Tuesday, February 22, 2011
SHOCKING STORY OF NOAA ENFORCEMENT
This story is ridiculous on so many levels. A level of paperwork that is beyond the pale; a fishermen being fined $19,000 for catching 20 extra codfish, government workers taking the bevy of fines to buy cars and fund junkets…. and to top it off, when it came time to investigate the mess, a 'shredding party' where the official admitted up to 80 percent of the paperwork went bye bye.
– Wall Street Journal
More:wallstreetpit.com
Fish Board begins marathon Inlet meeting
The Alaska Board of Fisheries is now two days into a meeting set to last a solid two weeks, until March 5.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
Cal pot limits will moderate crab 'derby'
"There is a 'derby dynamic' when the season opens," said Mike Stiller, president of the Santa Cruz Commercial Fishermen's Association. "Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve are the big consumption days for crab. So the fishermen give maximum effort during those periods. The larger boats are out there 24 hours a day, pounding it until its done."
– San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News
More:www.mercurynews.com
B.C. sporties angry over halibut cut
I continue to be astonished at Fisheries Minister Gail Shea's refusal to alter the absurd allocation of the annual Canadian halibut catch between the commercial and recreational sectors (88 percent commercial, 12 percent recreational) given the feedback she's received from the recreational sector in recent months.
– Canada.com
More:www.canada.com
Search ends for B.C. fisherman
A Port Hardy fisherman is believed to have drowned after falling out of his commercial fishing boat early Monday in Fitz Hugh Sound, north of Vancouver Island.
– Victoria Times Colonist
Read more:www.timescolonist.com
No fish will be fished to extinction
Ray Hilborn, professor of aquatic and fishery science at the University of Washington, said although claims that world fish stocks were in such decline that they would disappear by 2048 had received wide publicity, the evidence showed the opposite.
– Nelson (New Zealand) Mail
More:www.stuff.co.nz
Personal use fishermen demand more space
"It's getting more crowded and I can see more people wasting a lot of the resource," he said. "I think it's a resource for everybody in the state and at the same time I don't think it can support fish for everybody in the whole state."
– Kenai Peninsula Clarion
More:www.peninsulaclarion.com
EPA takes first step on Bristol Bay
EPA's decision is a good first step toward protecting Bristol Bay from the potentially devastating impact of large-scale mining such as Pebble Mine.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Cal salmon rebounding
A three-year near shutdown of salmon fishing off the California coast might be drawing to a close.
– Vacaville (Calif.) Reporter
More:www.thereporter.com
Your editor speaks
If you happen to be in Juneau, and if you want to hear Pacific Fishing's editor talk about fishing and the magazine before the Legislature's Fish Caucus, he'll be in Room 106 of the Capital building at noon.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
U.S. CHARTERS' HALIBUT STATEMENTS UNTRUE
Recent statements by members of the halibut charter industry claim that action by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) to limit the Southeast Alaska charter industry to its quota circumvents U.S. law and that the 37 inch rule were not properly considered. These allegations are not correct.
– Halibut Coalition, Alaska
More:www.halibutcoalition.org
True love in Dutch
A man reported he was assaulted by the captain of a fishing vessel after the captain walked in to find him engaged in sexual activities with a woman whose name he never learned.
– Unalaska Advertiser item as reported by the Anchorage Daily News.
More:www.adn.com
Report: Seafood helps Alaska economy
A new report says Alaska's seafood industry is doing a lot for the state's economy.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
No decision yet on Frankenfish
No decision has been announced yet by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following hearings held last September on whether genetically modified (GM) salmon should be the first animal approved for human consumption. But FDA approvals of three other GM foods offer a clue to the agency's thinking.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Frankenfish threaten Canadian wild salmon
There's a risk Canadian fish stocks could be harmed if the world's first genetically engineered salmon is approved for commercialization, federal scientists suggest.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Few chum, eagles die
Starving bald eagles are falling out of the sky in the Comox Valley, a wildlife expert says.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Cal Dungeness sent to China – live
In record numbers this season, the plump Dungeness crabs fishermen have plucked from the waters outside Bodega and San Francisco bays are finding their way onto dinner tables in Shanghai and Beijing.
– Santa Rosa Press Democrat
More:www.pressdemocrat.com
B.C. fisherman's day is a long day
My day as a commercial fisher starts way before we are on the fishing grounds. It starts the first day of the season when we meet the monitoring company hired by federal fisheries.
– Terrace Standard, British Columbia
More:www.bclocalnews.com
Fishermen urge Canadian management changes
A panel of veteran commercial fishermen, some from families that trace their fishing heritage back to 1918, has urged a federal judicial inquiry to change the way salmon catches are allocated on the West Coast.
– Globe and Mail, Toronto
More:www.theglobeandmail.com
Another senator against catch shares
U.S. Sen. John Kerry has put his political weight behind the struggles of the fishing industry in its growing fight for relief from the regulatory, economic and law enforcement policies created and being carried out by the Obama administration.
– Gloucester (Mass.) Times
More:www.gloucestertimes.com
Thursday, February 24, 2011
FIGHT: WILL PEBBLE BE PROFITABLE?
Sharp debate erupted Wednesday over a new report that shows that developing the controversial Pebble copper and gold deposit in Southwest Alaska could be very profitable for its owners.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Don't stick your tongue in observer's ear
A Gloucester fisherman is facing charges for hugging and putting his tongue in the ear of a federal fishing monitor — in a case that sparked immediate suspicion among fishing industry advocates.
– Boston Herald
More:news.bostonherald.com
Cities want to tax fish
A redistribution of the Fisheries Business Tax could net the City of Homer $800,000-$900,000 a year, if amendments to a current law get passed by the Alaska Legislature.
– Homer Tribune
More:homertribune.com
'Deadliest Catch' crewman dies
Justin Tennison, a 33-year-old crew member for one of the fishing vessels that appears on Discovery's "Deadliest Catch," was found dead in Homer, police say.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:community.adn.com
Move Alaska trawling fleet to Alaska?
Now one of the CDQ companies, Coastal Villages Regional Fund, is seriously looking to move its fleet to Alaska, including its 341-foot flagship, the Northern Hawk.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Poets in Astoria
The 14th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering continues through the weekend in Astoria. Fishers give rousing readings of their poetry, concerts share songs of fishing life and lore, and Astoria reels in visitors with plenty of food and events about life at sea.
– Longview (Wash.) Daily News
More:tdn.com
Editorial: Stick with Cal reserve plan
One of the state's leading newspaper is calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to become the third governor to support California's landmark Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which is under assault from foreign fishing interests.
– California Majority Report
More:www.camajorityreport.com
Boat aground spills fuel
The 86-foot fishing vessel Midnight Sun spilled an estimated 4,670 gallons of diesel fuel and oils after grounding on Afognak Island just after midnight Feb. 11, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
More on Alaska seafood study
A new study by Alaska-based Northern Economics shows that the state's seafood industry is not only a national but also a global juggernaut in sustainable commercial fisheries.
– FIS.com
More:www.fis.com
Treat B.C. charters like commercial boats
The commercial-recreational halibut fishery, like lodges, should be designated as fully commercial with the same regulations and policing that applies to the commercial fleet.
– Victoria Times Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Friday, February 25, 2011
SURPRISE! BIG COLUMBIA COAL PORT
Surprise! The Longview Daily News reports coal-export terminal developer Ambre Energy was discussing plans to export 80 million tons of coal a year to Asia. That's 15 times as much as the company's current permit applications claim the terminal will export.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent Cassandra Marie Profita reporting in Ecotrope, Oregon Public Broadcasting
More:ecotrope.opb.org
Alaskan indicted in fish fraud
A Nenana resident has been indicted for illegally selling 100 pounds of chum salmon strips while claiming it was king salmon.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Alaska Fishing Report
Alaska Fish and Game has a new commercial fisheries chief; police in Unalaska say they've exhausted all leads over a disappearing deckhand; a culinary contest pitting seafood producers large and small is coming to Juneau; and a former fishermen made famous on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch is found dead in a Homer hotel room. And, Alaska's seafood industry touts its economic muscle.
– APRN
More:aprn.org
Solid Columbia fall Chinook run
State biologists are forecasting an excellent return of fall Chinook — fifth best in the past 60 years — for the Columbia River in 2011.
– The (Vancouver) Columbian
More:www.columbian.com
Coalition of sporties against Pebble Mine
A coalition of fishing, hunting and sporting groups is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect Alaska's salmon-rich Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Fixing Kodiak's sockeye streams
Three river systems that have historically had a significant impact on Kodiak's annual sockeye salmon harvests are in trouble, and local fish production experts hope to be able to change that.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
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Politics and proposed B.C. oil port
A last-minute maneuver by outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to defeat a bill to ban oil tanker traffic in northern B.C. waters, has shocked environmental and community groups.
– Victoria Times Colonist
Read more:www.timescolonist.com
GOP rep says no to Columbia dam breaching
Washington Rep. Doc Hastings says he'll use his position as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee to block any bills related to breaching lower Snake River dams.
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
Brits told to eat more fish
Bringing home the bacon might not be such a great idea, according to stricter new dietary advice from the British government issued Friday.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Greenpeace praises new Costco fish policy
Greenpeace USA congratulated Costco Corporation on its newly revised sustainability seafood policy.
– Greenpeace
More:www.greenpeace.org