Daily Archives: May 18, 2016
Subsidizing the effort, Riverhead gets help to avoid repeat of Peconic fish kill
It’s 5:30 a.m. and Will Caldwell and his crewman Dave Inoue step into the shallow water to set a seine net at the mouth of the Peconic River, working to prevent another biological and public relations nightmare. “It’s nothing but fish,” said Caldwell, a Hampton Bays commercial fisherman, of the bait fish swarming the river at sunrise on Wednesday. “They’re everywhere.” “We are going to clear this river out to make sure we don’t have another bunker kill,” said Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, who toured the Peconic with Caldwell on Tuesday. “What’s great is they’re capturing the bunker before they get too far up river.” Walter said the town is paying 2 cents per pound of bunker to help make it feasible for fishermen, while the state is contributing another 2 cents. The price has fallen to 8 cents, so, he gets 12 cents per pound. Read the rest here 20:22
Texas shrimp industry battles hostile trends as season closes for two months
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Coastal Fisheries Division decided May 15 was a good time to close the state’s shrimp season because, according to its sampling, the average size and number of brown shrimp in Texas coastal waters is higher than the 20-year average. Texas closes its waters to shrimping from the coast to nine nautical miles out for roughly two months each year to give little shrimp time to grow before being harvested. The National Marine Fisheries Service typically imposes a closure out to 200 nautical miles at the same time. More, bigger shrimp is potentially good news for the state’s struggling shrimp industry, since big shrimp fetch higher prices, according to Andrea Hance, shrimp fleet owner and executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association. Read the rest here 19:27
Alaska Airlines delivers 80,000 lbs. of the first Copper River salmon of the season to Seattle
Alaska Airlines has delivered more than 80,000 pounds of fresh Copper River salmon to Seattle on four Alaska Air Cargo flights, marking the beginning of the summer salmon-grilling season, anticipated by seafood lovers throughout the Pacific Northwest, the company said. Every year, Alaska Air Cargo partners with the state of Alaska´s three largest seafood processors, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Trident Seafoods and Copper River Seafoods, to bring the fish to Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska, where it will then be shipped to restaurants and grocery stores throughout the Pacific Northwest, United States and points beyond. Alaska Airlines supports the Alaska seafood industry, which is recognized for its sustainable fishing practices. The airline flew more than 20 million pounds of fresh Alaska seafood last year, including more than one million pounds of Copper River salmon. Read the rest here 17:14
Two Kiribati fishermen lost at sea for 7 days, found in six minutes
Two Kiribati fishermen lost at sea for days were found on Wednesday just six minutes into a search that targeted a massive patch of ocean, New Zealand rescue officials said. Search coordinator Mike Roberts described it as a “fantastic” outcome after a New Zealand Air Force Orion located the men 480 kilometres (298 miles) from Nauru, the nearest land, five days after they went missing. “I can’t recall another search being successful so quickly,” Roberts said, adding that the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand determined the most likely area to look for the men who failed to return from a fishing trip on Friday. Rescuers had marked 43,000 square kilometres of ocean to scour for the operation. Read the rest here 16:31
Get your Barf Bags ready Campers. The Bionic Woman of Good Science, Jane Lubchenco
‘Wicked Tuna’ will be filmed out of Ilwaco? Sorry Charley. There’s only one “Wicked Tuna”!
Albacore tuna news: ‘Wicked Tuna’ will be filmed out of Ilwaco. There’s only one Wicked Tuna, and its out of Gloucester! The Tuna Club in Ilwaco has informed me of some upcoming events for albacore fishermen. • TV producer Phil Lander is working for Pilgrim Studios on a new show for the History Channel about commercial albacore fishermen in the Ilwaco/Astoria area of the “Pacific Graveyard.” They are casting the show now, and are looking for interesting boat captains with big personalities. If you are one and want to audition for the show, contact [email protected]. This should be an interesting show with local fishermen on commercial albacore boats. Read the rest here 12:52
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 86.7′ Steel Stern Trawler, 850HP CAT 3508
To see specifications, information and 26 photos Click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:25
Fundy fishermen call for a halt of all tidal energy activity
The Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association (BFIFA) sent out a petition to port reps and stores up and down the Bay of Fundy on May 17. “Fishermen and community members of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association want to urge our government leaders and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to halt all tidal power activity in the Bay of Fundy until such time that we have been properly informed of the costs and effects to our fishing industry, our environment, our coastal communities,” reads the petition. “You can’t displace a whole industry that pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the local communities, and for what? A whole bunch of unknowns and what is that going to do for the local communities dependent on the fisheries?” Read the rest here 10:51
Ten things you need to know about British Columbia spot prawns
A decade ago, British Columbia spot prawns were a bottom-of-the-barrel seafood product – the mushy filler for chowder and fortifier of cheap fish stock. Last weekend, the luxury crustaceans were toasted with Moët & Chandon champagne. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the B.C. Spot Prawn Festival kicked off Friday night with a black-tie gala at the tony, private Vancouver Club. The wild B.C. spot prawn is the largest of all seven commercial species of shrimp found in the Pacific Northwest. Some grow bigger than a human hand – up to about 23 centimetres in length. They are reddish-brown, turning bright pink when cooked, with defining white spots on their tails. When properly handled and cooked, they are firm in texture, with a luscious, sweet flavor. Read the rest here 10:07
Coast Guard rescues two fishermen near Sitka
A Coast Guard crew rescued two Sitka-based commercial fishermen from a sinking boat near the Fairweather fishing grounds early this morning (Tue 5-17-16). Westin Chavez and Nick Middleton were hauled out of the water by a rescue swimmer and helicopter, despite dicey weather conditions, and transported back to town in good condition, Coast Guard Commander Pete Melnick says. He says the two called for help around 2 AM, when they couldn’t steer the 47-foot F/V Rosalyn because it was taking on water. The Fairweather Fishing grounds are about 115 nautical miles northwest of Sitka. “It was some pretty sporty, pretty tough conditions out in the Fairweather grounds,” he said. “I would say that the seas were somewhere at 15 feet with swells pushing the seas to 20-25 feet and sustained winds at 40 knots out of the east. It was a very challenging hoist.” Video,,, Read the story here 09:35
Following a 6 month delay, Dungeness crab catch plummets on North Coast
While the first few days of Humboldt County’s six-month-late Dungeness crab season had some good hauls, the catch has dropped to the point that some crabbers are already packing away their gear, according to local industry sources. “I’ve never seen it go down this fast,” Wild Planet Foods Eureka plant manager Jeff Huffman said Tuesday, “though we’ve never had a season start this late. Usually we’re locking the doors at this point.” But some crabbers are faring better than others since the North Coast commercial Dungeness crab season opened on May 12. Jubal Hall of the “My Lady” crabbing vessel said he will continue crabbing as long as they can, and described the catch so far as “decent, but not great.” Read the story here 08:21
Fishermen’s association changes name to reflect Bristol Bay focus on their bottom line.
The Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Association recently re-named itself the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association, and is now looking to boost it’s efforts with more members and a focus on their bottom line. Naknek fisherman Everett Thompson has been a member for several years, and joined the nine-member board last fall. “It’s a competitive business and if we stick together we could do great things,” he said. “With building up our membership we can do even more.” The organization is hoping that by doing more it can have a stronger impact on prices. Read the rest here 07:55
