Daily Archives: August 24, 2017
Fugitive Farmed Atlantic salmon ‘heading to every river in Puget Sound’
The Lummi Nation is marshaling a mop-up of thousands of fugitive Atlantic salmon in the tribe’s territorial waters, and the Swinomish chairman has called for a shutdown of the farmed-salmon industry in Puget Sound after last weekend’s spill. Swinomish fishermen caught farmed Atlantic salmon in the Skagit River on Wednesday night, as the fish continued to disperse through the Puget Sound, said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. He also received a report of an Atlantic salmon caught off Alki Point on Thursday afternoon. “These fish are headed to every river in Puget Sound,” Cladoosby said. “We have been saying all along it was not a question of if, but when, this would happen. click here to read the story 23:27
Rep. William Straus request reveals NOAA has yet to penalize Rafael
Through a public records request, Rep. William Straus said he discovered that NOAA hasn’t disciplined Carlos Rafael since the indictment has been released. That included an incident on Aug. 5, 2016, which occurred after the indictment, where public records also show that the Coast Guard cited the Lady Patricia, a Rafael vessel listed in the indictment, for “fishing without proper VMS designation.” NOAA defines its Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) as a system supporting law enforcement initiatives and preventing violations of laws and regulations. It is used as evidence in the prosecution of environmental laws and regulations including regional fishing quotas, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. click here to read the story 21:40
Seafood giant back in Warrenton
Mike Brown, like many in the seafood processing industry, is used to old buildings — massive complexes from another generation that have seen countless fish and hundreds of filleters come and go over the decades. But as general manager of Pacific Seafood Group’s rebuilt Warrenton facility, Brown is about to be in charge of a brand-new building. The West Coast seafood processing giant is in the middle of rebuilding after a fire destroyed the original plant in 2013. Construction began last year, click here to read the story 20:37
08/24/2017 06:57 PM EDT – Coast Guard prepares response efforts for Hurricane Harvey
The Coast Guard is preparing response efforts for Hurricane Harvey’s impact on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, Thursday. The Coast Guard is working closely with all local and state emergency operation centers and is establishing incident command posts to manage Coast Guard storm operations. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston and Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi captains of the port have set port condition yankee for the ports of Houston, Texas City, Galveston, Freeport and Corpus Christi.Stay informed. Information can be obtained through local television, radio, Internet, and VHF radio channel 16. click here to read the bulletin 19:25
The Fate Of The 1st Atlantic Marine Monument Is Likely Headed To Court
Environmentalists and fishing groups said Thursday they are prepared for a legal battle in the wake of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s decision to preserve the nation’s first Atlantic Ocean marine monument.,,, The Atlantic monument has been contested from the beginning. Some fishing groups have said it was created through an illegal use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 and jeopardizes their industry, and they’ve sued to challenge its creation. “I’m sure fishermen will appreciate any relief they get from the administration, but unless the monument is revoked it won’t cure the legal problem that we highlight in the lawsuit,” said Jonathan Wood, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the fishing groups. click here to read the story 16:01
The Latest: New England groups want fishing rights back – Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president Richard Fuka says he hopes U.S. demand for locally harvested seafood convinced U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to recommend reopening the area to fishing. Fishing groups said they were encouraged by Zinke stating that his recommendations would “provide a much needed change for the local communities who border and rely on these lands for hunting and fishing.” click here to read the story 20:16
Aquarium-Business Owner Admits to Trafficking Protected Corals
The owner of an aquarium business in Puerto Rico pleaded guilty Wednesday to harvesting protected reef creatures and selling them off island. Aristides Sanchez ran his saltwater aquarium business, Wonders of the Reef Aquarium, in his hometown of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Prosecutors say native Puerto Rican marine species accounted for a large part of Sanchez’s business, and that he sent live specimens to customers in the mainland United States and foreign countries by commercial courier services. “From January 2013 to March 2016, Sanchez sent or caused to be sent at least 130 shipments of falsely labeled marine species that were illegally harvested in the waters of Puerto Rico,” the Justice Department says. click here to read the story 13:25
Interior secretary won’t eliminate any national monuments
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he’s recommending that none of 27 national monuments carved from wilderness and ocean and under review by the Trump administration be eliminated. But there would be changes to a “handful,” he said. Zinke told The Associated Press that unspecified boundary adjustments for some monuments designated over the past four decades will be included in the recommendations he planned to give President Donald Trump on Thursday. None of the sites would revert to new ownership, he said, while public access for uses such as hunting, fishing or grazing would be maintained or restored. click here to read the story 12:39
Tropical storm Harvey intensifies, forecast to be a Category 3 hurricane at landfall in Texas
The Texas Gulf Coast was bracing for Tropical Storm Harvey to make landfall by Friday, bringing with it powerful winds, torrential rains and the possibility that it could strengthen into a hurricane. Harvey was about 370 miles southeast of Port Mansfield, Texas, by early Thursday as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. click here to read the story 11:22 Click here for weather updates from the National Weather Service
Gloucester: At Fishermen’s Memorial Service, daughter speaks language of loss
Candace Unis, who will speak at Saturday’s annual Fishermen’s Memorial Service of the grief of losing a loved one to the sea, knows of which she speaks. In September 1978, her father left on a Sunday for two days of fishing on his nephew’s 52-foot trawler and was never seen again. There were no mayday calls, no signs of distress. The boat, the Alligator, went down — possibly hit by a freighter — with three men onboard: Unis’s 55-year-old father, James Sinagra, his 46-year-old nephew, Carlo “Bronco” Sinagra; and a 26-year-old crewman, Glenn Guitarr. It was the second boat lost out of Gloucester that month, with a total of nine lives lost, and to Unis, who was 25 at the time, it was a wound that would never really heal. click here to read the story 10:22
When: Saturday, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m., Where: Monument of the Fisherman on Stacy Boulevard
Structural Problems – Washington state fish farm’s collapse has reinvigorated salmon-farming debates
The Washington state fish farm that collapsed allowing many thousands of Atlantic salmon to escape into the Pacific showed signs of trouble last month, and was slated for upgrades. In late July, the Cooke Aquaculture-owned operation near Cypress Island required emergency work to stabilize the net pens after crews saw them moving in currents. Then last weekend, the same pens, containing 300,000 Atlantic salmon, began showing damage on Saturday before collapsing on Sunday, releasing an unknown number of fish. While the incident happened in Washington state, it’s reinvigorated the longstanding debate about fish farming on Canada’s West Coast, including the controversial but common practice of farming Atlantic salmon in Pacific waters. click here to read the story 08:26
Spill of farmed Atlantic salmon near San Juan Islands much bigger than first estimates – The farm held a total of more than 300,000 fish weighing some 3 million pounds. click here to read the story 11:15
