Daily Archives: March 9, 2018
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 9, 2018
>Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >Click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 12:35
N.L.’s fish and seafood production dips in 2017
The value of Newfoundland and Labrador’s total fish and seafood production exceeded $1-billion for the third year in a row in 2017 but is down 10 per cent from 2016. The production value for last year was almost $1.3 billion. The provincial government has released its 2017 Seafood Industry Year in Review document. It attributes the decline to a lower market value in both the commercial wild fishery and the aquaculture sector. >click to read<20:02
The 2017 Seafood Industry Year in Review >click to read<
Galley Stories! Captain Casey McManus-Fishing’s always family, and if you’re lucky, you get a bike!
Captain Casey McManus from the F/V Cornelia Marie joins us to share his Story. From Ballard Wa to Bristol Bay and across the state of Alaska. From the time he was a young kid destroying his dad’s weed wackers to sitting in the Captain’s Chair. Please remember to Like and Share this Podcast Series. >Click here to listen< There are seven other podcasts in this fishing series, From Capt Jack Molan, “You can’t make this stuff up” to Dominic Bova-First Mate, From the Southern California Desert to the Bering Sea, Yah Buddy!, and everything in between. 16:54
Feds Sued to Force Protection of Alaska’s Pacific Walrus
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration Thursday over its denial of Endangered Species Act protection to the Pacific walrus. The lawsuit, filed in Anchorage federal court, challenges the October 2017 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finding the Pacific walrus does not warrant listing as a threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. “The service’s listing decision deprives the walrus of the ESA protections which it is both entitled to and desperately needs,” the complaint states. >click to read<15:30
Senator pursuing new route to Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest
The push to get a Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest will take a new tack in the U.S. Senate. Earlier this week, the Senate Homeland Security Committee approved its own version of the Department of Homeland Security reauthorization bill. The Senate’s version did not include an amendment approved by the House of Representatives to grant a waiver for the USD 75 million (EUR 61 million) ship built by Dakota Creek at its Anacortes, Washington facility for Fishermen’s Finest. >click to read< 14:09
‘This process was wrong’: N.L. fisheries minister says criticism of surf clams decision is building
Provincial Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne says there were so many problems with the way a lucrative surf clam contract was awarded that the decision should be reversed. Byrne said it’s not just the government and Indigenous communities and nations in this province taking a stand. “Indigenous nations and communities from all over Atlantic Canada and Quebec seem to be taking a much stronger, much more vocal and negative reaction to not just the decision, but how the decision was taken,” the MHA for Corner Brook, said on Thursday. >click to read<13:24
Names of Indigenous groups who won coveted Arctic surf clam quota announced >click to read<
Massachusetts Lobster Catch Declines, Boat Prices Rise
As the summer of 2017 wore on, the word from local lobstermen was that the behavior of their prized catch had grown more unpredictable and landings were down. Well, they were right: Landings and the value of the catch declined slightly across coastal Massachusetts in 2017, but a late fall run and higher off-the-boat prices helped mitigate the damage and keep declines well below those suffered by their lobstering contemporaries in Maine. According to data supplied by the state Division of Marine Fisheries, Bay State lobstermen landed 16,565,126 pounds of lobster in 2017 with a total value of $81.54 million — for an average boat price of $4.92 per pound. >click to read<10:57
Zinke promises to ‘partner’ with oil industry, as offshore drilling opponents push back
Opponents of the Trump administration’s offshore drilling proposals pressed their case as a first 60-day public comment period drew to a close this week. Meanwhile Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, speaking at a Houston energy industry conference Tuesday, talked up the offshore plan and other administration moves to streamline drilling and infrastructure permits. The Department of Interior, Zinke said, “should be in the business of being a partner” with industry. >click to read<10:11
New Bedford City Officials Draft New Business Plan For Fishing Port
New Bedford city officials have unveiled a draft plan to expand the business opportunities for the city’s lucrative port. The Port of New Bedford is the number one commercial fishing port in the country, hauling in $9.8 billion each year. Ninety percent of that economic value is tied to the fishing industry. However, city officials are looking to diversify the port’s business and they’re betting on offshore wind. >click to read< 09:17
F/V Nancy Glen recovery mission launched
Tarbert fishermen Duncan MacDougall, 46, and Przemek Krawczyk, 38, lost their lives when the boat sank in Loch Fyne on January 18. Their bodies are still believed to be inside the boat. A third crewman, John Miller, 34, also from Tarbert, survived after being rescued by a passing vessel. The Nancy Glen is lying at a depth of 140 metres and the Scottish Government has contracted salvage experts to try and lift the boat high enough to allow divers to search inside.>click to read<08:53
NOAA’s New Marine Forecast Product Improves Weather Forecasts and Safety at Sea
NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) rolled out a new forecast product suite this week to provide mariners with comprehensive weather forecasts every 24 hours out to day four. Our goal is to deliver the very best impact-based decision support services and products possible to our users. These 72 hour surface weather and wind/wave forecast charts, and model generated 500 mb charts, will allow mariners to better prepare for severe weather at sea. >click to read<08:38
