Tag Archives: North Coast fishermen
More Skeena River fish escaping North Coast fishermen in 2016
The fishing season has had a grim opening. While the season opened earlier than in recent years, fisherman are having a poor harvest in the Skeena River. The Skeena Tyee test fishery, a gillnetter that collects data for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to determine the amount of sockeye salmon that escape the fishery, reported higher than average levels of escapement on July 8-9. The Northern Representative for the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union (UFAWU), Joy Thorkelson, said only 7,000 fish were caught and there were 230 boats out fishing. Area 4, in the Skeena, is tracking well but people have different theories about why so many fish bypassed those fishermen. “We don’t know if it was deep or the fishermen weren’t fishing in the right areas. We don’t know what happened. There was lots of escapement and they should have caught way more than they did,” she said. Read the rest here 13:39
Salmon fishing season likely to be shorter in 2016
North Coast fishermen may have plenty of free time on their hands this summer if regulators adopt any of three proposed alternatives for this year’s commercial salmon seasons. With the outlook suggesting diminished abundance of two key Chinook salmon runs, fishery managers have structured a season with lots of gaps, especially in the Fort Bragg region, where the fishery would be all or mostly closed in June and completely shut down in July. North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and other bay-delta representatives said the proposed cuts would reduce commercial fishing boats’ time on the water by at least 20 percent overall — and by up to 45 percent along a stretch of the North Coast from Point Arena to Horse Mountain, located north of Shelter Cove in Humboldt County. Read the rest here 11:22
Dungeness crab closure pushes North Coast fishermen to breaking point
A man of few words, Blagg, 70, used his scarred and weathered hands to convey his thoughts on the disaster that is shaping up in lieu of this year’s Dungeness crab season, which authorities postponed last year due to consumer health concerns. Blagg pointed his thumb toward the ground. “The only thing I know is my savings account, going down,” said the grizzled fisherman, his gaze barely rising beneath the visor of his black Marines cap. From across the wooden table, deckhand Andy Macri, 54, declared after a brief stretch of silence, “I’ll be homeless after this month.” Read the article here 12:25
Crab season delay ‘scary’ for North Coast fishermen
On Jan. 4, the California Department of Public Health released the summary of domoic acid levels in crabs caught along the California coast. As of Dec. 31, the health advisory for crabs caught between the Santa Barbara/Ventura County Line and Latitude 35 (40 minutes north of the Piedras Blancas Light Station in San Luis Obispo County) was lifted. But dangerous levels of the toxin were found in crabs caught as recently as Dec. 27 in the northern part of the state. That’s bad news for Don and Teresa Akin, of The Fish Peddler, and Scott Hockett, of Noyo Fish Company. Read the article here 08:22
Low haul, rough waves expected for North Coast commercial crab season
While last year’s crab season got off to a rocky start due to contentious price negotiations, North Coast fishermen this year will instead have to worry about rough seas and another year of low hauls. The commercial Dungeness crab season north of the Sonoma-Mendocino county border starts on Dec. 1, with crabbers getting a head start to lay down their pots today. Read the rest here 17:01
North Coast Fishermen cry foul on salmon allocation
Joy Thorkelson is wondering who will stand up for the commercial fishing industry in light of another dismal season on the North Coast. “The Skeena fishing story is, unfortunately, a sad one again this year. This season the Department of Fisheries predicted the Skeena run size to be 2.64 million sockeye. They allowed the commercial fleet to catch 474,081 sockeye or 18 per cent of the run,” Read the rest here 13:05
North Coast Fishermen Voice Concerns About the Proposed Individual Transferable Quota System
The United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union’s president met with North Coast fishermen today, to discuss the proposed changes the DFO plans to make to the salmon fishery from an open fishery model to individual transferable quotas. And that is exactly what is on Bill Smiths mind… a fishermen of 37 years… who says the bottom line is, he won’t be able to afford a quota system. “I can’t afford to buy other licence and I really object to paying somebody else to fish a portion of their quota. What most strikes me about this whole process, is how undemocratic and how unscientific it is.”- Bill Smith, Northern Gillnetter Read more@cfktv 02:15
