Monthly Archives: February 2018
Cuts in commercial fishing budgets lead to reductions in staffing leading to a potential loss in fishing opportunity.
Budget cuts at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have led to reductions in staffing in the commercial fishing division, leading to a potential loss in fishing opportunity. Since fiscal year 2015, just before the drop in oil prices that led the state to its current fiscal crisis, Fish and Game has seen an approximately 36.4 percent cut in general fund dollars from the state, coming out to an approximately 8.3 percent cut in the total department funding, or $3.9 million less. >click to read< 14:26
Our View: Time for Maine to look past lobster boom years
There is an economic principle that’s usually attributed to Herbert Stein, who worked for the Nixon administration and The Wall Street Journal. Stein’s law: If something can’t keep going forever, it won’t. Maine’s lobster industry is near the peak of a historic boom, making it the state’s most lucrative fishery. In the last 30 years, lobster landings have increased from 20 million pounds a year to 130 million. No one expects the catch to keep growing forever. The question is not whether it will decline, but when. >click to read< 13:57
Gulf of Maine had cool year in 2017, but is still warming – >click to read<
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 2, 2018
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates Click here, for older updates listed as NCFA click here13:19
Massachusetts Governor Baker releases fiscal year 2019 budget proposal
Today, the Baker-Polito Administration filed its Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget proposal,,, Includes $625,000 to support a new environmental police class of ten officers who will oversee protection of the Commonwealth’s natural resources, marine recreation, and hunting and fishing industries. $450,000 for the School of Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, as well as full support for the Commercial Fisheries Industry Based Survey at $400,000 to continue enhancing the science behind the management and regulations of the Commonwealth’s fisheries. >click to read< 11:27 
Oregon Dungeness crab season underway, USCG checks in on fleet
Dungeness crab off the Oregon coast has been a staple in the region for years and a big boost to the coastal economy, and it takes a team effort to make sure everyone is playing by the rules during the commercials season. On Thursday a U.S. Coast Guard C-27J Spartan flew up from Sacramento to help Guardsmen in Astoria check in with the Dungeness crab fishing fleet. >video, click to read<10:25
NMFS Lists Oceanic Whitetip Shark as Threatened Species
On January 30, 2018, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a final rule listing the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharinus lonigmanus) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This final listing rule is the culmination of NMFS’ analysis following the 2015 petition filed by Defenders of Wildlife,,, This listing may impact U.S. longline and purse seine fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic, Hawaii, American Samoa, and elsewhere throughout the species’ range, as the species is susceptible to incidental capture as bycatch. >click to read< 09:30
Shubenacadie Sam predicts an early spring. And Lucy the Lobster agrees
Shubenacadie Sam had a spring in his step as he scurried out of his temporary enclosure to greet more than 100 anxious onlookers Friday. “And he didn’t see his shadow,” said a smiling youngster who watched the famous prognosti-critter from an elevated perch.,, On the South Shore, Lucy the Lobster made her debut as a prognosticator and sided with Sam. Lucy’s forecast happened at North East Point by the Cape Sable Island Causeway, when she came out of the ocean to see if she could see her shadow. >click to read< 08:53
Indians in the Hamptons Stake Claim to a Tiny Eel With a Big Payday
Shinnecock Indians have fished the local waters here on the East End of Long Island since before European settlers first appeared in the 1600s, up through its evolution into the wealthy summer playground known as the Hamptons. So David Taobi Silva, 42, a tribal member who lives on the reservation just outside of Southampton village, says that when he harvests fish locally, he needs no commercial license from New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation and is exempt from its strict regulations to protect fish populations. But that is not how the state sees it,,, >click to read< 20:40
Signs of more small shrimp good news – Research shrimper: Trawls better every week
There are days when Joe Jurek must feel the loneliness of the long-distance shrimper, a solitary figure in the Gulf of Maine as the only Massachusetts commercial fisherman allowed to harvest coveted northern shrimp from a fishery just entering its fifth year of closure. Jurek, a Gloucester-based groundfisherman and the captain of the 42-foot FV Mystique Lady,,, Jurek is the Massachusetts representative in a two-state research set-aside program and is doing most of his fishing in the inshore vicinity of Cape Ann, Ipswich Bay and nearby Scantum Basin. >click to read< 19:38 
McNeill Fishing Ltd., not former president, charged with fishing violations
A story in the Jan. 19 Observer incorrectly reported a recent conviction against McNeill Fishing Ltd. While the company pled guilty and paid $33,598 for some prawn fishing violations on Dec. 18, the story wrongly stated that Michael Stanley McNeill was also convicted personally. The Observer regrets the error. In fact, McNeill was not on either boat, the Mega Bite and the Zomby Woof, when the violations occurred last May near Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert. He had also stepped down as president of McNeill Fishing Ltd. over a month before. >click to read< 16:36
2017-2018 Minke Whale Unusual Mortality Event along the Atlantic Coast
Since January 2017, elevated minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) mortalities have occurred along the Atlantic coast from Maine through South Carolina. A table of stranding numbers by state is below. While minke whales are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the species is not listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This event has been declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME). >click here to read< 13:22
McDonald announces candidacy for House District 134 – Commercial fishing issues ‘significant part’ of platform
Island resident Genevieve McDonald seeks to join the Maine House of Representatives as legislator for District 134, she recently announced. She filed papers in 2017 as a Democratic nominee for the district that covers Stonington, Deer Isle, Isle au Haut, Southwest Harbor, Swan’s Island, North Haven, Tremont, Vinalhaven, Cranberry Isles, Frenchboro, and the unorganized territory of Marshall Island Township.,, McDonald, a commercial lobsterman, is also the Downeast Region Representative to the Maine Lobster Advisory Council, and said issues surrounding the commercial fishing industry are “a significant part of my platform.” >click here to read< 12:47
Clammers, wormers can coexist with Acadia’s conservation mission
A recent BDN OpEd criticized Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s legislation to clarify the status of clamming and worming on the flats in Acadia National Park. The bill in question and companion legislation in the U.S. Senate are supported by all four members of Maine’s congressional delegation. It permits traditional harvesting while protecting the park against expansion of other harvesting activity or the use of mechanized harvesting equipment. Clammers and wormers have worked the flats around the park for ages. Only two years ago, when enforcement actions were taken against harvesters, did the practice come into question. >click here to read< 12:12
‘Nothing will be safe’: Fears after 20,000 ‘ravenous’ fish escape fish farm in Australia
There are fears thousands of “ravenous” kingfish that escaped a government jointly run fish farm in Australia will devastate a marine park’s wild fish population. Up to 17,000 predatory yellowtail kingfish, used to being fed automatically, are now hunting in marine park waters off Port Stephens, NSW. Last week, 20,000 of the fish escaped from a fish-farm sea cage, described as a “fortress pen”, that was destroyed in rough seas. About 3000 fish have been recaptured. >click here to read< 10:26 
Federal Court dismisses Barry Group application for judicial review of 2016 DFO mackerel decision
Deciding in 2016 to wait until the fall of that year to go fishing for mackerel off the province’s west coast cost the over 65-foot fishing fleet there between $3 million and $4 million, according to information in a recent Federal Court decision. Mackerel is of higher quality at that time of the fishing season but for vessels fishing for the Barry Group Inc. there was nothing left for them to catch — the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for 2016 had already been taken during the summer months by the smaller boats in the under 65-foot fishing fleet. >click here to read< 09:48
View to a Kill: Galápagos Sea Lions Team Up to Capture Huge Tuna
In the Pacific, off the Galápagos Islands’ coast, a clever ploy leads to a hearty feast. Sea lions cannot typically catch massive yellowfin tuna—which can swim at speeds of around 40 miles per hour. But a few fishermen recently reported a peculiar hunting behavior among the Galápagos dwellers: Using teamwork, the sea lions have been chasing and trapping the tuna in coves along the archipelago’s ragged coast. Photographer Tui De Roy, a Galápagos resident, recently captured this behavior in a series of striking images. >photo’s, click to read<09:22
