Daily Archives: April 2, 2016
Video – Fists fly at Chatham town meeting! Well, these are fishermen
Punches were thrown and there were plenty of verbal wounds dealt at a joint committee hearing in Chatham Thursday over an agreement on whether to raise docking fees for out-of-town fishermen. The video’s been posted to the town of Chatham’s website with a warning that violence and foul language ensues. About 30 minutes into a joint meeting of two committees discussing docking fees for nonresidents, the fists started flying. “They all know each other’s they’ve known each other for years it’s not the first time thing like this have erupted it’s just the first time it’s happened on television,” said Tim Roper, the vice chairman for the town’s Board of Selectmen. Watch video, Read the rest here 14:49 Another article about the incident. Read it here 18:59
Alaska HB 250 – Individual Income Tax – Reclassification of fishermen & crew as employers & employees
From UFA President Jerry McCune: House Finance was scheduled to hear HB 250 regarding personal income taxes Thursday, but did not get to it and it is now scheduled for Tuesday April 5 at 5:00 pm, and on Friday April 8 at 1:30. This bill as drafted includes a general individual income tax of seven percent of federal tax liability, and reclassification of fishermen & crew as employers & employees for this purpose. Most interesting is a requirement for fishermen to withhold the estimated state tax liability equal to seven percent of the crew member’s federal tax liability. Read the post, Click here Read the Bill here 13:52
Bristol Bay buyers say they can handle full 2016 sockeye run
A survey of the 12 primary processors in Bristol Bay says that they should be able to handle more sockeye than are forecast to be caught this summer. But that’s not a guarantee that fishermen won’t be placed on limits. Each winter, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game surveys the main Bristol Bay processors to get a sense of how many fish they can handle. This year, the major processors, which operate 16 facilities, said they can process 35.5 million fish. That’s more than the 29.5 million harvest forecast. Read the article, Click here 12:50
Newfoundland and Labrador – Quotas down but prices up for 2016 crab fishing season
For 2016 the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the Region is 43,802 tonnes, an overall quota level decrease of approximately 13 percent from last year. However, incomes from crab fishing should be as good, or better, than last year, thanks to an increase in prices. This year the average price for crab is $3 a pound. “It’s the best price in 10 years, and 50 cents better than last year,” says Robert Feenan, project manager for the Fish Food and Allied Workers. A couple of factors are playing into this year’s price,,, Read the article, Click here 10:36
Working the system makes the system unworkable, by Ronald Smolowitz
As the owner of Coonamessett Farm in Falmouth and a partner at the Woods Hole Oyster Co., I spend as much time navigating regulatory hurdles as I do tending the farm or going to sea. Many farmers and fishermen have similar fights with overbearing bureaucracy, something likely to become more common as the noose of government regulations tightens.,,Things aren’t much better out at sea. I do a substantial amount of research for the scallop industry, and sustainability is the key reason scallop management is a continued successes. Through a system of rotational management, certain zones are fished while others are left off-limits to allow them to repopulate. Much as with farmland, this system allows the resources to remain sustainable. Read the article, Click here 09:47
Togiak fisherman sentenced for fishing outside the line
A Togiak man has been sentenced for fishing illegally in the Togiak District last summer. Kevin Harless, 53, of Togiak, pleaded guilty March 22 and was given a steep fine after being caught for the second year in a row fishing outside the boundaries. The F/V Good Deal still sits in the state trooper yard in Dillingham where it was impounded last summer. On July 2, Kevin Harless was caught salmon fishing nearly a nautical mile south of the Togiak River Section line. He was not registered to fish in the Togiak District, either. Law enforcement pounced, seized his vessel, and ended his season. Read the article, Click here 09:09
Must-read court decision for anyone with an interest in the fishery
It’s a different coast and a different ocean – and the case was heard in Vancouver – but a judge in the Federal Court, originally from Newfoundland, has put together some required reading for anyone whose province has a fishery. Judge Elizabeth Heneghan has written a fascinating fisheries primer in her 16,500-word March 11 decision in Calwell Fishing Ltd., Melvin Glen Calwell, Dale Vidulich, Gerald Warren, Aquamarine Transportation Ltd. and George Manson, plaintiffs, and Her Majesty the Queen, defendant. (You can see it here – (You can see it here – http://bit.ly/1MVXZer) There is, by the way, one other reference to the Atlantic coast, but it’s almost certainly an error. There is, by the way, one other reference to the Atlantic coast, but it’s almost certainly an error. The case has a simple theme: what rights do you have to take action against the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans if it changes fisheries rules and costs you your livelihood? Read the article, Click here 08:47
