Daily Archives: April 14, 2016
Bering Sea crab prices increase big across the board
Only a handful of boats are still out hauling crab pots from the Bering Sea and they can be sure of a good price for their catch. It’s just been a really good year for crab all around. Jake Jacobsen is a four decade fishing veteran and director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange, a harvester group that catches 70 percent of the Bering Sea crab quota. Right now the boats are finishing off the Tanner and snow crab shares. We haven’t even started the final prices for snow crab yet. We started out with an advance of $2.00 a pound but that really doesn’t mean anything. The advance price is just a number we throw out there so the fishermen have some money to pay their expenses as they go along. Audio, Read the rest here 18:35
Know your Shem Creek Fishermen! Town of Mt. Pleasant approves new Saturday morning fish market
Shem Creek fisherman had a small victory this week. The Town of Mt. Pleasant has approved a new Saturday morning fish market. On Tuesday Town Council voted to establish a fish market at the current Farmers Market location at Moultrie Middle School on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Shem Creek shrimper Tommy Edwards says he welcomes the new market. Tommy sells all his catch directly from his boat, but he says a Saturday fish market would give him or his wife the opportunity to not only sell shrimp to more customers but to encourage people to shop direct from his boat during the week “With me, I don’t have a fish retail spot. What I catch, I have to hustle myself every day,” adds Tommy. “If I have a real good day, I have to get rid of my shrimp.” Bringing his shrimp from the boat to the market should help Tommy, Katherine Hendricks, the town’s assistant administrator, believes. Read the rest here 18:05
Brexit – Many in British Fishing Port Want E.U. Out of Their Waters
Brixham, England — Mike Walker, a retired fisherman here, sums up what many in this southern English port town think of the European Union. Britain’s membership in the 28-nation union has encouraged France, Spain, the Netherlands and “the rest of them lot” to “come rape our waters,” Mr. Walker said. Others here might use less extreme language. But Mr. Walker’s opinion resonates in this town of 17,000. And it signals a wider British discomfort with the European Union before the country votes in a June 23 referendum on whether to quit the union. Whether their grievances involve fish, immigrants or meddlesome rules, many Britons resent what they view as interference by European institutions and bureaucrats based in Brussels. Read the rest here 17:38
The Western Flyer – known as the Gemini during her Homer fishing years
A phone call from former crew member Jim Herbert informed David and Dennis Fry that the boat they fished on in the 1970s with their father was the Western Flyer — the vessel on which author John Steinbeck took the expedition chronicled in the book, “The Log from the Sea of Cortez.” In an intriguing turn of the tide, Dennis Fry will speak at a symposium about the Western Flyer that will be live-streamed on YouTube on Saturday, April 16, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Alaska Daylight Time. To the Frys, the boat was the Gemini, David said. They knew a previous owner had changed the boat’s name from the Western Flyer, but they were unaware of the significance. Read the article here 16:48
Juneau’s Docks and Harbors Board debates commercial fishing moorage discount
Juneau’s Docks and Harbors Board is working to revise a portion of city code pertaining to a commercial fishing moorage discount that some people have argued is unfair. But after an hour-long discussion during its meeting Wednesday, the board hadn’t decided what it plans to do with the discount. “I’m fairly new to the fishing community, but I was shocked last year when I went to Statter Harber,” Blattner told the board during a brief public testimony. He said he expected to receive the moorage discount, but he was ineligible because he didn’t sell his catch to a Juneau fish processing company. “It kind of felt like a slap in the face. You’re telling me who to sell to, and that’s what it comes down to. It’s deal I can’t refuse.” Fishermen who want the discount have to sell to one of two companies: Alaska Glacier Seafoods Inc. or Taku Smokeries. Read the article here 16:18
Washington rep, trawlers scuttle rumors of Gulf legislation
A Washington congresswoman’s office and members of the North Pacific trawl industry deny rumors that they are collaborating on federal fishing legislation that would circumvent the North Pacific Fishery Management Council process. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council regulates federal fisheries from three to 200 miles off the Alaska coast. Currently, the council is considering a regulatory package of several options to implement a quota share system for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries, one of the last remaining North Pacific fisheries without such a system. Word surfaced that a Washington legislator had crafted language at the behest of the trawl industry to implement a preferred industry alternative at the congressional level. Read the rest here 13:54
Western Isles flotilla searches for missing Louisa skipper
A flotilla of boats is taking part in a search for the skipper of the Louisa, which sank of Mingulay. Paul Alliston, who is also known locally as Paul MacMillan, was last seen swimming for land after the fishing boat went down on Saturday. One member of the crew, Lachlann Armstrong, was rescued but his colleagues Chris Morrison and Martin Johnstone died. A large number of people have volunteered to take part in the search. The operation is being co-ordinated by the police, coastguard and RNLI. Read the story here 10:40
Ilwaco CFA meeting – Out-of-region experts from Cape Cod explain a new path for fisheries
Ed Backus of Collaborative Fisheries Associates said there is no cookie-cutter approach to CFAs and similar entities like fishing-quota banks. Pointing to organizations in California and Massachusetts, Backus said CFAs can be tailored to different fisheries and goals. Presenting talks at the Ilwaco CFA meeting were Paul Parker, director of Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, and Capt. Jeremiah O’Brien, member and former president of the Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and the Morro Bay Community Quota Fund. The CFA took on $2.5 million in initial debt to acquire fishing rights and paid about half back in five years, Parker said. Initial participants are doing very well, primarily in the Cape Cod scallop fishery, he said. The CFA’s investment in groundfish quota hasn’t proven as useful,,, Read the article here 09:53
Terrebonne sales tax exemption for commercial fishing requested
As commercial fishermen deal with low prices, they are trying to find ways to make ends meet. Kim Chauvin, co-owner of Mariah Jade Seafoood and David Chauvin’s Seafood, asked the Terrebonne Parish Council tonight to consider a sales tax exemption for commercial fishermen similar to the exemption they had been getting from the state. The state provided an exemption if their income is over 50 percent from commercial fishing. The exemption was removed during the special session Gov. John Bel Edwards called in February to close the current fiscal year’s budget gap. Chauvin said commercial fishing brings in about $230 million to the parish. “We do have some (fishermen) that would bring value to this and it would help them out at this time,” she said. Read the rest here 07:27
Controversial National Marine Sanctuary Proposed for Sandy Hook Region
Rik van Hemmen, a marine engineer based in Red Bank, has proposed to turn a corner of northeastern Monmouth County into a national marine sanctuary. The sanctuary, tentatively called the Sandy Hook Bay National Marine Sanctuary, would stretch from the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers and around Sandy Hook and the Sandy Hook Bay. However, Monmouth County fishermen are vehemently opposed to the idea, which they say would very likely result in restrictions or even bans on fishing and clamming in the Sandy Hook region. “We have all federal, local and state layers of protection. The marine sanctuary doesn’t make it any stronger. All it does is, it’s going to restrict traditional user groups such as recreational and commercial fishermen, duck hunters, clammers, etc.” Jim Donofrio, director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, told the APP. Read the rest here 07:06
Morro Bay opts not to host second Marine Sanctuary forum
The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary would stretch 140 miles along the coast from Cambria to Santa Barbara. The proposal has been nominated, meaning it’s in the queue for consideration, but no formal designation process has begun yet. The proposal’s concept is to protect a diverse ecosystem from oil drilling, seismic surveys and other potential impacts, while encouraging scientific research. Coastal wildlife includes dolphins, whales, white sea bass, sardines, mackerel, kelp and elephant seals. Fishing industry leaders, however, are concerned that a sanctuary would lead to more fishing restrictions and believe existing governmental protections — such as trawl closure areas, rockfish conservation areas and marine-protected areas — are sufficient. They also believe that adding a new federal regulating agency would reduce local influence over offshore policy. Read the rest here 06:47
