Daily Archives: December 22, 2016
Fishing advocates seek delay in new limits on fluke fishing
Fishing advocates seeking to head off what they described as “devastating” reductions in the New York quota for fluke next year are calling on federal regulators to forestall planned 2017 cuts until a more current assessment of the fish population is completed. Led by frequent fishing advocate Sen. Chuck Schumer, a group of 50 recreational and commercial fishing boat captains and advocates gathered at the Captree Boat Basin in Babylon Thursday to say a planned 30 percent reduction would threaten hundreds of businesses. Schumer said he plans to reach out to the U.S. Department of Commerce and its newly nominated secretary, Wilbur Ross, to address his concerns, including requesting an expedited fluke population assessment and a suspension of the new cuts until improved data is available. Schumer said he was hopeful that Ross, a New Yorker who was once an adviser on the Long Island Lighting Co. buyout by LIPA, could step in to forestall management moves by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees councils that manage the fluke fishery. Schumer said he would reach out to President-elect Donald Trump, Ross and “whoever I have to to get this changed.” Read the story here 20:06
Baltimore Canyon “urban sanctuary” off OC worries fishermen
Capt. Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing in Ocean City said the protection of one small patch of ocean does nothing to protect the ocean environment as a whole. “We have to do a whole lot better than what we are doing,” Hawkins said. “But taking the Baltimore Canyon and protecting the area directly around it is incredibly distressing, these are areas filled with recreational fishermen and commercial fishermen.” While the designation is said to not impact recreational fishing, the unique designation has worried local politicians and fishermen alike, who believe that the sanctuary status could impact the local economy; whether by curbing recreational and tournament fishing or impacting commercial vessels. In Maryland, offshore commercial fishing brings in around $78.2 million annually, or roughly 35 percent of the average annual catch for the Mid-Atlantic Coastline, according to the National Aquarium’s proposal to the NOAA. Read the story here 16:22
Historical Society donates fishing tug to Knife River
A historical landmark paying homage to the North Shore’s once-thriving commercial fishing industry began its journey Wednesday back to where it was built in 1939. After sitting on the shore of Agate Bay in Two Harbors for 26 years, the fishing tug Crusader II was lifted off its supports, placed on a trailer and hauled off to Knife River in the hopes of restoring it to its former glory. “We are basically giving the Crusader back to the community of Knife River as a Christmas present more or less,” Mel Sando, director of the Lake County Historical Society, said as he watched a crew from Knife River Marina secure the boat to the trailer. Used primarily for catching herring in Lake Superior, the Crusader II was built in Larsmont by Reuben and Helmer Hill and was christened in Knife River by Crown Prince Olav of Norway during his visit to the North Shore, according to the Historical Society. “A group from Knife River approached the Historical Society and asked if they could have the boat back,” Sando said. “We recognize that they are in a much better position to provide good stewardship for the boat.” Read the story here 14:47
Global demand for lobster surges
Tom Adams, the founder, owner and CEO of Maine Coast in York, recently honored by Mainebiz as its 2016 medium-size fastest growing company, says exports have played a big role in the company’s success. Four years after a glut led to the cheapest lobsters since the 1980s, prices on average for lobster are up 37% this year and the highest on record going back decades. But that hasn’t dampened demand. Bloomberg reported that U.S. and Canadian fishermen are catching more lobster than ever in recent years, yet output hasn’t kept pace with demand: Exports to China are surging and American restaurants increasingly are adding lobster to various dishes on their menus. “The market now is outstripping the supply,” Bernie Berry, president of the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia-based Cold Water Lobster Association, which represents fisherman in Canada, told Bloomberg. Read the rest here 12:00
Year in Review: Alaska Fisheries – Board shakeup, drifters win, sockeyes up as pinks, crab crash
After a hectic fisheries year in 2015 involving felony charges, forced retirements and resignations, the 2016 Board of Fisheries confirmation cycle was mild, with few of last year’s inflamed arguments. This board shakeup precedes the Board of Fisheries Upper Cook Inlet finfish meeting in early 2017, which is held once every three years and is highly charged by the conflicts between user groups. The last two years took a toll on fisheries leadership, including one botched interview, one forced resignation, three failed nominations, a fistful of felony charges against one of those nominees, and two recent resignations — one by chairman Tom Kluberton who cited political burnout and stress, the other by Bob Mumford, coming before he even had the chance to be confirmed by the Legislature. Unlike 2015, Board of Fisheries appointees had no trouble being confirmed in a rare occurrence for the Legislature. In April 2016, the Legislature unanimously confirmed Al Cain, Israel Payton, and Robert Ruffner to the Board of Fisheries, replacing Mumford, Fritz Johnson and Kluberton. Last year, Ruffner’s confirmation hearing went especially wrong after a sustained campaign by sportfishing groups to characterize him as holding commercial fishing sympathies. The Legislature failed to confirm him on a 29-30 vote in 2015 but unanimously approved him in 2016. Read the Year in Review here 11:35
Maine lobsterman grateful for presidential pardon
A well respected midcoast fisherman who was granted clemency Monday by President Obama for a drug crime he committed more than 30 years ago says he’s pleased to close that chapter of his life. “It gives me a sense of forgiveness, is what it does,” Robert S. ‘Bob’ Baines said Wednesday morning in the driveway of his South Thomaston home, taking a break from getting a pair of motorcycles ready for winter storage. In 1986, Baines was convicted in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, netting him a six-year prison sentence. He declined Wednesday to go into detail about the crime, but said it’s a chapter he’s pleased to close out now. Dave Cousens, president of the MLA, said Wednesday he asked Baines to join 25 years ago, and that Baines has been an important part of the organization ever since. Read the rest of the story here 10:40
California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing licenses upheld
California’s nonresident fee differential for four commercial fishing licenses, vessel registration and permits is constitutional, the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals says. A certified class of nonresident commercial fishers challenges the fee differentials under the Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. “We hold that California’s fee differentials do not violate either clause,” says the majority opinion, written by Judge William Fletcher. California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing vessel registrations, fishing licenses, Dungeness crab permits, and herring gill net permits were less than the amount by which California subsidized the management of the nonresidents’ portions of its commercial fishery, the court says, thus being within the Privileges and Immunities Clause challenge because the differentials were justified by a substantial reason that was closely related to the differential fees. Read the rest here 08:51
Shrimp fishermen take issue with proposed TED rule
Shrimp boats that fish offshore already use TEDs. Turtle excluder devices use metal grates that prevent turtles from getting caught in the nets. The new rule would apply to skimmer nets, which generally shrimp in shallower waters. “It would affect about half of our fleet, which currently uses skimmer nets. They’ve been having to adhere to tow time restrictions. Now, they’ll have to use TEDs instead,” said Rick Burris, who directs the DMR Shrimp and Crab Bureau. The proposed regulation to expand the use of TEDs is the result of a federal lawsuit filed by a nonprofit conservation group called Oceana, which blames commercial fishermen for killing hundreds of sea turtles each year. “Certainly they’re being singled out. Oceana has had the shrimp industry as a target for a long time. Particularly as it relates to turtles,” said David Veal, executive director of the American Shrimp Processors Association. Veal says the statistics cited by the conservation group are suspect. Video, read the rest here 08:14
