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