Daily Archives: March 28, 2018
Fleet catches a quarter of herring quota in non-competitive fishery
The Sitka sac roe herring fishery stood down on Tuesday (03-27-18), as the Alaska Department of Fish & Game carried out aerial surveys of Sitka Sound. According to a press release issued at 3:30 pm., weather during the flight was poor with 20 knot winds and snow squalls. No herring were spotted from the air. So far, ADF&G has permitted the fleet to fish twice this week in northern Sitka Sound. The fleet landed approximately 2,400 tons during a five hour opening on Sunday (03-25-18) and 400 tons during a four-and-a-half hour opening on Monday (03-26-18). >click to read< 22:44
NOAA, NGOs debate effects of ocean farms on wildlife, Litigation may be deterring investors
Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico have been open to fish farming for two years, but no farms yet exist. In January 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service issued a rule that would let companies apply for 10-year permits to farm fish in federal waters of the Gulf, with five-year renewals thereafter.,, Paul W. Zajicek, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association, suspects companies interested in starting offshore farms are waiting for results of a federal lawsuit against the fisheries service.,, Those behind the lawsuit say NOAA’s fisheries service is trying to regulate aquaculture as fishing but lacks authority to expand into aquaculture. >click to read<21:43
US Shrimp business making slow progress
Despite low dockside prices and other setbacks, local shrimping families say they have hope for this year and those to come, pointing to signs of recovery that are small, but nonetheless seen as positives. The industry got a big shot in the arm earlier this month when President Donald Trump signed into law an appropriations bill that includes money to monitor shrimp coming from other countries into the US, to verify that the companies involved are acting in accordance with US trade laws. >click to read<16:19
Speed limits, snow crab season changes coming to help save the whales
Ottawa is changing the dates of Canada’s snow crab season and establishing a permanent speed limit in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in hopes of protecting the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.,, LeBlanc’s department is adjusting the dates of the snow crab season so it starts and ends earlier. The snow crab fishery will start as soon as possible, with the help of icebreakers and a hovercraft. The southern part of the Gulf, where most of the right whales were spotted last year, will be closed to fishing after April 28. >click to read<13:55
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 43′ Donelle Tuna Boat, 6 Cylinder Cummins QSC8.3 Diesel
Specifications, information and 33 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >Click here<13:05
New Research Shows ‘Strong Correlation’ Between Baby Lobster Decline, Possible Food Source
New science is bearing down on a poorly understood part of the North American lobster’s diet. And it turns out that a tiny crustacean’s abundance may help to explain expected declines in Maine’s lobster harvest. The Gulf of Maine brims with hundreds of varieties of transparent crustaceans known as copepods.,, Recently Record has put himself at the computational nexus of a handful of data sets that track a particular copepod in the Gulf of Maine, called Calanus finmarchicus. The clues to this connection can be found in the ocean waters off New Hampshire >click to read<11:41
SA government targets lobster poacher’s US trust millions after conviction
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) will be making use of diplomatic channels and legal remedies to access the funds in an international fishing kingpin’s trusts held in Jersey. Between 1987 and 2000, Arnold Bengis was responsible for poaching West Coast rock lobster and illegally importing it into the US, resulting in a decline in rock lobster numbers. The 81-year-old was convicted by the New York Southern District Court last year for poaching West Coast rock lobster and was ordered to forfeit $67m to DAFF. Bengis refused to comply with the restitution order by cleverly shielding his assets in foreign trusts. >click to read<11:17
LeBlanc and Garneau announce plans for protecting North Atlantic right whales
Federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Transport Canada’s Marc Garneau will announce plans this morning for protecting North Atlantic right whales.,, Earlier this year, LeBlanc announced new measures for the operation of the snow crab fishery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to protect the North Atlantic right whale from entanglement. The changes include reducing the amount of fishing rope floating on the surface and mandatory reporting of all lost gear. The government also said it will most likely impose speed restrictions for vessels again this year, when the whales return to the gulf. >click to read<09:58
Price offered for Maine’s baby eels hits record high
Strong demand for baby eels from Maine, spurred by poor winter harvests elsewhere around the globe, has driven prices in the opening days of the state’s annual fishing season to unprecedented heights. The average price offered to fishermen for their baby eels, also known as elvers, since the season began at noon last Thursday is between $2,700 and $2,800 per pound, according to Maine Department of Marine Resources. That’s the highest average price range ever reported by the state agency and more than double the $1,302 per pound that Maine fishermen averaged over the course of the 2017 season. >click to read<09:07
Support our shrimpers
It is called “Le Vent de Carême” — the wind of Lent. It has already started to blow. It does not necessarily mean a lot in many places. But here, in the Bayou Region, there is special significance. Before the Weather Channel and before the Internet and a lot of other conveniences, the shifting of the wind meant it was time to hurry mending nets and getting the trawl boards ready. The time had come for a new year of catching shrimp and making a living. >click to read< 08:35
