Daily Archives: April 22, 2016
Fishermen plead with MP to throw them a lifeline
Small-boat fishermen are being penalised – for not catching enough fish. And they warn that the move could drive them out of business and end centuries of tradition. Defra, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is capping the quotas of under-10 metre boats which did not land their full entitlement in the years 2010 to 2013. The fishermen say that Defra bureaucrats have got it wrong. A group of small-scale fishermen from the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall told their MP of their plight in a meeting in the tiny village of Cadgwith this week. Read the rest here 18:39
Pacific Council approves three West Coast commercial fishing fleets for electronic monitoring
As of 2017, the , and mothership catcher vessel fleets will no longer be required to carry human observers on fishing trips, helping to simplify logistics, reduce costs and increase profits for fishermen. Heather Mann, executive director of the Midwater Trawler’s Cooperative, an Oregon-based organization representing 18 whiting vessels, said: “What this decision does is transfer responsibility for catch accounting from the federal government to vessel operators, where it should be.” Read the rest here 17:24
Our Earth Day Hero: Rodney Avila
As fishing season picks up on New Bedford’s waterfront, retired North End resident Rodney Avila is leading a renewed effort to clean up harbor water that’s the lifeblood for local fishing-related industries. Avila, formerly a commercial fisherman for more than 40 years, said 142 fishing boats have signed up for the city’s Clean Bilge Program. The state-funded initiative began in October and is an effort to change a longstanding plague of “mystery oil spills” in New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor, by offering fishermen clean pump-outs of their bilges. Read the rest here 15:59
In the COSEWIC Crosshairs: West Prince eel fisherman fearful for eel fishery
A West Prince eel fisherman worries far-reaching restrictions might be placed on the American Eel fishery here without recognizing the many steps Prince Edward Island fishermen have undertaken to prevent over-fishing. Tignish resident Allan McInnis attended a Department of Fisheries and Oceans consultation meeting in Charlottetown in late January during which DFO explained the Species At Risk Act (SARA).The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) identified the American ell as a species of special concern in 2006. COSEWIC subsequently reassessed the American eel, the species fished throughout the Atlantic as “threatened” in 2012. Read the rest here 13:31
NY Fishermen: State Officers Violating The Constitution With Searches And Sales Of Seized Catch
State lawmakers and fishermen’s advocates are pushing legislation that would rein in the powers of search and seizure by state environmental enforcement officers. State Department of Environmental Conservation officers routinely cross geographic boundaries in their searches of fishermen’s boats, trucks and properties, charged Dan Rogers, an attorney who has represented several fishermen against DEC charges, and then competes economically against those fishermen in selling the seized fish for profits to pad state budgets. Mr. Rodgers said at a gathering of fishermen and officials at the home of brothers Danny and Paul Lester, commercial fishermen from Amagansett, on Thursday afternoon. “It’s legal under New York State law, but it’s not legal under the constitution.” Read the rest here 11:58
A reminder of Conor Shea
PLEASANT VIEW — It’s fishing-ready but this is one lobster trap that won’t be going back in the water. Lobster fisherman Mike Shea found this reminder of his late son, Conor Shea, while out repairing his lobster gear. Last week, while Mike Shea was going over his gear in preparation for the spring lobster season, he flipped one trap over and his eyes fixed on some handiwork his son, Conor, made last year. Concrete is poured into the base of the traps for extra weight. While the concrete was still wet, Conor had drawn a picture of a lobster in one block and etched his name in two other blocks. Conor Shea, 14, passed away on January 17 in a snowmobile collision. Read the rest here 11:19 Humble and Kind, by Tim McGraw for Coner. Click here
Talks break down again between state, tribes to develop a joint plan for Puget Sound salmon fisheries
State and tribal fishery officials are again at an impasse over efforts , and it is uncertain when — or even if — a new season might open this year for sport anglers and nontribal, commercial fishermen. The talks this year have been complicated by forecasts for extremely poor returns of wild coho, which require harvest cuts to protect the weak runs. Rather than submit a joint plan for federal approval as in years past, both state and tribal officials now say they plan to submit separate management plans to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries. Tribal officials expect they could,,, Read the rest here 10:53
Feds may ease fish population goals for non native, salmon eating Striped Bass
A still-controversial 1992 law intended to boost California’s striped bass population can be scaled back, the Obama administration now believes. In a modest softening of the state’s polarized water debate, a top Interior Department official voiced sympathy Wednesday for a Republican-authored bill that would end the 1992 law’s stated goal of doubling the number of striped bass living in and around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. “It makes sense to remove the striped bass from the doubling goals,” said Tom Iseman, deputy assistant secretary for water and science, adding that “the striped bass is a predator of native species.” Read the rest here 09:30
New England: Fishing advocates praise allocation of funds for electronic monitoring
Advocates for electronic monitoring technology in the commercial fishing industry are pleased that the Senate Appropriations Committee has secured federal resources to help defray costs associated with regulating catch sizes.On Thursday, U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D- NH) announced that $3 million has been set aside for the development and installation of this technology. Fishermen hope it will replace the current model of in-person monitoring, which costs them approximately $700 per day every time they bring a person out.Josh Wiersma of the Environmental Defense Fund said appropriating the money is a step in the right direction. Read the rest here 07:20
