Daily Archives: March 20, 2019
Yakama tribal member charged with felony for fishing in the Puget Sound
State authorities allege that a man claiming membership in the Yakama Nation Indian Tribe was fishing illegally in Suquamish Tribe waters near Kingston in an unmarked boat and that a Yakama tribal official knowingly issued his invalid permit. The man is accused of selling 5,600 pounds of chum salmon he caught using a gill net. The October 2017 incident casts light on an ongoing disagreement over who has rights to harvest fish in the Puget Sound,,, Last month, prosecutors filed a charge of first-degree commercial fishing without a license, a felony, against the alleged skipper of the boat, Alexander Robert Somers, 43, of Tacoma. Somers allegedly claimed he had permission from the Suquamish Tribe, but court documents say the tribal council confirmed he did not,,, >click to read<19:08
The two sides of the Strait of Georgia roe herring fishery
The case for – Comox fisherman, Quincy Sample, was laying on the deck of his boat under the warm March sun, waiting for the waves to die down when reached by phone. The fishery opened for gill nets on March 15 in the Strait of Georgia, and Sample was hoping for the right conditions to get his net in the water. The case against – Ian McAllister’s boat, Habitat, drifts lazily on the unsettled water, anchored to a point nearby the mass of commercial fishing boats. McAllister, the executive director of Pacific Wild, had been out on the water since March 9, the first day the fishery opened, to take photos and video, and raise awareness about a fishery he doesn’t think should be open. >click to read<17:29
Murder on the high seas? Complaint says Collier man beat dad to death on fishing boat
A Collier County man is facing charges in what the U.S. government says was an apparent murder on the high seas out in the Gulf of Mexico off Marco Island. Casey Lowell Hickok, 32, of Copeland, near Everglades City, was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, while aboard a commercial fishing vessel, Hickok was witnessed bludgeoning a sleeping member of the boat’s crew to death with a spare boat alternator, which he later threw off the vessel. The charges were filed in the Middle District of U.S. District Court in Fort Myers. >click to read<15:27
Tersan launches ST-184 crabber
The Tersan Shipyard in Turkey has launched its first crabbing vessel for Russian fishing operator Arktikservice to fish for Kamchatka and snow crab in North Atlantic waters. The 61.90 metre, 15 metre beam Zenit is the lead vessel in a planned series and now being fitted out following its launch. >click to read<14:35
Fish harvesters, plants workers hold demonstration in St. John’s – ‘Put the crab back on the table,’ fishermen chant at rally
Fish, Food and Allied Workers’—Unifor members held a demonstration today at the Delta Hotel in St. John’s followed by a march through part of the downtown. Fish harvesters, plant workers and citizens attended united, the union says, in their concern for the future of the province’s fisheries. A news release stated that around the province, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) shuts out fish harvesters from science processes and continues to make fisheries management decisions without any meaningful consultation with inshore harvesters. >click to read<13:14
‘Put the crab back on the table,’ frustrated fishermen chant at rally – >click to read<
Lobstermen petition state to tighten aquaculture rules, want a moratorium on large aquaculture leases
A wave of aquaculture operations has swept along the coast in the last few years, sparking concerns from some about waterfront access, aesthetics and interference with other commercial fisheries. “I’m here to let the Department of Marine Resources know that their system of granting aquaculture leases is broken or even worse, non-existent, as far as it pertains to the commercial lobstermen in this state,” said John Powers, a lobstermen who has fished around Brunswick for 40 years, at a press conference in the State House Wednesday. >click to read<12:24
At seiners’ meeting, demonstrators call to ‘Protect the Herring’
Seiners gathered over the weekend in preparation for the Sitka Sac Roe herring fishery, and while they met to hear updates from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on this year’s fishery, they were also concerned about opposition to the fishery leading to acts of civil disobedience on the water. But they didn’t need to look far, after a “Protect the Herring” demonstration interrupted the meeting. >click to read<11:52
NOAA requests partnership with Pacific Fishery Management Council
Citing a declining Southern resident orca population, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is requesting collaboration with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the governing body that creates fishing season regulations from California to Washington. “We are taking many actions to conserve and recover Southern resident killer whales and particularly to address the three main threats, … prey limitation; vessel traffic and noise; and chemical contaminants. Chinook salmon, the whales’ primary prey, are important to SRKW survival and recovery,” NOAA regional director Barry Thom wrote in a letter dated March 6, addressed to Phil Anderson, chair of the council. >click to read<11:17
More fluke could be coming for Connecticut fishermen
Last week, the MAFMC and the ASMFC increased the annual coastwide commercial quota for summer flounder for 2019-21 to 11.53 million pounds. While states will continue to receive allocations based on their historic landings up to 9.55 million pounds, landings after that will be divided equally among mid-Atlantic and southern New England states.>click to read<10:33
West Coast Waters Grow More Productive with Shift Toward Cooler Conditions
The ocean off the West Coast is shifting from several years of unusually warm conditions marked by the marine heat wave known as the “warm blob,” toward a cooler and more productive regime that may boost salmon returns and populations of other ocean predators, though it is too early to say for certain, a new NOAA Fisheries report says. >click to read<09:55
