Daily Archives: July 14, 2015
Good News for Fishermen in the Northeast Atlantic!
Today, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) delivered an overview of the status of a host of fish and shellfish stocks across the Northeast Atlantic for which the organization has provided advice on this year. “Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have seen a general decline in fishing mortality in the Northeast Atlantic and the Baltic Sea,” explained Kirkegaard. “The stocks have reacted positively to the reduced exploitation and we’re observing growing trends in stock sizes for most of the commercially important stocks.” Read the rest here 19:24
Wait period to fish Naknek-Kvichak, Egegik districts waived, strong catches continue in much of Bristol Bay.
The48-hour waiting period to transfer into the Naknek-Kvichak, Egegik, Ugashik and Nushagak Districts ends by regulation July 17, but it’s waived as of Tuesday for the Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik District. Fishermen can’t transfer into the Togiak District after fishing any other district until July 27. Catches declined slightly on Monday, but are still among the highest of the season with 1.8 million fish caught that day, bringing the baywide catch to about 22.8 million, with the total sockeye run estimated at 33.7 million fish. From aboard the F/V Crimson Hunter,,, Read the rest here 19:10
Extremism and Zealotry – A threat to the Commercial Fishing Industry
WA’s most senior fisheries scientist has lamented the growing disconnect between consumers and the fishing industry, saying demands that it have no effect on the environment are becoming unrealistic. Rick Fletcher, executive director of research at the Fisheries Department, said sensibilities increasingly dictated the way Australian fisheries were managed and something would “eventually have to give”. Citing Australia’s zero-tolerance to the incidental catch of species such as dolphins — some of which are protected but not endangered,,, Read the rest here 15:15
Washington and Oregon officials today cancelled gillnetting scheduled for tonight in the lower Columbia River.
Biologist Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the commercial fleet has caught 3,298 summer chinook salmon in two earlier nights of fishing. That number is 99 percent of the commercial allocation. Whisler said the commercials are projected to catch another 700 chinook if they fished tonight. The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee has upgraded the forecast for the summer chinook run to 108,000, the largest since at least 1960. The sockeye run was upgraded Monday to 500,000, the third largest on record. link 14:34
Southeast’s salmon season begins ramping up as pink harvests start rise
Southeast Alaska’s first king salmon troll opening of the summer has come and gone, and now the seiners are about the take center stage. Last week, fishermen caught 600,000 pink salmon, according to figures provided by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and that figure is expected to rise each week until the first full week of August. Pink salmon run in a two-year cycle, and 2013 brought an unprecedented harvest of 95 million pink salmon in Southeast, more than any since large-scale commercial harvesting began in the late 1800s. Read the rest here 14:16
‘Difficult time’ for families of lost crewmen of sunken Plymouth scallop trawler JMT
The families of two fishermen lost at sea are said to be “devastated” after the crew’s sunken scallop trawler is thought to have been found on the sea bed. The Fishermen’s Mission are supporting the family and friends as they wait for news of how the scalloper sunk with the loss of both crew members. Supt. John Anderson, who is supporting the families on behalf of Brixham Fishermen’s Mission, said: “This is an extremely tender and difficult time for the families who only ever wanted to see their loved ones return home.” Read the rest here 12:36
Plan to privatize snapper-grouper fishery ownership off southeastern states blasted by fishing advocacy group
Tom Swatzel says the SAFMC has purposely not used the controversial phrase “catch shares” in the plan, but instead has used less understood terminology for catch shares such as “sector share management system,” “individual quota management system,” “individual quota programs,” “sector share programs/cooperatives,” “individual quotas,” and “allocations by permit.” “It’s very troubling the SAFMC would resort to using code-speak for catch shares instead of being up front with fishermen about the fact that catch share programs are indeed in the plan,” Swatzel said. Read the rest here 11:07
Gaspereau fish population rebounds in St. Croix River
More than 93,000 gaspereau returned to the St. Croix River this year, making it the highest fish count in 17 years and four times the 10-year average. In 1998 there were 177,000 fish. The St. Croix River was reopened to gaspereau in the spring of 2013. Prior to that, the government of Maine had blocked the river to prevent the fish from migrating to their spawning grounds since 1995. State legislators claimed they were protecting the smallmouth bass, an introduced fish favoured by anglers. The fish population dropped significantly since the state’s actions. Read the rest here 08:12
Paul Watson attacks Rod Stewart’s sealskin coat fitting
A well-known anti-sealing (radical) activist is using social media to shame Rod Stewart’s sealskin coat fitting. Before performing in St. John’s, the British rock star got fitted for the coat at Always in Vogue on Water Street — a move that garnered attention and praise from many local residents. “You see Rod Stewart simply does not give a damn. He’s in the Ted Nugent, Kid Rock school of rock musicians who have hearts of stone and blood on their hands and thrive on the sadistic thrill it gives them to be known for their lack of empathy and kindness.” Read the rest here 07:55
