Monthly Archives: October 2015
Seafood Giant’s Tactics Fishy, Rival Claims
NEWPORT, Ore. (CN) – Seafood giant Pacific Seafood is trying to ruin a small company that buys its crabs from independent fishermen in an attempt to maintain its stranglehold on West Coast fisheries, the small fry claims in court.The small company says Pacific Seafood is not the greatest neighbor. Seawater leases a spot on the Yaquina Bay dock right next to Pacific Seafood, and it says Pacific is trying to force it out of business. Seawater demands $930,000 and an injunction ordering Pacific Seafood to abandon “illegal tactics designed only to destroy plaintiff ,,, Read the rest here 15:05
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 160′ Catcher/Freezer/RSW Trawler – (2) 3512TA CAT’s
Specifications, information and 30 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 13:21
American lobster in high demand in China
EXPORTS of US lobster to China have rocketed in the past few years, largely to satisfy the appetites of the communist country’s growing middle class, to whom a steamed, whole crustacean – flown in live from the United States – is not just a festive delicacy and a good-luck symbol but also a mark of prosperity. And that’s good news for Maine, far and away the US’ No 1 lobster state, where the boom has put more money in the pockets of lobstermen and kept shippers and processors busy, especially during the usually slack northern midwinter months. Read the rest here 11:52
Arniston fishermen destitute after selfless sea rescue
Durban – They have no boat and no income after a rescue mission went awry, but they will always have hope. And this hope is the thing that will carry them through, even though their fishing boat Mrs H is now at the bottom of the ocean, owner Gerald Swart, 59, from Arniston, said on Tuesday. The sinking of the fishing boat, which was claimed by the ocean when it tried to rescue another stricken craft, has robbed a group of Southern Cape fishermen – breadwinners in their homes – of their livelihood. Read the rest here 11:17
Industry-led sea urchin restoration project gets DMR boost
An industry-led effort to determine whether sea urchins can be encouraged to grow in once fertile habitat got a boost last week. The Department of Marine Resources Advisory Council unanimously approved a regulation closing a part of the Sheepscot River to urchin fishing for nearly three years. According to DMR, the industry-led plan was developed through the Sea Urchin Zone Council. Commercial harvesters will do the majority of the work on the project with support from the department and scientists on the panel. Read the rest here 10:47
Tofino boat rescue triggered by single flare that almost wasn’t seen
Since he pulled 13 survivors out of the water near Tofino, B.C., on Sunday, Ken Brown has thought a lot about what would have happened, if he hadn’t seen the flare from a whale-watching boat in trouble. Brown and his partner, Clarence Smith, were fishing grounds they had never fished, facing Vargas Island off Tofino. As they were pulling in their halibut longline, Brown happened to turn around, and saw in the sky a single flare — the only signal anyone could see from the capsized wreckage of the MV Leviathan II, which flipped so quickly there was no time to send a mayday call. Read the rest here 09:40
Seals Not Competing with Irish Fishing Stocks, According to New Research
Seals are not threatening commercial fishing stocks in Irish waters, with the possible exception of wild Atlantic salmon, according to new research led by Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. “This is not to say that seals do not compete with fishermen in other ways. In other recent work we showed that fishermen who use set nets round the coast of Ireland can lose fish straight out of their nets to seals. But as with this study, we needed to go into the detail, and get our hands dirty to prove that.” Read the rest here 08:49
Earthjustice files Oceana Lawsuit Against Federal Government to Save Dusky Sharks in Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic
In the lawsuit filed today, Oceana claims the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing federal fisheries, by failing to end the overfishing of dusky sharks. Oceana also claims the federal government failed to establish an annual catch limit and measures to enforce such a limit as well as failed to revise dusky shark management measures once it became apparent that the current measures were not rebuilding the population to healthy levels, as required by law. Read the rest here 17:54
Maine: Scallopers gear up for season start
For many fishermen, the end of the inshore lobster season will mean it’s time to begin rigging up the scallop drags on their boats. Final details for the 2015-2016 Maine scallop season were approved last week by the Department of Resources (DMR) Advisory Council and adopted on Monday by the department. The seasons for scallop diving and dragging in Zone 2, which runs from roughly the middle of Western Penobscot Bay to Lubec, begin Dec. 1. Dragging in Zone 3, which includes the popular, sheltered-from-winter-weather Cobscook Bay bottom, begins the same day. Read the rest here 15:56
Ray Hilborn: Seafood sustainability, certification ‘about money’
Seafood sustainability and certification is “about money and value – science has largely been lost”. So claims Ray Hilborn, a professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. Commenting on CFOOD on recent criticisms made by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI), Hilborn said seafood sustainability, “at its core, is about the ability to produce food from the sea in the long term.” However, he argued, “the most interesting development in seafood sustainability is the force driving certification, and — spoiler alert — it isn’t consumers. Read the rest here 13:59100-year-old mystery solved: Adult eel observed for the first time in the Sargasso Sea
After more than a century of speculation, researchers have finally proved that American eels really do migrate to the Sargasso Sea to reproduce. A team supervised by Professor Julian Dodson of Université Laval and Martin Castonguay of Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports having established the migratory route of this species by tracking 28 eels fitted with satellite transmitters. One of these fish reached the northern boundary of the Sargasso Sea, the presumed reproduction site for the species, after a 2,400 km journey. Read the rest here 13:32
EU pressure on illegal fishing threatens more than 8,000 Thai fishing boats
More than 8,000 trawlers in 22 provinces are likely to lose their commercial fishing licences after checks revealed the registration numbers did not match the vessels, and many had failed to renew their permits for years. If all the boats were banned, it would be a terrible blow to the Thai fishing industry, which employs about 300,000 people. The discrepancies were uncovered when the government began regulating all fishing boats to comply with the EU‘s demand last April that Thailand end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, or lose its market for seafood products. Bangkok was given six months to fall into line. Read the rest here 12:09
Vancouver whale watching tragedy: Fishermen first on scene saved two pregnant women from icy water
The first rescuers on the scene of Vancouver whale watching tragedy have recalled how they desperately fought to rescue those in the water including a pregnant woman and a man trapped in fishing line. Ken Lucas and Clarence Smith were dragging their fishing gear out of the water when they saw the flare in the sky. When they arrived at the scene they pulled three people out of the water straight away. As they did they were told others were in the water. Read the rest here 11:08
Gulf officials argue for shift in managing Red Snapper fishery
Gulf Coast officials, joined by charter boat operators from Mississippi, are urging to pass legislation that would shift management of the red snapper fishery to states, saying they would do a much better job. “The fisheries management by the federal government is not a good one, especially as it relates to red snapper in the Gulf,’’ Robert Barham, secretary of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans. “We can do a better job.” “No way shape or form do we want the states to manage our commercial and charter fisheries for red snapper,’’ Buddy Guindon said. Read the rest here 09:31
Crew member, employer receive citations for falsified fishing license
A Washington man was cited for employing an unlicensed crew member when authorities discovered that the crew member’s commercial fishing license was falsified. According to Wildlife Troopers in Dutch Harbor, Michael L. James of Townsend Montana was in possession of a duplicated commercial crew member’s license while aboard the F/V Gulf Prowler. James received citations for falsifying the license and unlicensed commercial fishing. James’s employer, Gary Asgeinsson, also received a citation,,, Read the rest here 08:56
National Marine Fisheries Service Accepts Petition to List Thorny Skate under the Endangered Species Act
In response to a petition from Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) to list thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) under the Endangered Species Act, we have prepared a 90-day finding. We accept the petition and are initiating a review of the status of the species. The petitioners claim that the species numbers have been declining since the 1970s, and that the species is threatened by illegal landings, bycatch and discard mortality, inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms (related to fishing), global climate change and hypoxia, and natural stochastic events. Read the rest here 08:32
The great northern cod comeback
This research, led by Dr. George Rose, tracks what is arguably the most important comeback of any fish stock worldwide. Studying the great northern Atlantic cod stock complex off Newfoundland and Labrador, once considered among the largest cod stocks in the world before its disastrous decline in the 1990s, Dr. Rose documents the stock’s rebound over the past decade from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand tonnes and growing. According to the study, this comeback from commercial extinction has followed three distinct steps: Read the rest here 07:58
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
The lure of the sea, a lifelong debt trap for fishermen
When in rough weather the waves rise up, it can take all a man’s strength and then some for a fisherman to overcome. There’s wit, skill and experience in sea fishing, and beyond that prayer and perhaps a little luck… The open sea: it’s no place for an octogenarian. But for Taiyab Ali Sarder of Chitholiya village in Pirojpur Sadar upazila, regularly returning to the sea in his twilight years is the only option. “There’s none to bear our family’s expenses,” he says. It’s rather the need to repay advance loan money called dadan to his master, the boat owner, which chains Sarder to the sea. His story is not unique. Read the rest here 19:14
Long Island restaurant owner receives 23-pound, 95-year-old lobster
A lobster that spent 95 years in the sea was a sight to behold when it was finally captured. The mammoth, 23-pound shellfish was finally captured and sent to a Long Island restaurant where it’s been a big talking point for the owner and his customers for the past week. Steve Jordan, owner of Jordan Lobster Farms seafood restaurant and market in Island Park, got a heads up about the surprising catch by the fisherman who nabbed the large crustacean in the Bay of Fundy in Canada. But he was not prepared for what was delivered Read the rest here 13:10
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, OCT 25, 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 12:12
