take-over of fisheries policy is taking place. Read more here 16:08
DeFazio-Huffman-Herrera Beutler Amendment Saves West Coast Fishermen $2.4 million
Their amendment would suspend for a year, the collection of a cost recovery fee in the West Coast Trawl Rationalization Program and provide some relief to groundfish fishermen who are facing mounting costs at a time when they are already struggling to make ends meet. Read more here 15:39
Study finds whale waste could save declining fisheries. Alrighty then.
New research has revealed that Far from being a threat to fisheries, whales may in fact play a key role in sustaining fish stocks. Read more here The ridiculous is that which is highly incongruous or inferior, sometimes deliberately so to make people laugh or get their attention, and sometimes unintended so as ,,,,14:20
As brown shrimp season opens, several cited for trawling in BP oil spill closure area
Soon after the spring brown shrimp season opened Monday for inshore waters, eight fishers were cited for trawling in a 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill closure zone. The shrimpers, mainly from Jefferson Parish, were fishing in the area of Bay Jimmy in Plaquemines Parish, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Read more here 11:11
EDITORIAL – Fish Protection Rules In Jeopardy
Every few years, the law is amended and reauthorized. In 1996 and 2006, it was changed to add greater protection for dwindling fish populations. Those changes might be undone in part by proposals put forth by U.S. Rep. Richard “Doc” Hastings, R-Washington, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Read more here 10:12
New Hampshire’s beleaguered commercial fishing industry – $2M in federal funds
New Hampshire’s 400-year-old commercial fishing fleet, made up of small boats, has worked under increasing federal regulations and restrictions since the Magnuson-Stevens Act was passed in 1976. It limits the catch and species of fish that can be caught, as well as when and where fisherman can fish. A 2010 amendment to the act introduced the “catch share” limit system for groundfish that hit small independent boat fishermen, like those in New Hampshire, the hardest. Read more here 08:52
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Landings and poundage and values, oh my! What a difference a word makes
For years Fish Radio claimed that over 84 percent of Alaska’s seafood landings hail from federal waters, or from three to 200 miles from shore. But that’s not correct. That high percentage applies to the volume or poundage taken, not the landings. When it comes to fish deliveries, the state takes it hands down. Read more here 08:32
National Park Service Biscayne Park Fishery Management Plan ruffles fishermen
The head of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association says he’ll take the fight to Congress if need be to fend off the implementation of a series of fishing restrictions proposed this week by Biscayne National Park officials. Read more here 08:12
REFI Act will support West Coast fishing jobs
t’s no secret that the health of our coastal communities is dependent of the success of local fishermen and the jobs they create. In my district of Southwest Washington and all along the West Coast, the groundfish fleet and the 3,000 jobs it supports are centrally important. But fishermen off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California are struggling to sustain their businesses, due in large part to unnecessary regulatory and financial burdens. Read more here 07:01
Rhode Island: Federal funding of $1.9M to help state’s fishermen
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island officials say the state will receive $1.9 million in federal funding to help fishermen. Read more here 22:21
Obituary, Jerry P. Wollen 58 Petersburg, Alaska
Gerald “Jerry” Patrick Wollen, 58, was born in Aberdeen, Washington on June 14th, 1957 to parents James and Ruth. Jerry’s final resting place will be on the beach in front of his home he shared with Glorianne in Alaska. There was a whole lot of living between the beginning and the end. Read it here 21:57
Japanese all in on Newfoundland’s $4.95 crab price after huge struggle
Japanese buyers finally accepted en masse an FOB snow crab price of $4.95 (US dollars) from Newfoundland in Canada. At the end of last week, buyers who had resisted accepting that price came around and signed contracts. Read more here 21:00
Dogfish Don’t Eat As Much As You Think They Do
First off, why do we care how much a spiny dogfish, or any fish for that matter, is eating? Aside from the fact that predator-prey interactions are interesting, the populations of the fish that we eat don’t exist in a vacuum with us as the only predators. Read more here 19:32
Managers meet, tackle state waters Gulf issues
Currently, the council is considering a rationalization program for trawlers targeting pollock, Pacific cod, and several other target and secondary species in the central Gulf of Alaska, western Gulf of Alaska and west Yakutat management areas. The most recent council motion asked for a discussion paper that looks at using cooperatives to help manage the fisheries, by allocating the quota to cooperatives, rather than individuals, with an option for fishers to remain outside of the cooperative structure, but not receive a direct allocation of quota. Read more here 19:20
Harbor improvement grant lacks fishermen support: Frustration boiling over about Pillar Point Harbor control, district decision-making
While seeking funds to update one of the most productive commercial fishing ports in the state, the San Mateo County Harbor District is receiving pushback from a group of fishermen who say they no longer trust the district has their best intentions at heart. Read more here 16:55
Waters to re-open to gill net fishermen
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission took action Thursday that re-opens waters in certain exempted areas to allow anchored large-mesh gill net operations beginning June 1. However, no possession of red drum will be allowed. Read more here 16:26
Fishing disaster aid – direct assistance to keep the industry going has been minimized and replaced with permit buybacks
Frank Mirarchi, a retired commercial fisherman from Scituate, said the direct assistance will go to fishermen who have a 5,000-pound qualifying history. He said it will work out to about $32,000 per commercial boat. Ed Barrett of Marshfield, president of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, said he feels the direct assistance to keep the industry going has been minimized and replaced with permit buybacks. “That’s suicide. Here’s your disaster relief: a firing squad,” he said. “We’re communities with 400 years of fishing tradition, and I don’t think that because we didn’t have the quotas, because we were struggling, that we shouldn’t give help to those who need it most.” Read more here 16:14
Committee Approves Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act
Today the House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R. 4742, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act by a bipartisan vote of 24-17. This legislation would renew and amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (last reauthorized in 2006 and expired in 2013) to ensure that this fundamentally sound legislation works in the best interest of both fish and fishermen. Read more here 14:56
