Tag Archives: MPA
California’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) focus of Wednesday’s Collaborative Meeting
A controversial and confusing proposal is circulating throughout Santa Barbara’s fishing industry and, environmental circles. It centers on plans to expand Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Santa Barbara Channel and more specifically, three of the islands. Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) publicly released the first 10-year comprehensive review of the MPA Network, and how to prioritize management of the area. It included 28 adaptive management recommendations and potential changes spanning 2023 to 2033. “Our fishing industries are already really sustainable, and they’re managed very carefully,” said Kim Selkoe, Executive Director of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara. Video, more, links, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:59
Whitehall’s eco-zealots are threatening the livelihoods of families who have fished off Holy Island for 1,000 years
Defra, the Whitehall department responsible for fishing, proposes to create a Highly Protected Marine Area of 50 square miles covering the island and parts of the nearby Farne Islands that will have the effect of banning fishing. ‘It will wipe us out and destroy Holy Island as a living and working community,’ says Shaun Brigham, 55, who has been fishing these waters since leaving school at the age of 15. ‘All that’s here is tourism and fishing – so take the fishing away and what would be left? Defra talks about ‘rewilding the sea’ but has produced no evidence that anything here needs rewilding.’ On the contrary, stocks of lobster and brown and velvet crab – which are the only sea-life that can be fished in what is already a highly regulated industry – are greater than they have been for decades, not least because it’s in the long-term interests of the fishermen to abide by strict sustainability rules. >click to read< 13:58
Whitehall fishing ban would ‘rip heart’ out of Holy Island, residents warn
For centuries, fishermen have been the lifeblood of the tiny Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland. But red tape from Westminster now threatens to kill off the profession and potentially the entire community, as officials propose banning fishing as part of a drive to rewild the sea. The Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs is consulting on designating the seas to the north of the island, a highly protected marine area, which would outlaw the crab and lobster potters who set sail from the island in the early hours. Fishing is the best-paid job on the island, and fishermen make up around 10 per cent of the population. If they were forced to move for work, they would take their families with them. At least three of these families include fully trained first responders who make up 50 per cent of the coastguard team, and it is said the 999 responses could not function without them. >click to read< 18:50
Fishing activity before, during, and after reopening of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Evaluation of the economic impacts of marine protected areas is hampered by the fact that it is impossible to observe what would have happened if the protected area had never been closed to fishing. Catch reports and vessel tracks are used to perform an analysis of the potential negative economic impacts of establishing the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument on three commercially important fisheries that were identified as having potential to be harmed. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a highly protected MPA off the east coast of the United States of America that was created by US President Barack Obama on September 15, 2016. >click to read< By John Lyman 07:43
Commercial fishing concerns over marine protected areas, seek solutions through consultations
Bruce Turris, Brian Mose, Grant Dovey and Mike Atkins, who call themselves the ‘Marine Planning Team’ (MPT), is working on behalf of commercial fishermen in B.C.’s Northern Shelf Bioregion, and believe the input of fishermen is crucial to making sure the marine protected areas — which would either be off-limits to commercial fishing or see catch numbers greatly reduced — balance conservation with the needs of the fishing industry. >click to read<09:28
Eastern Shore residents, fishermen opposed to designation of Marine Protected Area
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is considering implementing higher protections on 2,000 square kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia.
But not all people who live and work in the communities affected are keen on the project, which would stretch from Clam Harbour to Barren Island. “In a country that has very poor laws and regulations protecting their waters, it may have some benefit, but not in Canada, we’re already protected,” says Tim Kaiser, a homeowner and member of the Eastern Shore Fisherman’s Protection Association. >click to read<13:20
Proposed Eastern Shore Islands MPA – N.S. lobster fishermen tie up boats to protest DFO minister
More than a hundred lobster fishermen from Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore tied up their boats Wednesday to protest an appearance by federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson at a local legion. The protest was over Eastern Shore Islands, a 2,000-square-kilometre proposed marine protected area (MPA). Wilkinson told an East Ship Harbour legion hall packed with fishermen that the local lobster fishery — which accounts for 97 per cent of the landings inside the proposed MPA — would not be affected if the area is designated. >click to read<15:09
N.S. lobster fishing industry delegation heading to Tasmania for study trip
Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Keith Colwell is leading a fishing industry delegation to Tasmania in February on a trip that will cost taxpayers about $100,000. The purpose of the weeklong trip is to examine marine protected areas, aquaculture and a quality standards program used by Australia’s southern rock lobster industry. The province is contributing $5,000 toward the travel costs of 13 industry representatives plus the expenses of five government officials, including Colwell. >click to read<13:53
Fishing and seafood industry raises questions and concerns during MPA information session with DFO in Yarmouth
There was a lot of agreement and disagreement when DFO representatives met with the fishing industry to consult and share information about marine protected areas (MPAs) during a recent session in Yarmouth. Many in the room were in agreement that they disagree with aspects of the federal government’s MPA plan and worry about the impact on the fishing and seafood industry. The federal government has committed to putting in place MPAs to help protect species and ecosystems and there national benchmarks have been set out. >click to read<15:53
‘Concern and confusion’: Premier slams logic behind marine protected area choices
Premier Stephen McNeil personally warned a federal panel on marine protected areas on Friday its decisions could have dire consequences for Nova Scotians who make their living from the North Atlantic Ocean. Banning fishing and other activities in protected areas has a huge impact on communities, particularly those along the province’s Eastern Shore, he told the National Advisory Panel on Marine Protected Area Standards in Moncton.,, “To date, we are not seeing decisions based on science, research or fact,” he told the group during his eight-minute prepared speech. >click to read<12:02
Skeptical fishermen briefed on proposed Eastern Shore MPA, ‘could take us out of our livelihood,’
Nova Scotia’s lobster season opens on the Eastern Shore in days, but dozens of fishermen stopped prepping for it Thursday to learn about a massive marine protected area proposed for their fishing grounds. The Eastern Shore Islands, as it’s being called, has been declared an area of interest for conservation by the Trudeau government. It would be the first marine protected area along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and includes inshore and coastal waters. It would protect hundreds of islands that create an archipelago running from Clam Harbour to Liscomb. >click to read< 16:37
New Miramichi Bay Conservation Areas worry fishermen
The federal government has named two new marine conservation areas to protect important fish and their habitat, but some Nova Scotia fishermen say they’ve already lost too much ground on the ocean bottom. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced the Miramichi Bay Conservation Area in New Brunswick waters on Wednesday, covering 1,550 square kilometres of water where the Miramichi River empties into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.,, George Zinck, president of the Prospect Area Full-Time Fishermen’s Association, said his members opposed the creation of the new conservation area, but are more concerned about the potential loss of additional fishing grounds. click here to read the story 20:34
FFAW-Unifor flip flops on support for Marine Protected Area off Newfoundland’s South coast after FISH-NL embarrasses union into it
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says the FFAW-Unifor’s last-minute objections to proposed regulations governing a Marine Protected Area (MPA) off the province’s south coast — after initially supporting them — is an attempt to cover its gross incompetence. “The FFAW-Unifor only opened its mouth after FISH-NL embarrassed the union into it,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “FISH-NL says jump and the FFAW-Unifor asks how high. Only jumping’s not enough — the FFAW does not deserve to represent inshore harvesters.” On June 24, the federal government launched a 30-day consultation period over proposed regulations to govern the Laurentian Channel MPA, which, at more than 12,000 square kilometres, would be Canada’s largest — and the province’s third protected area. click here to read the press release 20:31
Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area – Fishing activity singled out for extra blame
I have read many Government of Canada documents. Some of them caused me to roll my eyes, some of them caused chuckles, some were examples of great work, and there has been one document that was the most insulting thing I have ever read. That insulting document (click here) is the reason I write this letter. The Canadian government is about to designate a part of the ocean as a marine protected area (MPA).,,, You can read the document and see for yourself, but the document can be summarized as saying that commercial and recreational fishing are the reason fish species are in danger of extinction and the humans who prosecute those activities have to be stopped. The document is saying that if we continue to dig up the ocean floor, if we continue blast the crap out of the North Atlantic with air guns, and if we continue to ram into whatever whales and turtles we see, it’s no big deal. However, if we bait one hook or set one net or set one crab pot, and if we do it for either recreational or commercial purposes, we are scum. Harvey Jarvis, Portugal Cove. click here to read the letter 08:26
Canada has MPA Fever – Atlantic Canadian fishermen not hooked on idea
A federal government plan to speed up the creation of more marine protected areas in Canada is getting pushback from some Atlantic Canadian fisheries groups. Marine protected areas are established to protect species at risk or unique species from human interference. These areas can close designated ocean and coastal areas to economic activities like offshore energy development and fishing. “This is a huge impact on all the fisheries in Canada,” said Ian MacPherson, the executive director of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association. MacPherson and other fishing industry representatives outlined their concerns this week in appearances before the parliamentary standing committee on fisheries and oceans. click here to continue reading the story 12:04
Proposed Cape Breton Trough Marine Protected Area – Fishermen left in the dark
Cape Breton fishermen are concerned that a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) off the western coast of the island could result in the closure of the local snow crab fishery. Bill MacDonald, a fisherman for three decades in the region and member of the Area 19 Snow Crab Fisherman’s Association, told the Chronicle Herald the association became aware the government was considering creating an MPA in the fishing region during a meeting with DFO officials last month, but said there’s been no additional information provided since. Because of fishing regulations in other MPAs, MacDonald said he has concerns the $70 million lobster and snow crab fishery that has supported the small coastal region for many generations could be at risk. MPAs are federally designated areas where human activity is limited in order to protect sensitive ecosystems and at-risk species. MacDonald said the association has been left in the dark, not only about the implications for the crab and lobster fishery in the area, but also about why the area is being considered at all. Read the story here 10:10
Fishermen say communities will ‘die’ if new regulations come into force
Fishermen have warned their industry could be ruined and communities will die if planned regulation goes ahead. The Clyde Fishermen’s Association has said the viability of fishing in the firth would be undermined by changes to regulations governing marine protected areas (MPA), leading to economic collapse in the towns and villages dominated by fishing. The change to the regulations means fishing vessels could be restricted from certain areas, including south of Arran and the Sound of Jura, for environmental reasons. Read the article here 08:40
Rusty Brace Defeat’s NOAA Office of Law Enforcement on behalf of Jason and Shane Robinson
For longtime fishermen Jason and Shane Robinson, the decision saved them from paying more than $17,000 in fines, which is a relatively low amount compared to other penalties, in part because they were only charged with idling in an MPA too long, not for fishing there, which can bring fines of up to $140,000. But the case also revealed what they believe is an unfair culture of guilty until proved innocent when it comes to commercial fishing laws. “They threaten you based on the fact that it costs more to fight these than to accept a settlement,” said Jason. “That’s what they told me, and that’s how they did it. In my mind, this is their ATM machine. … It feels like extortion.” [email protected] 07:25
