Daily Archives: July 15, 2016
We have not published anything by a non-scientist… until today! A fisherman responds to George Burgess
Recently on CFOOD we started a new series where we talk to fishery biologists and let them steer the conversation. We (try to) post one per week and invite anyone to comment or respond to whatever statements our interview subjects make. Our special shark week conversation was with noted shark biologist George Burgess. Dick Grachek, a fisherman out of Point Judith, took issue with some of Burgess’s comments on shark fishermen and women and the spiny dogfish fishery. Here, he responds to Burgess and offers a fisherman’s perspective not often seen.
A response to George Burgess by Dick Grachek – There exists a carefully controlled and stringently regulated legitimate shark fishery! I have an issue with how George Burgess spoke about shark fishermen and women. He made inaccurate and misleading generalized statements about sharks and shark finning and claimed that, unless carefully scrutinized, “fishers will sneak in extra fins.” In particular, making silly statements about Spiny Dogfish as “high value,” implies a motive for overfishing and contributes to a perception of commercial fishing as greedy and uncaring plunder. These misinformed perceptions lead to baseless regulations. Such regulations are destructive to the fish and the fishermen. They can, and often do, prevent legitimate harvesting of a vital, healthy food source. Read the rest here 20:58
Commercial fishing boat catches fire in Moss Landing Harbor
A 55-foot fishing boat named “Bev A” was heavily damaged by a fire in the Moss Landing Harbor. Harbormaster Linda MacIntyre said the fire may have started in the engine room and later spread to the wheel house. Multiple agencies were called out to prevent the fire from spreading. Details are sketchy! Link 18:59
Grand Bank scallop fishermen once again block access to Clearwater Seafoods plant
The harvesters want answers from the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor) union and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) about access to scallop beds on St. Pierre Bank. The fishermen initially blocked the plant on Monday and thought they might be making some headway when they were invited to take part in a conference call with Bonavista-Burin-Trinity MP Judy Foote, DFO officials and the union on Thursday. Things didn’t pan out as the harvesters had hoped, however, Wayne Meade said. FFAW-Unifor representatives spoke with government first. The union then held a second conference call with the fishermen without anyone from government on the line, Meade said. Which pissed them off! Read the rest here 18:41
Reactions to Northern Shrimp quota cut- ‘Mixed emotions’ and a ‘devastating effect’
FFAW Union President Keith Sullivan and Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Crocker spoke out Friday on the federal fisheries department’s decision to cut 42 per cent of the shrimp quota off Area 6. “The immediate effect for inshore enterprises and plants and communities, it’s around 25-million pounds and a rough estimate dollar wise, it’s possibly in the $70-million dollar range,” said Sullivan. “So it’s going to be absolutely devastating for our communities and harvesters, and certainly the communities that depend on that.” While the cut in quota is disappointing, there is some relief being felt that the controversial Last In, First Out (LIFO) policy has lifted. Read the rest here 17:25
Nova Scotia scallop fishery to experiment with diver-caught scallops
Diver-caught scallops are a premium item on some Nova Scotia restaurant menus, but until now the shellfish served often came from as far away as Mexico. That’s about to change. Beginning Saturday, a team of commercial divers will be permitted to hand-pick scallops from the floor of the Bay of Fundy, between Digby and Digby Neck. The federal Fisheries and Oceans Department recently approved the commercial project. “These are commercial scuba divers who usually fish for urchins. What they’re basically doing is they are going out on a dive boat to … scallop beds, jump in the water with full scuba gear — includes a dry suit because it is mighty cold down there — and they basically just hand-forage them, one at a time and put them into dive bags,” Justin Cantafio, sustainable fisheries campaigner with the Ecology Action Centre, told CBC’s Information Morning in Halifax. Read the story here 16:57
Reedsport celebrates economic milestone thanks to Fred Wahl Marine’s 40th boat launch!
A big celebration is taking place in Reedsport. Fred Wahl Marine marked a big milestone Thursday with the launch of yet another commercial fishing boat, and the success of the business means big dollars for the south coast. Owner Fred Wahl has reached a milestone with the launch of its 40th boat. “Commercial fishing boats over 50 feet … we build more boats here than anywhere else in the United States,” Wahl says. The successful shipyard is reaching the final stages on its expansion project. With its new location on Bolin Island the shipyard will triple in size and provide a shot in the arm for Reedsport’s economy. “50 percent increase in our repair work is probably equal to another $3-4 million a year in revenue, and all that’s going to be spent in Douglas County or southern Oregon anyway,” says project manager Jim Zimmer. Video, Read the rest here 14:29
Cambodian Trafficking Victims Sue US Seafood Importers
Cambodians who were forced to work in slave-like conditions aboard Thai fishing boats filed a complaint in a U.S. federal court against two American companies and their Thailand-based suppliers. The complainants, two women and five men, were recruited by Bangkok-based Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd. between 2010 and 2012 and faced “forced labor, involuntary servitude and peonage” at the hands of their employer, said their lawyers, who filed the case in California’s Central District Court last month. U.S. companies cited in the case sell shrimp and other seafood to large North American chain stores, such as Walmart. The case also targets Thai firm S.S. Frozen Food and California-based Rubicon Resources and Wales & Co. Universe Ltd. Agnieszka Fryszman, an attorney with Cohen Millstein law firm, told VOA Khmer that her clients’ employer deducted an excessive amount of money from their paychecks for expenses. Read the rest here 14:00
Broken Ice Machine Stalls Commercial Fishing on the Lower Yukon
Fishermen in Marshall and Russian Mission have missed three commercial openings since the machine’s compressor broke last week. They’re missing out on another opening Thursday and two more if the problem isn’t fixed by this weekend. And it most likely won’t be, because this problem is an expensive one: $15,000. “Our way of life out here is in jeopardy due to a simple part for an ice machine,” Nick P. Andrew Jr., Marshall commercial fisherman, said. There’re 48 commercial fishermen in Marshall and Russian Mission. All of them are small skiff operations, and all of them rely on Marshall’s now defunct ice machine. The machine holds 8,000 lbs. of ice. During an opening, fishermen use about half that per day. Marshall’s village corporation, Maserculiq, owns the machine but is refusing to fix it, a situation that’s frustrating villagers. Audio report, read the rest here 13:10
Nils Stolpe: MPA’s – ENGOs and Foundations next attempt to halt fishing – Déjà vu all over again
Back in 2002, when various groups and people had figured out that the creation of things called marine protected areas (MPAs) could be sold politically as a mechanism for “saving the oceans,” the people at the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Conservation Law Foundation hired a marketing firm, Edge Research, to demonstrate that New Englanders and Maritime Canadians would be firmly behind using them to put even more fishermen out of work. Well, borrowing from a line made popular by the late Heather O’Rourke in the movie Poltergeist II, they’re back! Only this time they’re trying to convince the Obama White House that two areas off the New England coast are deserving of protection in perpetuity by being designated as National Monuments. Read the rest here 11:36
Long Island Power Authority to approve plan to build 15 wind turbines 30 miles southeast of Montauk
Long Island would get New York state’s first offshore wind farm, a collection of wind turbines off Montauk that could provide energy for 50,000 homes, under an agreement detailed Thursday. The board of trustees of the Long Island Power Authority, a state authority, is expected to vote Wednesday to approve a plan with Deepwater Wind LLC, which would build 15 wind turbines on a open-ocean site it leases from the federal government. The plan has drawn opposition from the commercial fishing industry, worried about disturbances to prime fish-nursery areas. Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said the project would “maim and kill fish” through years of pile driving and laying of cable. She said the bases of the towers would then permanently alter the undersea environment. “These industrial projects should not be built where things live,” she said. “From a commercial fishing standpoint we are being sold out.” Read the rest here 10:02
Farr introduces “Screw the Fishermen” bill to protect federal waters off California.
The timing is impeccable. (Oh yes it is! It’s Pewpeccable!) On the same day the Weekly ran a story about a campaign to protect underwater seamounts, ridges and banks in federal waters off California—a campaign fishermen claim is circumventing proper process—U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, introduced a bill that would bring those very protections. (Exclusions) According to Diane Pleschner-Steele, director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, the proposal has been shopped around Capitol Hill recently, and California fishermen have been knocked back on their heels since learning of it in May. Farr’s bill would permanently bar commercial fishing and oil and gas development, among other things, in several ecologically important mounts, banks and ridges along the state’s coast. Read the rest here, if you have the stomach for it. 09:22
‘We’ve won the battle, but not the war’: Inshore gets 70% of reduced shrimp quota
The federal fisheries department is allocating less shrimp off Newfoundland’s northeast coast and southern Labrador, in a decision that is poised to cause trouble for on an industry that is a lifeblood for many fishing communities. According to a document from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the total allowable catch for the 2016-2017 season in Area 6 will be 27,825 tons, a 42 per cent reduction from last year’s quota. Area 6 is a fishing zone that covers waters off the coasts of southern Labrador and northern Newfoundland. The last-in, first-out (LIFO) policy is also being abolished and replaced with a proportional sharing arrangement. Inshore vessel operators will be given about 70 per cent of the quota, while offshore trawlers will receive around 23 per cent. Read the rest here Northern shrimp fishery sees quotas cut, offshore to get 23% of catch Click here 08:36
Hawaii fishing, restaurant industries hold rally to protest expansion of fishing ban
Fishing Means Food, a coalition representing Hawaii’s fishing industry, along with Hawaii chefs, restaurant owners and public figures such as former Gov. George Ariyoshi and Peter Apo, a trustee with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is holding a rally on Friday to protest a proposed expansion of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and its fishing ban. The rally will be held at 11 a.m. at the Honolulu Fish Auction at Pier 38. The coalition says the expanded fishing ban will push Hawaii’s 140 active commercial fishing boats into international waters where they’ll be forced to compete with less regulated foreign fishing vessels. The expanded ban could reduce the supply of fresh, locally caught fish, impacting such businesses as restaurants, poke shops and wholesalers. Link 08:07
