Daily Archives: June 13, 2016
Asian carp in the St-Lawrence threatens Quebec’s fishing industry
If you’ve seen the videos of boaters laughing uproariously as their motors startle giant Asian carp that leap high in the air and even into their boats, you might think it’s fun news that a 29-kilogram Asian carp was recently fished out of the St-Lawrence River. It’s not. The discovery of a single grass carp, one of four Asian carp species that have invaded several waterways in the United States in recent decades, near Contrecoeur last month could spell disaster for other fish, waterfowl and various species in the St-Lawrence River, and the waterways connected to it, as well as Quebec’s fishing industry. Here is a primer on Asian carp and why they’re so worrisome. Read the rest here 20:43
Efforts to launch local processors in two Bristol Bay communities may finally be coming to fruition.
For decades, many of the processors in Bristol Bay have been large companies, with offices in Washington and parent companies in foreign countries. But two small communities are developing locally-owned processing plants. Bristol Bay’s fishing communities have long been dependent on the companies that turn raw fish into a sell-able product and get it shipped out of the bay. The communities of Port Heiden and Levelock want to take on that role themselves and – hopefully – keep more of the decisions, and the benefits, local. “We wanted to start a locally tribally owned processing plant so that we could create a longer season for our fishermen, also to have our fishermen fish closer to home so they don’t have to go all the way up to Ugashik to fish, and to provide them with a higher price for their fish because we’ll be doing direct marketing and have a higher quality product,” she said. “That will mean more jobs and more pay for the fishermen.” Audio, read the rest here 19:38
Belford Seafood Co-op struggles to stay afloat following damaging fire
The general manager of the Belford Seafood Co-op says the business is doing all that it can to stay open following a fire that destroyed the second floor. The fire on Port Monmouth Road over Memorial Day weekend destroyed the co-op’s ice machines, but did not damage the main building. The retail market is still open for business, and local fisherman are still bringing in their catches. General manager Joe Branin tells News 12 New Jersey that the co-op has been shipping in ice from several vendors, including ones in Atlantic Highlands and Newark. This is so they can keep the thousands of pound of fish that are brought in from spoiling. Video, read the rest here 18:50
California’s offshore seamounts at risk of being closed
It has long been rumored that conservation groups were hoping to have the President use the Antiquities Act to designate Tanner and Cortes banks as National Marine Monuments. Finally, this rumor has been put on paper and its reach is far more than just the two areas mentioned above. The areas in grey below are those being proposed for Monument designation. Unlike the substantial public process that accompanies creation of a National Marine Sanctuary, designation of an area as a National Marine Monument is done outside the public eye – under the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act (54 USC §320301 et seq) empowers the President to, “in the President’s discretion, declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated on land owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments.” Read the rest here 17:09
Marine Scientist Censured By James Cook University For Questioning Misleading Claims
When marine scientist Peter Ridd suspected something was wrong with photographs being used to highlight the rapid decline of the Great Barrier Reef, he did what good scientists are supposed to do: he sent a team to check the facts. After attempting to blow the whistle on what he found — healthy corals — Professor Ridd was censured by James Cook University and threatened with the sack. After a formal investigation, Professor Ridd — a renowned campaigner for quality assurance over coral research from JCU’s Marine Geophysics Laboratory — was found guilty of “failing to act in a collegial way and in the academic spirit of the institution”. His crime was to encourage questioning of two of the nation’s leading reef institutions, the Centre of Excellence for Coral Studies and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, on whether they knew that photographs they had published and claimed to show long-term collapse of reef health could be misleading and wrong. Read the rest here 16:40
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is in session in Newark, DE Jun 13-16 2016
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s April meeting to be held at the Courtyard Marriott Newark Montauk Yacht Club, Council Meeting Agenda, For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest Click here 13:40
The northern shrimp problem — a brief history, Russell Wangersky
Perhaps it’s fitting this battle is over a creature that’s a hermaphrodite — because the ongoing battle over northern shrimp hinges on a fundamental change. The financial-valuable northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis, develops as a male, lives four to seven years as that sex, before going through an inversion and becoming female. Right now, a federally established panel is asking a crucial question: should the last players to enter the shrimp fishery — Newfoundland and Labrador vessels closest to the resource — be the first ones edged out as the biomass shrinks and the total allowable catch shrinks with it? So think of this as something of a shrimp primer. Read the rest here 10:39
Gloucester – Fishermen, scientists to assess stock
The most incendiary divide between groundfishermen and fishing regulators in the past two years has been the discrepancy between what NOAA Fisheries says its stock assessments show and what fishermen are seeing on the water. The groundfish assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — particularly for the iconic Gulf of Maine cod stock and certain flounders — have been uniformly dire, leading to the virtual shuttering of cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine and scant quotas for other species. Fishermen — including commercial groundfishermen, charter captains and even lobstermen — paint a very different portrait of what they are seeing on a daily basis: cod, cod everywhere, and not a one they can catch. On June 20, the city’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation and fishing stakeholders will host a presentation by a team of University of Massachusetts scientists on their current findings and methodology for fish population counting in the Gulf of Maine. Read the rest here 10:09
