Monthly Archives: March 2015
Proposed fishermen’s academy aims to keep teens in school
ROCKLAND, Maine — The Class of 2015 at Oceanside High School started with 203 freshmen in the fall of 2011, but by this year only 158 seniors remain, a decline of nearly 25 percent. The Oceanside principal is proposing the school offer a fishermen academy to keep young fishermen in the classroom instead of dropping out without a high school diploma. Read the rest here 17:45
Fishermen in coastal New Orleans parishes identify a new safe harbor for hurricanes, but there’s a catch
Commercial fishermen in the 
have identified a place to serve as a safe harbor for their boats during hurricanes, though they probably will have to spend at least one more hurricane season with no officially authorized place to go when a storm churns its way up from the Gulf of Mexico. After working with the U.S. Coast Guard, state- and parish-level offices and private landowners, fishermen have identified a stretch of the southern wall of the Hero Canal in Plaquemines Parish as a place where as many as 200 boats could tie up and ride out a hurricane. Read the rest here 17:34
Emerging Fishery: Asian Carp nuisance seen as growth industry
“The best way to control anything is to eat it up,” said Luu at her company in Ledbetter, on the outskirts of Paducah. “This is the second most consumed species of fish in the world. As a result, we can save our other species of fish.” Her company markets the carp as “Kentucky Blue Snapper,”,. She hopes to create 60 jobs paying about $10 an hour after receiving state approval last month to receive up to $1 million in state tax incentives. Another $4 million in similar state aid has been approved for two other nearby carp processors since 2013. Read the rest here 11:25
Walker announces North Pacific council nominations
Gov. Bill Walker announced late on March 13 his nominations for two North Pacific Fishery Management Council seats, which expire August 10 of this year. The two seats up for nominations are those of chairman Dan Hull and Ed Dersham. For Dan Hull’s seat, which represents small boat commercial interests, Walker has nominated Dan Hull, Buck Laukitis, and Paul Gronholt. For Ed Dersham’s seat, representing sportfishing interests, Walker has nominated Andrew Mezirow, Richard Yamada, and Arthur Nelson. Read the rest here 10:45
Officials across Cape Cod estimate repairs from ice floes damaging infrastructure will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As temperatures warmed on Cape Cod this week, officials began to calculate the damage that ice has done to docks and pilings. At the same time, ice floes the size of small boats appeared on some Cape Cod Bay beaches, creating a cold and ephemeral stir of their own. In Provincetown, 87 protective fender pilings at the town pier have snapped due to the movement of the ice, and in Barnstable Village 36 pilings at the town marina are either lifted, leaning or broken because of the ice. Read the rest here 09:27
2015 charter and commercial halibut management measures announced
NMFS is providing notice of the immediate effect of regulations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). The commercial IFQ halibut season opens Saturday, March 14, 2015. At its annual meeting in January, the IPHC recommended to the governments of Canada and the United States catch limits for 2015 totaling 29,223,000 pounds. Read the rest here 07:23
Aerial Pics Show Pinnipeds Packed Into Astoria
Aerial pictures of this year’s high number of marine mammals in the Lower Columbia have surfaced. Early last month, 7,600 pinnipeds were counted between Buoy 10 and Portland during a WDFW survey. One picture looks like some Alaskan walrus haulout, but actually shows a large number of harbor seals laying up on Desdemona Sands off Astoria. Read the rest here 00:02:54
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 13, 2015
Click here Weekly Update for March 13, 2015 21:45
Letters to the Editor – Managing bycatch, Earl Southworth
Bycatch from Seattle-based trawlers is killing Alaska’s fisheries and local fishing economy. In the early 1990s, my personal livelihood was negatively affected. Now, all Alaskan fishermen are starting to realize that they can keep fighting over the same, ever-shrinking slice of the pie, or they can band together and stand up to Seattle. Alaska fishermen seem to agree on something. In the past couple of weeks, the governor’s office has been hit by a flurry of resolutions and letters from Alaskans across all facets of Alaska’s fishing economy. Read the rest here 19:11
China’s appetite for N.E. lobster boosts industry
Somewhere in Shanghai, a Chinese family is delving into a Boston lobster — and paying as much as $100 for the sumptuous meal. With a booming economy, the burgeoning middle class in China has developed a taste for the rich meat of the North Atlantic crustacean, known in the Far East as Boston lobster, even though many of them are pulled from the cold waters off of Maine and shipped overseas from Tom Adams’s loading dock in York. Read the rest here 17:44
Coast Guard searching for overdue fishing boat near Majuro
HONOLULU – The Coast Guard is searching for an overdue 82-foot commercial fishing vessel near the Republic of Marshall Islands, Friday. reportedly went missing with nine people aboard while en route Majuro for offload, Thursday. Read the rest here 17:19
Alaska Department of Fish and Game budget on state’s chopping block
According to Juneau Resources Weekly, the ADF&G budget reductions cut across all divisions with sport fishing facing the most personnel losses at 12 seasonal jobs. The Division of Habitat could lose $400,000; commercial fishing programs are set to lose five positions and an additional $2 million in general fund support. Other fisheries related items include a 40 percent cut in the $7.5 million the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute receives in state funds, double what Governor Walker had proposed. Read the rest here 16:59
Who Fights for Fishermen?!! – Volunteer Advocate Jonathan Gonzales, Santa Barbara, California
If you’re a California Driftnet Fisherman, You don’t have many friends. Under constant attack by Big Green, and their paid eco hitmen, they have managed to find one! That friend, at one time wasn’t very friendly towards them. Until he invested his time to learn about the fishery, and the people in it. It’s not a very big fishery, but the Pew/Oceana people have branded it the dirtiest, most damaging fishery there is. Thankfully, Jonathan Gonzales is there with the truth. Click here to read his letter, and view his ENGO choking presentation at the last PFMC meeting. Thank you, Jon. 15:28
The Eco Cons – Con groups seek to rebuild New England cod fishery
After decades of short-sighted exploitation by commercial fishing outfits, Gulf of Maine cod are at the brink of “commercial extinction,” according to conservation advocates who this month petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service today to end targeted fishing of the species. “The giant cod catches of yesteryear are over — these poor fish have been exploited to commercial extinction,” said the Catherine Kilduff, with the Center for Biological Diversity. Read the rest here 13:13
Fresh Halibut Coming Soon! Commercial Pacific Halibut Fishery To Open March 14, 2015.
“Our fleet has staged to the grounds and will commence fishing operations when the season opens on March 14th at 12:00pm,” says Lyle Pierce, master of the fishing vessel Bold Pursuit and President of the Pacific Halibut Management Association of BC (PHMA), an organization representing commercial halibut fishermen on Canada’s Pacific coast.Each year, the commercial halibut fishery provides millions of meals to Canadians who enjoy commercially-caught halibut in restaurants or purchase it at retail outlets to consume at home. “That’s what commercial fishermen do,” notes Pierce, “we provide food for Canada and the world and jobs and incomes for British Columbians.” Read the rest here 12:43
Fish farm madness: Harper proposes lax regulations for fish-farm industry
In its proposed regulatory changes to the Fisheries Act, the Harper government is not only catering to the Norwegian-based multinational fish-farm industry in Canada, it is also collaborating with the U.S. government in little-known efforts to “harmonize” regulations across many sectors, including the aquaculture industry. The results could have devastating impacts on Canada’s ocean environment, wild fish, and our fishing industries. Read the rest here 09:41
Next round of Walker fishery appointments closely watched
Commercial fishermen who make their living in federal waters off Alaska are watching as Gov. Bill Walker prepares to announce a set of appointments to the board that manages the multibillion-dollar fishing industry in the North Pacific. One of the principal roles of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is overseeing the massive, Seattle-based factory fishing vessels that catch and process lower-value groundfish like pollock, mackerel and sole. Read the rest here 09:14
Casting a net for survival: Safety training again offered for fishermen
“More people die from slips and falls in port,” said Ted Williams of safety equipment supplier Hercules SLR Inc. in New Bedford. That’s a big change from a decade or so ago, when 27 men were lost in a one-month period, said Ed Dennehy, director of safety training at the Fishing Partnership. The safety training is getting lots of credit for turning around a bad situation.Thursday kicked off the 2015 season for the safety and survival training course that is offered free to commercial fishermen,,, photo Read the rest here 09:00
B.C. orders clean-up of decaying and abandoned cannery at Namu
The provincial government has issued orders to clean up “a very dangerous situation” that exists at Namu, on British Columbia’s central coast, where a long-abandoned cannery is collapsing and spilling pollutants into the ocean. The Canadian Coast Guard has launched an operation to remove 25,000 litres of oily water from inside a rusting old freighter in the harbour, and provincial remediation efforts are expected soon on shore. Video, Read the rest here 20:53
Coast Guard rescues fishing boat off Nantucket
The Coast Guard rescued a stranded fishing vessel off the coast Nantucket Wednesday. The Hunter, a 75-foot scallop vessel, sent out a distress call 32 miles east of the island saying the ship was adrift without power after the main engine failed, according to a statement from the Coast Guard. photo credit Read the rest here 20:06
West Coast starfish die-off prompts calls for emergency help from Congress
With millions of starfish dying all along the West Coast, Washington state Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives say it’s time for Congress to intervene and find out why. After getting lesions on their bodies, the sea stars begin curling up and soon lose their legs, shriveling up and disintegrating into mush. Researchers fear the epidemic may be the result of a virus caused by climate change, with the disease showing its fastest progression in warmer ocean waters. Read the rest here 19:35
Cape Cod National Seashore joins cry against clam dredging off Provincetown
PROVINCETOWN — The citation issued by the Mass. environmental police against one of the fishing vessels engaged in the hydraulic dredging of surf clams off Herring Cove Beach in early March was explained by state officials as the consequence of an unplanned encounter that took place while an EPO patrol vessel was on a routine patrol.However, the chronology of events and the dispatch of two important letters to state decision-makers just days before the March 3 intervention involving the F/V Aimee Marie speaks to,,, Read the rest here
This Weekend: Marathon Seafood Festival celebrates locally caught seafood
Those attending can enjoy indigenous offerings like dolphin, Key West pink shrimp, spiny lobster, stone crab claws and crackers piled high with creamy smoked fish dip, a Florida Keys favorite.The weekend celebrates the area’s commercial fishing heritage and serves as a substantial fundraiser for local scholarship programs. Nearly $80,000 has been awarded to Marathon High School students through the Marathon chapter of the Organized Fishermen of Florida, a statewide group that represents the interests and well-being of the commercial fishing industries. Read the rest here 16:23
Latest twist in blueline tilefish tale
It appears that the management of blueline tilefish is turning into a battle of emergency actions.Last week, at the South Atlantic Management Council Meeting in Georgia, a motion was approved that directed the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee to determine if the stock assessment for the tilefish, SEDAR 32, was applicable to the entire range of the species. That includes the waters off New Jersey, which is under the jurisdiction of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. As of right now, there are no limits on tilefish here. Read the rest here 15:49:
Supporting responsible ocean management: Are ‘catch shares’ the right plan?
Sadly, catch shares inherently divide fishermen into haves and have-nots. Initial quota allocations often go to people and companies that were already fishing, endowing them with a huge benefit for getting in the game early. As red snapper limits were set and reduced in the Gulf, small-scale fishermen often bore the brunt of the cost of managing the catch. Since the advent of the program, the number of entities-companies and private fishermen-in the industry is down 39 percent. Read the rest here
Where oh where are the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crabs going?
The Atlantic blue crab has long been a commercially important species for thousands of water-men in the crab fishery industry in Maryland and Virginia. But ecological damage, over-exploitation and now, migration of the species is cause for alarm.,, In all fairness, this is not the first time this migration northward has occurred. In the 1950s, a similar migration of the blue crab was observed. When the ocean waters returned to their average temperature, the crabs disappeared. Read the rest here 12:46
“Air Powered Sampling for Purse Seine Fisheries.” – The Net That Lets Fishermen ‘Preview’ Their Catch
The cannon is ready, the ammo is loaded, and the controller blasts it into the sky. But this isn’t a weapon of war: it’s part of a rescue operation, and fish are the target. It does this by using an air-powered cannon to shoot a mini-trawl into a net, so it can collect a sample of fish. Read the rest here 12:02
Fukushima nuclear pollution hasn’t hit B.C. shore, says researcher Jay Cullen
Four years after a massive earthquake struck Japan, creating a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, research shows nuclear pollution is making its way towards B.C., but isn’t affecting fish. “According to all the measurements that we’ve made thus far, and with our partner Health Canada who have been making measurements of fish since 2011, we’ve yet to detect that marker isotope for fish caught along the coast,” Jay Cullen, a University of Victoria professor, told Daybreak North’s Carolina de Ryk. Read the rest here 11:16
Maine Scallop Fisherman charged with multiple scallop violations
A local scallop fisherman is facing multiple charges after he allegedly dragged for scallops at night in the area of an underwater power cable, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Lucas Lemoine, 33, also is accused of operating his vessel without navigation lights and with possession of undersized scallops, Maine Department of Marine Resources indicated in a prepared statement released Wednesday evening. Read the rest here 10:54
Port Richey prepares to address problems with commercial, unregistered boats
Although the City Council on Tuesday asked the city staff to look at ways to toughen Port Richey’s code concerning the mooring of boats in residential waters, some council members warned that it might not be easy in an area with a longtime culture of commercial fishing. “This issue goes back in the area forever,” Vice Mayor Bill Colombo said. City leaders took up the issue at the request of council member Nancy Britton, who said she is fed up with the growing number of commercial vessels mooring in residential areas. Read the rest here 10:37
