Daily Archives: July 28, 2014
Final tab for Cohen Commission tops $37 million
The federal inquiry into B.C.’s Fraser River sockeye fishery cost at least $37.3 million, according to a public disclosure this month. That’s far higher than the $26.4-million price tag has long been associated with the 2012 report by Justice Bruce Cohen. The difference is that the lower figure reflected direct Cohen commission costs. Read more here 22:59
55-year-old fisherman Coast Guard medevaced Monday afternoon, 8 miles offshore of Port Aransas
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Coast Guard rescue boat crew medevaced a 55-year-old fisherman suffering from diabetic symptoms Monday afternoon, 8 miles offshore of Port Aransas. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi received a distress call from the captain of the commercial fishing boat Trissy Girl at approximately 12:30 p.m., saying one of his crewmembers was reportedly suffering from diabetic symptoms and that insulin was ineffective. Read more here 21:36
Fishermen prove good at predicting fish stock levels
Fishermen are just as good as scientists at predicting the level of commercial fish stocks, according to startling new research. A comparison of skippers’ knowledge and catch/effort data with scientifically collected data found that they reached similar conclusions about the distribution and abundance of stocks in the North Sea. Read more here 15:51
FREEPORT, Maine – Invasive green crabs creep back into Casco Bay
Despite cautious optimism earlier this year that midcoast mudflats would be spared, invasive European green crabs were apparently only waiting for warmer water to scurry back into the area and begin wreaking havoc on the shellfish industry. Read more here 15:33
Researchers tackle unseen crab mortality in Alaskan groundfish fisheries, win best paper award.
“The only way to have a substantial harvest of flatfish species is with a trawl. The question is how to make trawl fishing as sustainable as possible,” said Craig Rose, a biologist with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the lead author of the study. “Some people think that’s not a tractable question. I believe it is.” This research would not have been possible without the participation of fishermen. Read more here 14:57
Garden State Seafood Association supports reform of the Endangered Species Act
The GSSA supports the following bill’s HR 4315, HR 4316, HR 4317, HR 4318. Read the letter to their delegation here, and visit the GSSA website here. 14:29
Deep-sea cameras reveal commercial fisheries having little impact on seafloor biodiversity
The Australia Antarctic Division has developed a new system of deep sea cameras to explore the impact of commercial fishing on biodiversity. They spent eight years studying the seafloor in the Heard Island and McDonald Island Marine Reserve in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean, south-west of Australia. The cameras show 98 per cent of sensitive seafloor biodiversity remains pristine after 16 years of commercial fishing. Read more here 11:58
Economic Impacts of the Mississippi Seafood Industry
Rapid changes in the economic structure of the Mississippi commercial fishing and seafood-related industry were observed during the last decade. Local spending by both the harvesting and processing sectors declined due to changing internal and external environments affecting the industry. Read more here pdf report here 11:39
New Measures Proposed for Federal Waters Lobster Fishery
for Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2, 3, 4, and 5, including trap reductions in Areas 2 and 3, and broodstock measures is Areas 2, 3, 4, and 5. The proposed measures aim to reduce fishing exploitation and reduce latent effort in the trap fishery to scale the fishery to the size of the Southern New England lobster stock. The deadline for public comment is August 25, 2014. Read more here ASMFC info here 11:23Fred Woodman, veteran Newfoundland and Labrador advocate for seafood industry, dead at 83
Fred Woodman Sr., a fish processor who spent much of his career advocating for Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishing industry, has died. He was 83. Woodman founded Woodman’s Fisheries in 1972, and turned New Harbour, Trinity Bay, into a hub of the industry. Read more here 09:16
N.S. group wants answers about lobster levy
The province’s fish packers association says it’s surprised by the new provincial government’s proposed levy on lobster. Marilyn Clark, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, says she and others heard about it only when the minister announced the plan to collect five cents-a-pound. Read more here 09:06
New regulations rankle lobstermen
Outer Cape lobster fishermen say that new federal regulations protecting whales don’t just threaten their livelihood, they threaten their lives. “This is the first (lobster) regulation where you will have wholesale civil disobedience,” predicted Orleans lobsterman Steve Smith, while transferring totes of lobsters from his skiff to his pickup truck at Snowshore Landing recently. “People just aren’t going to do it.” Read more here 08:53
The offshore oil clock is ticking
Maybe you saw the story recently about seismic testing in the Atlantic getting the green light from the feds. The AP story described it as “the first real step toward ,,,, The next sentence in the story summed up the perspective of those who were not thrilled by this decision by the Obama administration:“. . .[I]t dismayed people who owe their livelihoods to fisheries and tourism, and activists said it stains President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy.” Read more here 04:21
