Daily Archives: July 6, 2016
Press Release: Minister LeBlanc Accepts Key Recommendation of Advisory Panel on LIFO
Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, issued the following statement: “After a thorough review of the Ministerial Advisory Panel Report on the Northern Shrimp fishery’s Last in, First Out (LIFO) policy, I wish to confirm acceptance of its fundamental recommendation. The panel determined that after being in place for about 20 years, “LIFO is not a sustainable instrument of public policy,” and should be replaced by a system of proportional sharing for the future. Proportional Sharing is consistent with the approach used in most other Canadian fisheries with respect to stock and allocation management. Applying this principled approach of Proportional Sharing means that the inshore and offshore fleets as well as Indigenous Peoples will continue to share in the economic benefits of this precious resource. Sharing arrangements must also respect land claims agreements and the interests of Indigenous groups as well as the interests of adjacent coastal communities. Read the Press Release here 16:51
LIFO shrimp fishing policy has lit a new fire under some harvesters and communities in Labrador
People living south of Cartwright say part of the proposal would destroy their livlihood and undermine a processing plant in Charlottetown, Labrador. At issue is a recommendation by an advisory panel to the federal minister of fisheries and oceans to cut the shrimp quota in Area 5, just north of the zone where LIFO activity is centered, by 3,400 tonnes over three years. “The panel is recommending to the minister to take that 3,400 [tonnes] away from us and share it up among three different groups — the aboriginal, the offshore and the adjacent fishers and what they are calling the adjacent fishers is basically the 65-foot boats, shrimp boats from Newfoundland,” said Mervin Layden, who fishes out of Forteau. Layden said the recommendation came as a surprise. Read the story here 15:22
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for July 5, 2016
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 15:08
Summer flounder’s new status from “viable” to “concern”reduces allowable catch
The stock status of most coastal fish did not change in the 2016 N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Stock Status Report, but one species was reclassified from the 2015 report. Summer flounder moved from “viable” to “concern” based on a 2015 National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center benchmark stock assessment for U.S. waters north of Cape Hatteras. The assessment indicated the stock of summer flounder was not overfished but overfishing was occurring, according to a NCDMF news release. As a result of the stock assessment, federal fisheries authorities lowered the allowable biological catch by 29 percent, which lowered the state-by-state commercial quotas proportionately. North Carolina receives the highest commercial quota share at 27.4 percent. Read the rest here – Read NCDMR Stock Assessment here 14:51
World’s Biggest Salmon Producer Wants to Farm Fish Inside a Cargo Ship
The world’s biggest Atlantic salmon producer wants to start farming fish inside a ship rather than the sea. Building traditional fish farms on the open water in Norway has become almost impossible because of state rules intended to curb outbreaks of sea lice, a parasite that can kill young fish. So raising salmon inside an unwanted cargo ship is one of a few options proposed by Marine Harvest ASA, which is trying to boost production at a time when prices are near a record high. Output in Norway, the top producer, is falling just as supply declines from the rest of the world. Employing a Panamax vessel better suited to carrying coal or steel was one of the responses to a Norwegian government program seeking ways to solve the parasite problem and stop farmed fish from escaping into the open sea. Winning proposals will get coveted farming licenses at reduced prices. Read the rest here 14:09
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 45′ Fiberglass Lobster/Longliner 575HP John Deere
Specifications, information and 25 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:06
A Rant on Peer Review
Think fish study’s when you read this. Professor George J. Borjas – I have a few pet peeves. One of them is how “peer review” is perceived by far too many people as the gold standard certification of scientific authority. Any academic who’s been through the peer review process many times (as I have) knows that the process is full of potholes and is sometimes subverted by unethical behavior on the part of editors and reviewers. The reason I bring this up is because of a brewing scandal in my own discipline, economics. There has been online discussion about this for over a month, but I’ve delayed this post both because I’ve been traveling too much and because I was hoping for a resolution before I wrote anything down. But as a junior economist recently told me: “The relative silence by senior economists regarding the editorial handling of this paper has been deafening.” So here it goes. Read the rest here 11:00Expanding Sandbar at West Point Harbour creating a potentially dangerous situation
Fishermen in West Point are calling on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to help with a long-term solution to keep sandbars from forming in their harbor. The sandbars make it difficult for boats to get in and out of the harbour and boats sometimes get stuck, blocking access for other vessels and creating a potentially dangerous situation. The harbour did have some land-based dredging in April, but the harbour is full of sand again. “It’s impassable,” said Paul Wood, president of the West Point Harbour Authority. He estimates the sandbar is expanding by about a foot a day. Video, Read the rest here 09:35
Herring bait shortage could pinch Maine Lobstermen
Maine regulators are considering intervening to help fix a bait shortage that threatens to affect its signature lobster fishing industry. Lobstermen typically use herring for bait, and regulators and members of the fishing industry say there’s a shortage of them. The shortage is happening at the time of year when lobster catches usually start to pick up — and just as New England’s high tourist season is arriving. The Maine Department of Marine Resources met Tuesday afternoon to discuss what role it can play. Meredith Mendelson, the deputy commissioner of the department, told The Associated Press before the meeting that the department anticipates passing rules at a later date based on Tuesday’s discussion. The problem is that not enough herring are being caught on Georges Bank, a key fishing area off Massachusetts, members of the fishing industry said. That means there could be more herring fishing closer to the shore, and fishermen could reach their quota for that area before the summer is out. Read the story here 08:47
The Kenai Peninsula’s economy – Most of the employment is in commercial fishing
The Kenai Peninsula’s economy depends even more on the ocean and rivers than is apparent on paper. Some are obvious: fishing, shipping and marine fishing guiding all depend on the ocean directly. However, others — such as processing, oil and gas support services and fishing gear retailers — only “touch” the water and may not be counted on a cursory glance. When added together, about 3,400 people on the peninsula work in a maritime-related profession, the most of any sector in the region, according to the 2016 Situations and Prospects report from the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District. The annual report, which provides data and forward-looking estimates on the economy for the Kenai Peninsula, details a growing maritime sector that paid approximately $177 million in wages in 2014, the most of any industry in the region. Read the rest here 08:32
