Tag Archives: yellowtail flounder
US fishermen lose quota in new fishing pact with Canada
American fishermen are losing thousands of pounds of valuable fishing quota under a new catch share agreement with Canada. Fishermen from the U.S. and Canada seek haddock, cod and flounder on Georges Bank, which is a critical fishing ground east of New England, The two countries craft a catch share agreement every year. Under the latest agreement, the U.S.’s eastern Georges Bank cod quota is falling by more than 25 per cent to about 415,000 pounds and the eastern Georges Bank haddock quota is falling by about 4 per cent to about 33 million pounds. The loss in quota will present a hardship for New England fishermen, who are already coping with low cod quotas and the collapse of the cod stock, said Terry Alexander,,, >click to read<16:40
Canada, U.S. agree on quota cuts on Georges Bank, “significant concerns” with assessment methods
Canada and the United States have agreed to sharply reduce quotas for two key groundfish stocks on their shared Georges Bank fishing grounds off southern Nova Scotia. A joint transboundary government and industry panel is recommending a 25 per cent cut in haddock and a 32 per cent cut for cod in 2019. Co-chair Alain d’Entremont of Scotia Harvest Inc. in Nova Scotia, says there are concerns the huge numbers of haddock hatched in 2013 did not survive or were overestimated in the first place.,,, D’Entremont says predictions based on models have proven inaccurate when later checked against what actually occurred in the fishery. >click to read<08:55
Many young fish moving north with adults as climate changes
Researchers found that larval stages of 43 percent of the species studied changed distribution, while adult stages of 50 percent of the species shifted distribution over the same time period. Shifts were predominantly northwards or along the shelf for both life stages, which is expected given the warming ocean in the region. In addition to distribution changes, the study also found changes in spawning times and locations for some species, implying a link between changes in distribution and changes in the environment. Larvae of winter and spring species like yellowtail flounder generally shifted earlier in the season. Summer and fall species like monkfish shifted later in the season. Read the rest here 14:42
NOAA Responds to Massachusetts legislators on cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder: the answer is still no
Many legal observers, Members of Congress and elected officials disagree with that interpretation. Saving Seafood requested the legal opinion of the General Counsel under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department found 2
9 pages of written material constituting the advice, but refused to release any of them under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which exempts from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Saving Seafood continues to ask the agency to explain their legal rationale in the face of such widespread disagreement from numerous legislators and lawyers with qualifications to comment. continued
Comeback for cod, yellowtail? Gulf of Maine cod have made a dramatic return
In a welcome surprise but one with potentially complex implications, Gulf of Maine cod have returned in notable concentrations to Stellwagen Bank and are being landed with plentiful yellowtail flounder by the inshore fleet. continue
Council accepts mayor’s appeal on yellowtail flounder By Steve Urbon
John Haran, who manages Sector XIII, a group of groundfish boats with members from New Bedford to Greenport, N.Y., was at Wednesday’s meeting and said he could not say what the effects of the council’s votes would be on local fishermen.
“We really won’t know the quotas until January,” he said, before adding that new councilor Laura Ramsden Foley, who voted in support of the higher quotas, was “a breath of fresh air.” http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121115/NEWS/211150353
Fish panel snubs U.S., Canada limits Gloucester Daily Times
NOAA’s New England Fishery Management Council Wednesday heaped derision on a joint assessment of yellowtail flounder conducted jointly by U.S. and Canadian scientists, then trashed the minuscule allocation of the stock based on work that even the agency’s chief regional scientist declined to defend, except to say it was the best “available” and therefore binding. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x179000228/Fish-panel-snubs-U-S-Canada-limits
Despite possible $100 million in aid, tough regs mean …Fishermen trying to stay afloat
Gloucester fisherman Paul Vitale’s job is on the line.
New England legislators are lobbying for $100 million to save next year’s groundfish fishery season in the wake of a disaster declaration, but that isn’t easing Vitale’s uncertainty about his industry’s future.
“There’s three households earning money off of my shoulders,” said Vitale, 40, captain of the 50-foot “Angela + Rose” and a father of three. “We never know day to day what’s happening.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061162384
