Daily Archives: February 1, 2023
U.S. announces reduced East Coast commercial mackerel quota for 2023
The United States will proceed with a commercial fishery of the depleted East Coast mackerel stock it shares with Canada in 2023. The U.S. quota was released this week, putting pressure on Canada which has yet to decide whether it will continue a total moratorium it imposed in 2022 to help rebuild the population. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. equivalent of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), announced on Tuesday a total allowable catch of 3,639 metric tonnes. It was 27 per cent cut from 2022 in recognition that the transboundary stock remains in trouble and is overfished. >click to read< 19:01
Ilwaco, Washington: Crabbers pinched
“Last year we got a good price. This year we’re probably not getting a very good price,” said F/V Cutting Edge owner Brian Cutting, upon returning to port for his second load of pots on Sunday morning. “We haven’t heard numbers out of here, probably when we bring our first boatload of crab, but we’ve heard numbers out of other places. It’s going to be unknown here, we’re not sure yet,” Cutting said. Cutting, now entering his 39th season as a vessel owner, said this season would likely be a short one for him and his crew due to the price of crab combined with rising fuel and expense costs. 12 photos, >click to read< 16:59
Westport and Tokeland drop their crab pots in anticipation of today’s commercial crab opener
At 8 a.m. this past Sunday, “Dump Day” took over the ports at Westport and Tokeland. The pots have been “soaking.” Commercial crabbers were allowed to pull pots they dropped on Sunday, starting at 8 a.m. today, Wednesday, Feb. 1. Jeremy Hammond, 50, Tokeland, is a deckhand for the Southern Cross, a fishing boat moored in Tokeland. His dad was a Bering Sea captain. He spent 12 years fishing the Bering Sea, an inhospitable water full of wind and waves and severe cold. Fit as a fiddle, this past Saturday he manhandled the crab pots as he filled the hull and then the deck of the Southern Cross. Hammond has a softer side, playing guitar, writing his own songs. He has a baby grand piano in his living room. But his essence is as a fisherman. “I’m excited to go out there and make a paycheck,” he said. >click to read< 13:36
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 80′ Steel Shrimper with Freezer Hold, Cat 3406
To review specifications, information, and 10 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:50
Left-over inventory and inflation could take a bite out of N.L. snow crab prices this year
Trevor Jones has been in the fishing business long enough to know you can’t predict the success of any year until the last pot is hauled and the nets are stored. Jones owns a 65-foot longliner, F/V Samantha Nathan, carrying on the family business that was started by his father. These past few years, snow crab has become the most important catch. Last year crab accounted for just over half the revenue for his enterprise. The record high prices, even with a drop to $6.15 a pound from $7.60 at the start of the season, helped buffer against the cancellation of the mackerel fishery and the no-go for capelin. >click to read< 10:10
Biden admin faces blowback over wind farm construction threatening marine life: ‘Put whales over woke!’
Activist groups like the Protect Our Coast NJ, Save Right Whales, and others have voiced concerns that coastal wind turbines built amid a Biden administration push for green energy are hurting an already endangered species. The Washington Post reported how if President Biden hopes to archive his renewable energy goals, the undertaking would require “massive” amount of offshore wind turbines to be installed. “Dead whales and tough economics bedevil Biden’s massive wind energy push,” the Post wrote. Environmentalist and author Michael Shellenberger wrote a Twitter thread about how construction can hurt the local whale population in a variety of ways. “Industrial wind projects ‘could have population-level effects on an already endangered and stressed species,’ concluded the NOAA scientist, Sean Hayes,” Shellenberger tweeted. “What are ‘population-level effects?’ In a word: extinction.” >click to read< 08:53
Fishing industry gets hooked up again after Santa Barbara harbor was closed by sand
With the weekend reopening of the Santa Barbara harbor, the fishing industry is getting back on schedule, and some are calculating losses. While weather conditions are always a variable, the sand blockade was said to be one of the biggest and fastest hits to the harbor entrance in recent memory. The commercial fishing industry saw many boats docked instead of out in the Santa Barbara Channel. Island Hooker boat owner Robert Church was asked about the harbor issues while working on his vessel in a harbor slip. “Nobody likes to see the sandbar shutting anyone out. There’s a lot of commercial fishermen in the harbor and it affects everybody who is a commercial fisherman.” >click to read< 07:53
