Daily Archives: October 7, 2020
Fury as fish farm pesticide pollution rises 72% in a year
Pollution of Scotland’s lochs from a toxic fish farm pesticide has leapt 72 per cent in a year, according to data from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa). Levels of azamethiphos discharged by 76 caged fish farms around the coast increased from 166 kilograms in 2018 to 286 kilograms in 2019. The chemical is known to kill marine wildlife. At the same time emissions of another toxic pesticide, emamectin, from 109 fish farms, rose 26 per cent. Sepa has been trying to limit its use since 2016 because of the dangers it poses to crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. >click to read< 18:59
Chum, Chinook returns fall short across Yukon, Western Alaska
Poor chum and coho returns led to some of the lowest commercial harvests in decades across much of Western Alaska and biologists are unsure why far fewer Yukon chinook are making it to Canada in recent years. The Yukon River summer chum return of approximately 733,000 fish was sufficient to meet the minimum escapement goal for the entirety of the massive drainage but it did not allow for a significant commercial fishery and was far less than expectations. Fishing was closed through the first half of the run while it was unclear if a harvestable surplus of chum would be available according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary Yukon River summer fishery summary. >click to read< 14:55
State of Alaska releases plan for $50m in fishing sector COVID-19 relief
The state has released its plan to divvy up $50 million in federal pandemic payments to Alaska’s fishing industry workers hard hit by COVID-19. Federal guidance suggested that the state should set aside more than half of the CARES Act funding for processors, about a third for commercial fishermen and 5 percent for sportfishing guides and lodges. But in a draft released on Oct. 5, the Department of Fish and Game proposes an even split between charter guides, the commercial fleet and seafood processors at 32%. >click to read< 13:22
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 44′ Calvin Beal Lobster Boat, 4’4″ aluminum extension, 405-HP Cummins
To review specifications, information and 16 photos, and a video tour, >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 12:01
Commercial fishermen sinking as yields fall without China’s buyers
“Commercial fishing operations are an important component of Port Miami River’s marine industrial businesses, which generate countywide jobs,” said Horacio Stuart Aguirre, chairman of Miami River Commission. Offshore fishermen work in a predominantly healthy environment, so Covid-19 hasn’t been debilitating for the workforce, said Luis Garcia of Garcia’s Seafood, a commercial lobster and stone crab business, “but it’s a pandemic in the sense that it has trickled down economically. The price of our product is plummeting because restaurants and bars that buy our product were not in business and we were sitting on the product. “In the past several years we’ve had another revenue stream selling overseas – lobster to China, for example – but that market also shut down.” >click to read< 11:18
Max Strahan driven by “duty” to have stricter measures adopted
To many federal and state fisheries managers, and to most people in the lobster industry, the name Max Strahan conjures images of a fanatic determined to put an end to lobster fishing in the name of saving endangered right whales from extinction. (he is), “I’m a scientist and a very ethical and moral person,” (he’s not) Strahan said, claiming that, of 330 million U.S. citizens, he was the only one to file individual suits under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).,, Strahan said he grew up on a farm “somewhere around the area” of New Hampshire and, as a young man, was interested in outdoor activities such as hiking and rock climbing. That led to his interest in wildlife preservation and eventually his efforts to save the endangered spotted owl in the forests of California and Oregon. Strahan filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the birds under the ESA and ultimately the petition was accepted, the owls listed and much of the Pacific timber industry put out of business. >click to read< 09:39
The lobster catch in St. Marys Bay is down, but there’s little consensus on why
DFO has released data showing a decrease in the amount of lobster caught between 2016 and 2018 in St. Marys Bay, the body of water at the centre of a disputed Mi’kmaw fishery in southwest Nova Scotia. Lobster landings in St. Marys Bay were 1,691 metric tonnes in the 2016-2017 season with a record high value of $25 million, according to data released to CBC News by the department. Two years later, landings were down 46 per cent by weight and 32 per cent by value. >click to read< 08:19
