Daily Archives: December 22, 2014
Democrat Lawmakers & Conservation Groups Call for Phase Out of California Drift Gillnets
Sacramento (Dec. 22, 2014) – With the full support of Turtle Island Restoration Network, OCEANA and other marine conservations organizations, California Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) and Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay), Assemblymember Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara), Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel) today called on the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service to transition away from deadly California drift gillnets. Read the rest here 22:13
Protecting a Home Where the Puffer Fish Roam in Biscayne National Park
BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — For 15 years, officials, environmentalists, fishermen and boaters have struggled to put together a plan to protect one of South Florida’s jewels — a national park, almost entirely underwater, where a part of the largest reef tract in the United States lures throngs of divers and anglers who fish its once-abundant grouper and snapper. Read the rest here 16:54
The Accidental Lobster Farmers
The last few years have been plentiful ones for Maine’s lobstermen. While New England’s other iconic fishery — cod — went belly-up, crustacean landings exploded to 125 million pounds in 2012 and 2013, five times the historic average and enough meat to give every American a lobster roll (with leftovers to spare). If anything, Maine’s biggest problem has been too many lobsters: The decapods were so abundant last year that prices crashed. Read the rest here 15:00
Harvest quotas set for 2015; pots for sablefish pondered
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to approve the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska groundfish allocations for 2015. Bering Sea quotas – Gulf of Alaska quotas, Pots for the blackcod fishery? The council unanimously passed a request for further review on the possibility of allowing pots into the largely hook-and-line sablefish, or black cod, fishery in the Gulf of Alaska. Read the rest here 14:45
Fishing crew receives Carnegie Hero award for sea rescue
According to the award citation, on Jan. 25, 2012, a 67-foot fishing vessel, the Heritage, became disabled in a severe storm while crossing Alitak Bay off Kodiak Island. The ship’s engine compartment flooded, and the vessel capsized and sank, sending its seven-person crew into frigid waters four miles from the closest shore. Five members of the crew were able to board a life raft. Hearing a radio distress call, Plancich, captain of the 101-foot commercial fishing vessel Tuxedni, alerted his crew. Despite darkness and winds gusting up to 75 mph, the Tuxedni set out to help. Read the rest here 12:32
Mississippi Seafood Dealers: Oyster season isn’t’ sailing smoothly
PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. Seafood dealers say you can’t beat the view at the new Pass Christian Harbor, but business is off to a rocky start. Seafood dealer Darlene Kimball says the process for an oysterman to transfer his catch from water to land can take up to five times as long as is it did at the old harbor, because oyster-checking protocol still has to be performed at the old harbor location. Read the rest here 11:54
Newfoundland: Shrinking shrimp resource hitting home – Industry bracing for quota cuts again in 2015 –
It takes sweat and tears, in addition to these shellfish, to keep the boat in the water, steam it as much as 20 hours from Port aux Choix to the fishing grounds, set a trawl and pull the sloppy masses aboard, year after year. The 65-foot vessel is owned by Dwight Spence. Its crew includes his son, Ashley Spence, who has been fishing for more than 20 years, family friend Wade Rumbolt and Chad Spence — now a poster boy for the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters — who has fished on and off for 15 years with his father and brother. Read the rest here Video here 10:42
Anti-fishing, anti-science – Chief executive Barrie Deas, explains why Marine Protected Areas aren’t the solution to managing fisheries.
Former Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw recently led the charge to resurrect the campaign for the immediate designation and implementation of 127 marine conservation zones around the UK. In a confused and somewhat bizarre article in the Independent, he made the argument that marine protected areas were the solution, not just for not just managing fisheries but for just about everything other ill on the planet, including climate change. Read the rest here 10:01
Keeping to the Schedule in the Pacific Northwest
When a tightly scheduled repower, for the Kodiak-based trawler Sea Mac in early December, took a very bad turn Mike Fourtner used his 25 years of fishing experience and leadership to pull together a team at Cummins Northwest to solve the problem. The problem? The trailer with the engine went over a bank and flipped.” There were a lot of problem’s then! (edited) Read the rest here 07:10
