Monday, February 24, 2014

FISHING IN THE ARCTIC

U.S. officials are heading to Greenland for a three-day meeting to persuade other Arctic nations to place a moratorium on high-seas fishing in the Arctic Ocean, where climate change is melting the permanent ice cap and allowing trawlers in for the first time in human history.

– L.A. Times

More:latimes.com

Canada wants Arctic moratorium

It's time for a fishing moratorium in the High Arctic commercial fishing waters, according to Canada.

– eCanada Now

More:ecanadanow.com

U.S. Arctic ambassador

Secretary of State John Kerry announced last week that he's creating a new position called Special Representative for the Arctic Region.

– Alaska Public Media

More:alaskapublic.org

Judge closes B.C. herring

B.C. First Nations won a major victory Friday when a Federal Court judge granted an injunction blocking the opening this year of a herring fishery on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

– Vancouver Sun

More:vancouversun.com

Judge OKs B.C. halibut suit

A class-action lawsuit has been approved for B.C. commercial halibut fishers trying to get back millions given to the federal government under a 2001 scheme now deemed illegal.

– 24 Hours, B.C.

More:vancouver.24hrs.ca

Stocking Kenia River

However, one significant proposal received little attention. That was stocking or enhancing the Kenai salmon runs.

– Peninsula Clarion

More:m.peninsulaclarion.com

Cape Cod cod shortage

Falling catches have forced the fisherman of Cape Cod to tie up their boats and turn to the American government for a bailout to save the region's fishing community from a spiral of decline.

– Telegraph, U.K.

More:telegraph.co.uk

CDQ halibut down by half

Because of catch limit changes by the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the Coastal Villages Region Fund's (CVRF's) allowable catch will be reduced by almost 50 percent.

– Alaska Dispatch

More:alaskadispatch.com

Herring once sustainable

Hundreds of herring were hanging from the rafters of native long houses when Captain James Cook first sailed along the coast of British Columbia in the spring of 1778. 

– Canada.com

More:canada.com

Ammonia leaks in China

Ammonia leak issues are affecting more than 100 seafood processing plants in China according to our sources.

– Tradex

More:tradexfoods.com

 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

HUMAN SKULL IN WESTPORT CRAB TRAP

The human skull found in a crab pot off the Washington coast is being sent to the FBI crime lab at Quantico, Va.

– Commercial Appeal, Tennessee

More:commercialappeal.com

Another medevac

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak, forward deployed to Cold Bay, medevaced a 48-year-old man from the 272-foot fishing vessel American Dynasty approximately 95 miles northwest of Cold Bay, Monday.

– Coast Guard

More:uscgnews.com

Coasties fight drugs

Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has been loading marijuana bales onto 50-foot vessels as far south as the Mexican port of Mazatlan.

– Paradise Post, California

More:paradisepost.com

Boom! That was the sun

The sun fired off a major solar flare late Monday, making it the most powerful sun eruption of the year so far and one of the strongest in recent years.
 
– FoxNews.com

More:foxnews.com

Sockeye on tops list

The leading organic and natural foods grocery store chain in the U.S. recently released a top 10 list that includes sockeye salmon fillets from Alaska.

– KDLG, Dillingham

More:kdlg.org

Trollers off Taku kings

The forecast is better than last year, but still poor.

– KCAW, Sitka

More:kcaw.org

EU talks fishing ban

But the two leaders have begun to sound out international reaction to a set of proposals for protecting oceans, from a crackdown on illegal fishing to a cleanup of the vast churn of plastic particles in the Pacific and expanding marine protection zones.

– The Guardian, U.K.

More:theguardian.com

Fish piracy treaties

The U.S. Senate is considering two international treaties that Sen. Lisa Murkowski says would help crack down on pirate fishing in the North Pacific.

– KTOO, Juneau

More:ktoo.org

Fight over memorial in court

The ongoing dispute between the Alaska Commercial Fishermen's Memorial and the City and Borough of Juneau continued in court on Monday.

– KTOO, Juneau

More:ktoo.org

Battle for disaster cash

The distribution of the funds is up to NOAA, and there are questions about how the money will be divvied up — $75 million will only go so far.

– Asbury (New Jersey) Park Press

More:app.com

Columbia a big deal for fish

Fifty years ago, Canada and B.C. signed a treaty with the U.S. that created reservoirs hundreds of kilometres long along the Columbia River and its tributaries.

– CBC

More:cbc.ca

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

ALBACORE SEASON VERY GOOD

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's preliminary reports show the value to the fleet for 2013 was more than $16 million, around 35 percent higher than the 10-year average of $11.8 million. Last year was second only to 2011, which was valued at $18.8 million.

– Coos Bay World

More:theworldlink.com

Commercial smelt catch

Three commercial boats landed 2,349 pounds of smelt on Monday from the lower Columbia River.

– Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian

More:columbian.com

New fish farm disease

Symptoms of this new disease are circulatory failure, anaemia and heart inflammation.

– TheFishSite

More:thefishsite.com

Ignoring federal scientists

The Golden Gate Salmon Association, salmon fishermen, and related businesses, learned quite a bit about efforts to gag federal fish biologists in 2004.
 
– Sonoma Index Tribune

More:sonomanews.com

State Tongass timber takeover

Legislation urging the state to take over some Tongass National Forest lands is bringing questions and opposition.

– KTOO, Juneau

More:ktoo.org

Mining bill escapes challenge

A lawsuit filed by pro-mining groups unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the initiative scheduled to go before the voters in August.

– KDLG, Dillingham

More:kdlg.org

Fish cops stay busy

Federal authorities say the F/V Castaway unlawfully fished with longline gear in a coral habitat protection area. They're proposing a $13,335 fine.

– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, reporting in his blog, Deckboss

More:deckboss.blogspot.com

Rewriting Magnuson-Stevens

Commercial and recreational fishermen in the United States are hoping that an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Act will address a misnaming issue that has unjustly penalized the fishing industry.

– Homer News

More:homernews.com

China shellfish ban

A NOAA Fisheries' official, Timothy Hansen, sent a letter asking Chinese authorities to consider reducing its shellfish ban to one harvest area near Seattle and another in southeast Alaska.

– KXRO, Aberdeen

More:kxro.wordpress.com

Zillionaire donates to fishing

Michael Bloomberg, not even two months out of his office as mayor of New York City, has been focusing his activities on philanthropy and has uncovered a new and interesting angle on where next to invest: underneath the ocean waves.

– Jewish Business News

More:jewishbusinessnews.com

 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

ALASKA GETS DISASTER MONEY

Yukon-Kuskowkim and Cook Inlet fishermen who suffered low Chinook salmon runs in 2012 are getting more than $20 million in federal relief.

– KTUU, Anchorage

More:ktuu.com

N.J. fishermen angry

Despite its own report that New Jersey's recreational fishing industry took $105 million in uninsured losses from superstorm Sandy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is offering just $3 million to New Jersey and New York out of a $75 million fisheries disaster aid package — with $33 million going to New England.

– The Daily News (New Jersey)

More:thedailyjournal.com

Good Cal king season forecast

The celebrated king salmon of the West Coast won't be as abundant as last year, but ocean fishermen can still expect to reel them in by the score despite a third year of drought and potentially dire conditions in California rivers.

– San Francisco Chronicle

More:sfgate.com

Alaska wants whales delisted

Humpback whales, once nearly wiped out in the North Pacific by commercial hunters, are now so plentiful in the Alaska-to-Hawaii migration corridor that they should be removed from the Endangered Species Act list.

– Alaska Dispatch

More:alaskadispatch.com

Fighting overfishing

There was little doubt that overfishing is a problem around much of the world.
 
– National Geographic

More:newswatch.nationalgeographic.com

Good Sams near Valdez

The crews of the 36-foot good Samaritan fishing vessel Miss Jana and the 50-foot good Samaritan fishing vessel Equinox rescued three persons out of the water in the vicinity of Valdez Arm after their 36-foot landing craft Belltech 5 began taking on water and sank, Wednesday night.

– Coast Guard

More:uscgnews.com

Weak radiation detected

While the cesium-134 and cesium-137 isotopes have been detected in waters off Vancouver, a research scientist from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Canada, John Smith, said that the level of concentration is lower than the safety limit set up by Canadian authorities.
 
– Japan Daily Press

More:japandailypress.com

Slower pollock start

Last winter, the fleet didn't have much luck finding pollock with lots of roe.

– KUCB, Unalaska

More:kucb.org

Sea lions claim harbor

They took over the pleasure boat docks and picnic tables at the south end of the harbor, forcing workers to remove them. They rose from sea level to street level, encroaching on the sidewalk and parking lot. If only they weren't so cute.

– Crescent City Triplicate

More:triplicate.com

 

Friday, February 28, 2014

ARCTIC NATIONS SUPPORT FISHING BAN

Canada and four other Arctic nations have agreed to work toward a deal to block commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean until more is known about the potential of the resource.

– CTV News

More:ctvnews.ca

Acidification killing B.C. Scallops

Millions of scallops are dying off before they can be harvested in the waters near Qualicum Beach, British Columbia (BC), due to an increase in ocean acidity levels.

– Fish Information Services

More:fis.com

BP's bid to halt payments denied

A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday denied BP Plc's request to halt payments from the $2.3 billion fund it created to compensate commercial fishermen for financial losses after the British company's 2010 offshore oil spill, according to court records.

– Reuters

More:in.reuters.com

Unalaska mercury monitor sought

For five years, a group of scientists from all across the country has been quietly monitoring Unalaska to find out how much mercury travels here from Asia across the Pacific Ocean. But now that program has stalled for lack of a local volunteer.

– KUCB

More:kucb.org

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week, Alaska gets $21-million for 2012's king salmon disaster, Senator Murkowski wonders if something more than public health might be behind China's geoduck ban, and how might this warm winter affect baby salmon all snug in their streams? 

– KMXT

More:kmxt.org

Setnet ban appeal hearing looms

Oral argument in the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance's appeal of the Lieutenant Governor's decision not to certify its proposed ballot initiative is scheduled for April 22 in Anchorage.

– Peninsula Clarion

More:peninsulaclarion.com

OR estuary project helps salmon

It takes a lot of excess wood debris to create a welcoming estuary for salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout.

– Daily Astorian

More:dailyastorian.com

Port blight reversed

With Crescent City Harbor's official completion of the very first tsunami-resistant inner boat basin on the West Coast, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors is expected to rule today that the port's blight has been eliminated.

– Del Norte Triplicate

More:triplicate.com

Commercial, sport fishermen differ on Magnuson-Stevens

This time, the industry is mostly united in praising the law. But some of Alaska's non-commercial fishermen say their needs aren't getting enough attention.

– Alaska Public Media

More:alaskapublic.org

Tracking tsunami debris

The amount of debris in the ocean is growing exponentially, becoming more and more hazardous and harmful to marine life and therefore also to our ocean food source according to the International Pacific Research Center.

– SitNews, Ketchikan

More:sitnews.us

 


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