Monday, October 4, 2010
Fish poacher eaten by shark
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission approved changes in its policy for managing Dungeness crab in Puget Sound that could increase sport crabbers’ annual catch by 40 percent.
– Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
More:wdfw.wa.gov
King crab down, opilio up
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced catch limits for the Bering Sea crab fisheries opening Oct. 15
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Net pen bacteria building resistance
Bacteria around open-net pen salmon farms are developing a resistance to antibiotics, a two year study in B.C.'s Broughton Archipelago has found.
– Vancouver Province
Read More:www.theprovince.com
Some fishing boats like ‘slave’ ships
When environmental campaigners began tracking a hi-tech South Korean trawler off the coast of West Africa, they were looking for proof of illegal fishing of dwindling African stocks. What they uncovered was an altogether different kind of travesty: human degradation so extreme it echoed the slavery they thought had been abolished more than a century ago.
– The Guardian, U.K.
More:www.guardian.co.uk
Great white seen off Coos Bay
A Coos Bay man says a great white shark knocked him from his surfboard near Winchester Bay this week.
– Coos Bay World
More:www.theworldlink.com
Heavy docket for North Pacific Council
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets this week at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, and the agenda is pretty heavy.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Outgoing fish chief reflects
As Denby Lloyd prepares to retire from his duties as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, he discussed his career path and his challenges along the way with the Empire.
– Juneau Empire
More:www.juneauempire.com
Tracking West Coast fish with sonar
With an array of 500 receivers deployed from California north through B.C. waters to Alaska, scientists are gaining insight into the movement of fish that ultimately can be used to improve stock management.
– Victoria Times-Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
B.C. fish farmers nix frankenfish
An American biotech firm is in the early stages of seeking approval from Health Canada to market genetically engineered Atlantic salmon, but the Canadian aquaculture industry wants nothing to do with growing it.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Crowds swell to see Fraser sockeye
As the number of sockeye salmon continues to swell in the Adams River, so do the crowds.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Two rescued crossing Tillamook Bar
The Coast Guard rescued two people after their fishing vessel capsized crossing the Tillamook entrance bar.
– Coast Guard
More:www.piersystem.com
Giant squid invasion disappears
When fisheries biologist Laurie Weitkamp explained the very real threat posed by an unprecedented Humboldt squid migration into northern waters, she had scientists with the Pacific Salmon Commission on the edges of their seats.
– Globe and Mail, Toronto
More:www.theglobeandmail.com
Fishing big in Alaska economy
The fishing industry puts more people to work than oil and gas, mining, timber and tourism combined. And it is second only to Big Oil in revenues to state coffers.
– Laine Welch, writing in SitNews, Ketchikan
More:www.sitnews.us
Hatchery fish hurt wild fish returns
Wild salmon stocks in the North Pacific are being eroded as the fish are forced to compete for food and shrinking habitat with billions of hatchery fish released into the oceans each year, a new study by scientists in B.C. and Washington state says.
– Victoria Times-Colonist
More:www.timescolonist.com
Disease killed most B.C. farmed salmon
Infectious diseases were absent in 80 per cent of the Atlantic salmon found dead on B.C. fish farms in 2009, according to audit completed by the provincial government.
– WestCoaster, Tofino, B.C.
More:www.westcoaster.ca
U.S. tsunami network unreliable
A detection system that was expanded following an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people has experienced significant outages and can no longer be relied on detect the giant waves as they approach the U.S. coastline, a new report finds.
– Tri-City Herald
More:www.tri-cityherald.com
Divers search for California salmon
Divers scoured holes on the lower Eel River, looking to get an estimate of how many salmon and steelhead have moved in from the ocean so far.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent John Driscoll, writing in the Eureka Times-Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Fishmonger donates for Alaska crab research
A California seafood retailer has donated $10,000 to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for king crab research.
– BusinessWeek.com
More:www.businessweek.com
UFA maintains Murkowski endorsement
The United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA), representing 38 Alaska commercial fishing associations, reaffirmed its endorsement of Senator Lisa Murkowski for the United States Senate.
– UFA
More:www.scribd.com
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Crab skipper shot, sues owner
A crab boat captain who was shot on the job last year accuses his former employer of violating an ancient maritime law by not paying his medical expenses. <br><br>
– The Oregonian
More:www.oregonlive.com
No gold found in Yakutat Forelands
Beard Company, 25 percent owner of Geohedral LLC, reported that recent assays have failed to indicate commercial quantities of gold and silver in any of its 64,000 acres of claims in Alaska's Yakutat Forelands.
– Beard Company
More:www.prnewswire.com
Pelican buys troubled seafood plant
The city of Pelican now owns the troubled Pelican Seafoods plant, after foreclosing on owner Ed Bahrt & Associates last month and jumping in line ahead of previous owner Kake Tribal Corp.
– Juneau Empire
More:www.juneauempire.com
A yellow halibut?!?
Now, here’s something you don’t see every day – a yellow halibut. The crew of the fishing vessel Atka Pride caught the fish in mid-September near Atka in the Aleutian chain.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Fishing groups oppose Columbia review
It's inaccurate, unreadable and even an affront to treaties and hard-won legally binding agreements. That was the consensus of Columbia River fishermen, from charter fishing operators to commercial, sport and tribal fishermen.
– Pacific Fishing correspondent Deeda Schroeder, writing in the Chinook Observer
More:www.chinookobserver.com
Tribes to get NOAA grants
Five tribes in Washington, California, Alaska and Maine are getting a total of nearly $1 million in federal money to help imperiled marine mammals and fish.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Too much good fish oil could be bad
While vitamins and other dietary supplements can yield numerous health benefits, too much of a good thing is possible, says a Canadian dietitian.
– Vancouver Sun
More:www.vancouversun.com
DeFazio opposes frankenfish
Congressman DeFazio is one of three congressmen who led 23 members of Congress in asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to halt the approval process of AquaBounty genetically engineered salmon.
– Coos Bay World
More:www.theworldlink.com
No protection for Sacramento fish
The Sacramento splittail fish does not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday.
– Seattle Times
More:seattletimes.nwsource.com
Thursday, October 7, 2010
NMFS: You will protect sea lions
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service rejected, for the most part, pleas to scale back planned fishery closures in the Aleutian chain to protect the endangered Steller sea lion.
– Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Sea lion measures to cost millions
Federal fisheries officials are moving forward with new restrictions on Aleutian Islands groundfish fisheries, in an effort to protect endangered Steller sea lions, a move that will cost the commercial fisheries industry millions of dollars.
– Bristol Bay Times
More:thebristolbaytimes.com
No Fraser windfall for Canada trollers
Troll fishermen from the West Coast of Vancouver Island are calling for an investigation after they were left out of the largest sockeye fishery in nearly 100 years.
– Westcoaster, Tofino, B.C.
More:www.westcoaster.ca
Navy still wants more training off NW
Since the public hearing process closed last year on its controversial plans to boost training activities within its Northwest Training Range Complex, Navy officials were in “run silent, run deep” mode.
– Newport News Times
More:www.newportnewstimes.com
Shell scales back Chukchi exploration
Shell Oil announced that it has scaled back its Arctic Ocean exploration plans for 2011 to promising sites in the Beaufort Sea, backing off prospects in the Chukchi Sea until legal clouds are cleared.
– Anchorage Daily News
More:www.adn.com
Kodiak: Turmoil over tanner crab letter
A letter drafted by Kodiak Island Borough Mayor Jerome Selby taking a stand regarding a tanner crab bycatch issue coming up before the federal fisheries council has created quite a bit of stir because of what some call a lack of input from the assembly or residents of the borough.
– KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
Respect Cal protected area consensus
Over the past 12 months, many of your friends and neighbors have dedicated time, sweat and even tears to serving on the Marine Life Protection Act Regional Stakeholder Group.
– Eureka Times Standard
More:www.times-standard.com
Homer Spit: Tourism or industry?
When the public was asked to weigh in on what to do with the Homer Spit, more than a few suggested making it a year-round destination instead of just a summer relic for the perusal of visitors.
– Homer Tribune
More:homertribune.com
Cal commercial spiny lobster season opens
Shellfish lovers: the commercial season for spiny lobsters opens!
– Orange County Weekly
More:blogs.ocweekly.com
News you shouldn’t live without
In Ohio and Oklahoma, it's against state law to get a fish drunk. For those living in the Buckeye State, it is also illegal to hunt for whales on Sunday.
– San Francisco Chronicle
More:www.sfgate.com
Friday, October 8, 2010
A hell of a lot of fish!
If you put Bristol Bay's sockeye salmon catch nose to tail, it would reach 14,000 miles, from Alaska to Australia and back!
- Pacific Fishing columnist Laine Welch, writing in the Bristol Bay Times
More:thebristolbaytimes.com
Radio: Alaska Fisheries Report
Coming up this week, the North Pacific Council is meeting right now, and is scheduled to make major decisions on several issues. Meanwhile, uproar in Kodiak over gulf Tanner bycatch and bumblebee halibut.
-KMXT, Kodiak
More:www.kmxt.org
I'm running for office, give me money
Hanging around a North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting, it's not unusual to see lawyers and lobbyists for seafood companies, crewman right off the docks in their Xtratufs, and even a few millionaire fishermen and processors.
- Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in his blog: Deckboss
More:deckboss.blogspot.com
Alaska fishermen support Murkowski, Parnell
The largest fishing organization in the United States endorsed Gov. Sean Parnell and write-in candidate U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski Thursday.
- Alaska Dispatch
More:www.alaskadispatch.com
Frankenfish threatens wild fishery
The commercial cultivation of genetically engineered Atlantic "AquAdvantage" salmon could decimate our domestic salmon fishing industry.
- U.S. Rep. Mike Thornton, writing in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
More:www.pressdemocrat.com
Frankenfish shows promise and peril
DNA splicing is nothing new. Nearly all of the cotton, corn and soy grown in the United States carry bacterial genes for pest or weed killer resistance.
- New York Times
More:www.nytimes.com
Powerful quakes shake Aleutians
A series of powerful earthquakes occurred Thursday evening within a few miles of each other south of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, but no tsunami warning has been posted.
- Kodiak Daily Mirror
More:www.kodiakdailymirror.com
Octoberfish occupies Charleston
It's like Octoberfest, only with fish. Charleston will be the place for food and fun on Saturday.
- Coos Bay World
More:www.theworldlink.com
Nobel Prize outrage!
In what was certainly a fixed vote, the Nobel Academy once again passed over Fish Wrap for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Instead, the honor went to Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian novelist, poet, essayist and journalist, "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat." We musta' come in second, though.
