Daily Archives: February 10, 2022
Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasts fair to poor sockeye runs for Cook Inlet, Copper River
State biologists are projecting a mixed bag of returns this spring and summer for Southcentral’s popular sockeye salmon fisheries. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials on Feb. 7 issued a forecast estimating that just less than 5 million sockeye will return to upper Cook Inlet river systems, allowing for a harvest of nearly 3 million sockeye from the region overall. It’s expected approximately 2.9 million fish from the total run will be headed to the Kenai, with another 941,000 pegged for the nearby Kasilof. >click to read< 19:19
Fishermen protest Texas Parks and Wildlife for closure of oyster reefs
Texas fishermen from across the gulf coast region staged a public protest in front of the Texas Parks and Wildlife office, 2805 N. Navarro St. Wednesday afternoon. About 150 protesters were speaking out against the closure of Texas oyster reefs by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The reefs have been closed in Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Aransas Bay. Members of the “Save Texas Fishermen Coalition” say they were protesting because these reef closings have effectively ended most commercial oyster fishing in Texas. Photos, >click to read< 17:40
Contessi Launches Fresher Trawler for Arbumasa
According to Domingo Contessi, F/V Huafeng 827 is much similar to the recently launched fresher F/V Antonia D, a multipurpose double-decked trawler with steel hull and aluminum superstructure. ‘But there are a few differences. Antonia D has electric winches, while Huafeng 827 has a hydraulic winch system,’ he said. The new trawler has two Berycar GPH-6L trawl winches, two net drums from the same supplier, plus a mooring winch. He added that the fishroom capacity and the internal layout are also different in the new vessel. Video’s, photos, >click to read< 15:28
Is this your boat? B.C. man looks to solve island mystery
Brad Powell took to social media to try and solve the mystery of who the boat belonged to after he found it on his late father’s property. “We don’t know anything about it, somebody must of brought it onto the property,” he says. “Somebody must of brought it on without my dad’s knowledge, 
which is pretty unlikely, or with his knowledge and he just didn’t tell anyone.” The boat is made of wood even though it might appear like aluminum in photographs. “If you look at the picture, that’s the Washington state identifier on the front there,” he says. “At some point, it was a Washington. Crab boat seems to be the consensus.” Video, >click to read< 12:18
New England and Canada: Seafood watch list weighs ‘red-listing’ lobster. Lobstermen push back
An influential arbiter of the sustainability of seafood is considering whether to drop lobster caught off Maine and Canada from its roster of approved products. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch announced this week that it is reviewing whether to add eastern Atlantic lobster harvests and other trap-pot and gillnet fisheries to its Red List,” due to the risk they pose for the survival of the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Last year another seafood rating program, the Marine Stewardship Council, suspended and later reinstated its certification of part of Maine’s lobster fishery. Massachusetts lobstermen are pushing back on the description of their industry as unsustainable. >click to read< 10:39
Cork boat owners urged to use caution around site of sunken trawler
The sinking is the latest chapter in the story of a boat that has been linked to tragedy in the past. Fisher Aidan Burke from Drishane Road, Millstreet, Co Cork, was washed overboard in November 2000 when the Sceptre trawler was fishing out of Union Hall in very heavy seas near the Seven Heads area, between the Old Head of Kinsale and Dunworley Bay. The trawler is understood to have been berthed in the harbour for around five or six years, and had not fished in that time. Photos, >click to read< 08:55
Crab cam video reveals a ‘hectic’ underwater world
An octopus attacking a blue swimmer crab over bait, a squid changing colours as it tries to steal the lot; these are some of the scenes being captured off Adelaide’s beaches to create an unlikely social media hit. Kayak fisher Andy Burnell has been attaching a camera to bait that he places on the ocean floor,,, “What amazed me was the grid pattern the squid displays as it first comes in. The “hectic” nature of blue swimmer crabs too has been startling, in particular their aggressive nature as they attack the camera and jostle for bait, having been swept into a frenzy. “Once they smell the bait in the water, they just come flying in,” >click to read< 08:06
