Monthly Archives: March 2015
Coast Guard ID’s F/V Hear No Evil fisherman who fell overboard
The fisherman who fell overboard Sunday night from a New Bedford vessel about 37 miles southeast of Nantucket has been identified as
, according to the Coast Guard. Crew members from the F/V Hear No Evil notified the Coast Guard about 8:30 p.m. Sunday that the 54-year-old Willet had fallen overboard. The Coast Guard found Willet’s body early Monday and said the fisherman was not wearing a life jacket. Read the rest here 21:01
Maine Legislators Make Attempt to Regulate Scallop Fishery
The Maine Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources will hear a bill Wednesday that would put additional regulations on Maine’s scallop fishery at a time when the fishery is growing in both volume and value. The Bill, “An Act To Promote Sustainability in the Scallop Fishing Industry” (LD 908), sponsored by imposes a maximum width of five feet, six inches for scallop drags, reduces the trip limit to 90 pounds per day and opens up the existing limited entry permitting system to anyone who previously held a hand fishing scallop license or scallop dragging license. Read the rest here 17:35
Fishermen’s Finest delivering petition against halibut bycatch decreases to Washington state governor
The petition includes 23,000 signatures, which the company gathered in 17 days, supporting its aim of convincing the governor to stop the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) from imposing proposed decreases — ranging from 10% to 50% — to the halibut bycatch allotment for Alaska groundfish fleets. “This reallocation will cause a handful of Alaska fishermen to gain an additional $44 million over the next ten years but will cause the loss of $1.2 billion and 4,900 jobs in the Washington state fishing and shipbuilding industry,” the company says in a petition. Read the rest here 16:29
Inuit seal meat from Canada may soon be exported to Europe
Seal meat from Canada, produced by Inuit communities, could soon be sold in the European Union (EU) after the EU reported progress was being made on resolving the long-running dispute over these imports. Read the rest here 12:46
BP spill continues to threaten Gulf wildlife, says Enviro group
“Given the significant quantity of oil remaining on the floor of the Gulf and the unprecedented large-scale use of dispersants during the spill, it will be years or even decades before the full impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is known,” the report said. “It is clear that robust scientific monitoring of the Gulf ecosystem and its wildlife populations must continue — and that restoration of degraded ecosystems should begin as soon as possible.” Read the rest here 11:58
Buyer found for Newlyn’s Fishermen’s Mission
Newlyn’s iconic Fishermen’s Mission is set to be sold to a local businessman – but the Mission hopes to retain a presence in the building by leasing back office space and a memorial room. The Fishermen’s Mission intends to use funds raised through the sale to provide revenue income for their work in Cornwall. Commodore Dickens was keen to underline the work of the Fishermen’s Mission to Cornwall and Newlyn in particular, for the long term. Read the rest here 11:03
Netters to fish lower Columbia River Today
Commercial fishermen get their first chance at spring chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River with a seven-hour season on Tuesday. The Columbia River Compact today approved fishing with 41/4-inch mesh tangle nets from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday between the ocean and Beacon Rock. “The markets are right, the timing is right, it’s time to go before the prices drop,’’ said Darren Crookshanks, a commercial fisherman from Longview. Read the rest here 10:53
P.E.I. lobster fishermen vote to market own product
Lobster fishermen across Prince Edward Island have voted to take the marketing of their product into their own hands. They want to create a lobster commodity board and voted 76 per cent in favour of it. About 650 fishermen were registered to vote. Ian MacPherson, the executive director of the Prince Edward Island’s Fishermen Association, said having their own board would allow them to have more input and be a part of the solution against low prices. Read the rest here 08:50
Who speaks up for tourism in midst of aquaculture pollution?
Our guests are not here to walk among slime-filled rocks, swim in polluted waters, to smell or see decaying fish or debris on our shores. These open-pen fish farms are only just the beginning in Nova Scotia. If these big corporations get the approval they want from the federal and provincial governments, it won’t be long before you see fish farms in every bay, cove and harbour throughout the province, which could eventually destroy everything that was good for tourism in Nova Scotia. Read the rest here 08:17
Chatham still fighting U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for control of fisheries in Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge
The town is primarily opposed to proposals in the plan that exert federal control over fisheries, in the coastal waters that fall within refuge boundaries, that typically were managed under state and town regulations, and with the taking of 717 acres of South Beach that Chatham claims is town property. The Monomoy plan sought to ban certain types of fishing they believed damaged the bottom habitat, including scallop, clam and mussel dredging, using a towed net to catch fish and fish weirs. Read the rest here 07:45
Corps sending two dredges to reopen clogged Oregon Inlet – three days left in the lucrative commercial bluefin tuna season
Two dredges are steaming to Oregon Inlet to start clearing out the closed channel starting as early as Wednesday. On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard enacted its emergency power to prohibit boats drawing more than 2 feet from motoring within 100 yards of the Bonner Bridge. Charter boats need 3 to 5 feet and cannot head to sea through the inlet as Easter weekend approaches. There are also only three days left in the lucrative commercial bluefin tuna season. Read the rest here 20:38
Troubled Swan’s Island fisherman guilty of more scallop offenses
A local fisherman who just earlier this month was charged with committing multiple scallop fishing violations was found guilty in court last week of committing prior scallop violations more than a year ago. Justice Robert Murray decided March 25 that Lucas Lemoine had committed the civil violations of fishing in a closed area and fishing without a valid license in January 2014, according to court documents. Read the rest here 20:25
DFO bends to pressure, resumes herring talks with Heiltsuk – Marilyn Slett remains locked inside the federal fisheries office
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Pacific Regional Director resumed negotiations this afternoon with Heiltsuk First Nations over the controversial herring fishery as protests at DFO offices in Vancouver and Bella Bella grew. Top DFO boss, Sue Farlinger, landed on Denny Island this afternoon near Bella Bella off the Northern B.C. coast to meet with First Nations leaders there. Read the rest here 20:10
Group studying ways to keep more fish out of shrimp nets
A meeting being held this week in New Bern will kick off an effort to study new methods and potential gear for reducing the bycatch of finfish in shrimp trawls. A work group established by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, a day-long workshop that will include presentations by experts from North Carolina and other coastal states on the latest technology in and experiences. Read the rest here 19:40
Minister Shea Announces TAC Increase And Rollovers For Northern Shrimp Fishery
Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today announced the 2015/2016 Northern shrimp fishery management decisions for Shrimp Fishing Areas 0, 4, 5 and 6. The Government of Canada is committed to ensure the sustainability and the financial stability of the Northern shrimp fishery while maximizing economic opportunities for fishermen. In keeping with this commitment, the management decision for Northern shrimp is as follows: Read the rest here 16:11
Meet One of Canada’s Last Great Lakes Fishermen
Fish purveyors Kendall Dewey and his wife Joanne do everything: fish, gut, filet, weigh, and package the fish that nearby restaurants like the Drake Devonshire can’t get enough of. But at 62 and 55, they want to slow down and no one is interested in taking the reigns of their business in a county that prides itself on farm-to-table cooking. Trying to find someone young that’s interested in commercial fishing is very, very difficult. (because its real work!) Read the rest here 15:45
Huge ice cap on Lake Erie puts arrival of spring on hold
The large ice cap still encrusting most of Lake Erie would cover all of Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. It’s two feet thick in many places, and melting oh-so-slowly. Last year, it wasn’t completely gone until May. The lake ice is the biggest, whitest sign that spring’s arrival is again delayed. And the temperature is not going to warm up any time soon. This will be the longest it has taken to reach 60 degrees since 1980. Read the rest here 15:24
Coast Guard conducts medevac near Cold Bay, Alaska
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced a mariner experiencing abdominal complications from the fishing vessel U.S. Intrepid 30 miles south of Cold Bay Sunday. The helicopter crew safely hoisted the 19-year-old man and transported him to Cold Bay, where an Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew landed to transfer him to a higher level of care in Kodiak. Read the rest here 14:28
Embracing the Success of Responsible U.S Fisheries Management
Seafood choices used to be simple, as they should be. But over the last twenty years or so we have been bombarded with more information and advice about seafood than ever before and all of a sudden seafood choices started to get very complicated. What used to be a simple choice now requires research on our part, and for some folks the confusion and guilt associated with seafood choices is enough to ruin their appetite, but not me. Read the rest here 14:05
UPDATE **** Coast Guard locates unresponsive fisherman overboard near Nantucket
The Coast Guard located the body of a missing fisherman about 37 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts at approximately 1 a.m., Monday. The crew of the fishing vessel Hear No Evil, homeported in New Bedford, Massachusetts, recovered the body and positively identified the missing crewman. We send our deepest condolences. Read the rest here 13:18
Louisiana shrimping: Lower prices this year and rise in imported shrimp
Louisiana State University researchers say Louisiana shrimpers face lower prices this year with an expected rise in imported shrimp. The Daily World reports that imports last year were hit by a virus called Early Mortality Syndrome, or EMS. But this year imports are re-entering the market and that is expected to drive prices down. Julie Anderson-Lively, assistant professor at Louisiana State University’s AgCenter, said a lot of imports were killed off last year and never entered the market. Read the rest here 13:00
Feds receive thousands of comments on Atlantic drilling
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The federal government has received thousands of comments on the contentious issue of drilling for oil and gas off the Atlantic coast. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is seeking comment on what should be included in an environmental impact statement on offshore drilling which for the first time could include Atlantic drilling. The agency in recent weeks held a series of public meetings along the coast. The deadline for comments is Monday night. Read the rest here 12:52
Coast Guard searching for Fisherman overboard southeast of Nantucket
BOSTON — The Coast Guard is searching for a person in the water approximately 35 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Sunday. At about 8:30 p.m., the crew of the 85-foot scalloping vessel Hear No Evil notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England via VHF channel 16 that a 54-year-old male was missing from the vessel and may have fallen overboard. Read the rest here 08:52
“Hands Up” – Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D Tex.), Wants Obama to Fire Commerce IG Todd Zinser
A top Democrat this week will ask President Obama to fire the Commerce Department’s inspector general after a congressional probe uncovered a pattern of alleged misconduct, including retaliation against whistleblowers and the hiring of a suspected girlfriend. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Tex.), the ranking Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, called for Todd Zinser’s ouster during floor remarks Thursday. Read the rest here 08:24
Heiltsuk take over DFO office to stop herring fishery
Heiltsuk tears and anger were cast at Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers standing on the front steps of the federal office on Denny Island Sunday afternoon, as band Elders, leaders, women and youth pleaded for the controversial herring fishery not to resume on the central B.C. coast. Within hours, more than a dozen band members also occupied the DFO office, promising to remain there until the herring fishery is closed. Read the rest here 22:34
NMFS Implements Management Measures to End Overfishing of Blueline Tilefish in the South Atlantic
NOAA Fisheries NMFS is implementing management measures in Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 32). The final rule publishes in the Federal Register, and is effective, on March 30, 2015. A commercial trip limit of 100 pounds gutted weight is included. Read the notice here 16:57
In considering the lobster, PETA only inflicts pain on itself
At least People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) makes things fun for its critics. The pro-vegetarian group yet again proved its incompetence this week by attempting to claim credit for a business decision it had nothing to do with, this one concerning a Minor League baseball team and what’s being served at its concession stands during games. Read the rest here 14:56
MAFMC to Hold Scoping Hearings for Squid Capacity Amendment: April 6 – 21, 2015
The amendment would likely consider a variety of approaches for reducing capacity in the squid fisheries, such as a requalification of permits, a tiered limited access system, and/or individual fishing quotas (also known as “catch shares”). If the Council decides to move forward with an amendment, a range of alternatives would be developed for analysis and additional public comment. Meetings and dates here 13:49
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, MAR 29, 2015
The 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 13:16
American Fishermen, American Consumers and Coastal Communities, Support the A-7 Survival Fund – Highly Migratory Species
American fishermen,American consumers and coastal communities all lose under the current A-7 amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for Highly Migratory Species. Fearing further decline of domestic fisheries for rebuilt stocks of swordfish, some tuna, and the possible resulting transfer of the United States’ international quota to foreign fleets, members of the Pelagic Longline Fleet and other related businesses have filed suits challenging aspects of Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan for Highly Migratory Species, which includes swordfish and tunas. Read the rest here 11:56
