Monthly Archives: July 2015
Digby DFO find short and berried lobster and unhailed halibut, clammers get hit also
In Parker’s Cove on July 21 they found 21 short lobster in a fisherman’s catch. At the Digby wharf on July 29, they found eight berried lobsters and three shorts in a fisherman’s catch. And on July 30, they found four shorts and one berried lobster in a fisherman’s catch in Parker’s Cove. DFO also seized a truck and all the fishing gear on a vessel at the Harbourville wharf, after they found a fisherman unloading halibut without a monitor. The DFO officers also seized 200 pounds of halibut which was sold at auction for $1,593. They also seized another,,, Read the rest here
Local Authorities Should Help With Fisheries Enforcement
Now, all of this talk about sea bass, scup, and surf clams got me thinking about striped bass, and I cannot remember for the life of me when the last time an article was written in a Cape Cod paper about illegal possession of stripers, both in terms of bag limit or minimum size, by either recreational or commercial anglers. It’s pretty well known that schools of striped bass are regularly encountered on the tuna grounds east of Chatham and on Stellwagen Bank, and there is a vocal group of anglers who believe that the prohibition on fishing,,, Read the rest here 15:47
The Real Story behind Canada’s Murder for Lobster Case
Two years ago, in a small Nova Scotian village, a local troublemaker and lobster thief went missing, and three lobstermen eventually confessed to his vicious murder. Had this trickster finally gotten what was coming to him, or was the real story — and what it said about its community — something much more tragic? On the morning of June 1, 2013, Venard Samson motored across the mouth of Petit-de-Grat Harbour in a small fishing boat. The narrow harbor, off the southeastern coast of Nova Scotia, is wedged between Petit-de-Grat Island, where he lives, Read the rest here 15:18
Boat crash damages pier, docks at Ventura Harbor
Multiple docks and a pier at the Ventura Harbor were damaged Wednesday in a boat crash, the Ventura Harbor Patrol said. The patrol received many reports about the accident about 10:30 a.m. at the Ventura Harbor Boatyard in the 1400 block of Spinnaker Drive, authorities said. A 70-foot commercial fishing vessel named , a squid boat out of Los Angeles, damaged the pier, docks and utilities so significantly that the area was determined unsafe and it was taped off, officials said. Read the rest here 11:11
A Dragger and Her Captain, Soon to Part Ways
Captain Greg Mayhew recently sold the ship’s groundfish permit — the last on the Vineyard — to The Nature Conservancy, which has partnered with the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust to help keep the groundfish quota in the community. Without any federal or state permits, however, the old dragger is likely nearing the end of her long residency in the harbor. Several generations of the Mayhew family have fished the waters around the Vineyard. Mr. Mayhew’s great-grandfather would sail out of Menemsha in a catboat to harpoon swordfish. Read the rest here 10:51
Maryland DNR forms position to give more voice to seafood industry
Former Queen Anne’s County commissioner and waterman George O’Donnell has been brought onto the Department of Natural Resources’ payroll as a seafood industry and fisheries stakeholders liaison, of sorts. O’Donnell has been in the position since July 8, and according to Maryland Watermen’s Association President Robert T. Brown, he’s already been working with the commercial industry to find solutions to their issues. “We’ve finally got a friend up there,” Brown said. Read the rest here 10:26
Willapa Bay plan cuts Chinook production by one-third
The production of hatchery Chinook in Willapa Bay will decrease by more than one-third as a result of a policy adopted recently by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. The policy, adopted in June, also is likely to decrease the number of fish commercial fishermen can catch if the commission’s action survives a legal challenge. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have said that they needed to adopt the new policy to avoid having the Chinook listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Read the rest here 10:14
Barge accident dents wind farm foundation off Rhode Island
First, it was the weather. Rough seas forced the Providence company to push back until last Sunday the installation of the first steel foundation for the five-turbine wind farm off Block Island. Now, Deepwater is dealing with a construction mishap. Earlier this week, one of the barges being used in the project hit the latticework “jacket” foundation that had been placed in the water and dented one of its four hollow, tubular legs.,, a previously-scheduled boat tour on Monday of the project site for U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Gov. Raimondo and other elected leaders and state officials to marvel this engineering feat! Read the rest here 09:45
Lessons from ‘the last clam’: Casco Bay shellfish ‘renaissance’
Tim Johnson of Harpswell had been clamming for more than 30 years when, in 2014, he hung up his hoe. Between predators such as the invasive green crab and other factors, the flats just weren’t profitable any more. “We’d go out, and there’s nothing there,” Johnson of Brunswick said. “It’s kind of depressing to dig the last clam.” In fact, the legal amount of softshell clams being harvested are down 70 percent since the green crab invasion of recent years, Brunswick Marine Resources Officer Dan Devereaux said — though he said the invasive crustaceans seem,,, Read the rest here 09:08
Seafood industry backs Catholic Charities North Fishing Community Fund
More than 30 companies and individuals combined to donate more than $35,000 to Catholic Charities North Fishing Community Fund. Boston-based Sailors’ Snug Harbor foundation made the largest donation — $10,000 to the fishing community fund. Other major donors included American Seafoods, Arista Industries, Bama Seafoods Products, CB Richard Ellis, Elite Seafood, Espersen, High Liner Foods, Harbor Seafoods, Ipswich Shellfish, Northern Ocean Marine, Proteus Industries, Mark Leslie and William Canty. Other contributors include American Refrigeration, Eastern Fish, GE Foundation, H&M Bay, Label Print America, Polar Seafood, Preferred Freezer Services and Santander Bank. Read the rest here 08:21
Iceland blasts Arctic Five for exclusion from fishing agreement
Iceland says the recent Arctic fishing moratorium, signed by the five Arctic coastal states without Iceland’s participation, is “unacceptable” and a worrying precedent. “We have been able to have good cooperation between the eight (circumpolar) countries and it has been a success — until now,” said Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Iceland’s minister for foreign affairs and external trade, in an interview with Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic this week. Read the rest here 07:50Chatham-Kent’s amazing fishing economy sometimes overlooked
There are currently 16 fish processors located in various regions throughout Ontario. Here in Chatham-Kent, we have three of them, so we are well represented. The economic impacts of Lake Erie’s commercial fishing sector are significant. For the fishing sector on Lake Erie, they account for over 700 direct and indirect jobs with a GDP of over $28 million. The Lake Erie fish processing sector accounts for close to 800 direct and indirect jobs, with a GDP of over $77 million. Read the rest here 19:49
Making the Seas Safer for Fishermen
After Congress passed the 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act, which updated fishing industry safety standards for the first time since 1988, activists like Bartlett were grateful their concerns were being taken seriously: Life rafts would be improved, safety training would become mandatory for fishing captains, and new boats would be built to standards set and verified by independent third parties called “class societies.” But almost five years after the law’s passage, the Coast Guard has yet to translate many of its requirements into enforceable rules. Read the rest here 17:57
How And When Some Seafood Is Mislabeled And Mistreated
In reporting our inaugural episode of Food Crimes, we began to suspect that maybe our only hope for ever eating seafood worry-free again was to either begin a direct relationship with a fisherman or to become fishermen ourselves. This graphic—the result of a great many sources deep inside the seafood industry—confirms it. See the graphic here 16:24
Bristol Bay fisherman’s lot: Either too few sockeye, or too many
“Lots of cotton, lots of fish!” That’s the old Bristol Bay, residents say. We could scoff at these old sayings, thinking “What in the world is the relationship of Alaska wild cotton to the sockeye run?” There should be no kinship between these two, but I still felt a little unease upon departing the jet in King Salmon and seeing almost no cotton on the drive to Naknek. The wild cotton never materialized this season. The red salmon did, though they were late enough to make even the most seasoned fishermen a little nervous. Read the rest here 15:51
Oceana again sues NMFS over bycatch monitoring
Oceana again sued NOAA Fisheries NMFS 
on Wednesday, claiming the current bycatch reporting rule finalized last month for the region — in part, as a response to Oceana’s earlier legal victory — is underfunded, uniformly inadequate for providing accurate information and in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The 43-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., claims the new bycatch rule “leaves loopholes that would guarantee that observer coverage will never meet its performance standards,,, Read the rest here 15:15
Consolidation: Greg Fulcher buys scallop vessel, permit from Oceans Fleet for $7m
Newport News, Virginia-based vessel operator Greg Fulcher has bought a scallop boat and license from Oceans Fleet Fisheries for $7 million, in the latest example of big money being spent in the US sector. At 92.1 feet long 171 metric tons gross tonnage, the Alaska was the largest vessel in the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based company’s fleet of 19 — now 18. “I also bought the Mistress last month, which is a part-time scallop boat. I bought it from Mistress Fishing Corp. out of [Massachusetts], with the help of [shipbrokers] Athearn Marine Agency,” he said. Read the rest here 14:36:03
Guernsey fishermen banned from EU and UK waters
The Fisheries Management Agreement means all commercial fishing within the Bailiwick’s 12 nautical miles (nm) has to be licensed. It also means Bailiwick vessels need licences to fish in EU and UK waters. However, the lack of a quota policy has led to the UK suspending licences held by Bailiwick vessels from Saturday. This decision does not prevent any Bailiwick fishermen from continuing to fish in local waters in accordance with their licences, but does prevent Bailiwick vessels from fishing in EU waters, which includes those of the UK. Read the rest here 12:16
First Nations tribal council suspends Okanagan sockeye salmon fishery
The tribal council representing eight First Nation communities in British Columbia’s Okanagan has suspended the area’s recreational and commercial sockeye salmon fishery – and says a full closing of food fishing is likely coming – as the salmon run comes in far lower than expected. The Okanagan Nation Alliance was set to open the fishery on Osoyoos Lake this weekend with a historic salmon run forecast for the Columbia River system. But only about 18,000 to 45,000 of the projected 375,000 fish are expected to survive the journey. Read the rest here 10:17
Is This Seafood Commercial Really Blasphemous?
Quiz: Are these tag lines from Comedy Central, a commercial ad campaign or the church on your corner? “Moses split the Red Sea. We split lobster tails and drizzle melted butter on them.” “In our book, gluttony isn’t a sin, it’s a commandment.” “Presbyterians will give you a sermon. Pescatarians will give you a salmon.” Ding! Ding! Ding! If you said ad campaign, you may be one of the people laughing at the 30-second TV commercials now running in Boston, Read the rest here 09:16
Susanne Altenburger’s Green ‘Boat in a crate’ takes to the water
A newly built 39-foot boat that fits neatly into a 40-foot shipping container has been making a splash on its maiden voyages in Gloucester Harbor in recent weeks. At the helm is Susanne Altenburger, Gloucester boat-designer , who put in about two-thirds of the man-hours it took to build the boat. The boat design took shape after the U.S. Navy had talked to Altenburger and her late husband, Phil Bolger, about creating a prototype of a versatile boat. Read the rest here 08:14
Cold Smoked Salmon Recalled for Listeria in CA
The California Department of Public Health is reporting that cold smoked salmon is being recalled for possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. There is no word on whether or not any illnesses have been reported. Illnesses caused by this bacteria can take up to 70 days to appear. The recalled products are Cold Smoked Salmon Deli Trays and Cold Smoked Salmon Trim produced by Certified Smoked Fish of Gardena, California. Read the rest here 08:01
Fisherman gets ten days in jail for firing rifle in the Dillingham Boat Harbor
50-year-old Morris Bernard Lopez fired off his rifle several times from the deck of the fishing vessel from the deck of the fishing vessel Sandra Marie while it was tied up in the Dillingham Boat Harbor last Saturday. Others nearby called police, and the first officer on the scene ordered everyone off the boat. Lopez appeared drunk to the officer, who requested a search warrant to retrieve the gun, spent shell casings, and what turned out to be four empty bottles of vodka. Lopez said he was just getting ready for hunting season. Read the rest here 20:11
Biologists hope chinook salmon’s rebound will continue
The number of chinook salmon entering the Yukon has met minimum targets for the second year in a row. This year, 57,000 fish have been counted in the Yukon River at Eagle, Alaska, just above the target of 55,000. Biologists the number is somewhat encouraging, but say the problem of declining chinook has not been solved. This year’s number still pales in comparison to average run sizes in the 1990s which measured 150,000 fish. Pauline Frost, chair of the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, says a ban on salmon harvesting in Alaska has made a difference. Read the rest here 17:59
Judge rules Cape Breton crab quota case should proceed to trial – trial is required to resolve the dispute
A 
justice has denied a New Waterford’s man claim for a summary judgment on a disputed crab quota licence. Paul Fraser had petitioned the court to grant his application seeking compensation for the sale of the quota and to transfer the quota to another licence holder. As noted by Justice Robin Gogan in her decision, the purpose and objective of a summary judgement is to end claims or defences that have no real prospect of success. She said a trial is required to resolve the dispute. Read the rest here 17:17
Captains face charges after alleged illegal harvest
Two fishing boat captains are facing criminal charges after state environmental police say they caught the men harvesting surf clams in an area off Herring Cove Beach where fishing for the bivalves is prohibited. Matthews Collins, 29, of New Bedford, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Orleans District Court for allegedly harvesting surf clams onboard the F/V Aimee Marie on March 24,, The captain of the F/V Miss Maegan, Keith Opozda, 31, will also be summonsed to court to face a charge of harvesting surf clams shoreward of the 12-foot depth contour line at the same time as Collins, Read the rest here 15:55
Angler lands 1,368-pound blue marlin from 21-foot boat; just shy of world record
An angler fishing off Kona, Hawaii, landed a 1,368-pound blue marlin on Tuesday, while fishing aboard a 21-foot skiff. The massive billfish, caught by Guy Kitaoka aboard the vessel Dayna, is the largest blue marlin caught off Kona in 23 years, and is only eight pounds shy of the world record, a 1,376-pound blue caught off Kona in 1982. However, Kitaoka was using an electric reel, so even if the fish had been nine pounds heavier, it could not have qualified as a world record. (The angler holds a commercial-fishing license and was fishing for tuna and billfish to sell,,, Read the rest here 15:12
Sockeye face ‘catastrophic’ collapse in South Okanagan
A potentially catastrophic collapse of the sockeye salmon run is unfolding on the Columbia River system this year. Scientists once predicted that about 100,000 sockeye would return to spawning grounds in the rivers and streams in British Columbia’s South Okanagan region. In fact, it was supposed to be one of the largest sockeye runs in recent history, said Okanagan Nation Alliance fish biologist Richard Bussanich. Read the rest here 14:51
Bodies of missing fishermen found in Brazos River
The Coast Guard and local agencies have located the bodies of Phillip and Brandon Orr, Wednesday. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department search crews located Brandon at approximately 10 a.m. near the intersection with the Intracoastal Waterway. Coast Guard and Brazoria County Rescue crews found Phillip at about 11 a.m. in the same area, which was about a mile down river from where the boat was located Tuesday morning. link 14:25
New marketing plan targets chefs to sell lobster by promoting “new shell lobster.”
The goal of a new marketing and promotion effort is to have those tourists also eat Maine lobster in their home cities. The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative is leading the effort and was formed by the state and the industry. It is paid for by increased license fees on fishermen and dealers.The promotional target, at least to start, is out of state restaurants. Collaborative executive director Matt Jacobson said research identified 2,200 “upscale casual restaurants” between Maine and Delaware, which are considered the focus for the marketing effort. Video, Read the rest here,14:15
