Monthly Archives: May 2021
Enviro groups point to chemical pollution, not overfishing, as main cause of fishery decline
According to the report “Aquatic Pollutants in Oceans and Fisheries,” chemical pollution is the bigger culprit since it “compromises reproduction, development, and immune systems among aquatic and marine organisms”. The report said that “overfishing is not the sole cause of fishery declines,” and that pollutants including industrial chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, plastics and microplastics “have deleterious impacts to aquatic ecosystems at all trophic levels from plankton to whales.” >click to read< 12:01 – Waste Water Treatment Plants – Mussels off the coast of Seattle test positive for opioids – Once home to thriving (natural) aquaculture, Great Bay is under great strain – Scientists concerned over health of fish species as wastewater treatment plants fail to remove drugs, and more, >click here<
Obituary: Captain Michael Lee Lindgren of Ketchikan – Commercial Fisherman
Michael Lee Lindgren, 65, died April 26, 2021, peacefully at home after a short battle with cancer. He was born on Nov. 20, 1955, in Mason County, Washingon. “Mike had a lifelong passion for fishing that started at a young age when he would go shrimping with his beloved Grandpa Johnny in Hoodsport, Washington,” He moved to Ketchikan in 1979 to work at Whitman Lake Hatchery, where he met Jill, who would later become his wife. After working at the hatchery, he worked as a deckhand on a longliner, troller, seiner, tender and processor. In 1991, he bought the F/V Seven Seas, a wooden fishing vessel built in 1944,,, >click to read< 10:13
How Newfoundland’s wild fisheries have gone from plentiful to pitiful – How did we get here?
The headline in the daily paper at the end of January 2019 had said it all: Cod recovery still far off: DFO. In the case of cod, the same factors that had contributed to a hopeful comeback — thriving capelin and warming waters — had since swung in unfavourable directions. Fewer capelin prey and changing environmental conditions did not bode well for cod. Now, in 2021, the prognosis for the cod population, capelin and the environmental 
conditions remains no better. How did we get here? DFO science shows several factors are predominantly to blame for declining cod and capelin populations, including: natural causes, especially lack of capelin prey in the case of cod; high predation, particularly from fish (more so than seals), in the case of capelin; and warming ocean waters, among other environmental factors. >click to read< 08:26
Fishermen should be listened to
It’s a typical story of David versus Goliath,,, That appears to be the case as prawn fishers on the Island take a stand against what looks to me to be an arbitrary and bureaucratic decision by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to change regulations regarding the harvesting of spot prawns, which now makes the sale of frozen-at-sea spot prawns illegal. Thanks to the efforts of many, has agreed to conduct an emergency review of the regulations and, hopefully, common sense will prevail and the new rules will be reversed. Unfortunately, that kind of common sense just didn’t appear to exist in DFO when the northern cod stocks collapsed off Canada’s east coast in the early 1990s. >click to read< 07:25
Will fishing shrimp be worth it this year?
The price set by the Association of Seafood Producers came in at one dollar a pound Thursday, with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union pushing for a price of $1.50. Shrimp harvester Rendell Genge has been in the industry since 1970, and has seen up and down years fishing on the west coast of Newfoundland. This summer, he wonders if taking his boat out will be feasible. “There’s no way we can fish for a dollar,”,,, “We had a group meeting and 100 per cent agreed not to go fishing [unless] we do the $1.50, at least $1.50 right now.” >click to read< 19:46
Amble man awarded silver medal in recognition of his service to the RNLI over half a century
Rodney Burge joined Amble lifeboat in 1969 after leaving the Royal Navy and he is still involved today as its press and media officer. “The award was totally unexpected,” said the 76-year-old,,, Born and brought up in Amble, he joined the Royal Navy as a teenager where he served as a submariner. He bought a trawler boat after leaving the services and enjoyed a long fishing career until retirement. >click to read< 16:11
US shuts off Mexico shrimp imports
Mexico said Friday it will try to regain U.S. certification for shrimp exports, after the country lost its registration because of inadequate protections for sea turtles. Mexico’s agriculture department said it will take corrective measures and carry out training to ensure Mexican trawl-net shrimp boats don’t sweep up sea turtles as by-catch. The Department of State said the U.S. ban coincides with the closure of Mexico’s shrimp fishing season. >click to read< 13:30
Video: Coast Guard rescues 5 fishermen from F/V Nobska ablaze 85 miles east of Cape Cod
The Coast Guard rescued five mariners from a vessel fire 85 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Friday. At approximately 5 p.m. Coast Guard First District watchstanders received an EPIRB notification from the 100-foot trawler Nobska. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod crews were launched and when they arrived on scene the bow and wheelhouse of the vessel were engulfed in flames and all five Nobska crew members were on the stern. >click to read/watch< 11:15
The lobster population in Canada’s most important harvesting area is healthy and is not overfished
The 20,000-square-kilometre fishing ground off southwestern Nova Scotia and into the Bay of Fundy, known as Lobster Fishing Area 34, accounts for 20 per cent of all lobster landed in Canada and 10 per cent of North American landings. “The stock is considered to be in the healthy zone. Furthermore, as the relative fishing mortality is below the removal indicator in all four survey indices, overfishing is not occurring,” the report concluded. The latest assessment, which ended in 2019, used commercial landings and several independent trawl surveys to evaluate the stock status. >click to read< 09:50
Sen. John Kennedy – Sea turtle regulations hindered search for Seacor mariners
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy criticized the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a letter this week, claiming regulations for shrimpers caused an unnecessary hindrance in the search for missing Seacor Power members. Kennedy said he issued his letter after volunteers with the Cajun Navy said NOAA voiced strong opposition to the use of trawling nets in the recovery effort due to concern over federal regulations related to sea turtles. Kennedy alleges in his letter that NOAA would not allow volunteer shrimp boats to use nets with tied turtle excluder devices, knowns as TEDs, for recovery efforts. >click to read< 09:09
DFO to conduct emergency review of new West Coast prawn fishery regulations
“It’s hard to say if the review will accomplish anything, but I’m happy the issue is being taken seriously,” “So far, due to pressure from the public, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has said that, as far as they are concerned, defying the new regulations is a contravention of the law, but they won’t enforce the regulations in 2021. But that’s just punting it down the line. Fishers and the communities need this changed and we need a long-term solution to this issue.” DFO’s objection to freezing spot prawns on fishing boats is in reference to a reinterpretation of the regulation requiring all harvested products to be readily available for measurement by enforcement officers on fishing boats. >click to read< 07:55
