Daily Archives: March 9, 2015
What to do with an icon: Boston PR firm hired to retool branding for Maine lobster
“We’ve got a great story to tell,” adds David Cousens, a fisherman and president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “We’re poor at telling it, but we need to get better at it. We’re independent businessmen, we catch the product, we bring it in fresh. It’s a great, healthy, wild-caught product coming out of pristine water. We need to get that story out there because that story sells.” Read the rest here 20:59
Russian pollock sector soon to be as consolidated as US – 2 Foreign Companies OWN 50% of all US POLLOCK
The industry will follow the model of the US pollock sector, with the top five Russian companies controlling 80% of the quota in 2015-2016, states Osadchiy’s presentation from the event, held last week in Bergen, Norway. In the US, Trident Seafoods, Maruha Nichiro, Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) and American Seafoods Group control 80% of the TAC. Trident has 25% of the TAC, Maruha Nichiro, through its mothership vessels and Westward Seafoods and Alyeska Seafoods processing plants, has 22%; Nissui has 18% through Unisea; with American Seafoods and its fleet of factory vessels harvesting 16%. Read the rest here 18:59
Alaska Reality Wars | Selling Out Our High Sea And Distant Shores.
The vast expanse of the last frontier is quickly becoming the king of prime time television entertainment. There is another gold rush in Alaska and its attacking our screens with the ferocity of a Kodiak brown bear. There are over twenty reality TV shows currently airing on numerous cable networks that have some affiliation with Alaska.,, This “selling out” of our high seas and distant shores hits closer to home than I ever realized it could. Over the past months, I have been in negotiation with an unamed reality production crew, Read the rest here 17:16
Alaska groundfish fleets face big blow from halibut bycatch proposals
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fleets are staring down at what could be a shocking blow to revenues next year. The North Pacific Fishery Management (NPFMC) is considering halibut bycatch allocation reductions for BSAI groundfish fleets ranging from 10% to 50%, with a final vote slated for its June meeting. As the potential impacts of this blow begin to sink in, one company — three-decade old Fishermen’s Finest — has already assessed the damages, and they’re not pretty. Read the rest here 16:39
Inuit elders tell NASA Earth axis shifted
The Inuit Tribe are indigenous people who live in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Siberia and Alaska. Their elders have written to the National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) to tell them that the Earth’s axis has shifted. The elders do not believe that carbon emissions from humans are causing the current climate changes. The elders say they can no longer predict the weather, as they have been able to in the past. Read the rest here 15:24
Gail Shea still pushing ‘imperative’ lobster levy in Nova Scotia
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea is continuing to promote the idea of a Maritime-wide lobster levy, even though momentum in Nova Scotia appears to have stalled. “I can’t change how people react in that area,” Shea said Monday at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax. She was referring to a unanimous vote of lobster buyers from southwestern Nova Scotia last month rejecting the Maritime wide levy. Read the rest here 14:53
Giant great white shark caught off P.E.I. was ‘a teenager’
New research into great white sharks has revealed that a giant shark caught off P.E.I. in 1983 still had a lot of growing to do. The 5.3-metre long shark was listed last summer on the Discovery Channel as No.2 on its list of top five legendary sharks. Now researchers have found the shark was still a youngster with a lot of growing to do. Read the rest here 12:06
Snow crab fishermen fined $7K
Three snow crab fishermen in the province have been fined a total of $7,000. According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Carman Frampton of Burin was charged with having too many crab pots set, failing to take aboard an observer and using gear that’s not part of a licence. Read the rest here 11:59
Penobscot Bay Pilot Photo gallery: 2015 Maine Fishermen’s Forum
The Samoset Resort Saturday was packed with people, all turned out for the 40th annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum. Today was the last day of the three-day forum. From the gallery. Smithwick and Mariner’s Insurance representatives, from left, are Laurie Woodley, Christopher Smithwick and Suzanne Beilleux. View the gallery here 11:49
#CatchOfTheDay – Tony Delahunty, Chairman of the NFFO writes about the idea behind the #CatchOfTheDay campaign.
There is a common misperception that it is just the large trawler boats which supply us with fresh fish. The truth is that the UK has a diverse fishing fleet and smaller boats like my own are just as important for the supply of this sustainable food source. As a fisherman myself, I have seen the industry evolve over the past 40 years with consumers and chefs becoming more adventurous with their choices of fish, although the UK’s top three choices are still unsurprisingly cod, haddock and salmon. Read the rest here 09:50
Salmon Vs. Gold Splits Alaska GOP
There’s gold in them thar…. swamps. A lot of gold, in fact—up to $120 billion of it, lying within the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. Which is why a Canadian company, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., wants to dig one of the world’s largest open-pit mines to get it. Naturally, there’s a fight. Mines are messy, and this one—the —could threaten delicate salmon spawning grounds. But this fight is different—because there are Republicans on both sides. Read the rest here 09:26
Lionfish are threatening Florida’s economy
Invasive lionfish are a serious threat to Florida’s saltwater fishing industry — the second largest in the nation — and the thousands of jobs it supports, according to an economic commentary from Florida TaxWatch. Some 109,000 jobs tied to recreational fishing, and the more than 64,000 dependent on the commercial fishing industry, bolster the state economy, the report reveals. Read the rest here 08:30
