Tag Archives: closed area
Areas closed to protect North Atlantic Right whales ready to re-open Friday in western P.E.I.
Charlie McGeoghegan, the chair of the Lobster Fishers of P.E.I., said the re-opening is good news. “They were fishing in 80 to 100 feet of water, a lot of them, and the lobster had just started to come on in that area. And then they were forced to pull all the gear out of that area and move it into 60 feet of water or less,” he said. “There’s basically 400 boats in that area or close to it. If you take all those boats and put them in a little narrow strip between the shoreline and 60 feet depth of water … it’s an over-congestion of gear.” McGeoghegan said losses over the past two weeks could be significant for some crews. >click to read< 14:28
Despite threats from fellow fishermen, Mass lobstermen press to allow ropeless fishing in closed areas
The lobstermen viewed themselves as trailblazers, even calling themselves “Pioneers for a Thoughtful Coexistence”. In an effort to prove that there’s a way for their industry to resume fishing in coastal waters where Massachusetts banned lobstering to protect endangered whales, they have asked regulators to allow them to set their traps without vertical buoy lines. “I’ve been trying my best to get our guy’s back fishing,” said Michael Lane, 46, a lobsterman who fishes 800 traps out of Cohasset. But when Lane’s group presented at a recent public hearing their proposal to fish with experimental rope less gear, which would use remotely triggered inflatable balloons or other devices to surface the traps, they were pilloried by their fellow fishermen. >click to read< 19:20
Coast Guard interrupts suspected illegal shrimp harvest off Key West
Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo’s law enforcement crew detained a U.S. flagged fishing vessel Saturday for suspected shrimp fishing in the Dry Tortugas shrimp sanctuary during an annual closure period. The law enforcement team boarded the F/V Double E at approximately 7:30 p.m. and also discovered two safety violations. The vessel was escorted to Station Fort Myers Beach for further investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division. >click to read< 19:31
The Whale Pass Case: Southeast Alaska fishermen illegally caught $35,000 worth of sea cucumbers, troopers say
The lure of lucrative echinoderms may have proved too strong for three Southeast fishermen. The trio, all from Naukati Bay on Prince of Wales Island, face criminal charges after pilfering nearly four tons of sea cucumbers from a Whale Pass scientific preserve that’s been off limits to fishing for decades, Alaska Wildlife Troopers say.,, The Whale Pass case started in December after other divers noticed the three men bringing in large loads of sea cucumbers,,, “They’re like, how in the world is this guy catching more than us? We don’t even see him out here. Something isn’t right,” >click to read< 20:06
Coast Guard, NOAA resolve two closed area fishing cases for $80,000
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently resolved two civil penalty cases with two separate fishing vessel owners who violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act when their crews were found fishing in closed areas. Following up on a referral from the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement Vessel Monitoring program, a Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod HC-144 crew sighted the fishing vessel Warrior, homeported in New Bedford, Mass., on March 21, 2014 fishing for scallops within Closed Area II Essential Fish Habitat, which is about 120 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass. On April 30, 2013 the fishing vessel Crystal Girl B, a vessel homeported in Cape May, N.J. was also detected fishing for scallops inside Closed Area I, an area about 30 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Mass., by a crew aboard the Coast Guard cutter Tybee. The Warrior owner paid a civil penalty of $39,360 on April 1, 2016 for fishing in a closed area and deficiencies with its vessel monitoring system and the Crystal Girl B owner agreed to pay $40,750 on March 18, 2016 for closed area violations, including fishing in a closed area. Read the rest here 18:39
