Daily Archives: January 23, 2016
Sportsmen, commercial fishermen disagree over Columbia River reforms
Three years ago, Washington and Oregon adopted the most sweeping reforms of lower Columbia River sport and commercial fishing policies since the 1930s. Saturday, in Vancouver, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission was told: By sportsmen, that the reforms are working and eventually the Columbia can be a world-class fishery rivaling Alaska. By gillnetters, that the reforms have serious flaws, promises made to the commercial fishing industry are not being met, and revisions are needed. Read the article here 21:18
A Canadian Threat to Alaskan Fishing
Carpeted in rain forest and braided with waterways, southeast Alaska is among the largest wild salmon producers in the world, its tourism and salmon fishing industries grossing about $2 billion a year. But today, the rivers and the salmon that create these jobs — and this particular way of life, which attracted me from Philadelphia to Sitka almost 20 years ago — are threatened by Canada’s growing mining industry along the mountainous Alaska-British Columbia border, about a hundred miles east of where I now write. Read the article here 16:27
Coast Guard escorts disabled RI fishing vessel ahead of winter storm
With a major winter storm approaching, Coast Guard crews from Station Menemsha, Massachusetts and Station Castle Hill, Rhode Island, aided a distressed fishing crew about 10 miles east of Block Island, Rhode Island Saturday. At approximately 8:30 a.m. Saturday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, received a call via VHF channel 16 from the captain of the 50-foot Tamara stating his vessel’s navigation equipment had failed and he was having trouble steering. Winds in the area are 30 to 40 knots with gusts up to 55 knots. Seas are 12 to 17 feet and building. Read the post here 14:13
Stanford biology professor Barbara Block warns that the bluefin is trouble because of decades of overfishing.
When you mention tuna, most minds probably swim to the ubiquitous cans of the fish, or maybe a delectable piece of sashimi decked out with roe and wasabi. But when Stanford biology professor Barbara Block contemplates tuna, her mind goes to images of bluefin tuna — the massive, speedy fish that regularly traverse oceans in a single year. “Over a lifetime they might travel tens of thousands of miles,” Block said, flanked by California’s Monterey Bay. Block is warning that the bluefin, once thought to be incredibly bountiful, is now facing peril because of decades of overfishing. Read the article here 12:02
Do “Catch Reconstructions” really Implicate Overfishing?
A new paper led by Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia that found global catch data, as reported to the FAO, to be significantly lower than the true catch numbers. “Global fish catches are falling three times faster than official UN figures suggest, according to a landmark new study, with overfishing to blame.” 400 researches spent the last decade accumulating missing global catch data from small-scale fisheries, sport fisheries, illegal fishing activity and fish discarded at sea, which FAO statistics, “rarely include.” – Comment by Michel J. Kaiser, Bangor University – Comment by David Agnew, Director of Standards MSC Read the post here 11:31
NOAA scientist says federal fish counts suffer from ‘perception issue’
It’s not easy counting fish. Just ask the people who have to do it. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division is responsible for estimating the health and size of dozens of fish stocks in U.S. waters, measurements that help eight regional councils determine which fish commercial and recreational anglers are allowed to catch. The accuracy of NOAA’s counts is at the heart of a national debate over whether to loosen current catch limits. NOAA defends the data, obtained through a combination of sampling methods and statistical models. But recreational fishermen and their backers on Capitol Hill, who want to loosen the catch limits, claim they’re based on “flawed science.” Read the rest here 09:19
Rainbow coloured lobster caught by Nova Scotia fisherman
Fishermen off the coast of Nova Scotia have been hauling up strange-coloured lobsters for years, but a rainbow lobster caught just before Christmas may top them all. It was caught on Dec. 19 by Captain Chad Graham on the Chad & Sisters Two, sailing out of Westport, Brier Island. Graham’s sister, Amanda Graham, says he pulled the multi-coloured crustacean out of the water at the mouth of St. Marys Bay. “He has caught all blue and yellow lobsters before, but this one was the most purple — with blues, yellow, and white — that’s he’s ever caught or seen,” she said. Read the rest here 08:14
