Tag Archives: Department of Fisheries
Quinlan plant puts best PR foot forward after being charged for trying to sell rotten crab
With 2,100 boxes of snow crab in the landfill and four charges laid under the Fish Inspection Act, Quinlan Brothers Ltd. is eager to change the narrative that the company is selling rotten crab. Company president Robin Quinlan hosted the media on a tour of its seafood processing plant in Bay de Verde on Wednesday, with a local communications company along for a livestream and to guide discussion points. Quinlan said the event’s goal was to be transparent and to stand up for the quality of its product. “We have nothing to hide,” Quinlan said. Photos, video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<<09:22
‘A reckless approach to regulation’ – Aquaculture critic presses for answers after another salmon die-off
More than 90,000 salmon being farmed in an open-net aquaculture pen on Newfoundland’s south coast died over the weekend, the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture announced in a media release Saturday. The event occurred at a site known as “the gorge,” which is operated by Mowi’s Marine Harvest Atlantic Canada, and was caused by “sudden low dissolved oxygen levels.” The dead fish have been removed from the site. The release said mitigation measures, including deeper nets and aeration equipment, “improved survivability” during the die-off. Friday’s die-off was only the latest in a series of mortality events on Mowi-owned aquaculture farms, White noted. >click to read< 12:40
Water police not told of missing trawler for four days, WA inquest hears
An inquest has heard there were critical delays in police being notified about a missing prawn trawler that sank off the Pilbara coast in 2015, resulting in three deaths. A coronial inquest has begun in Perth into how Murray Turner, 57, Chad Fairley, 30, and Mason Carter, 26, died. Mr Turner’s trawler, the Returner, sank about 20 kilometres off the Karratha coast in July 2015. The inquest heard police were only notified about the missing vessel almost five days after it stopped communicating with the Department of Fisheries’ monitoring system, which is primarily used as a surveillance and compliance tool. click here to read the story 08:35
WA’s scallop quota doubled after stock recovery
The quota for WA’s commercial scallop fishery has almost doubled this season, due to a recovery of stocks after a marine heatwave in 2010/11. Fishermen will be able to take 330 tonnes in 2017, compared to 166 tonnes last season. Department of Fisheries principal scientist Mervi Kangas said the speed of recovery in the Shark Bay fishery had quickened.”The stocks are recovering. Denham Sound, which was the key area where most of the scallop take came from, has actually recovered,” Ms Kangas said. “The northern part of Shark Bay is still recovering, but it is improving each year.” continue reading the story here 19:57
New scientific paper throws conventional thinking about minimum sizes for fish out the window
At last, after decades of so-called reviews of minimum sizes which have basically just fiddled at the edges, an Australian fisheries management authority has finally fundamentally questioned and analysed the use of minimum sizes as an effective tool for sustainable fish species management. Our friends in WA have issued Fisheries Management Paper No. 279; Policy on the Application of Fish Size Limits in Western Australia. In eight concise pages it addresses one of the oldest types of management tools used in fisheries, the setting of minimum size limits for all popular species targeted by recreational and commercial fishers. It concludes that often setting these limits is a waste of time. The Policy has then been used as the basis of the subsequent Fisheries Management Paper No. 280 which outlines proposals for reviewing the appropriateness of all current size limits that apply to finfish species in WA. Read the story here 16:03
Friday Tomfoolery with WA Fisheries Minister Ken Baston “… I’ll check up on that straight away,”!
WA Fisheries Minister Ken Baston has contradicted advice from his own department, saying he would not recommend people eat fish from Cockburn Sound. More than 2,000 fish have died in the area in recent weeks and authorities are still trying to identify what caused the deaths. The Department of Fisheries had advised people not to swim or fish in affected area, but one week ago said both activities were again safe. Mr Baston said he was not aware his department had given the “all clear” for fishing. “For him not to be aware that his department had given the public the all clear to eat fish from Cockburn Sound is just extraordinary. Read the article here 11:23
Pollution may have killed hundreds of fish in Cockburn Sound: Scientist
A leading WA scientist says pollution may have killed more than 700 fish in Cockburn Sound, south of Perth. Over a four-day period from November 19-22, officers from the Department of Fisheries plucked hundreds of different species of fish from in and around the sound after getting a tip-off from anglers. The sound is a popular fishing spot with more than 12,000 boaties using the water each year. It is also used for commercial fishing with close to 130 different species of fish in the sheltered water body. Read the article here 15:15
