Daily Archives: June 14, 2015
Electronic fishing for lucrative razor clams could be legalised as ministers consider applying for exemption from EU laws
Scottish fisherman have been lobbying ministers for a rule change, while police have warned that gangs working off the coast of Argyll have flouted the law by using the technique to illegally capture the costly clams, a gastronomic delicacy which can attract high prices in Europe and the Far East. A controversial technique, which sees electrodes trailing from boats shock razor clams in the seabed causing them to rise up where they are easily collected by divers, has been banned across Europe since 1998 when all fishing using electricity was outlawed Read the rest here 23:09
New Hampshire Fish and Game officials to hold session on groundfish relief money
New Hampshire 
officials will hold a public information session on fashioning a spending plan for additional disaster relief funds coming to the state’s groundfish industry. The session will be held on June 30 at 6 p.m. at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth. New Hampshire is receiving an additional $1 million in Greater Atlantic Fisheries Disaster Funds. The disaster funding recognizes how the groundfish industry has been affected by mandatory harvest reductions since 2013. Read the rest here 22:32
Commercial Fishermen rescue 9 people off the coast of Newfoundland
Military spokeswoman Capt. Kim Lemaire says the Canadian F/V Setting Seas 2 rescued the people from life rafts and brought them to Fortune, on the south coast of the province. Lemaire says the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax received the distress call around 8 p.m. Saturday and dispatched a Coast Guard ship and aircraft to the area. She says the vessel had caught fire but could not confirm the identities of the people rescued or their current condition. Read the rest here 20:37
The Tuna Cartel? – Pacific fishery group imposes sanctions on distant water fishing nations
Pacific islands that want to expand domestic commercial fisheries operations are threatening distant water fishing nations with sanctions for blocking their fisheries development. The PNA (Parties to the Nauru Agreement) is a bloc of eight nations — Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau — that control waters where about 50 percent of the global supply of skipjack tuna is caught.,, “will begin to collectively use the strong bargaining power that PNA can exercise as a coherent group.” Minister Pita Elisala Read the rest here 13:58
3 Short Stories at FISHING UNITED – STORIES FROM THE WHEELHOUSE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BOGAN – F/V SHAMROCK
“THE EASTERN SEA FRONTIER” – I am positive if I had never seen the certificate on the wall thanking my father forhis service, the Eastern Sea Frontier or ESF would be a mystery. The ESF was a divisionof the United States Navy. The key goal of the ESF was to have coastal watches alongthe entire eastern seaboard with one sole purpose in mind- spotting U boats. The year was 1942 and all merchant ships were sent guidelines to follow toavoid German U boats. Each ship was required to have a minimum,,, Read the rest here 12:18
Call for overhaul of fish catch limits in wake of Geelong Star factory trawler controversy
On Friday it was revealed that the head of an advisory group on fishing quotas resigned because of concerns that a fellow member of the group had an “unacceptable” conflict of interest. Documents supplied to the ABC show the former committee chair, scientist Kirsten Davies, wanted the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to reconsider who can sit on panels that advise on fishing quotas for the Geelong Star. Part owner of the trawler, Gerry Geen, was an industry representative on the advisory panel. Read the rest here 11:39
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, June 14, 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 11:14
Rubio, Nelson want an open red snapper season
Last week, 
announced the red snapper fishery will remain closed in South Atlantic federal waters in 2015 because of overfishing..Florida’s senators are asking the Obama administration to review its decision not to open up the South Atlantic to red snapper fishing. “There will not be commercial or recreational seasons in 2015 because the total number of red snapper removed from the population in 2014 exceeded the allowable level,” the notice said. Read the rest here
Chinook closures impede summer chum subsistence
Summer chum and Chinook salmon have begun their runs along the Yukon River. Wildlife managers and fishermen met via teleconference Tuesday to discuss river conditions and the salmon’s progress upstream. Community members reported summer chum as far upriver as Huslia and Ruby, with Chinook salmon fast on their heels. However, the much-coveted kings may not be a welcome sight to fishermen this year. “We have to eat along this river; everybody has to eat. They can’t live out of the store,” said Martha, a fisherman in Ruby. Read the rest here 10:31
North Carolina Commercial Fishermen, Go to this public hearing
We urge attendance in a 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday public hearing in the New Bern River Convention Center that the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will hold to discuss southern flounder, the state’s most requested finfish. Representing the state’s commercial fishermen who serve the public, the N.C. Fisheries Association, is asking the Fisheries Commission to manage southern flounder in a fair and equitable manner, and it’s seeking fishermen’s participation in the hearing. Read the rest here 09:16
Dr. Brian Rothschild — Reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act and good public policy
There have been basically two approaches to the current reauthorization. One leaves the language of the act as is, the other makes changes.,, The substance of the 1996 reauthorization was driven by a burgeoning political influence of conservation groups. The act was moved from simply defined principles of fisheries management, such as estimating maximum sustained yield to avoid overfishing, to concepts like “rebuilding” stocks that were thought to be overfished, and to protecting the “environment” thought to be degraded by fishing. Read the rest here 08:19
