Daily Archives: May 8, 2017
Massachusetts man nabbed with $21,700 worth of illegal allegedly poached elvers
A Massachusetts man faces up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine after he was caught with an estimated $21,700 worth of allegedly poached elvers, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Joseph Starratt, 51, of Middleborough, Massachusetts, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of elvers, also known as baby or “glass” eels, without a license. The charge is a Class D misdemeanor crime, which is punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of $2,000. Marine Patrol officers, following up on a lead submitted through the Operation Game Thief tip line, located Starratt in Scarborough with 16.5 pounds of elvers and without any license to harvest them. Starratt was arrested and taken to Cumberland County Jail. Each pound contains about 2,500 elvers, click here to read the story 20:55
NOAA to announce annual U.S. fishing economic data, species information in press teleconference Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at 2:00 p.m
On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries will announce findings from two new reports that measure the nation’s economic impact in commercial and recreational fishing, and the progress made in ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks. Join our press teleconference Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. ET, to hear findings from NOAA’s Fisheries Economics of the U.S. 2015 and Status of U.S. Fisheries 2016 reports, and ask questions of our experts. Click here to read the notice, and instructions to listen. 16:53
3 fishermen in Miramichi Bay hoisted to safety by Cormorant
Three fishermen were rescued early Monday after their vessel ran aground in Miramichi Bay near Neguac. The crew sent a mayday call at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday and were rescued eight hours later. “They were taking on water,” said Alex Roy, a naval cadet from the Joint Task Force Atlantic in Nova Scotia. A search-and-rescue team 14 Wing Greenwood was dispatched in a Cormorant helicopter to locate the boat. “The fishing vessel ran aground on a sandbar,” Roy said. The fishermen were hoisted into the Cormorant and transported to the Neguac ballfield, where an ambulance was waiting. No other details were available Link 15:07
FISH-NL’s warnings of rising unrest play out, crab harvesters hold protest fishery off Port aux Choix
Predictions by the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) of rising unrest in the province’s fishing industry are playing out as inshore fishermen launched a protest crab fishery this morning off Port aux Choix on the Great Northern Peninsula. “Storm clouds have been brewing for months over the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery, and DFO, the police, Ottawa and the provincial government were warned long ago,” said Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “This is going to get uglier before it gets better.” As many as nine crab boats from the province took part in this morning’s protest fishery, although not all vessels set crab gear. click here to read the story 14:32
Crab fishermen set pots in off-limits zone to protest Quebec harvesting in area – click here to read the story 16:38
Five fishermen rescued from grounded fishing vessel in St-Pierre
The crew of a Newfoundland fishing boat was rescued early Monday after their vessel ran aground in St-Pierre-Miquelon. Five fishermen from the Arlene & Adonna were taken to a hotel after their boat ran into the rocks on L’ile-aux-Marins, a small island in the St.-Pierre harbor. Enrique Perez, the president of St-Pierre-Miquelon’s Search and Rescue group, said the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer had to leave the fishing vessel in place, but were able to take the fishermen off. click here to read the story 12:05
Fisherman’s Memorial remembers ‘Destination’ crew lost at sea
Members of the commercial fishing community came to remember those lost at sea at the Fisherman’s Terminal in Ballard Sunday. The Fisherman’s Memorial is an annual ceremony, but this year it had added importance. In February, the Seattle-based crabbing boat the Destination mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Alaska. It had six crew members on board. click here to view a video, read the rest 10:42
Waste Water Treatment Plants: Once home to thriving aquaculture, Great Bay is under great strain
GREAT BAY’S wonderful production of gourmet food has come to an unbelievable halt, and there’s bound to be a lot of uninformed debate on how to get those species such as clams, oysters, smelt, herring, white perch, crabs, lobsters and other multiple flora and fauna that may slip my mind.,, We’ve lost just about all of this incredible fish and game resource gradually! We’re going to get some flack from the do-gooders as to why they are gone, but when you look at the changes that have been parallel to the loss of fish, it’s been the rebuilding or refitting of the many sewage treatment plants that have been put into service that seem to be the answer to this lack of fish and game. You can see it in the lack of eelgrass beds that used to cover thousands of acres of tidal flats. These new treatment plants have filtered or poisoned most of the nutrients from the Piscataqua River and the many other rivers that serve their municipalities that dump their now super-treated effluent into the tidal water, now so sterile and lacking in nutrients and full of poison that plants and animals cannot survive. Read this article! click here 08:43
