Daily Archives: November 4, 2014
A New Fisheries Supervisor for Alaska’s Westward Region
There’s a new man at the helm of fisheries management for Alaska’s Westward region. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently named long time fisheries biologist Nick Sagalkin Regional Supervisor. Listen Read the rest here 20:45
Half of English fishing quotas controlled by overseas firms – 5,000 small boats holding just 4 per cent of the entire UK quota
Nearly half of the total English fishing quota is controlled by companies from overseas, according to an investigation into the extent of foreign dominance over UK waters.A single Dutch vessel, the Cornelis Vrolijk, accounts for almost a quarter of the entire English catch and about 6 per cent of the total UK quota. The 370ft trawler may operate out of Hull under a British flag, but it’s entire catch – which last year came in 34.4 tonnes of mackerel, herring, scad and blue whiting worth £17m – is landed in Holland. Read the rest here 17:31
F/V No Limits Captain Christopher Hutchinson recounts tragedy off Matinicus, “I never thought I would make it,”
Christopher Hutchinson said he and his two crew members were on their way back to the mainland Saturday afternoon after a day of hauling traps when the seas and winds quickly intensified, causing his 45-foot lobster boat to flip. “We got hit by one large wave, and that pushed us into another. The windows to the wheelhouse blew out, and we began taking on water quickly,” We mourn the loss of his crew, Tom Hammond, 27, of Rockland and 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer, Rest easy fishermen. Read the rest here 16:25
Conch remains on the menu, no harvesting
National Marine Fisheries Service will not list queen conch on the endangered species list, but harvest of it in United States waters will remain prohibited. In March 2012, the environmental group Wild Earth Guardians requested the federal government list queen conch under the Endangered Species Act. Florida Keys State Rep. Holly Raschein successfully pushed a bill that called on the federal government to maintain the importation of queen conch. Read the rest here 12:52
UNCW professor studies declining flounder population in the New River Estuary of North Carolina
Since 2005, professor of marine biology Fred Scharf along with his team of UNCW undergraduates and graduate students, have been studying the migration patterns and genetics of flounder in the New River Estuary of North Carolina. Read the rest here 12:07
“Deadliest Catch” Skipper Sig Hanson will be a contestant on the upcoming “Celebrity Apprentice.”
NBC on Tuesday announced the lineup of 16 personalities who will compete for their favorite charities as the reality show returns for a new season in the boardroom with Donald Trump on Jan. 4. Read the rest here 10:37
Study says natural factors, not humans, behind West Coast warming
“The North Pacific hasn’t been this warm ever, as far as anyone knows. It’s really strange,” said Bill Peterson, oceanographer with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Ore. “It looks like an El Nino, but it really isn’t. We don’t really know what it is.” For the moment, oceanographers and atmospheric scientists don’t see a link to human-caused climate change, but also say what they’ve seen doesn’t match other recognized patterns in ocean conditions. Read the rest here 09:53
Saturday and Sunday! Stone Crab Festival in Cortez! Be There!!
The Stone Crab Festival, held along north Sarasota Bay in the historic Cortez commercial fishing village, returns for its third year Saturday and Sunday. Organizers are promising “tons of food and drinks, live music, and boat loads of fresh stone crab” and “all vendors on site are local artisans from the surrounding area.” Read the rest here 09:30
Commercial fishing boat runs aground in Oregon Inlet
A commercial fishing trawler from Wanchese ran aground Monday morning just east of the Bonner Bridge in Oregon Inlet. Pictures from eyewitnesses show the F/V Fine Tuna was hard aground and side too the Bodie Island shoal, which juts out into Oregon Inlet, sometime before 10 a.m. Read the rest here 09:16
Earle McCurdy’s exit is like his entrance: it comes in uncertain times
But it’s a job that few people would really want given the challenges that loom over the industry. Of course, the situation was no different in 1993 when McCurdy took over from Richard Cashin. The fishery was mired in the devastation of the cod moratorium announced less than a year before. It looked to many like the industry might collapse completely. McCurdy was handed the reins at a time when there wasn’t anything pulling the cart. Read the rest here 07:56
Adrift in Canadian waters
With Alaskan waters bordering Canada in both the north and south, it’s no surprise that the U.S. and Canadian coast guards work hand-in-hand, training together annually to respond to maritime emergencies. Unpredictable Arctic weather presents complex challenges, and both countries occasionally rely on one another to provide a helping hand. Read the rest here 07:26
