Daily Archives: July 17, 2017
Bumper Tasmanian scallop season expected
The Tasmanian scallop season has kicked off with expectations that up to 5000 tonnes could be netted out of the Bass Strait Central Zone fishery this year. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority has initially set a total allowable catch of 3000 tonnes for the fishery this season. The season began on July 1 and runs until December 31. Under AFMA rules, a series of four triggers will allow the total allowable catch to increase when certain levels are achieved.,, Scallop Fishermen’s Association of Tasmania chief executive Bob Lister says the industry could be worth $6 million this year. “We are expecting the catch this year to be of high quality, very tasty, with a creamy scallop and a bright orange roe,” he said. click here to read the story 21:33
Federal officials order 15,000 new visas for low-wage workers
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump’s “Hire American” rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers. The increase represents a 45 percent bump from the number of H-2B visas normally issued for the second half of the fiscal year, said senior Homeland Security officials in a call with reporters Monday. The visas are for workers taking seasonal jobs in the seafood, tourism and other industries — but not farm laborers. click here to read the story 16:55
Shop the Dock debuts in Warrenton
The first ever “Shop the Dock” tours in Clatsop County highlighted Warrenton’s seafood offerings. Despite the area’s long history of fishing and seafood processing — and even though the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean are right there — how to actually lay hands on freshly caught seafood can be a mystery for many residents without ties to the commercial fishing industry. The tour Friday was intended to show people what’s available and where.,,, Amanda Gladics of Oregon Sea Grant, who coordinated the two morning tours, said afterward that they had a great response from the community. click here to read the story 16:24
‘Don’t call me Bubba’: How former NFL player Jarvis Green learned shrimping from scratch
Almost two years after retiring from the NFL, Jarvis Green found himself back in training camp. Shrimp training camp. The former Patriots defensive end was learning the ins and outs of the shrimping business. But even as his now ex-wife and others kidded him by calling him “Bubba” — an allusion to Mykelti Williamson’s Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue character from the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump” — Green said he was more like Forrest than Bubba. “I always say, ‘Don’t call me Bubba,’” Green recently told Omnisport. “Remember in ‘Forrest Gump,’ somebody owed somebody a favor and Forrest kept the favor. Same thing with me. “I’m not Bubba. I’m Tom Hanks, because I’m the guy who didn’t know anything about shrimp.” Green, who spent nine years in the NFL and won a pair of Super Bowls with the Patriots, now has a flourishing shrimp business called Oceans 97 — a reference to his jersey number. click here to read the story 14:32
Environmental groups suing Trump administration for extending red snapper season
Two environmental groups are suing the Trump administration for stretching the red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico. The federal government said the economic benefit from allowing weekend fishing this summer by recreational anglers in federal waters outweighs the harm to the red snapper species, which is still recovering from disastrous overfishing. Gulf state officials had lobbied for and praised the change, but the lawsuit says the decision violated several laws by ignoring scientific assessments, promoting overfishing, and failing to follow required procedures. It was filed Monday for the Ocean Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund. click here to read the story 13:13
Paul Sparkes: To wit — a barrel of herring
In the middle of November 1906 at 10:30 in the morning Alexander Dubois and George Crane were summoned before Magistrate Levi March at Bay of Islands to answer to the charge of breaching Newfoundland’s Bait Act. As Commissioner in that region, Joseph O’Reilly, J.P., was the plaintiff — the man who advanced Newfoundland’s case. The defendants had lawyers but witnesses clearly told the magistrate that they had seen the two Wood’s Island men placing herring (a bait fish) aboard the American schooner Ralph L. Hall. And, woe to them for it seems to have been well known by witnesses that the two did not hold vendors’ licences. And that was essential under Newfoundland law at the time. Mind you, we are talking about three tubs of herring. click here to read the story 12:38
Sea to Table – Meghan Lapp to speak in Stonington July 27
On July 27 we will be hosting a presentation by Meghan Lapp, a fishing industry spokesperson and activist from Narragansett, R.I. She will have an interactive discussion with some audience members, including Mike Gambardella of Gambardella Fish Wholesale, and some of the fishermen, on problems faced by the industry and how people can support the industry regionally and locally. She will also explain why most of our seafood is imported while the waters off our shores are teaming with fish. There will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions at the end of her talk. The presentation will be held at the LaGrua Center on Water Street in Stonington borough and starts at 7 PM. Admission is free. Please come out and show your support for our local fishermen! Click here for more information 12:02
OPINION: Ban seismic testing, offshore drilling of NJ coast
Summer is in full swing at the Jersey Shore. Over the next couple of months and into the fall, millions of visitors will head “down the shore” for the beaches, fishing, boating and ecotourism activities like whale and dolphin watching. It’s hard to imagine New Jersey without its thriving shore tourism economy — dependent on a healthy ocean and a clean coastline stretching from Sandy Hook to Cape May. The same goes for its commercial fishing industry, which supplies fresh seafood to countless restaurants and markets. But tourism and commercial fishing in New Jersey are once again threatened by a bad idea that comes back again and again: ocean drilling for oil and gas along the coast of this state we’re in. click here to read the op-ed 11:17
