Daily Archives: May 21, 2018
Togiak sac roe herring’s lone gillnetter calls it a season
Seagulls wheeled under gray skies, and low clouds spit rain as the F/V Wave Ryder motored back into Dillingham after nearly four weeks on the water near Togiak. The purse seine fleet took its quota by May 2, leaving Frank Woods and his crew on their own to fish for the 7,212 tons of herring allocated to gillnetters. On Thursday, he ended his season. The mood on the 32-foot aluminum drift boat was celebratory as it was hauled out and put up in the Peter Pan Seafoods boat yard. Audio, >click to read<22:10
Federal carbon tax could ‘degrade’ Canadian fishing industry’s competitiveness
The federal government’s carbon tax could take a toll on Canada’s fishing industry, causing its competitiveness to “degrade relative to other nations,” according to an analysis from the fisheries department.,, According to the analysis, the fishing sector would need to absorb annual fuel cost increases of 2.1 per cent, or $5.2 million, under a carbon price that increases by $10 per tonne annually to $50 per tonne in 2022. The commercial fishing sector would be hardest hit, it finds, as fuel costs account for more than nine per cent of production costs. >click to read<
Alaskan fishermen aren’t the only ones noticing the rise of Atlantic halibut
As prices and demand for Pacific halibut have fallen in Alaska, commercial fishermen say a new Canadian competitor is to blame. Since 2012, Canadian imports of fresh Atlantic halibut have grown roughly 60 percent. Historically, Atlantic halibut has not competed with its close relative on the West Coast since New England and Canadian fishermen overfished stocks in the late 1880s. But as the catch continues to grow north of the border, fishermen in New England are working towards restarting a fishery in U.S. waters.,, “A lot of those boats are fishing on the U.S.-Canadian line and having very good results, and it’s been going on for a while,” Mike Russo said, a New England-based commercial fisherman. >click to read<16:03
New Brunswick fishermen alarmed at 2nd closure over whale sighting
Fishermen are alarmed over the closure of another fishing area in order to protect North Atlantic right whales, a move some say will have a drastic effect on the industry. Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced Sunday that a second area off the coast of northern New Brunswick was being closed to fishing for at least two weeks. “We’re behind on our annual catches right now,” said Steven Hughes, a deckhand on a snow crab fishing boat based out of Shippagan. “This brought back the stress on the fishing industry.” >click to read< 15:15
Bottom trawling for orange roughy has scientists worried
Three of the nine fisheries within New Zealand waters were recently deemed sustainable once again. But it is bottom-trawling for orange roughy on the high seas – the area out beyond the 12 nautical mile limit of New Zealand and Australia’s exclusive economic zone – that has scientists and conservationists worried.,, Experts call them “vulnerable marine eco-systems” (VMEs) but some in the fishing industry even object to the term as “unscientific and akin to labelling fishermen as murderers”. These tensions led to protracted wrangling about how best to protect the South Pacific’s orange roughy and that has now culminated in threats of legal action from New Zealand’s powerful fishing industry interests. >click to read<13:45
The High-Stakes Battle Over Obama’s Atlantic Ocean National Monument
Mining and drilling for oil are already banned in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, established by former president Barack Obama in 2016 as the first marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. Within five years, too, all commercial fishing will be phased out – or, at least that was the plan. A federal judge is now weighing the fate of those protections in a lawsuit originally filed in March 2017 by a coalition of New England fishing groups – and it has led to a rare case of President Donald Trump defending his predecessor’s authority. >click to read<10:27
A Divided Community Speaks at Wind Farm Hearing
East Hampton residents crystalized their hopes and fears about Deepwater Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm 36 miles off the coast of Montauk in a three-hour-long public hearing at LTV’s Wainscott studio May 17. Their views highlighted a deepening divide within the community, with many saying the project is a necessary tool in combatting catastrophic climate change, while others worried that the price of the power from the project has not been disclosed, and many said that Rhode Island fishermen whose work was impacted by the company’s Block Island wind farm weren’t fully compensated for their losses, and were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements when they settled their case with the wind power company. >click to read<08:52
Offshore wind rush is irresponsible, Turbine farms threaten the future of fishing
In an April opinion piece, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote that “affordable, reliable, and abundant American energy drives domestic jobs and prosperity.” If by “drives domestic jobs and prosperity” Zinke meant “threatens the very existence of New England fishermen,” then the East Farm Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island (which represents Rhode Island commercial fishermen) would agree.,,, The rush to approve and build these massive projects is irresponsible. The survival of the fishing industry is now dependent on a review process that has been kicked into high gear and is lacking the research and data necessary to make informed and balanced decisions. For example, in its haste to approve these massive projects, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management significantly underestimated the intensity of the fishing effort taking place in the Vineyard Wind project area and seriously undervalued the fisheries, especially the squid fishery. As a result, Vineyard Wind plans to construct its project in a prime squid fishing area. >click to read<08:01
Gulf of St. Lawrence – 6 fishing areas closing after 2 right whales spotted
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is temporarily closing several fishing areas in an effort to protect endangered right whales. In a tweet, Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc said two North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of New Brunswick. The closures will take effect May 22 at 4 p.m. and all gear is expected to be removed from the water by that time. The closures are for the following fisheries: snow crab, toad crab, rock crab, lobster and whelk. The closures will also apply to winter flounder and Atlantic halibut, except where gear is not left unattended. >click to read<07:25
