Daily Archives: November 25, 2017
Land & Sea: Wooden vs. Steel Longliners – Take a trip back in time with an archival episode from 1980
This 1980 episode of Land & Sea opens with the scene of a champagne bottle exploding on the bow of a new longliner. The show explores the tension surrounding wooden and steel-hulled longliners at a time when boatbuilding design was evolving to match new fishing technology. Owner Charles Hussey of Port de Grave isn’t bothered by the $500,000 price tag for his new, wooden, 17-metre vessel, the Eastern Harvester, built in Arthur Petten’s boat yard in South River.,,, The Land & Sea crew went south in this episode to Bayou la Batre, the headquarters for steel-hulled boat building. Video, click here to read the story 20:31
Nez Perce tribe hopes to spark return of chinook with artificial beds
The Nez Perce tribe is taking advantage of overproduction at the Clearwater Hatchery to seed some local streams with spring chinook redds – spawning beds or nests. Members of the tribe’s fisheries division have been busy placing 850,000 fertilized eggs into artificial nests in the beds of Newsome and Lolo creeks, where they have also done extensive restoration work. The process involves using special equipment to recreate the nests that female salmon laboriously create with their bodies and then injecting the eggs into the gravely cavities. It’s not the most efficient way to boost salmon runs, but tribal fisheries officials say it’s better than having the excess eggs go to waste. click here to read the story 16:41
Death by Killer Algae
They didn’t think much of the first dead whale. Dwarfed by the rugged cliffs of Patagonia’s high green fjords, the team of biologists had sailed into a gulf off the Pacific Ocean searching for the ocean’s smaller animals, the marine invertebrates they were there to inventory. That night, while hunting for an anchorage in a narrow bay, the team spotted a large, dead whale floating on the water’s surface. But for the biologists, death—even of such an enormous animal—didn’t seem so unusual. Not so unusual, that is, until they found the second whale, lying on the beach. And a third. And a fourth. In all, they found seven in that bay alone. Over the next day, they counted a total of 25 dead whales in the fjord. click here to read the story 15:42
High speed boats deployed to tackle Devon’s illegal crab and lobster trade – Skippers and owners heavily fined
Earlier this year fisheries bosses were tipped off about suspicious landings of crab and lobster at Plymouth. Their intelligence – which came from other concerned commercial fishers – told them that some boats were illegally bringing in under-sized crabs and “berried” lobsters – females carrying eggs. However, they had no information about who was involved, so they lay in wait at sea and intercepted boats heading for Sutton Harbour. Relying on the element of surprise, teams from the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) raced alongside the fishing boats in their RIB and boarded to carry out checks. click here to read the story 12:45
DUMPING DAY DELAYED: Forecasted winds cancel Nov. 27 start of lobster season
The opening of the lobster fishery off southwestern Nova Scotia has been delayed due to the forecasted high winds. The season, which was to have started on Monday, Nov. 27, with dumping day, will only start Tuesday at the earliest. A decision to postpone the start of the LFA 34 (southwestern Nova Scotia) and LFA 33 (south shore of NS) seasons was made during Saturday morning conference calls to review the forecasted weather. Anything forecasted winds above 25 knots automatically cancels the start of the season. Sometimes the opening of lobster fishing off southwestern Nova Scotia goes off without a hitch. And sometimes not. Here’s a look at some past season openings over the years. click here to read the story 11:39
Ecologist disputes Donkin Mine ocean test fears
The longer Kameron Coal gives in to public pressure and delays its controversial plan to conduct sub-ocean floor surveying near the Donkin Mine, the longer Cape Bretoners will have to wait to find work there, says a Nova Scotia marine ecologist. “The reason they laid off 49 people this month is that they’re not going to be mining any more coal until they sort this out,” said Bruce Hatcher, chairman of Marine Ecosystem Research at Cape Breton University.,, Hatcher claims both Fisheries and Oceans and the company have been misleading fishermen into believing the proposed two-week project will include conventional seismic testing, which comparatively poses much more of a threat to ocean ecosystems. click here to read the story 09:20
Bumper sockeye salmon run forecast for Bristol Bay in 2018
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting another bumper year for sockeye salmon in 2018. An expected 51 million sockeye could return, with 37 million set aside for commercial fishing. “All systems are expected to meet their spawning escapement goals,” wrote the ADF&G in a news release. The bumper forecast comes amidst debate about whether to open the controversial Pebble Mine, a move that supporters say would bring growth and economic activity to the region. Detractors say the mine would harm the profitable watershed. click here to read the story 08:39
