Monthly Archives: November 2015
Ecosystems Are Dying as Long Island Contends With a Nitrogen Bomb
Thousands of dead bunker fish and hundreds of diamondback turtles washed ashore last May in Peconic Bay on the east end of Long Island, New York. Fed by warming waters and a stream of nitrogen, a foul bloom of algae had so depleted the estuary of oxygen that marine life suffocated. The waters of the bay swirled red and brown. Basic septic units are not designed to remove nitrogen. When too many households with septic are clustered too densely, nitrogen levels spike. Converted into ammonium in the tank and then nitrate in the soil, nitrogen seeps into groundwater and ends up in rivers, lakes, and bays, where it feeds a menagerie of algae species. Read the rest here 21:32
Not so fast on Atlantic marine monument – By Jon Williams
An ongoing campaign led by large, well-funded environmental organizations is urging President Obama to use the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate parts of the Atlantic Ocean—such as Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine and the New England Canyons and Seamounts—as marine National Monuments. In September, I had the privilege of testifying before House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans about the aspect of this proposal that seeks to exclude historic fisheries from the designated area. Read the rest here 18:47
Feds Send Man to Jail for Overfishing as 6,000 Drug Convicts are Freed
These are embarrassing times for the nation’s criminal justice system; as the Obama administration executes the nation’s largest mass release of federal prisoners, it’s sending a Long Island fisherman to jail for reeling in too many. While drug offenders get off easy in the name of racial justice, the administration has increased punishment for violating federal regulations involving less serious acts such as reeling in too many fish,,, Read the rest here 17:05
Fishing vs. offshore energy: A fight for the ocean’s future
Fishermen are looking keep their grounds through Pacific County’s new shoreline buffers. The Shoreline Management Program (SMP) limits development to protect water quality, habitat and coastal functions. For years, local agencies have worked to rewrite the program to match new state guidelines.,, Out of the state’s remaining 38 miles of coast open for fishing and development, roughly 32 of those miles border Pacific County. The limited space has caused fishermen to worry that offshore development will cut them off from the catch. Read the rest here 15:20
Conservation group sues to stop commercial salmon farms
The Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit Wednesday against federal environmental and fisheries managers for allowing 
. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle claims that infectious viruses in salmon farms are threatening wild fish in the region. The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded in 2011 that commercial salmon farms are not likely to have an adverse effect on wild salmon, the lawsuit said. But the following year, it said, there was an infectious virus outbreak,,, Read the rest here 15:04
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: Bender 95′ Raised Foc’sle Scalloper, CAT D399
Specifications, information and 16 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 14:49
Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo named minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo has been named minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet. He’ll become Canada’s second Inuk to be appointed as a senior federal cabinet minister as he’s sworn in Wednesday morning at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall. The Fisheries and Oceans ministry is a diverse one that will take Tootoo from coast to coast to coast. The department also oversees sealing. That’s been a contentious issue in the Atlantic provinces and in Nunavut, where Inuit hunters have suffered due to the European Union’s ban on seal products. Read the rest here 14:29
DNR busts illegal snapping turtle meat ring in Frazee
Slaughtering a hog seems like a bargain at Ketter’s Meats in Frazee, almost 200 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. The old school butcher shop charges $20 per pig. Cutting and wrapping the other white meat costs 40 cents more per pound. Ketter’s also deals in wild flesh like snapping turtle. A five-pound package of semi-boneless meat from the shelled creature can be had online for $90. It was trying to make that kind of bank that got Ketter’s in trouble. Read the rest here 11:08
In the Federal Register: Regulated Navigation Area; Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, Oregon Inlet, NC
The Coast Guard is establishing a Regulated Navigation Area (RNA) on the navigable waters of Oregon Inlet, NC surrounding the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge. This RNA will allow the Coast Guard to enforce vessel traffic restrictions within the RNA when necessary to safeguard people and vessels from the hazards associated with potential catastrophic structural damage that could occur due to vessel allisions with the bridge. Read the rest here 08:44
Tensions reach boiling point over net-free fishing zones
Tensions have reached boiling point in some fishing grounds along the Queensland coast, with one industry representative alleging guns have been drawn between commercial operators. “The Fisheries [Department] actually had to go to a place called Stanage Bay … and talk to some commercial operators up there because of movement of fishermen from one area to another; they’re actually starting to draw guns on each other,” Rockhampton fisherman and Queensland Seafood Industry Association director David Swindells said. “They’ve got rifles out threatening to shoot each other. These people are frightened of losing their livelihoods, so they’ve virtually taken matters into their own hands.” Read the rest here 08:24
Calls for goodwill payments to be made for fishermen affected by Williamtown toxic leak
The head of the Newcastle Commercial Fishermen’s Co-op is calling on the Department of Defence to immediately make goodwill payments to local fishermen affected by the chemical contamination originating from the Williamtown RAAF base. It has been about two months since the NSW Environment Protection Authority warned that chemicals — perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — which were historically used in fire fighting foam at the RAAF base, had been found in surface water, groundwater and some fish species in nearby waterways. Read the rest here 08:10
El Faro Wreck Missing Bridge and Voyage Data Recorder
A major disappointment announced today in the investigation into the El Faro sinking with the NTSB now saying that the wreck of the ship was discovered with the navigation bridge missing and no sign of the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR). A salvage team onboard the contracted has been using the Curve 21 remotely operated vehicle to confirm and document the wreckage initially found Saturday off the Bahamas at a depth of 15,000 feet was in fact the missing El Faro. Read the rest here 07:39
Alaska budget cuts lead to less fishing opportunity
Because of Alaska’s budget crisis, state agencies cut spending this year and are planning additional reductions in the next few years. For the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, those cuts have meant less monitoring of fish runs, a change that will lead to more conservative management and less fishing opportunity. ADFG commissioner Sam Cotten told the board members of the United Fishermen of Alaska at its fall meeting in Petersburg that the department is looking at several years of budget reductions. Read the rest here 17:42
David Bengis to pay $1.5m for role in illegal lobster catching
David Bengis, son of former Cape Town fishing magnate and convicted poacher and smuggler Arnold Bengis, has agreed to pay $1.5 million (R20.6m) to the South African government as restitution for the illegal harvesting of rock lobster in the country’s waters. This is part of the $22.5m restitution a US court ordered Bengis senior, junior and co-conspirator Jeffrey Noll pay in restitution to South Africa for the losses caused by their importation of poached lobster to the US in violation of US law. Read the rest here 14:40
A government working group is to examine allegations of abuse in Ireland’s fishing industry.
MOST UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS trafficked into Ireland’s fishing industry are not eligible for work permits, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton has said. Bruton was speaking following calls by the Irish Fish Producers Association (IFPA) to regularise the employment status of African and Asian migrants allegedly working as cheap labour on Irish trawlers. A year-long investigation published in The Guardian yesterday alleged that undocumented workers often work on Irish vessels for days on end without any sleep or basic safety training. Read the rest here 13:14
Four fishermen are rescued following more than a month adrift in a small boat after running out of fuel
Four fishermen who have spent more than a month adrift in a small boat after running out of fuel off the coast of southern Mexico have been rescued – more than 1,200 miles from where they set off. The fishermen, who set off in late September from a Pacific Ocean port in northwestern Ecuador, were rescued off the coast of Chiapas, just south of Mexico, on Saturday. The night before, a patrol plane had spotted ‘a small boat adrift with four crew waving their arms for help,’ the Mexican navy said in a statement. Photos, Read the rest here 12:47
Seals becoming major problem for many Island fishers
Throughout his long fishing career, Mike McGeoghegan has seen a 
. However, the former president of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association says he has never seen the situation as bad as it has been during the last two years. He wants the new federal Fisheries Minister to commission a study on the issue. “We had to change the size of our rings because they were taking the bait right out of the trap,” says McGeoghegan, who fishes out of the eastern P.E.I. port of Pinette with his sons. “It’s just totally out of hand.” Read the rest here 10:33
Number of West Coast whales caught in fishing line higher than previous years
A 40-foot humpback whale first spotted last week off the coast of Newport Beach became entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing line. Since January, the NOAA said about 50 entangled whales have been rescued, which is about four times higher than previous years. Whale experts say it’s too early to know for sure on the reasoning for the sudden increase in whales along the coast, but warmer water temperatures could play a factor. Read the rest here 10:10
Big groundfish harvest boosts Alaska seafood employment
Employment in Alaska’s commercial fishing sector grew last year, boosted by a swell in groundfish harvests, state labor economists reported today. Driven by large catches of pollock and cod in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands, the number of commercial fishing jobs in Alaska grew by .7 percent in 2014, according to the Alaska Department of Labor. Jobs specifically tied to groundfish jumped by nearly 25 percent, or about 350 jobs, with gains made during every month of the year. Read the rest here 09:47
A whale of a tale: the dying days of the N.L. whale hunt – 45 years ago Tom Cole hunted giants of the deep
Tom Cole of Avondale is accustomed to perplexed stares and incredulity when he tells people how he earned his living in his youth. “Most people are really surprised when I say I used to work on a whaler: ‘You what?!'” said Cole. “You know, they thought there was nobody even alive today that actually done that.” But for hundreds of years, up until 1972, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians hunted whales for their oil and meat. Now, Tom Cole is one of just a handful of seafarers still around who worked in whaling off the province’s coast. Read the rest here 08:50
Stonington Maine tops state with $60 million in landings
If it seems that there have been a lot of fancy new pickups on the roads of Deer Isle recently, NOAA Fisheries may know the reason why. Last week, the federal fisheries agency issued its annual Fisheries of the U.S. Report for 2014. Among the statistics buried in the 135-page tome was the value of commercial fisheries landings in Stonington during the year: $60 million. That represents an increase of $11 million — 22.4 percent — over the $49 million catch landed in the island town during 2013. Read the rest here 07:53
Dungeness crab: Toxic algae could delay Northern California season
Bay Area fishermen are worried that the Dungeness crab season could be delayed by high levels of a naturally occurring toxin that’s harmful to humans. Don Marshall, a fishermen out of Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo County, said the Northern California fleet is worried that the commercial season, slated to open Nov. 15 in time for Thanksgiving, could be delayed for weeks and even months. The Nov. 7 opening of the recreational season could also be pushed back. “If we lose the Thanksgiving market and the holiday market, that’s a crusher for us,” Read the rest here 21:28
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for Nov. 2, 2015
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 17:39
Starkist threatens to move ops away from American Samoa due to rising wages, fishing rules
US tuna canner Starkist has imposed a hiring freeze in 
and warned that it is considering shifting some of its production to Ecuador and Senegal,,, In a statement this Monday, the company owned by South Korea’s Dongwon Industries said the recent decision by the US Congress to raise minimum wages in American Samoa has dealt the company a “financial blow” and is the latest challenge to affect its local cannery. “Our cannery has been directly impacted by the closure of access to the high seas and NMFS needs to recognize the unique nature of American Samoa’s small and developing economy,” according to the statement. Read the rest here 16:55
3MMI – Typhoon Ravages Hokkaido Chum Salmon Harvests
This is Robert Reierson and here is the seafood news for Monday November 2nd, 2015. — The Hokkaido Fall Chum fishery is nearing it’s end, with the final catch expected to be 110,000 metric tons. After a typhoon hit Eastern Hokkaido in Early September, some fishermen’s set-net gear was damaged and the fishery halted. By missing the peak season in Early October,,, Watch the video here 12:01
Guardian investigation – Revealed: trafficked migrant workers abused in Irish fishing industry
A year-long investigation into the Irish prawn and whitefish sector has uncovered undocumented Ghanaian, Filipino, Egyptian and Indian fishermen manning boats in ports from Cork to Galway. They have described a catalogue of abuses, including being confined to vessels unless given permission by their skippers to go on land, and being paid less than half the Irish minimum wage that would apply if they were legally employed. They have also spoken of extreme sleep deprivation, having to work for days or nights on end with only a few hours’ sleep, and with no proper rest days. Read the rest here 11:34
U.S. Coast Guard Unveils a New Model for Cooperation Atop the World
The United States Coast Guard announced Friday the creation of a new international forum for cooperation in the Arctic. Signed at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, the new Arctic Coast Guard Forum will include coast guards or similar agencies from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States. “Today’s historic Arctic Coast Guard Forum represents a critical step forward in our collective efforts to promote safety, security and environmentally responsible maritime activity in the Arctic,” said Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft. Read the rest here 10:50
Damen Shell Dredger Delivered to Dutch Cooperative
The Dutch fishing cooperative YE 118 Noordland BV has taken delivery of its new shellfish dredger from Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam. While the vessel shares the same hull design as other fishing vessels built previously at the yard, it is the ground-breaking techniques used in the product harvesting and handling methods that set her apart. There are a number of challenges facing the razor shell fishing sector – perhaps the most pertinent is being able to harvest an undamaged product. This is due to the fact that razor shells are fragile and thus easily broken. Read the rest here 09:45
A whaler remembers: One of N.L.’s last whale hunters shares his story
The South Dildo Whaling and Sealing Museum is housed in a small nondescript building along the main road into the Trinity Bay community. Inside, artifacts and memorabilia commemorate the last days of whaling off Newfoundland’s coast — a time when men took to the high seas to hunt the biggest catch of them all. Dozens, if not hundreds, of items line the walls and tables and sit inside protective glass cases — everything from photos to whale bones to harpoons, knives and even a human-sized harpoon gun bolted to the floor. Almost everything inside this museum belongs to Vaughan George, former whaler and collector extraordinaire. Read the rest here 09:07
Report: Gloucester landings down, but worth more – Haddock Skyrockets
The value of those 2014 Gloucester landings, however, actually rose to $46 million in 2014 from $42 million the previous year. The report showed landings of Atlantic cod — which declined more than 50 percent in 2013 — rose about 4 percent, or 180,000 pounds, to 5.2 million pounds in 2014. About 4.3 million pounds, or about 83 percent, of that cod was landed at Massachusetts ports. But the value of cod landings — which fell 52.8 percent in 2013 to $10.5 million — declined another 11 percent to $9.4 million in 2014. Haddock was a far different story than cod,,, Read the rest here 08:23
