Daily Archives: October 20, 2018
Growing pains as companies try to move fish farms from ocean to land
Each time the food dispenser starts up at Golden Eagle Aquaculture, the water boils with supple, perfect coho salmon. They are Ocean Wise recommended and a Seafood Watch green light best choice — a conservationist’s dream. The flesh is invitingly red, delicious and rich in omega-3s. Land-based tanks are dimly lit to simulate winter light levels in order to trick the fish into growing faster, while delaying sexual maturity. It is one of many tricks needed to grow salmon outside the ocean, its natural environment. >click to read<17:20
Chesapeake Bay surveys show striped bass doing just fine
Virginia and Maryland say seine surveys conducted over the summer show young-of-year stripers – those spawned this past spring – top historic averages and signal good fishing for commercial and recreational anglers in a few years. Mary Fabrizio, who heads Virginia’s survey, said annual sampling has important economic and ecological value and helps in managing the species. “By estimating the relative number of young-of-year striped bass, our survey provides an important measure of annual and long-term trends in the bay’s striped bass population,” >click to read<15:36
‘I love upholding the tradition’ – 1880 history lives on at Shelburne Dory Shop
Not much has changed since John C. Williams opened his dory shop on Shelburne’s waterfront in 1880. Now part of the Nova Scotia Museum, dories are still built there much the same as they were 140 years ago. The original master patterns for the knees, the stem and the stern still hang in their respective places along the walls of the dory shop. Overhead are more patterns and jigs for scribing out the bottoms of the dories and for the risers. The original building platform for building the dories is still used. More images, >click to read<14:31
StarKist to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing and Face $100 Million Fine
StarKist agreed to plead guilty on Thursday to one felony charge of price fixing for its role in a broad conspiracy to rig the price of canned and ready-to-eat tuna, the Justice Department said. The company faces a fine of up to $100 million for forcing shoppers to pay inflated prices from at least November 2011 through December 2013, the Justice Department said. >click to read>13:16
UPDATE: Northern Pulp pipeline could harm herring spawning beds, say P.E.I. fishermen
A marine biologist working with the Island’s fisheries association says a proposed effluent pipeline in Pictou, N.S. could have negative impacts on already threatened fish and marine habitats in the Northumberland Strait. Speaking before the P.E.I. legislature’s standing committee on agriculture and fisheries on Friday, Melanie Giffin, who works with the P.E.I. Fisherman’s Association, said key Atlantic herring habitats in the Northumberland Strait could be threatened by the proposed Northern Pulp pipeline in Pictou Harbour. >click to read<11:47
A historical moment in the state of Alaska-Gov. Bill Walker drops out of campaign
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced Friday he is dropping his bid for re-election, and threw support to Democrat Mark Begich over Republican Mike Dunleavy. Walker, elected as an independent, made the surprise announcement at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention, three days after former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott abruptly stepped down from both his office and the re-election campaign over unspecified “inappropriate comments” he made to a woman. >click to read<
‘It’s a whiff of BETRAYAL!’ Fisherman FIRES back at threat to extend Brexit transition
Brexit supporting fishermen have fired back at calls for Britain to extend the post-Brexit transition period, with fishing boss Simon Collins branding plans tie the fishing industry to the European Union’s controversial Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) for even longer after Brexit as a “betrayal”. >click to read<09:52
Barndoor skates, once a textbook example of overfishing, have recovered enough to allow fishing
Barndoor skates were once thought to be so overfished that a highly-publicized paper from 1998 noted that they had been “driven to near extinction without anyone noticing.” One of the largest skates, barndoor skates can reach over 5 feet in wingspan, which is large enough that their diet includes small sharks like spiny dogfish; for a skate, that’s about as close as it gets to charismatic megafauna! >click to read<09:16
