Daily Archives: February 2, 2017

Commission Cuts Summer Flounder leaving New Jersey leaders fuming

The Commission voted Thursday to reduce this year’s summer flounder catch, leaving New Jersey leaders fuming and vowing to take action. It’s a move many in the state believe could devastate the recreational fishing industry at the Jersey Shore by tightening size and bag limits on the fish.,,At its meeting in Virginia, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission chose Option 5, which implements reductions between 28 percent and 32 percent the length of the coast. All other options included in the plan would have mandated a 41 percent cut. Federal experts have argued the reductions are necessary to preserve the stock. At a public hearing last month in Galloway Township, Kirby Rootes-Murdy, a senior fishery management plan coordinator at ASMFC, said the flounder stock is in “an overfishing situation.” Read the story here 21:00

Pallone Opposes Cuts to Summer Flounder Quotas at Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting

Today, at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a spokesperson for Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) provided a statement arguing that proposed reductions for Summer Flounder quotas would harm many coastal communities including those along the Jersey Shore that rely on the recreational and commercial fishing industries. The Commission, despite opposition by New Jersey representatives, elected to finalize regulations that will result in a 34% cut in summer flounder quotas for the state. The bag limit will decrease to 3 fish, and the minimum size will increase one inch to 19 inches on the New Jersey coast and 18 inches in Delaware Bay. The recreational and commercial limits would both be reduced by approximately 30% in 2017 and 16% in 2018. Read the press release here 18:57

Fishermen forced to share spawning pounds in spawn-on-kelp herring fishery

The spawn-on-kelp fishery allows fishermen to catch herring near Craig and Klawock and put them into floating net pens called pounds. Blades of kelp are also put in there for the herring to spawn on. The eggs are then sold to Asian markets. Scott Walker is the Area Management Biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Ketchikan. He’s been helping manage the spawn-on-kelp fishery since it began in 1992. “We have been seeing throughout Southeast Alaska right now a downturn of herring stocks,” Walker said. In the past the fishermen were restricted by the number of blades of kelp they were allowed to use in their pounds. Now, fishermen will also be forced to share a pen with at least five other permit holders. The effort will mean less pounds being used, which is what the state is after, says Walker. Last year 46 structures were fished, the year before it was 76. This year it’s limited to 20 pens. Audio report, read the story here 16:26

New scientific paper throws conventional thinking about minimum sizes for fish out the window

At last, after decades of so-called reviews of minimum sizes which have basically just fiddled at the edges, an Australian fisheries management authority has finally fundamentally questioned and analysed the use of minimum sizes as an effective tool for sustainable fish species management. Our friends in WA have issued Fisheries Management Paper No. 279; Policy on the Application of Fish Size Limits in Western Australia. In eight concise pages it addresses one of the oldest types of management tools used in fisheries, the setting of minimum size limits for all popular species targeted by recreational and commercial fishers. It concludes that often setting these limits is a waste of time. The Policy has then been used as the basis of the subsequent Fisheries Management Paper No. 280 which outlines proposals for reviewing the appropriateness of all current size limits that apply to finfish species in WA. Read the story here 16:03

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for January 30, 2017

Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 14:30

Bay of Fundy Fishermen trying to overturn approval of tidal turbine

A fishermen’s group has asked the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to set aside provincial approval of a massive tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy, saying the decision was based on poor scientific data. The 1,000-tonne underwater generator was installed on the floor of the Minas Passage in November, but the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association has said the test project should be put on hold to ensure the bay’s productive ecosystem is not harmed. David Coles, the lawyer representing the 175-member association, told the court Wednesday that Environment Minister Margaret Miller overstepped her authority last June because the company behind the project — Cape Sharp Tidal — did not submit enough scientific data about the state of the bay prior to installation. “The minister was required to consider certain things, and they’re just not in the record,” Coles told Justice Heather Robertson. Read the story here 14:07

Resolution Urges President Trump and U.S. Congress to Mitigate Harm to Alaska’s Fishing Industry Resulting from TPP Withdrawal

Today, Senator Bill Wielechowski (“While I did not support the TPP,,,! D-Anchorage) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 3 (SJR3) urging President Donald Trump, and the U.S. Congress to take action to mitigate the harm caused to Alaska’s fishing industry as a result of the President’s announcement last week that the United States would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP was a sweeping agreement which contained several provisions that could have been problematic to United States manufacture. The agriculture industry, however, including Alaskan seafood production, stood to benefit dramatically. According to a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, the U.S. would have seen a 33% increase in intraregional exports, and a 5% increase in U.S. exports among TPP members. Read the rest here 12:39

Mint worker convicted of smuggling gold in rectum sentenced to 30 months

Leston Lawrence, 35, made only a brief statement before a ruling from Ontario Justice Peter Doody. “I’d just like to say thank you, sir, and that’s it. No further comment.” After which, his puffy jacket still done up, he sat down in the front row. Lawrence was also ordered to repay $190,000, the true market value of the precious metal, which he sold at a discount. Lawrence, an operator in the Mint’s refinery section on Sussex Drive, was convicted Nov. 9 of stealing 22 gold “pucks” during a three-month period that began in December 2014, then reselling them and spending the proceeds. Though the method of escape was never proven, the Mint was satisfied Lawrence must have hidden the pucks — about the diameter of a golf gall — in his rectum as he exited the secure area after his shift. The theory was bolstered by the discovery of vaseline and latex gloves in his personal locker and the fact he set off an archway metal detector 28 times in 41 days, though no gold was ever found on his person. The Mint was so convinced this was the heist method that it had a security officer duplicate the crime. During the test, the first detector was set off but not the second, done with a hand-held device. Court was told that Lawrence was arranging to have a home built in Jamaica and had sent about $35,000 to a contractor in the Caribbean. He had also invested about $34,000 in a commercial fishing boat in Florida. Read the story here 10:26

American Samoan Governor Lolo Moliga gets tough with NOAA

American Samoan Gov. called a spade a spade when he met with officials from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation visiting the territory last week. Speaking at Friday’s cabinet meeting, the first for the new administration, the governor said he told officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that their local office, is just that — an office, and it cannot dictate what American Samoa can and cannot do. He said it’s not that American Samoa is against conservation, but it’s the way that the federal government has gone about the takeover of local waters included in the sanctuary that he has a problem with. The governor said he told the feds that American Samioa is prepared to fight for ownership of its resources in the lawsuit now before the U.S. District Court of Honolulu, which goes to trial this week. Link 09:38

Van Drew Measure Asks President to Reject Summer Flounder Catch Reduction

A measure sponsored by Senator Jeff Van Drew and Bob Smith urging President Donald Trump to reject the proposed reduction in the summer flounder catch limit – an action that would have a drastic impact on fishing in New Jersey and the economy – and urging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct a new summer flounder assessment was approved today by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. “We are very concerned about the decision to move forward with a catch reduction. That fact that it was based on faulty data only adds insult to injury,” said Senator Van Drew (D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic.) “We are urging the President to reject this dramatic change that will have a real negative effect on both the fishing industry and our economy and asking for a new assessment before any new catch quota is implemented.” Read the story here 09:15

Canadian seafood industry braces for new U.S. traceability rules

Canadian seafood producers will need to “raise their game” to satisfy new American seafood traceability rules, according to federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc. The Seafood Import Monitoring Program was one of the final acts of the Obama administration. It will require much more detailed information about catches before they are allowed into the United States. “We need to raise our game to ensure that the Americans receive the evidence they require that our fisheries are compliant, as they are,” LeBlanc said. The goal is stop illegal, unregulated and unreported catches from entering the U.S. The measures go into effect next January. Read the story here 08:18