Daily Archives: January 7, 2023
Cod: The New England Council has proposed a plan to restore cod by 2033
What that will mean is our fishing fleet would have to reduce their catch by whatever the council thinks will be helpful. Over the years NOAA has made reductions on cod and other species, based on their studies and science. Under law, they do not have to compare their findings. We need to update the Magnuson–Stevens Act that would require them to compare data before making restrictions on species of fish. Put this aside, if we want to bring back the cod, no fishing vessel can land cod over the next ten years. Great! So be it. Pay our fisherman to not catch cod. Farmers have a Farm Bill and pay farmers not to grow certain crops. So why can’t our government create a Fish Bill to do the same for the U.S. fishing industry? This could be paid for by increasing the duty on imported fish. This is a Win-Win solution. Sam Parisi, Gloucester, Mass. 19:27
Scientist calls 6-year delay in Maine lobster rules ‘mind-boggling’
Scientists dedicated to saving North Atlantic right whales from extinction say they are optimistic they can work with the fishing industry to save the species. But they were blindsided last month when Maine’s congressional delegation put language in the federal budget to delay for six years regulations that are designed to protect the whales. Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist at the Boston-based New England Aquarium, said the impact of a six-year delay in regulations could be “dramatic.” “It’s mind-boggling that this would be allowed to happen,” she said. But the Maine lobster industry has fought hard against new regulations designed to protect the whales, saying lobstermen aren’t to blame for the whales’ continued decline. Backed by Gov. Janet Mills and the state’s congressional delegation, the industry won a major victory with the six-year delay. >click to read< 15:20
Whitehall’s eco-zealots are threatening the livelihoods of families who have fished off Holy Island for 1,000 years
Defra, the Whitehall department responsible for fishing, proposes to create a Highly Protected Marine Area of 50 square miles covering the island and parts of the nearby Farne Islands that will have the effect of banning fishing. ‘It will wipe us out and destroy Holy Island as a living and working community,’ says Shaun Brigham, 55, who has been fishing these waters since leaving school at the age of 15. ‘All that’s here is tourism and fishing – so take the fishing away and what would be left? Defra talks about ‘rewilding the sea’ but has produced no evidence that anything here needs rewilding.’ On the contrary, stocks of lobster and brown and velvet crab – which are the only sea-life that can be fished in what is already a highly regulated industry – are greater than they have been for decades, not least because it’s in the long-term interests of the fishermen to abide by strict sustainability rules. >click to read< 13:58
Tomorrow’s lobsterman, today: a look into the future from Eastport
The dockyard in Eastport is quiet this morning. If we listen closely enough, we can hear the ocean less than a half mile from where we circle Elijah’s boat, the Perseverance. In its past life, the vessel was used for chartered whale-watching tours; today, as he runs his hand along the boat’s bright blue hull, Elijah recalls the 12-hour days he spent at his shop, for nearly a year, stripping the boat’s hull down to the bilges, rebuilding the cabin and the deck, replacing the engine, rewiring the electronics, upgrading the plumbing. Elijah spent the first decade of his life growing up on Barnegat Bay, just outside of Lavallette, New Jersey, where his grandfather was a master carpenter. During much of that time, his grandfather was working on boats, and he’d invite young, 4-year-old Elijah to help. “I was a little kid so I could fit underneath the trailer to paint the bottom of a boat,” Elijah recalls. photos, >click to read< 10:55
Commercial Dungeness crab season opens January 15
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery season opens from Cape Falcon to Cape Arago January 15. The season opens February 1 from Cape Falcon north to Washington State; in accordance with the Tri-State Protocol. ODFW says that the crabs are ready for harvest after passing all administered tests. Crab meat fill now meets criteria in all areas of Oregon, and biotoxins are below alert levels in all crab tested from Cape Arago north. However, domoic acid testing of crab will continue from Cape Arago south to the California border as test results Thursday showed elevated levels of domoic acid in the area. >click to read< For more information about crabbing season you can visit ODFW’s website. 09:21
‘There are only so many last straws a man can take — but going home wasn’t an option’
“Would you like some bacon and spuds?” asked the skipper cheerily. Not having dared move around the boat since the Atlantic storm began, let alone attempt the perilous expedition to the galley below, I reluctantly accepted his offer. I was reluctant because, since the storm began, I had only found safety when sitting with my back to a cupboard on the floor of the bridge. Just standing up, I had quickly discovered, was a tortuous endeavour. I quietly gulped at what I had just agreed to do. As he bolted out the door of the bridge and stepped lightly down the wrought-iron staircase through the hatch to the lower deck, my hands shook uncontrollably as I tried to lock the two buckles of my life jacket. >click to read< 08:34
