Daily Archives: June 20, 2014
Daily Astorian Editorial: Marine areas: Protection or fishing limitation?
No Fishing
Fishermen tend to be a bit like old-fashioned gold prospectors – they resent any limitations on where they can practice their trade, even if they have no intention of actually ever venturing out into that enticing potential area located somewhere over the far horizon. So there is bound to be some local grumbling about President Obama’s move,,, Read more here 19:29
Neglected fishing nets lurking in Lake Michigan create headaches for boaters
LUDINGTON, MI — The mid-morning lake water off Ludington was choppy last October as Petty Officer Kegan Thompson and three others in his Coast Guard rescue boat sped toward a disabled vessel on Lake Michigan. As the team passed the large hydroelectric plant and reservoir south of town, something unexpected in the water yanked the boat to an abrupt halt. Read more here 18:35
F/V Tracy D saves five people from the Columbia River after boat capsizes
ILWACO, Wash. A nearby boater rescued five people from the Columbia River bar after a boat capsized Friday morning. A commercial fishing vessel, the Tracy D, called the Coast Guard around 9:23 a.m., Coast Guard officials told KOIN 6 News and then pulled five people from the water. But one man wasn’t rescued, and the Coast Guard recovered his body. Read more here 17:55
200 tons of illegally caught Atlantic bluefin tuna show how we’re driving these fish to extinction
Atlantic bluefin tuna is tasty. So tasty, in fact, that the fish is also endangered. There are now only half the number of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the sea that there were in 1970. That’s despite rules set by governments around the world that have restricted tuna fishing, with the goal of leaving enough of them in the sea to reproduce faster than they’re being caught Read more here 14:54
Eastern U.S. and Canada: Great white shark population surging, study says
A report that scientists are calling one of the most comprehensive studies of great white sharks finds their numbers are surging in the ocean off the Eastern U.S. and Canada after decades of decline — bad news if you’re a seal, but something experts say shouldn’t instill fear in beachgoers this summer. Read more here 13:38
Mixed start for kings as salmon runs begin around state
Commercial fishers, and sport anglers, targeting are off to a stronger start. In Prince William Sound, the total harvest through June 17 was 1.98 million fish, including 1.6 million sockeyes, 239,000 chums, 135,000 pinks and 9,000 kings, according to ADFG’s blue sheet estimate. Read more here 13:31
Herring fishermen lose on higher haddock bycatch limit
Herring fishermen are struggling to avoid haddock because the stock on Georges Bank is increasing, said Tooley, who also is a council member but recused herself from Thursday’s vote. At the same time, federal regulators have lowered the cap for haddock bycatch from previous years, she said. “The biomass has gone up and the cap has gone down. That’s the problem,” she said. Read more here 11:12
Searching for the Russian Crab Mafia
Finding a ship that doesn’t want to be found is almost impossible on Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk, 600 million square miles of icy water north of Japan, and the Iskander was doing its best to remain hidden. The rusting hull of the 180-foot ship bore no name, and its transmitters had been disabled. In the right light, it might have disappeared into the low-hanging clouds that often blanket the waters off Russia’s east coast. But it didn’t. Read more here 10:33
Bethel Alaska: Gillnetters anxious to fish Kuskokwim River
Patience is wearing thin for fishermen along the Kuskokwim River, where restrictions on salmon fishing have been in place for weeks. But federal managers said they are considering at least a partial opening soon for gillnetters. Read more here 09:56
Big step for Oregon wave demo of hydrokinetic energy test project
A 20MW wave-energy test project off Oregon has cleared another permitting hurdle. The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today said it is appropriate to issue a lease on a non-competitive basis for the site offshore Newport.,, 33-square mile area about four miles offshore, where water depths range from 180 to 230 feet. Read more here 09:46
US downgrades Thailand to lowest ranking in human trafficking index for ‘systematic failure’ to prosecute slavers
In January this year the Thai embassy in Washington signed a $400,000-plus deal with leading US law firm Holland & Knight. The money was for lobbying to persuade the White House, Congress and US Departments of State and Defence that Thailand is a country that fights human trafficking and forced labour. It seems not to have been money well spent. On Friday Thailand was downgraded,, Read more here 09:25
Right whale population at all-time high, says expert
A Canadian whale expert says the future of the North Atlantic right whale is looking up, with the highest population since scientists started tracking it 30 years ago. Moira Brown, a senior scientist with the Canadian Whale Institute, said it’s been a long road to rebuild the right whale population but there are now more than 500 documented animals. Read more here 09:15
Storied Tacoma shipyard in foreclosure
At nearly 90 years old, one of Tacoma’s last major shipyards may be closing down for good next month. J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. faces a foreclosure auction of its Thea Foss Waterway shipyard July 18 on the County City Building entry plaza unless it finds new business or an angel investor to pay some $415,000 in payments and fees overdue on a $5.4 million loan its owners signed in December 2012. Read more here 07:33
