Tag Archives: Algae Bloom
Peconic Bay Scallops are a legacy at risk
For more than 30 years, Tim Sweat has spent the early morning hours of winter on Peconic Bay. By noon on most days, he would collect thousands of pounds of scallops — enough to cover the daily cost of maintaining his boat, plus put aside some extra money for the holidays. But for the last four years, as bay scallops continue to die off at an alarming rate, he’s finished the season with little to show for his efforts. “I’ve spent most of my life out here on the water; fishing is my whole life. But the future is not looking very promising for the smaller boats like me,” Sweat said. “We’re struggling to make a living out here, things keep dying off.” >click to read< 13:33
Midwestern Farm Runoff Creates Headache For Louisiana Shrimpers
“We’re not catching no large shrimp,” said Olander, who largely blames worsening environmental conditions. “There’s no explaining this here other than it’s something’s wrong with our water.” Olander grabs his phone to elaborate. He pulls up a picture of the Gulf water his cousin Douglas, also a fisherman, took from the deck of his boat earlier this summer. “That’s that green slime,” he said, pointing. “ Audio, >click to read< 11:43
U.S. crab-fishing troubles could boost B.C.
B.C.’s crab fishermen are waiting to see if demand picks up for their catch as the presence of an algae-borne toxin postpones much of California’s crab fishing. Storms have dissipated an algae bloom off B.C.’s coast. Even at its height in the summer, the massive bloom did not have the high concentrations of algae associated with demoic acid that showed up off the U.S., said Ian Perry, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Nanaimo, on Friday. That has allowed B.C.’s fishery for sweet Dungeness crab to remain open. Read the rest here 15:29
Algae bloom threatens Prince Rupert’s gill net fleet
The Prince Rupert gill net fleet has been hit hard by a massive algae bloom and may be forced off the water. “It’s crippling me as far as catching fish goes. Everything on the boat is dirty from [algae] including me and you can’t catch any fish because they can see the net, it’s like a blanket out there,” said Claude McDonald, 76, a gill net fisherman based in Prince Rupert. A sticky, thick algae is being singled out as the reason for extremely dismal salmon catches so far this season. Mud is the name given to the plankton by fisherman due to its thick viscosity and muddy colour. Read the rest here 10:18
Algae Bloom Is Toxic For Washington Crabbers’ Bottom Lines
Tom Petersen’s 50-foot crab boat sits idly in the Port of Willapa Harbor, a tiny coastal inlet 40 or so miles north of the mouth of the Columbia River. On a normal early-summer day, Petersen would be selling Dungeness crab to canneries, big-city buyers and even fresh off the back of his boat to locals and tourists. And he’d be making good money doing it. With crab selling at up to $10 per pound, Petersen could be making thousands of dollars a day. But for the past few weeks, Petersen and all the other commercial crabbers who fish,,, Read the rest here 06:35
