Daily Archives: May 14, 2015
Scientists discover that the Opah is a warm blooded fish!
In a paper published today in Science, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describe the unique mechanism that enables the opah, a deepwater predatory fish, to keep its body warm. The secret lies in a specially designed set of blood vessels in the fish’s gills, which allows the fish to circulate warm blood throughout its entire body. Read the rest here 17:21
Greenpeace says Marine Stewardship Council is Living in Fisheries Fantasyland!
Imagine if you’re sick or injured and your doctor gives you the ‘all clear’ while still developing your treatment plan. You’d get a new doctor, right? Well, the latest tuna fishery recommended for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification could be given the blue fish tick based on the same faulty logic. There are plans being developed to improve the fishery, but, so far, little evidence of action or results. The certification covers five purse seine vessels currently fishing for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna in the Indian Ocean,,, Read the rest here 16:04
Maryland NRP Investigating Illegal Commercial Fishing Operation in St. Mary’s Co.
On Tuesday morning, officers received a complaint about a large number of dead fish floating near Town Creek, a tributary of the Patuxent. Searching the area, officers saw a vessel, the McKenzie Leigh, unloading fish at a nearby pier. The vessel was holding about 14,000 pounds of croaker and other species of fish, many appearing to be undersized. Read the rest here 15:36
Giant conger eel caught off British coast
An eel longer than a double decker bus has been caught off the coast of Britain. The 20ft conger eel weighed 131lb (59.5kg) after it was gutted and was caught off Plymouth in Devon. Fisherman caught it by mistake after it became tangled in their trawler’s nets. The conger eel landed at Plymouth Fisheries was caught by the inshore trawler ‘Hope’. Scott Govier: “I’m a commercial fisherman, and it was just a normal days fishing – business as usual. “When we pulled it up I was stunned, because it was so huge. Read the rest here 15:14
U.S. Department of Justice says owner of fishing vessel that fouled Penn Cove owes $2.8 million
The man convicted of abandoning his derelict vessel, which sank and spilled oil in Penn Cove in 2012, owes $2.8 million for the cost of removal and damage, the federal government said this week. Rory Westmoreland’s fishing vessel Deep Sea was illegally anchored in Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove before it caught fire, sank and spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the waters in May 2012. The spill forced the temporary closure of a nearby shellfish farm. Three years later,,, Read the rest here 11:15
North Shore lobster fishermen to ask for season extension
North Shore lobster fishermen will make an official request to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to extend their season by the end of the week, says the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association. But there are no guarantees either extension will be granted. DFO says it will make a decision on a case-by-case basis, but that June 30 marks the end of P.E.I.’s lobster season because it’s generally around the time lobsters start moulting, or shedding their shells. Read the rest here 10:59
No consultation, No communication – New transatlantic cable causing headaches for crab harvesters
Crab harvesters off the southeast Avalon are upset over a new fibre optic cable being laid through their fishing grounds. Avalon MP Scott Andrews is speaking out against the project. He’s representing the interests of crab harvesters, who think the timing couldn’t be worse given the recent start of the crab season. “It’s been a real pain in the ass,” he said. “There’s been no consultation, no communication. Now they’re being told they’ve got to up and root their pots and move them away from where this fibre optic cable is going through.” Read the rest here 10:43
Robert Ridgewell, 74, a salty fisherman until his final few days
Robert Ridgewell surely had saltwater pumping through his veins. A salty lobsterman from Phippsburg, Mr. Ridgewell was 10 when he began fishing on his father’s boat in Portland. He lobstered during the summers and fished during winters. And for the next 64 years, he dedicated his life to doing what he loved – fishing. He died unexpectedly on May 2. He was 74. “He was a fisherman,” said a soft-spoken Laura Ridgewell, his wife of 50 years. “He was always at sea. It’s where he was happiest.” Read the rest here 09:33
UMass researchers win scallop fisheries grants
SMAST won $373,922 for Dr. Kevin Stokesbury’s continued development of video scallop surveys on Georges Bank. His methods have revolutionized the scallop biomass estimates in recent years, helping turn scallops into the species that keeps New Bedford at the top earning port in the United States for more than a decade. A grant of $160,738 went to Dr. Catherine O’Keefe for further development of a bycatch avoidance system that collects real-time information from fishermen about “hot spots” of yellowtail flounder, which can then be avoided by the scallopers. Read the rest here 08:34
Fishing Methods Guide, produced by Seafish
“Years and years of research and development has gone in to gear technology over the years, allowing fishermen to be more selective with the catch. Yet, most people never get the opportunity to see fishing gear in operation – they have very little appreciation of how it works and what it actually looks like when it is fishing. Fishermen will know and understand their own gear very well, but even they rarely see what happens with the gear beneath the water, usually having to rely on the resulting catch to gauge how the gear is working.” See the download here 08:18
