Daily Archives: July 27, 2015
The American Samoa Fisheries Task Force needs support for petition
The American Samoa Fisheries Task Force is urging support for a petition that’s been filed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to exempt US purse seines that deliver at least 50% of their catch to the American Samoa canneries, from the limits on high seas fishing effort for 2015. Last year NOAA set limits on fishing days by the US purse seine tuna fleet in Pacific waters but that limit only applied to 2014. Read the rest here 21:41
“It’s almost like a special run of crab.” Labrador crab fisherman ‘awestruck’ at size of this year’s catch
A Labrador crab fisherman says this season is shaping up to be the best he’s seen in over 20 years on the water. William Larkham Jr. fishes off the north coast near Makkovik and said he is amazed by the size of the crab being caught this season. “We’ve seen some big crab through the years, but nothing compared to what we are seeing this year,” he said. “You’re kind of awestruck, they’re that big,” he said. Video, Read the rest here 20:54
The House passes The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation cosponsored by Congressman David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, July 27 to fight the problem of illegal fishing from foreign vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 774) passed the House by voice vote. The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act stiffens penalties for those caught illegally fishing in U.S. waters by potentially stripping poachers of their boats and equipment and laying the groundwork for criminal charges based on the laws of their home countries. Read the rest here 19:02
Does this fish look like a piranha to you?
Bryton Shockley, a commercial fisherman, was out on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee when he reeled in a creature that caused him to wonder, “is that … a piranha?” Florida wildlife officials took a look at photos of Schockley’s fish — a toothy creature with a red belly — and they believe it’s a pacu, a relative of the ravenous piranha. Pacu can be kept in aquariums and are sometimes illegally dumped into local waters when they grow too large for their tanks. Video, Read the rest here 18:24
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update July 27, 2015
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 16:34
‘Wicked Tuna’ star indicted on federal fraud charges, due in court on Aug. 10
A star of TV’s “Wicked Tuna” has been indicted on federal fraud charges. The indictment says Paul Hebert claimed to be disabled and unable to work while he was catching fish and appearing on the National Geographic Channel reality show. The four-count indictment against the 50-year-old from Gloucester, Massachusetts, was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont. It alleges that Hebert accepted a little more than $44,000 in Social Security and Medicaid benefits between 2010 and 2013. Hebert’s attorney, Robert Goldstein of Boston, says his client is innocent. link 15:44
ADF&G figures show commercial pinks slow to arrive in Southeast
Southeast Alaska fishermen have pulled in almost 10 million salmon so far this summer even as the pace of fishing remains below five-year averages, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. On Sunday, ADF&G reported seiners had hauled in 4.85 million pink salmon and 1.85 million chum salmon in the season to date. Gillnet boats brought in another 570,000 pinks and 1.5 million chum. While those figures sound impressive, Fish and Game has forecasted an excellent pink harvest of 58 million fish. Purse seining captures most of the pink salmon in Southeast. Read the rest here 14:46
Meghan Lapp: Herring face no danger from fishing
The July 12 Associated Press article “There’s a herring boom off our coast” unfortunately misled readers about herring stock size and commercial harvest levels. There is not a “catch boom” in New England — far from it. Contrary to the article’s statement that 2014 harvest levels were unusually high, the 2014 fishing mortality rate (which is a comparison of the harvest level to the stock size) was at its lowest level since 1965. That is, commercial harvest rates of herring are at their lowest in a 50-year time period. Read the rest here 14:22
Shetland’s fishing leaders want better governance
But all is not well in the fishing ports of Lerwick and Scalloway, as Simon Collins and Brian Isbister – the chief executives of Shetland Fishermen’s Association and Shetland Fish Producers’ Organisation respectively – will soon tell you. They even talk of betrayal by governments in Edinburgh, London and Brussels.,, They called for the recognition of traditional fishing rights, designation of the isles as “small offshore islands which are dependent on fishing” – as set out in the reformed Common Fisheries Policy – and provision for an “opt-out” for local vessels from regulatory and management powers devolved to Scotland. Read the rest here 11:32
Powerful typhoon kills 11,000 farmed bluefin tuna in Japan
Typhoon Nangka made landfall in southwestern Japan on the night of July 16 and slowly moved northward before turning into a tropical depression. Torrential rain and gusts of wind wreaked havoc in various parts of western Japan, also causing high waves and clouding sea water in the fish farm near the Pacific coastal town of Kushimoto, Kyodo News and the Asahi newspaper reported. The storm caused the sensitive bluefin tuna to panic, the Asahi said, with the Mainichi daily saying the waves had driven many of them into a barrier. Read the rest here 11:04
AP tracks slave boats to Papua New Guinea
From space, the fishing boats are just little white specks floating in a vast stretch of blue water off Papua New Guinea. But zoom in and there’s the critical evidence: Two trawlers loading slave-caught seafood onto a massive refrigerated cargo ship. The trawlers fled a slave island in Indonesia with captives of a brutal Southeast Asian trafficking ring whose catch reaches the United States. Hundreds of men were freed after they were discovered there earlier this year, but 34 boats loaded with workers left for new fishing grounds before help arrived — they remain missing. Read the rest here 10:36
