Daily Archives: September 12, 2022
Maine’s lobster industry and its supporters are fighting back after Seafood Watch placed lobster on a list
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch on Sept. 5 added the U.S. lobster fishery to a “red list” of seafood to avoid because it’s harvested in ways that are likely to harm wildlife or the environment. American lobster was included because of the risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales can become entangled in vertical lobstering lines. Fourteen types of seafood were added to the list. Members and supporters of the Maine lobster industry, which landed 108 million pounds of lobster in 2021 at a value of $735 million, immediately denounced the listing as unfair. No right whale deaths can be attributed to Maine gear, the industry backers said, and there have been no documented entanglements in Maine gear since 2004. >click to read< 19:17
Ida grounded this shrimper’s boat, then thieves raided it. Now a fundraiser aims to help.
Rita Verdin of Golden Meadow said her husband, Rodney, returns to the marsh to check on his boat, La Belle Idee, and each week finds more is missing. She estimates thieves have stolen about $20,000 so far, including the propeller, rudder, generator and other electronics. Rita said she reached out to the news industry after the family couldn’t find help anywhere else. Hearing the news, Lt. Gov. Nungesser and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board reached out to New Orleans Chef Amy Sins, who is also president of Fill the Needs, a nonprofit that aids with ongoing hurricane-recovery efforts. >click to read< 17:32 >click here Hurricane Ida- Louisiana Shrimper – Fill the Needs and please donate if you can.
Hawaii Longline Fishery Achieves Global Sustainability Certification
The Hawaii Longline Association’s swordfish, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna fishery has achieved certification for sustainable fishing practices, the Marine Stewardship Council announced today. The fishery is the first Hawaii fishery to enter the MSC program. The MSC Fisheries Standard is a globally recognized standard used to assess if a fishery is well-managed and reflects the most up-to-date understanding of internationally accepted fisheries science and management. The certification follows a rigorous 16-month review carried out by third-party assessment body Control Union UK Limited. >click to read< 16:09
Florida Keys spiny lobster industry hit by housing crisis, labor shortage
Living where you work in Florida is a real problem for thousands of state residents, and it’s causing problems across industries. Harvesting spiny lobster, also known as the rock lobster, is bigger in the Keys than in most places, but folks can’t get crews to fully staff their boats. “Keys housing is too expensive for crew members to typically live, so they’re having to commute from places like Homestead, Florida, all the way out to the Keys. The fishermen really talked a lot about how important it is to have knowledgeable crew on these boats to make sure you’re avoiding citations.” A silver lining on the labor issue is that while older fishers are getting out of the fishery, experts are seeing more younger fishers coming in. >click to read< 14:20
Fishermen Unable to Sustain Rocketing Fuel Costs
The Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) has called for immediate political action to alleviate the soaring cost of fuel which has many fishermen on the brink and is causing untold hardship and anxiety for the industry. Chief Executive, Seán O’Donoghue said that the Irish Government has been given approval for such a support scheme for the sector, which is already in place in many other EU member states. Governments in those countries have acted swiftly to provide a beleaguered industry with financial support to offset the huge spike in fuel costs. >click to read< 13:14
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update September 12, 2022
For decades now, the CCA has done their best to turn “bycatch” into a four-letter word, especially commercial bycatch. They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify their failed attempts to enact net bans and gamefish bills! They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify banning shrimp trawling in North Carolina! They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify almost every current restriction on commercial fishermen and commercial fishing gear! >click to read<. To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 09:18
My View – Back to proven port basics
The future of our 399-year-old port community, our ocean-centric culture, is bring maltreated by astonishing contradictions, some plain self-serving against the good of our community, others just embarrassingly incoherent. There are folks who will claim that fishing is “near the end” with “not enough biomass,” with some fishers even declaring near tears that “we are the last generation,” while the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology offers science that lucrative fish species are actually dying of old age in the fertile Atlantic, as the industry remains without advanced catch technology to very selectively harvest only those species in ample abundance. >click to read< 07:52
