Daily Archives: March 19, 2018
Forum to examine politics behind Alaska’s chinook conservation problem
Southeast salmon fishermen are pushing back against deep restrictions in the king harvest this season, saying the problem is as much political as it is biological. The fishing advocacy group Chinook Futures Coalition is holding a forum in Sitka this Wednesday afternoon (3 p.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, Harrigan Centennial Hall) to shed light on how negotiations with Canada have disadvantaged Alaskan fishermen — even as the state works to address a serious conservation problem.>click to read< 21:19
Fixed Gear Closures – NOAA closes areas to protect whales
As NOAA Fisheries continues to address the rising peril to whales in coastal waters stretching from New England to Florida, it is reminding local fishermen of current or impending gear closures off Massachusetts. The closures, primarily around Cape Cod and in Cape Cod Bay, are part of NOAA Fisheries’ Atlantic large whale take reduction plan developed to provide increased protection to several species of whales — particularly the endangered North Atlantic right whales whose population continues to plummet. Some of the gear closures impact trap and pot fishermen, while other impact gillnetters. >click to read<19:15
Halibut quotas for 2018 come in slightly lower than expected
The total allowable catch for the 2018 Pacific halibut season in the Gulf of Alaska and Southeast will be set slightly lower than what U.S. commissioners on the International Pacific Halibut Commission had asked for. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will publish a final rule in the Federal Register Tuesday setting combined charter and commercial quotas in Southeast, area 2C, at 4.4 million pounds. That’s about a 17-percent drop from the total allowable catch in 2017. >click to read<17:39
Fishing. It’s not for everybody! – From Bundy farm to trapped at sea for 20 days
Dreams of working on a fishing trawler as an alternative to farm work soon turned to a nightmare at sea for a French national. Jeremy, 28, had been working as a backpacker on Bundaberg farms when, after hearing positive accounts from fellow farm workers, he decided to take to the ocean. Backpackers must complete approximately three months of rural or regional work to qualify for a second-year visa and fishing work can qualify towards that. Through word of mouth, Jeremy got a phone call from a trawler captain. >click to read<12:01
Support HR-200 – Chinook Salmon ‘Overfished’? Not So Fast, Say Fishermen
For fishery regulators, it is official: The Sacramento River’s fall-run Chinook salmon are “overfished.”,,, “Are you kidding me? They aren’t overfished!” exclaimed Half Moon Bay commercial fisher Kirk Lombard, irate upon hearing about the designation. “Fishing isn’t the problem. They had a few terrible years with almost no water.”,,, The reason the term is used, then, is because of a federal law – the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. This law, which sets the framework for managing sustainable fisheries, states that a population of fish that falls below a predetermined minimum population level is “overfished.” Support HR-200 >click to read< 10:24
Whales and fishermen caught in turf war over California’s coast
As rising ocean temperatures move their food supplies closer to shore, a staggering number of migrating whales have been forced into the path of California’s crab fishing fleet — and the confrontations have increased dramatically over the last five years. State agencies have tried and failed to keep whales out of crab gear, prompting one nonprofit to take matters into its own hands.,, Some fishermen see this lawsuit as another nail in the coffin for California’s Dungeness crab fishery. >click to read< 09:20
At Fishermen’s Terminal – Annual blessing honors fishing fleet as season begins
For nearly a century, family, friends, and well-wishers have gathered each year to honor the crews headed to sea for the spring and summer fishing seasons. With some boats already en route to Alaskan waters, Sunday marked the 90th annual Blessing of the Fleet at Fishermen’s Terminal. Under sunny skies, Pastor Elise Scott of Ballard First Lutheran Church dedicated the vessel, “The Sunward,” on behalf of the entire North Pacific Fishing Fleet.>click to read<08:21
Crew member stabbed on Dutch Harbor commercial fishing boat
A 28-year-old fisherman was arrested after stabbing another crew member on a commercial fishing boat in the Aleutian fishing hub of Dutch Harbor Friday, Unalaska police said. Police in Unalaska received a report that a crew member aboard the F/V Aleutian Sable had been “badly injured” in a knife attack early Friday, Jennifer Shockley of the Unalaska Police Department wrote in a statement. >click to read< 00:15
