Daily Archives: January 4, 2025
Framework 39 to determine access, fishing specifications for New Bedford scallopers in 2025/2026
Scallop Framework 39 proposes 2025 fishing year specifications, 2026 default specifications, revisions to seasonal bycatch closures to improve scallop yield, and measures to allow Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) permit holders fishing on directed scallop trips in the NGOM Management Area to possess scallops south of 42° 20′. “The New England Fishery Management Council took final action on Framework Adjustment 39 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan when it met December 3-5, 2024 in Newport, Rhode Island. The framework contains specifications and measures to guide the 2025 scallop fishing year, which begins on April 1. The action also includes default measures for fishing year 2026. The framework must be reviewed, approved, and implemented by NOAA Fisheries before taking effect. Here are the Council’s recommended measures: charts, graphs, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:49
Bay Area commercial Dungeness crab season starts Sunday after delays
The opening is scheduled for Sunday, January 5. Crab season usually opens in mid-November. The opening is scheduled for Sunday, January 5. Crab season usually opens in mid-November. Usually, the season opens in the middle of November, but it was delayed by migrating whales. Crab fisherman Mike Harvie is happy to be back at work. On Thursday, he and his crew loaded up his 58-foot boat, F/V Vaya Con Dios, and headed out. They dropped 250 pots down on the ocean floor. They’ll wait until Sunday to start harvesting. He and his crew have already made two trips to put their gear out. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:40
RI fishermen caught a monster shark off Block Island. Here’s why they let it go.
Capt. Chris Brown was off Block Island fishing for scup, a small fish that weighs about a pound, when something much bigger landed on his deck: a 500-pound, 16-foot-long common thresher shark. The big catch might have been a boon for some commercial fishermen. Thresher sharks “are a popular eating fish,” but “like a lot of species, they are declining,” said Jon Dodd, executive director of the Atlantic Shark Institute in Wakefield. Brown is among more than 25 local commercial fishermen and charter boat captains that provide an invaluable service for the Atlantic Shark Institute by tagging sharks, according to Dodd. Dodd also goes on the water and tags sharks, but they’re often not easy to find, and his institute can cast a much wider net with the help of fishermen like Brown, who provide their help for free, Dodd said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:07
A former shrimper tries to revive Matagorda Bay and its fishing industry with $50 million pollution settlement
Few people still fish for a living on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The work is hard and pay is meager. In the hearts of rundown seaside towns, dilapidated harbors barely recall the communities that thrived here generations ago. But at the docks of Port Lavaca, one group of humble fishermen just got a staggering $20 million to bring back their timeless way of life. They’re buying out the buyer of their catch, starting the largest oyster farm in Texas and dreaming big for the first time in a long time. “We have a lot of hope,” said Jose Lozano, 46, who docks his oyster boats in Port Lavaca. “Things will get better.” It’s all thanks to one elder fisherwoman’s longshot crusade against the petrochemical behemoth across the bay, and her historic settlement in 2019. Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper from the tiny town of Seadrift, took on a $250 billion Taiwanese chemical company, Formosa Plastics Corp., and won a $50 million trust fund, the largest sum ever awarded in a civil suit under the Clean Water Act. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
