Monthly Archives: November 2017
FISH-NL condemns Ottawa’s decision to reopen south coast cod fishery to offshore factory-freezer trawlers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 10th, 2017 The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is out to destroy the inshore fishery off Newfoundland’s south coast with its decision Friday to reopen the cod fishery to offshore factory-freezer trawlers. “DFO has given the offshore draggers permission to clean up the last of the south coast cod,” says Ryan Cleary, President of the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL). click here to read the press release 19:30
Minister calls for clarity on post-Brexit fishing industry ahead of crunch talks
The UK Government is being urged to “come clean” on its plans for the fishing industry after Brexit as ministers prepare for “difficult” quota talks. Holyrood Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said all parties must work together in the run-up to crucial European fishing talks in December. He claimed uncertainty over what will happen when the UK leaves the European Union was being compounded by “confusion” from the UK Government over any transition period. The talks in Edinburgh on Friday, which also include representatives from the Welsh and Northern Irish administrations, are “an opportunity to show we are all fully focused on the needs and interests of our respective fishing industries,” he added. click here to read the story 18:32
Transatlantic tuna may be boosting stocks in Gulf of St. Lawrence
New science released by the international body that manages Atlantic bluefin tuna suggests a theory about why there have been so many tuna in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in recent years. Katie Schleit, senior marine campaign coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, said science released by the International Commission for the Conservation of Tuna (ICCAT) found a large number of the tuna caught in Gulf waters are from the Mediterranean region. click here to read the story 16:33
Biloxi Man Cited for Illegal Shrimping Violation in Breton Sound
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement agents cited a Biloxi man on Nov. 7 for allegedly shrimping in state waters with illegal turtle exclusion device’s (TED). Agents were patrolling in Breton Sound conducting a Joint Enforcement Agreement patrol when they found a shrimping vessel in Breton Sound. Agents made contact with the captain, Canh Huu Nguyen, 37, and performed a license compliance check and TED inspection. During the inspection, agents measured the two TEDS installed in the vessels two large nets and found them both out of compliance with state and federal regulations. click here to read the story 16:07
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for November 10, 2017
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates Click here, for older updates listed as NCFA click here 15:44
Fish traps of past may help future of Columbia salmon
The once-outlawed commercial fishing technique has been generating fresh interest in the face of declining wild salmon runs and might offer a less lethal way of handling wild salmon while harvesting hatchery fish for the consumer. Fish traps were once used broadly in the Northwest during the early part of the last century to harvest salmon for the canneries, but they were eventually outlawed because they caught too many fish.,, Jim Wells is a member of the lower Columbia River gill-net fleet, and after the conservation group published its findings on the traps he did a little bit of research. Using the catch data from the trap, he figured just how many sell-able fish they had caught during this last season. click here to read the story 14:52
This fisherman is determined to fight the rising tide of government quotas
There’s another species in the ocean that is slowly disappearing. This one doesn’t have fins, but orange waders, heavy rubber gloves, and fishing tackle. It’s the commercial fishermen. The industry they work in is being choked by what fishermen say are unmanageable fines and regulations. Jim Ford of Lisa Ann Fisheries is one of those still standing. Fewer and fewer boats are going out to sea, to Ford’s dismay. While there used to be dozens of draggers going out of Newburyport, he’s now the only fisherman doing it full-time — pulling a net or trawling the rocky seabed to scoop up his catch. Ford, 47, disagrees that the sea is being depleted.,, On his 52-foot fiberglass boat, Lisa Ann III, Ford typically steams out at midnight for a three-hour trip to Jeffreys Ledge with two crewmen on deck and a federal observer — a third-party ombudsman — to monitor overfishing. click here to read the story 13:53
‘My heart has been broken’: Sole survivor of trawler tragedy which left six fishermen dead breaks his silence
The sole survivor of the Queensland trawler tragedy which left six young fishermen dead has broken his silence in an emotional tribute to his late friends. Ruben McDornan, 32, was one of seven men aboard cucumber trawler Dianne when it capsized in treacherous seas off the town of Seventeen Seventy last month. The bodies of Adam Hoffman and Ben Leahy were found in the sunken boat five days after the desperate search began. Four men, Adam Bidner, Chris Sammut, Eli Tonks and Zach Feeney, have not been found. click here to read the story 10:58
Baby lobsters nurtured in Northumberland to boost life chances
Baby lobsters are being nurtured in Northumberland to improve their chances of making it to adulthood. Female lobsters are brought to the Northumberland Seafood Centre’s Hatchery, where their eggs are carefully packaged and preserved in sea-like conditions. After they’ve been given time to develop the eggs are taken on board a conservation boat. The boat then takes them out to sea and lays them on the sea bed. photo’s click here to read the story 10:14
Labour to pause rollout of fish monitoring system
The fishing industry has got the pause it wanted to a system of electronic monitoring and reporting of fishing catches. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has instructed Ministry for Primary Industries officials to look at options for slowing down the implementation of IEMRS (Integrated Electronic Monitoring and Reporting System) on commercial fishing vessels.,, All commercial fishers were going to be required to use Geospatial Position Reporting and e-logbooks by April 1, 2018, and cameras by October 1, 2018. click here to read the story 09:01
Number 1 – Highest Value Species: Lobster
The annual Fisheries of the United States report just released by NOAA includes 2016 statistics on commercial fisheries, with lobster ranking as the highest value commercial species. U.S. commercial fishermen landed 9.6 billion pounds of seafood in 2016 (down 1.5 percent from 2015) valued at $5.3 billion (up 2.1 percent from 2015). The highest value commercial species were lobster ($723 million total, which includes $666.7 million in American lobster and $55.9 million in spiny lobster), crabs ($704 million), scallops ($488 million), shrimp ($483 million), salmon ($420 million), and Alaska walleye pollock ($417 million). click here to read the story 08:33
Commercial Dungeness crab season scheduled to start on Nov. 15
On Thursday, the California Department of Public Health said that the local commercial Dungeness crab season is expected to begin as scheduled on Wednesday for the San Francisco fishing fleet and the region south of the Mendocino County line. As in recent years, there was some concern about whether that would happen when preseason tests of Dungeness crabs caught in far Northern California — especially near Fort Bragg and Crescent City (Del Norte County) — showed dangerous levels of domoic acid, the naturally occurring toxin that delayed the 2015-16 and 2016-17 commercial crab seasons. click here to read the story 21:34
Offshore Wind: LIPA Blasted at Meeting
A discussion on Nov. 1 of the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, hosted by the East Hampton Town Trustees’ harbor management committee, was blown off course. The three-hour meeting at Scoville Hall in Amagansett was largely devoted to a presentation by Michael McDonald of the East End Resilience Network. While Mr. McDonald praised Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that hopes to build the 15-turbine wind farm approximately 30 miles off Montauk, he was harshly critical of the Long Island Power Authority and PSEG Long Island, which manages the grid for LIPA.,,, Bonnie Brady emphasized the commercial fishing industry’s opposition to the wind farm click here to read the story 17:18
Federal fisheries minister called meeting with experts in Moncton to find way to protect right whales
The federal government will consider using the $400 million Atlantic Fisheries Fund and an innovation prize to develop new fishing gear or technology to help protect North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.,,, LeBlanc is discussing solutions with representatives from the fishing and marine transport industries, First Nations leaders from Eastern Canada, scientists and other officials.,,, LeBlanc said some options that could be considered include a reduction or modification of fishing gear, reducing the number of fishing boats on the water and starting the fishing season earlier. click here to read the story 15:48
Ottawa to order ships to give right whales a 100-metre buffer zone in Gulf – click here to read the story
Little red salmon
The wolves of Southwest Alaska share something in common with the wolves of Denali, according to a new National Park Service-sponsored study, they love fish – salmon to be specific. Following on the pioneering work of U.S. Geological Survey biologist Layne Adams in Denali National Park and Preserve in 2010, researchers who spent five years monitoring the diets of six wolf-packs in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve have documented high use of salmon by wolves there. A few Lake Clark area wolves even appear to have adapted to a prey-switching strategy that takes advantage of the decades that Alaska state salmon managers have devoted to boosting salmon runs to streams draining into Bristol Bay. click here to read the story 14:38
One Month After Grounding, ‘Pacific Paradise’ Salvage Continues Near Waikiki
Salvage efforts are on-going for the commercial fishing vessel Pacific Paradise nearly a month after the vessel grounded off Kaimana Beach near Waikiki on Oahu. Over the weekend, the Coast Guard brought on personnel from Resolve Marine Group, Global Diving and Salvage, Pacific Environmental Corporation and the Coast Guard Salvage Engineering Response Team from the Marine Safety Center to survey the vessel and further develop and update the salvage plan. The vessel originally grounded Oct. 11. photo’s, click here to read the story 12:53
Coast Guard medevacs man from fishing vessel near Cold Bay, Alaska
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew forward deployed to Cold Bay, Alaska, medevaced a man Wednesday from the 154 -foot fishing vessel Defender 260 miles north of Cold Bay. The Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted the man at 10:45 a.m. and safely transported him to St. Paul where he was transferred to commercial medical services. He was later transported to Anchorage, Alaska, for further medical care. click here to read press release 11:27
Fingers crossed there won’t be anything to be crabby about this season
With their pots stacked high and boat decks washed, commercial crab fishermen along the Central Coast are prepped for a season that is expected to start next Wednesday, on-time for the first time since 2014. And the getting could be good. “Ocean conditions over the past couple years, as the crabs that we’ll catch this year have matured, have been pretty good,” says Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in San Francisco. “It was good enough that we think the resources will be very healthy.” “Brutal,” “devastating,” “a disaster,” are all ways fishermen and heads of the industry have described the crab seasons of 2015 and 2016,,, click here to read the story 09:25
Washington Crabbers Join Peers In Tackling Whale Entanglement Risk
Earlier this year, a gray whale calf died after getting tangled in crab pot lines near Seaview, Washington. Now commercial and tribal crab fishermen from the Washington coast have agreed to form a working group to discuss how to reduce the risk of a repeat. Fleets in Oregon and California have previously formed similar work groups. Whale numbers along the West Coast are rebounding, but so are sightings of humpback whales, gray whales and the odd blue whale entangled in fishing lines and buoys. click here to read the story 08:55
Coast Guard rescues 3 people from fishing boat that ran aground in Gloucester
The Coast Guard has rescued three people from a fishing boat that ran aground in Gloucester. The boat can be seen washed up on the jetty. The Northeast United States Coast Guard shared a photo of the rescue via Twitter Thursday morning. 7News has a crew on the way and will provide the latest details as they become available. Video, click here 08:12
Coast Guard, fire department rescue 3 from boat grounded off Gloucester -USCG- click here
The crew of the vessel Anne Rowe reported they were in trouble at 4:30 a.m., according to Station Gloucester Petty Officer Haran Ellis. photo’s click here
BREAKING: DRAMATIC CAPTURE ANNE ROWE FREED! – For a few moments she was on her side and I think I could hear my heartbeat. She righted herself, was towed away from the rocks by Unity, and headed home by her own power. click here for video, and a bunch of great photo’s 
Rarely seen ‘living fossil’ frilled shark caught off Algarve coast
A frilled shark, a species that is often termed a ‘living fossil’ because of several ‘primitive’ features that have survived for millions of years, has been captured off the coast of Portugal’s Algarve region, the country’s meteorological and sea institute has announced. Researchers from IPMA and the Centre for Maritime Sciences recorded the catching of a shark “with unusual features” by a commercial trawler, as part of an “initiative to minimise undesirable catches in European fisheries”. click here to read the story 22:43
Omega Protein Employees and Supporters Call for Fisheries Managers To Protect Menhaden Jobs
457 Omega Protein employees and supporters have signed a petition urging the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to protect the jobs created by the Atlantic menhaden fishery. The petition, part of the public comment process for Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Menhaden Interstate Fishery Management Plan, provides the Commission with the perspectives of those whose livelihoods would be most affected by any new restrictions on the menhaden fishery, and contrasts the outside pressure generated by international environmental groups and individuals who do not live in one of the 15 Atlantic coastal states. The Omega Protein petition, addressed to the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan Coordinator Megan Ware, calls for the ASMFC to continue its current menhaden management approach until its scientific advisers finish their ongoing work developing menhaden-specific ecological reference points. Some environmental groups are advocating for interim reference points that reduce catch levels by up to 80 percent. click here to read the story 20:29
Alaska tops nation in total fishing volume for 20th year
The annual report detailing national and regional economic impacts of U.S. fisheries totaled $9.6 billion in value in 2016 with Alaska as usual producing more than the rest of the nation combined. Alaska produced 58 percent of all landings and for the 20th straight year brought in the highest volume, according to the 2016 Fisheries of the United States report by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The top spot for all ports in the nation went to Dutch Harbor, which brought in 770 million pounds with Alaska pollock accounting for 89 percent of that volume. click here to read the story 16:43
Gold Coast prawn prices ‘highest in 35 years’ ahead of Christmas according to seafood shops
Seafood lovers have been told to brace for an expensive festive season with Gold Coast prawn prices already at a 35-year high at some retailers. The price of large king prawns, at $40 a kilogram, are already at Christmas peak levels.“I’ve never seen prices this high at this time of year,” said Tasman Star Seafoods co-owner Peter Duncombe. The price hike has been blamed on major reforms in the NSW commercial fishing industry have resulted in fewer prawn boats out on the water, a “fizzer” start to the season for trawlers, and a fallout from the devastating white spot disease which shut down Gold Coast prawn farms this year. click here to read the story 15:45
Occupational Hazard Or Social Factors? Tradesmen Five Times More Likely To Die By Overdose
Addiction to heroin and other opiates reaches across all socioeconomic boundaries, but a new study claims that young men in the building trades on Cape Cod are five times more likely than others to overdose and die.The findings, presented in a study by the Barnstable County Department of Human Services issued last month, ultimately raises as many questions as it answers. Researchers don’t know why, for instance, some people who enter the workforce directly from high school appear to be at greater risk of fatal overdoses than people who have attained higher education.,, The lobsterman who was interviewed indicated that he does not use drugs, but said he knows several commercial fishermen who died in overdoses. click here to read the story 14:18
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: Deco Marine 78′ Steel Scalloper, Cat 3412, Fed ALGC Scallop with allocation
Specifications, information and 3 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:33
Strange fish found on the Scotian Shelf
For 25 years Don Clark has been going to the Scotian Shelf to see what’s there. For the last decade the fisheries biologist at the St. Andrews Biological Station in New Brunswick has been in charge of the federal Fisheries and Oceans summer survey. Just after Canada Day each year, the CCG Alfred Needler heads out to trawl 240 way points on the Scotian Shelf between Georges Bank in the south and the Laurentian Channel in the north. It’s an immense area — the 120,000 square kilometres of continental shelf that extends off Nova Scotia’s eastern shore into the North Atlantic. click here to read the story 11:56
2 injured in oil platform fire in Gulf of Mexico
Two people were injured Wednesday morning (Nov. 8) in a fire on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell said. The remaining 46 workers were safely evacuated. A Shell spokesman said the fire happened at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday on its Enchilada platform at Garden Banks 128. Shell said it had identified the source of the fire and was “actively responding to the situation.” “An early morning U.S. Coast Guard overflight is complete and there were no signs of oil on the water at that time,” Shell said. click here to read the story 11:03
New Mississippi rule on oysters not based on science, Vietnamese group says in lawsuit
A lawsuit alleges the state’s ban on basket dredges for harvesting oysters was illegally based on “personal opinion and conjecture” and erodes the livelihood of Vietnamese American fishers. Thao Vu and the Mississippi Coalition for Vietnamese-American Fisher Folks are suing the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources over a ban its Commission on Marine Resources recommended. The ban went in effect Sept. 1. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 16 in Harrison County Chancery Court in Biloxi, is appealing the ban. The DMR went against state seafood laws that say fishery management plans and conservation efforts must be based on “the best scientific information available,” according to the civil complaint. click here to read the story 10:27
Changes can be made right now to save right whales, says fisherman
Fishermen in Nova Scotia’s snow crab industry say they are already making some immediate changes to prevent more deaths of North Atlantic right whales. Gordon MacDonald, managing director of the Snow Crab Fishermen’s Association off of southeastern Cape Breton, said he and other fishermen are already looking at ways to reduce the amount of slack rope attached to traps during the April-to-August snow crab season. “It’s easy, it’s quick and we can get on it right away and see how that goes and then get into other things.” He said the industry doesn’t need to wait for more study and changes to government regulations. “We can’t wait for that development to start doing things that have a positive impact,” he said. click here to read the story 09:53
