Daily Archives: December 30, 2018
Government shutdown, if it continues, could cost Alaska’s lucrative Bering Sea fisheries
Even if the shutdown does persist, the federal government will allow the Bering Sea fisheries to start as scheduled, with an initial opening for cod Jan. 1, and a second opening for pollock and other species Jan. 20. But the fisheries are heavily regulated, and before boats can start fishing, the federal government requires inspections of things like scales — for weighing fish — and monitoring equipment that tracks the number and types of fish being caught. And the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates the Bering Sea fisheries, isn’t doing those inspections during the shutdown. >click to read<20:16
Fishermen report bluefin tuna season off to a slow start
The bluefin tuna season is underway in North Carolina, and more than 13 metric tons have already been landed, most of it in Carteret County. However, several local seafood dealers and commercial fishermen have said the season’s actually been rather poor so far, but there’s still time to catch more tuna. Morehead City seafood dealer Donald Diehl said the season has been “not really that good.” Mr. Diehl is a dealer that specializes in bluefin tuna, representing International Lobster and Maguro, a company based in Japan, where there’s a huge market for bluefin tuna. >click to read<17:40
SouthCoast Woman of the Year: Canastra’s drive helping keep groundfishing alive
Among the grizzled lifelong fishermen sat six-year-old Cassie Canastra. She staked claim to the seat toward the right side of the second table in the small room where thousands of pounds of fish were auctioned off each day. Her spot faced the television and was the closest to the sweets brought by her father, Raymond. Her pastry of choice: Malasadas. “She knew I was going to go to the Portuguese bakery before work. She wanted that,” Ray said with a loud chuckle. “That’s the truth.” The malasadas certainly didn’t deter her from begging her parents to wake hours before sunrise to arrive at the Buyers and Sellers Exchange seafood auction for 4:30 a.m. >click to read<11:56
SouthCoast Man of the Year: Kevin Stokesbury continues to seek solutions to fishing industry challenges
It’s pretty well known around these parts that homegrown research proved the ocean held more Atlantic sea scallops than federal regulators thought. And a lot of folks know that the value of those succulent bivalves has made New Bedford the highest-grossing fishing port in America for 18 years running. Starting in the late 1990s, Professor Kevin Stokesbury of the School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, working with SMAST founding dean Brian Rothschild, developed a video technique to count scallops on the seafloor without harvesting or killing them. Along the way, he pioneered a partnership with local fishermen. >click to read<11:20
