Monthly Archives: October 2017
NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator calls for erroneous paper to be retracted from Marine Policy
Dear Dr. Smith, In a recent paper published in Marine Policy (Volume 84, Estimates of illegal and unreported seafood imports to Japan), authors Pramod, Pitcher, and Mantha offer estimates of IUU seafood products entering Japanese markets, including Alaska pollock, salmon, and crab from the United States – fisheries that are among the best managed and closely monitored in the world. These estimates are then used as rationale for the creation of a seafood traceability system for Japanese seafood imports.,,, Without significantly more information and transparency regarding data sources and methodologies applied, the paper should be retracted in its entirety. click here to read the press release 15:22
‘Deadliest Catch’: Josh Harris and Casey McManus on the Cornelia Marie’s return in Season 14
Deadliest Catch fans, we have good news: When the Cornelia Marie sets out for king crab season at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning (“You never leave on a Friday,” Capt. Josh Harris reminds us), there will be cameras on it. The fan-favorite boat was missing from Season 13 of Discovery’s Emmy-winning reality series, even though it remained an active part of the Bering Sea crab fleet last year.,,, The boat itself has also been through a major overhaul. “There’s a lot more buttons up here to push,” Josh says from the state-of-the-art wheelhouse. “I’m really excited to start pushing these buttons on the new machinery, the new electronics we’ve got, and hopefully I learn quick.” click here to read the story here 14:49
Trump nominates AccuWeather CEO to run NOAA
President Trump has chosen Barry Myers, the CEO of the private weather forecaster AccuWeather, to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In that role, Myers, who has served as the chief executive of AccuWeather since 2007, would head the agency charged with executing a broad portfolio of responsibilities ranging from providing severe storm warnings to managing the nation’s fisheries. If confirmed by the Senate, the nomination would install a business executive at an agency more recently headed by scientists. click here to read the story 13:12
‘Betrayal’! Fishermen warned UK waters could be used as ‘bargaining chips’ in Brexit talks
The British Government have insisted that once the UK leaves the European Union, Britain will leave the Common Fisheries Policy. Speaking in the House of Commons in PMQs the Prime Minister confirmed the UK will be leaving the policy after Brexit, but did not make clear what would happen during the planned two-year implementation period. Ukip Fisheries Spokesman, Mike Hookem has criticised the Prime Minister, claiming Mrs May is using UK fishing grounds as “bargaining chips”. “The Prime Minister’s betrayal will devastate people in fishing communities up and down the country who have put their trust in her to deliver the Brexit they voted for. video, click here to read the story 11:46
Company offered money for Lummi Nation’s silence about net pens, letters show
Cooke Aquaculture offered to pay a premium price for Atlantic salmon caught by the Lummi Nation after a major spill from the company’s Cypress Island fish farm if the tribe would not advocate getting rid of net pen aquaculture. The tribe tartly rejected the offer. “Your demand to keep quiet for a few extra dollars is insulting,” Timothy Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council, responded in a Sept. 14 letter. Nell Halse, vice president for communications for Cooke, said Wednesday the offer “was not an attempt to muzzle or insult the Lummi Nation, but rather an effort to negotiate toward common ground and respect the interests and concerns of both parties at the table …” click here to read the story 10:13
Lummi chairman calls bribery attempt ‘insulting and preposterous’ – click here to read the story
Floundering with the Fishcrats
Right now just three miles from Long Island’s beaches boats are dragging fluke, or “summer flounder”, as is their official title. These boats are from several regional states, among them New York. Most are fishing under Southern state “flags”, as it were, as these states have the biggest quota shares and therefore the biggest daily limits. Each boat will have to steam to a port in the state of the landing permit it is working under to off load and sell the catch. This fishing here has been going on this way for many decades, but it hasn’t been until recent years that boats had to sail the flatfish hundreds of miles to sell them. Bringing them within New York’s boundaries constitutes a serious violation of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Law, with potential felony convictions with huge fines, loss of license and vessel, and jail time. click here to read the story 09:02
Maine lobster catch on track to hit lowest value this decade
Maine’s 2017 lobster harvest is on pace to hit its lowest value this decade, due to an unfavorable combination of a dwindling catch and falling prices, according to lobster industry officials. The statewide haul for this year could plummet below 100 million pounds for the first time since 2010 — a decrease of more than 30 million pounds from 2016, said David Cousens, president of Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “This year we’re having is one of the worst we’ve had” in recent memory, Cousens said. click here to read the story 08:19
Canning conundrum Slow tuna season cuts cannery production
ASTORIA — Back-to-back poor albacore tuna seasons have slashed production for canneries on both sides of the Columbia. In Astoria, Northwest Wild Products has canned approximately half their typical total, about 25 cases, an amount they say will likely sell out before the New Year. Sportmen’s Cannery in Seaview reported canning around 8,000 pounds of albacore — 20,000 pounds less than last season. Sportsmen’s Cannery co-owner Tina Ward estimated that tuna canning, including retail sales and processing for sport fishermen, usually accounts for “at least 70 percent” of their business. click here to read the story 21:52
Legislative Hearing on Endangered Species Act, Hydropower Bills – Thursday, October 12, 2017 10:00 AM – Watch Live.
H.R. 3144 (Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers), To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System pursuant to a certain operation plan for a specified period of time, and for other purposes. – H.R. 3916 (Rep. Ken Calvert), To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to vest in the Secretary of the Interior functions under that Act with respect to species of fish that spawn in fresh or estuarine waters and migrate to ocean waters, and species of fish that spawn in ocean waters and migrate to fresh waters. “Federally Integrated Species Health (FISH) Act” Starts 10:00, click here to read the info 18:59
FFAW-Unifor legal action – threatening to sue its own members who speak out against it.
Well-known Port Saunders fisherman Conway Caines received a registered letter today from the FFAW demanding a retraction/apology for statements he made on VOCM’s Open Line in mid-September. Caines’ comments were critical of the FFAW over the 2016 scallop decision in which the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ruled in favour of scallop fishermen who took on the union over a compensation fund for lost fishing grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. Copies of the registered letter are attached. click here 17:14
Time passes but the Otter remains the same
Walt Fossek is 88 years young, and his boat, the Otter, is 104 years old. Both wear their age well. Fossek is active, mentally sharp and a great storyteller and the Otter draws daily interest from tourists who wander around the marina, wondering at the elegant lines and excellent condition of the old wooden boat. If these visitors are lucky, Fossek will be on board and in a story mood, sharing tales from his 50 years as the owner and operator of the well-maintained antique vessel. Fossek celebrated his birthday last month by doing one of his favorite things in life — working on his boat. click here to read the story 14:46
BREAKING: Judge orders Carlos Rafael to forfeit 34 permits and 4 boats
Carlos Rafael must forfeit four fishing vessels with an appraised value of $2.2 million and 34 permits as ordered by District Judge William Young on Wednesday. In a 16-page Memorandum and Order Concerning Forfeiture, Young described the methods he used in determining forfeiture, which includes the “Bulldog” along with eight permits, the “Olivia and Rafaela” with its 11 permits, the “Lady Patricia” and its four permits and the “Southern Crusader II” and its 11 permits. click here to read the story 14:23
Codfather must forfeit 4 vessels, 34 permits – Young said he refrained from adding the 88-foot Athena and the 81-foot Hera II to the list of forfeited vessels because the two boats “have scalloping permits and scalloping is not involved in this wrongdoing.” click here to read the story 
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Young Bros. Tuna Boat, 440HP Yanmar 6LY3/STP Diesel
Specifications, information and 9 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 14:00
‘Playing with fire’: Fishing’s cruel seas and even crueler economics
On Feb. 12, 2013, an unseasonably warm evening, five young fishermen departed the West Head wharf on Cape Sable Island, N.S. aboard the Miss Ally, a 12-metre Cape Islander. The men, spanning in age from 21 to 33 — three of them fathers of young children—were headed out in pursuit of halibut, a valuable winter catch. On deck that night were Billy Jack Hatfield, a recently-engaged 33-year-old; Cole Nickerson, 28, a burly and strong former junior hockey player; Joel Hopkins, a 27-year-old father of two who absolutely loved the thrill of fishing; and Tyson Townsend, 25, a gifted athlete with a seven-month-old daughter. At the wheel, piloting the boat into darkness, was Katlin Nickerson, Miss Ally’s 21-year-old captain and owner. click here to read the story 13:13
Fisherman says dispute not between natives, non-natives
When Alex McDonald went to check on his fishing boat in Comeauville on Monday, it was gone. Later that day a Department of Fisheries and Oceans patrol found the Buck and Doe burning on St. Marys Bay.,, “But I don’t believe it’s the (non-native) guys I fish beside. I think it’s outsiders that did this.” Two other boats that belong to non-Aboriginal fishermen, who also fish from Saulnierville, have been hit. The accusation by Wagner and other fishermen is that some non-native lobster dealers have been buying lobster from First Nations members while the season is closed. click here to read the story 11:37
Coast Guard, HFD rescue 20 fishermen from aground vessel off Honolulu
Twenty fishermen were transported to shore from an aground vessel less than a half mile off Honolulu early Wednesday morning. Honolulu Fire Department Jet Ski crews transported fishermen from the vessel to a Coast Guard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium for further transport to awaiting emergency responders at Ala Wai Harbor. A Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter crew hoisted two of the fishermen and the master of the vessel and transported them to Honolulu airport. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Honolulu received three reports of the 79-foot commercial fishing vessel Pacific Paradise grounded off Diamond Head click here to read the story 10:58
Cuomo threatens to sue if fluke quotas aren’t reallocated
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo threatened Tuesday to sue the federal government if two interstate fishery-management agencies meeting in December fail to reach an “equitable” redistribution of the coastwide quota for fluke. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Tuesday, Cuomo wrote it was “imperative” that the federal and interstate agencies take “immediate action” to “reallocate” the quota for fluke “in a fair and equitable manner or New York will be forced to take legal action to protect the interests of fishermen in this state.” Cuomo gave the agencies until December to act. click here to read the story click here to read the letter 09:46
Alabama Red Snapper Reporting System – Snapper checks show fear of exceeding quota unfounded
Preliminary numbers from the Alabama Red Snapper Reporting System, aka Snapper Check, indicate the fear that Alabama anglers would exceed the 2017 quota were unfounded. “Using the Alabama Snapper Check numbers, we’re going to be well within the historic allocation for Alabama, so the 39-day season did not put us over, which was a concern for the commercial fishing community and part of the charter fishing community,” said Scott Bannon, Acting Director of the Alabama Marine Resources Division (MRD). “Now the concern we have is what the MRIP (Marine Recreational Information Program) numbers will show, and those numbers are not out yet.” click here to read the story 09:11
Legends of lure Demand soars for Andy Betnar’s Astoria-made Fatal Flash Lures
A commercial fishermen and fishing guide, Andy Betnar considers his other business a part-time hobby. That’s how it started anyway. It all began in 2008 when Betnar sought to re-engineer a legendary fishing lure, one that had become so renowned on the Willamette River that it was affectionately named the “Nelson Blade” after originator/creator Dudley Nelson. Nelson was an innovative Portland-area fisherman. He was famous for his homemade spoons and spinners, but never produced the lures commercially. Instead, Nelson regularly passed them to fishermen who happened to be on the same stretch of river and inquired about what he was using. As Nelson aged, dwindling availability of the lures prompted Betnar to recreate what many consider the best salmon fishing spinner. click here to read the story 08:36
Stock Island Fishermen bank on stone crab to salvage season
Commercial trap fishermen are banking on a healthy stone crab season to help cover losses from a shaky start to spiny lobster season that was more than disrupted by Hurricane Irma. Fishermen will start pulling their traps for stone crab season and harvesting crab claws on Sunday. The season runs through May 15. Thousands of spiny lobster traps were either destroyed, damaged or moved several miles when Hurricane Irma ravaged the Florida Keys on Sept. 10, a little more than a month after the lobster season started. On Tuesday, commercial fishermen Justin Martin and Patrick Brennan loaded stone crab traps onto a boat at the docks off Front Street on Stock Island. click here to read the story 08:01
Old Boats, New Homes
There’s a sleepy seaside village in France with a small fishing port, a population of less than 3,000 and some very peculiar-looking houses. At a moment’s glance, they could almost appear to be an unfortunate pod of beached orcas, but look again carefully at those unusual roofs. Yes, those are boats … upside down! Local fishermen of Équihen-Plage have lived under scavenged boat hulls here for over a century and today, many of these upturned vessels now serve as a unique holiday accommodation for travellers visiting the French coast. click here to read the story 20:36
Deepwater Wind Adds Three Possible Spots On The Ocean Where Power Cables Would Come Ashore
Deepwater, which is based in Rhode Island, has been conducting an offshore survey to find the appropriate place to install the power cables for the turbines, Mr. Plummer told those in attendance. The firm has also been conducting geophysical and geotechnical surveys to determine the species that live on the ocean floor and could be affected by the presence of the turbines. Fishermen have been the project’s staunchest opponent, and were so again at last week’s meeting. “We provide food for the nation and when electricity goes out, we still need to feed people and that’s what we do,” Ms. Brady said. “Please reconsider this.” click here to read the story 18:12
RCMP investigating two suspicious boat fires in southwestern Nova Scotia
The most recent incident occurred on Monday, Oct. 9 when the Buck and Doe fishing vessel was reported missing from the Comeauville Wharf in Comeauville, Digby County.,,, A few days earlier, on Oct. 5 at 7:44 a.m., a fire was reported aboard the Amanda’s Pride 1. The vessel had been docked at the slip in Weymouth North. The RCMP say an initial investigation determined that something was put in the engine hatch, which caused the fire. click here to read the story 16:42
Lobster boat torched amid tensions in Nova Scotia – Alex McDonald said he gets along well with non-Indigenous lobster fishermen in the area and doesn’t believe any of them are to blame. “I know the other fishermen so I don’t believe it was my fellow fishermen that fish beside me. click here to read the story
Cooke Aquaculture Fish farm has 60 days to fix net pens outside Seattle, risks losing lease
Just a week after the state Department of Fish and Wildlife approved shipment of 1 million more farmed Atlantic salmon to Cooke Aquaculture’s fish farm near Bainbridge Island, another state agency says it has found a hole in the nets and corrosion in the structure of the facility. The Department of Natural Resources on Monday notified Cooke that it is in default of the terms of its lease at its Rich Passage operation. It ordered the facility repaired within 60 days, or the department may cancel the company’s lease for the facility, which operates over public bed lands. click here to read the story 13:53
Lawmaker Wants Checks on Presidential Power to Set Aside Public Land
A congressional committee will consider a bid to restrict the president’s ability to use the Antiquities Act to set aside vast swaths of public land for conservation purposes. U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican and vocal opponent of federal control of public lands, introduced House Resolution 3990 on Friday, which would trigger environmental reviews and congressional approvals if a U.S. president uses the Antiquities Act to set aside more than 640 acres less than 50 miles away from another national monument. click here to read the story 12:30
Management of Pacific fisheries at WESPAC’s committee meeting
Pacific scientists will meet in Lihue, Kauai, from Oct. 10 to 12 to provide recommendations on managing fisheries in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, and the US Pacific Remote Islands Areas. The meeting of the Scientific and Statistical Committee of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is open to the public. The council will consider the recommendations of the SSC and its other advisory bodies at its 171st meeting on Oct. 17-19 in Utulei, American Samoa. The major agenda items include the following: click here to read the story 11:10
After Irma: Storms leave lobsters, stone crab seasons underwater
The Florida Keys have re-opened, but Capt. Billy Niles and his fellow lobster fishermen have to find their traps before they are really back in business. “We’re locating them, but it takes a while,” said Niles, a veteran of the Keys lobster trade for the past seven decades. “Some storms lose more than others.” Irma lost plenty of them. Or better said, the Keys lost plenty in Irma. In the lobster sector, said to be the Keys second most-important industry, the damage is underwater. click here to read the story 09:12
Father and son tell of ‘ferocious’ boat fire they were lucky to survive off northern Tasmania
A Tasmanian father and son have told of how they were lucky to escape a “ferocious” fire on board a commercial fishing boat and how their bad luck did not end when they set themselves loose in a life raft. Warwick Treloggen, 44, and his son Noah, 11, were at sea with two deckhands on Monday evening when the Japara caught fire. Mr Treloggen said events unfolded quickly. “It engulfed the boat, it started off in the engine room somewhere and came up into the galley and by the time I tried to sort it out it was too ferocious to do anything,” he said. click here to read the story 07:54
Fishermen urge state to sue Feds over Fluke fishing limits
Several dozen fishermen, women and lawmakers last week urged Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to make good on a promise to sue the federal government over New York’s disproportionately low share of the fluke fishery. At a meeting at East Hampton Town Hall last Wednesday, the gathering of fishing interests sought to unify their agenda before a meeting with top state officials scheduled for next month. The commercial fishery for fluke was shut down in September for the first time in recent memory. It reopened Oct. 1 with a 50-pound daily limit. New York gets 7.6 percent of the commercial fluke quota, while North Carolina and Virginia get more than 20 percent each. click here to read the story 07:37
Indigenous fisherman’s boat vanishes after wharf fire in Saulnierville, N.S.
When Alex McDonald arrived at Comeauville wharf in Saulnierville, N.S., Monday afternoon and saw his fishing boat was missing, he said he was “stunned.” The part of the wharf where McDonald’s boat — Buck and Doe — had been tied up was burned and the seven thick ropes that kept it there were also burned off. “It’s obvious they burnt it off because they couldn’t untie it. Whoever did it, it was well planned, they had to come there with torches to burn that rope off,” said McDonald. “There had to be more than person and then they would have towed the boat out or they would have hotwired it.” click here to read the story 19:00
