Daily Archives: September 5, 2017
Trump’s monument review is as secretive as Obama’s designations
Presidential use of the Antiquities Act is ripe for abuse, as major decisions impacting vast public lands, natural resources, property rights, livelihoods and private industry are left to the sole discretion of the president. After such a unilateral designation, the president does not need to substantiate his decision in any meaningful way, beyond the use of a few magic words on the face of the proclamation. It seemed like a positive step when President Trump in April issued an executive order seeking public input for a review of national monument designations over the last two decades. But it now appears that any hope for additional transparency may have been premature. click here to read the story 19:25
NY Commercial fishermen reeling from shutdown of fluke fishery
It was the busy Labor Day Weekend, and Southold Fish Market owner Charlie Manwaring had been forced to stock his popular East End restaurant and market with out-of-state fluke for the first time in recent memory. “This is my backyard, and on a holiday weekend I have no fluke,” he complained to Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) at a meeting Friday morning with two dozen angry Long Island fishermen and women at the Mattituck fishing dock. “I have to rely on Rhode Island and Jersey and Massachusetts and Carolina.”. “The fluke paid our bills,” said Cindy Kaminsky, who fishes commercially out of Mattituck.,,, “Nobody’s been willing to stand up and say to lawmakers, ‘You need to make this fair to New York fishermen,’ ” said Southampton attorney Dan Rodgers of New York Fish, an advocacy group. click here to read the story 17:42
2 R.I. shipyards win grants under maritime funding program revived by Reed
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed on Saturday announced that two Rhode Island shipyards will be awarded $1,114,370 in federal funding to make capital improvements intended to help create jobs, increase economic activity, and improve their building, service, and maintenance capabilities. Blount Boats in Warren will receive $508,927 and J. Goodison Company in North Kingstown will receive $635,453 from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) through the Small Shipyard Grant Program. The Small Shipyard Grants, which are limited to no more than 75 percent of the estimated improvement costs, are available to U.S. shipyards with fewer than 1,200 production employees. click here to read the story 14:32
From faithful to faith lost – Northern Peninsula fishermen weigh in on union debate
As issues abound within a particularly turbulent fishery this summer, the union debate among Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters still seems uncertain as ever. Since they came on the scene, the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) has been stirring up a call for a labour board vote on whether the long-standing Fish, Foods and Allied Workers union (FFAW) still deserves to represent the province’s fishers. Maxwell Sexton has spent five decades fishing the waters of the Northern Peninsula. While he knows the common complaints, he says he’s never had any personal issues with the FFAW. But Dan Reardon of Goose Cove, a fisherman who retired just this year, says he’s had a rough history with the FFAW and is completely fed up with the union. click here to read the story 14:00
Gulf fishermen applaud seafood labeling law
A new regulatory program that will go into effect next year would require seafood to be labeled with its country of origin. Although some are worried about how the labeling might negatively affect the seafood industry as a whole, local fishermen and processors are seeing it as a boon. Opponents of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, chief among them being the National Fisheries Institute that recently lost its lawsuit to stop the Jan. 1 implementation, say that the labeling for wild caught and farm-grown seafood could cost the industry millions of dollars. David Chauvin, owner of David Chauvin’s Seafood Co. in Dulac, said he believes the new regulations will help level the playing field for local fishermen and help the flagging seafood industry in the Gulf of Mexico. click here to read the story 13:15
Black market lobsters cost man $94k
A WA man has been fined and banned from lobster fishing for two years after selling hundreds of rock lobsters on the black market. Graham Thomas Davies from Yanchep has been ordered to pay a fine and costs of $94,409.35 after pleading guilty to multiple charges following an investigation by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Fisheries. “This outcome highlights how serious the court considers these offences,“ compliance manager Todd A’Vard said on Wednesday. The department says Davies sold more than 300 rock lobsters he had caught recreationally between November 2015 and March 2016. click here to read the story 12:51
UPDATED: Afloat, and Away! Trawler ends up on the rocks on north Cornwall coast near Padstow
Dramatic pictures show a £1 million trawler left high and dry when it washed up on the Cornish coast today (September 5). The Cornish registered fishing Vessel, Le Men Du, was found this morning on the coast at Greenaway near Padstow. The fishing boat, which is 15 metres long and 6 metres wide, had been trawling in the Bristol Channel off the north Cornwall coast all day yesterday. Its current position at Greenaway was registered by Marine Traffic, a website showing live vessel positions, at about 6am. It is hoped that the boat will re-float on tonight’s rising tide. click here to read the story 12:28
£1m trawler beached at Greenaway near Padstow successfully refloated – click here for short video 9/6/17
Lake Erie commercial fishermen sell catch right off their boat
Whatever Jim Shaffer and Brian Sontag are doing, they’d rather be fishing. “We’ve been friends since second grade,” Sontag said. “We have pictures of us fishing in creeks.” They have “real” jobs. Shaffer, 46, sells furniture; Sontag, 45, does computer wiring for Viscom Systems. Slowly but surely, though, they’re making a go of commercial fishing with their boat, Real Glory, and Sontag’s trap net license, both of which they landed six years ago. “Originally, I had my captain’s license,” Sontag said. “I was going to run charters and open a bait-and-tackle shop.” But he had put in for a Lake Erie trap net license, which is drawn by lottery, and got one. They decided to try to make a go of that instead. click here to read the story 11:21
Scientists find Bluefin tuna quick to swim away after catch and release
Early results of a new study show catch and release has little impact on tuna. Gary Melvin, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and a team of researchers are catching, tagging, releasing and tracking the mortality and movements of bluefin tuna throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Last week, the research team was tagging tuna off of Tignish, P.E.I. “It’s always the big question when you hook a fish and they fight, what happens? And it’s common thought that they recover and swim away,” Melvin said. click here to read the story 10:21
South Atlantic Red snapper season vote upcoming
The long push to reopen red snapper fishing off the Southeastern coast comes to a head Monday when the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will vote on one of five alternatives. Folks involved in recreational and charter fishing have advocated that the snapper stock is strong. Savannah charter fisherman Zack Bowen said at the fisheries council meeting on Jekyll Island in March, “The recreational anglers are mad as hell” about the fishery closure and charter operations are losing business because of unavailable snapper. Also, the regional fisheries administrator said at the March meeting that he thinks the population is in its best condition in 40 years. The preferred alternative is No. 4, which sets the commercial limit at 124,815 pounds and recreational limit at 29,656 fish. click here to read the story 09:49
UPDATED 23:00 – Hurricane Irma now a powerful and dangerous Category 5 storm
Hurricane Irma is now a very powerful and dangerous Category 5 storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma has winds of 175 mph and is expected to affect the northwestern Leeward Islands as an extremely dangerous hurricane accompanied by life-threatening wind, storm surge, and rainfall. The latest data shows the storm moving west but that would keep Jacksonville and the First Coast in the front right quadrant or the worst side of the storm. All of Florida is in the cone of concern. click here to read the story 09:06
UPDATED 23:00 National Hurricane Center – 1100 PM AST Tue Sep 05 2017 Hurricane Irma Public Advisory click here
