Monthly Archives: October 2014
Research detects antibiotics traces in commercial seafood
Two scientists have carried out a new study to examine the persistence of antibiotics in seafood raised by aquaculture and have found traces of five of them in commercial species purchased in the country. “The threat of living in a post-antibiotic era cannot be avoided without revising current practices in the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, including in aquaculture,” says Halden. Read the rest here 09:29
Tradex: Rising Black Cod and Halibut Prices; Big Changes Ahead for EU Labelling Laws
Published on Oct 27, 2014 All sizes of Halibut as well as Halibut fletches are seeing price inflation, including the smaller sizes. Earlier this year we predicted that prices would be strong in the 2014 season as the supply of 2013 processed halibut was very limited. H&G Black Cod prices FOB Seattle for both 5-7s and 7 ups are in the high $9s. We have even heard some offers as high as $10.00 USD. Watch the video here 09:19
Hunting for whale and votes in Barrow, Alaska-‘It’s exciting that people in this small community could shape America,’
Gabe Tegoseak tired after a late night spent butchering one of three bowhead whales that subsistence hunters towed in from the pewter-colored waters of the Chukchi Sea. Slabs of blubber cover front yards all over town, and Tegoseak has some whale of his own to cut up and cook at home. But not yet. There is an election coming soon, and doors await his knock. Harold Snowball answers one of them. Read the rest here 08:50
Drilling beneath Gulf of St. Lawrence could harm environment more than forecast, research says
New warnings are being raised over proposed drilling at the Old Harry reservoir beneath the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with research that suggests an oil spill at the site could affect coastlines in Atlantic Canada. Read the rest here 08:39
ASMFC 73rd Annual Meeting October 27 – October 30, 2014, Mystic, Connecticut – Listen Live!
Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 8:00 a.m. on October 27th, continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:15 p.m.) on October 30th. Agenda material here Listen via Webinar here 08:00
N.H. “Wicked Tuna” star Tyler McLaughlin and mate save fishermen from sinking Miss Sambuka near Gloucester
Captain Tyler McLaughlin, star of National Geographic’s “Wicked Tuna,” says he was fishing four miles off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, last weekend. Over the roar of 10-foot sea swells and 35 knots of wind, he heard a distress call calling out for his boat “Pin Wheel”. His first mate, Stephen Field, also heard the desperate call. “I was standing up there just listening and I caught it on the radio. Read the rest here 20:55
Japan’s pro-whaling stance isn’t about whales at all; it is about ensuring access to other fishing resources.
The problematic use of whaling to safeguard fisheries dates back to the early 1980s and discussions about an international moratorium on commercial whaling. With the negotiations stalled because Japan opposed the idea of a ban, the American government threatened to limit Japanese ships’ access to fishing stocks in United States waters unless Japan withdrew its objection. Japan complied in 1986, privileging fisheries over whaling. But the United States then curtailed Japan’s access to American fish stocks anyway. And in 1987 Japan announced it would resume whaling under the controversial pseudo-scientific programme still in place today. Read the rest here
Rome Packing Co., Inc., of East Providence Recalls Crab Meat
A company is recalling crab meat they sold to several states after finding it was contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. The Rhode Island Department of Health said on Friday that Rome Packing Co., Inc., of East Providence, issued the voluntary recall of several kinds of fresh and frozen crab meat sold under the Ocean’s Catch brand. The meat was distributed in Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California to retail stores including but not limited to: Shaw’s Supermarkets, Legal Sea Foods, and Harbor Fish Market. Read the rest here 20:06
“One Square Mile.” Narragansett Bay: Trawling bay becoming more dire, say fishermen, scientists
To begin the discussion, Espinoza posed a series of questions to the panelists, seeking input on what it was like fishing in the bay in previous decades. She also wanted to know how commercial fishermen are adapting in order to stay in business. Captain Denny Ingram is a commercial lobsterman from Warren who has been fishing for 35 years. He recalled his childhood in the upper bay, collecting rockweed to sell for a dollar a bag in the late 1960s. Read the rest here 19:25
Ripping up the sea floor on behalf of royal profits
Doh! How naïve can you get? Conservation in a conservation zone? You must be out of your mind. Conservation zones, obviously, are places that fishing boats can continue to smash to pieces through beam trawling, scallop dredging and other weapons of mass destruction. Read the rest here 14:59
Top marine scientists call for action on ‘invisible’ fisheries
To protect our oceans from irreversible harm, governments, conservationists, and researchers around the world must address the enormous threat posed by unregulated and destructive fisheries, say top marine scientists. Destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling make matters worse. Trawl nets grab any and all forms of marine life, laying waste to the ocean floor. The total area bottom trawled is nearly 150 times the area of forest that is clearcut annually around the world. Read the rest here 14:31
Tom Steyer: the green billionaire pouring millions into the midterms
The former hedge fund executive has now emerged as the biggest single donor of this election cycle – at least as far as publicly disclosed donations are concerned – and a favorite new punching bag for Republican opponents, a role previously reserved for Al Gore. Read the rest here 13:28
Past Climate Change Was Caused by the Ocean, Not Just the Atmosphere, New Rutgers Study Finds
Most of the concerns about climate change have focused on the amount of greenhouse gases that have been released into the atmosphere.But in a new study published in Science, a group of Rutgers researchers have found that circulation of the ocean plays an equally important role in regulating the earth’s climate. Read the rest here 13:10
HALIFAX, NS – Liberals failing lobster industry
Progressive Conservative Fisheries and Aquaculture critic John Lohr says Liberal incompetence is creating confusion in the lobster industry. Yesterday, the Liberal Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell said a proposed new levy on lobster will not take effect this winter. The two cent levy was a recommendation of the 2013 Maritime Lobster Panel report. Read the rest here 12:30
Anchorage: Silver salmon stage a revival in urban Chester Creek
But even where humankind has tried hard to destroy the coho homeland in Chester Creek, the salmon were coming back. There was an unconfirmed report of at least one of them making it into the remnants of the Chester Creek Middle Fork in Russian Jack Park, which would require the fish transit an underground pipe about a half-mile long. Read the rest here 11:53
China again shows interest in Grafton fish plant – commercializing Asian carp
Chinese natural resources officials will visit American Heartland Fish Products Wednesday seeking knowledge about Asian carp from the U.S. manufacturing company that began reducing the invasive species’ populations in U.S. inland waterways, “They are interested in learning everything they can about what is going on with Asian carp in the U.S.,,, Read more here 11:14
Lobstering off the shores of Delmarva – A photo article
Lobsters are banded and piled into a basket by waterman Sonny Layton aboard the 42 foot commercial fishing boat Andrew G, owned by Chet Townsend. Crab claws and lobsters are harvested, but the main income for Townsend is from sea bass. See the rest here 10:59
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, October 26, 2014
The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here 10:31
Despite good wages, lobster processing is a hard sell
Since Kyle Murdock opened Sea Hag Seafood in 2012, he’s battled the same issue many Maine businesses face: He needs to attract and hold on to good, reliable workers. “It’s tough finding people in the labor market, getting them into work, and getting them trained and maintaining them,” said Murdock, whose plant in Tenants Harbor employs about 75 people. “It’s a huge concern for us.” Read the rest here 10:25
Key West attorney claims more Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary closed marine areas has already been decided
“They have already made their decisions” on new marine protected areas, Horan said Thursday from Key West. “These are areas up to 25 square miles where there will be no recreational or commercial diving or fishing,” Horan said. “They’ll close it forever. The only thing you can do is drive your boat across.” Marine sanctuary managers insist nothing has been decided,,, Read the rest here 09:52
A Groundbreaking Report on Ocean Grabbing
The new report, Global Ocean Grab, was published by the Transnational Institute, Masifundise and Afrika Kontakt together with WFFP (the World Forum of Fisher People). It tells the hidden story of fisheries and fishers. A complex story of sustainability, food, development models, culture and politics, where community rights are systematically violated right under our noses… sometimes in the name of sustainability itself. Read the rest here 09:21
Southeast’s largest and most productive wild salmon rivers at risk
Throughout history, arguments over land and water usages have run the gamut from tussles over fences with next door neighbors to shoot outs over inter-state grazing rights in the old west. But when land and water rights pit one country against another, that’s when things really gets tricky. That is the situation in Southeast Alaska, Read the rest here 09:08
Government Helps Fund Advanced Halibut Tagging
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With support of the Provincial Government, the Fish Food and Allied Workers union (FFAW) and the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, will continue an in-depth study of the Atlantic halibut stock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Read the rest here 19:39
N.C. boat captains put on a show for “Wicked Tuna”
Reality? For the most part, say three Outer Banks fishing captains who participated on “Wicked Tuna: North vs. South.” “Let’s just say it wasn’t a documentary,” Britton Shackelford, captain of Doghouse, said of the National Geographic series that concluded last Sunday. Shackelford’s peers on the southern team were Reed Meredith on Wahoo and Greg Mayer on Fishin’ Frenzy. Read the rest here 19:03
The bogus fuss over Walrus beach parties: Walrus Haulouts Are Nothing New
Dr Susan Crockford explains why the media coverage and statements by scientists and environmental organizations mislead people about the massive walrus haulout seen in Sept/October 2014. Watch the video here 14:03
McCrory gets coastal issues report at N.C. Coastal Resources Commission’s meeting
Gov. Pat McCrory says to come up with a vision for coastal North Carolina, state government needs to balance coastal issues such as funding coastal projects, improving dredging of inlets and channels, providing property insurance and addressing federal regulations. (Fishermen, watch your backsides!) Read the rest here 12:44
Members wanted for federal Atlantic highly migratory species advisory panel
Currently, the board includes 12 commercial members 12 members from the field of recreation, four environmentalists, four from academia and the chairperson of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas Advisory Committee. NMFS needs to fill one academic, five commercial, three recreational and two environmental/non-governmental organization positions that expire at the end of the year. Read the rest here 12:10
A bluebird day: Commercial fisherman Captain Geordie King by his sister, Heather King – Nice!
Back in New England, my brother Geordie’s been a commercial fisherman for more than 30 years. He developed his passion for boats as a kid, out fishing and pulling lobster traps with my father. Several years ago his boat, the Sea Witch, was hit off the coast of coast Maine by a 20-foot rogue wave of such tremendous force that it blew out a wheelhouse window,,, Read the rest here 11:28
Pricey reds rank Cook Inlet salmon value third-best in 10 years
If measured in sheer volume of fish, the Upper Cook Inlet commercial harvest of salmon was low: preliminary Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates show it at about 20 percent less than the 10-year average harvest. But, when the $2.25 price per pound for sockeye is factored in, the ex-vessel value of the 2014 harvest was high at $35 million — making it the second year in a row that Cook Inlet commercial harvesters have seen lower-than-average harvests with higher-than-average values. Read the rest here
Coast Guard medevacs Fisherman experiencing flu like symptoms
A 29-year-old man was medevaced by the Coast Guard from a commercial fishing vessel in Longboat Pass near Sarasota, Florida Saturday. Read the rest here 10:55
