Daily Archives: November 4, 2017
Falklands calamari prices recover significantly as second season catch is below market expectations
Recent reports in trade journals that abundant catches during 2017 were depressing Falkland Islands loligo prices were challenged this week by local sources concerned with the fishing industry. The Falkland Islands Director of Natural Resources, John Barton, described 2017 as “a good calamari year” despite the “unusual and surprising” challenge of dealing with sea lion mortalities during the second loligo season. Some 24,000 metric tons were caught during that season. click here to read the story 22:33
Alaska salmon season a success in global market
It was a generally good salmon season for Alaska, except for one species. “It was a disastrous year for chinook harvest.” That’s Andy Wink, a seafood economist with the consulting firm McDowell Group. Wink says while king salmon may be the most famous salmon species among Alaskans, it also makes up the lowest total value of all the different commercial salmon species. “Sockeye, pink salmon, chum salmon, those are the species that for the commercial fleet really move the needle in terms of total value.” click here to read the story 19:25
Middlemen cause retail fish price to soar
The soaring retail prices of fish can be attributed to the multiple middlemen involved, as the catch exchanges hands from the trawlers before it reaches the Goan homes. Although the authorities are trying hard to control the prices, all such efforts are going in vain due to the alleged nexus between the middlemen traders and fishermen groups, it is learnt.Both the consumers and producers gain immensely from the role of middlemen, who ensure that there is a seamless flow of fish supply in the market by matching supply and demand. Regardless of the important role they play, there are some disadvantages to having intermediaries in the distribution channel. click here to read the story 13:32
Drill, baby, drill in the eastern Gulf? Don’t even think about it
Only a lucky break kept oil from the historic BP spill in 2010 away from the Florida Keys and Southwest Florida’s beaches. Though the spill happened off the coast of Louisiana, so much oil gushed from the blowout that it reached the Loop Current, which is part of the Gulf Stream. Normally, the current would have brought the oil far enough to reach South Florida after blackening beaches in the Panhandle. Yet oil lobbyists and Congress are firing again. Congressional Republicans want to open more of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling. President Trump, who favors more exploration for fossil fuels, is empowering them. click here to read the story 13:09
Shellfish catches devastated by Ophelia – Fishermen appeal for financial assistance
Fishermen dealing in crab, lobster, and shrimp have appealed for financial assistance. They claim their autumn and winter catch prospects have been devastated by Hurricane Ophelia. Fishing vessels licensed to catch crab and shrimp, from Courtmacsherry to Baltimore, in West Cork, and also up along the Wild Atlantic Way and in the south-east, suffered huge damage to their gear, specifically the pots dropped out at sea for extended periods. Colin Cashman, a 44-year-old fishing out of Courtmacsherry, said the hurricane caused €20,000 of damage to his pots and curtailed his ability to continue fishing up to the end of the regular season, ahead of Christmas: “I have never seen anything like it, as long as I’m going.” click here to read the story 11:37
Plymouth fish market brings in record-breaking £1million ($1,130,7796.43) haul in a week
Plymouth’s fish market has recorded its first £1 million week. The Sutton Harbour market’s sales in the first three days of the week alone were than higher than in the whole of 1994, the last year of the old Barbican fish market. And the final tally yesterday was £1,002,000. Trawlers poured in a bumper harvest through the week, with cuttlefish leading the charge. David Pessell from Plymouth Trawler Agents said they sold 195 tonnes of cuttlefish, worth £600,000, most destined for Spain and Italy. “We have had more than 120 boats landing to us this week,” Mr Pessell said.
Louisiana: New restrictions create burden for local crabbers
For Whitney Curole of Des Allemands, being a fisherman is an “always” kind of thing — he’s been a crabber since his teenage years, following in the footsteps of his father, and that passion for fishing runs throughout his entire family. But all of that experience nonetheless doesn’t mean it’s not hard sometimes. This year was the first in which the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries placed restrictions on blue crab harvest in an effort to restore the blue crab’s population in state waters. “I fought against (the initial one-month ban),” said Curole, who catches crabs and ships them all over the country and who retails crabs himself through his family business in Donaldsonville. click here to read the story 09:05
On This Day – November 4, 1991 – Swordfishing Boat Missing, Overdue
The Coast Guard continued searching today for a fishing boat due back in Gloucester last Friday from a trip to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada. The 70-foot Andrea Gail was supposed to have returned to port by Saturday with its crew of six fishermen. Several Gloucester fishermen were said to be aboard the vessel, but Coast Guard officials were withholding crew members’ names this morning pending notification of their families. The vessel has not been heard from since Thursday when it was reported to be 180 miles east-northeast of Canada’s Sable Island. The missing vessel was reported to be encountering 30-foot seas and 50 to 80-know winds kicked up by the northeaster that devastated coastal New England last week. click here to read the story 08:13
