Daily Archives: August 2, 2015
American Samoa – Loss of purse seiners will be catastrophic
The Chairman of the Governor’s Fisheries Task Force, Solip Hong, says there will be catastrophic effects for the territory’s economy if the current fleet of US purse seiners pack up due to loss of fishing grounds in near waters. The purse seiners face a bleak future because of a drastic reduction in fishing days under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty in waters near Kiribati that the local purse seine fleet used to ply. Read the rest here 18:57
28 quotes, facts and graphs from the new UN global use of shark products report
The United Nations Food and Agriculture organization just released “fisheries and agriculture technical paper number 590, the state of the global market for shark products” Coauthored by legendary shark conservation researcher Shelley Clarke, this 196 page document is a comprehensive look at, um, the state of the global market for shark products. 18) “The United States of America is an important producer of sharks, a relatively large exporter and a minor importer of shark fins…Read the rest here 17:25
BILOXI: Class of 2015 inducted into Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum’s Heritage Hall of Fame
The number of inductees into the 2015 Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum’s Heritage Hall of Fame wasn’t as large as the first class, but you couldn’t tell by the number of people who showed up for the ceremony Saturday. As the organizers know, big names draw big families. “This is a house of love,” said Kim Ross Bush, board member and emcee. “This is a house that was built by the Gulf of Mexico, by the men, women and children who came here and plied the waters and built an industry that we will forever be known for.” Video, Read the rest here 16:54
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, Aug 2, 2015
The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:47
Three Lobster fishermen convicted of robbing lobster traps and possession of undersized lobsters sentenced
Three fishermen convicted of robbing lobster traps and possession of undersized lobsters in June stemming from their September 2011 arrest were banned from commercial lobster fishing for life and two of them were given prison time. The captain of the Marathon-based commercial lobster fishing vessel Classy Lady, Nelson Rojas, was convicted of trap molesting, tampering, possession of undersized lobster and interference with a conservation officer, according to court records. Read the rest here 11:17
Long hours, no breaks, tough competition … he loves being a lobsterman
I got to wondering if many commercial fisherman are left in Newport. You rarely see them now that the waterfront has been taken over by yachts. But it turns out about 30 commercial boats are still holding on. They’re mostly lobsterman and they park at the end of Long Wharf on the way to Goat Island on a big concrete piece of real estate called the State Pier #9. I went down and found one – Denny Ingram, 57, who’s been lobstering for 25 years. It’s hard work, long hours, and you don’t get rich so I began by asking why he’s still at it. Read the rest here (photo Newport Lobster Shack) 10:24
Contentious – An experimental soft-shell clam farm in Georgetown aims to keep green crabs at bay and enrich diggers.
Marching across the clam flats near the head of Heal Eddy, you notice two things.mFirst, both the seafloor and the sea grass meadows on the shoreline are cratered with holes – the work of green crabs, the voracious crustaceans blamed for the widespread destruction of the state’s soft-shell clams. Then you see Chris Warner’s response: five long rows of what appear to be net-covered garden beds, some 70 patches in all, spread across the exposed ocean bottom at the mouth of a 300-foot-wide cove. But the project has been contentious here in Georgetown, Read the rest here 09:28
F/V Returner: police divers find missing Pilbara trawler, one body
Police divers have located the missing trawler Returner and one body. The boat was located 20 kilometres north of Karratha Nickol Bay foreshore on Friday. The man’s body was recovered on Saturday and has been flown to Perth for formal identification. The families of the three missing men have been notified. Mason Carter, 26, Chad Fairley, 30, and 57-year-old Murray Turner failed to return to Point Samson near Karratha in their 13-metre prawn trawler on July 15. The men were all from the Geraldton area. Read the rest here 08:09
