Daily Archives: May 8, 2015
Stuck fishing vessel freed from the ice about 45 nautical miles northeast of Gander
A fishing vessel that required assistance last night after becoming stuck in the ice has been freed, says the officer in charge of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax. Maj. Rhonda Stevens said the fishing vessel, the name of which wasn’t released, notified the St. Anthony Marine Communications Centre around 7 p.m. that it was stuck and needed help. “We were then notified and we knew they had four people on board but there was no immediate danger,” she said. Read the rest here 21:44
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 8, 2015
Click to read Weekly Update for May 8, 2015 as a PDF To read all the updates, click here 20:50
26A Lobster season still delayed
Ron Heighton, president of the Northumberland Fishermen’s Association, said the ice is gone from the local area but the start was delayed until Monday at 6 a.m., because fishermen from the southern portion of P.E.I. were opposed.“They were worried about a little bit of ice,” he said. “We’re ice free but they (DFO) wouldn’t let us go ahead of them. I mean, we don’t share the same bottom so there’d be no impact, right? “We got bullied into it,” he said, because Fisheries Minister Gail Shea is from P.E.I. Read the rest here 19:40
Cooke Aquaculture says vandals cut fish pens loose in St. Marys Bay
Nova Scotia RCMP are investigating a vandalism complaint filed by New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture after the company says vandals cut loose some of its fish pens. Nell Halse, a spokeswoman for Cooke Aquaculture, says the company received reports from the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre on Thursday that a salmon pen was floating free from a fallow salmon farm in St. Marys Bay, near Digby. Our guys have been out there last night and have brought it back to the site and resecured it,” said Halse. “It was clearly cut away from the site.” Read the rest here 16:12
Brownsville company pleads guilty to relabeling Mexican shrimp as domestic
Federal prosecutors say a Brownsville shrimping company has pleaded guilty to relabeling 35,000 pounds of hard-to-sell Mexican shrimp as wild-caught American crustaceans. U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite’s office said in a news release that Garcia Shrimp Co., of Brownsville, Texas, admitted Thursday to a violation of the century-old federal Lacey Act. Polite said the company created false bills of lading and sold the shrimp to a New Orleans-based distributor. Read the rest here 15:14
A bright idea could help eliminate a fishing problem
If there’s too much bycatch, the fishermen sometimes have to dump their entire catch back into the ocean, says Bob Hannah of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. And dumping 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of shrimp is an economic and environmental problem for commercial fishing. But Hannah and a team of government scientists may have found a simple, affordable solution. Local shrimp fishermen are eliminating bycatch by lighting up their nets with LEDs. Audio, Read the rest here 14:30
Could salmon sharks be factor in declining Bering Sea king salmon numbers?
Given their name, it’s not surprising that salmon sharks eat salmon. But Alaska researchers are now asking whether the animals might have any impact on declining numbers of Bering Sea king salmon. “It’s too early to tell if salmon sharks have any impact on abundance on king salmon in the ocean, but it’s certainly another factor that should be investigated,” Seitz said in a phone interview from Fairbanks Wednesday. Read the rest here 11:42
Guest Opinion: State needs to push for halibut protection – by John L. Beath
The Pacific halibut may be an icon of our region, but over the past 10 years in the Bering Sea, it’s become increasingly obvious that we aren’t doing as good a job of protecting them as we should. A total of 62.6 million pounds of halibut were caught as bycatch, harvested unintentionally and thrown overboard dead. To compare, the hook-and-line fishermen targeting halibut only caught 69.7 million pounds in the same area over the same period of time. Read the rest here 10:52
Red snapper season dates finalized
Last week NOAA Fisheries published a rule implementing an increase to the commercial and recreational quotas for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico through 2017. For 2015, the red snapper allowable catch is increasing from 11.0 million pounds whole weight to 14.3 million pounds. The commercial and recreational sector quotas will be based on the current 51 percent commercial and 49 percent recreational allocation. The commercial quota will increase to 7.29 million pounds the recreational quota will increase to 7.01 million pounds. Read the rest here 09:32
Longliner FV Charles T brings in “rare” deep-sea skilfish 200+ miles south of Juneau
In 35 years as a fisherman, Jim Eastwood has only seen seven skilfish. On Wednesday morning, Eastwood and his crew brought in five of them, caught while longlining more than 200 miles south of Juneau. The largest of the mottled gray fish weighed in at about 110 lbs. and looked to be a little more than 5 feet long — bigger than Eastwood. “Oh yeah, well, that doesn’t take much,” he laughed, but he’s heard of larger skilfish, too. Read the rest here 06:34
