Daily Archives: August 8, 2020
Humpy harvest in PWS surges to exceed 12M fish
Harvests of over 9 million pink salmon over the past week have pushed Alaska’s yearly total to over 25 million fish, including upwards of 12 million humpies caught in Prince William Sound. Alaska Department of Fish and Game finfish area management biologists in Cordova said the cumulative pink salmon harvest in the Sound through Aug. 1 alone was estimated at 10.5 million common property fish and 1.5 cost recovery fish. Preliminary commercial salmon harvest data compiled by ADF&G through Tuesday, Aug. 4, put the total commercial salmon harvest in Prince William Sound at 11.2 million fish, including 12.3 million pink, 1.9 million chum, 902,000 sockeye, 4,000 coho and 4,000 king salmon. >click to read< 19:03
A Letter to NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver about the resumption of Observer coverage
Mr. Oliver. Recently you sent out an announcement about the resumption of Observer coverage set to begin on August 14th in fisheries where coverage had been suspended due to the Corona virus outbreak for the last 5 months. Personally I find your reasons for the resumption of observer coverage to be not only reckless, but dangerous to the health and safety of the American fishermen who make their living from the sea.,, Yet you, in your infinite bureaucratic knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, think that at this time it is vitally important that observers be placed on fishing vessels where they can endanger the health of not only the crewmen but their families. Interestingly, you have not put your own employees at risk. You have cancelled trawl survey’s for the remainder of this year so as not to risk their exposure to this lethal disease. This despite the fact that the NOAA trawl survey vessels are state of the art, and their crew could actually be quarantined before a trip to assure their safety. I’m sure they would be happy to collect two weeks of pay for sitting around watching TV somewhere. >click to read< 15:05
Massachusetts Congressional Candidate meets with members of the Gloucester Fishing Community
August 7, 2020, I had the distinct honor of visiting one of my most favorite cities in the world, Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Friday, July 24th. The purpose of my visit, during this pandemic, was to meet with several tried and true men of the Gloucester fishing industry, a staple of the culture, lifestyle and lifeblood of this historic community. “Our catches continue to get smaller, while government oversight gets bigger”, said one of the fishermen. “The industry has suffered strangulation by government regulation”,,, The Gloucester fishing community must be addressed with transparency, and not with lip service. Topics touched upon were disaster relief, international fish coming into the States at lower prices than freshly caught fish from our own community, wastewater affecting our fish supply and the impact of COVID to the fishing industry. >click to read< 12:08
‘Okay, so what do we do?’ – New Markets Reshape Crab Industry
“China shutting down was when we first started to feel the impact of the (coronavirus) pandemic, then the closures of restaurants and stores hit us full blast,” says Novotny. “All of a sudden nothing was going out.” “But necessity is the mother of invention. Everyone from the crabbers to the processors to the mom-and-pop places started saying, ‘Okay, so what do we do?’ and you started to see Pacific Seafood start shipping crab all over the country.” Until the pandemic, flash-freezing techniques, which freeze crabs in a briny block of ice to maintain flavor and texture, was a niche market, used primarily for small orders. >click to read< 10:37
Three New Zealand Fishermen sentenced to prison in the Falklands
Three New Zealanders were this week handed custodial sentences at the Falklands’ Magistrate’s Court after pleading guilty to violent disorder. Samuel Goldsworthy, Sonny Ball, and Chassy Duncan were each sentenced to prison terms lasting 14 months, 12 months, and eight months respectively. The court heard that the three Kiwi fishermen were in Deano’s bar in Stanley on the evening of Monday June 29, having all arrived separately. Also in the pub were a group of friends having drinks. One of the defendants, Sonny Ball, arrived after last orders had been rung, and took exception when he was refused service. As he was leaving the pub, Mr. Ball attacked one of the group of friends in an “out of the blue”,,, >click to read< 08:32
