Daily Archives: October 26, 2015
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for Oct. 26, 2015
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 19:11
Fishermen call for action over equipment dumping
Fishermen are calling for action to protect the livelihoods of coastal communities and the health of Scotland’s seas from tonnes of nets, ropes and lobster pots dumped at sea in a battle between creelers and trawlers. They say every year “rogue” boats tow away equipment worth thousands of pounds and dump it on the seabed, where it continues to “ghost fish” and pose an entanglement risk for sealife and unwitting skippers. Although most reports are of damage to “static” gear by “mobile” fishers, incidents are also caused by static-on-static and static-on-mobile conflict. Read the rest here 17:07
Province confirms major aquaculture project for Placentia Bay
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has reached an agreement with a company called Grieg Newfoundland AS that could this see province rival British Columbia in aquaculture production. Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Keith Hutchings announced Monday in Marystown that Grieg will invest some $251-million in a project that will more than double aquaculture in the province and create roughly 325 direct jobs. He said the province will commit up to $45 million to acquire an equity position in the company. Read the rest here 16:26
Good Samaritan Vessels Rescue 36 from Burning Fishing Vessel in Remote Pacific
The 36-member crew of a Papua New Guinea-flagged commercial purse seiner are safe following a joint rescue by good samaritan vessels and search and rescue authorities in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean approximately 2,071 miles southwest of Hawaii. Coast Guard Watchstanders in Honolulu received a request Saturday from the Rescue Coordination Center New Zealand to provide resources after the 229-foot purse seiner Glory Pacific No. 8 reportedly caught fire in the Pacific and the full crew abandoned ship into two skiffs and several life rafts. Video, Read the rest here, and here 14:46
Poor US Pacific whiting fishing set to leave market short of surimi
This fall’s catch of US hake — also called pacific whiting — has been dismal, which will mean lower volumes of surimi for a hungry market. With many American producers having geared themselves toward processing large amounts of surimi, some worry that they won’t be able to fill customers’ orders. With surimi base output dropping in Asia, high surimi demand, and an increased US hake quota, many American catchers-processors, motherships and shore-based processors had set up to produce larger amounts of surimi in 2015 than they normally would. Read the rest here 14:01
American Samoa’s small and developing economy – Closure of fishing grounds helping foreign competitors
Owners of StarKist Samoa, say the National Marine Fisheries Service needs to recognize the unique nature of 
. They say StarKist Samoa has been directly impacted by the closure of access to the high seas. Michelle Faist spokesperson for StarKist told KHJ News these unnecessary restrictions have driven the purse seine fleet into distant waters where they are now catching fish under a U.S. flag to benefit competitors to American industry. She said as a result, StarKist is forced to buy its fish at a premium with reefer vessels coming in from distant fishing grounds. Read the rest here 12:05
Kleven’s Pelagic Fishing Vessel for Gitte Henning
Kleven has signed an agreement with Danish fishing vessel owner Gitte Henning AS on the building of a combined pelagic trawler/purse seiner. 90.5 m wide and 17.8 m wide, this will be the largest pelagic fishing vessel within its segment. “We are really pleased that Henning Kjeldsen chooses to build this large, modern and advanced fishing vessel in Norway and at Myklebust verft,” said Ståle Rasmussen, CEO of Kleven. He praises the cooperation between the three parts in the process leading up to the contract being signed this week. Read the rest here 11:32
TRADEX 3MMI – Strong Halibut Pricing Expected to Stay, American Flounder Market Overtaken by Alaska Plaice
3-Minute Market Insight: Fresh pricing on Halibut stays strong in Alaska, as we approach the November 7th season closure. Black Cod, also set to end, has been landing strong and pricing has been stable. Larger sized Flounder fillets are overtaken by the naturally larger Alaska Plaice, a cheaper alternative in the US Market. Watch the video here 10:57
The PEI Fishermen’s Association to convene the 2015 US-Canada Lobster Science Symposium in Charlottetown, November 3 – 6, 2015
The four themes of the 2015 symposium will progress through increasing levels of organisation and complexity beginning with the Individual Lobster, moving to the dynamics of Lobster Populations and then on to Lobster Ecosystems and Food Webs. New to the 2015 symposium is a special theme focusing on “The Business of Lobstering” where presentations will examine how the lobster industry is adjusting to varied aspects of its own changing economic, social, and cultural environments. Read the rest here 10:24
Net Effect: The fight over flounder
David Sneed is executive director of the
, the main group representing recreational fishermen. He says commercial fishermen have blocked attempts to reduce the use of gill nets. “The science has been there to say, ‘Hey, we need to pull back on this. We’re over-harvesting these fish,’ but the push has always been there to say, ‘No, we need to catch more fish, you know, we need to be able to make money off of this resource.’” But Jerry Schill, executive director of the NC Fisheries Association, the main group representing commercial fishermen, says the flounder fishery is not being overharvested. Read the rest here 09:19
