State and Local

January 29, 2015 — Recent Board of Fisheries appointee Roland Maw’s relationship with the state government has been mischaracterized, according to the president of the fisheries organization where Maw served as executive director.

Maw’s former leadership of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association stirred controversy when Gov. Bill Walker appointed him to the Alaska Board of Fisheries this month. Walker appointed Maw after asking board President Karl Johnstone to resign, Johnstone wrote in an opinion column published in the Empire and other Alaska papers.

Soldotna-based UCIDA is involved in a lawsuit filed in 2013 concerning federal oversight of Alaska’s salmon fisheries, which caused Johnstone to question Walker’s disappoint that Maw’s name wasn’t put forward as a nominee for commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

“Maw, who was the director of UCIDA … and himself a commercial fisherman, had been personally and in a representative capacity actively participating in a lawsuit in federal court advocating that the management of our salmon resources in Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and elsewhere be taken away from the State of Alaska and turned over to the feds to manage,” Johnstone wrote.

Read the full story from Juneau Empire

January 28, 2015 — The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife will be stocking some 570,000 rainbow trout across state waters for the spring fishing season, yet anglers will notice something different about them this year.

Due to a large die-off last year from bacterial infection, there will be no brown or brook trout stocked. Officials said they intend to abstain from stocking these species for at least several years, until a bacteria-resistant strains of brook and brown trout can be introduced.

“The trout going out from the Pequest Hatchery this spring will be completely healthy—and big,” said Division of Fish and Wildlife Director David Chanda. “The only difference is that we will be stocking solely rainbow trout, a much heartier, disease-resistant species which has not been exposed to the bacteria that causes furunculosis.

Read the full story from the OutdoorHub

January 28, 2015 — The University of Massachusetts Dining Services is up for another award – and this may be its biggest yet.

Last fall, UMass Dining Services was nominated for the Seaweb Seafood Champion Award in the Innovation category. According to the Seaweb website, UMass has identified itself as one of the top four institutions or individuals worldwide that “applies creative new solutions to address: ecological challenges, existing market needs and barriers to sustainability.” The other three nominees are Project: Inshore from the United Kingdo., Dave Kellian, a pelagic fisher from New Zealand and Anova Food’s Fishing and Living of the United States.

The winner will be announced on Feb. 9 at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit in New Orleans. And while Ken Toong, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises, admitted he was humbled by the nomination, he was excited UMass Dining Services was being recognized for their work.

“We always take a leadership role,” Toong said of UMass’ involvement in the food services industry. “Sustainability and providing healthy and delicious food – those are our core values.”

They are values that have been present in UMass’ recent commitment to incorporating seafood into its dining halls. One of the strategies that Toong said highlights the importance placed on sustainability is the use of local, underutilized fish.

Read the full story from The Massachusetts Daily Collegian

ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 27, 2015 — When Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher took the advice of his Scallop Advisory Council last year and set a 70-day fishing season for this winter (just 50 days in Cobscook Bay) he warned fishermen that DMR was likely to cut the season short.

At an SAC meeting in Ellsworth last Thursday, the chickens came home to roost, or at least they were visible from the coop.

About six weeks after the 20-week season opened on Dec. 1, DMR Resource Management Coordinator Trisha Cheney told some two dozen scallop fishermen that the seasons in both Cobscook Bay and in Zone 2, an area stretching from Penobscot Bay to the Lubec Narrows, were likely to close soon.

If the number of boats fishing in Cobscook Bay — about 75 on average this year — remains constant, Cheney said, fishermen could expect nine more days spread over three weeks beginning Monday, Jan. 26.

The season in Cobscook Bay could last just another six fishing days — two weeks.

“The more boats that travel down there,” Cheney said, “the faster it will close.”

An early closure way Downeast would likely be bad news for the rest of the fleet, Sorrento fisherman James West told Cheney and Keliher. Boats that are currently fishing in Cobscook Bay will likely move their effort to areas around the Bold Coast (off the Trescott area.) Addison, Englishman Bay Frenchman Bay.

According to SAC member and Machias scallop dragger Jimmy Ackley, a lot of boats are already fishing in those areas and landing their daily 15-gallon limits.

West said closing Cobscook Bay will only make things worse.

Read the full story from The Ellsworth American

January 26, 2015 — Maine fisheries regulators want to begin licensing elver exporters as part of the state’s effort to tighten oversight of a fishery in which a pound of the tiny, squirming eels can fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is preparing legislation that would require individuals who ship the baby eels overseas to purchase a $5,000 exporter’s license. The state already licenses both elver fishermen and dealers, so DMR officials said the exporter license will ensure the state is monitoring every aspect of an industry that has drawn poachers and federal scrutiny in recent years.

“We want to understand more closely what is going on in that next step of the commercial chain,” DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said Friday of the bill, which will be considered in the current legislative session. “There is always a possibility (for fraud). But what we are trying to do is close as many loopholes as possible.”

Maine fishermen harvested nearly 9,700 pounds of elvers in 2014 worth an estimated $8.4 million, according to preliminary figures from DMR. Although down from roughly 18,000 pounds valued at $33 million the year before, the 2014 elver catch still translated into an average of $867 per pound for the translucent, noodle-like eels, which are netted as they swim upstream and then shipped to aquaculture operations in Asia.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

January 25, 2015 — Portland Mayor Michael Brennan wants students, hospital patients and jail inmates to eat more fish — particularly, locally caught fish.

Entering the final year of his four-year term, Brennan is hoping to convince Greater Portland cafeteria operators to commit to serving local fish, an effort he said would create a stable, constant demand to boost the commercial fishing industry in Maine’s largest city.

The mayor mentioned the initiative for the first time publicly during his annual State of the City address Wednesday night, but he has been quietly trying to rally support for the large-scale, buy-local-fish effort for months.

“One of our priorities is marine resources and creating opportunities along the waterfront,” Brennan said. “We started thinking about — if there are fish that are available — [whether] we could create a market among those institutions that serve meals every day on a regular basis. [We posed the question], ‘Is there a way we could guarantee that market?’”

The mayor said the Portland area is replete with hospitals, schools and correctional facilities — among other places — that already likely serve fish products, including fish sticks and fish sandwiches, regularly in their cafeterias.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

January 23, 2015 — Richard Cook's oyster farm plans have been fought at nearly every turn by homeowners on nearby Popponesset and Daniels islands, but last week the Mashpee Board of Selectmen issued him an aquaculture license after the most recent round of legal appeals ended in his favor.

When the ice thaws on Popponesset Bay, Richard Cook hopes he will finally be able to get to work.

Cook, a Mashpee shellfisherman, has waited for nearly four years to establish a 1-acre oyster farm in Popponesset Bay. His plans have been fought at nearly every turn by homeowners on nearby Popponesset and Daniels islands, but last week the Mashpee Board of Selectmen issued him an aquaculture license after the most recent round of legal appeals ended in his favor.

Cook said receiving the license means he can finally stop dreading his daily trips to the mailbox where, time and time again, the mail brought notice of another legal battle in his case.

"It's a very satisfying feeling, yep," he said. "It's finally fun to go to the mailbox again."

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times

 

January 22, 2015 — New York officials have issued a 10-year plan calling for greater efforts to preserve the state’s marine environment in the face of human impact, habitat degradation, and climate change.

The Ocean Action Plan, released last Thursday, did not identify any new sources of funding for its more than 200 recommendations or offer estimates of their cost.

A separate study published last Thursday in the journal Science found that the risk of massive extinctions among animals that live in the earth’s oceans had increased due to the same factors. According to the authors of that study, new pressures have begun to emerge, among them mining, oil exploration, and some kinds of aquaculture.

In the state’s preliminary draft, which took about three years to complete, the Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of State pointed to environmental changes and the unsustainable exploitation of ocean, bay, and estuarine resources. It identified global warming as the most pressing challenge and listed a broad range of other reasons for concern. These included bycatch and other destructive fishing practices, ocean acidification, habitat loss, and water quality problems.

Read the full story from The East Hampton Star

January 22, 2015 – The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

The Annual NCFA Members' Meeting is set for this Friday beginning at 12 p.m. at the Hampton Inn located at 2085 West 15th Street in Washington, NC.  This is an opportunity for members to give the Board of Directors input on the association's direction and activities for the upcoming year.  It is also the only meeting of the year members are able to vote. 

If you are unable to attend, you may give your proxy to another member in good standing.  If you'd like to make sure your proxy is on record you can complete the proxy form, save it and email it.  

Lunch will be provided at the beginning of the meeting.  Please let Lauren know if you plan to attend at your earliest convenience.  You can email her or call her at 252-725-2468.

 

January 20, 2015 — Bluefin tuna fishing around Morehead City is shaping up to be one of the best in years, and last Tuesday, it may have hit its peak. After a grueling battle that lasted 3 ½ hours over nearly 10 miles of ocean, two fishermen trolling near Beaufort inlet hauled in what is unofficially the largest bluefin tuna ever brought to North Carolina scales, weighing 1,005 pounds and measuring 115 inches long.

Capt. Herb Sheades of Newport, fishing on a 28-foot Downeast-style lobster boat, the Fish Bucket, hooked up with the big fish at about 6:45 a.m. in rough seas, with the wind blowing between 20 and 30 knots. His mate, Jonathan Anderson of Morehead City, was on the rod for the entire fight.

After an epic tug of war, the huge bluefin was led into harpoon range, where the deal was sealed.  The fish’s size rendered it unable to fit through the vessel’s tuna door, so it had to be towed 14 miles back through Beaufort Inlet.

Read the full story from North Carolina Sportsman