Tag Archives: environmental groups
MSA Reauthorization: Partisan bickering sinking fishing bill
To catch a fish or save a fish: That is the question being debated in Washington.(its not that simple) It summarizes a heated argument going on in Congress, mostly pitting Republicans against Democrats, as both sides try to reauthorize the nation’s primary fisheries law.,,The Democrat-controlled Senate is working on a draft bill, but what has been leaked out has been opposed by fishing groups. Read more here 13:50
Hammerheads classified as protected
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday classified as endangered and threatened four distinct populations of hammerhead sharks. The new classification responds to a petition filed by the environmental groups WildEarth Guardians and Friends of Animals. Read more here 16:16
Now We’re Talking! – Liberal push to strip environmental groups of charitable tax status
The government is being pressed to alter the charitable status of environmental groups after a Liberal MP successfully argued to his party that the groups are not “real charities” like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. A motion introduced by MP Andrew Nikolic to the Liberal federal council called for environmental groups to be stripped of charitable rights, such as the ability to receive tax-deductible donations. Read more here 12:21
Costa Rica: Tuna company, fishermen and environmental groups squabble over unpublished fishing decree
Expected restrictions on industrial tuna fishing have been stalled pending the publication of a decree signed by former President Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014). Though Chinchilla signed the decree, it does not officially become law until it is published in the official government newspaper, La Gaceta. Chinchilla failed to give a publishing order before she left office,,, Read more here 10:18
After record lows, herring stock is now healthier, living longer
After years of lobbying and litigation by local fishermen and environmental groups, the fisheries service and the New England Fishery Management Council are considering regulations to make sure the offshore herring fleet isn’t also catching river herring, but the majority of their runs remain dammed or neglected. A 2001-2002 survey looked at 215 Massachusetts coastal waterways and found 380 blockages, including dams, that kept fish from spawning grounds. The same survey found that almost half the 175 structures intended to get fish past dams were not functioning. Read more here 09:13
Two environmental groups to create political alliance for political influence
Two major environmental groups will announce Monday that they are creating an alliance between their two political action arms, in an effort to expand their influence on national policymakers. The League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund are starting LeadingGreen, a collaboration that will steer donations to federal candidates and enlist the help of major donors in lobbying elected officials. Read more here 12:09
A load of codswallop – a deafening silence as Norway manages to export 20% more cod than it caught!
Aplogies for using the most clichéd of clichés – but there’s something fishy going on here – as Fishing News editor Cormac Burke comments, there seems to be a deafening silence from the likes of Norway, any of the environmental groups who hold Norway on an evergreen pedestal when it comes to fishing practice and sustainability and the very supermarkets who have been so keen to promote their accredited fish over and above our own and in particular cod from Scottish boats fishing the same sea area! Read more here throughthegaps.co.uk 21:35
Grachek – Seismic Blasting: More Dots
Stay with me on this one. Press briefing on Atlantic seismic surveys, Erik Milito, API director upstream and industry operations Thursday, February 27, 2014 “The economic benefits of opening the Atlantic to offshore oil and natural gas development will be felt all across the country…” The oil companies are among the most powerful entities on the planet and they want the ocean.They also want to know the “most efficient drilling locations” so they’re going to start seismic blasting along the East Coast and are busy sending out their initial public opinion cover-stories; what’s really interesting though, is how the agencies of the government, the academic institutions, and the environmental groups, all in a coordinated way, seem to fall in line to be the point men dutifully performing the marketing prevarications for these mammoth companies. Read more here 04:40
Hmm. Fishing quotas causing concern in Morro Bay
Commercial fishing in Morro Bay could suffer a big blow come January 1. That’s because a two-year old program called the “Catch Share System” will allow fishermen to buy and sell fish catch quotas to the highest bidder after the New Year. “It was a big push by most environmental groups across the nation,” said Morro Bay fisherman Mark Tognazzini. “They thought this was the answer to all answers and it really has not been.” Read [email protected] 11:31
Ambitious Calif. river restoration problem plagued
What had been pitched by environmental groups as a $250 million revival now is projected to cost more than $1 billion. And government officials say the river system may never operate without human intervention and hard-to-get federal funds, even after the 2025 estimated completion date. [email protected] 08:44
NOAA Northeast Administrator John Bullard chief defends openings from two sides
“We recognize it’s probably not going to make anyone happy,” Bullard said. But, continued@gdt
Your View: A landlubber’s thoughts on helping the fisherman – Thomas A. Kennedy New Bedford, Ma
The inherent flaws of the Magneson-Stevens Act, exploited by our government’s administrative agency at the urging of various environmental groups, have destroyed certain liberties of our fishermen guaranteed by the Treaty of Ghent. In some type of Herrenvolk Democracy (where people are able to dominate others), the decisions by the administrative agency over the last decade have wreaked havoc on our fishermen, their families and the industry as a whole. continued
Gulf fish-counting method needs scrutiny, lawmakers say
Those stocks are used to determine catch limits and have long been a source of contention for the fishing industry and environmentalists. Environmental groups concerned about dwindling stocks of vulnerable species say overfishing could affect the Gulf region’s ecology and economy for decades. Fishermen say current catch limits are based on flawed science and have cost coastal communities jobs and other economic benefits. Read more
Newly minted U.S.Senators Warren and “Mo” Cowan sit with fishing industry
What Elizabeth Warren and William “Mo” Cowan heard was a broad sampling of many of the deep concerns of those groundfishermen whose livelihoods are nearly gone thanks to catch restrictions. Animosity toward government-sponsored researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was clear. Rodney Avila, a former regional fisheries council member, said “We need to drop an atom bomb on Woods Hole.” Several in the meeting cautioned the senators to expect a great deal of lobbying from environmental groups that support the sector management and catch shares that are blamed for the collapse of the industry. Read more
