State and Local

June 17, 2015 — OAK ISLAND, N.C. — Oak Island town leaders are asking the state for a temporary ban on shark fishing.

Town Manager Tim Holloman said they asked the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries for a ban on shark fishing through July 4. This comes after two teens lost limbs from shark attacks over the weekend.

“There are always big sharks here,” Fisherman Thomas Cutler said.

Fisherman and Marine Biologist Thomas Cutler said the sharks swimming along Oak Island Beaches are nothing new.

“I’ve lived here for 10 years,” Cutler said. “There is a run of bull sharks that are 10 feet long in the middle of December chasing the Blue Fin Tuna and no one knows about it.”

He said they have also been catching them for years.

“We shark fish and cull them out,” Cutler said.

Read the full story at WWAY TV

 

SEARSPORT, Maine — June 10, 2015 — Lobstermen, environmentalists and others concerned about the health of upper Penobscot Bay crowded into Searsport District High School cafeteria Tuesday night to share their thoughts about a proposed $12 million Searsport Harbor dredging project.

Many wore red shirts as a sign of solidarity during the Maine Department of Marine Resources public hearing on the impact to the fishing industry of the dredging project. All who spoke warned of the possible negative effects the dredging and dumping of 900,000 cubic yards of silt and sediment could have on the bay.

“The spoils from this project might affect my ability to make a living,” David Black, who lives in Belfast and has been a lobsterman in the area for 50 years, said. “I’m not opposed to maintenance dredging, but I am opposed to this project.”

As proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the project would do two things. It would dredge the federal navigation channel to a depth of 40 feet in order to maintain it, generating an estimated 37,000 cubic yards of material. The channel hasn’t been touched since it originally was dug to a depth of 35 feet in 1964 and now contains portions that are only 33 feet deep. More controversially, according to many who spoke Tuesday night, the project also would greatly enlarge the entrance channel and turning basin that leads to the Mack Point industrial port, generating nearly 900,000 cubic yards of dredge material.

Searsport Harbor is the busiest deep-draft commercial port north of Portland and handles cargo including heating oil, diesel, forest products, road salt and gypsum. Army Corps officials have said the size of ships that come to Mack Point has increased and that the existing depths in the navigation channel are inadequate for existing and future vessel traffic.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

June 11, 2015 — Protests mounted this week over San Francisco State University’s eviction of a popular salmon-rearing and children’s educational program from the school’s Romberg Center of Environmental Studies in Tiburon, and Rep. Jared Huffman launched a full-court press to get the decision reversed.

“I’m so furious with the arrogant bureaucrats at SFSU and especially the new director” at Romberg who kicked the Tiburon Salmon Institute out of the 36-acre bayside campus off Paradise Drive, the San Rafael congressman said. “This really is a giant poke in the eye to Marin County.”

Huffman noted that Brooke Halsey, founder of the institute, has been told to pack up the project and leave by July 1 “without any good reason” except perhaps that the future of the property is uncertain in light of a realty listing advertising it earlier this year.

But Leslie Wong, president of San Francisco State, said the property never was for sale, adding that officials for a time wanted to see if anyone was interested in renting space on the campus. There were no takers.

Read the full story from Marinij.com

June 12, 2015 — It all began outside of Value Village in Fairbanks, Alaska. Somehow, a strange-looking eel-like fish — equipped with teeth perfect for latching onto another animal and sucking its blood — ended up in the thrift store’s parking lot last week.

Oh, and the fish was alive.

So store employees put the wiggling creature in a bucket of water and called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to report it.

The department has since received three other reports of the fish on land in Fairbanks, including one spotted on a man’s lawn.

They are arctic lampreys — long, jawless fish that are the most common lamprey in Alaskan waters.

“They are parasites on other fish and sometimes other marine animals,” said ADFG sport fish information officer Nancy Sisinyak. “They latch on with those rasping teeth and they live off of the nutrients of that host animal.”

Read the full story from The Washington Post

June 11, 2015 — Capt. Dennis Bardwell is one of the most well-liked fishing guides on the Louisiana coast, so when his wife Cathy was diagnosed with cancer, Bardwell’s fellow guides sprung into action to help cover medical costs.

The result of their planning is a June 20 fishing rodeo out of Venice Marina that should be at least as much fun as it is helpful.

Adult anglers will compete for the heaviest tuna, wahoo, dolphin, speckled trout, redfish and flounder. Kids will be angling for the heaviest speckled trout and redfish.

Read the full story from The Times-Picayune

BELMAR, N.J. — June 10, 2015 — Does anything scream summer at the Jersey Shore more than fresh seafood? And how much fresher can it get than actual authentic Jersey seafood? This weekend, Belmar is welcoming all seafood lovers to come and celebrate the best the ocean has to offer at the 29th annual three-day New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar running from June 12 to 14.

The Festival, held at Spring Lake Park, at the corner of Fifth and Ocean Ave., will feature more than 40 seafood vendors, a Beer Tent and a Wine Garden, a children’s activity tent and live music. Admission is free for all visitors and there will be a shuttle from the Marina and the train station available for all visitors.

The Belmar Tourism Commission works throughout the year to plan this weekendlong event that has seen the number of festival visitors surpass the 200,000 mark last year, with craft vendors and local nonprofit organizations reaching a much larger audience each year.

From lobster rolls and shrimp to crab cakes, oysters, clams and fish sandwiches — there will be an “ocean” variety of seafood available this week at the 29th annual Seafood Festival.

For more information on the Festival, call the Belmar Tourism Commission at 732-747-4449 or visit www.visitbelmarnj.com.

Read the full story from MyCentralJersey.com

June 11, 2015 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission has scheduled a public meeting for June 17 to receive public comment on six proposals for changes in the way southern flounder are managed in North Carolina waters.

The meeting will be next Wednesday from 1 to 5 p.m. at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center.

At the meeting, members of the public may speak for three minutes each until time runs out.

Read the full story from North Carolina Sportsman

June 9, 2015 — If you recall, last season FWC decided rather than have the Governor make an annual pronouncement that scallop season will start early, they would just change the opening date to “the Saturday before July 1st unless July 1st falls on a Saturday, then the opening date would be July 1st.”

Got it?

Well, that Saturday this year is June 27th when the Scallop Fleet will work the Nature Coast and Panhandle for bay scallops. FWC usually releases a preview of scallop numbers in late-June. If they do, I’ll share that later.

Read the full story at The Lakeland Ledger