Daily Archives: November 13, 2015
More black sea bass added to quota
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board last week approved increases to the 2016 black sea bass commercial quota and recreational harvest limit (RHL). This means more black sea bass can be taken by commercial and recreational fishermen. The ASMFC announced that the commercial quota is now being set at 2.71 million pounds (was going to be 2.24 million pounds) and the RHL is being set at 2.88 million pounds (was at 2.33 million pounds). Read the rest here 17:22
Trudeau directs reopening of Coast Guard base, action on Fraser salmon
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally directed new Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo to reopen the closed that had become a flashpoint for local criticism of the Harper government. The Kitsilano base was closed in 2013 – vessels and staff were shifted to Richmond – but pressure from B.C. politicians to reopen it intensified after a slow response earlier this year to a spill of fuel oil from a freighter in English Bay. Trudeau released his mandate letters outlining the priorities for each new federal cabinet minister Friday. Read the rest here 17:00
Fears Ramsgate’s fishing fleet could be no more in 2016
A Ramsgate fisherman fears the town’s next year if new fishing restrictions on Sea Bass come into force. The European Commission is considering a complete fishing ban on sea bass for commercial vessels and recreational anglers in the first half of 2016. Ramsgate fisherman Steve Barratt believes this ban would be the death knell of Ramsgate’s fishing fleet. Mr Barratt, has earned a living as a fisherman in Ramsgate for 30 years, said: “It’s getting to the point where you wake up in the morning and you think what’s the point anymore? I’m looking at the sea and there’s more bass there than there was 25 years ago.” Read the rest here 14:33
Canfisco cannery closing operations in Prince Rupert
In another blow to fisheries on B.C.’s north coast, Canfisco says it will cease canning operations in Prince Rupert. More than 500 jobs could be lost at what was once the world’s largest cannery, with the falling demand for canned salmon blamed for the company’s decision. “We’re moving more to fresh and frozen products,” Rob Morley, vice president of production and corporate development for Canfisco told CBC News. Read the rest here 13:35
Stealing from Fishermen – Two NRP busts lead to fishery charges
According to NRP, an Elkridge man was criminally charged on Monday, Nov. 2, with eight counts of poaching after he was caught stealing crabs from watermen’s fishing gear and other natural resources violations. Raymond David Bosley, 45, of Elkridge, was stopped by officers on routine patrol on the Chesapeake Bay on Oct. 12. A check of his recreational vessel turned up numerous crabs, but no crabbing gear. Acting on a tip, officers went to a location in the 600-block of Dover Road in Easton and observed large coolers and several people nearby. The coolers contained 58 striped bass,,, Read the rest here 10:48
Sunken lobster boat raised – Investigation continues
Police said their investigation into an early Wednesday morning fire at the Town Dock that sunk a lobster boat and damaged another boat that was tied to it is continuing Thursday morning. Capt. Todd Olson said this morning a crane was attached to the boat in order to lift it out of the water. The vessel is now out of the water, according to Cyndy Chanaca, a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokeswoman. Read the rest here View seven additional photo’s here 10:30
Swans Island sisters forge careers on the sea
Lesley and Leah Ranquist, sisters in their early 20s, were first introduced to fishing when they were mere kindergarteners. Now they are among the 4 percent of women currently holding commercial fishing licenses in the state of Maine. Lesley and Leah’s story isn’t just noteworthy because they’re young women making a good living in an industry dominated by men; their introduction to lobster fishing started with a grandfather who fished with only two fingers and a thumb. Read the rest here 10:10
Wasting water to kill fish?
The Stanislaus River Salmon Festival 
is Saturday. And so far a record 6,000 endangered Chinook salmon have passed through a high-tech weir near Riverbank. “There’s no cause for celebration,” noted biologist and Fishbo principal Andrea Fuller who has been studying the Stanislaus River and its fish for 20 years. That’s because Fuller said the federal government’s pulse flow releases from New Melones Reservoir during the fourth year of severe drought has created conditions that have water temperatures 5 degrees higher than normal. That is expected to translate into a much higher kill rate for eggs. Read the rest here 08:57
75 Years After Steinbeck Sailed, a Boat Is Readied to Go Back to Sea
Rule 1 in the world of working wooden boats, since the days of dugout canoes and fishing skiffs, has been that when they are no longer of use or they are lost at sea, people build new ones and move on. Sentimentality and fussy restoration are rarely in the tool kit. The Western Flyer, a sardine fishing boat made famous by the writer John Steinbeck, is now on a path to breaking that pattern, as it has so many others before. Seventy-five years after Steinbeck and a scientist friend chartered the Flyer and sailed it from California to Mexico — and into literary legend,,, Read the rest here 07:58
