Daily Archives: July 18, 2016
A Fundraiser: Please donate to Lobsterman Jon Popham’s Family in this time of need
The lobsterman who died Saturday after falling off the lobster boat Melinda Ann about 2 miles off Jonesport has been identified as Jon Popham. He was 28 years old, and leaves behind his wife Melinda, and his two year old son, Isaias. A GoFundMe page was created by Jess Harvey to help this family at this very sad time. If you can, please donate any amount large or small. Click here to donate. Thank you. 21:17
What happened to all the Chinook Salmon? New research points to potential predators
In the 1960s, king salmon were abundant in Alaska, and it stayed that way through the 90s. After the new millennium, though, Chinook numbers fell — and they’ve remained low since. “People have scratched their heads and said, ‘Where are all the kings? What happened to all the kings?’” said Andy Seitz, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. At a lecture in Unalaska this week, Seitz explained how his research team has studied adult Chinook in the Bering Sea for the last three years. The project relied on pop-up satellite tags, which attach to salmon and measure the water temperature, depth, and ambient light of their environment. Seitz and his team think warm-blooded salmon sharks ate the kings and their tags, and the odd data was recorded when fish were trapped in the sharks’ guts. He also said they found five instances where marine mammals and other unidentified predators could have killed Chinook. Read the story here 18:41
Burglars nabbed during out of season shrimping roust in Terrebonne Parish
Enforcement agents with the 
Fisheries busted three alleged thieves last weekend on their way back from writing up commercial shrimpers accused of fishing in a closed season. According to a press release, agents cited Shawn T. Tran, 30, of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Dung T. Hong, 48, of New Orleans, for allegedly using skimmer nets during a closed season on July 9. Agents acting on a complaint observed the vessel actively shrimping 3,671 feet inside the closed waters line in Caillou Boca, and seized more than 1,700 pounds of shrimp that were ultimately sold at the dock. While escorting that vessel back to port, agents came across a small vessel with no navigational lights about 12:50 a.m. on Sunday, July 10. Read the rest here 16:53
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING? – Canada Approves Controversial Chemical Corexit for Ocean Oil Spills
The Canadian federal government has quietly approved the use of a highly controversial chemical for dispersing ocean oil spills, despite growing scientific evidence it doesn’t always work as claimed and even intensifies the toxicity of oil. Last month Environment Canada released regulations establishing a list of approved “treating agents” for oil spills that included Corexit EC 9500A, which sinks the oil and spreads it through the water column. Exxon developed Corexit five decades ago to disperse and sink oil and avoid ugly petroleum slicks on beaches. In 2010 BP used almost two million gallons of Corexit during its catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting a raft of scientific studies that challenged its effectiveness and revived concerns about how such emulsifiers can make oil more toxic. Read the rest here 12:12
Corexit 9500A and 9527A were sprayed in the Gulf during the Deepwater Horizon spill. – To read, Click here
Matt Kenseth will take another lobster, thank you very much, after win in New Hampshire 301
Matt Kenseth will take another lobster, thank you very much, as he wins Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and claims the unique trophy that comes with it at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kenseth won Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, taking the lead from Martin Truex Jr. with 44 laps to go and then surviving a spate of wrecks, cautions and restarts over the final 29 laps to claim his second victory of the 2016 season. “You’re always pleased to be in Victory Lane. The farther down the road you get, the better they feel for sure,” said Kenseth, who turned 44 last March and won the championship in NASCAR’s top series in 2003. Read the rest here 11:43
A comprehensive article about Massachusetts DMF Industry-Based Survey underway in Gulf of Maine
Massachusetts received more than $21 million in federal fisheries disaster aid, most of which was distributed to fishermen. But the state kept some for research projects, including $400,000 for an eight month Industry-Based Survey of random tows throughout the Gulf of Maine, from Cape Cod Bay up to Portland, Maine, focusing on cod, but counting and cataloging the fish and other species they catch. The state survey is part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s promise to help fishermen answer some of the key questions plaguing fishery management, Beaton said. Fishermen contend they are seeing a lot of cod in the Gulf of Maine, but their observations don’t match NOAA stock assessments that show historically low populations. The disconnect, fishermen say, results from the federal government using a vessel and net that have had trouble catching cod and performing surveys in the wrong places at the wrong time of year. The state survey will be more intensive than the federal effort, with approximately 400 tows in the Gulf of Maine over eight months compared with NOAA’s two-month research cruise with approximately 800 trawl locations from North Carolina up over the Canadian maritime border. Read the article here 09:50
Counting cod: Division of Marine Fisheries trawl survey aims to determine status of iconic fish
The coastline had melted into a gray slurry, its shapes barely visible through intermittent rain and mist, when the Miss Emily made her first of two scheduled tows last week about seven miles off this South Shore port. Despite the weather, the waters remained sedate as the 55-foot gillnetter (its a dragger), skippered by owner Capt. Kevin Norton, steamed at about three knots for 30 minutes, its net set at 36 fathoms, or about 216 feet. Its target? What else? The iconic, oft-debated and oft-elusive cod. “It will be interesting to see what we come up with today,” Norton said as he feathered the Miss Emily through the harbor and out into open waters. “Usually, at this time of year, there’s nothing really here because the water has begun to warm and the fish already have moved further out.” “This whole survey is designed with cod in mind,” said Micah Dean, a research scientist at DMF. “There’s never been a fishing-industry trawl survey in June or July, so this should give us a new perspective.” Read the rest here 09:03
Queensland Seafood industry critical of WWF license grab, Every fisherman should be
Queensland Seafood Industry Association chief executive Eric Perez says the WWF is meddling in a heavily regulated industry that focuses on sustainable fishing. “They don’t have a point. They are trying to interfere with fisheries management by stealth,” Mr Perez told AAP. “They can’t force their way into regulating the industry the way they want to, so they get cashed up individuals with a green tinge or bent … which is a way to undermining us.” Mr Perez said the purchase of one, or even two, of the licences was not going to have an impact but if the WWF bought up more then eventually there would be repercussions. He said family businesses and micro businesses would be affected and Queenslander retailers would either have to buy fish from interstate or import more. Read the rest here 08:06
