Monthly Archives: April 2015
U.S. to focus on climate change, oceans as new chair of Arctic Council
The United States is starting its term as chair of the Arctic Council by adamantly steering clear of geopolitical and military issues, in favour of focusing on social and environmental stewardship of the North.,, The U.S. plans to put climate change at the centre of its leadership. Kerry said that there is a plan in place to try to curb black carbon and methane emissions which, he said, have more devastating environmental effects than C02. Read the rest here 10:38
Sealing advocates applaud idea of federal funding, but not approach
Contentious! Gill-net strategist appointed to fish and wildlife commission
Gov. Kate Brown set the hook on sport anglers this past week with her appointment of an Astoria gill-net industry strategist to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. Bruce Buckmaster’s nomination, due for Senate confirmation in a hearing May 14, is already drawing rapid and rabid fire. A closed meeting scheduled for Wednesday in the Oregon State Library to introduce appointees to invited user groups was canceled late Friday by the governor’s office. Spokesmen for both the Oregon chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association,,, Read the rest here 09:51
SPECIAL REPORT: SHRIMP SAFETY – Six shrimp you might find at the store, And how to choose the best ones!
Shopping for shrimp is confusing. Packages can have so many labels that it’s hard to know which ones to trust. One way to separate the best from the rest is to buy sustainably farmed or responsibly caught shrimp. We believe that your best choice is wild shrimp especially those that have been responsibly caught in the U.S. Avoid shrimp caught in Louisiana??? Funding for this project was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts!! Read the rest here 08:41
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for April 24, 2015
Click to read Weekly Update for April 24, 2015 as a PDF To read all the updates, click here20:27
Coast Guard rescues 2 from sinking shrimp boat near Brunswic, Georgia
Two fishermen were rescued from their sinking shrimp boat by a Coast Guard aircrew Friday off the coast of Saint Simons Island near Brunswic, Georgia. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Charleston received the initial report at approximately 9:30 a.m., on VHF channel 16 from one of the distressed fishermen, stating that their 55-foot shrimp boat, Miss Kathy,was taking on water and was in danger of sinking. Read the rest here Watch video here 18:25
Good News for Georges Bank! – Drilling Moratorium Extended, strong landings of lobster, haddock and scallops
The announcement in Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s budget that the federal government will join with the Nova Scotia government to legislate an extension to the Georges Bank moratorium adds to a recent spate of good news for the province’s fishing and seafood industry, says Denny Morrow,,, The coalition issued a news release saying strong landings of lobster, haddock and scallops; the lower Canadian dollar; and good demand for those seafood exports in U.S. and Asian markets are creating a feeling of optimism in the industry. Read the rest here 17:30
NMFS Announces Approval of Three New England Groundfish Rules for Fishing Year 2015 (May 1, 2015-April 30, 2016)
Today, NOAA Fisheries announces three actions affecting the Northeast Multispecies fishery. These are the final rules implementing Framework Adjustment 53 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan and the Sector Operations Plans for 2015-2016, and the interim final rule that implements additional recreational measures for the Northeast Multispecies fishery. Read the rest here. If you can stand it.
COVER STORY: ‘Cold Water’ heroes
Forever, it seems to me, a weathered skipper sporting a sou’wester has been our founding industry’s face. But the 
fishery has evolved a lot since the days of sou’wester-wearing men who jigged cod or hauled cod traps over the side of a skiff. Nothing in my mind is showcasing the modern fishery’s risks, innovation and attitude better, nothing is changing the sou’wester stereotype with people outside the industry (especially the Townies and Mainlanders) faster, than “Cold Water Cowboys.” Read the rest here 14:41
P.E.I. Lobster season delayed because of ice conditions, delay surprises P.E.I. Fisherman’s Association
It was the right call to delay the lobster season because some harbours on the Island’s north and south shores are still impassable with ice, says the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sent out the notice Thursday afternoon that fishermen won’t be setting and pulling traps next Thursday, as initially planned, because of ice conditions in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Read the rest here Lobster season delay surprises P.E.I. fishermen Read the rest here 13:14
Seal hunt inhumane? How about a bullfight? – The hypocrisy of the European Union’s ban on Canadian seal products
The European Union, as you’re probably aware, bans all seal products from Canada. Last year, the European Unionappeals process upheld an earlier ruling that the EU’s seal regime is “necessary to protect public morals.” There are exceptions for European travellers who buy seal products in other countries, but I didn’t want to take a chance. The ban has always seemed to me to be a hypocritical policy, but never more so, than after an unforgettable day in Madrid — a bullfight at Las Ventas Bullring. Video, Read the rest here 09:40
Sambro fisherman charged for catching too many halibut – 48 pounds???
A Sambro, N.S., fisherman has been charged by Fisheries and Oceans Canada for bringing in too many halibut after a trip to sea last month. Bill Blackburn has been going to sea to catch fish for the 35 years. He plans to plead not guilty when he goes court next month. “I sold 1,548 pounds to Ocean View Fisheries, my hail in was 1,500 pounds. I’m getting charged for over-mishailing,” he said. Read the rest here 09:15
NEFMC fails to agree on scallopers’ wish to enter long-closed areas
Thursday the council failed to come to terms about the specifics of the plan in Georges Bank, which centers on an area on the Canadian line called the Northern Edge. On Wednesday the council approved several measures in the Gulf of Maine, delineating protected areas where certain forms of fishing gear will not be permitted. Georges Bank was another matter. NOAA Fisheries regional administrator John Bullard had signaled his disapproval of preliminary plans on the grounds that they weren’t protective enough of habitat. And when council member introduced an amendment to make the plan more acceptable to NOAA fisheries, the meeting collapsed into disarray. Read the rest here 08:28
American Seafoods Settles Over Scale Tampering
A Seattle-based seafood company accused of stealing groundfish from the Bering Sea has agreed to pay up. American Seafoods will pay $1.75 million to settle violations on three of its catcher-processors. The American Dynasty, the Ocean Rover, and the Northern Eagle were all accused of tampering with their scales for weighing fish at sea over a five-year period. Read the rest here 06:58
Jeff Davis confirms deal for scallop fishing firm Peabody Fisheries
Jeff Davis and private equity Bregal Partners have inked a deal for US scallop fishing firm Peabody. Davis confirmed the deal closed on Thursday. On Feb. 12, Undercurrent reported the deal was in the works. He will become CEO of the new company, which will be named Blue Harvest Fisheries. Peabody, based in Newport News, Virginia, has a fleet of eight scallop vessels. Sources told Undercurrent the purchase price was in the region of $40 million. Davis declined to comment on this. Read the rest here 21:20
NEFMC Approve Some Habitat Changes – blocks no-fishing zone for scientific research on Stellwagen Bank
Federal fishery regulators say they will keep much-debated protections for Cashes Ledge in the 
in place as part of a broad effort to alter the scope of New England’s fishing grounds. Peter Baker, director of northeast U.S. Oceans for Pew Charitable Trusts, said that with the recent approvals, the council remains “on a course to eliminate thousands of square miles of important fish habitat areas” in favor of commercial fishing concerns. He said the council has ignored conservationists’ (shrugs shoulders),,, Read the rest here 20:48
Maine Lobsterman Faces Suspension for Illegal Use of Traps
A Maine lobsterman faces possible fines and a license suspension after state authorities charged him with lobster harvesting violations. The Maine Marine Patrol is charging Benjamin Weed, of Stonington, Maine, with fishing with untagged lobster traps, fishing more than 49 percent of his allotted traps in a limited entry zone and fishing 287 traps without tags declaring the zones he was licensed to fish. He also faces three violations of regulations designed to protect whales. Read the rest here 16:59
NEFMC Votes to Keep Cashes Ledge Closed
Federal fishery regulators are keeping protections of Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine as part of a broad effort to alter the scope of New England’s fishing grounds. The ledge is an underwater mountain and offshore ecosystem mostly closed to fishing that environmentalists have ardently opposed reopening. The New England Fishery Management Council says its protections will stay. The council is meeting Thursday to approve a long-awaited plan for federal waters from Maine to Rhode Island. Read the rest here 16:03
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell makes fishing industry’s case in habitat closures
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell spoke this morning to the New England Regional Fishery Council, pleading the case for a compromise solution to protective essential habitat closures on Georges Bank. In particular, he argued in favor of opening up part of an area known as the Northern Edge, parts of which have been closed 20 years and now are “the mother lode of scallops.” Mitchell brought with him a petition signed by 380 people involved in the fishing industry, mostly shore-side, who see the Northern Edge and other proposals as a needed boost for the fishing industry’s future. Read the rest here 14:55
How oil damages fish hearts: Five years of research since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Scientists with the Ecotoxicology Program at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle have been working to understand those effects. “Along with our research partners,” said Nat Scholz, the scientist who leads the program, “we’re investigating the more subtle, lingering, and potentially widespread impacts of oil on the health and survival of fish.” Read the rest here 14:19
Alaskan Coastal legislators support halibut bycatch cuts
The Alaska legislature’s coastal representatives sent a letter to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council expressing support for 50 percent halibut bycatch cap reductions for the groundfish fleet in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. “Over the past decade,” the legislators wrote, “more than 62 million pounds of halibut has been caught, killed, and discarded as bycatch in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands. During the same period, landings of halibut as the target species have declined from an already alarmingly small 52 percent,,, Read the rest here 11:27
Maine lobster industry – Long winter boosts lobster prices
The unusually cold winter may finally be over, but the 
is still feeling its effects. The current wholesale market price of lobster is up to an average of $9 a pound, even higher in some places. Those high prices could last into the midsummer season before soft shell lobsters hit the menu. “The water temperature right now is 38, last year at this time it was around 42, 43. So we’re behind in the temperature. We might make it up if the spring gets a lot warmer, we might get caught up,” said sale manager of Beal’s Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor, Rob Bauer. Read the rest here
Another View: Sardine population isn’t crashing by D.B. Pleschner
Environmental groups such as Oceana complain that the sardine population is collapsing just as it did in the mid-1940s. They blame “overfishing” as the reason and maintain that the fishery should be shut down completely (“Starving sea lions spotlight overfishing,” Viewpoints, April 14). In truth, Pacific sardines are perhaps the best-managed fishery in the world. The current rule – established in 2000 and updated last year with more accurate science – sets a strict harvest guideline. Read the rest here 10:25
Gail Shea’s stance on shrimp allocations may be softening – Province delivers shrimp impact report to feds
The shrimp fishery in this province is basically divided into a large factory freezer fleet in the offshore, and the smaller vessel fleet in the inshore. Under the last in, first out (LIFO) policy, the inshore is forced to contend with the bulk of any quota reductions that come about. In 2014, the LIFO policy resulted in the inshore losing more than 30 per cent of its shrimp, while the offshore fleets lost less than five per cent. The province’s report states that current sharing arrangement, if continued, would prove disastrous for many rural regions. Read the rest here 09:59
New England Fishery Management Council expected to vote on opening scallop grounds
The New England Fishery Management Council on Thursday will take up the subject of opening parts of Georges Bank to scallop fishing, in some cases after closures of 20 years that led to an untapped abundance of scallops, according to surveys. Wednesday’s meeting of the council, day two of three, offered a preview of how the council, and by extension NOAA Fisheries, intends to proceed. “Don’t be bullied” by the environmentalists, Maggie Raymond of the Associated Fisheries of Maine urged the 17-member council. Read the rest here 09:22
Mainer Mary Beth Nickell-Tooley’s vote disallowed on NEFMC, What about John Pappalardo’s?
Mary Beth Nickell-Tooley, an at-large member from Maine since 2008, was informed Wednesday by NOAA Attorney Adviser Mitch MacDonald she “may not vote during the Council’s final deliberations on Habitat Amendment alternatives that open or close areas to fishing nor on the final vote to approve the Habitat Amendment for submission to NMFS.” Nickell-Tooley’s recusal served as a backdrop for another inquiry from , who operates the Saving Seafood website, whether council member John Pappalardo should have received a similar order for recusal. Read the rest here 08:45
I want to be a commercial fisherman. What will my salary be?
Though many Canadians enjoy sport fishing, only a select few licensed and trained fisherman, operating in a limited number of regions across Canada, make a living from their catch. For such professionals, there are only a few seasonal windows when they are permitted to fish for certain species in certain locations, ranging from a few months to as little as a few days a year. As such, fishermen spend much of the off-season ensuring that they’re prepared for anything when that window opens. Read he rest here 07:40
North Carolina: Area lawmakers seek to protect, improve industry
Commercial fishing is a huge industry in coastal North Carolina, and easy access to and from the Atlantic Ocean, Pamlico Sound and Albemarle Sound are key to keeping that industry healthy. That’s why area legislators have filed bills or support bills dealing with commercial fishing and related items. From dredging to oysters, to commercial fishing, these Reps from North Carolina should be an example for other’s, Nation wide. BH Read the rest here 21:55
A Little Paint ‘n Powder for Miss Trish at the Gloucester Marine Railway
Paul Frontiero Jr’s Photo gallery of F/V Miss Trish at Gloucester Marine Railway posted at that funky North Shore blog, Good Morning Gloucester! Click “next” below the image Click here! 21:18
RCMP charges Canadian Olympic snowboarder, members of Coast Guard and RCAF in drug smuggling sting
An international plot linked to Colombian and Mexican drug cartels to bring cocaine into Canada through Nova Scotia ended with charges against 15 people, including a military employee who had security clearance at the largest air base on the East Coast and a Canadian Coast Guard employee serving aboard a patrol vessel. The 413 Squadron is the primary air search and rescue unit on Canada’s East Coast, responsible for an area from south of Nova Scotia, north to Iqaluit on Baffin Island, west to Quebec City and east to the middle of the Atlantic, DND says. Read the rest here 18:56
