Daily Archives: September 19, 2016
Great white shark named after Big Papi
A great white shark spotted off the coast of Cape Cod has been named after retiring Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. The Boston Globe reported that researchers from the nonprofit Atlantic White Shark Conservancy announced Saturday they were naming the 15-foot male shark “Big Papi” in honor of Ortiz, who is known by that nickname. The great white was tagged Sept. 9 off the coast of Wellfleet by state biologist Greg Skomal during an excursion with the conservancy. “Big Papi” is one of 19 sharks tagged off the Cape Cod coast since the start of the summer. 19:11
Cape Breton fishermen plead guilty to fishing closed area off Digby Neck
Kevin and Paul Cormier, father and son from New Waterford, were not in Digby Provincial Court Sept. 18, but their lawyer entered guilty pleas for them on charges of fishing in a closed area, fishing with untagged traps and fishing without the person named in the licence. The federal crown attorney Alex Pink told the court that Fishery Officers on a routine patrol off Digby Neck found a trawl of 20 traps set in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 34 on Nov. 15, 2015. The Fishery Officers seized those traps, which were about 900 metres inside LFA 34, which doesn’t open until the end of November. Fisheries officers then watched with binoculars as fishermen on the lobster boat Callie Ray dragged two more trawls, or 40 traps total, from LFA 34 over the line into LFA 35, which was open at the time. Read the story here 17:52
Upstart FISH-NL Turns Up the Heat on Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union!
Things got a little heated outside the Fish, Food and Allied Workers office in Corner Brook when some 250 harvesters from around the west coast marched there to show the union they are fed up with the representation they’ve been getting. The group had been attending a meeting on the formation of a new union at the Legion when Conway Caines of Cow Head, a regular on the Discovery Channel’s “Cold Water Cowboys,” suggested they hold a peaceful walk to the union’s office. Ryan Cleary, former MP and one of the men behind the formation of FISH-NL (the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador), went with them. Cleary said FFAW president Keith Sullivan made a remark to the CBC that the group interested in forming the new union was a vocal minority. Read the story here 17:37
New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Danvers, MA September 20 – 22, 2016
The New England Fishery Management Council will be meeting in Danvers, Ma. at the Double Tree by Hilton. To read the final agenda, click here Register here to listen live via webinar. click here They will send you an email notification. www.nefmc.org 15:47
Effort to restore Stonington Town Wharf gets boost from senators
An effort to restore the Town Wharf along the east side of Stonington harbor has gotten a boost from the state’s two U.S. senators. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy announced last week that they had convinced the authors of the federal Water Resources Development Act to amend the act so the wharf could be returned to town control. “The Old Stonington Wharf is an historic treasure — a proud symbol of the town’s sea-faring and maritime heritage. The wharf has unacceptably been allowed to deteriorate under inadequate stewardship by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and we applaud local efforts to reclaim and revitalize this celebrated marker. We were proud to help lead efforts today to return the wharf back to its rightful hands, and urge the House to adopt this measure,” Blumenthal and Murphy said in announcing the development. Read the rest here 12:10
NOAA research ecologist suggests, As climate change alters the oceans, what will happen to Dungeness crabs?
In my day job as a research ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, I study how changes in seawater’s acidity from absorbing carbon dioxide in the air, referred to as ocean acidification may affect the success of recreational crabbers like me and the fortunes of the crabbing industry. Contrary to early assumptions that acidification was unlikely to have significant effects on Dungeness crabs, we found in a recent study that the larvae of this species have lower survival when they are reared in the acidified ocean conditions that we expect to see in the near future. Our findings have sobering implications for the long-term future of this US$170 million fishery. Ocean acidification is a global phenomenon,,, Read the rest here 11:03
P.E.I sets the Lobster Roll World Record at 120 feet and 120 pounds of lobster meat!
It took 120 pounds of lobster meat, 13 kilograms of dough and about 180 volunteers, but P.E.I. is now the record holder of the world’s largest lobster roll. The exact length: 36.5 metres. That’s 120 feet long — longer than the length of a basketball court. Take that, New Brunswick. “They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I think it takes more than that to build a lobster roll,” said Melanie Giffin of the PEI Fishermen’s Association. “With the amount of work that went into it, there was no way we could let it fail.” The bun for the lobster roll was baked in a conveyor oven at the Culinary Institute of Canada from dough donated by the Water Street Bakery and Deli in Summerside. About 60 fishermen and their wives — accompanied by a police escort — paraded the massive roll 1.7 kilometres to the PEI International Shellfish Festival at the Charlottetown Event Grounds. Read the rest here 09:37
El Nino brings rugged and strange conditions for deep sea fishers
The El Nino weather pattern has made for a strange season of deep sea fishing and some rugged weather conditions for crews to deal with. Talley’s director Andrew Talley said the hoki season had been a good one with plenty of decent sized fish caught. The squid catch had also been good, but the albacore and skipjack tuna seasons had been poor, he said. The changes El Nino brought about in ocean currents, water temperature and feed all affected marine productivity, Talley said. “Ultimately we see that in how these various commercial fisheries perform year to year. The El Nino weather pattern also resulted in stronger than normal winds. The Talley’s owned Amaltal Columbia battled 6 metre swells and 35-45 knot winds when fishing for hoki 150km south of Bluff early this month. A photo of the fishing boat [above] at that time shows the severity of the weather conditions experienced by the 45 crew members working on board the 64 metre long vessel. Read the rest here 08:15
Hawaii lawmakers promise reform for confined fishermen
State and federal lawmakers are promising to improve conditions for hundreds of foreign fishermen working in Hawaii’s commercial fleet, and at least one company has already stopped buying fish from the boats following an Associated Press investigation that found the men have been confined to vessels for years without basic labor protections. While many men appreciate the jobs, which pay better than they could get back home, the report revealed instances of human trafficking, tuberculosis and food shortages. It also found some fishermen being forced to defecate in buckets, suffering running sores from bed bugs and being paid as little as 70 cents an hour. On Capitol Hill, Hawaii’s congressional delegation – U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz along with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, all Democrats – said they were exploring legislative solutions after being startled by the findings about the state’s $110 million industry, which ranks fifth among the country’s highest-grossing fisheries. Read the story here 06:54
