Daily Archives: June 9, 2016
Chris Elkins, Ph.D., President of the CCA of NC calls NC marine fisheries advisory committee a sham!
All coastal states in our nation, except North Carolina, have a Joint Enforcement Agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service because a JEA makes sense: It saves money and aids law enforcement. A special legislatively mandated group called the JEA Advisory Committee has been studying whether North Carolina should enter into a JEA with the National Marine Fisheries Service. A JEA would allow enforcement of federal fisheries rules by N.C. Marine Patrol officers and bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to the patrol. On June 1, the committee, charged with advising the legislature on the JEA, met in New Bern. It has become clear that the committee is indisputably a sham. Read the rest here 19:18
Reopening Western Australia’s shark fishery could boost seafood supply and public safety
Reopening Western Australia’s metropolitan shark fishery could benefit public safety and give a much needed boost to the supply of premium seafood, according to a fishing industry chief. Western Australian Fishing Industry Council chief executive, John Harrison, has welcomed a call by Premier Colin Barnett for a scientific assessment of the Perth coast fishery’s closure in 2007, saying that reopening the commercial fishery may produce knock-on benefits for the public. Following a spate of recent attacks, fisheries and environmental experts have been asked to re-examine research to see if there is any link between the 2007 closure of the fishery and the increasing prevalence of great whites off Western Australia’s south west. “Political pressures caused the unwarranted closure of the metropolitan shark fishery that stretches from Lancelin to south of Mandurah in 2007,” Mr Harrison said. Read the rest here 18:53
Salvage nearly complete of shipwrecked F/V Privateer
Salvage operations on the sunken, dismantled shrimp boat Privateer continued Tuesday and are close to wrapping up, nearly two months after the 74-foot vessel sank just north of the Ocean Shores jetty. But some debris and monitoring remained in place, and the latest work caused some lube oil or grease to release a sheen, according to the latest update from the Department of Ecology. In an email to city officials and others overseeing the incident, Andrea Unger of the state Department of Ecology said contractor Global Diving and Salvage “has finished deconstructing the vessel this morning and has removed most of the Privateer. They were able to remove most all the ship but some of the port-side’s metal ‘skin’ will have to remain in place. The port side of the vessel was too deeply buried in the sand.” Global used two excavators to pull out as much of the port side that was possible, Unger said. Read the rest here 15:54
Dominic LeBlanc shuns ‘part-time’ label, talks of future legacy as fisheries minister
Dominic LeBlanc spoke Wednesday about the legacy he hopes to leave as fisheries minister, a signal his appointment may not be as short-term as some of his critics have suggested. LeBlanc, who also works as government house leader, was appointment as minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in a surprise announcement came last week, after the abrupt resignation of Hunter Tootoo. Tootoo resigned from cabinet and left the Liberal caucus to seek treatment for addiction issues, after what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said was a “very difficult situation.” “As some of you know, I have been on this job now for eight days,” LeBlanc said in his opening remarks at the launch of a national summit in Ottawa to mark World Oceans Day. He said that he hopes 40 years from now, “the legacy for me … is defined by the work that I can do with all of you on protecting and preserving our oceans, the ecosystems in our oceans, and leaving a legacy and a footprint that would inspire the people in this room and those whom you represent.” Read the story here 14:35
Brexit: Aberdeen University study reveals 92% of UK fishermen plan to vote Leave on June 23.
The poll, conducted by researchers at the University of Aberdeen, also revealed a majority of fishermen did not think leaving the European Union would detrimentally affect their trade. Over three in four believe leaving the EU and its common fisheries policy would enable them to catch and land more fish. Around the same number think Brexit would have no impact on the trade of fish between the UK and other European countries. 93% of fishermen believe leaving the EU would boost the industry’s fortunes, the survey also revealed. The researchers behind the poll admitted Scottish fishermen, despite having the largest fleet in the UK, were “slightly over-represented” in the survey, accounting for 68.4% of respondents. “Fishermen view the EU very negatively and this further marks them out from the general UK public who are far more split over positive and negative feelings towards the EU.” Read the rest here 14:07
Video – Two fishermen rescued after their boat sinks off the Cork coast
Two men were rescued at sea this morning by Castletownbere’s RNLI. Castletownbere’s RNLI all weather lifeboat was launched early this morning to go to the assistance of a fishing vessel which was reported sinking eleven miles south west of Dursey Island on the Beara peninsula. The naval vessel LE Orla and the Coastguard’s Rescue 115 helicopter were also tasked. The lifeboat was on scene at 5:50am and found two fisherman in a liferaft. The men, both in their 40s, were taken aboard the lifeboat and were reported to be safe and well. The lifeboat is due to arrive back to Castletownbere at approximately 8:00am this morning. Video, read the rest here 13:33
LIFO – Nova Scotia fish companies fight to keep northern shrimp quota in Area 6
Nova Scotia fish companies that pioneered the offshore northern shrimp fishery are fighting to keep their share of quota as the Trudeau government faces its first major fisheries decision in Atlantic Canada — one that pits province against province. The question is, who gets to catch a plummeting northern shrimp stock off Newfoundland and Labrador? “We’re being used to fix a problem we didn’t create,” said Andrew Titus, captain of the Mersey Phoenix, a Nova Scotia-based factory-freezer shrimp trawler. “If they change those rules, that is a direct hit to us … they want to kick us out of an area where we have been fishing since 1978,” said Titus, an employee of Mersey Seafoods. The so-called last in, first out policy — known as LIFO in bureaucratic jargon — has been used to manage quota sharing for decades, including the northern shrimp fishery. It means the last entrants to a fishery are the first out when a quota is cut. Read the story here 09:39
NOAA grants SMAST $1.6 million for monkfish study
Researchers at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology have won a federal grant valued at $1.6 million to conduct research into the growth and movement of monkfish, NOAA announced Tuesday. The grant is part of a unique “research set-aside” program that pays for at-sea research not with direct dollars but with fishing opportunities whose proceeds pay for the researchers and for the boat they are using. In the case of SMAST, where Dr. Steven Cadrin and research technician Crista Bank will be doing the study, 250 days at sea allocated in the grant each year for 2016 and 2017 should produce $1.361 million to pay for the boat and $270,000 for the research over two years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “A previous monkfish research set-aside grant to this group found that the current approach of estimating monkfish growth is not valid, exposing a gap in the monkfish stock assessment. This two-year project proposes to fill this gap for juvenile monkfish through this tagging study,” said a NOAA press release. Read the rest here 08:04
Maine Elver Harvesters Net Third Highest Overall Value in the History of the Fishery
With Maine’s 2016 elver season concluding yesterday at noon, the 982 harvesters who fished this season netted $13,388,040, which is the third highest value in the history of the fishery according to preliminary landings data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Maine DMR data indicates that the total was nearly $2 million more than was earned last season by the 920 active harvesters. While the average value this season was $1,435 per pound compared with $2,171 last season, it was the fourth highest on record. Preliminary landings data indicates that harvesters caught 9,330 pounds of the 9,688 total statewide quota compared with 5,259 pounds harvested last season. According to DMR data, 285 harvesters reached their individual quota in 2016 compared to 104 in 2015. Read the rest here 07:42
