Daily Archives: December 10, 2015
Do you love your Ocean? Against Ocean Mining? LOST? This Clinton Email should jack ya!
As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton intervened in a request forwarded by her son-in-law on behalf of a deep-sea mining firm to meet with her or other State Department officials after one of the firm’s investors asked Chelsea Clinton’s husband for help setting up such contacts, according to the most recently released Clinton emails. The lobbying effort on behalf of Neptune Minerals Inc. came while Clinton was advocating for an Obama administration push to win Senate approval for a sweeping Law of the Sea Treaty. Read the article here 17:21
Fight over flounder looks far from over – SBI investigating threats against fishery officials
In early December, the meeting hall of the Carolina Beach American Legion was crowded with sport fishermen from throughout Southeastern North Carolina. But the waters are far from calm for commercial flounder fishermen. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has an active inquiry into threats made against one commission member. And as Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, prepares to institute the commission’s rules before the new year, some are weighing legal action — or hoping the legislature will intervene. Read the article here 16:19
Huffman – NOAA – “It is the best available science” – Question Science Behind Fish Quotas
Mid-Atlantic fishermen and their advocates told four members of Congress on Monday that inaccurate stock assessments needlessly limit their catch and endanger their livelihood as the House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing in Riverhead. The lone Democrat, Jared Huffman of California, defended NOAA and applauded its incorporation of climate science in fisheries assessments. “And I strongly disagree with those who have trivialized and criticized this plan, suggesting that it’s some kind of a radical climate-change strategy,,, Read the article here 16:01
Coast Guard urge mariners to prepare for hurricane force winds, 45-foot seas in Western Alaska
The Coast Guard urges mariners to use caution with the onset of heavy weather expected to affect the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, this weekend. On Wednesday, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service forecasted that the storm will include hurricane force winds, 45-foot seas and possible coastal flooding in Western Alaska. Please visit the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Website at www.arh.noaa.gov for the most up to date information on the storm. Click here 14:33
Big southern rock lobster catches off Tasmania’s west coast
Tasmanian rock lobster fishermen are celebrating some of the biggest catches of deep water lobster in about six years. Stuart Charles from Stanley Fish on Tasmania’s north west, said the big catches off the south-west coast were a good sign of the sustainability of fish stocks. “You know the deep water fish is quite phenomenal actually, we haven’t seen catching like this in five or six years,” Mr Charles said. “The sheer amounts of fish that guys are catching is quite amazing. Listen, and Read the article here 10:42
Big lobster heist from a secure compound on Morris Island near Yarmouth
Police in Nova Scotia are investigating after 1,400 pounds of live lobster were stolen from a secure compound. The RCMP said 14 crates of lobsters were stolen from the compound on f on Morris Island near Yarmouth. Each crate contained 100 pounds of lobster. The lobsters were taken between 5 p.m. on Monday and 9 a.m. on Tuesday, police said in a release. Const. Kerri Chartrand said the lobsters were being held at a fish plant when they were stolen. They were definitely not freed, she added. Read the article here 10:20
East Coast Fishermen File Lawsuit Over At-Sea Monitoring Mandate
WASHINGTON – Today, Cause of Action is announcing that its clients, David Goethel, owner and operator of F/V Ellen Diane, a 44-foot fishing trawler based in Hampton, N.H., and Northeast Fishery Sector 13, a nonprofit entity representing fishermen from Massachusetts to North Carolina, are suing the U.S. Department of Commerce over a program that would devastate the fishing industry along much of the eastern seaboard. Read the Press Release here 09:52
State working on flatfish tax fix to capture foregone revenue
A state tax rate glitch let groundfish trawlers off the hook for more than $10 million of fishery taxes in the last half decade, and there’s no concrete fix just yet. The fishery resource landing tax taxes groundfish based on ex-vessel price. Processors turn flatfish caught as bycatch into low-value fishmeal, so the only known ex-vessel price for certain flatfish species is artificially low. Nine species have this price uncertainty, but most flatfish volume comes from yellowfin sole and Atka mackerel. By only having an ex-vessel value based on the price paid for bycatch turned into fishmeal, the state has no idea what the ex-vessel value is for the direct flatfish fishery that has annual harvests measured in hundreds of thousands of metric tons. Read the article here 08:23
A day in the life of Alaska’s fishery photographer, Chris Miller
Fishermen pick fish. Pollock gasp for air. A lobster trap rises to the light-filled sea surface like a treasure chest long-hidden. Juneau photographer Chris Miller’s current show, on view through the end of the month at The Rookery Café, is a watery world filled with fish, boats, and the people that make their living from them. “Fishing is kind of my niche,” Miller said. “There’s not a lot of us out there that do it (photograph fisheries) consistently. Every fishery has its own story.” With a background in photojournalism, it’s those stories Miller’s interested in telling. Read the article here 06:53
