Tag Archives: uncertainty

More uncertainty for Alaskan fishermen, ‘Devastating,’ meager chum salmon returns worry the fishing industry

“I have 35 years of experience and I’ve never seen a year this poor since 1988,” said Lars Strangeland, a gillnetter based in Juneau. “The market is extremely poor. We were looking at terrible prices wherever it goes.” The shutdown of restaurants and changes in international markets, all complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, is leading to less demand for chum salmon and roe. Strangeland is on the Board of Directors of United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters, and he said chum returns this year have been, “devastating.” “It’s unprecedented and staggeringly poor as well,” he said. >click to read< 13:07

Prince Edward Island: Uncertainty looms over spring lobster fishing season

During a media briefing Tuesday night, Jamie Fox, Minister of Fisheries and Communities said clarity is needed on the future of the Spring fishing season from the federal government. “There is no definitive position, no consensus from any sector in this industry, or any region for that matter, as to what the best answer is. We have heard a variety of opinions from amongst fishers, from buyers, from processors – from all aspects of the sector,” King said during the briefing. “There is no consensus. Some want to go and are ready to go. Some don’t want to go. Some want to have a delay and many don’t know what to think.” The P.E.I. Fisherman’s Association, a key voice for the industry on P.E.I., has not issued a clear call whether or not they would like to see a fishing season proceed, or whether it should be delayed. >click to read< 09:23

  P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association surveying members on when, if spring lobster season should proceed – On Wednesday, the PEIFA posted a notice on its website saying a survey was coming by the end of the day. >click to read< 21:03

Arnold’s Cove plant owner anxiously awaiting decision on offshore 3Ps

Alberto Warehem is both frustrated and worried. The owner of Icewater Seafoods Inc. in Arnold’s Cove has yet to receive his allocation of offshore 3Ps Cod, even though the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced cod quotas for that fishing zone on Friday, May 19. For the 2017-18 season, the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for 3Ps cod is 6,500 tonnes. This is a nearly 50 percent reduction from the 2015-2016 TAC of 13,490 tonnes. Wareham needs more detail, however, on how the quota reductions will impact his business. He has 200 workers who depend on the offshore cod quota. For the past several years, the offshore quota of cod gave them 10-12 weeks of work each season; or about 30-40 percent of their annual employment. click here to read the story 19:14

Butterfish—Little Fish Big Science

For this assessment, scientists developed a new method for estimating fish abundance that takes changing environmental conditions into account, something that will become increasingly important as the climate changes and the oceans warm.,,, Much of that uncertainty was caused by the fact that butterfish shift their distribution in response to changing bottom water temperatures.,, The breakthrough came when scientists devised a way to account for the effect of bottom water temperature,,, Read the rest here 11:09