Daily Archives: July 17, 2015
Increase in TAC for Arctic surf clam on the Banquereau Bank and Grand Bank
An increase in the total allowable catch (TAC) of Arctic surf clam on the Banquereau Bank and Grand Bank is being applauded by Ocean Choice International. (I’ll bet!) The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced the increase Friday. The new TAC — 52,655 tonnes compared to the previous 38,756 tonnes — will begin with next year’s fishery. “This increased TAC will not only allow a new entrant or new entrants into the fishery, but it will also allow for additional access to additional quota for the existing quota holder in 2016,” the department said in a news release. (image) Read the rest here 16:56
Live Cam – The Bears are Catching Big at Brooks Falls – Katmai National Park, Alaska
Click to watch live! 15:48
NEFMC and NMFS Seek Comments on Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
The New England Fishery Management Council has been developing Amendment 18 to the 
for several years. The notice of availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Amendment 18 published today in the Federal Register. The DEIS is open for comments through August 31. More information, including dates and times of public meetings, is available on our website and on the Council’s website Read the rest here 15:41
Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty: Crew of F/V Cape Ferret
In November 2014, the crew of F/V Betty C awoke to find their vessel nearly engulfed in flames. After their attempts to extinguish the flames proved ineffective, the captain gave a singular order that no mariner ever wants to hear: Abandon ship. The crew huddled into their small rescue skiff, watching their vessel, and home while at sea, smolder and burn. Two hundred and thirty miles south of Jarvis Island, Hawaii, it seemed unlikely for a quick rescue. But little did they know that their EPIRB had given their position to the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, allowing the Coast Guard to both pinpoint their location and the location of a nearby vessel to call for possible assistance. That vessel was the F/V Cape Ferret. Read the rest here 14:48
Warm Gulf of Alaska leads to unusual happenings, worried scientists – Fishermen used to the unusual
“I’m really worried. I’m very concerned. Hot water, lots of nutrients, potentially harmful alga blooms, and other species we don’t even know about … this is the time when exotic species get a foothold and just explode,” said Juneau-based marine ecologist Michelle Ridgway. Troller Jim Dybdahl, who’s from Hoonah and has been fishing for about 30 years, said recently that he hadn’t noticed anything unusual this summer. He hasn’t heard other fishermen talk about abnormalities either. In fishing, you get used to the unusual, Dybdahl said. Read the rest here
Spanish whale hunters left Canada a historical treasure trove
The clues are there for anyone to see — the piles of red rubble on the beaches, the big bones scattered along one section of shoreline — but nobody in the Canadian fishing village of Red Bay had thought to put them together. “As kids we’d find these little pebbles on the beach,” Alice Moores, a local resident, tells me. “We’d use them like chalk, to draw on the rocks.” Red Bay, on the southern coast of Labrador, is a classic “outport” of east-coast Atlantic Canada — clapboard houses perched on treeless headlands,,, Read the rest here 10:56
The Pacific Salmon Commission meet’s today to provide an in-season assessment of the pink and sockeye runs.
The test gill-net fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca began this week, and not much has been revealed just yet to get an idea of pink and sockeye run strength. Two test boats on Wednesday, July 15 netted 163 sockeye, seven coho, three chinook, one chum and two steelhead. The Fraser River Panel of the Pacific Salmon Commission has developed management plans for 2015 Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon fisheries in Panel Area waters. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provided forecasts of Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon abundance,,, Read the rest here 10:37
What else can you say about Dave Marciano? ‘Wicked Tuna’ star steps up for charter fleet
On Wednesday, for the second consecutive year, Orrell ran a special Yankee Fleet charter fishing trip featuring “Wicked Tuna” mainstay and Beverly native Dave Marciano. And for the second year in a row, it was a raging success. “It really went wonderfully,” Orrell said Thursday. “Everybody caught a lot of fish and everybody came home ecstatic. We’ve already booked it for next year.” Orrell reserved special praise for Marciano, who donated his time to help Yankee Fleet try to combat the sluggish season Orrell and all Northeast charter operators are enduring,,, Read the rest here 09:17
US Customs seizes bladders from endangered fish being shipped from Venezuela to China
U.S. officials in Puerto Rico have seized a load of fish bladders taken from an endangered species and stuffed inside packages that were shipped from Venezuela and destined for Hong Kong. Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have seized 1,328 pounds of totoaba fish bladders. The swim bladders from the fish indigenous to Mexico’s Gulf of California are prized by chefs in China. The parcels with the bladders were labeled as “organic plastic samples.” Customs officials turned them over to the NOAA. Read the rest here 07:41
