Daily Archives: May 27, 2017
Company denies seabed mining would wreck environment
Four months of hearings into a seabed mining application off the South Taranaki coast have finally come to an end. It follows an application by Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) to dig up to 50 million tonnes of ironsand from the ocean floor each year. It would then extract 5 million tonnes of iron ore, and dump the residue on the bottom of the sea. Trans Tasman Resources said the scheme would produce 300 jobs and add $160 million to New Zealand’s GDP. It has already been turned down by the Environmental Protection Authority once, and has come back for a second attempt. Lawyer Robert Makgill represented the fishing industry and said the law clearly required the scheme to be turned down. Click here to read the story 13:31
Pack ice having huge impact on Twillingate economic activity
Harbourmaster Gord Noseworthy shakes his head as he describes the situation. “Nothing is getting landed. I have been working here for 21 years and I’ve never seen it like this.” He looks over at the boats tied up at the wharf and explains the ripple effect the ice has on the small outport community. “It is not just the boats and their crews that are being affected,” he said. “We have 50 to 60 people that load and unload the boats that aren’t working. These workers probably won’t get enough to qualify for EI. The crab that is usually landed here is being sent to places like Harbour Grace and Catalina. Not a single seal came onto our dock this year,” Noseworthy said,,, Lobster fisherman Hardy Troake is looking at a seriously depleted season. “Lobster season was supposed to have opened May 7,” he told the Pilot Friday. “It was then delayed until the 13th and look now; we still haven’t been able to get out.” Click here to read the story 11:16
Maine’s latest fishing frenzy brings in $1,200 a pound — and it’s not lobster
It is just past midnight, rain clouds stalking a full moon, and Julie Keene is out on a muddy riverbank in thigh-high rubber boots and a camouflage jacket, a headlamp strapped over her hair. As she wrestles with an oversize fishing net, Keene tells how she went from rags to riches, and that’s not a story many fishermen tell. Just a few years ago, the sardine factory in her hometown of Lubec had closed, and Keene was scrounging for a living digging clams and gathering periwinkles from the beach. “We were so damn poor we were on food stamps,” Keene said.Then came what for Maine was the equivalent of a gold rush. It was slimy, squirmy baby eels — in such demand in Asian markets that they were suddenly more profitable than even the beloved Maine lobster. One memorable night in 2012 when the baby eel were running strong, Keene was paid $36,000 — in cash — for her catch Click here to read the story 10:17
NL research shows LED lights draw crab to the pot
While they stopped short of trying a tiny disco ball, a local team of researchers has proven the addition of certain light emitting diode (LED) lights will draw snow crab to offshore traps.
“Fishing enterprises could theoretically reduce bait costs through LED light substitution, or enhance existing catch rates of baited traps by simply adding an LED light,” notes their research report, now available through the journal Aquaculture and Fisheries. A team from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Fisheries and Marine Institute, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans completed related work in May and June 2016, with the help of the DFO base in St. John’s and, later, the fishing vessel Atlantic Champion. Click here to read the story 09:33
Spain’s 3,000-Year-Old Tuna Harvest in Pictures
Atlantic bluefin tuna are among the most hunted species on the planet and one of the best ways to see the effects of an increasingly industrialized food chain. But for a few short weeks during early summer on Spain’s southern coast, an ancient ritual known as the almadraba still plays out—an intense, intimate, and violent tradition that strives to harvest some of the world’s most valuable seafood in a sustainable manner. Photographer Michael Magers traveled to Spain in 2015 to join a small crew of fisherman in the economically depressed town of Barbate and document the spectacle. Click here to view the images 08:45
Competitors ask court to undo Pacific Seafood expansion
In the two weeks since Pacific Seafood announced it would consolidate its dominant position on Newport’s Bayfront with the acquisition of two additional fish processing plants, the deal has generated more litigation than fish fillets. On Thursday, two companies who claim Pacific illegally conspired with its competitors to lock them out of the Newport seafood processing business, filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court to undo the transactions. The lawsuit alleges Pacific, under the leadership of third-generation Chief Executive Officer Frank Dulcich, acquired three properties on Newport’s Yaquina Bay in the past 23 months even though the plaintiffs offered more money. click here to read the story 08:17
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 26, 2017
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 08:02
