Daily Archives: November 9, 2014

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, November 9, 2014

rifa2The 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  To read all the updates, click here 22:43

Opinion: The race to catch the last fish in the sea – WILL we ever get our fisheries management better than half right?

I guess it was as a result of being asked to write the Keep Australian Fishing report that I continue to keep a weather eye on developments in fisheries management around the globe. Well perhaps “globe” is something of an exaggeration. Given that I speak and read only two languages – English and Australian – perhaps it would be more accurate to say that my interests tend to centre on NZ, Oz, USA, Canada, Ireland and the UK. Read the rest here 22:04

At this year’s Stone Crab Festival, no pause in the claws – “It’s a way better start than we had last year,”

“I was frantically searching for crabs last year, and we came up short,” But at the start of the third annual Stone Crab Festival on Saturday, Banyas said running short on claws wasn’t a worry. In the past two weeks, his fleet of three stone crab boats harvested more than 1,000 pounds of claws for this year’s festival.  Read the rest here 19:48

Fisheries experts (Pew) caution against raising western bluefin tuna quota – latest science indicates the stock “has grown substantially”

PEI tunaMember nations agreed to hold the shared quota at 1,750 tonnes for the last several years, with Canada drawing fire two years ago for being the sole country to ask for 250 more tonnes of quota. Rachel Hopkins of the Pew Charitable Trusts argues that the stock remains depleted compared to 1970s levels, adding that U.S. fishermen haven’t been able to catch their full quota since 2003. [An increase won’t matter then, will it?!!] Read the rest here 15:05

EDITORIAL: Net ban still galls, 20 years on

Okaloosa County got lucky with the net ban. When, in 1994, Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment outlawing fishing nets larger than 500 square feet, critics warned it would wallop the fishing industry. It did, but commercial fishermen either persevered or found other ways to make a living. That says more about the resilience of fishermen, though, than it does about the wisdom of the net ban. Read the rest here 11:29

Video – Land & Sea archival moment – 1960s Schooners

Land & Sea is celebrating 50 years on the air this season. Schooners from the 1960s – Take a look back at what life was like on fishing schooners that fished on the Labrador every summer. In this 1960s Land & Sea archival footage, we get a sense of the lives of these hard working fishermen. Watch the video here 10:53

“Deadliest Catch” boat busted for possessing undersized crab

Location:  Dutch Harbor, AK Incident number:  AK14087000 Type:  Possess Undersize Red King Crab Text:  On November 6, 2014, Dutch Harbor Wildlife Troopers issued a citation to Elliott Nicadimas Neese, 32 years of age, of Homer, AK, for possessing undersize red king crab onboard his vessel the F/V Saga while he was the Master and permit holder of the vessel.  Arraignment is scheduled for November 13, 2014, at 0930 hours, in the Unalaska District Court. Author:  TWL9  10:21

Carlos Rafael , the “Don” of the New England Groundfishery, says he was cheated

Between endless phone calls and Winston cigarettes, Carlos Rafael fumed as he recounted the call early in October: The fisheries disaster relief headed his way would be just half the amount he was originally told was his. For the don of the North Atlantic groundfishing industry, it was the second time in six years he said he was cheated out of federal funds. Read the rest here 09:47

NOAA history: Commerce IG says fisheries officials illegally shredded documents in probe

g12200000000000000059821060cb1e7b3b33b412df8d2f2e39f9f731ddAn unpublished Inspector-General’s report obtained by The Examiner said officials of the Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) destroyed hundreds of documents in a “shredding party” in November 2009 “in the middle of an investigation by the Office of the Inspector-General.” NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenko has imposed a controversial regulatory plan on the New England fisheries,, Read the rest here 09:08

Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association lost two of its biggest advocates in Tuesday’s elections

U.S. Reps. Joe Garcia, D-Key West, and Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, were both voted out of office. They were big supporters of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association and helped the group on many fishing issues, Executive Director Bill Kelly said. Read the rest here 07:33

Coast Guard saves fishing boat from sinking near Nantucket

uscg-logoThe Coast Guard helped four fishermen, Saturday, when their boat started flooding about 25 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Read the rest here  00:44