Tag Archives: commercial fleet
Fresh Off the Boat
California fisheries are considered a “Legacy Industry” that sustains local families while helping to attract tourists. Shockingly, the California commercial fleet that included 5,000 boats in 1980 diminished to only 464 vessels by 2022, and Fort Bragg is home to 103 of these registered commercial fishing boats. The fish catchers who are still fishing are finding it increasingly necessary to “adapt or die.” Fortunately, Noyo Harbor seems to have some very resourceful people who have taken this challenge to heart and devised some innovative ways to help get the freshest fish onto your dinner table. Dan Platt, aka Captain Dan, is a commercial fisherman, diver, and owner of Noyo Harbor Tours in Fort Bragg. He owns two boats: the Zhivago, a converted 1931 former Coast Guard craft for fishing, and The Noyo Star, his eco-friendly electric tour boat. The recent tough times in California fisheries encouraged Dan to think outside the box. To improve his bottom line, he is sometimes able to sell his fish direct from his boat to customers on the dock, cutting out the middleman. more, >>CLICK TO READ<<10:20
NPFMC decision puts Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishery in jeopardy
Final action by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council on commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet threatens to exclude drift gillnet harvesters from fishing in the inlet’s commercial waters at the start of the 2022 fishing season. In a near unanimous decision reached during the council’s virtual meeting on Monday, Dec. 7, the panel selected an alternative that would close off to the commercial fleet federal waters outside of three miles from shore, an area where most of the fleet get the bulk of its catch. >click to read< 16:43
Editorial: Fishermen should look for smart ways to survive
As spring Chinook salmon congregate in the ocean around the mouth of the Columbia River in anticipation of their ancient migration to upriver spawning grounds, this spring also sees a swirling conglomeration of politics in Oregon and Washington state over how to allocate salmon among different interests. In some ways nothing new, in other respects the fight over salmon is rising to a higher pitch. Increasingly involving elected leaders, the outcome is becoming even less predictable. Also unclear is where a majority of Oregon and Washington state voters stand on the issue. The key point of recent news in the matter is the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s unanimous vote to curtail gillnet fish harvests, altering an earlier decision that was more favorable to commercial fishermen. Bullied into the decision by Gov. Kate Brown, the commission backed away from its earlier acknowledgment that the states have so far failed to keep a promise made by the Oregon Legislature to ensure the continuing economic viability of the commercial fleet. Alternative fishing methods have proven ineffective, alternative fishing grounds are in short supply, and money has been slow to arrive to aid transition away from the decades long gillnetting tradition. continue reading the op-ed here 16:20
Washington and Oregon officials today cancelled gillnetting scheduled for tonight in the lower Columbia River.
Biologist Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the commercial fleet has caught 3,298 summer chinook salmon in two earlier nights of fishing. That number is 99 percent of the commercial allocation. Whisler said the commercials are projected to catch another 700 chinook if they fished tonight. The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee has upgraded the forecast for the summer chinook run to 108,000, the largest since at least 1960. The sockeye run was upgraded Monday to 500,000, the third largest on record. link 14:34
New yellowtail flounder survey on tap – Long awaited commercial fleet collaborative research inclusion is finally realized
NEW BEDFORD — Five fisheries scientists based in Woods Hole came to the city Wednesday and spelled out the details of a new yellowtail flounder survey to be performed from commercial fishing vessels in August. The effort is d
esigned to bring commercial fishermen into the process of conducting surveys, and to give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s survey ship Bigelow something to compare to. The NOAA is looking for two boats big enough to berth five scientists and five crew members, who will work 24-hour days in shifts for 12 days. continued@southcoasttoday
