Daily Archives: February 13, 2025
Want some of your cod back? European Union requests exchange of its northern cod for a chunk of redfish quota
The European Union wants to give back some of its offshore northern cod quota in exchange for some of Canada’s offshore redfish quota. According to Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Minister Gerry Byrne, the EU has indicated it is willing to give back 70 tonnes of northern cod and wants 245 tonnes of red fish in return. According to fisheries management information published by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), the European Union has a total allowable catch of 735 tonnes of northern cod in NAFO Zone 3L — off eastern Newfoundland — for the 2024-2025 season, which runs until June 30. The EU was allocated nearly 1,094 tonnes of redfish for the same zone for the current season. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:14
Fishery managers start a process to tighten salmon bycatch rules in Alaska’s Bering Sea
Federal fishery managers took steps on Tuesday to impose new rules to prevent Alaska chum salmon from being scooped into nets used to catch Bering Sea pollock, an industrial-scale fishery that makes up the nation’s largest single-species commercial seafood harvest. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council advanced a suite of new protections intended to combat the pollock trawlers’ salmon bycatch, the term for the incidental catch of unintended species. Proposed steps in the package include numeric caps on total chum salmon bycatch, with varying allocations for different sectors of the pollock fleet; protective limits in corridors known to be used by salmon migrating through the ocean back to Western Alaska freshwater spawning areas; and provisions that would link new limits in the ocean to real-time salmon counts and conditions in the rivers. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:31
NCFA Weekly Update for February 10, 2025 – Six Fisheries on the Chopping Block, Part 2 and Part 3
Part 1, Next week, at the meeting in Kitty Hawk, the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) will be looking at Amendment 4 to the Southern flounder Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The only action item in this amendment is moving the 2026 allocation shift of 50/50 up one year instead of following the plan outlined in Amendment 3, which was just finalized in 2022. more, >>CLICK TO READ<<
Part 3, Blue Crab – Next week, February 19th-21st, the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) will also be reviewing a Decision Document looking at using Adaption Management to reduce commercial blue crab harvest. Although no vote will be required at this meeting, the timeline for implementation of management changes is scheduled for final vote in May 2025! more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:18
Safety flyer to the fishing industry – The capsize and foundering of the fishing vessel Njord (SH 90)
On 6 March 2022, the 26.56m stern trawler Njord (SH 90) capsized and foundered 150 miles north-east of Peterhead, Scotland while processing a very large haul of fish. The MAIB investigation found that the weight of catch, which was secured to the starboard trawl winch and acting on a handrail high up on the vessel’s starboard side, caused it to list to starboard to an angle where downflooding occurred. A drain valve had been left open in the starboard weathertight bulkhead on the vessel’s working deck, which allowed downflooding into Njord’s internal spaces. The starboard list subsequently increased further, resulting in the capsize of the vessel. Njord’s eight crew abandoned to the vessel’s upturned hull, but none were wearing either a personal flotation device, an immersion suit or carrying a means to raise an alert. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:19
Don’t use fishing as a bargaining chip, warns Scottish industry
In a message to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation warns that the UK government must not gamble away the future of Scottish fishing businesses by using the industry as a bargaining chip in negotiations to improve relations with the EU. ‘The Scottish fishing industry has twice in the past been regarded as expendable by British Prime Ministers when it comes to Europe,’ warned SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald. ‘We must not have a repeat of 1973 when the condition of entry to the EEC was that our richly endowed fishing waters be pooled with other members, or of 2020 when the Brexit agreement, while restoring the UK to the status of sovereign coastal state, granted continued access to our waters to EU vessels to catch far more fish in our waters than they catch in their own.’ more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:12
Google Maps changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
Following the lead of the Geographic Names Information System, Google has changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps. Google announced two weeks ago that it would change the name of the body of water between Mexico and Florida when GNIS made the change, it would follow suit. The label will differ depending on where a user is located. For people in the U.S., the map will read “Gulf of America.” Users in Mexico will see “Gulf of Mexico.” While people everywhere else will see “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).” Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:07
