National Fisherman articles from April 2009

National Fisherman archives from April 2009

April 2009: this month's highlights.(The hail)
April 1, 2009... One of our columnists made the observation to me today that "too many people in our industry just accept what they read." I don't disagree with that, in fact, I'd expand on it: Too many people--period!--accept what they see on television,...

Alaska: founded on sustainability.(VIEWS from Alaska)
April 1, 2009... With sustainability now recognized by all members of the United Nations as the first principle of fisheries management, Alaskans, in celebrating 50 years of statehood, can take pride in the fact that more than half a century ago they recognized...

A tale of two councils.(Editor's log)
April 1, 2009... If I had a dollar for every time the North Pacific council was offered up as fishing's example of the Truth, the Way and the Light, I'd be writing this from my winter home on Kauai. On the other hand, if I had to hand over a dollar every...

Fishing back when.(NF classics)
April 1, 2009... 50 YEARS AGO Maine fisherman Arthur Cochran sets his trawl doers for a shrimp drag in Sheepscot Bay, operating the 34-foot Carol Jane's winch with one hand. Six boats out of Five Islands, Cundys Harbor and New Harbor are dragging from 20...

Memoir of a fisheries scientist explores key decades of national, industry history.(Fo'c'sle library)(Race to the Sea: The Autobiography of a Marine Biologist)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... Race to the Sea The Autobiography of a Marine Biologist By Dr. Dayton L. Alverson iUniverse, 2008 Softcover, 553 pp., $32.95 www.iuniverse.com/bookstore [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] University of Washington professor and...

Cooking in the galley of an Alaska salmon boat nets inspiring recipes.(Fo'c'sle library)
April 1, 2009... Alaskan Rock'n Gallery By LaDonna Gundersen Morris Press Cookbooks, 2008 Hardcover, 110 pp., $15 www.rockngalley.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A true chef can cook a great meal anywhere and with the simplest...

Big ain't bad.(From Another Perspective)
April 1, 2009... I've been working with the commercial fishing industry for over 30 years. I represent people with big boats, small boats, medium boats and on-shore businesses. I work with leaders of organizations that represent the full gamut of commercial...

Building a bridge to offshore energy.(Dock talk)
April 1, 2009... The commercial fishing industry is facing a set of unprecedented challenges as our oceans become the new frontier in an ambitious national energy program quickly building momentum under the Obama administration. In the near future, and...

Look lively on watch.(Consequences)
April 1, 2009... Fishing regulations--even those intended to reduce hazards to the fleet --often result in quick turnarounds at the dock on top of long days and nights setting and hauling gear. Adequate sleep is bard to come by for any crew member on any...

Hopeful signs amid doom and gloom.(From the town landing)
April 1, 2009... NMFS has mandated another cutback in days-at-sea for the upcoming fishing year in New England; at press time, the fate of that cutback was still being determined in court. Once again, fishermen face cutbacks that threaten their livelihoods,...

Object lesson.(Washington lookout)
April 1, 2009... We often emphasize the importance of the fishing industry engaging the management process. Getting even a "less bad" regulatory outcome is far more certain than convincing a federal judge to overturn even the poorest management decision. Harder...

Now is not the time to cut longlining jobs.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I am neither for or against longliners. I admire any man who works hard to make an honest living, and I can't think of many jobs that are harder and more dangerous than longline fishing. With all the rules and regulations that have already...

Fishing association urges pleas to the White House.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... The National Marine Fisheries Service, by way of the gulf council, has once again approved new regulations to shut down Gulf of Mexico bottom longliners over incomplete and disputed turtle data, which will put hundreds of Florida commercial...

Only top-down changes at NMFS can save seafood.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... When the people who have managed this industry are held as accountable as the people whom they mismanage, then and only then will there be change. The leadership of NMFS must be changed from the top down. The decades of destruction they have...

Cap'n Sane says ...(Mail buoy)
April 1, 2009... Saturday Cove, Maine The coming of spring was a change in the life of the Old Man and me. He had been winter working the fish counter at the First National store, a job he detested. And I was learning the math tables n'proper words at the...

Octogenarian artist seeks '30s-era mullet boat photos.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I am an artist working on several pieces that will hopefully recapture my days as a kid living on the beaches of Siesta Key off Sarasota, Fla., in the late '30s and the '40s. We were entertained and fed by the mullet fishermen who plied their...

New tools to restore stocks, end overfishing.(Mail buoy)
April 1, 2009... On Jan. 15, a regulation that spans two administrations was issued establishing tough rules to set annual catch limits and strict accountability measures. This final guidance, that controls the amount of fish allowed to be caught in a year, is...

Good-bye Gitmo, hello Havana!(In search of the simple life)(trade of American and Cuban fisheries)(Column)
April 1, 2009... Latest report from the Bering Sea is that it's turning into a skating rink up there. I guess you could call it a case of La Nina vs. Global Warming--and La Nina is kicking ass. Record ice, record snow, record cold. And record low...

Turtle study prompts Gulf council to distance longliners: fleet explores options to fight being pushed out to the 50-fathom line for five months.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC)(Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has approved an emergency rule that will push the longline fleet out to the 50-fathom line for five months to reduce interactions with loggerhead sea turtles. The rule...

Bay scallop fishery opens in N.C. sounds after 3 years: harvesters' catch and cash will stay local.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC)
April 1, 2009... A bay scallop fishery could offer North Carolina fishermen a little financial relief this winter, according to fisheries commissioner Bradley Styron. Commercial fishermen in Core Sound and eastern Pamlico Sound can bring in five bushels of...

Council's aquaculture plan would spawn 20 fish farms: leverages fishing grounds for ocean pens.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC)
April 1, 2009... At the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting held in Bay St. Louis, Miss., early this year, the council opened the Gulf of Mexico to the introduction of aquaculture in an attempt to establish a regional permitting process, assuming...

NOAA report details illegal fishing activities of 6 nations: documents Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean boats out of season, not reporting catch.(NATION/WORLD)
April 1, 2009... Addressing American fishermen's long simmering anger at the domestic sale of seafood caught illegally by foreign fleets, NOAA has accused six countries of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (also called IUU) fishing and announced it would...

P.E.I. processors sitting on $25m in frozen lobster: unsold stock hangs over spring season.(NATION/WORLD)(Prince Edward Island fish processors)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Prince Edward Island fish processors reported in late January that they were sitting on a supply of unsold frozen lobsters amounting to $25 million. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Olin Gregan, executive director of the Prince Edward Island...

Where we live: Eureka, Calif.(HOME PORT)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Eureka is the Humboldt County seat. It sits on the second largest natural bay in California, behind San Francisco. With a population of 25,579, the city is also home to 140 to 150 permanent vessels; the majority are moored at Woodley Island...

Alaska Warrior crew receives rare Coast Guard honor: lauded for quick action in rescuing 22 crew from sister ship Alaska Ranger last Easter.(ALASKA and PACIFIC)(Scott Krey)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The city of Unalaska, Alaska, and the U.S. Coast Guard recognized the crew of the Alaska Warrior and her skipper, Scott Krey, with a meritorious public service award for their rescue of 22 crew members from sister ship the Alaska Ranger. ...

Longliners come up short on halibut season, quotas: commission numbers lower than expected.(ALASKA and PACIFIC)(total quota set by the International Pacific Halibut Commission)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... A later opener and smaller quota waited Alaska's halibut longliners for the 2009 season. The International Pacific Halibut Commission recommendations did portend cutbacks in November. However, the final numbers were worked out in January, when...

'Cool pool' off West Coast holds promise for fishing: trawl surveys show chinook on the rise.(ALASKA and PACIFIC)
April 1, 2009... Mother Nature, it seems, is delivering her own bailout package to West Coast fishermen, in the form of an unusually cool pool of water off the region's coast. The influx of frigid waters, which began in September 2007, has led to a spike...

Rock shrimp soup: Laurilee Thompson: Titusville, Fla.(GALLEY WATCH: AT-SEA CUISINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Lurilee Thompson had her first boat around the age of 10 and upgraded every few years. In the late '70s, she finally was skipper of her own longliner. In 1987, when she retired from commercial fishing, she was still one of a very few women...

Rollo: Seattle: Opilio and king crabber, salmon tender.(BOAT OF THE MONTH)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Though the Rollo has gained celebrity by its presence on the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," owner Svein Nyhammer knows the boat as a less dramatic workhorse built in 1973 for the heyday of king and opilio...

Maine officials seek 'middle ground' in scallop closures: early call for half-season shutdown leads to area closures, new management options.(ATLANTIC)
April 1, 2009... In early February, Maine scallop fishermen were expecting to finish the winter season working around six big area closures in state waters. Marine resources officials called the move a middle ground after withdrawing an emergency proposal to...

Gift of lobster promotes cystic fibrosis awareness: Mass. fisherman raises funds for ailing son.(ATLANTIC)
April 1, 2009... Don Hebert fishes out of Green Harbor, Mass., a small port about 30 miles south of Boston. Hebert has worked about every fishery there is in New England--from scallop to tuna to lobster. Lately, however, he's putting a lot of energy toward his...

Marty Buzas: Mako, menhaden, squid, dogfish Cape May, N.J.(SNAPSHOT: WHO WE ARE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Marty Buzas will be dogging again this year. It won't be very enriching, but it will be satisfying. "I'm happy with the 30 boxes" a day, Buzas says of the planned 3,000-pound trip limit for spiny dogfish in federal waters. "It's a drop out...

Images of sunken dragger leave mystery unresolved: patriot shows no evidence of ship strike.(ATLANTIC)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Two weeks after a Gloucester, Mass., dragger sank, claiming the lives of the two men aboard her, a remotely operated underwater camera failed to offer any real insight into what may have happened. The 54-foot Patriot sank about 18 miles...

Mid-Atlantic.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)
April 1, 2009... NMFS is accepting proposals under the Mid-Atlantic council's Research Set-Aside Program for 2010. The council may set aside 3 percent of the total allowable landings for research in certain Mid-Atlantic fisheries. The sale of fish...

South Atlantic.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The daily vessel trip limit for the commercial fishery for gulf group king mackerel in the Florida east coast subzone will remain at 50 fish per day for the remainder of the fishing season. This bulletin supersedes any information previously...

Western Pacific.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Growing evidence suggests to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council that small-scale artisanal fisheries may be the largest single threat to some sea turtle populations. These fisheries use gillnets, pound nets, large fixed...

Gulf of Mexico.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... NMFS reminds fishermen of the seasonal closures for gag, red grouper, black grouper, and greater amberjack as well as changes to grouper regulations for federal waters. Fishermen should check with state agencies for regulations in state waters....

New England.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... NMFS is considering limiting or restricting access to the American lobster trap fishery in the federal waters of Lobster Management Area 1 (the inshore Gulf of Maine), based on a permit holder's ability to document a history of fishing with...

Pacific.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... NMFS has proposed a permit fee for vessel owners participating in commercial and charter recreational fishing for highly migratory species in the exclusive economic zone off California, Oregon, and Washington. HMS permits are issued under...

North Pacific.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... NMFS has proposed reducing the number of halibut that charter fishing anglers in southeast Alaska can keep, from two each day to one, in order to protect halibut stocks. Charter halibut operators in southeast Alaska waters have exceeded their...

Caribbean.(COUNCIL UPDATES: News from the regional management councils)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... NMFS has published a final rule implementing Amendment 4 to the Spiny Lobster Fishery Management Plan of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and Amendment 8 to the Joint Spiny Lobster FMP of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic. The final...

Year in 2008 review: a-changin' times.(Yearbook 2009)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Individual fishing quotas have been around a long time: We've been discussing them--arguing about them, resisting them, and ultimately embracing them m for more than a decade. Now they have become a fact of life....

Management regime shift: may I quota you?(Gulf/South Atlantic)
April 1, 2009... At the end of 2008, three years after Gulf of Mexico fishermen approved individual fishing quotas for red snapper, they OK'd a grouper-tilefish IFQ program by a similar, overwhelming margin, and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has...

New tricks for dogs, flats: are these plans flukes?(Northeast)(fishing quotas)
April 1, 2009... Careful and cooperative efforts by commercial and recreational fishermen in 2008 r finally succeeded in pushing up a downward spiral in the summer flounder fishery. Now they are on track to win a reopening of commercial fishing for spiny...

An IFQ 'most complicated': any questions?(Pacific)
April 1, 2009... The Pacific Fishery Management Council set the tone for introducing individual quota programs to a multispecies fishery in November. Council members passed a ground-breaking trawl rationalization plan that likely will result in more...

Icepack mentality: hot enough for ya?(North Pacific)
April 1, 2009... Environment. The word has gained unwieldy clout among those of us slow to embrace the reality that our survival depends upon the air, water and other components of ecosystems, terrestrial, marine, locally or abroad. And when the environment...

Squid shines as lobster prices tank, crab stocks dip, surf clam fleet shrinks.(NORTHEAST: YEAR IN REVIEW)
April 1, 2009... Maine's coastal economy has been likened to furniture: a stool losing its legs as groundfish, herring and other fisheries get more restrictive. The breathtaking autumn 2008 dive in lobster prices threatened to kick out the last leg. The...

Quota cuts stymie staple fisheries, but salmon, herring notch banner year.(NORTH PACIFIC: YEAR IN REVIEW)
April 1, 2009... While some of Alaska's bread and butter fisheries suffered shortfalls in production because of quota reductions, others reached a nexus of healthy harvests and higher ex-vessel prices. Bering Sea pollock trawlers whacked away at a quota of...

Shrimp fleet's luck finally changes but allocation cut hurts snapper IFQs.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC: YEAR IN REVIEW)(individual fishing quota)
April 1, 2009... After years of unrelenting hard times, shrimpers finally got lucky in October. Fuel prices collapsed to less than half what they were in July, while shrimp prices improved, or at worst, declined moderately in certain areas. Landings were good...

Abundance of other fish help fill void caused by loss of troll-caught salmon.(PACIFIC: YEAR IN REVIEW)
April 1, 2009... The news wasn't all bad in 2008, even though fishermen and processors saw their market niche for wild, troll-caught king salmon slip away ever so slightly as the season for the West's iconic fish was nearly closed completely. The abundance of...

On the heels of Gustav, Hurricane Ike piled up shrimp boats in San Leon, Texas, on Galveston Bay.(Gulf/South Atlantic)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: On the heels of Gustav, Hurricane Ike piled up shrimp boats in San Leon, Texas, on Galveston Bay. Texas officials estimated that more than 1,600 vessels and nearly 300 fishing businesses were affected by the...

Industry advocate Bob Spaeth of Madeira Beach (Fla.) Seafood.(Gulf/South Atlantic)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Industry advocate Bob Spaeth of Madeira Beach (Fla.) Seafood worked to bridge the gap between commercial and recreational interests.

Tax relief: Florida voters OK'd a measure to spare working waterfronts.(Gulf/South Atlantic)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Tax Relief: Florida voters OK'd a measure to spare working waterfronts from skyrocketing real estate assessments by taxing docks and other facilities according to "current use."

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, delegate to Congress from Guam.(Pacific)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Madeleine Z. Bordallo, delegate to Congress from Guam, was shocked when the Bush administration declared nearly 200,000 square miles in the western Pacific Ocean off-limits to fishermen.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.(Pacific)
April 1, 2009... Caption: Jane Lubchenco, of Oregon State University and a veteran of the Pew Oceans Commission, was tapped by the new president to serve as director of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. She is known as an advocate of...

Industry and its allies in Congress interceded before NMFS.(Northeast)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Industry and its allies in Congress interceded before NMFS, fearful of hard times and constrained by fuel prices, could cancel a survey of surf dams and quahogs it has conducted for 27 years.

Rhode Island fisherman Phil Ruhle, a widely respected advocate for fishermen and a developer of the trawl that now bears his name, was lost last summer.(Northeast)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Rhode Island fisherman Phil Ruhle, a widely respected advocate for fishermen and a developer of the trawl that now bears his name, was lost last summer when his vessel, the Sea Breeze, rolled over and sank.

Nearly 20 years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska.(North Pacific)
April 1, 2009... Caption: Nearly 20 years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska, plaintiffs finally saw checks for damages from the oil company--but only a fraction of the $5 billion a jury had awarded in 1994 will be paid. ...

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), 84, a veteran of 40 years in the U.S. Senate, the architect of U.S. fisheries policy and namesake of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.(North Pacific)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), 84, a veteran of 40 years in the U.S. Senate, the architect of U.S. fisheries policy and namesake of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, was retired by voters in the Last Frontier in...

His candid camera: straight-talking R.I. draggerman Brian Loftes is taking the fisherman's case to the public--on film.(In profile)
April 1, 2009... As the video clip plays, Brian Loftes stands at the sorting table of his 45-foot fiberglass Bruce Atkins trawler Damariscotta. A gray baseball cap partially hides his curly dark hair, and his big, bushy mustache is plain to see. His thick frame...

Optimum yield: from head splitting to vision systems, new processing equipment leaves little behind.(Boats & Gear: Processing)
April 1, 2009... Over the past few years, a lot of boat owners have spent a lot of money attempting to utilize more of their catch. And they have been succeeding, mostly as a result of major improvements in equipment and processing systems, though the...

Avoiding head aches: make sure your vessel's marine sanitation system measures up to the law.(Boats & Gear: Waste disposal)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ted Harrington, fishing vessel safety coordinator in Boston for the Coast Guard's First District, says inspection teams check for marine sanitation device compliance during at-sea inspections. "We check to see...

Lobster boat picks up 7 feet; 30-footer has plenty of speed.(NORTHEAST)
April 1, 2009... In late November, a lengthening job on a 50-foot Wesmac lobster boat was completed at Fineskind Boatyard in South Harpswell, Maine. Tommy Clemons wanted 7 feet added to his lobster boat, the Obsession, to "make the boat run a little better....

Seine skiffs will go to Alaska; Wash. tribe gets fisheries boat.(WEST)
April 1, 2009... In mid-February, a new seine skiff was due to be completed at Rozema Boat Works in Mount Vernon, Wash., and construction on a second seine skiff was expected to start. The first skiff measures 20' x 11' and the second one is 18' x 10'....

Boat hauled after hitting buoy; pound-netter gets new planks.(SOUTH)
April 1, 2009... Kerry Hall of Mathews, Va., had just finished washing down several of his gillnets in January when he decided to go out a little further in Davis Creek and wash down the deck of his 42-foot deadrise wooden boat, the Travis B. It turned out...

Mini-broadband expands: KVH makes satellite coverage affordable for smaller boats, extends service to Alaska.(Product roundup)
April 1, 2009... The days are long gone when the only way you had to communicate from the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea to the lower 48 was by single-sideband radio. And that was best used at night because the radio signals got the necessary distance by...

Pulsetech's solution for recharging a battery is the XCR-20, a durable and easy to use battery recovery and maintenance charger.(At a glance)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PULSETECH's solution for recharging a battery is the XCR-20, a durable and easy to use battery recovery and maintenance charger. It features a 20-amp maximum charge rate and five-stage battery Charging that...

Hella Marine's latest LED light is the Duraled LED.(At a glance)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HELLA MARINE's latest LED light is the DURALED LED. It's an interior and exterior utility lamp with no bulbs or filaments to break. The lamp is completely sealed, waterproof and features a saltwater-, UV- and...

Marine Flotation Products' patent pending Salvage Retriever would be handy if a small boat sinks at the dock or you need other marine salvage work.(At a glance)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MARINE FLOTATION PRODUCTS' patent pending SALVAGE RETRIEVER would be handy if a small boat sinks at the dock or you need other marine salvage work. The Salvage Retriever is composed of two inflatable pontoons...

Intellian Technologies has introduce the I4P satellite TV antenna.(At a glance)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] INTELLIAN TECHNOLOGIES has introduce the I4P satellite TV antenna. It is fully compatible with Ku-band satellites and is specifically designed to enhance the quality of reception in areas with linear polarization...

Bulletin board.(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... MARCH 15-17 International Boston Seafood Skow/Seafond Processing America Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston www.bostonseafood.com The International Boston Seafood Show, co-located with Seafood Processing America, is...

Navionics.(ON THE MOVE)
April 1, 2009... In Wareham, Mass., DON BLACK has taken the post of senior vice president of sales and marketing for NAVIONICS, an electronic charting and digital navigation data company. Black comes to Navionics from SeaWave in Portsmouth, R.I., where he was...

Beier Radio.(ON THE MOVE)
April 1, 2009... New Orleans-based marine electronics company BEIER RADIO has tapped BUDDY MORGAN as sales manager. Morgan has more than 30 years of experience in management, sales, marketing and training for marine technology companies. His most recent...

Marport, a subsea acoustics technology company based in St. John's, Newfoundland, and the marine division of Rolls-Royce have signed a product development agreement to develop sensors and data analysis systems to maximize deck machinery utilization and automation.(COMPANY NEWS)
April 1, 2009... MARPORT, a subsea acoustics technology company based in St. John's, Newfoundland, and the marine division of ROLLS-ROYCE have signed a product development agreement to develop sensors and data analysis systems to maximize deck machinery...

Covington, La.-based Laborde Products celebrates it 10th anniversary with the addition of a new facility in Channelview, Texas, east of Houston.(COMPANY NEWS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Covington, La.-based LABORDE PRODUCTS celebrates it 10TH ANNIVERSARY with the addition of a new facility in Channelview, Texas, east of Houston. The Channelview office stocks all parts needed to build and repair engines and provides "swing...

Sitka Sound, Alaska.(Last set)
April 1, 2009... Caption: Gordy McIntosh, Doug Hatfield and skipper Randall Hansen on the Outlook haul back a set of nearly 300 tons of herring on the final day of the 2008 Sitka Sound sac roe fishery.