Daily Archives: July 20, 2015
Flooded Engine Room Forces Canadian Fishermen into Life Raft 150 miles off the Massachusetts Coast
A Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew from Cape Cod, Massachusetts pulled three people from the water more than 150 miles off the coast after their vessel sank Monday. Watchstanders at the 1st Coast Guard District Command Center in Boston received an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert from theat 12:41 p.m. Multiple fishing vessels and the 270-foot Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba were diverted to assist. Read the rest here 21:55
Bristol Bay fishery update – Monday July 20, 2015
Bristol Bay fishermen caught a million sockeye on Sunday, bringing the total catch this summer to almost 33 million. The total Bristol Bay sockeye run is now estimated at about 47 million fish, near the pre-season forecast, which called for about 53 million fish. The strongest catches Sunday came out of the Naknek-Kvichak District, where 535,000 fish were caught. Egegik fishermen caught 264,000 Sunday, and Ugashik fishermen landed 188,000. Sunday’s Nushagak harvest was 108,000; no fish in Togiak. Sunday’s catches showed a decline,,, Read the rest here 18:51
Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. bucks Mid Atlantic Council flounder reduction plan
.“The implications and economic tragedies resulting from such a reduction will have resounding negative consequences on the entire East Coast,” Mr. Thiele said in a letter to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. He’s asked Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to start legal proceedings against the Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service challenging application of the quota allocation to New York. The data supporting the cutback is “based on old, incomplete and faulty information,” justifying legal action, Mr. Thiele said. Read the rest here 18:21
Comments wanted as GOA trawl bycatch reduction program is crafted
Crafting a program to reduce trawl bycatch in Gulf groundfish fisheries has been underway for three years. In October the North Pacific Council will begin piecing the new program together in a process that could take several years. The new program will include some form of catch shares (because it’s easy for regulators!) If a member of the public is worried about bycatch management but they don’t think catch shares are a viable alternative, we’d really appreciate hearing other ideas. (Because they can’t figure out any other way!!!) Listen, Read the rest here 17:47
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update July 20, 2015
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 16:44
Greenpeace Pushes Annual Fundraising Tool
Greenpeace is touting the latest in its long line of opaque, subjective, and hopelessly flawed “reports” on retail seafood. This year’s model may have lost the juvenile aesthetic and top hat donning cartoon fish of previous iterations, but the substance—or lack thereof—remains much the same. It is still first and foremost a fundraising tool and evidence of that can be found in its erratic methodology and narrative. Read the rest here 16:20
July 22 Meetings for Fishermen on Upcoming Groundfish Operational Assessments
The NEFSC is holding outreach meetings on July 22 in Portland, Gloucester, Woods Hole, and New Bedford for fishermen interested in the upcoming operational assessments for 20 stocks of Northeast groundfish. Click link for information on webinar, meeting times and locations Two assessment analysts will be on hand to meet with interested fishermen, to learn more about recent observations from the fleet that might help focus future research to improve assessments. There will also be a short webinar on the timeline for the assessments, what new information will be considered, and how the results will be reviewed before they are sent into the fishery management process. Read the notice hereNew Mid Atlantic Council recommendation revises fluke cuts
A memo released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff on Friday revised the earlier recommended fluke cuts downward from 43 percent to 25 percent for 2016. In making the revision, the Council staff recognized the substantial negative impact such a reduction would have on the recreational and commercial fisheries, the seafood industry and markets and fishing communities they support. Instead of the one-year plan called for in its initial memo, the Council staff is recommending a “phased in” approach,,, Read the rest here 11:57
Fishing boats become citizen science data platforms – What a Novel Idea!
Prof Hart said that the current work is attempting to bridge the divide between scientists and commercial fishermen, allowing them to have a direct voice in the management and regulation of the waters they fish.”What we have essentially been doing is involving them in gathering data and eventually building a computer model of the crab fishery, which we hope then use later for conservation and sustainability studies,” “It should help them justify their activities in the face of management agency questions, and it also gives them more credibility when they are in negotiations with local management agencies. Read the rest here 11:18
Southeast trollers get bad news from ADF&G
There will be no second summer king salmon opening for Southeast Alaska trollers.In an update released Friday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that preliminary fish tickets indicate about 150,000 kings were taken by trollers during eight days of fishing at the start of the month. That catch figure means the fleet’s summer quota has been met and there will be no second opening.,, the next opportunity for trollers to take king salmon won’t come until Oct. 11, when the winter troll fishery opens. Read the rest here 09:26
