Monthly Archives: October 2014
Do otters eat a lot of rockfish?
Here’s some irony. Rebounding rockfish populations have created a concern that river otters may be eating enough to hamper continuing population growth. “It’s more of a lack of information,” said Joe Gaydos, director and chief scientist of SeaDoc Society. Predation on rockfish populations is poorly understood. “It’s better to take a look at the issue.” Read the rest here 13:56
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, October 12, 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 10:20
New Bedford: Winners showed their skill at waterfront festival
On Saturday ,groundfishing skills were highlighted with a net-mending competition emceed by net designer Tor Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing, and a rope splicing contest emceed by Barbara Merry of Marlinspike Artist. Winners of the net mending competition were Meghan Lapp, Geoffrey Hatfield and Sarah Fortin, while Kevin Curole of Grand Isle, Louisiana, won the splicing contest. Read the rest here 09:47
Global Ocean Grabs Privatize Oceans, Harm Fisheries, and Threaten Fishing Communities
The report states, “Ocean grabbing is occurring mainly through policies, laws and practices that are (re)defining and (re)allocating access, use and control of fisheries resources away from small-scale fisheries and their communities, and often with little concern for the adverse environmental consequences.” Read the rest here 09:12
Video Shows RV Ocean Researcher V Aground Off Taiwan, Frantic Search and Rescue
New video shows the scene from Friday night’s search and rescue after the Taiwanese research vessel Ocean Researcher V struck a reef and sank near the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait. Search and rescue crews were able to recover all 45 people onboard, but tragically two researchers lost their lives in the accident. In the video you can clearly see the research vessel sitting high up on the reef. Watch video here 08:51
Cod crisis: Iconic species faces an uncertain future
Our cod crisis has become a sad cliche, ironic enough to catch the eye of the national media, and the truth does indeed hurt. Just ask Chatham and Harwich fishermen, who fished in what was once one of the top cod ports in the country but now catch mostly skates and dogfish and very little cod. Read the rest here 08:18
Hot off the press, At the NPFMC – Council hears Gulf of Alaska salmon bycatch breakdown
Gulf catch share discussion continues – The bycatch report was one of several the reports related to the Gulf of Alaska rationalization program the council heard yesterday and today. Read the rest here 20:29 Listen live npfmc.adobeconnect.com.
Northern Shrimp are on the ASFMC agenda, Will YOU be allowed to fish under Amendment 3?
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section will meet Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Portland to consider approval of the Public Information Document (PID) for Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp for public comment. The latest amendment looks at whether ASMFC for the northern shrimp fishery. Read the rest here asfmc pdf here 15:25
‘Wicked Tuna’ may be as good as it gets this winter – The Bermuda perspective
The show basically follows the lives of several boat crews, all of whom fish on boats based in the fishing seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Apart from contributing significantly to National Geographic’s share of the television audience, tourism in this town, about 50 miles from Boston, has enjoyed a boom based on the series. Read more here 14:05
Fishy Money Fuels Super PACs In Alaska Senate Race
Outside super PACs have played a major role supporting Sen. Mark Begich (D) ,,, The majority of this outside spending binge has come through the super PAC Put Alaska First.,,, While evidence suggests Fishermen’s Finest is the largest donor with an actual interest in Alaskan affairs,, In a conversation with The Huffington Post, Fishermen’s Finest president and general counsel Dennis Moran avoided questions about the ownership of the LLCs. Read the rest here 12:48
Canadian Fishermen See Red in Fight Over Lobster Size – At issue: About 10 Millimeters
Fishermen in the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are at loggerheads over how big a lobster’s carapace must be for a lobster to be harvested. Fishermen in Prince Edward Island are fighting to keep the minimum carapace at 72 millimeters, or about 2.8 inches, while their counterparts in would like to see fishing restricted to lobsters with larger shell sizes—as much as 10 millimeters longer. That is .39 inch. Read the rest here, Video 11:38
Coast Guard, F/V Ashley N fishermen save sinking F/V Lady Annette in Maine
Watchstanders at the Sector Northern New England Command Center in Portland, Maine received notification that the 34-foot Lady Annette was flooding with one person aboard. Rescue crews from Station Jonesport launched aboard a 47-foot motor life-boat, and the Ashley N, rushed to the scene to assist. The Coast Guard crew arrived on scene and passed a dewatering pump which helped to control the flooding coming from near the propeller shaft. Read the rest here 10:42Massachusetts: State to cap the amount of fishing disaster relief
The Division of Marine Fisheries said it will cap the amount of disaster relief available to individuals who hold groundfishing permits — essentially cutting in half the amount of money destined for one man. Boat owner Carlos Rafael threatened to sue the state for reneging on the $617,500 he says he’s due — or $32,500, 19 times over. “I will straighten ’em out,” said Rafael, sitting in his South Front street office and phoning his lawyer. Read the rest here 10:23
Two Dead After Taiwan’s Largest and Most Advanced Research Vessel Sinks
Two people are reported dead and 43 have been rescued after the Taiwanese-flagged ocean research and survey vessel ‘Ocean Researcher V’ sank Friday night off the southwest coast of Taiwan. The report adds the ship sank Friday night just after 8 p.m. in the vicinity of the Penghu Islands, located in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and the China mainland. The area was likely experiencing weather related to Typhoon Vangfong just to the east. Read the rest here 22:35
Poll: Majority of Marylanders Support 1-Year Crab Moratorium
After a record high number of crabs caught in 2012, the past two years have been a completely opposite story. With watermen putting all their effort into catching what few crabs they can, a new poll by Goucher College has proposed a solution to the low crab population that they say the majority of Marylanders are behind. The idea that 63 percent of Marylanders support according to the poll calls for the crabbing season to be shut down for a full year. Read the rest here 20:50
Climate change forcing fish stocks north: study
A study has produced the strongest evidence yet that climate change is forcing hundreds of valuable fish species toward the poles. The paper, published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science on Friday, concludes that Canadian and Arctic waters may end up with more species and greater abundance. Read the rest here Wonder if the CLF/Pew Eco Quackeroos even look at this. 17:43
Skipper grounds vessel, gets busted in failed sobriety test, Blows a .115 – Leads to a slight pollution issue.
A Coast Guard Station Bellingham 45-foot Response Boat- Medium crew towed and safely moored the fishing vessel at the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes after receiving a report that vessel was aground in the Swinomish Channel Thursday evening.,, Upon boarding the vessel, the Adelie crew suspected the master of the vessel was intoxicated,,, Read the rest here 16:20
Ocracoke’s Fisherwoman – (it’s fisherman!)
Ocracoke Island has a long history and proud tradition of living off the water, and the people who, despite increased regulations, continue this tradition and livelihood are called working watermen, and occasionally, waterwomen. What is a waterman? A “working waterman” is a commercial fisherman, clammer, crabber, or oysterman. Tree Ray, who lives on Ocracoke Island, is one of the working waterwomen, and has been commercial fishing for nearly seven years. Read the rest here 15:53
New Study Finds Fishermen’s Expertise is Rarely Considered by Scientists
The study, published this week as Editor’s Choice by the ICES Journal of Marine Science shows that if scientists from Canada to Kiribati had worked more closely with fishermen over the last 100 years they could well have prevented infamous events like crashes in regional cod populations, as well as some of the rapid degradation we are currently seeing in tropical coral reef environments. Read more here 11:45 ICES article here
Makah to celebrate dock completion today in Neah Bay
A flotilla of boats will tie up for the first time at a new $13.8 million dock during a blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. today. The dock will be open for business Monday. Fishing boats and oil response vessels — the boats that will use the dock — will tie up at the industrial hoist, said Debbie Ross-Preston, coastal information officer for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Read the rest here 09:08
Zone C members discuss federal rule-making – Of particular interest is the amount of cod bycatch in lobster traps
Sarah Cotnoir, Resource Coordinator for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, alerted the Zone C Council to a New England Fisheries Management Council draft amendment to the Magnuson Stevens Act. “Lobster gear is definitely on the radar, especially in western [Casco Bay area] Maine,” said Cotnoir. “Everything and anything is on the table.” Of particular interest is the amount of cod bycatch in lobster traps, said Cotnoir. Read the rest here 08:37
Man netted $75,000 with phony commercial fishing claim after BP oil spill
Prosecutors said that Morris applied for disaster relief funds in October 2010, presenting false documentation indicating that he had earned money as a commercial fisherman before the spill. Polite said Morris, who had never been in the commercial fishing business, received about $75,000. Read the rest here 08:11
Hundreds of pounds of Lake Erie fish left to spoil in untended nets
A Leamington commercial fishing company and boat captain have pleaded guilty to allowing fish to spoil and have been fined a total of $3,500. Conservation officers got a tip in early August that spoiled fish had been seen in a commercial trap net on the northwest side of Pelee Island. Read the rest here 08:07
Angela Sanfilippo: ‘What Gloucester has done for me’
Angela Sanfilippo told her story Thursday afternoon and she told it well, the traces of her Italian heritage still dancing in her voice. It’s a pretty good story. An American story with all the familiar tinting of the immigrant experience. At its heart, it is a Gloucester story. Read the rest here 07:29
New Fisheries Might Be Headed to Unalaska
Next year will likely bring new fisheries to the western Aleutian Islands, now that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued its final report on the way commercial fishing affects an endangered population of Steller sea lions. Read the rest here 07:08
The Fall 2014 issue of the Pacific Islands Fishery Newsletter is here!…
Issues and articles pertaining to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, and region. Obama’s Proclamation, Pacific Bigeye Tuna Movement and Distribution Workshop, Striped Marlin, Catch Limits for 110 Species Complexes, and more. Read the E magazine here 21:32
Ribbon Cut on Bucksport Lobster Freezing Plant
Maine Cold Storage cut the ribbon on its brand new, 15,000-square-foot warehouse, where commercial customers will be able to freeze and store lobster and other seafood. Other companies in Maine freeze and store their own branded seafood products. But Central Maine Cold Storage will be the only one to offer a custom, Bucksport Lobster Freezing Plantto outside clients. Read the rest here 18:14
