Daily Archives: May 21, 2017
Coast Guard investigates a 3 vessel fire in Craig, Alaska
The Coast Guard is investigating a three-vessel fire aboard the 57-foot fishing vessel Seaborn, 56-foot fishing vessel Pacific Lady and the 49-foot fishing vessel Julia Kae, at a marina in North Cove in Craig, Alaska. The Craig harbormaster and fire department have contained the fire. Marine Safety Detachment Ketchikan investigators are responding to monitor for signs of pollution, investigate the cause of the incident and assess extent and cost of damage. Coast Guard Sector Juneau was notified early this morning about the fire that occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. The Pacific Lady has a max capacity of 1,500 gallons of fuel, the Julia Kae has a max capacity of 3,800 gallons of fuel and the Seaborn has a max capacity of 2,000 gallons of fuel. Sheening appears to be minimal, but boom has been deployed around two of the vessels.There were no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. USCG 19:17
Golden fish
Update: This story was updated on May 21, 2017 to include new prices. In economic crisis, there is often opportunity. Commercial fishermen in Cordova, Alaska are at the moment worrying mightily about what the rest of their fishing season will bring given the prediction of a record weak-return of Copper River king season. But what the ocean gods have brought so far are sky-high prices for a higher than expected catch of a thought-to-be struggling run of fish. The first, 12-hour opening of the season was expected to result in the harvest of only a few hundred kings given a prediction of a weak return and fishing-area closures the Alaska Department of Fish and Game ordered to protect areas where kings have usually been caught in the past. Despite those closures, however, fishermen caught almost 1,900 of the big fish, a catch bigger than in last year’s opener. Most fishermen in the Cordova fleet of 500 gillnetters were reported to be getting dock prices of $10.30 per pound for king, but some were doing much better. click here to read the story 18:20
Letter: Taking stock of cod stock assessments
In a Telegram letter published May 6, (“Perfectly good fisheries data being ignored,” click here ) Harvey Jarvis criticized the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ assessments of northern cod and 3Ps (i.e. south coast) cod. Based on my 20-plus years of experience with stock assessments in Newfoundland and Labrador and other regions (Canada, the U.S., and Europe), I think Jarvis is absolutely correct about the 3Ps cod assessment, but he is incorrect about the new northern cod assessment framework that DFO adopted in 2016. Jarvis suggested that the only information used in the northern cod assessment model to estimate stock biomass is the DFO research vessel survey index. He indicated that the commercial catch, the commercial logbook data and the cod sentinel catch rate indices are not used. This is not true. The 2016 northern cod stock assessment used a state-of-the-art model,,, click here to read the letter 17:23
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 145 miles east of Cape Cod
A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod aircrew medevaced an ill fisherman Saturday evening from 145 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. At around 7:30 p.m., the captain of the 78-foot fishing vessel Little Tootie notified the First District command center that one of his crewmembers was having respiratory troubles. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched and arrived on scene at around 10:30 p.m. Once on scene, the crew hoisted the fisherman to the helicopter. The fisherman was then flown to Air Station Cape Cod where emergency medical services personnel were waiting to transport the 44-year-old man to Falmouth Hospital. The Little Tootie is a scalloper homeported out of Newport News, Virginia. USCG 15:31
Father and Son Busted With More Than $17M in Sea Cucumbers
A father and son have been indicted on charges of smuggling illegally harvested sea cucumbers worth more than $17 million into the United States and selling the Chinese delicacy on Asian markets. Depending on the species, sea cucumbers can go for as much as $300 a pound in China and Hong Kong, authorities say. Ramon Torres Mayorquin and his son, David Mayorquin, were charged in federal court in San Diego of conspiracy, false labeling and unlawful importation of wildlife, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Their company, Blessings Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, was also charged. Between 2010 and 2012, the family knowingly agreed to purchase roughly $13 million worth of illicitly harvested sea cucumbers from poachers operating off the Yucatan Peninsula, according to the indictment filed Wednesday. They then allegedly imported the product and sold it to Asian markets for about $17.5 million. Click here to read the story 11:23
Washington State loses major legal battle, might pay up to $2B to save salmon
Washington state lost a major legal battle Friday, which could force it spend nearly $2 billion to restore salmon habitat by removing barriers that block fish migration. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year affirmed a lower court’s 2013 ruling ordering the state to fix or replace hundreds of culverts — large pipes that allow streams to pass beneath roads but block migrating salmon. Idaho and Montana joined Washington state in asking the appeals court to reconsider the case. The court declined to do so Friday, but several judges dissented from that decision, saying it should be reconsidered because of its significance. “This is a win for salmon, treaty rights and everyone who lives here,” Lorraine Loomis, chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said in a statement. The group represents 21 tribes in western Washington that challenged the state over the culverts in 2001, part of decades-long litigation over tribal fishing rights. click here to read the story 10:34
Northeast Fisheries Science Center study says Gulf of Maine will become too warm for many key fish
A new study by federal fisheries scientists predicts the warming of the Gulf of Maine will cause a dramatic contraction of suitably cool habitat for a range of key commercial fish species there. On the other hand, lobsters are more likely to find hospitable areas. The study by seven scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, used a high-resolution global climate model and federal fisheries survey data to model how key fisheries species would likely be affected by predicted warming over the next 80 years. “This is not telling you that in the future this is what the species’ abundance and distribution will be, only how much suitable thermal habitat each has,” says lead author Kristin Kleisner, who recently joined the staff of the Environmental Defense Fund and is based in Boston. “A lot will depend on how these species shift and the interactions they have with other species.” click here to read the story 09:58
Read Marine Species Distribution Shifts Will Continue Under Ocean Warming @NOAA/NEFSC – Funding for this joint project between NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and The Nature Conservancy study was provided by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Sea lion drags young girl into water at Richmond’s Steveston Wharf
A sea lion was captured on video dragging a young girl into the water at Richmond’s Steveston Fisherman Wharf. In the video, which was posted to Youtube by Vancouver’s Michael Fujiwara, the sea lion surfaces near the dock, and swims about looking harmless. No doubt it was drawn by the fish — this is an area, after all, that was once nicknamed Salmonopolis. But after surveying the area and discovering no fish, the sea lion surprises everyone by approaching a young girl, then suddenly, biting down on her dress and dragging her backwards into the water. click here to read the story, video 09:05
