Monthly Archives: May 2014
Last-minute arrival to Maine alewives festival: the fish
Now that the alewife run has begun, King said it will accelerate quickly. At Webber Pond on Seven Mile Stream in Vassalboro, he said he counted four fish Tuesday, 1,000 on Wednesday and more than 3,000 by midafternoon Friday. “For the environment, it’s a huge win,” said Jeffrey Pierce, president of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine. However, Pierce said the prevalence of predators raises new questions about wildlife management. Read more here 09:13
Alleged poacher facing multiple charges
BARNSTABLE — A West Yarmouth man accused of poaching thousands of oysters from beds in Dennis and Barnstable last summer also faces a long list of other theft charges. Michael Bryant has several open cases in Barnstable District Court for check-forging, shoplifting and buying stolen merchandise. And on May 1, the 37-year-old was arraigned in Orleans District Court for poaching eels. Read more here 06:31
Federal plan for ‘geoduck’ fishing pushes First Nation to threaten blockade
A First Nation threatening to block all fisheries in a large portion of the Strait of Georgia said it’s only doing so as a last resort to fight back against the federal government’s monopoly on resource management in the nation’s traditional waters. Stz’uminus chief John Elliott said the threat was the culmination of decades of frustrations with what he sees as unsustainable resource management by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), which he added favours commercial fishermen over First Nations. Elliott stresses that the nation’s quarrel is with DFO alone, not commercial and sports fishermen. “They’re just caught in the middle of all this,” he said. Read more here 22:26
PEI – Three generations of lobster fishing Jollimores
On an early spring morning in French River Jimmy Jollimore wakes to see the sunrise over New London Bay. He then heads down Jollimore Lane to the boat that will carry three generations of his family to the lobster grounds. “It goes back five generations, at least,” said Jimmy, who has 60 years of fishing in so far. “My grandfather, my father and myself. Two sons with gears of their own and one son here with me is three. Sons and grandsons. Brought up to be fishermen, I guess.” Read more here 21:11
NILS STOLPE: Of gumballs, the American Sportfishing Association and fisheries management
FishNet USA — May 9, 2014 — To equate what a recreational fisherman pays to catch a fish to what a commercial fisherman is paid to catch that same fish is to equate the total cost an equestrian pays to ride her horse for a mile to what Amtrak would charge to move her the same distance on a train. The people at the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) are embarking on the second year of a campaign to convince anyone who will listen that recreational fishing is equally as or more important than commercial fishing and that in their estimation the federal government should not be putting so much emphasis on managing the commercial fisheries. Read more here 19:27
Safety, and Survival Training, Gloucester May 15 – 16
Fishing Partnership Support Services is offering two hands-on training sessions taught by Coast Guard-Certified Fishing Vessel Safety Instructors. These day-long trainings are FREE for commercial fishermen – and you’ll be learning from the best. Read more here 15:45
Blockade of the prawn fishery could ruin fishermen – Lance Underwood skipper of Justin Time II and Quicksilver Girl
I am a commercial fisherman from Cowichan Bay. I run a commercial prawn and crab boat, and the local spot prawn fishery is incredibly important to my family and I. I live in a modest home with my beautiful wife and amazing six-month-old son. I pay our bills, provide food, and pay our mortgage through my income which I earn during our short prawn season. Read more here 14:22
Weighing Anchor, But Much More to the Story
There are many iconic skylines, but not many as proud and cherished as the stabilizer arms that reach above the fish markets from Menemsha’s sister draggers, the Unicorn and the Quitsa Strider II. Loved by their captains, the fishermen in the harbor and the tourists who lunch by their hulls, the two have written many chapters of the proud and storied history of commercial fishing on Martha’s Vineyard. Read more here 10:26
Bizarre fish in Newark park a step to caviar
NEWARK, Ohio — A chance encounter with an ugly fish has turned a Newark city park into a potentially lucrative enterprise. In industry jargon, it’s called “aquaculture.” But for the layman, let’s call it what it is — a caviar farm. Read more here 10:00
Endangered porbeagle sharks still at risk, say COSEWIC scientists
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC
) re-examined the porbeagle’s endangered status last week in Halifax — and this week re-confirmed it. However, top Canadian shark researcher Steven Campana, a senior scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, said there’s cause for hope. Read more here 09:36
Cool Video, Cool Music, Cool Fishery – Commercial Fishing Video Of The Day | Fish On | Roe On Kelp Harvest 2014
Sitka Herring is just the beginning of the herring circuit for many fishermen in Alaska. While many boats head north to Togiak for one of Alaska’s largest herring runs, a few southeast seiners head out to harvest “roe on kelp.” Read more here, and watch the video. 09:19
NOAA Gets First Chief Scientist In More Than A Decade – Changes to federal personnel rules makes him a shoo in
Currently the vice president for research at Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis, Spinrad is a known face at NOAA and in Washington. He served as NOAA’s assistant administrator for research from 2005 to 2010, and led its oceans and coastal zone programs from 2003 to 2005. From 1987 to 2003, he worked for the U.S. Navy, including as Technical Director for the Oceanographer of the Navy. He earned his doctorate at OSU. Read more here 08:52 (lots of interesting links!)
British Columbia Geoduck dispute threatens fisherman safety, harvesters say
A First Nation’s plan to block all commercial fisheries in their territorial waters in the Strait of Georgia risks the safety of commercial geoduck fishermen, said Michelle James, executive director of Underwater Harvesters Association (UHA), a group of 55 licence holders for geoduck and horse clam fisheries in British Columbia. Read more here 07:54
Lobbyist: Mashpee homeowner behind move to block shellfisherman
MASHPEE — One of the homeowners locked in a legal battle against a proposed oyster farm in Popponesset Bay was behind a Boston lobbying firm tucking an amendment into the state budget that would block the project.Charles Clough, head of Clough Capital Partners, a $3 billion investment firm, asked ML Strategies to push for the amendment, a spokeswoman from the lobbying firm told the Daily News of Newburyport on Wednesday. Read more here 07:27
Salish Sea Prawn fishery opens without signs of Native blockade
A threatened First Nations’ blockade of the Salish Sea has yet to materialize — much to the relief of Cowichan spot prawn fishermen. The commercial spot prawn season opened at noon yesterday in local waters under the shadow of last week’s Stz’uminus First Nation announcement that it was banning all boat traffic in its traditional waters. Read more here 21:51
MY TURN | Goodbye to my friend Billy, Martha Kongsgaard
“I don’t believe in magic,” Billy once said. “I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the tides, the floods, the owls, the hawks flying, the river running, the wind talking. They’re measurements. They tell us how healthy things are. How healthy we are. Because we and they are the same. That’s what I believe in. Those who learn to listen to the world that sustains them can hear the message brought forth by the salmon.” Read more here 21:03
Naming sealers’ centre after John Crosbie sparks petition
Madeline Currie said she found out from the local newspaper that the facility at the Home From the Sea memorial will be called the John C. Crosbie Sealers Interpretation Centre, after the former Lieutenant Governor and the the official patron of the project. “Well, that made my blood boil,” she said. Read more here 19:33
This is Laine Welch. I’m Laine Welch – Commercial fishing stomps sport fishing economically.
A breakdown of the annual report called ‘Fisheries Economics of the US’ shows once and for all that in terms of value, jobs, sales and income, the commercial sector far outscores recreational fishing. Read more here 18:08
Commercial diver dies after Port Angeles accident; benefit concert planned to aid his family
PORT ANGELES — A benefit concert is planned in June for a Bremerton diver who died Sunday after he was pulled from the waters off Green Point east of Port Angeles and airlifted to Seattle last week. Samuel Silverstein, 24, died Sunday at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Read more here 16:23
U.S. EDA Invests $500,000 to Re-capitalize Commercial Fishing-Focused Revolving Loan Fund for Southern Maine
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) today announced a $500,000 grant to Coastal Enterprises, Inc., of Wiscasset, Maine, to re-capitalize a commercial fisheries Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) that provides greater access to capital for Maine’s commercial fishermen and fishing-dependent businesses. Read more here 16:17
V-notched lobster decline is a threatening sign in Maine
Lobstermen’s efforts to mark egg-bearing female lobsters with a V-notch on their tail have been on the decline since 2008, which could put pressure on the future health of the state’s most lucrative fishery, state officials said. Read more here 16:04
Gulf shrimp season to close on May 15th
AUSTIN, TX– The Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season for both Texas and federal waters will close 30 minutes after sunset on May 15 until a still-to-be determined time in July. The closing date is based on samples collected by the Coastal Fisheries Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department using trawl, bag seine and other information gathered from the shrimping industry. Read more here 15:47
Why are so many white men trying to save the planet without the rest of us?
Just the other day, the National Wildlife Federation announced its new president – a white male “whiz kid”. Last month, the Climate Reality Project, founded by Al Gore, replaced its female chief executive with a white man. Last November, the National Parks and Conservation Association replaced its veteran leader with another white male. The Union of Concerned Scientists is due to announce its new leader as early as next week. Spoiler alert: it’s not going to be a woman. Read more here 10:53
Clamping down on illicit plundering of food and natural resources could curb Africa’s food shortages
The extensive subsidies rich nations, including those in the European Union, dole out have helped extend global overfishing, according to the panel. Around $27-billion in cheap fuel and insurance has aggravated the “unsustainable mining” of Africa’s waters. Read more here 09:19
County Officials Visit Montauk; Talk Shop With Business Owners And Fishermen
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and County Legislator Jay Schneiderman made a visit to Montauk on a recent rainy Wednesday afternoon to hear from business owners and fishermen about the most pressing issues they face, such as the shoring up of downtown Montauk and restrictions placed on commercial fishermen. Read more here 08:40
American Marine Ingredients turns pollock research into supplement
In a victory for scientists researching ways to use fish parts that don’t fit on a bun, a seafood company has begun sales of vitamins using oil extracted from the pollock livers. American Marine Ingredients is selling 54 Degrees North Omega-3 with Vitamin D3, using a distillation method researched by University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor Alex Oliveira. Read more here 08:24
Geoduck fishery dispute prompts First Nation blockade threat
A Vancouver Island First Nation is threatening to blockade a large section of the Strait of Georgia because of a major dispute with Fisheries and Oceans over the lucrative geoduck harvest. Read more here 03:07
Togiak Herring Fishery Update: Highest Roe Percentage of the Season Recorded Tuesday
Commercial fishermen participating in the ongoing Togiak sac-roe herring fishery are still finding harvestable fish and so far no one has gone home. On Tuesday over 1.9-thousand tons of herring were harvested and the roe percentage of the fish harvested by the gillnet fleet was 11.86-percent. By Mike Mason Listen, and Read more here 20:26
The Magnuson Act: It’s a Keeper
Healthy oceans and well-managed fisheries improve coastal economies, enhance recreational fishing opportunities and provide fresh, local seafood to consumers. And while many fisheries,,, Read more here 18:04
Shrimpers are pissed off that the shrimping season is starting too late
NEW ORLEANS — The spring shrimp season in Louisiana, as determined by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, is set to start on May 26, but for the many who make a living off the crustaceans, that date is too late. Read more here 09:08:10
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