Tag Archives: fishing gear
Preliminary findings of necropsies -Two whales suffered blunt trauma, another killed by fishing gear
Injuries suffered by at least two of six North Atlantic right whales found floating lifeless in the Gulf of St. Lawrence appear to be consistent with ship strikes, marine mammal experts say. Tonya Wimmer of the Marine Animal Response Society said Tuesday that the preliminary findings of necropsies on three of the whales indicate that two of them sustained blunt traumas that caused extensive bruising along their sides and internal hemorrhaging. A third died after becoming snarled in fishing rope that wrapped around one flipper and inside its mouth. click here to read the story ,,,, Whale deaths raise concern – The first dead whale spotted on June 6 was a 10-year-old male who was last seen in Cape Cod Bay on April 23 by the Center for Coastal Studies. The elapsed time between those sightings was only about six weeks. The other identified dead whales included two adult males, at least 17 and 37 years old, and a highly valuable 11-year-old female. Through DNA analysis, two of the males were known to have sired calves. The two remaining unidentified whales were a male and a female. click here to read the story 14:11
Massive Marathon marina fire destroys home, three lobster boats, fishing gear
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office credits Deputy Seth Hopp who was driving southbound near 15th Street at 2:35 a.m. When he saw billowing black smoke that was moving from the Vaca Key Marina and called the fire into Sheriff’s dispatchers and pulled in to the parking lot to investigate.,,,When firefighters arrived, they found that the flames had spread to a nearby house on an acre-sized lot filled with wooden lobster traps.,,, With the 37 to 47-foot lobster boats valued at an estimated $150,000 to $300,000 and lobster traps valued at $35 to $40 each, the total damage likely will be more than $1 million. “The traps were stacked 18 to 20 feet high,” Monroe County Fire Rescue Deputy Fire Marshal Craig Marston said. “The [commercial] lobster fishermen were getting them ready to put in the water the first of August for the new season.” click here for video, read the story 17:23
This 43-foot dead whale was trucked through downtown Portland
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is investigating how an endangered right whale found floating off the Maine coast Friday became entangled in fishing gear that probably caused its death. Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Region in Gloucester, Massachusetts, confirmed Sunday evening that fishing gear ropes were the most likely cause of the North Atlantic right whale’s demise. Goebel said NOAA will try to identify the gear’s owner, but she was uncertain whether punitive action would be taken. If the owner can be identified, NOAA could use the incident to raise public awareness and develop strategies for preventing future occurrences. Read the story here 12:33
New trawl door design from Morgére significantly reduces seabed contact
Morgére will for the first time be exhibiting an innovative new type of trawl door known as the ‘Jumper’ that has been designed to minimise contact with the seabed. A model of the Jumper door will be on display on the Morgére stand at next week’s Itechmer 2015 exhibition in Lorient (14 to 16 October). Rather than having continual contact with the seabed when demersal trawling, the door is designed in such a way that it only intermittently hits the bottom before jumping up again. This delivers environmental benefits by significantly reducing contact time on the sea floor. Read the rest here 12:02
Meet the women behind the nets – Net Mending Through the eye of a needle
Joan Songer’s fingers tug at the twine, and she reels in a net as green and salty as the tide. This is where she loves it best: the harbor. Its warped boards under her feet, the voices of fishermen, the tang of the air. “Where else can you work with this beauty surrounding you?” She asks. No question, she loves it. From her corner in the old harbor, Lisa Brost looks like a featherweight boxing champ wielding a needle and thread. She bounces on the balls of her feet. Her tan arms end in white gloves that proclaim, in black ink, “tough.” Read the rest here 12:10
Simple solution could save whales from fishing nets
The number of massive whales dangerously caught up in fishing gear could be reduced by three quarters if the industry would agree to use slightly weaker ropes. The calculations and recommendations have been published in the journal Conservation Biology, following a string of whale entanglements reported over June and July; from June, one humpback whale was inadvertently caught up off the British Columbia coast every week for six weeks. Read the rest here 10:49
3 miles of illegal long line seized by South Texas Coast Guard crews
Last night, Coast Guard Cutter Amberjack sighted multiple vessels moving at a high rate of speed southwards the maritime border. Unable to interdict the vessels, Amberjack returned to the vicinity of initial sighting, where crewmembers removed 700 yards of long line gear late last night and recovered an additional 4,400 yards this morning. The majority of the gear was found approximately 35 miles off the coast of South Texas. Read the rest here 22:17
Better science for better fisheries management.
In research published online last month in the journal Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, Grabowski found that mobile fishing gear such as trawls and dredges that drag along the bottom cause more damage to areas inhabited by groundfish than stationary gear like traps and gillnets. Read more here 17:14
