Monthly Archives: February 2015
Coast Guard crew frees second fishing boat in two days from ice near Woods Hole
A Coast Guard crew responded to a fishing vessel trapped in ice in Woods Hole Passage, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Saturday. This is the second case in two days that Aids to Navigation Team Woods Hole rescued a fishing crew from the ice. At about 3 p.m., the crew of the fishing boat notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England that they became lodged in ice while returning to New Bedford, Massachusetts after a fishing trip. 23:12
At Board of Fish, a preview of pot vs. longline conflict
The Alaska Board of Fisheries on Friday (2-27-15) took no action on a set of proposals to allow pots in the Southeast black cod fishery. The fishery is now open only to longliners, with some exceptions. But the debate was a preview of a larger fight brewing later this spring — over what kind of gear will be allowed across the entire Gulf of Alaska. Audio, Read the rest here 21:09
Maryland, Virginia Members Disagree on Atlantic Oil Drilling
The Obama administration’s recent proposal to lease oil and gas drilling in a swath of the Atlantic Ocean generated the expected mix of cheers and jeers on Capitol Hill, but local reaction was mostly divided along state borders rather than party affiliations. Marylanders are reluctant, while Virginians appear to want to charge ahead, especially if it might mean more cash in their state coffers Read the rest here 16:12
Turkey’s unilateral decision to exceed catch limits threatening Bluefin tuna recovery
Documents seen by The Associated Press and EU comments on Friday show that during an intense meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas early this week, delegates were angry at for announcing it would catch up to 73 percent more Bluefin than under an internationally agreed plan. Turkey said this week that its “longstanding and rightful demand” for a higher quota had not been met, forcing it to take independent action. Read the rest here 15:12
Why is Ottawa drawing a blank on Georges Bank?
The productivity of this bank is witnessed by the largest year class of haddock (2010) that has been recorded in the last 50 years. You would think that governments responsible for managing this unique ocean area would want to protect it from . A blowout similar to the recent Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico would be devastating to many fishing communities in southwestern Nova Scotia and New England. Eighty per cent of Georges Bank lies in American waters. Read the rest here 11:30
Canada uses Submarines for Fishery Patrols?
new Victoria-class fleet of submarines are now operational. HMC Submarines Windsor, Victoria, and Chicoutimi were all tested out at sea in December 2014, spending approximately 260 days out on the open water. Canada’s submarines are not just a war-fighting vessel, said a Royal Canadian Navy press release, they also fulfill a variety of peacetime naval roles such as fishery patrols, surveillance on Canada’s coasts, support of maritime law enforcement, and deterrence of would-be terrorists, smugglers, and polluters. Read the rest here 10:47
Coast Guard rescues fishermen in consecutive cases in Matagorda Bay, Texas
Coast Guard boat and air crews rescued a 64-year-old man after his oyster boat went aground and began taking on water in Matagorda Bay early this morning and rescued another man after his oyster boat went aground in the same area this afternoon. At approximately 5:30 a.m., the son of the master of the oyster vessel Two Sisters contacted Station Port Aransas by phone stating his father had run aground and his boat was rapidly taking on water. Read the rest here
Lionfish Causing Problems for the Panhandle
The FWC has been bringing awareness to some of Florida’s most invasive species with Invasive Species Awareness Week. One particular highlighted menace has been creeping into the Gulf since 1985. The lionfish is causing problems for some of Florida’s native species which is in turn causing problems for both recreational and commercial fishing, especially here in the Panhandle. Video, Read the rest here 09:42
Sacramento River King Salmon hold on, but drought, heat may take toll next year
The California drought and a strange warming trend in the ocean have not yet killed off the Sacramento River’s king salmon, which are swimming off the coast unaware of all the doomsaying. That could all change next year, fisheries experts warn, when the full effect of the four-year dry spell hits the scaly creatures where they live. There are 652,000 fall run chinook salmon that were born in the Sacramento swimming in the sea right now, about 17,000 more fish than there were at this time last year, according to estimates by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Read the rest here 09:23
PETA launches second attack on Cumbrian aquarium for selling fishing tackle!
An aquarium urged to cut fish from its cafe menu is once again facing pressure to change – this time for selling tackle and bait on the premises. Ms Bekhechi said: “From hacking fish apart and dropping them into a deep fryer to tricking them into impaling themselves in the face, the Lake District Coast Aquarium looks like a rough place for fish, who studies have shown are intelligent individuals who have complex social relationships and long-term memories.” Read the rest here 07:59
Feds to re-open herring fishery, over scientist and Aboriginal objections
A federal court struck down a legal attack by coastal B.C. First Nations attempting to overturn the federal Conservative fishing minister’s decision to re-open herring fisheries in coastal waters. Controversially, the court heard that Minister Gail Shea, a Conservative MLA from PEI, made the decision against the views of her own federal scientists. The Minister was not immediately available for comment late Friday. Read the rest here 22:55
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Coast Guard terminate US fishing vessel voyage near Bellingham, Wash.
The Shiprider Program allows both Canadian and American forces aboard each other’s vessels to conduct at-sea boardings and ensure maritime safety along shared borders. SO! The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with the assistance of the Coast Guard terminated the voyage of a fishing vessel crew for several discrepancies found during an at-sea boarding near Bellingham Thursday. Read the rest here 21:43
Jersey Shore reps will head up new Congressional Coastal Communities Caucus in Congress
New Jersey Congressmen Frank Pallone, Jr. and Frank LoBiondo joined with colleagues on Tuesday, Feb. 24 to launch the 
, a bipartisan group designed to highlight the unique concerns of those that live, work, and do business along America’s coasts, according to LoBiondo’s office. The lawmakers, who both represent parts of the Jersey Shore, will serve as co-chairmen of the caucus. Read the rest here 19:57
The Organic Green Washing of Salmon Farms
The recent discovery of the chemical Teflubenzuron at hundreds of times the legal limit in the environment of a Marine Harvest salmon farm in Scotland highlights the dangers of releasing chemicals uncontrolled into our waters. The old attitude of ‘dilute and disperse’ has in fact despoiled our environment, both in the air and in the seas. Teflubenzuron is one of the chemicals used to control sea lice. These can harm and even kill farmed salmon. Resistance to chemicals builds and sea lice are regularly recorded at levels,,, Read the rest here 17:03
Coast Guard frees fishing boat from ice in Quicks Hole Passage
A Coast Guard crew responded to a fishing vessel trapped in ice in Quicks Hole Passage, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Friday. At about 10 a.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England were notified that the 69-foot fishing vessel Misty Blue was stuck in ice north of the passage. Read the rest here 15:59
Byrne, and Florida senator send letter in support of snapper – We Love Snapper!
Two respected Gulf Congressmen have taken the lead on a letter addressed to the Secretary of Commerce ensuring NOAA acts swiftly on the distribution of Gulf recreational electronic data collection funding passed last year. The U.S. Congress, the Gulf of Mexico Regional Fisheries Management Council, Gulf commercial fishermen and federally permitted Gulf recreational charter-for-hire captains know the importance of accurate and real time data collection based on electronic monitoring of Gulf fisheries,,, Read the rest here 12:47
East End legislators at odds over bill to study Millstone power plant impacts
“The water temperatures of the sound are rising at an alarming rate,” Schneiderman said. “Data collected show the sound’s temperature is rising one degree per decade for the last 40 years. The ocean temperature is rising one degree per century. That’s significantly faster,” he said. “Millstone is the smoking gun,” the legislator said. (a 40degree rise over 40 years?) Read the rest here 12:33
Fall chinook run shaping up to be third largest in modern era
Fishery managers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are predicting an estimated return of 900,200 adult fall chinook. It would be the third largest return on record dating back to 1938. Returns in 2013 — a total of 1.2 million adults — remain the highest on record. Last year, the second highest return, came out to 1.1 million adults. Commercial and recreational fishermen alike reported an amazing season last year and Pacific County, Wash., ports were clogged with boats coming and going. Read the rest here 11:54
Grand Manan’s lobster season hurt by hard winter – ‘The guys out on deck are freezing’
Weather has all but ended the lobster fishing season in
. The season started in November and recent weather has caused most fishermen to miss more than double the number of the days they would in typical year. “There’s a limit to how much wind you can stand when it’s cold like it has been this winter. The guys out on deck are freezing,” said fisherman Laurence Cook. Read the rest here 08:52
Canadian Lobster Identity Crisis! Homarus Canadianus loses lobster name game
Canadian lobster will have to masquerade as Americans once again if Maritime seafood is going to gain access into one of the most lucrative marketplaces in the world. And all because of three European countries that say no and a language scarcely used by anyone but the Pope. The fishing industry is anxious to gain access to the 28 countries of Europe, but the European Union requires that lobster must be identified by its Latin name — namely “Homarus Americanus” or American lobster. Read the rest here 07:30
Indoctrinated Youth: What young people are writing about Commercial Fishing.
One problem that’s being hotly debated all over the world is the issues of commercial fishing. Some say that fishing is all for us and we should keep fishing until its all gone. While protesters say that the fish will be gone if we don’t stop these fishing practices. While some say that sports/commercial fishing provides us food, money and jobs the truth is that these fishing practices are destroying our ocean, slowly but surely. Some of the reasons fishing is bad is Bottom Trawling is destroying ocean beds, Using nets is snagging innocent fish and in most cases dolphins, Fishing is destroying the ocean ecosystem and it could be wiped out by 2048. Read the rest here 07:12
Water rights for wild salmon or coal mine? DNR to decide. Comments extended to April 9
The state is getting ready to choose between giving water rights to sustain wild salmon or to 
proposed at Upper Cook Inlet. If it opts for the mine, the decision will set a troubling legal precedent – it means the same could soon be coming to a river near you. It would be the first time in Alaska’s state history that we would allow an Outside corporation to mine completely through a salmon stream. And the purpose is to ship coal to China. Read the rest here 23:06
Captain Joseph John Testaverde, Lifelong Gloucester Fisherman – March 24, 1951 – February 25, 2015
It was the sea that ran through his veins, starting at the age of 7 as his fathers deckhand and eventually becoming owner and Captain of his own boats. Joe immersed himself into the life and was always at the front lines of political change advocating for fisherman’s rights with the Gloucester Fisheries Commission , Waters Way Commission and many other fisheries causes. In 1994, he was the recipient of the National Fisherman Highliner of the year award. He leaves behind five children, grandchildren, his two brothers, and his beloved dog, Boston Blackie . Read the rest here A fund has been established to help with expenses. 21:05
Another year of historic landings and improved value for Maine lobster announced
For the third year in a row and only the third time ever, Maine lobster fishermen landed more than 120 million pounds with a record overall value of $456,935,346, according to preliminary landings data reported today, Feb. 26, by the state Department of Marine Resources. At $3.69 per pound, the 123,676,100 pounds landed represented an improvement of 79 cents per pound over 2013, the largest one-year increase in per pound value since DMR and National Marine Fisheries Service began keeping records. Read the rest here 18:51
Northeast fisheries chief’s credo: ‘Take the heat. … Move on’
John Bullard recalls sitting on a sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when “the light bulb went off.” Just out of college, he had set off to sail around the world by hitching free rides wherever he could get them. But a message in community organizer Saul Alinsky’s 1971 book “Rules for Radicals” stopped him short: If you want to change the world, go home. So he did. Armed with a master’s in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bullard went back to his hometown of New Bedford, Mass. Read the rest here 18:02
Wild Alaskan Owner Responds to Federal Indictment
Darren and Kimberly Byler were charged with violating the Refuse Act for allegedly pumping their toilet water into the channel and for making false statements about it to the Coast Guard. “When I think I’ve seen it all, it just keeps getting better, with the government scrutiny since we opened up. The Coast Guard has laid down the hammer so to speak, with all the funds, the power, the money. And we’re guilty of nothing. They indicted us on charges they can’t prove. Before people rush to judgment, we’ll have our day in court.” Read the rest here 17:19
The Great Cod Compromise of 2015: NOAA, fishing industry find rare common ground on cod actions
The industry stakeholders and NOAA/NMFS
arrived at a compromise: NOAA would eliminate the trip bycatch limit and leave the broad stock areas open, but it only would be able to accept up to 30 metric tons of the surrendered cod allocation and the rolling closures scheduled for March would stay in effect.”We felt like what we came up with addresses two of the major complaints by the fishing industry,” Bullard said. “We think there is a conservation benefit to that and it’s a good proposal.” Read the rest here 15:57
Eco Zealot Oceana to feds: sea lions starving due to overfishing
Marine con group Oceana says thousands of sea lion pups that have died on the West Coast this year are succumbing to starvation from a lack of forage fish. Sardines – a preferred fish of sea lions – are more scarce than they have been in 15 years. Oceana is calling upon the Pacific Fishery Management Council to put a moratorium on new forage fisheries at its meeting next month. Read the rest here 14:00
George’s Bank at Risk: Shell’s N.S. project assessment in last stage
Shell Canada Inc. was another step closer Wednesday to exploratory drilling off the coast of Nova Scotia after an environmental assessment moved into its final phase. “We remain on track for a mid-2015 commencement of exploratory drilling,” Larry Lalonde, a Shell Canada spokesman, said in an interview. “There is a significant possibility of oil reaching George’s Bank and the southwest coast of the province in the event of a blowout,” Joanne Cook, marine toxics co-ordinator with the centre, said in an interview. Read the rest here 10:41
