Daily Archives: July 11, 2014

How Destroying Fish Is Not Like Destroying Financial Records – Click Here

Overcriminalization is a significant problem in the United States, particularly federal overcriminalization. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one is that federal prosecutors consistently stretch laws to encompass conduct that the law was never meant to cover. Normal people who committed minor infractions will often find themselves facing long prison sentences that are entirely disproportionate to the wrongness of the act. Such is the case in an upcoming Supreme Court case, Yates v. United States.   While commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, John Yates Read more here  20:25

Weekend read: Fishing fleet set to reap bumper sockeye harvest – Industry vows to be better prepared for huge Fraser run than it was for 2010’s record returns

In 2009, B.C. sockeye salmon sales generated just $39.2 million, thanks to the near collapse of that year’s Fraser River sockeye run, A year later, sales hit $174.4 million, which doesn’t include all the frozen and canned sockeye that would have been sold in 2011, according to B.C.’s 2011 Seafood Industry Year in Review. The catch – and the resulting sales – could have been much higher than that, say fisheries experts, but the 2010 returns were so unexpectedly high that it caught fisheries managers, commercial fishermen and processing plants unprepared, and a lot of fish that might have been caught and sold went up the river to spawn – about 13 million, according to one estimate. Read more here 19:38

Quinault to make new line of food products from salmon thanks to $1.5 million federal grant

QUEETS — A $1.5 million federal grant will lead to development of a new line of salmon food products at the Quinault fish processing facility in Queets. The new products will range from salmon pepperoni and hot dogs to salmon bacon and hamburgers. Read more here 15:50

Marshfield Massachusetts: Blessing of the Fleet to held Sunday at 1 p.m., July 13, 2014

Members of the Marshfield Commercial Fisherman’s Association have decided to put at the head of the line the Shannon Rose, a lobster boat owned by Tim Seaver. Seaver, 53, of Brant Rock, died June 23 in an ATV accident in the Chiltonville section of Plymouth.  All onlookers and commercial and recreational boaters are welcome to attend. Read more here 13:47  Weekend Exposure. Going Home. Green Harbor, Ma. Click here

The Alaska Marine Advisory Tracks The Effectiveness Of Whale Pingers

Commercial fishing fleets in Alaska use pingers on a voluntary basis, but they are required in parts of the U.S. In California, a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that by catch of beaked whales went down to zero percent after pingers were mandated. Listen, and read more here 12:12

Gitxsan First Nation evicting rail, logging, fishing interests – Other B.C. bands also making claims following Supreme Court of Canada ruling

863a4ac9dc_64635696_o2The hereditary chiefs of the Gitxsan First Nations served notice Thursday to CN Rail, logging companies and sport fishermen to leave their territory along the Skeena River in a dispute with the federal and provincial governments over treaty talks. Read more here  12:01

The Scheduled Auction of F/V Krystle James in Fairhaven Has Been Cancelled!

Auction CancelledWe have been informed by the Athearn Marine Agency in New Bedford, that the auction of F/V Krystle James scheduled for Thursday, July 17, 2014, has been cancelled. 11:48

Menhaden reductions could make for tighter bait market

Once the cheapest of bait fish, bunker prices have been escalating in response to increasing demand, largely from the New England lobster industry. That fleet’s traditional first choice, Atlantic herring, has become steadily more restricted since 2005 as regulators pay more attention to issues like bycatch and ecosystem effects of removing herring. Read more here 11:22

Cold fronts create shrimpy season – the current state of shrimping in San Antonio Bay. Video

This year’s brown shrimp production is below the historical average, according to scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service. Record low temperatures and a continued drought along the Gulf Coast of Texas and western Louisiana have caused the drop in shrimp production, according to a report released by the fisheries service last week. Video, Read more here 10:21

Carteret officials respond to loggerhead protections

1375100_10101430335763984_1283538153_nNearly a year after threatening a lawsuit over proposed federal rules intended to protect loggerhead sea turtles, Carteret County officials got a response to its concerns. It wasn’t what they had hoped for. “Nada. Nothing,” “This is very disappointing, especially after we had a little bit of a victory with the National Park Service decision and saw how that process worked,” Read more here 10:07 (it won’t stop predation, though.)

Kenai fish managers consider weekend setnet opener in upper Cook Inlet

alaska dispatch

State fish biologists plan to meet Friday afternoon to assess whether to allow hundreds of Cook Inlet commercial setnetters to put out their nets Saturday for sockeyes, which would dramatically affect the chance for success this weekend by Kenai Peninsula dipnetters and sport fishermen. Read more here 09:02