Monthly Archives: May 2014
Gloucester Fishermen to get direct aid
The plan to deliver the long-awaited federal fishery disaster money to Gloucester fishermen and others in the Northeast multispecies groundfishery is largely in place, but recipients probably won’t see any of it until early fall. Read more here (the new paywall allows 5 page views, not articles) 14:24
Speedy surgery puts transmitters into Hudson River fish
The biologist wore an orange slicker rather than hospital scrubs, and his operating room was a small fishing boat in the middle of the Hudson River. But Wednesday’s operation was serious work as Burnett used a scalpel to make a 3-inch incision in the belly of a gasping shortnose sturgeon, inserted an electronic tracking device and quickly stitched up the wound. Read more here 11:33
Always Top Quality! Your Seafreeze Ltd. Price List for May 29, 2014 has arrived!
Contact our sales team today @ 401 295 2585 or 800 732 273 Click here for the complete price list from Seafreeze Ltd. where The Only Thing They Treat YOUR Fish is With Respect ! Visit our website 11:00
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Monomoy wildlife refuge plan fuels anger in Chatham
The plan contains a blanket prohibition on harvesting mussels, which are considered an important food source for migrating ducks such as eiders. It also prohibited the use of a brine solution that forces fast-digging razor clams to the surface making them easier to catch. Any type of gear that was dragged along the bottom, like a scallop dredge, is also not allowed in those waters as a new measure intended to help restore sea-floor habitat like eelgrass. Read more here 08:56
70-year-old Sussex County Del. man pleads guilty to 10 crabbing violations
Ronald T. Cagle Sr. of Selbyville was cited Saturday for two counts of commercial crabbing for blue crabs without the required state commercial crabbing license, two counts of possession of undersized crabs, three counts of exceeding the limit of crab pots and three counts of failure to properly mark crab pots, said Senior Cpl. Carl Winckoski of the state . Read more here 07:37
Salmon markets show steady seasonal variations at wholesale
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch …. Salmon prices vary according to the seasons. Salmon prices at wholesale show very marked seasonal variations for both wild and farmed fish. It’s a pattern that’s been tracked by Urner Barry- the nation’s oldest commodity market watcher since 1895. Read more here 07:08
Mass. fishermen land $14.5 million in disaster relief
The funds announced by NOAA Wednesday are short of ideal, according to Jim Kendall of New Bedford Seafood Consulting. “It’s only $14.5 million?” Kendall said. “Jesus.” “The question is how it’s going to be utilized and who’s going to be the ones receiving it and how it’s going to be distributed”¦. There’s an awful lot of unknowns.” Kendall said with the discussion of relief allocation, the “average crewman or the regular deckhand” are left behind. In addition, he pointed to the businesses that support groundfishing that also suffer from the disaster. Read more here 06:49
$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
Doing away with fruit, vegetable middlemen
Its minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said by eliminating middlemen, farmers’ income will increase, after launching the “fight against middlemen in fruits and vegetables sub-sector” programme at RTC Gopeng. This is the third such programme launched by Ismail, after the fisheries and padi sector. Read more here 21:19
Mystery bidder offers $5,000 minimum for Maine island lighthouse
YORK, Maine — A $5,000 bid has been placed to buy Boon Island Light Station, according to information online from the , the real estate arm of the federal government. In December 1710, prior to the construction of the light tower or other buildings, the Nottingham Galley was shipwrecked at Boon Island. The crew survived by resorting to cannibalism Read more here 19:48
More salmon get truck rides due to drought
Nearly 1 million juvenile Chinook salmon this week will get a truck ride from Red Bluff to San Pablo Bay as a detour around harmful Sacramento River conditions caused by drought. The fish are the last of 12 million fall-run Chinook salmon produced this year at Coleman National Hatchery near Red Bluff. Normally, all those fish are released into Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento, to journey downstream to the Pacific Ocean on their own. Read more here 18:25
A Climate of Change video series: Ocean Acidification in Alaska
In the second chapter of our series of videos on the effects of climate change on fisheries, Island Institute media specialist Scott Sell explores the effects of ocean acidification on the shellfish industry in Alaska — and what that might mean for Maine: Watch, and Read more here 17:19
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Labels for Frankenfish get a bipartisan nod in DC
If gets a green light by the FDA, it will be labeled as such if US Senators have their way. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Murkowski-Begich amendment last week requiring that consumers be advised of what they are buying. Senator Murkowski – Listen, and read more here 16:37
Healthy parents provide clues to survival of young haddock on Georges Bank
In 2003, haddock on Georges Bank experienced the largest baby boom ever documented for the stock, with an estimated 800 million new young fish entering the population. With typical annual averages of 50 to 100 million new fish in the last few decades, fisheries biologists have been puzzled by the huge increase and its ramifications for stock management. They have been looking for answers and may have found one – healthy adults. Read more here 16:18
Fishermen ‘rotted’ N.L.-owned halibut harvested, landed in N.S.
Fishermen on the south coast of Newfoundland say they are frustrated and angry that a significant halibut quota owned by the provincial government is being harvested by a Nova Scotia company and landed in Nova Scotia. But CBC Investigates and the Fisheries Broadcast recently revealed that Icewater has instead been subleasing it to an unnamed harvesting entity outside the province. Read more here 14:57
National Park Service seeks to ease tensions with Point Reyes farmers
Fed in part by a vitriolic dispute between the federal government and a rancher who also runs an oyster farm, the ill will here directed at the park is the worst anyone can remember. “There is a level of intensity here that I’ve not seen before,” said park Supt. Cicely Muldoon, 48, a longtime resident of Marin County who this month launched a “truth and reconciliation” campaign to try to ease tensions. Read more here 14:49
