Daily Archives: October 2, 2016
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting in Anchorage October 3rd – 11th, 2016
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet the week of October 3, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel, 500 W. 3rd Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. The Council’s meeting will be broadcast live beginning their first day via Adobe Connect Listen Online. 13:57
Why Should I Care About Thermal Insulation?
Hurricane Matthew continues slowly tracking northwest as Category 4 storm
The Category 4 Hurricane Matthew continues to move slowly on a northwesterly track through the Caribbean Sea, but is expected to turn toward the north Sunday night (Oct. 2) before bearing down on southwestern Haiti and Jamaica on Monday, according to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center. At 7 a.m. Sunday, Matthew’s center was within 340 miles of both Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, and Kingston, Jamaica. The storm was moving at approximately 5 mph, with maximum sustained winds clocked at 150 mph amid higher gusts. Forecasters do not expect Matthew to enter the Gulf of Mexico or pose a threat to Southeast Louisiana, but the storm is expected to impact weather along the eastern seaboard of the United States later next week. Read the story here 11:28
Right whale entanglements: Scientists, engineers, fishing industry are collaborating with little success
After three recent fishing gear entanglements involving the rare North American right whale, a Boston researcher says collaboration between fishers, biologists, and engineers isn’t fixing the problem. While attitudes are evolving, the historically adversarial relationship between scientists and fishing industry stakeholders has been bad news for the whale population. Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction director Tim Werner said the group has looked at myriad solutions since it was formed a decade ago, including ropes that glow in order to warn whales, gear with a lower breaking strength that can still hold up to the rigours of fishing, and acoustic releases that eliminate the need for ropes altogether. Read the story here 10:51
The Manasquan Ridge – Essential Fish Habitat or Common Borrow, and at what cost?
Beach replenishment is costly and exacts a heavy toll on the environment, depleting underwater ridges that are home to a broad variety of sea life. “This project is another important component of the Christie administration’s plan to bring engineered beaches and dunes to the entire coast,” state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said September 2, as he announced work would start soon on a new project, pumping another 3.8 million cubic yards of sand from the sea floor onto eight miles of beach from Atlantic City to Longport. Fishermen question the cost to the environment from demands for more and more sand on the beaches. A seafloor survey of sand ridges off Manasquan commissioned in June by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management raised alarms that the Corps of Engineers could dredge more sand from undersea hills that are essential fish habitat. Collectively known as the Manasquan Ridge, the hills attract seasonal concentrations of fish, and could be a future “borrow area,” where sand is extracted to pump onto nearby beaches. “They are already planning to use borrow areas closer to the beach,” said captain James Lovgren of the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, who, with other fishermen, met with DEP officials in late July regarding their concerns about sand mining. Read the story here 09:16
