Daily Archives: August 3, 2018
Everything you ever needed to know about fisheries
We are currently going through the most significant legislative reform of the past 40 years; exactly how this will impact fisheries is unclear. There may be much to gain but also… so much to lose. I am too young to remember the ‘cod wars’ between Iceland and the UK fishing fleet (1958-1976), however, throughout my time studying and working in fisheries and marine conservation these times have always struck a chord. They highlight to me the difficulties around managing fisheries and the ever present struggle that seems to exist between the social, economic and environmental issues of the industry. >click to read<19:36
Pinnipeds, not commercial fishing, depriving Orca of salmon
The plight of the orcas has caught the attention of government leaders after a mother orca was spotted carrying her dead baby for nine days in a row; Tom Nelson of 710 ESPN’s “Outdoor Line” podcast has a few ideas for how the state can help save them. Nelson explains that, unlike other types of orca that feast on pinnipeds such as seals and sea lions, the Southern Resident Killer Whales rely on eating salmon to survive. The grieving mother belongs to the Southern Resident pod. There are not enough salmon being produced at hatcheries to feed the Orca in the Puget Sound, Nelson explained, and increasing development has destroyed the salmons’ homes. “That has put a pinch on the diet of these Southern Resident Killer Whale Orcas, >click to read<16:44
New claim on founding of stern-trawler design
A fishing vessel built in Aberdeen and launched in 1953 is at the heart of an international tug o’ war over who came up with the design. The Leith-registered Fairtry was the world’s first purpose-built stern trawler – powerful vessels often with ramps for hauling heavy catches on to the deck. Their basic design is usually attributed to Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney, an aristrocatic English aeronautical engineer, inventor and Conservative MP who also designed cars, seaplanes and airships. But research by retired engineer Helgi Laxdal suggests the prototype may have been wrongly attributed to ‘Sir Dennis’. >click to read<12:43
With no transgender emoji, #ClawsOutForTrans hijacks the new lobster icon
The lobster has become an unlikely ally in the transgender community’s push to be represented by a pictoral icon, as calls mount for greater online and media visibility. British activist Charlie Craggs created the hashtag #ClawsOutForTrans to protest that the red crustacean was among 157 new emojis launched in February – while the blue, pink and white transgender flag was not. “It is important, when there is so much discussion on the internet around trans issues, that there is an emoji to represent this,” Jennie Kermode, chairwoman of Trans Media Watch, >click to read<11:22
U.S. Rep Darren Soto’s Billfish Conservation Act cuts consumer access to sustainable fresh seafood
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is disappointed that America’s seafood consumers may soon be deprived of sustainably harvested domestic marlin products should President Trump sign legislation to prohibit interstate commerce of billfish (not including swordfish) landed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto ’s (D-Fla.), passed the House on June 26 and the Senate on July 30 and is now headed to the president. “It is upsetting, in this era of tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the $12 billion US seafood trade deficit, that highly monitored US Pacific Island fishing and seafood communities may suffer hardship should this legislation become law,” notes Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. >click to read<10:34
Nort Carolina: New shrimping rules slowly migrate through sea of bureaucracy
Almost two years after it surfaced, a proposal to radically curtail commercial shrimping is crawling through the state’s rule-making process. The North Carolina Wildlife Federation petitioned the Marine Fisheries Commission for the new rules in November 2016, and after modifications, the panel accepted the request on Feb. 16, 2017. Several changes would cripple the shrimp trawling industry, critics say, and would raise the size limit on spot and croaker so high that they would effectively eliminate both fisheries for recreational and commercial fishermen. But the rule-making part isn’t on the horizon yet. >click to read<09:30
Montauk Trying To Save Long Island Shore From Wind Farms – Residents are against it and need more support.
July 11, at the Montauk Playhouse just beneath the Montauk Manor there was an open town hall meeting featuring representatives of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management concerning a project to produce 2,400 megawatts of power by 2030 (12 years from now.) The plan is to construct “eventually” clusters of wind farms along the 100-mile south shore of Long Island from 3 to 200 miles out. The project is to start off Montauk. The large hedge fund putting up a reported $560M has tried to frame the debate as “commercial fishermen worried about their fishing grounds versus clean wind power energy,” but that just is not the case. >click to read<07:53
