Monthly Archives: September 2014
35,000 walrus come ashore in northwest Alaska
An estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed Saturday about 5 miles north of Point Lay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Observers last week saw about 50 carcasses on the beach from animals that may have been killed in a stampede, and the agency was assembly a necropsy team to determine their cause of death. Read the rest here 21:18
Letter: Ludger W. Dochtermann, Bycatch 14-011 (C7) CGOA Trawl Bycatch Management Discussion Paper & CFAs etc.
Secretary Pritzker, Chair Olson and NPFMC members: My name is Ludger W. Dochtermann, owner of the F/V Stormbird and F/V Northpoint. Among the species we fish are Halibut and Sablefish. We tender salmon, as well. 1. I remain steadfastly against the allocation of Groundfisheries Catch Shares in the Gulf of Alaska. 2. I especially oppose the awarding of Bycatch Quotas of Halibut, Salmon and other species. Bycatch quotas are,,, Read the rest here 20:21
NRDC petitions NMFS to list a new (and very endangered) species. Of course they do.
About 50 mysterious baleen whales live in an underwater canyon off the Florida Panhandle, making them the only resident baleen whales, aka great whales, in the Gulf of Mexico. Several other baleen species visit the Gulf, but these 50 leviathans are the only ones known to live there year-round. But new genetic testing suggests the 50 Gulf whales might be a distinct subspecies of Bryde’s — or a new species altogether. If so,,, Read the rest here 19:39
Another hit for the (inshore) Newfoundland shrimp fishery
The total allowable catch for shrimp in the NAFO area this year is about 4,300 tonnes, of which Canada has been allocated 3,580 tonnes. With the loss of this quota in 2015, and possible shrimp quota reductions in fishing areas regulated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), an ongoing battle between the inshore and offshore fishery sectors is certain to heat up again. Read the rest here 16:37
A fishing Veteran returns to harbor
Jake Bujacich and Nick Fahey sat in the fo’c’sle (the front underside of a boat, for those unfamiliar with maritime lingo) of the Veteran and tried to count how many of the boats built at the Skansie Ship Building Company are still around today. The answer was somewhat disappointing: Not many. Read the rest here 16:03
Oh WOW, Man. Not the Pot Gardens! – Biologists identify pot gardens as salmon threat
Water use and other actions by the marijuana industry in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California and Southern Oregon are threatening salmon already in danger of extinction, federal biologists said Tuesday. Concerns about the impact of pot farming were raised by the NOAA Fisheries Service in its final recovery plan for coho salmon in the region. The full plan was to be posted on the agency’s website. Read the rest here 15:38
North Carolina DMF treading water on JEA, waiting for approval from top government officials
The state budget, echoing a directive from the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, gave Dr. Louis Daniel, NCDMF’s executive director, the authority to enter into an Joint Enforcement Agreement with the that would provide the state with an estimated $600,000 per year to allow the marine patrol and NMFS enforcement officers to respond to fisheries violations in either state or federal waters off North Carolina. Read the rest here 14:54
Southeast Alaska dive fisheries open in October
Southeast Alaska commercial dive fishermen are gearing up to start fishing for geoduck clams and sea cucumbers in October. For geoducks, a complicated fishery has become even more so following last year’s Chinese ban on U.S. Pacific coast shellfish. Read the rest here 11:59
Harvesters find possible commercial shrimp stock near Nunavut’s northernmost hamlet
The discovery of those two species, and in such large numbers, has Grise Fiord taking the first steps towards opening a local, inshore fishery. “The excitement in our community is unbelievable,” said Jaypetee Akeeagok, chairman of Iviq Hunter and Trapper Organization, in a Sept. 29 release put out by the Arctic Fishery Alliance. Read the rest here 11:47
Greenland killer whale butchering in photo posted on Facebook
Inuit in eastern Greenland have been hunting more killer whales as climate change leaves the area free of ice longer, says a Dane who recently posted a photo on Facebook of a hunter butchering a whale. Thomas Bilde Below lives in Copenhagen, but travels to Greenland every year. “It doesn’t have the same fishy taste that other whale meats. I think it’s one of the best whale meats I’ve tasted ever,” says Below. Read the rest here 11:18
PEI: Fishermen, processors try to sway Jason Kenney on foreign workers
The Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association and Seafood Processors Association spent two hours Sunday with trying to change his mind about the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. The purpose of the meeting was to explain to the minister why they couldn’t find local Islanders to staff their operations. Read the rest here 11:06
Cod threat: Closures, ban in mix
The full New England Fishery Management Council for managing Gulf of Maine cod when it meets this week for the first time since the release of the unscheduled and dire stock assessment that showed the state of the species worsening rather than improving. Read the rest here 09:22
Bigelow Lab in the summer found a record-low growth rate for plankton, a crucial food source.
In recent years, the researchers have measured a fivefold decline in the growth rate of phytoplankton, an indication of lower levels of the critical single-celled plants at the bottom of the marine food chain. Because phytoplankton are food for fish larvae, a lower abundance of phytoplankton could mean lower numbers of adult fish populations years from now, Balch said Based on measurements this year between June and September, however, the growth rate of phytoplankton is on pace to be at the lowest level since 2001. Read the rest here 08:24
Fishing Partnership Support Services – Health insurance open enrollment begins November 15th
Feel free to contact us for assistance or if you have any questions about your health insurance You can reach us at (888) 282-8816 or visit our website – http://fishingpartnership.org/ 23:43
Sockeye season good, but it could have been better – overly cautious escapement policies cost B.C. fishermen $20 million
When 21 million sockeye salmon return just five years after stocks crashed below two million, it’s hard to complain. But commercial fishermen in B.C. will leave about $20 million on the table this year, according to one estimate, thanks to overly cautious escapements this year. As this year’s Fraser River sockeye season drew to a close last week, returns were estimated at 20.8 million. Read the rest here 23:16
Ginger Zee of ‘Good Morning America’ heads north to work a fishing boat on ‘Deadliest Catch’
Zee joins the crew of the family-owned Northwestern, a 125-foot fishing ship. She’ll spend time with Mandy Hansen, the first female crew member to be featured on “Deadliest Catch.” “The only thing I’m really worried about is getting seasick.” A former member of the crew who films the show once told us that even the most grizzled fishermen featured on “Deadliest Catch” usually spend much of their time on the Bering Sea tossing their cookies. WHAT?? Read the rest here
Ninth Circuit Outlaws Random Motorist Searches Over Fish – Fish Cop stop and search was Fourth Amendment violation.
Fish and Wildlife Captain Michael Cenci and his subordinates have followed the Tarabochias, detained them without cause, confronted them on their fishing boat and threatened them on several occasions with various criminal charges. In 2006, the brothers made a formal complaint to the local prosecutor who invited Cenci to discuss the issue in a meeting. Before it began, Cenci tried to frisk Joseph Tarabochia, which the prosecutor immediately stopped saying Cenci’s behavior was “outrageous.” Read the rest here Fishing family’s civil-rights suit against state officials reinstated – the “organized crime of fishing.” here
Canada Wraps-Up Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Annual Meeting – A Mixed Bag
VIGO, SPAIN — On the heels of this year’s Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Annual Meeting, Fisheries and Oceans Canada highlighted the various management decisions taken by the Organization, with a view to ensuring conservation and sustainability. Read the rest here 18:38
Working Waterfront Festival – Annual blessing, UMass Dartmouth SMAST Recieves Friend of the Fishing Industry award
James Kendall, of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, also spoke, and presented Offshore Mariners’ Wives Association Friend of the Fishing Industry awards to members of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology . Kendall said in the past, the award went to key members of SMAST, or “captains.” “This year, we would like to try something a little different. This year we want to acknowledge their mate and crew,” Kendall said, referring to members of SMAST faculty and students. Read the rest here 17:15
Photo Article: China: Entire bays covered by wooden homes which provide two thirds of the world’s seafood
Latest figures show China’s aquaculture industry is now so large, at more than 32 million tons a year, it accounts for two thirds of the world’s entire production. Text and photo series here 16:38
Rutgers lab churning out baby horseshoe crabs
It’s part of an effort to replenish the population of horseshoe crabs, which is under pressure from habitat loss, commercial fishing that uses them as bait for whelk and eels (New Jersey prohibits harvesting them but neighboring Delaware does not), pollution and poachers. Read the rest here 15:50
Spanish Wells Fishing Industry in Serious Decline says Association – Dominican and US poachers a problem.
(Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Bahamas) – The commercial fishing community in Spanish Wells has seen a downward trend in their ‘catch’ for the past four to five years, said, President of the Spanish Wells Fishing … Read the rest here 14:29
Maine Voices: Rebuild cod stock with low quotas and protection of older, larger females
Today, despite a wealth of survey data, a sophisticated process to estimate the number of fish and determine catch levels and a fishery that now operates well within these limits, we find ourselves with a cod stock that remains drastically overfished and unresponsive to our best rebuilding efforts. Read the rest here 11:50
Alaska’s 2014 Whaling Season in Photographs
Alaska Native whaling crews are setting out for this year’s season, and Channel 2 viewers have sent in these photos of their catch thus far. See the rest here 09:04
Coldwater shrimp sector faces more cuts as NAFO closes Grand Banks
Further steep reductions in 
also known as northern shrimp, could come in 2015 in both the Grand Banks and Greenland. After years of declining catches in the Grand Banks, the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) has now recommended that all fishing in the Grand Banks be stopped next year. Read the rest here 08:30
Researcher warns of looming ‘catastrophe’ for St. Lawrence beluga population
MONTREAL – A researcher monitoring belugas in the St. Lawrence estuary is warning of a looming “catastrophe” after another difficult calving season for the endangered whale. “It’s a catastrophic trajectory we’re observing, and we don’t yet know exactly what are the causes for that,” Read the rest here 08:15
Warmer Chesapeake Bay will change fishery
Rom Lipcius, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has been crunching data from winter blue crab dredge surveys since 1990 and says the bay has warmed by half a degree more per decade than the global average of .3 to .5 degrees Fahrenheit. “As the bay warms, it will lose temperate species and the biogeographical boundary will shift a little further north and the bay will be more subtropical,” he said. Read the rest here 07:50
ODFW to host public meetings on commercial nearshore fishery
NEWPORT — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will discuss the commercial black and blue rockfish and nearshore fisheries at three public meetings in Brookings, Port Orford and Pacific City in late September and early October. Read the rest here 17:53
Oak Island, NC – Dozens of dead sharks found washed ashore
The NC Division of Marine Fisheries is investigating after dozens of dead sharks were found washed ashore on a popular beach strand in Brunswick County on Sunday morning. Michael Boswell, a local resident, was walking on the beach when he spotted “approximately 50 dead sharks” on the sand near Southeast 64th Street in Oak Island. Read the rest here 17:30
Cortez preservation group FISH continues to preserve fishing village’s heritage
Plum Taylor’s 80th birthday celebration was the first event held in the newly remodeled kitchen and dining area of the Fishermen’s Hall community complex. FISH paid about $240,000 for the church, parsonage, Sunday school building and a large vacant lot about five years ago and has been renovating and restoring the property, as funds allow, into a community center for that hugs Sarasota Bay. Read the rest here 12:08
