Monthly Archives: March 2019
North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting April 1-9, 2019, in Anchorage
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet April 1-9, 2019, at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The Agenda and Schedule will be available through the links, as well as a list of review documents and their associated posting dates. Listen online while the meeting is in session.23:19
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet April 1-4, 2019 in Biloxi
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet April 1-4, 2019 at the IP Casino & Resort located at 850 Bayview Avenue in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Committee and Council Agendas and meeting materials are posted on the Council website at >www.gulfcouncil.org<. Meeting materials will be posted as they become available. Council meetings are open to the public and are broadcast live over the internet. > Register for the webinar<22:51
President Trump Announces 12 Year Ban On Offshore Wind Power Development
April1st – Early this morning President Donald J. Trump announced a total moratorium on the
planning, development, and construction of offshore windmills for the next twelve years. The President
cited numerous reasons for his decision and declared “This part of the Green New Deal is dead, the only
thing green about offshore wind is the money being thrown around of which the taxpayers and
electricity users will be forced to pay back in excessive electric rates and subsidies.” By Boris Badenuff>click to read<21:15
30 years after oil spill, he will never forget or forgive
Bob Day is 75 now. A fisherman for much of his life, he grew up on Alaska’s Prince William Sound. He will never, ever forget or forgive the desecration of that place he loves — or what he described as “a horror movie in your mind.” It’s been 30 years since the Exxon Valdez oil tanker slammed Bligh Reef just after midnight March 24, 1989. With its hull torn open, it spilled 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. >click to read<18:18
Bait crisis could take the steam out of lobster this summer
Members of the lobster business fear a looming bait crisis could disrupt the industry during a time when lobsters are as plentiful, valuable and in demand as ever. America’s lobster catch has climbed this decade, especially in Maine, but the fishery is dependent on herring,,, The loss of herring is also a heavy blow to the fishermen who harvest the species, said Jeff Kaelin, who works in government relations for Lund’s Fisheries, a herring harvester based in Cape May, New Jersey. >click to read<13:18
Fisherman’s Association Suing Over Climate Change Refuses Questions on Its Greenness
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (PCFFA), which is currently suing dozens of energy producers for damages resulting from climate change, has refused to answer multiple inquiries from the Washington Free Beacon about the number of fishing boats in the association that have gone green or to detail other “green” changes members of the group may have made. The majority of the nuisance lawsuits currently being brought against major oil companies have been from governments,,, That is one of the main reasons the announcement by the PCFFA last November of the suit was seen as breaking a new ground. >click to read<11:52
Expedition breaks new ground in the lives of Pacific salmon
Fisheries scientists have estimated for the first time that 54.5 million Pacific salmon are living in the Gulf of Alaska — providing a valuable new tool to predict how many fish will be returning to B.C. streams to spawn this fall. This new comprehensive count is critical for First Nations, commercial and recreational fishermen, coastal communities, businesses relying on the wild fishery, and fisheries managers trying to figure out why some stocks have declined drastically in certain years or crashed altogether. >click to read<10:40
GA Among States to Receive Part of $20 Million in Fishery Disaster Funding
The U.S. Department of Commerce allocated $20 million to help tribes, communities, fishermen, and businesses affected by commercial fishery failures that occurred in Georgia, California, Oregon, and Washington between 2013 and 2017. “The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to support communities working to rebuild and rebound from fishery disasters,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “We will continue to work closely with our partners to help American fishermen preserve their livelihoods.” >click to read<09:45
Judge restores Obama-era drilling ban in Arctic, parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean
President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he reversed bans on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a U.S. judge said in a ruling that restored the Obama-era restrictions. Judge Sharon Gleason in a decision late Friday threw out Trump’s Trump’s executive order that overturned the bans that comprised a key part of Obama’s environmental legacy. Presidents have the power under a federal law to remove certain lands from development but cannot revoke those removals, Gleason said. >click to read<09:00
Seal meat takes centre stage at Quebec culinary festival
Chef Jean-Philippe Bourassa-Caron prepares poached eggs and a bordelaise sauce for a new feature at his Chez Boulay restaurant in Quebec City. The sauce and eggs complement an unexpected part of this brunch dish, a meat terrine made with seal. Chez Boulay is one of 20 restaurants in Quebec City, Lévis and Montreal taking part in the second annual Seal Fest, a 10-day culinary festival celebrating seal meat.,,, Seal Fest is a promotion by a Quebec company, SeaDNA, which sells seal meat and seal oil capsules, and by the Seals and Sealing Network, a national non-profit organization that promotes sustainable use of seals. >click to read<15:12
Seafood processors getting no negative vibes from China
Cape Breton seafood processors say they are not hearing about any potential negative impact on their industry as a diplomatic dispute between Canada and China continues to simmer. Earlier this week China suspended a second major Canadian canola exporter over alleged safety concerns, further deepening a diplomatic row set off by Canada’s decision to detain a top executive with telecom giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. at the behest of the United States. Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd. in Neils Harbour, was at a seafood expo in Shanghai in February where there was no mention of the Huawei dispute. >click to read<12:15
Harbor responds to whale entanglement settlement, give crabbers extra free time to store gear
Recognizing they had the “rug pulled out from under them” due to the outcome of a lawsuit over whale and sea turtle entanglements, Crescent City Harbor commissioners have given the local Dungeness fleet extra time to store their crab pots for free at the port. Commissioners voted 4-0-1 Thursday to allow fishermen to store their pots for free from April 1 to May 15. The Harbor District’s decision comes after the Center for Biological Diversity reached a settlement agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to end the current commercial Dungeness season statewide three months early on April 15. >click to read<10:21
Commercial fishermen in Port Hood area played integral role in bluefin tuna project
The lead researcher for a project diving into the world of giant bluefin tuna says the work of commercial fishermen in the Port Hood area played an integral role in the project. Work done as part of a decade-long Tag-A-Giant (TAG) study of tagged Atlantic bluefin tuna was published last week in a scientific journal.,,, A team from the Tag-A-Giant campaign has toiled in areas including the waters off of Port Hood for more than a decade now. >click to read<18:52
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 29, 2019
>Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here<18:21
Wyden, Merkley Secured $2.1 Million in Federal Disaster Recovery for Oregon Fisheries
The office of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release: Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week secured $2.1 million in funding to help Oregon fisheries. The funds were finally allocated after a nearly two-year protracted battle with the Trump administration to approve Gov. Kate Brown’s request for fishery disaster declaration in May 2017. >click to read<16:25
FISH-NL: Confederation’s greatest failure – It’s Canada’s dirty little secret.
“Seventy years after Confederation and the state of most of our commercial fisheries is an embarrassment and national shame,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “It’s Canada’s dirty little secret. The marriage has failed us in terms of fisheries management.” Five years after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 complete management control of the commercial fisheries was handed over to the federal government. Forty-three years after that, in 1992, saw the collapse of northern cod, and the introduction of a commercial fishing moratorium that resulted in the biggest layoff in Canadian history. >click to read<13:43
Green New Deal – Boldest Tactic Yet to Advance U.N. Agenda 21
Most people in America don’t even realize that tentacles of a dangerous United Nations program are being enacted in our nation’s cities and certainly our country, with the full cooperation of those in our highest positions of authority. It is so complicated and difficult to believe that many simply dismiss it, considering it just a conspiracy theory. But even a cursory investigation reveals it is very real and the evidence is easily attained. This intrusive, all-encompassing plan that could eventually affect every aspect of our lives is known as “United Nations Agenda 21.” It’s pure communistic in nature. We all must fight against it if we are to remain a free people and nation. The Green New Deal happens to represent the boldest tactic yet toward the full implementation of Agenda 21 here in this nation. >click to read<11:11
Overhaul trawler safety, coroner urged
A Queensland coroner is considering the words of the mother of a fisherman lost when a trawler capsized off Queensland who said the crew deserved to have been rescued, not recovered. Coroner David O’Connell has retired to consider his findings after a two week inquest into the deaths of eight men after two fishing vessel tragedies. This week he investigated in Gladstone the deaths of men when the FV Dianne rolled and sank off the Town of 1770 on October 16, 2017. >click to read<10:23
MDI native to lead Maine Marine Patrol
Lieutenant Jay Carroll of Southwest Harbor, a 23-year veteran of the Maine Marine Patrol, has been promoted to Colonel, chief of the state’s marine law enforcement branch. He will begin work in his new role April 1, replacing Jon Cornish who officially retires April 5 after 34 years of service. “I am honored to take this next step in my career and look forward to working with the talented, hard-working Marine Patrol professionals whose efforts are critical in sustaining our state’s valuable marine resources,” Carroll said in a statement. >click to read<09:51
At-Sea Monitoring 2019 Coverage Levels and Reimbursement for Groundfish Sector Fishery
NOAA Fisheries announces that for fishing year 2019 the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 31 percent of all groundfish sector trips. Additionally, for fishing year 2019, NOAA Fisheries will continue to reimburse 100 percent of industry’s at-sea monitoring costs. In 2018 and 2019, we received Congressional appropriations that have been and will continue to be used to reimburse sectors for 100 percent of their ASM costs. This reimbursement will continue at 100 percent for the 2019 fishing year. As in past years, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will administer the reimbursement. For more information, >click to read<15:44
New measures to protect striped bass being eyed for the fall.
Fishermen were given the floor at a meeting of the civilian Marine Resources Advisory Council in Setauket to suggest and opine on measures to limit so-called discard mortality — essentially the unintended killing of fish that are too small or over the limit of the one fish at 28 inches that anglers are allowed to keep in a season that starts April 15 through December 15. Suggestions included everything from banning surfcasting and commercial fishing nets to requiring hooks that limit damage to fish. The measures were alternately greeted by heckles or applause from the standing-room-only crowd of chiefly fishing boat captains and anglers from across Long Island. “The whole problem is dead discards from the recreational fishery,” said commercial fisherman John German of Brookhaven, who criticized the “inhumane” practice of catching fish with barbed hooks. “You eliminate that you’d be in fine shape.” >click to read<
Coast Guard study of travel routes underway
The Coast Guard has begun a study of vessel traffic in and around the seven offshore energy lease areas south of the Islands to determine if any new vessel travel routes are necessary to improve navigational safety, according to Tuesday’s notice in the Federal Register.,,, “The study’s future results will provide important information for orderly development of the New England offshore wind area in a way that ensures safe navigation for all mariners.”,,, A vessel transit layout announced in September was from a Massachusetts state government-organized fisheries working group on offshore wind, with one east-west route, one north-south route and one diagonal route. But in early December, Rhode Island commercial fishermen said they needed wider corridors, in the range of 4-miles wide, to safely maneuver their vessels. >click to read<13:11
Facts and Data Prevail at House Hearing on Oceans and Climate Change
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife held a hearing on ocean health and climate change, moderated by Subcommittee Chair Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Ranking Member Tom McClintock (R-CA). Among the witnesses called by the majority were Carol Browner, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration, and Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. Wind Farm Dangers, Lobster Controversy, Claims of Rising Sea Level, Hurricane Link Debated, >click to read<11:45
STORAGE WARS | Ventura Harbor fishermen concerned long-time storage facility will shutter while they’re away
As squid fishermen and lobster trappers prepare for the next phase in their annual relocation from Ventura to northern waters in search of seasonal fish, the fate of a long-time storage location is in the air, leaving captains to wonder if they’ll have a place to store supplies until their return. The facility, known as the Ventura Harbor Commercial Fisherman’s Storage, sits on land owned by Ventura Harbor Storage, LLC., which has a ground lease with the Ventura Port District. The District holds a sub-lease with Harbor Boat & Storage, which acts as landlord and has managed the property for 25 years. >click to read<11:09
Experts say Canada-China spat could sink seafood exports
Atlantic Canadian seafood exports could be the next target in growing trade tensions between Canada and China, something experts say would deal a huge blow to the industry. China, a major market for Canadian canola, is no longer importing the product, citing contamination concerns, something producers say is unwarranted. >click to read<10:10
Privatize – Eliminate – Consolidate – Gloucester groundfish sectors consolidate
The decline of the region’s commercial groundfish industry has claimed another casualty — Gloucester-based Northeast Fishery Sector III. The sector, one of two Gloucester-based groundfish sectors within the original 16 commercial groundfish sectors approved by NOAA Fisheries in the 2010 transition to catch shares, will be deactivated for the upcoming 2019 fishing season. The reason: its exhausted roster of vessels and permits won’t financially support an active sector. >click to read<21:44
Sardine fishery likely will be closed this season
Sardine fishermen in Monterey Bay are facing a fifth straight year of restrictions on the amount they will be permitted to catch, creating financial hardships for the commercial industry.,,, Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, was not available to comment Wednesday, but she told the Monterey Herald following the 2018 assessment that “fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less, especially in nearshore waters.” She believes the methods in which the Marine Fisheries collect data is flawed. Not only does Pleschner-Steele reject the notion that overfishing played a role in the decline of the sardine stock, she calls the stock’s collapse “fake news.” >click to read<20:16
Seiners explain decision to stop test fishing
As of Tuesday evening, herring seiners in Sitka were standing down from further test fishing — but they weren’t calling it a strike.,,, Commercial fisherman Matt Kinney of Sitka has been involved with the sac roe herring fishery for the past 10 years and he says each year it’s exciting to take it all in. “It’s a big biomass out there that supports a lot of life whether it be sea lions or eagles or whales, but it’s pretty impressive to see on a grand scale.” So far this year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has found a lot of fish,,, >click to read<17:06
FISH-NL: Shrimp quota cut in Gulf of St. Lawrence. Divide between science/fisherman never greater
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) condemns a 15 per cent cut to the 2019 northern shrimp quota in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the province’s inshore harvesters. “Our harvesters pushed for an increase — not a cut — but no one’s listening,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “This is yet another example that the divide between DFO science and fishermen has never been greater.” >click to read<14:36
Gas pipeline would ‘rip up the clam beds’ in N.J. for New Yorkers’ sake, foes say
Richard Isaksen has been clamming and crabbing in Raritan Bay and fishing lower New York Bay for 50 of his 63 years. It’s a hard life, but it’s the only one he knows, and all he wants for himself and his fellow fishermen is to be able to keep plying those waters. “We ain’t asking for nothing,” said Isaksen, of Middletown, who’s the skipper of the 65-foot fishing boat Isaetta and president of the Belford Seafood Coop in Monmouth County. “We just want to make a living.” But that could much tougher, Isaksen said, if state regulators join federal counterparts in approving the so-called Rarian Loop, a 23-mile underwater natural gas pipeline that would run along the sea floor across Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay to Brooklyn. >click to read<13:36
