Daily Archives: April 28, 2018
Endangered species
The federal government’s decision to extend rules protecting right whales to P.E.I.’s lobster fishermen sent waves of anxiety through the industry this week. The fishermen were reacting not only to the poor timing of the decision – coming just days before the lobster season’s opening on May 1 – but, more urgently, the prospect that their livelihood may dwindle if a right whale is spotted near a fishing vessel.,,, If our fishermen can’t prosper with their catch, it means fewer jobs at the Island’s processing facilities that employ hundreds. The effects trickle down from there, from the suppliers to lobster pounds to grocery stores, the tourism industry and eventually to all of us as consumers. >click to read<19:56
Senators push for federal assessment of right whale deaths from fisheries in Canada
Eleven Democratic senators are asking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct an urgent assessment of the impacts to the endangered North Atlantic right whale from fisheries in Canada. The senators led by Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey said fishing communities across New England have worked to reduce impacts on marine mammals. Markey said last year most observed right whale deaths were in Canadian waters. >click to read<16:35
DFO stock assessment – Halibut and Haddock flourishing, cod struggling
Wild food fish populations off Atlantic Canada continue to confound scientists, with some species flourishing and others floundering. The latest examples are halibut and cod. The big flatfish is flourishing off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, according to the latest stock assessment released by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. However, another new DFO report shows cod stocks off southern Nova Scotia remain in dire shape.,,,Yellow flounder is another species that is struggling. >click to read< 14:56
Old boats live to float
When I was growing up 200 miles from the ocean, my strongest memory of the coast was a rainy spring break when we came down to the beach. I remember walking around the Ilwaco boatyard looking at the old trawlers and dreaming. Out of the water, ships loom over you, their paint perhaps chipping and their brightwork weathered, but still they somehow promise adventure. The ragged bones of old ships are like kneeling giants above you. They seem full of stored kinetic energy, balanced impossibly on wood blocks and spindly jack stands. >click to read< 13:20
Employed or Self Employed?!! B.C. fishing company ordered to pay deckhand $15K despite confiscated catch
A B.C. fishing company has been ordered to pay one of its deckhands $14,846 even though fisheries officials seized most of the catch. The B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal recently dismissed the company’s appeal of the decision, which the director of employment standards made in July 2017, to pay deckhand Steve Hrad for a fishing trip off the B.C. coast last spring. Hrad had been hired by Lasota Fishing Ltd. — represented at the tribunal by Steve Lasota.,, “You’re not hired for a wage, you’re hired to share in the catch.,,, >click to read<12:18
Booming Maritime lobster industry means long waits for new boats
Some boat builders in the Maritimes are reporting wait-lists for new boats of up to seven years. Good catches and prices the last few years have caused demand that far outstrips builders’ ability to supply — they don’t have space to build more, nor the staff. “The orders are just piling up,” said Roger Hutt at Hutt Brothers Boat Shop in Alberton, P.E.I. “We don’t have the capacity.” Hutt’s has 51 boats on order — the last ones on the list won’t be finished until 2025. >click to read<
Maine baby eel harvest on pace to hit record value under catch limits
Halfway through the 2018 fishing season for baby eels, the value of landings in Maine is on track to reach its highest annual total since a statewide catch limit was imposed four years ago. With the average price remaining above $2,300 per pound since opening day on March 22, the value of the statewide catch so far was $12 million as of Thursday evening. That’s just $130,000 shy of the catch value for all of 2017. It represents 4,600 pounds caught statewide since the season started, meaning fishermen have not yet reached the halfway point of Maine’s overall annual catch limit of 9,688 pounds. >click to read<10:24
Evermore salmon
More research is needed into the interactions of hatchery and wild fish in Alaska before the Alaska Department of Fish and Game approves the dumping of additional pink salmon fry into Prince William Sound, an advisory committee to state regulators decided here this week. Virgil Umphenour, the chair of the committee and a former member of the state Board of Fisheries, says it is troubling that a state which has long prided itself on best-in-the-world, scientific management of its fisheries is allowing ever more salmon ranching with little clue as to the impacts on wild fish.,, There are obvious impacts, says Nancy Hillstrand of Homer, who has become an activist for wild fish. >click to read<08:45
