Tag Archives: crab fisherman Ben Platt
Ropeless fishing gear won’t save whales
If you live in one of California’s historic fishing communities like Bodega Bay, (or Coastal New England) you’ve probably heard the term “ropeless” crab fishing gear. That’s the new buzzword for equipment being promoted by environmental groups to solve the perceived problem of whale interactions with fishing gear. These groups have convinced the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to adopt onerous new regulations that will force crab fishermen to adopt expensive, impractical and unproven fishing gear that will put most of us out of business. The truth, however, is something different. How do we know this? Both the East Coast lobster fishery and the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, each of which are made up of thousands of independent fishermen, have tested the pop-up ropeless gear and found it to be faulty. >click to read< 09:54
Next Dungeness crab season remains murky while fishermen are optimistic
After an algae-produced neurotoxin significantly curtailed the last Dungeness crab season, commercial anglers are glad to hear that the upcoming season won’t be spoiled — at least not to the same extent. “We’re not going to see closures of the entire state,” said Raphael Kudela, an ocean sciences professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ben Platt, a crab fishermen who docks his boat at Pillar Point Harbor, said in email to the Review that he and others were feeling optimistic that the domoic acid would not interfere with the start of this year’s season. “We are all hopeful that our season will start as normal on Nov. 15 in Central California based on the overall cooler water temperatures off our coast,” he wrote. “We were able to have a limited season last spring and get people used to buying and eating crab again. “Many of our fishing families were able to get back to work and start paying their bills again,” he said. Read the story here 19:35
