Daily Archives: January 17, 2018
The government is what created Carlos Rafael
Bill Straus saw the writing on the wall years ago. In 2009 -eight years before Carlos Rafael went to prison – the representative of Bristol’s 10th District spoke out during the establishment of the current catch-share system in the Northeast fishery. And even with Rafael behind bars, Straus says the threat of another Codfather emerging is ever present. “The risk is still there,” Straus said. “And that’s why what comes out of the different remedies is so important. >click here to read< 22:52
Fishing captain who helped save Tamil refugees passes away
Gus Dalton, a fishing captain who was by most accounts — including his own — an accidental hero for saving the lives of more than 150 Tamil refugees off southern Newfoundland, has died. He was 87. Dalton made international headlines in August 1986 when a routine fishing trip on a foggy evening took a fateful turn. Scores of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees may have perished had it not been for Dalton, who came across their open boats about six miles off St. Shott’s, on the southern tip of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. >click here to read< 19:39
Coast Guard, NOAA seize illegal shrimp catch
The Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seized approximately 6,000 pounds of shrimp with an estimated price of $60,000 from the 68-foot fishing vessel Ronald E. near the Dry Tortugas Shrimp Sanctuary Preservation Area, Friday. The vessel Ronald E. was observed fishing inside the marine sanctuary and was boarded by a Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans and NOAA joint boarding team. The boarding team cited the vessel for illegally fishing inside a national marine sanctuary and safety violations. >click here to read< 17:10 
Homer halibut fishermen facing more competition from the East Coast
The International Halibut Commission, or the IPHC, will kick off its annual meeting in Portland Monday. The international regulatory body is expected to slash the total allowable catch of halibut on the West Coast by 24 percent due to declining stocks. With potentially less Pacific halibut on the market, prices are likely to increase, but a new direct competitor on the East Coast may hamper the market’s ability to compensate for lower halibut stocks in Alaska. >click here to read< 16:33
Crabbers set to snap – Frustrations mount as price deadlock and towering swells delay season
Frustrations grew Tuesday as crabbers and processors continued drawn-out negotiations over 2018’s opening price for Dungeness crab. All was silent in the Ilwaco channel and Port of Chinook in recent days when boats ordinarily would have been noisily traveling back and forth to crabbing grounds. No lights bobbed on the ocean off the Long Beach Peninsula. Commercial crab harvesting was set to open Monday south of the Klipsan Beach line, but price negotiations and ocean conditions are keeping boats in port. >click here to read<15:08
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 50′ x 20′ Fiberglass Trawler/Scalloper, 6 Cylinder CAT C18, Perkins – 24 KW, Permits
Specifications, information and 57 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here14:00
Michelle Malkin Investigates – Fishing Wars | Drowning in Regulations
Commercial fishing boats in New England are going under at an alarming rate, and hard-working families are being demonized by a multimillion-dollar environmental industry whose only product to sell is fear. In this episode, Michelle Malkin travels to the Northeast to hear the stories of people in the fishing industry who are drowning in government regulations. >Watch the full version, click here< 13:25
Port Saunders fisherman Conway Caines says survey discriminated against him because of his job
Port Saunders fisherman Conway Caines claims he was denied the opportunity to voice his opinion in a survey because of his occupation. Caines reached out to the Northern Pen on Monday, Jan. 8 to voice his frustration after he agreed to do a survey conducted by phone on Saturday, Jan. 6. He says the survey was regarding the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador, a topic on which he wished to express his opinions. But Caines says when he revealed to the surveyor that he was a fisherman, she informed him he was ineligible to complete the survey. >click here to read< 13:14 
A quarter million?! California sea lion population has tripled, new study finds
The West Coast’s population of California sea lions — the playful marine animals that delight tourists on the Santa Cruz waterfront and San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf while competing with salmon fishermen for valuable catches — has tripled in the past 40 years to more than 250,000.,,, But California sea lions — which range from Mexico to Alaska — have exploded the most in number, jumping from an estimated 88,924 in 1975 to 257,606 in 2014, according to the new NOAA study. But all the sea lions have caused problems. >click here to read<11:33
Ghost of ‘the Blob’ haunts Pacific salmon
The initial period after ocean entry for Columbia River basin juvenile salmon and steelhead is when most of the mortality occurs during their lives at sea, so ocean conditions — temperatures and nutrient supplies — during that period are critical to how many of the fish will return to the river as adults one to three years later. The path the fish take after they enter the ocean makes a difference, according Laurie Weitkamp of NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Newport Field Station, especially lately with the “strange” ocean conditions. >click here to read< 10:31
Alaska Board of Fish gets earful on herring, salmon proposals
More than 200 people turned out in Sitka to testify about herring and salmon fisheries in front of the Alaska Board of Fisheries on Tuesday. And about two-thirds of those who spoke were concerned over the commercial management of the Sitka sac roe herring fishery. The herring industry wants to maintain the status quo. Fishermen and processors expressed support for the methods used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to predict how many herring they can safely harvest. >click here to read< 09:38
Big Brother on America’s Fishing Boats
Salt water. Seagulls. Striped bass. My fondest childhood memories come from fishing with my dad on the creaky piers and slick jetties of the Jersey shore. The Atlantic Ocean is in my blood. So when fishing families in New England reached out to me for help spreading word about their economic and regulatory struggles, I immediately heeded their call. Now, these “forgotten men and women” of America hope the Trump administration will listen. And act. >click here to read< 08:37
