Daily Archives: August 29, 2017
Federal Judge Evokes Dr. Seuss in Upholding Seafood Regulations
Invoking Dr. Seuss, a federal judge on Monday quoted from the 1960 classic “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” to uphold a regulatory regime intended to cut down on seafood fraud and protect U.S. fishers from unfair competition. Despite a challenge to the rule by a slew of U.S. seafood importers, harvesters and processors, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found that the traceability rule, which requires importers to document the supply chain of imports from their origin to their arrival in the U.S., was lawfully implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service. click here to read the story 18:32
NewYork State to close commercial fluke fishery Sept. 1
The notice by the Department of Environmental Conservation sent to commercial fluke permit holders Monday said the closure, enacted to preserve a fourth-quarter fishing period from October through December, “will remain in effect until further notice.”,,, Local fishermen say they had already been straining under an exceptionally low daily quota of just 50 pounds through most of the year, even though fluke have been relatively abundant this year. “I’m so angry,” said Mattituck fisherman Arthur Kretschmer, 61, who operates a bottom-fish trawler on the eastern Long Island Sound. Speaking of regulators he said, “These people have no clue how it affects people’s lives when they close down a fishery. We have nothing left to catch here.” click here to read the story 17:55
What It’s Really Like on a Wicked Tuna Fishing Boat
If you add it all up, the days and nights on the water, Captain TJ Ott has probably spent most of his 37 years on a boat. The captain of the 39-foot Hot Tuna is a bear of a man with a scraggly beard who loves the Grateful Dead, and he’ll be the first one to tell you without equivocation that his life as a commercial fisherman is a profession, but also a kind of addiction. All of it—the wind across the deck; the solitude of being out at a spot like Jeffreys Ledge in the Gulf of Maine; settled behind the wheel with a pair of Rottweilers named Reba and Ripple lounging at his heels, scanning the sonar screen—for a guy who grew up in the fishing community of Broad Channel, New York, it doesn’t get any better than this. click here to read the story 15:38
Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program – 2017 Awards
NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $2.3 million to partners around the country to support innovative bycatch reduction research projects through its . Bycatch of various species–fish, marine mammals, or turtles–can have significant biological, economic, and social impacts. Preventing and reducing bycatch is a shared goal of fisheries managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community. click here to read the notice 14:10
New Group Is Dedicated to Liberating Lobsters
The lobster heroes are here: Crustacean Liberation is a new advocacy group dedicated to saving one of the most overlooked and abused groups of animals: lobsters, crabs, shrimp, and other crustaceans. The organization, started by Robbie Ruderman of Miami, Florida, is just getting off the ground with lobster liberations. Its goals are to “set captured crustaceans free and to raise awareness about the obscenely cruel and barbaric treatment of these innocent, feeling beings,” says Ruderman. The group buys lobsters and then works as a team to release them into the wild.,,,“If you’ve ever seen a lobster or crab lowered into a pot of boiling water,,, I have! I’ve enjoyed the end results! click here to read this,,, story 12:37
Fishing fraternity lens its weight to camera implementation
The cost of rolling out monitoring cameras on their vessels is worrying Nelson’s smaller fishing operators who say the costs of installing them could push a number of them out of business. Nelson-based inshore fisherman Fin Horder estimated it could cost him $20,000 to install and maintain the equipment.could cost him $20,000 to install and maintain the equipment.,,An MPI regulatory impact statement on the IEMRS suggested the proposal may result in significant rationalisation of the industry. Anecdotal information during the consultation process indicated that the cost of cameras in particular could cause some fishers to exit the industry. click here to read the story 10:56
Washington fish spill ‘a sad case of déjà vu,’ NL-CAR says
Leo White is shining a light on escapes of farmed fish here in Newfoundland after a recent incident at a Cooke Aquaculture site in Washington. White, a spokesperson the Newfoundland and Labrador Coalition for Aquaculture Reform (NL-CAR), said the escape of 305,000 Atlantic salmon on the west coast is “a sad case of déjà vu.”,,, “What has happened in Washington, and what continues to happen here in Newfoundland underscores the need for all new aquaculture proposals to complete a full environmental assessment,” White said. click here to read the story 09:55
Defeated – Sea Shepherd to suspend pursuit of Japanese whalers
Sea Shepherd, the environmental group famous for tracking, exposing and occasionally ramming Japanese whalers, says it can no longer compete with them on the high seas. In a statement Monday, the group’s founder Paul Watson said “Japan is now employing military surveillance to watch Sea Shepherd ship movements in real time by satellite,” making it nearly impossible for them to intercept them. “We cannot compete with their military grade technology.” But Watson said the combination of surveillance techniques, the passage of new anti-terrorism laws “specifically designed to condemn Sea Shepherd tactics,” and a threat by Japan to send military vessels to defend whalers was too much. click here to read the story 09:17
Boat captain admits ‘negligence’ in oil spill near Witless Bay reserve
The captain of the fishing vessel than ran aground Friday — spilling diesel near the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve — says the incident was due to “negligence” on his part. Capt. Joseph Swan, who declined an on-camera interview, told CBC News Monday he should have been awake when the incident happened, but it was the rocks grinding against the vessel Eyelander that woke him up. The 35 to 55 litres of diesel from a bilge pump on the boat that ended up in the water have been cleaned up, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The boat, which is from Fairhaven, Mass., ended up on the rock near Green Island on Friday morning, prompting a mayday call from the crew. All five people on board were transported safely to Bay Bulls by a rescue craft from the nearby West Aquarius oil rig.click here to read the story 08:37
