Daily Archives: February 22, 2018
NMFS Weighing Privately Funded Assessment of Summer Flounder Stock
For the first time, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will consider privately funded science in formulating regulations for summer flounder. Funded by the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund (SSFFF) and its contributing partners, a groundbreaking sex-structured model created by Dr. Patrick Sullivan of Cornell University was presented in January to the NMFS’ Stock Assessment Workshop in the hope of obtaining a clearer picture of the summer flounder population. The ultimate goal is to improve the accuracy of the next stock assessment,,, >click to read< 23:14
F/V Dianne: Experts work through the wet to get answers
Investigations into the sinking of MV Dianne are continuing today at the Bundaberg Port Marina site. Firefighters were at the scene early yesterday morning to assess the safety of the vessel before investigation teams could go on board. NewsMail photographer Tahlia Stehbens was on the ground and said the area was a hive of emergency services officers.,, “Two ambulance vehicles are also on scene as well as police officers. A cleaning service has just started pumping out waste from the trawler.” The area was cordoned off to media and the public. >click to read< 21:08
Study reveals fishing’s startling global footprint: co-author Boris Worm, ‘It totally blows me away’
Global fishing efforts are so wide ranging that fleets covered more than 460 million kilometres in 2016 — a distance equal to going to the moon and back 600 times. That startling revelation is contained in a newly published study in Science that quantifies fishing’s global footprint for the first time. “I’ve been working on fishing for 20 years and it totally blows me away,” co-author Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said of the findings. The study — which included researchers from Global Fishing Watch, National Geographic, Google and U.S. universities such as Stanford — used satellite feeds and common ship tracking technology known as the automatic identification system (AIS). >click to read< 15:47 
Unusual catch at Usal
Last week, while pulling up crab pots north of Usal Beach, the crew of the Gloria II got a surprise when they discovered a Maine lobster hanging off the side of one of the pots. While no one was exactly sure what a Maine lobster was doing in the Pacific Ocean (Spiny lobsters range as far north as Monterey, but look quite different from their East Coast cousins), they have been caught very occasionally along the North Coast in the past. >click to read< 14:16
A conflict of interest and possible corruption
Benguela Global, the fund manager that raised concerns about Capitec’s loan policies at the same time as Viceroy published a critical report on the bank, has made public its objection to recent developments at fishing company Oceana, suggesting the developments are a “related party transaction entailing a massive conflict of interest and potentially even laced with corruption”.,, In a nutshell, Oceana acquired 100% of US fishmeal producer Daybrook Fisheries in July 2015 for $382.3 million as part of its bid to diversify its operations and grow globally as there were few options remaining in South Africa. >click to read< 13:14
FISH-NL questions whether Ottawa purposely is out to eliminate inshore fishery and outports along with it
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says Ottawa’s decision to award a new Arctic surf clam licence to East Coast aboriginal groups amounts to Indigenous reconciliation on the backs of inshore harvesters and rural communities.,, “Our inshore harvesters and rural communities should be at the head of the line for any new quotas,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “Our harvesters are starving for fish, and the feds are taking from the few healthy stocks we have left, and carving them up for groups with no connection to the resource. That’s just wrong.” >click to read< 12:07
Clearwater Seafoods to pursue legal options after surf clam licence goes to First Nations group
Clearwater Seafoods says it will be pursuing legal options after its monopoly on Arctic surf clams came to an end Wednesday when a new licence for the species was issued to the Five Nations Clam Company. The company called the licence award a “failure in public policy and abuse of power by the Minister.”,,LeBlanc’s announcement that a new entrant was coming for Arctic surf clams was a controversial one in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly in Grand Bank, where Mayor Rex Matthews was vocal in his opposition. >click to read< 11:16
Skipper Christopher Lee Jarman admits trawler grounding charge
The skipper of a fishing boat that ran aground near Canterbury’s Lake Ellesmere has admitted he failed to ensure a proper look-out was kept. The 22-metre Lady Sarah grounded on Kaitorete Spit in December 2016 and remained on the shingle shore for two weeks before it was broken into pieces and moved to a contractor’s yard. Skipper Christopher Lee Jarman, 35, of Heathcote Valley, pleaded guilty on Thursday to failing to keep the look-out and causing unnecessary danger or risk to property or persons, including the crew. >click to read< 10:44
Hit TV series ‘Wicked Tuna,’ filmed off Cape Ann, releases a new season
The fishing tales of six captains on the hunt for giant tuna swim through the airwaves starting next month, when National Geographic’s hit series “Wicked Tuna” premieres its seventh season. The stakes are always high at sea, as the Gloucester-based fishermen compete to pull in the most lucrative catch of “monstah” bluefin, which can be worth upward of $20,000 per tuna. Season seven kicks off with an extended 90-minute episode on Sunday, March 11, at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. >click to read< 10:10
Cape Breton lobster size requirements increasing to feed American market
The Inverness South Fishermen’s Association says its members will be fishing for slightly larger lobsters over the next two years. The association has received word that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has approved an increase in the minimum carapace size in lobster fishing area 26B, said president Jordan MacDougall,,, MacDougall said it will increase to 81.7 millimetres for the 2018 season, and 82.5 millimetres in 2019, which is the minimum size to allow Canadian lobsters to enter the U.S. without processing. >click to read<09:17
