Monthly Archives: June 2015
Stacey Marshall Tabor to head out fishing after human rights complaint win
A Nova Scotia woman who won a human rights complaint against her home community for denying her a fishing licence because of her gender is heading out to sea after all. Stacey Marshall Tabor says the Millbrook First Nation informed her on Tuesday that she would be sailing as a deckhand on a snow crab boat. The assignment came after years of infighting that culminated in a discrimination finding by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Read the rest here 20:25
Florida Net ban turns 20 on July 1, but was it a success?
Twenty years ago Wednesday, 
, one of the most controversial conservation measures in the state’s history. The ban devastated livelihoods and what remained of a once-vibrant commercial fishing culture in small coastal towns throughout Florida. Two decades later, opinions align along the same battle lines that fueled a bitter campaign surrounding the ban. And since the data are either incomplete or a mixed bag, scientists still can’t offer much insight into which side was right. Read the rest here 18:12
A Bogus Rerun Oceana Article by Daily Mail “Journalist” Tom Wyke!
We posted an article yesterday that originally ran in February, 2013. It seemed familiar, but, the photos used in yesterdays rewrite by Daily Mail’s Tom Wyke were not the same as the original. We might’ve even posted it! Someone at seafood.com picked up on it. Author Tom Wyke demonstrates how lazy reporting, paired with zero editorial oversight, can trick readers into viewing an outdated and fundamentally inaccurate story. After realizing the Daily Mail’s error, those sites have taken down the article. Read the rest here Not us though, we’ll leave it up in tribute to Tom Wyke! 17:29
Feds investigating Casey’s Seafood on mixing Atlantic blue crab with imports
New court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk indicate that federal investigators believe that Casey’s Seafood Inc. mislabeled crab meat at its processing facility in the Newport News Small Boat Harbor — then passed it on to Farm Fresh, Harris Teeter and other retailers in Virginia and out of state. Agents removed many items from the seafood house, including purchasing records, billing records, and several “crab meat containers,” including 17 bags labeled “Product of Vietnam.” Read the rest here 14:38
FISHING leaders in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles move to protect fishing communities
Commercial fishing is economically and culturally vital to island communities with around a quarter of the industry based in Shetland, Orkney and the western isles. Secretary of the Orkney Fisheries Association, Fiona Matheson, said: “As everyone in the islands knows, fishing is an absolutely essential part of economic life and it’s time this was reflected in devolved powers for the industry. The move follows the example of the Our Islands Our Future initiative, which is seeking for more political decision-making powers to be devolved to the islands. Read the rest here 14:08
Texas Bans Sales of Shark Fin’s, Oceana hails the legal shark fishery waste!
Across the globe, sharks are being murdered for a culinary gimmick (cultural mainstay) — shark fin soup, even though shark fins offer virtually no flavor or nutritional value. Shark finners slice off sharks’ pectoral and dorsal fins, often while the animals are still alive, and throw them back overboard to drown or bleed to death. According to the most recent statistics from the journal Ecology Letters (2006), shark finning accounts for 73 million shark deaths every year. Read the foolishness here 13:09
‘Deadliest Catch’ – A test for crab-fishing rookie Amy Majors – “There were definitely certain times that I questioned my sanity,”
Alaska native Amy Majors, who was born into a fishing family in Ketchikan, wants to prove to the world and the crabbing industry that she’s tough enough to trawl for hard-shelled gold in the most dangerous icy waters on Earth. “Fishing is in my blood, and I’ve been doing this kind of thing my whole life. But crabbing on the Bering sea is different — far wilder and more dangous than anything I’d ever done before,” says Majors, whose seafaring father took her aboard his commercial fishing boat when she was just 12 hours old. Read the rest here 12:01
On This Day – June 30, 1911: The ill-fated Steamer Nacoohee sinks fishing schooner Catherine Allen
On this day in 1911 one of the many coastal steamers of the era sank a large fishing schooner 16 miles northwest of Provincetown. Since the canal was not completed yet, all ships had to sail a round the outer shore of Cape Cod, and the area was also rife with commercial fishing boats. The headline in the newspapers the next day blared: RESCUE CREW OF 23.; Steamer Nacoochee Runs Down Fishing Schooner Off Cape Cod. Read the rest here 09:19
Louisiana shrimpers are hopeful action by Congress can help reduce illegal shrimp imports
“Today, the Louisiana seafood industry is being hammered by illegal foreign imports that are destroying jobs and distorting the market here at home, making it tougher for Louisiana seafood to compete in our own markets. That’s wrong,” said U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette. Shrimpers across the state have voiced their support for Boustany’s bill, called the Preventing Recurring Trade Evasion and Circumvention Act, or PROTECT Act. Read the rest here 08:26
Fishing resumes in 138 square miles of oil fouled waters off the Santa Barbara coast
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife allowed fishing to resume on Monday 
that was closed following last month’s huge oil spill. Fish and Wildlife officials said decided to reopen the area following word from scientists that consuming fish caught in those waters poses no threat to human health. They said their scientists worked with their counterparts from the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to test a broad range of finfish, shellfish,,, Read the rest here 08:00
Alaska Trollers Outraged by Low King Salmon Quota Set by Pacific Salmon Commission
Members of the Alaska Trollers Association are expressing outrage that the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) has capped Alaska’s harvest of king salmon this summer at 237,000 fish. With the summer troll season set to begin this week, trollers are caught in a technical dispute among commission members over how many king salmon are expected to return to spawn in rivers along the West Coast. The Pacific Salmon Commission implements the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty, which governs how many king salmon can be caught by Canada and Alaska. Read the rest here 20:33
Oceana claims 2/3 of Tuna sold in Restaurants and Stores is really dangerous Escolar!
The findings were made by Radical Oceana, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for the protection and restoration of the world’s oceans. (no fishing) Oceana took 1,215 samples of fish from across the United States and genetically tested them. Most of it was escolar – a type of fish that can lead to serious stomach cramps and dangerous levels of diarrhea in some consumers. When it comes to canned tuna, Southern California is the worst offender, with 52 per cent of the state’s ‘tuna cans’ not containing tuna at all. Read the rest here 19:56
NY State Legislature Passes Commercial Fishing Advocate Position
“The commercial fishing industry is part of the fabric of the East End of Long Island,” Mr. LaValle said in a statement on the measure. “It’s essential that we ensure that the industry is adequately represented before state agencies and is provided the proper tools to thrive. By creating an advocate, fishermen will have a strong voice to assist in the promotion of the industry, and will be part of state economic development plans.” Read the rest here 15:13
Murder of Indonesian Crew Member Reported Aboard Seychelles-Flagged Tuna Vessel
According to a press statement issued by the police on Thursday evening, the NF Indian Tuna No. 1 is carrying the body of a crew member who was reportedly stabbed to death in the neck and stomach on Tuesday June 23 while the fishing vessel was on its way back to the archipelago’s main island of Mahe. It was alleged by the ship’s captain that the deceased, who was an Indonesian national, was killed by another crew member, who is reported to have jumped overboard after committing the murder and was not seen again. Read the rest here 12:57
Sheer Stupidity! Shark Fishing causes surge in number of Attacks, say Experts
Experts pointed shark fishing as a possible reason for the striking increase in shark attacks off the coast of North Carolina. The fishing is permitted on North Carolina beaches and piers, but it has been banned at several other popular beach destinations along the East Coast. Experts said several of the recent attacks, including the one that took place on Friday in which shark attacked a 47-year-old father as he scrambled to get children out of the water, and two attacks on June 14 have occurred in close proximity to fishing piers. Read the rest here Meet the “Experts”! Click here 10:42
Hugh blamed for new law that could devastate fishing industry in Plymouth – lunacy and madness
Westcountry celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is being blamed for the new rules thanks to his televised Fish Fight campaign, which targets discards. At present fisherman have to throw back fish they don’t have a quota to catch, and the Fish Fight campaign has been working against that. The new rules mean they won’t be allowed to throw them back – or land them. Jim Portus, chief executive of the South West Fish Producers Organisation, said fishermen hate discards as it made a mockery of their hard work. Read the rest here 10:05
Longtime Fisherman Weighs In On New England Fishery Management Councils Recent Votes
The New England Fishery Management Council made the right move recently, voting to ask the federal government to suspend an at-sea monitoring program required of the groundfish industry, according to long-time fishermen Fred Mattera, who said shifting the cost to fishermen could decimate the industry. Mattera said fishermen area also pleased with the council’s vote to re-open areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank to commercial fishing. (photo) Read the rest here 09:49
P.E.I. tuna fisherman getting 30 ton Atlantic bluefin quota increase
According to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, there are more than 300 tuna fishermen across P.E.I. Jeff MacNeill is one of them. He says the increase in quota could bring in a lot of extra income, especially given that last year, fishermen were receiving about $6,000 to $7,000 for an average-sized tuna. “If I’m allowed one extra bluefin tuna, that’s quite a sizeable increase in my income” Read the rest here 07:53
Greenland salmon quota worries Maine conservationists
At a recent summit, Greenland awarded itself an annual salmon quota of 45 metric tons for the next three years. Officials there say the new quota is considerably less than the previous harvest of 57 tons, and that reducing it further would have devastating economic consequences for fishing communities around the huge, sparsely populated island. But some U.S. officials believe the salmon quota should be zero. Read the rest here 07:35
Fishermen honored for saving man who fell into New Bedford Harbor
“The quick actions of Kevin A. Perry and Christopher Bird Jr. prevented a far more serious situation and possibly tragedy from occurring,’’ the certificate of appreciation presented reads. “Their actions reflect great credit upon themselves to the community and to the entire fishing community.’ Perry, owner of EZ–RYDER fishing vessel, and Bird, a retired fisherman, both from Dartmouth, were painting the boat April 28 at Homer’s Wharf when they heard someone yelling frantically for help. Read the rest here 07:02
NC State Senate Bill 160 proposes a new fee for commercial and recreational boats that are 24 foot and above.
The bill carries a price tag directly associated with the length of the boat. The bill would establish a Coastal Waterways User Identification Number for boats that are operated in state coastal fishing waters. If passed, the bill is expected to garner between $1-2 million, and the money will go to the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Lake Maintenance Fund for dredging inlets and weed control for lakes. Owners would have to pay an annual fee based on the length of their boat,,, Read the rest here 19:22
Delaware Man Catches Record-Size Blueline Tilefish During Tournament
A Delaware man set a new state record during a recent fishing tournament. William Fintel, of Lewes, caught a 19.7 pound blueline tilefish on June 19 during the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament. The tilefish was 33 inches long and was caught in the Atlantic Ocean’s Baltimore Canyon, some 65 miles offshore. Relatively new to the tournament, blueline tilefish are becoming quite popular among salt water anglers. Read the rest here 18:39
Rhode Island-based Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation awarded $399,870 of S-K Grant Funding
Rhode Island fishermen are to receive up to $475,000 in federal funds to support research aimed at improving sustainability of local fisheries. The CFRF will put the funds toward its On-Deck Data Program, which allows local lobstermen to use tablet computers and electronic calipers to collect and transmit real time data about their catch and share it with researchers studying the lobster and Jonah crab populations. The Rhode Island Natural History Survey will use the funds to develop a climate change adaptation blueprint for Rhode Island commercial fisheries. Read the rest here www.cfrfoundation.org 18:05
Both sides in Scotland’s escalating seal-shooting wars could face charges after a series of dramatic confrontations
For the second year running, 
is running a summer-long campaign to defend seals in northeast Scotland. It has mobilised three boats and around 80 volunteers from 12 countries who have been monitoring and filming the shooters, sometimes putting themselves in front of seals. They say they have filmed three seals being legally shot in Gamrie Bay, and believe a fourth was also shot there. In Murkle Bay, they say they filmed two seals being legally shot, and believe a further two were shot off camera. Read the rest here 12:42
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, June 28, 2015
The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:52
BREAKING: 4 P.E.I. CF/V Cadillac Style fishermen rescued off Shippagan, New Brunswick
Four fishermen from Tignish, P.E.I. were rescued 33 nautical miles east of Shippagan, N.B. Sunday morning after their vessel took on water. JTF Atlantic says a distress signal came from the vessel’s beacon after 4 a.m. A Cormorant helicopter, a Hercules aircraft, a Coast Guard vessel and another fishing vessel in the area responded. The fishermen were airlifted to the Charlottetown Airport and arrived there by 8 a.m. They were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown to be checked out. Read the rest here 10:34
Bellingham – Commercial Fisherman Robert Briscoe running to ensure port is economic engine
I have walked the docks since I was 4 years old and I’ve seen many changes over the 41 years I’ve been commercial fishing out of Squalicum harbor. The fortunes of our maritime businesses have ebbed and flowed over the years. With waterfront re-development on its agenda, the has a unique opportunity to once again take advantage of our strategic marine location. After years of wondering when something would happen, and complaining when nothing did happen, I am stepping up to offer my leadership to the Port of Bellingham. Read the rest here 10:17
Our History: The wild nature of B.C.’s fisheries
Sylvia Taylor’s lyrical memoir of life as a rookie deckhand captures the thrill and the perils of commercial fishing in a bygone era. The excerpt below describes an early-season stopover in the bustling village of Port Hardy and offers a glimpse of hardships that would soon beset the industry in the form of depleted fish stocks, shortened seasons and the tightening grip of government regulation. – Read the rest here 09:54
The Pope’s Environmental Message. There’s Plenty That Environmentalists Might Not Want to Hear
Pope Francis, who certainly heaps plenty of blame on humans for the mess we have made of the natural world, is having none of this absolutist environmental “It’s Us Against Nature” piety. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. When we speak of the “environment,” what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it. Nor does Pope Francis have much affection for the pragmatic market-based Ecomodernist approach of self-proclaimed “modern” environmentalists who propose that technology and human wisdom can make the future good, even great. Read the rest here 08:39
Harvesting geoduck is lucrative, but it’s also brutally hard work
Time is money in all types of commercial fishing, but that’s particularly true in the geoduck fishery. One reason is the huge market demand in China for the big bivalves. The other is how the Tulalip Tribes manage their divers, restricting harvest to just a few hours at a time as part of a strategy to keep the fishery sustainable. Last season, 90 percent of wild geoducks harvested in Washington were sent to Asia in what amounted to a $74 million export industry for the state. With prices hinging on the clams’ health, packagers race to SeaTac with their freshly caught product. Read the rest here 08:00
