Daily Archives: May 12, 2016
Sea Hag Seafood’s lobster processing plant shuttered, up for auction
A seafood processing plant that opened less than four years ago with the hope of bolstering the lobster industry is closed and up for auction. Sea Hag Seafood’s plant and 7.5 acres of waterfront property at the mouth of Long Cove in Tenants Harbor will go up for auction on June 17. Kyle Murdock opened the plant in September 2012 when he 23. The project’s financing included a nearly $1.7 million loan from Camden National Bank and a $400,000 grant through the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. The grant money was provided to the company after it created 23 jobs for low- and moderate-income workers and after it met the terms of the federal program, said Maine DECD spokesman Douglas Ray. The town of St. George had sponsored the grant application but the town will not be liable for any repayment because the jobs were created. Efforts to reach Murdock on Wednesday and Thursday by telephone and email were unsuccessful. Read the story here 19:46
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 9, 2016
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 19:17
A lobsterman’s safety training kicks in
It was an unseasonably warm morning on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, when Sam Allen set out alone from Ipswich Bay on his 28-foot lobster boat, the Dawn Breaker. The temperature was in the low 60s, the sky was clear, the seas flat. A moderate wind was blowing from the southwest. “It was a gorgeous day,” recalled Allen, who is 39 and has been a fisherman all his life. Around 9 a.m., he was working off the southern tip of Plum Island, in a spot known as Emerson’s Pocket, roughly 250 yards from shore, when he confronted a typical problem in his line of work. One of his trawl lines, a long rope running from a surface buoy to 10 lobster traps on the ocean bottom, could not be reeled in. That meant at least one of the traps was stuck below. Read the story here 12:21
Bigelow Breakdown – Fish Survey at Risk of Skewed Data?
Even before mechanics found deeply pitted bearings near crankshafts in its generators, problems that could have led to catastrophic engine failure, the Henry B. Bigelow was running more than a month behind. Now, the government research vessel is embarking on its annual spring voyage later than ever before, a delay that could have serious consequences for scientists’ ability to assess the health of some of the 52 fish stocks they survey, from the waters off North Carolina to the eastern reaches of the Gulf of Maine. The Bigelow typically leaves Newport in March for the spring survey, but this year was delayed by routine maintenance for more than a month. When it finally left its shipyard in Brooklyn, N.Y., last month, it had to return to port to ride out a nor’easter. Then the mechanics discovered the problem in its generators, and the ship didn’t depart until last Friday. Read the rest here 11:28
Monterey Bay squid season a bust
If Monterey had a signature restaurant dish, cioppino and fried calamari would battle it out for the top spot. But the common ingredient in each is squid, those prehistoric looking cephalopods (scientific name loligo) that school in the cool, nutrient-rich waters of Monterey Bay. Then “the boy” arrived. Once El Niño showed up things started to look different in the bay,” said Sal Tringali, president of Monterey Fish Company, who oversees a five-boat fleet that provides local restaurants with most of their fresh seafood, including squid. “There’s no squid,” said Tringali. “No anchovies either. We’ve seen this before during El Niño.” Read the story here 10:37
Hawaii Lawmakers To Obama: Don’t Grow Marine Monument
Amid the flurry of final votes on hundreds of bills last week, Hawaii lawmakers privately weighed whether to sign a letter to President Obama that Rep. James Tokioka was circulating during the last few days of the legislative session. The letter called on the president not to consider expanding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, stating that “there is no scientific justification or conservation benefit in doing so.” In all, 30 House lawmakers, including Speaker Joe Souki, signed the May 3 letter. Just days earlier, Hawaii Senate President Ron Kouchi sent Obama a nearly identical one. This opposition, which lawmakers kept out of public view, has been overshadowed by a strong public push to expand the monument, officially designated by President George W. Bush as Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in 2007. Read the rest here 08:27
Greenpeace attacks University of Washington fishery scientist Ray Hilborn
Ray Hilborn, a prominent University of Washington fishery scientist, is under attack from Greenpeace for sometimes leaving out mention of industry funding he receives in articles published in academic journals and elsewhere.In a letter sent Wednesday to university President Ana Mari Cauce, Greenpeace filed a complaint against Hilborn’s research practices, and asked for an investigation. Hilborn, over the years, has been a critic of Greenpeace as well as other environmental groups and researchers he accuses of overstating the impacts of fishing on marine resources. In the letter to Cauce, Greenpeace unleashed a broadside against the scientist. Greenpeace is attempting to label Hilborn an “overfishing denier,” comparing the professor to so-called climate-change deniers who are a minority in a scientific community that overwhelmingly accepts that fossil-fuel combustion contributes to global warming. Read the rest here 07:45
NatGeo renews ‘Wicked Tuna’ as Season Five closes
As the fifth season of the hit National Geographic Channel series “Wicked Tuna” comes to a climax Monday, May 16, with the finale, NatGeo announced that the show will continue with a sixth season. The Gloucester-based reality television series, which has fans all over the world, will begin filming this summer for another season of tension on the high seas as the captains compete to bring in the most lucrative hauls of the gigantic bluefin tuna. This has been the most competitive season yet with four of the five boats in close contention to make the win with a “monstah” catch, and the fish are biting in the final episode as they fish within sight of each other. Read the story here 07:21
