Daily Archives: October 11, 2022
Conservation concerns cancel Alaska’s Bering snow, king crab seasons
Alaska officials have canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest, and in a first-ever move, also scuttled the winter harvest of smaller snow crab. The move is a double whammy to a fleet from Alaska, Washington and Oregon pursuing Bering Sea crab in harvests that as recently as 2016 grossed $280 million. “I am struggling for words. This is so unbelievable that this is happening,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We have third-generation fishermen who are going to go out of business.” >click to read< 14:47
Maine lobstermen hire Bush-era official in challenge to whale laws
Maine lobster fishermen have hired a former high-ranking U.S. Department of Justice official to represent them in their case against new laws intended to protect whales. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is appealing its case against the new rules to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The group said Tuesday it has hired Paul Clement, who served as U.S. solicitor general from 2004 to 2008, to represent it in the case. The solicitor general supervises all Supreme Court litigation for the U.S., and Clement has argued dozens of cases in front of the high court. That’s where the lobstermen’s case could ultimately be headed, he said Tuesday. >click to read< 12:39
Press Release – Maine Lobstermen’s Association Hires Former U.S. Solicitor General: Files for Expediated Appeal to Preserve & Protect States Economy. >click to read<
Ocean Industrialization: Fishing regulators fear wind turbines could threaten spawning area for Atlantic cod
It is the largest offshore HAPC designation in the region. Yet a main concern is cod spawning grounds in a smaller region within the designation, just east of Block Island. That area, known as Cox Ledge, overlaps with some 250 square miles currently leased to developers Ørsted and Eversource for their joint wind energy project: South Fork Wind. It is one of only two offshore wind projects that have completed the federal permitting process. “We are really going about the wind farm development very quickly,” said Kevin Stokesbury, a fisheries science professor at UMass Dartmouth, who studies cod in the Gulf of Maine. “It’s going to be quite a dramatic change to the ecosystem out there.” “We’ve all made sacrifices so cod can recover,” said Capt. Tim Rider, who fishes for groundfish and scallops. “Now they’re going to put a wind farm there,” he said of the cod spawning grounds. “How about they put it somewhere that might not be as intrusive.” >click to read< 11:05
Signs China will discuss lifting trade ban, but Australian lobster fishers say diversification crucial
Trade Minister Don Farrell is yet to meet his Chinese counterpart but says ambassador Xiao Qian has indicated his government is “prepared to have these discussions”. “My job now is to convince China to change its view,” Mr Farrell said. Gordon Lewis owns two fishing boats in Port Macdonnell, South Australia, one of the country’s largest rock lobster fisheries. He said after fishing for the first few days of the season, he pulled his boats out for more than two weeks because volatile prices had made it unaffordable. “Everyone is struggling,” he said. With China no longer taking the majority of the catch, oversupply in the domestic market led to a price drop. >click to read< 09:47
Florida shrimpers race to get battered fleet back to sea
The seafood industry in southwest Florida is racing against time and the elements to save what’s left of a major shrimping fleet and a lifestyle that was battered by Hurricane Ian. One of two shrimpers that didn’t sink or get tossed onto land went out Sunday, but the victory was small compared with the task ahead. Shrimping is the largest piece of Florida’s seafood industry, with a value of almost $52 million in 2016, state statistics show. Gulf of Mexico shrimp from Fort Myers has been shipped all over the United States for generations. Now, it’s a matter of when the fishing can resume and whether there will still be experienced crews to operate the boats when that happens. 20 photos, >click to read< 08:49
Killing joke: how Defra dismissed the Tees Bay die-off
It seems that no matter how often Defra and its partner agencies are exposed as inept over their handling of this crisis, their response is simply to deny the truth and carry on. The grim response of the Environment Agency (EA) to the mass crustacean die-off in Tees Bay moved up a gear last week. Where once they only patronised the inshore fishermen about the probable cause, they have now shown themselves prepared to do it on national TV. Friday 30 September Channel 4 News featured the ongoing tragedy and, in the process, interviewed Hartlepool fisher, Stan Rennie. Video link, >click to read< For more about this, >click here< 07:52
