Daily Archives: May 6, 2016
Grand Isle commercial fisherman high on drugs, sentenced to 20 years for his sixth DUI conviction
44-year-old Rockey Burnham, 44, was convicted as charged of his second fourth-offense DUI on April 20. Fourth-offense DUI is the most serious offense available to prosecutors under Louisiana law. Burnham was arrested on April 28, 2015, after he crashed a boat into moored vessels and the shrimp dock owned by Dean Blanchard Seafood. The U.S. Coast Guard investigated the boat wreck, while the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries handled the DUI investigation. The state agents concluded that Burnham did poorly on the field sobriety test, leading to blood work that yielded the presence of diazepam, nordiazepam and methamphetamine, according to evidence presented at the trial. His last conviction before this year’s was in 2011, for an arrest a year earlier for driving a trawler without authorization while under the influence of alcohol and crystal methamphetamine, crashing it into a dock. Read the story here 15:24
To avoid another massive fish kill in the Peconic, limits on bunker fishing lifted by “episodic event set aside program,”
With unusually large numbers of bunker fish appearing in the Peconic River this spring, commercial fishermen will be allowed to net bunker in an effort to prevent the massive bunker kills seen last year, thanks to a ruling announced today by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The interstate commission, which limits how many fish can be caught each year, has agreed to add New York to a special program that allows greater numbers of bunker to be harvested in places where bunker are occurring in higher abundance than normal. The decision was made specifically to reduce the amount of bunker in the Peconic Estuary, where bunker have been reported in unusually large numbers since last month. Commercial fishermen will be allowed to use seine nets to capture bunker in the Peconic River. Up to one million pounds of bunker are allowed to be harvested under the episodic event set aside program. Read the rest here 14:25
Looking ahead to next years California crab season
Should California’s four-year drought break, causing rivers to run, next year’s crab season could be worse than the 2015-2016 season. The industry has, so far, lost at least $48 million in revenue for crab fishermen statewide, according to information presented at the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture hearing last Thursday, April 28 in Sacramento. Dr. Raphael Kudela and his colleague, Dr. William Sydeman, senior scientist with the Farallones Institute Team, fear if this season is followed by enough rain to end the drought, the rivers will run, bringing rich nutrients to the ocean. The algal bloom will then feed off the nutrients and, according to Kudela, be 400 percent more toxic than it was this year. There is a chance, however, that a La Nina weather pattern could be cool enough to make the algal bloom dissipate. As Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker drags her feet on disaster relief. Read the rest here 13:52
Group calls on President Obama to dramatically expand NW Islands Marine Monument
A group of roughly 20 Native Hawaiians, local fishermen, scientists and conservationists rallied Thursday morning at Kewalo Marine Laboratory, armed with a 43,000-signature (Pew) petition urging President Barack Obama to expand federal protections around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.President George W. Bush established Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in 2006 as, at the time, the largest fully protected marine reserve on the planet. Its protections, which include prohibitions against commercial fishing, extend 50 miles outside the island chain. The group wants Obama to expand the monument to the maximum limit that federal jurisdiction allows — 200 miles out, with certain exceptions. That would make it nine times its current size of 139,797 square miles, and bigger than all the country’s national parks combined. Read the rest here 11:04
Oregon’s pink shrimp fishermen voluntarily suspend harvesting operations
The pink shrimp fleet based in Oregon agreed to suspend harvesting operations May 4, due to an over abundance of sub-legal sized shrimp. After six years of record catches, the fleet was expecting the worst after this winter’s El Nino was elevated to “super” status, as the warm water associated with an El Nino is usually detrimental to shrimp recruitment, but those fears have been erased, according to a release from the Oregon Trawl Commission. The start of this year’s season was delayed for three weeks over a price dispute, but once the nets hit the water, fishermen were surprised to see a strong year class of one-year-old shrimp in the water. Read the rest here 09:34
Eric Hansen – Atlantic marine monument would harm fisheries
With President Obama leaving office in less than a year, environmental groups have urged him to once again use executive authority via the Antiquities Act to declare a new marine national monument, this time in the Atlantic Ocean. Such a proposal, which circumvents all established rules and procedures, is fundamentally undemocratic, and would put a stranglehold on the commercial fishing industry. A presidential declaration of a new national marine monument would result in potentially thousands of acres of prime fishing ground being closed off to fishermen. This would lead directly to increased costs for seafood processors, restaurants, and yes, seafood consumers. All of this will be done through a process that solicited little public input or stakeholder engagement and disregards the current, successful management process. Read the op-ed here 08:26
Marquesas Key: Coast Guard looking into commercial fishing vessel firing shots at recreational boat
U.S. Coast Guard investigators are looking into a report that someone aboard a commercial fishing vessel fired several shots at a recreational boat about 20 nautical miles southwest of Wednesday morning. The Coast Guard’s Investigative Service is conducting a criminal probe on “the alleged shooting incident,” according to an agency press release. It’s not yet known if any arrests were made. Special Agent Paul Shultz, resident agent in charge of Key West for the Coast Guard Investigative Service, could not be reached for comment. The people aboard the recreational boat, only described in the press release as a 20-foot pleasure craft, were reportedly diving when the incident happened about 9:45 a.m. Read the rest here 07:44
The Fisheries Survival Fund: Marine monument a bad idea as Enviro groups push Cashes Ledge proposal back on table
A fishing trade group that represents scallopers from Maine to Virginia has joined Northeast groundfishermen in opposing the designation of any marine national monuments in New England waters. The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) penned a May 4 letter to Obama administration officials stating its opposition to the establishment of the monuments while also criticizing the unilateral process — presidential decree through the Antiquities Act — being considered for designating them. “A monument designation, with its unilateral implementation and opaque process, is the exact opposite of the fisheries management process in which we participate,” FSF legal counsels David Frulla and Andrew Minkiewicz wrote to Christy Goldfuss and Whitley Saumwebber, executives in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Read the rest here 07:20
