Daily Archives: April 30, 2017
Did catch shares enable the Codfather’s fishing fraud?
Carlos Rafael’s guilty plea late last month of falsifying fish quotas, conspiracy and tax evasion has prompted renewed criticism of one of the most contentious parts of the New England groundfish fishery’s management system: catch shares.Rafael, who dubbed himself “The Codfather,” owned one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in the United States, and for some community fishermen in New England, his case represents consolidation run amok. Consolidating fishing permits, they say, also centralizes power, making fraud more likely. But for environmentalists who support catch shares as a way to reduce overfishing, consolidation isn’t inevitable. They say Rafael’s case highlights the need for better monitoring and fraud protections to prevent the sort of cheating that can plague any fishery management system. click here to read the rest 19:09
How Lobsters Do It – Mating among lobsters is a tender, human-like affair
Between their hard shells and strong pincers, American lobsters are built to fight and keep other creatures away. But does this combative, standoffish nature extend to mating? There are two general groups of animals called lobsters: clawed lobsters, which live in high-latitude, cold-water regions; and spiny lobsters, which are clawless and live in warmer sub-tropical waters. Clawed lobsters and spiny lobsters are not closely related. Clawed lobsters, including the American (Maine) and European lobsters, typically live in small, hierarchical groups, said biologist Jelle Atema, who studies American lobsters at Boston University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Males vigorously fight each other to be the dominant male of the group, though it’s a short-lived title given that lobsters remember whom they’ve fought for no longer than a week. click here to read the story 11:24
Progress made on invasive Asian carp in Kentucky thanks to Commercial Fishermen
Asian carp have been a big problem in our state. For years now, the KDFWR has worked with commercial fisherman, private fish processors and others in efforts to remove the Asian carp from our waters. Since 2015, three processors have been established, and their facilities have led to the harvest of more than 1.2 million pounds of Asian carp in 2015; more than 800,000 pounds from Kentucky and Barkley lakes. These processors are putting a big dent into this large population and are taking a fish that is unwanted in our waterways and putting them to use by processing them into food to ship overseas. In March, Two Rivers Fisheries in Wickliffe announced it was expanding. The plant doubled production in the past year, processing more than four million Asian carp to ship the fillets overseas and to use in fertilizers. click here to read the story 10:32
What the hell ha’ you done?
Jeffery Melton fishes from Lowestoft on the English east coast and is only too aware of fishing living up to its reputation as the most dangerous profession – and he forms part of the statistics. Fishing singlehanded aboard his 14m beamer Serene Dawn LT-7 in the Wash in May 2015, a freak set of circumstances combined to render this well-known, hugely experienced and much admired East Anglian fisherman suddenly and violently disabled in an horrific, split-second trauma, while towing for shrimps some miles off the North Norfolk coast. Eighteen months and eleven operations later, he’s back fishing and I joined him last week aboard the Serene Dawn to hear his story, observe the onboard routines and importantly for me, fish for one of tastiest seafood gems in the sea, brown shrimps (Crangon crangon). click here to read the story 09:50
Poor weather, ice conditions delays opening of spring lobster fishery until Monday for northern N.B.
Sunday’s weather forecast has delayed opening day of the spring lobster fishery in northern New Brunswick until Monday at 6 a.m. Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Luc Légère said the decision came Friday after consultation with industry representatives and the Canadian Coast Guard. “We looked mostly at the weather, but also ice conditions and things like that,” he said. Légère said the forecast is calling for high winds Sunday morning and big waves. Légère said some areas near Miscou Island, Shippagan, and some areas into Miramichi Bay were still having issues with ice conditions, but he hoped the warmer temperatures and winds would blow most of the ice out by Monday. click here to read the story 08:55
