Daily Archives: March 19, 2023
Covid shutdowns and hurricanes rock Louisiana seafood industry
During the pandemic, the state’s seafood industry shut down. Once business resumed, a series of storms and hurricanes wiped out areas where those who rely on the state’s plentiful harvests of crawfish, shrimp, crabs, oysters and alligators make a living. The double-whammy took a devastating toll on Louisiana, the nation’s second-largest seafood supplier, and when it fully recovers remains to be seen. “There’s still boats stranded in certain areas,” said Samantha Carroll, executive director for Louisiana Seafood. While the 2022 season offered a reprieve with no hurricanes, “people were still trying to pick up the pieces,” struggling to find fuel, bait, and other essentials, she said. >click to read< 14:52
Crossing the perilous Willapa Bay bar holds a steep cost
To reach the ocean crabbing grounds from this Southwest Washington community, Mike Green must navigate his boat through the seas that churn across the mouth of Willapa Bay. Through the years, the 69-year-old Green has had some close calls. Waves once shattered the wheelhouse windows of his boat, the 52-foot Mi Lana. This winter, he suffered a far more grievous loss. His grandson, Bryson Fitch, 24, went missing Feb. 5 after the vessel he was working on, the Ethel May, capsized in an attempt to cross the mouth of the bay. Fitch’s loss was a sledgehammer blow to his family and a community of some 250 people with an economy long tied to shellfish. 11 photos, >click to read< 11:03
Nils Stolpe: How many statisticians does it take to….
Screw in a lightbulb? Trivialize the deaths of at least two dozen whales? Convince the world that the massive installation of wind power off our East Coast won’t irreparably damage our estuarine, inshore and offshore ecosystems? The folks at NOAA/NMFS (and with the convenient parroting of myriad so-called environmentalists, and BOEM, the other part of the federal cheerleading squad selling Ocean Wind as a major solution to our “energy crisis”) have declared that it hasn’t been proven that there aren’t any relationships between the extensive survey work being committed by Big Wind and the associated contractors and the two dozen deaths that have been visited upon several species of whales off New York and New Jersey. What is their proof? Inadequately enough, their “proof” boils down to the fact that they have seen no proof. To my way of thinking, that’s tantamount to convicting someone of murder because there is no proof that he or she isn’t a murderer. But it appears as if, as far as dead whales and President Biden’s and New Jersey’s Governor Murphy’s windmill fantasies are concerned, that’s good enough. At least for NOAA/NMFS, BOEM and a bunch of environmental organizations. Why? >click to read< 09:54
Kodiak lawmakers outline fishery-related accomplishments and ambitions
A bill that passed the Alaska Legislature last year has already started to benefit the fishing industry, and more fishing-specific bills are in the works this year, state lawmakers representing Kodiak said on Friday at an industry conference. Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens, a Republican leading a bipartisan majority, told the audience at ComFish Alaska that he is particularly proud of a bill he sponsored that expands allowable tax credits for investments in equipment to process seafood beyond salmon and herring. The bill expanded allowable seafood-production tax credits to investments in equipment for pollock, Pacific cod and sablefish, also known as block cod. Previously, only salmon- or herring-related investments were eligible for those credits. >click to read< 08:55
British fishermen face £199 fee to export catch to EU in post-Brexit blow
Fishermen in Pembrokeshire are facing a £199 fee to export their products to the EU. The fee is being introduced by the County Council’s Cabinet to allow the Port Health Team to issue ECHs. The certificates are mandatory for all companies in the UK exporting or moving live animal products to the EU post-Brexit. A spokesperson from Pembrokeshire Cabinet said: “As a result of Brexit, fishery products exported to the European Union from the United Kingdom now require an EHC, as laid out in the Official Control Regulations 2017/625.” Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised UK fishermen they would be fully protected in the event of any post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union, which was signed on December 30, 2020. >click to read< 07:59
