Daily Archives: March 31, 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
