Daily Archives: February 3, 2015
Voluntary plan to reduce fertilizers not enough to shrink Gulf’s ‘Dead Zone’, new study says
Major voluntary strategies used on Midwest farmland to curb fertilizers that feed the annual low oxygen “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico don’t remove enough nutrients to succeed, according to a new, peer reviewed scientific study. The study, conducted by a team of scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Defense Fund,,. Read the rest here 21:39
Cute Killers? Gray Seals Maul, Suffocate Seals and Porpoises, Studies Say
It seemed a heart-warming sight: two seals apparently frolicking in the sea before slipping below the waves off the German island of Helgoland (map) in 2013. Then an ominous sheet of red unfurled across the waves. When the pair resurfaced, the bigger seal was skinning and eating its companion. “We thought they were playing,” says marine biologist Sebastian Fuhrmann , “It looked really cute, but in just a few seconds, it was over.” Read the rest here 19:29
Maine Department of Marine Resources proposes lower elver quotas for tribes
As Maine’s 2015 elver season draws near, state officials are looking to adopt a rule that would reduce catch allocations for the state’s four federally-recognized Indian tribes. Last year, the Passamaquoddy Tribe was limited to harvesting no more than 1,572 pounds, This year, the department is proposing to limit the Passamaquoddys to 1,356 pounds Read the rest here 18:40
Chinese company seeks 30-trawler fishing fleet in Guyana
A Chinese commercial fishing company is seeking to operate 30 vessels in Guyana over opposition from fishermen in the South American country. Fuzhou Hongdong Pelagic Fishery Co. has submitted a proposal for permits to operate the 120-foot trawlers and drift netters,,, “We don’t have any more space to accommodate anybody else in the fishing grounds as these are almost fully exploited,” said Leslie Ramalho, past president of the Guyana Association of Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors. Read the rest here 17:58
Thankful fisherman kept faith after vessel capsized
Even when he was dressed in a survival suit and kneeling on the hull of a sinking ship, veteran fisherman Lee d’Entremont said he was never scared for his life. “I never thought I wasn’t going to make it home,” the 47-year-old said during a telephone interview from his home in Lower West Pubnico, Yarmouth County, on Monday afternoon. He and two other fishermen and a fisheries observer were aboard the 20-metre Poseidon Princess that capsized and quickly sank early Saturday morning about 100 kilometres south of Yarmouth. Read the rest here 16:25
New menhaden study renews debate on catch limits
A little more than two years after authorities clamped down on harvests of Atlantic menhaden, prompting protests from Maryland watermen and other commercial fishermen, a new analysis by scientists finds they are in better shape — better, in fact, than believed when the catch was cut back. But conservationists and anglers disagree. Peter Baker, Northeast fisheries director for the Pew Charitable Trusts,,, Read the rest here 15:03
Building big fishing boats in Coombs
Roy Brown at Independent Shipwrights in Coombs is building the biggest boat of its kind on the West Coast. The 60-foot long commercial fishing boat will be unusually wide at 23-feet, competing with boats a third longer, said Brown, who has been building boats on the property for 36 years. “I started training on building wood boats in New Zealand in 1972,” he said. But very soon after starting his business back in his home province, he had to switch to fibreglass, which was already standard in the industry. Read the rest here 12:53
Fish expert sounds off on seismic surveys
The impact of the surveys on whales and other marine life has been hotly debated. In August, William Yancey Brown, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s chief environmental officer, asserted in an agency newsletter that there’s no documented scientific evidence of noise from air guns used in seismic surveys “adversely affecting marine animal populations or coastal communities” or commercial fishing. But Grant Gilmore, a senior scientist with,,, Read the rest here 12:15
Editorial: NOAA’s dismissal of industry offer sadly no surprise
Maggie Raymond of the Associated Fisheries of Maine said she was “flabbergasted” last week when NOAA regional administrator John Bullard essentially dismissed any requests to scale back or otherwise revise the that have brought new area closures and further tightened the noose around the commercial fishing industry. She also said it’s “shocking” that NOAA Fisheries is apparently not willing to work with the industry in resolving the critical issues at hand. It shouldn’t be. Read the rest here 11:05
Froze In! Maine DEP giving Portland lobstermen the cold shoulder
The winter months are hard on lobstermen. In the weeks prior to Winter Storm Juno’s arrival, the maritime conditions were rough enough to force lobstermen to keep their boats tied up. Then, just two days after Juno, the skies cleared and the swells subsided. Lobstermen all over the region cheerfully headed out to check on their traps and bring home a little bacon. But for several Portland lobstermen that elation was short-lived, because when they arrived at their berths they were shocked to find ice over a foot thick trapping their boats,,, Read the rest here 10:42
Like Maine seafood? Then you should like the bitter weather, too.
These three fisheries – lobster, elvers and softshell clams – are the three most valuable in Maine, comprising more than 75 percent all the marine fishing revenue in the state (with lobster alone making up nearly 70 percent). And in all three fisheries, the effect of mild winter weather on ocean temperatures was cited by scientists and industry officials as a primary factor on the upheaval the fisheries experienced in 2012 and, to a lesser extent, in 2013. Read the rest here 07:54
