Daily Archives: June 8, 2019
First Nation in New Brunswick demands DFO allow access to crab fishery
The chief of the Eel Ground First Nation in northeastern New Brunswick is calling on the federal government to honour treaty rights and allow access to the snow crab fishery. Chief George Ginnish says the community, also known as Natoaganeg, has been waiting for 20 years to exercise their rights. He says the band council authorized a treaty fishery for snow crab, but the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has seized their traps.,, AFN Regional Chief Roger Augustine said the DFO has seized 31 snow crab pots so far. He’s asking Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson step in,,, “It is disturbing to me and does not make sense that a First Nation would be given a licence but no quotas,” Augustine said. >click to read<22:54
Stonington commission says plan for dredging clams could benefit recreational beds
The town Stonington Shellfish Commission has given a local fisherman the go-ahead to apply for a permit to harvest clams by boat in exchange for 20 percent of his catch, which would be returned to recreational clam beds.,, The fisherman, Edwin Emery, owns a 37-foot Novi fishing boat with a dredge. On Thursday, he told the commissioners that his plan was to dredge clams from beds that have not been harvested in 30 years, and bring them to market.,, Emery said after the meeting that he was interested in the permit because it was his “only option to continue fishing,” because of rising costs. >click to read< 18:12
Drenched US documented its second-wettest May on record
While the continental United States recorded its wettest 12-month period in recorded history this year, historic flooding and record-shattering rainfall amounts landed May 2019 as the second-wettest month in the United States. Precipitation across the contiguous U.S. that accumulated over the June 2018 to May 2019 12-month period shattered the previous record for any 12-month period with 37.68 inches, 7.73 inches above average. “The previous June-May record was 35.47 inches and occurred from June 1982 to May 1983. The previous all-time 12-month record was 36.20 inches and occurred from May 2018 to April 2019,” Reppert said. (not a mention of climate change!)>click to read<14:42
Chill Wind Of Reality Blows Through The Green Energy Lobby
In recent weeks, some observers of the energy scene have been wondering if the long honeymoon of the renewables industry might finally have come to an end.,,, This is all very different to a couple of years ago when the wind industry and newspapers started shouting, in unison, that a new era of offshore wind was on the way. While a few spoilsports pointed out that there was almost certainly less to these announcements than met the eye, and wondered how exactly these alleged cost savings were to be achieved, the hype continued unabated. ,,, All this means that many environmentalists have pinned their hopes on offshore wind. There’s plenty of space out at sea, there are no neighbors to object, and the industry is saying that prices are going to drop through the floor. >click to read<13:08
Bill C-68 will protect smaller inshore fishery operators from corporate takeover, group says
Trudeau government legislation that enshrines the independence of Atlantic Canada’s inshore fishing fleets and enhances protections for fish stocks and fish habitat has cleared the Senate. The news is a relief to Martin Mallet. “This is great news. We’ve been waiting for this for a long while,” said Mallet, executive director of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union.,,, Minister expects new Fisheries Act to pass. In North Vancouver, federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson also welcomed the Senate vote. >click to read<12:06
Ninety Foot Crab and Demersal Fish Trawler Delivered
Shipbuilding Asia and Macduff Ship Design are pleased to announce the completion and handover of a new 90 foot fishing vessel for the Piercy family of Newfoundland Canada. The vessel Atlantic Titan, built in Vietnam by Shipbuilding Asia and designed and kitted by Macduff Ship Design, has the capability to fish for crab and to trawl for demersal fish. >click to read<10:28
Toxic lobsters? – Long Island Sound dumping dispute nears tipping point
Connecticut says the new underwater dump site is needed to maintain the state’s economic development effort – including its lucrative submarine construction business at Electric Boat’s shipyard,,, New York says the site will be harmful to its ecology and tourism, and Connecticut could, and should, dump the material it dredges up somewhere else.,,, Toxic lobsters? Lobstering is still done in Long Island Sound, though there are far fewer lobsters than in the past. >click to read<10:08
Virtual Interview with “Acoustic Dome” Team – would repel seals with sound waves, hopefully sharks would follow…
Concern is growing in the tourism industry that the party might be over for Cape Cod beaches if the local seal population – and thus the shark population – continues to grow. A growing population of seals – the sharks’ primary food source – appears to be drawing ever more sharks into our waters. Earlier this year an “acoustic dome” concept was floated by two Cape Cod men.,,,The gray seals are the “problem” and the solution. Few are quick to realize that the great white sharks are simply a symptom. Prior to the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in 1972 the siting of a gray seal in Cape Cod waters was a rare event. (now an estimated 50,000 in Cape waters.) >click to read<08:55
