Daily Archives: June 21, 2023
Fishing season is on in Southeast Alaska
The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals on Jun. 21 halted the implementation of a U.S. District Court decision that would have shut down the Chinook fishery in Southeast Alaska for the summer. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, Attorney General Treg Taylor, and Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang reacted to the Court’s decision. Governor Mike Dunleavy said, “The 9th Circuit got it right when it found that Alaska’s fishing interests outweighed the “speculative environmental threats.” There’s a gauntlet of obstacles before the Chinook reach our fishery. The ruling comes just in time so that our commercial troll fishers in Southeast have a season. And we are grateful for it.” >click to read< 17:20
CEO says over regulation has led to the demise of the fishing industry
The fishing industry is facing the gravest challenges of our time with a decline in the number of young people joining the industry and a serious decline in profits reaped from the the processing and exporting sector, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association (IFPEA), Brendan Byrne. The Creenveen-based CEO said: “There is no doubt that we are facing the gravest challenges of our time as a result of Brexit and the TCA agreement. I suppose historically we have been treated very unfairly by the Common Fisheries Policy – they only allow us to catch, on average, 15% of all the fish in Irish waters; the other 85% is shared among other EU countries.” >click to read< 15:14
Opinion: Canada failed the N.L. fishery by Harvey Jarvis
The 2023 crash in the price of snow crab and the 1992 moratorium on northern cod have been talked about as the two major catastrophic events in the Newfoundland Labrador inshore fishery. While I totally agree that the two events have inflicted major damage on those who make a living from our ocean’s renewable resources, in my opinion, neither of them is THE major catastrophic event. In 1949, Newfoundland Labrador signed over control and management of the world’s richest renewable resources to Canada. While Canada was supposed to manage those resources to produce maximum benefit to Newfoundland Labrador, the opposite has occurred. >click to read< 13:17
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 101′ Steel Shrimper, 95k capacity freezer hold, 3508 Cat Diesel
To review specifications, information, and 17 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:25
There have been 2,600 violations of Louisiana’s imported shrimp law — and no fines
Health inspectors have recorded more than 2,600 violations of a 2019 Louisiana law that requires restaurants and other food establishments to indicate on their menus if they’re selling imported shrimp or crawfish, but the state hasn’t levied a single fine for those violations since the law took effect. It’s a problem local fishermen have been calling attention to for years. Foreign seafood has become so cheap that it is almost ubiquitous. According to the Louisiana Shrimp Association, most restaurants in the state have chosen to serve imported shrimp and crawfish to patrons who are either oblivious to it or believe they’re eating local fare. >click to read< 10:49
Council to reconsider red king crab closure options
Regulators are inching closer to closing areas of Bristol Bay to commercial groundfish fishing in an attempt to help conserve the depleted red king crab there. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has requested more information for a second evaluation of options for what to do about the Bristol Bay Red King Crab fishery. At its meeting from June 6-11 in Sitka, the council tweaked some of the options for closures and asked its staff to gather more information for another review at its next meeting. The current options issue annual closures for part of Bristol Bay to all commercial groundfish gear types, though one option excludes non-pelagic trawl. >click to read< 09:40
Federal judges: Data does not prove Maine lobstering endangers whales
Friday, a panel of judges ruled that data on entanglements in lobster fishing gear does not support the need for the new strict limits on where and how lobstermen could fish. Those regulations, set by the National Marine Fisheries Service, were put in place under the authority of the Endangered Species Act to protect the 340 North Atlantic Right Whales whales left. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association says there is no evidence of Maine lobster gear ever killing a whale. There has been no documented entanglement of a North Atlantic Right Whale since 2004. “Every lobsterman in Maine was facing a decision of whether or not they would be able to continue in the fishery,” MLA policy director Patrice McCarron said. Video, >click to read< 08:55
Cheers! Local fishing nonprofit receives $50,000 donation
Tito’s Handmade Vodka partnered with the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust (MVFPT) to fund a new gin boom, a type of hydraulic crane that helps unload heavy catches from fishing vessels. According to Tito’s, the boom will help approximately 25 to 30 commercial fishing businesses, mainly on the Island. But they say it has the potential to help upwards of 100. The boom unveiled in Menemsha during a ceremony last week. MVFPT executive director Shelley Edmundson said that gin booms are critical to the fishing industry. >click to read< 07:52
