Daily Archives: February 4, 2016
More and bigger shrimp boats could be headed Hernando Beach, and neighbors are in an uproar!
Daniel Ebbecke has told county planners that he wants more intense commercial zoning for his one-third-of-an-acre lot “to eliminate the confusion regarding the use of this property.” His site, on Calienta Street at Gulf Coast Drive, was limited to two shrimp boats years ago by the county, and the current zoning limits the size of boats to 26 feet. Ebbecke is asking for a zoning change to allow up to six boats of up to 45 feet, a request the Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear Monday. Neighbors are opposed to the commercial boat expansion for reasons ranging from noise to seawall and dock damage, traffic issues at Calienta Street and Shoal Line Boulevard, and navigational problems. Read the rest here 16:15
Bycatch spike, meeting spur trawl stand down
Gulf of Alaska trawlers are flocking to a meeting in Portland, leaving behind a halibut bycatch situation the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is attempting to fix. The trawlers have complaints with council process, but are also standing down from a halibut bycatch spike resulting from a pollock price dispute with area processors. Industry sources say the stand down was already underway prior to a letter from prominent Gulf of Alaska trawl organizations on Jan. 28 asking for the council-related stand down. Trawl industry representatives said the two stand downs are unrelated. Thirty-four Central Gulf of Alaska trawlers and 19 Western Gulf of Alaska trawlers have agreed not to fish from Feb. 3-6, showing solidarity with those trawlers traveling to Portland to testify at the council meeting. Read the rest here 15:44
COAST GUARD RESPONDS TO HELP FISHERMEN STRANDED 45 MILES OFF PORTLAND, ME
The Coast Guard is towing a 65-foot fishing boat with four people aboard Thursday, 45 miles southeast of Portland, Maine. At approximately 7:30 a.m. Wednesday a crew member aboard the fishing boat Jocka used a VHF-FM radio to contact Coast Guard watchstanders to report their engine was disabled and they needed assistance. The crew aboard the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Ocracoke, homeported in South Portland, Maine, responded to the hail for help and diverted to assist the stranded fishermen. Read the rest here 13:57
Work under way on Endangered Species Act hatchery plans
The National Marine Fisheries Service says it has completed work on plans for 26 Columbia River hatcheries and is actively working on Endangered Species Act review of 32 more, including 16 on lower Columbia tributaries in Washington. The numbers from the federal fishery agency were provided in response to a 60-day notice of intent to sue announced Jan. 13 by the Wild Fish Conservancy, which claims the government is funding Columbia River hatcheries prior to meeting mandated review of plans under the Endangered Species Act. Read the rest here 11:09
Video: Coast Guard medevacs injured fisherman 70 miles off Barnegat Light, NJ
The Coast Guard medevaced a 49-year-old man Wednesday 70 miles east of Barnegat Light, New Jersey. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia received notification at approximately 9:15 a.m. from the crew of the 77-foot fishing vessel Determination of a crewmember who suffered injuries to his right hand. The fishing vessel Determination is homeported in Rhode Island. Video, Click here 10:49
Courtney tells congressional subcommittee that plan would bankrupt Connecticut lobstermen
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday that a proposal to transfer control of 155 square miles of federally controlled ocean to Rhode Island and New York jurisdiction would bankrupt Connecticut lobstermen, including those from Stonington and other southeastern Connecticut towns. “This is damaging people’s livelihood and I think we have to be a lot more careful in terms of how we as a Congress treat federal jurisdiction and people’s rights … If the plan passes, Courtney said Connecticut lobstermen would be shut out of fishing in Rhode Island waters because they are not residents while in New York they would have to try and obtain a non-resident permit through a costly auction process. Read the rest here 10:24
‘Big Fish, Texas’ Follows Buddy Guindon And His Commercial Fishing Empire
Buddy Guindon is no stranger to hard work, having built up his company from only one boat to an entire fleet of boats and building Katie’s Seafood Market, which is named after Buddy’s wife. The entire Guindon family works together like a well-oiled machine in order to maintain and build upon what Buddy started. Buddy Guindon and his family are well known in Galveston, Texas, and he is a respected advocate of the Gulf fishery. Video, Read the article here 08:13
Now here’s a true fish story
Those scallops you ate last week — where do you think they came from? China maybe? Most people don’t bother reading the labels on their food. They don’t know where it was grown or caught or packaged and to what bacteria or viruses it may have been exposed during any of those processes. Karter Larson, one of the Larson family of commercial fishermen in Barnegat Light talked about life on the sea and details of how the operation runs, to a standing-room-only crowd on Saturday at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences. Read the rest here 07:48
Savage quota cuts will finish off the New England small boat groundfish fishery
Fishermen and fishing stakeholders say the darkness that has descended on the Northeast groundfish fishery over the past three years is only going to grow deeper in 2016, with some fishing stakeholders envisioning the final collapse of the small-boat industry due to slashed quotas for species they believe are abundant. “We’ve never had a greater gap between what the fishermen are seeing on the water and what the scientists are saying,” Giacalone said. “Never.” Read the rest here, if you can stand it. 06:23
