Daily Archives: May 20, 2016
Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Lobster size minimums to increase in Lobster Fishing Area 25
New Brunswick lobster fishermen are “ecstatic” about the federal government’s decision to increase the minimum size for lobster harvested between the southeast of the province and P.E.I., by five millimetres over the next three years. Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a notice on Friday, informing harvesters of the change for the western half of the Northumberland Strait, known as Lobster Fishing Area 25. “Our harvesters feel this is an historical decision,” said Christian Brun, executive secretary of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union in New Brunswick. It comes after a long-standing dispute between fishermen in New Brunswick and P.E.I. over carapace size, he said. The legal harvesting size will increase by one millimetre to 73 mm this season, and will further increase to 75 mm in 2017 and 77 mm in 2018, according to the government notice. Read the rest here 20:49
Piscine Reo-Virus found in salmon on one fish farm in B.C. but more research needed
Scientists have detected a potential disease in farmed Atlantic salmon for the first time in British Columbia, but say more research is needed to determine if it could affect wild populations of the fish. Dr. Kristi Miller, head of the molecular genetics research program in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said pathologists found lesions on salmon on one farm in Johnstone Strait indicating they had heart and skeletal muscle inflammation. “These lesions were present for an extended period of time, at least eight months, on this (undisclosed) farm,” Miller said Friday. The Piscine Reo-Virus has been associated with all outbreaks of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation, as it was on the single B.C. farm, but it’s not known if it causes the disease, Miller said, adding scientists around the world are investigating how the virus could be linked to the disease. Read the rest here 19:36
Man arrested for poaching 153 black sea bass
A Rhode Island man fishing out of season was out of luck after being busted with 153 black sea bass at Mattapoisett Town Wharf on Wednesday. Mattapoisett Harbormaster Jill Simmons became suspicious of Belmiro Baptista, 65, of Patwucket, Rhode Island after helping him attach his boat to his truck. Baptista told her he had a commercial fishing license and was fishing for scup. He also told her he caught five or six sea bass, “for eat,” said the Portuguese native. He later said he had eight bass. Simmons, unsure if sea bass were in season, called the Department of Marine Fisheries and the Massachusetts Environmental Police, who told her that the fish were not, in fact, in season for recreational fishing until Saturday, May 21. Even if it had been the correct season, Baptista did not have a recreational saltwater license. The commercial season for the fish begins Aug. 1. Read the rest here 17:12
A dream becomes a nightmare
When Dick Garbowski, a commercial fisherman in Green Bay, snagged an expensive net on an unknown obstruction in Lake Michigan in 1967, he probably did not know that he would set events in motion that would culminate in crushed dreams and a demolished schooner with a historical designation. Garbowski called an experienced diver and friend, Frank Hoffman, to help him free his $1,400 fishing net. The two originally kept their problem a secret, because as V.O. Van Heest writes in “Lost and Found,” “Garbowski had kept quiet about the predicament worried that someone might hear about it and try to abscond with the $1,400 net. Hoffman, too, had kept quiet because he knew that news of a new wreck could bring out other divers intent on looting.” was not until the summer of 1968 that the net was finally freed and Frank Hoffman realized he had an almost intact shipwreck to explore. The shipwreck was the Alvin Clark. Read the story here 16:42
Fishermen celebrate after catching ‘drunk monster’ eel
Adolph Nwarhombi (32) and Go-Back Makhuvele (26) from Makuleke near Malamulele, Limpopo poured 25 litres of traditional beer in the water where they were fishing. They now believe that this is the secret to successful fishing because after they caught a 1.2m (4 ft) long eel. Go-Back told Daily Sun that they poured the beer in the water and when they came back in the evening they realised there was something very strange under the surface. “We waited about for three minutes after casting and then pulled the net into the boat. “We knew we had caught something special. It was like a monster and very strong. It nearly pulled us out of the boat,” he said. It was dark and they couldn’t see what was in the net. “We were scared that we had a crocodile in the net,” he said. “We thought of jumping out of the boat and running home. But then the monster started getting tired. After half an hour it finally surrendered. “Go-Back said they couldn’t believe it when they switched on their torches and saw the giant eel in the net. Adolph said: “I believe the eel got drunk on our beer and that’s why we defeated it. We’ll sell it for R500 ($ 31.98 USD).” link
Advisory group wants to move Astoria Marine Construction Co. Shipyard, Fishermen leery
The advisory group overseeing the cleanup of Astoria Marine Construction Co.’s contaminated shipyard has asked the state to support a public-private partnership to relocate the business. The long-term impact of the closure of AMCCO on our fishing fleet could have severe economic consequences, as the loss of the fleet will impact fish processing and other businesses related to the fishing industry,” Löfman wrote. “Commercial fishing represents 18.6 percent ($142.4 million) of all earned income in Clatsop County.” Löfman, who also sent the letter to a long list of local, state and national legislators, said she put the letter out to raise awareness about the clear need for the shipyard. Dave Jordan, an advisory group member who lives near Tillamook and bases his fishing boat out of Warrenton, said it takes him as little as 45 minutes for his boat to get to Astoria Marine. Astoria Marine helps change his equipment between the crab, shrimp and tuna seasons, along with biennial haul-outs and emergency repairs. “That’s one of the big losses, is the emergency part of it,” he said. “It’s a bad deal. Boats might sink because it’s not there.” Read the story here 13:06
Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association launches petition to halt Bay of Fundy tidal projects
Chris Hudson, president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association started the petition this week, asking that tidal power testing be halted until their association is satisfied the fisheries won’t be harmed. The association is one of Nova Scotia’s biggest fishing groups, representing 150 lobster and fixed gear groundfish licence holders in the Bay, from the Yarmouth county line to the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border. “We haven’t been contacted about this whatsoever,” Hudson told the Chronicle Herald. “And that’s not acceptable. We’re not saying we’re against it, we just want to be around the table to talk about the exact plans. There’s a lot of ifs.” Hudson says he was contacted by the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) on Wednesday with background information. “That’s a start,” he said. Read the story here 12:27
“Scallop Fishing on the Mister G” – Photographer Markham Starr captures a day in the life
“I should have been born 150 years ago,” said Markham Starr, a man who actively documents the present so it can be preserved for the future. In recent years, Starr has documented working cultures throughout New England, mostly through photography. Many of these images have been organized into books, such as “In History’s Wake: The Last Trap Fishermen of Rhode Island,” which “documents a tradition now hundreds of years old, capturing the spirit and work ethic that drives Rhode Island’s fishermen to continue providing food for their neighbors.” More recently, Starr began capturing these stories through video. In 2011, he spent a day scallop fishing on a small boat called Mister G with its owner, Mike Marchetti, and that experience has been made into a 45-minute film, “Scallop Fishing on the Mister G,” which will have its first public showing at Peace Dale Library, 1057 Kingstown Road, Peace Dale, Saturday at 2 p.m. Read the rest here 09:48
Gloucester Fisherman Al Cottone to serve as city’s fisheries director
Al Cottone, 50, a longtime Gloucester fisherman and a staunch advocate for the commercial fishing industry, is filling the newly re-created job, Chairman Mark Ring announced at Thursday night’s Fisheries Commission meeting at Gloucester High School. The position has been dormant for several years, but Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, in consultation with the Fisheries Commission, reignited a belief that the city and its fishing industry would greatly benefit from re-establishing the position to serve as the city’s liaison to state, regional and federal fishery managers and regulators. Cottone currently serves as a voting member of the Fisheries Commission, but his status will shift to a non-voting member once he assumes the new position July 1. Cottone, Gloucester born and bred, is a familiar face and respected voice at fishing-related meetings of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries, the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA. Read the story here 08:34
