Daily Archives: May 28, 2014
$1.6 million in disaster aid split among 50 Maine fishermen
“The fishermen have been regulated so tightly they can’t earn a livelihood anymore,” he said. Maine fishermen have stayed within their catch limits for years but have suffered the consequences of “inflexible federal regulations,” Gov. Paul LePage said in a prepared statement. “I am glad that this economic relief will give Maine fishermen the flexibility to make an investment in their future, because our fishermen want a hand up, not a handout,” LePage said. Read more here 21:10
Tomorrow at 10AM, the House Committee on Natural Resources is marking up 6 bills including legislation by Chairman Doc Hastings to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The legislation would renew and amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act – which governs the recreational and commercial harvest of fisheries in Federal waters – to implement common sense reforms that will promote increased flexibility and transparency, improve data collection, create jobs, and give predictability and certainty to the coastal communities that depend on stable fishing activities. Watch LIVE! Click here 18:32
NOAA Marches to the Beat of Multiple Drummers on Habitat Protection
Sometimes it is hard to understand why agencies do the things they do. Are they just marching to an inaudible tune that somehow makes sense of the sum of their actions? Peter Shelley whines about the CLFs on again, off again partner, NOAA. Kinda like the old Hells Angel tag. When we do good, no one remembers, but when we do bad, no one forgets. More sniveling here 18:18
Half of Hawaii’s Bottomfishing Restricted Areas Opening Up
A long-simmering dispute over the state’s Bottomfishing Restricted Areas (BRFA’s) between Hawaii’s fishing community and the state’s and fisheries scientists has resulted in a move by the state to open six BRFAs and keep six BRFAs closed. Read more here 17:45
Canada sole holdout on United Nations fisheries guidelines
HALIFAX – Canadian scientists are appealing to the federal government not to hold up a unique set of United Nations-sponsored guidelines that would around the world. Read more here 16:20
Court won’t stop BP oil spill claims payments
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP PLC must resume paying claims while it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review its settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal appeals court panel said Wednesday. Read more here 16:08
Breaking – New England States reach consensus on plans to distribute groundfish disaster funds
The state fishery directors from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, in partnership with NOAA, today announced a proposed framework for the distribution of $32.8 million in federal disaster monies to the New England groundfish industry. Read more here 15:47
Wanted: Port of New Bedford – Harbormaster
Harbor Development Commission H
arbormaster/HDC Operations Officer (this is not a City of New Bedford job) 13:36
Nation’s ocean scientists meeting at Bigelow Lab on role of plankton
Fifty of the most prominent ocean scientists in the country will come to the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine for a research event about the response of marine plankton to changing ocean conditions. Read more here 13:14
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week – 42′ Provincial Lobster, Fresh 430HP, 6 Cylinder Cummins
Specifications, and information Click here 12:55
Halifax trawler faces arrest over broken Greenland cable – accuses owners and crew of CF/V Acadienne Gale II of negligence
An arrest warrant has been issued for a Halifax-registered shrimp trawler that Greenland’s largest telecommunications company accuses of twice breaking its subsea fibre optic cable. Tele Greenland alleges in documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada that the crew, the master and owners of the Acadienne Gale II were negligent when the trawler’s fishing gear allegedly caused $2 million worth of damage last year. Read more here 09:47
Fishery resource state at Newfoundlands Grand Bank assessed
Researchers at Vigo Oceanographic Centre of the are evaluating the state of exploitation of the fishery resources of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The research tasks are performed from 25 May aboard the vessel Vizconde de Eza under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA). Read more here 09:17
Cortez Fishing for Freedom members attend protest, appellate hearing
Coarsey said 50-60 people attended the demonstration outside of the FWC building, most wearing their FFF T-shirts. The shirts, on the back, state, “Biology versus Politics.” Following the protest, FFF members filled the courtroom for the hearing. “We represented Manatee County. Is it important we went up there? Yes,” said Coarsey. “They’re taking out a species of fisherman.” Read more here 08:23
Mashpee oyster farmer gets legal boost
Richard Cook, a Mashpee shellfisherman, has been fighting for three years with homeowners who have called his plans for a 1.9-acre oyster farm a nuisance and safety hazard. Cook has won local and state regulatory approval for his proposed farm but has been stymied by the lawsuits filed by homeowners. They also attempted to use a lobbying firm to put a provision into the state budget that would have killed the project. Read more here 08:11
Alaska: Commercial fishing groups, feds, testify on salmon management
Alaska has managed its own salmon since statehood, and neither party is questioning that. But the United Cook Inlet Drift Association and Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund, who brought the lawsuit forward in February 2013, want federal oversight of salmon management — and believes that is what congress has intended in its regulations of fish in federal waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service, however,, Read more here 08:02
