Tag Archives: anchovy
Gary Griggs – Salmon and squid
Salmon and squid both came on the radar this past week,,, These two marine animals have both shared some top billings in their importance to California’s commercial fishery in recent years, although there are significant year-to-year fluctuations. Calamari or market squid have been the number one fishery in tonnage caught, year after year… until last year. In typical years, 70,000 to 118,000 tons (118,000 is the allowable total catch) would be brought to the docks by the squid boats, making up consistently two-thirds of the entire commercial catch. >click to read< 10:46
Sea Lions, Other Marine Mammals Discovering South Sound Anchovy Boom
A large suite of marine mammals has discovered Deep South Sound’s new bounty of anchovies, schools of which are now so numerous they’re routinely observed during regular aerial surveys. For three months this past winter, WDFW biologist Steve Jeffries observed hundreds of California sea lions, as well as harbor seals, harbor porpoises and long-beaked common dolphins feeding on a massive pod of the skinny, silvery baitfish in Case Inlet north of Olympia. Anchovy populations have boomed in these waters since 2015 and the Blob’s warm waters. What’s more, the pinnipeds and cetaceans appeared to be teaming up on them. >click to read<20:01
D.B. Pleschner: Is court the right place to determine ‘best available science’?
A U.S. District Court judge recently ruled that the federal government’s catch limit for California’s central stock of anchovy — currently 25,000 metric tons — is far too high. But instead of weighing all the facts, the judge ignored them, shunned the established precedent of deference to federal agencies’ scientific determinations and instead endorsed the flawed arguments of the advocacy group Oceana. So what happened? >click to read< 21:55
D.B. Pleschner: Nearshore anchovy abundance not proof fishery is collapsing
Recently, Dr. William Sydeman of the Farallon Institute, published a study claiming that the abundance of anchovy near shore — especially in places like Monterey — is evidence that the population is collapsing. Sydeman’s logic is based on an old argument that collapsed populations always shrink inshore. But there’s one big problem with that theory — it’s unsupported by scientific evidence.,,, The bottom line: environmental groups with an anti-fishing agenda are already gearing up to hot-box the Pacific Fishery Management Council in spring 2018, lobbying for a steep reduction in anchovy harvest limits, employing whatever colorful, sensational pictures they can paint. click here to read the story 20:58
D.B. Pleschner: ENGO Extremists manufacture anchovy ‘crisis’ where none exists
When the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently reapproved the 2017 annual catch limit for the central stock of anchovy at 25,000 metric tons (mt), environmental extremists immediately cried foul. Press releases with doomsday headlines claimed that the anchovy catch limit is now higher than the total population of fish in the sea. Environmentalists claim the anchovy resource has “collapsed” and the current catch limit is dangerously high. But is the anchovy population really decimated, or are these alarmists simply manufacturing another anti-fishing crisis? In reality, anchovies are now amazingly abundant from San Diego to Northern California. Scientific data as well as fishermen’s observation bear this out: Read the op-ed here 12:22
Chile fishermen protest fishing limits
Clashes break out after fishermen protest against a new law limiting the amount of anchovy they can harvest. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). Watch the video here 14:17
Monterey Bay anchovy numbers in decline, groups say
Geoff Shester, the California program manager for the conservation group Oceana, said, “The problem is we know anchovy goes way up and way down. What was a sustainable level of fishing back then, might be wiping out the population now.” “I’ve been fishing anchovies since 1959, and I don’t see any problem with the anchovies for the whales,” said fisherman Neil Guglielmo of Monterey. “Perhaps this is the time of year the whales move or El Nino, but the fact that we’re scaring whales or catching their food source is ridiculous.” Read the rest here 18:40
Peru plans to start its main fishing season a month earlier to lock in anchovy catches in case El Niño intensifies
An updated official El Niño forecast, scheduled for release on Monday, is expected to paint a clearer picture of potential impacts late this year. The last forecast for a “strong” El Niño said the phenomena might become “extraordinary” in the summer, which starts in December in the southern hemisphere. Ghezzi said his ministry could ease rules on commercial fishing because of El Niño and will likely move the start of the anchovy season to October from November. “We want to put in place adaptive policies for industrial fishing in order to reduce the impacts of El Nino.” Read the rest here 09:02
West Coast: Sardines vanish from coastal waters; squid and anchovy fill the void for fishermen
Larry Derr was as prepared as any longtime Southern California bait fisherman for the disappearance of the Pacific sardines he has pulled up by the ton since the 1980s. He can fish anchovies instead and, if those become scarce, there’s been a local surge in market squid to keep him in business. Read more@dailybreeze 18:20
