Daily Archives: October 15, 2018
Stone crab season off to promising start in Florida Keys
The state’s stone crab fishery should expect to take a hit this season from the red tide algae bloom that’s been plaguing Florida’s west coast for months, but the Keys, which accounts for 65 percent of the harvest of the sought-after claws, does not appear to be affected. The eight-month commercial season began Monday, with fishermen pulling traps that have been soaking for the past 10 days. Monday afternoon, boats were still coming back from the water, but Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association, said captains were reporting a promising first day. >click to read<20:58
Raising baby eels. “Why not keep that value at home?”
Sushi lovers will tell you that full-grown eels, called unagi, are pretty tasty. That’s why Sara Rademaker started raising baby eels a few years ago … in her basement near the coast of Maine. “It was like dingy stones, a dirt floor and a glorified large aquarium with a couple of tanks,” she says. “And also we had butchered a pig. So that was hanging. It was quite the scene … with like an exposed light bulb.” Each spring, Rademaker has watched as local fishers netted baby eels from Maine’s clean, cold rivers and sold them to unagi-loving Asian nations. Some years, those foreign importers pay thousands of dollars per pound, each one containing about 2,500 of the toothpick-thin, transparent wrigglers often referred to as “glass eels.” >click to read<18:52
Sam Parisi, The Headline – Lawmakers to Trump: Keep Marine Monument protections – My response
First, and foremost, I would like to thank, and publicly recognize the local politicians that didn’t sign onto this letter, and as they always do, support the remnants of the storied Gloucester fishing fleet, Bruce Tarr, and Anne Margaret Farrante, and Brad Hill. I applaud your courage. With that said, Just how much of our fishing grounds, and economic opportunity can we continue to lose? Do these lawmakers know anything about these grounds, other than the partisan talking points, and perceived conservation benefits presented by the supporters of the take over of, and creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument? >click to read<16:40
FISH-NL: Northern cod fall fishery a circus, breeding unrest and contempt between fishermen and fleets
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) calls FFAW/Unifor-orchestrated changes to this fall’s northern cod stewardship fishery a circus, and the most divisive to date.
“Make no mistake, the changes to the 2018 management plan came from the FFAW, and they’re breeding unrest and contempt between fishermen and fleets,” says Jason Sullivan, Captain of FISH-Nl’s under 40-foot fleet. The 2018 management plan for the northern cod stewardship fishery off eastern Newfoundland and Labrador (fishing zones 2J,3KL) set the quota at 9,500 tones, and gave inshore harvesters two options >click to read<13:07
Is Brexit about to rewrite the rules for fishing on the English Channel?
French fishermen are anxious to avoid a Brexit that could shut them out of British territorial waters, while in British ports, trawlermen hope such moves could reinvigorate their fishing industry. The “Scallop Wars” in August saw French boats attack British ones in the Seine Bay off the Normandy coast. Paris had banned French boats from scalloping in the area between May and October to preserve the stocks. So when British boats exercised their rights to go for them, a French flotilla mustered, hurling rocks and smoke bombs and ramming the UK trawlers. >click to read<10:52
Victorian trawl fishers cheer as massive seismic survey rejected
The trawl fishing industry is relieved the national offshore regulator has rejected plans for a massive seismic survey off the Victorian coast. French company CGG Services planned to map 16,850km square of the seabed, east of Melbourne, for oil and gas reserves. CGG Services applied to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for a permit to survey off the coast of Ninety Mile beach over a seven-month period. >click to read<09:21
Man accused of illegally fishing for baby eels headed back to court
A former Shinnecock Indian Nation tribal member charged last year with illegally fishing for baby eels was caught as part of a larger sting operation by state conservation police who were briefing the governor’s office but not tribal leaders, state records released during his trial show. The first phase of David Taobi Silva’s trial for harvesting so-called glass eels took place Aug. 30 in Southampton Town Justice Court before Judge Gary Weber without an immediate conclusion, he said. >click to read<08:55
