Daily Archives: January 8, 2016
Struggling Fukushima fishermen hold 1st New Year’s ceremony in 5 years – “All the fishermen looked happy.”
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture–Fishermen held a traditional New Year’s ceremony here on Jan. 8 for the first time since the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster killed their colleagues and ruined their livelihoods. With their vessels flying colorful banners, the fishermen gathered at Hisanohama fishing port in the northern part of Iwaki in the morning to pray for a safe and bountiful harvest. After traditional Shinto rituals were performed, the fishermen set off from the port to cleanse their 30 or so boats with seawater and sake. Read the rest here 19:41
Coast Guard terminates two fishing trips for safety violations
The U.S. Coast Guard halted the voyages of two commercial fishing boats Thursday after multiple safety violations were found on each. The Coast Guard Cutter Spencer crew terminated the voyage of the , an 83-foot dredger homeported in New Bedford, after the Spencer’s crew discovered the boat had three serious safety deficiencies. The violations included having no life raft, improperly marked survival suits, and no record of performing mandatory monthly drills. The Amber Nicole was operating approximately 44 nautical miles off Nantucket,,, Read the article here 17:31
Rare deep-sea fish washes ashore in Gustavus
A ragfish, measuring 65 inches long, was spotted near the dock in 
, the town that serves as the headquarters for Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, officials said. The discovery was made by a state transportation worker, said Craig Murdoch, a Park Service fisheries biologist. “He was checking the dock and he noticed what he thought was a halibut,” Murdoch said. “He went and checked it out, and it was a fish he had never seen before.” Thursday’s sighting followed one in the same area in July, when a 78-inch ragfish turned up on the shore of Bartlett Cove, Read the article here 16:31
RECREATIONAL DATA TAKEN HOSTAGE BY GULF SNAPPER ANGLERS
If you pay any attention to fishery management issues (and if you’re reading this blog, it’s pretty clear that you do), you know that one of the most contentious issues, which comes up year after year, is the estimate of recreational landings. Commercial landings are pretty easy to measure, because commercial fishermen, as well as the processors and packing houses that purchase their products, are generally required to report such landings on a timely basis. To be sure, there are holes in the process. But when it comes to recreational landings, it’s not that easy. There are thousands of commercial fishermen on the coast; there are millions of anglers. Read the post here 14:10
Video – Coast Guard medevacs fisherman near Winchester Bay, Ore.
A Coast Guard aircrew medevaced a fisherman who had reportedly suffered a seizure aboard the fishing vessel Hecate, about 9 miles west of Winchester Bay, Thursday morning. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station North Bend safely hoisted the man at about 11 a.m. and transferred him to waiting EMS at Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in stable condition. Watchstanders at Sector North Bend were notified of the man’s condition at about 1 a.m., Watch the video here 12:42
Most Feared Salmon Virus Has Arrived in BC Waters
The European variant of infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) was said to have arrived in British Columbia almost five years ago, but then the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it was not so after testing two suspect salmon. That was in 2011. But if British Columbia was ISAV-free then, it almost certainly is not now, according to a study of more than 1,000 farmed and wild fish published Jan. 6 under the title Discovery of variant infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) of European genotype in British Columbia, Canada. Read the article here 12:06
Banner lobster season underway in sou’west Nova
Strong lobster landings, good fishing weather and a solid shore price continue to hold one month into the commercial lobster fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia. “The catches have been phenomenal,” says Lockeport lobster dealer Mike Cotter of Cotter’s Ocean Products Inc. “It’s just been amazing, right from day one. The catches have been good for everybody and the price has been good. You’re not going to get any better season than this for sure.” Fine weather prevailed for the first two weeks of the season, which opened on Nov. 30 in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFA) 33 and 34, enabling fishers to check their traps every day. Read the article here 09:41
Tri Marine says South Pacific Tuna Treaty is obsolete
The owners of American Samoa’s second cannery, Samoa Tuna Processors, say the Treaty which allows US fishing boats to fish in waters of Pacific island countries is obsolete and needs to be revised. Tri Marine International says in a statement that the tuna treaty in its current form fails to retain the most value for the resource owners because the Vessel Day Scheme places value on fishing days alone, rather than the tuna itself. According to Tri Marine, calculating value based on fishing days is a shortsighted economic equation that doesn’t necessarily represent the long-term best interests of island communities. Read the article here 09:02
Crab season delay ‘scary’ for North Coast fishermen
On Jan. 4, the California Department of Public Health released the summary of domoic acid levels in crabs caught along the California coast. As of Dec. 31, the health advisory for crabs caught between the Santa Barbara/Ventura County Line and Latitude 35 (40 minutes north of the Piedras Blancas Light Station in San Luis Obispo County) was lifted. But dangerous levels of the toxin were found in crabs caught as recently as Dec. 27 in the northern part of the state. That’s bad news for Don and Teresa Akin, of The Fish Peddler, and Scott Hockett, of Noyo Fish Company. Read the article here 08:22
‘We’re not dying yet. But …’ Fisherman fears new rules smothering herring industry
Gerry O’Neill looks at the water world spinning around him, a world of regulation and re-regulation and over-regulation — in other words, the modern world of commercial fishing — and thinks that he’s seen this movie before. “At the end of the day, the groundfishermen are struggling and everybody knows that and it’s because of over-regulation as well,” O’Neill said. “We’re not dying yet. But if they keep doing what they’re doing, we’re going to go the same way as the groundfishermen.” Given the state of the groundfish fleet, that is a chilling phrase, Read the article here 07:39
