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News: Scots Say Fishermen Electrocuting Fish KIRKCALDY, Scotland -- Concerns are growing over highly dangerous and illegal commercial fishing expeditions alleged to be operating out of Kirkcaldy Harbour. A number of fishing boats are thought to be using electric cables across the Firth of Forth seabed to stun razor fish which are then collected by divers - a method which is illegal in EU waters. The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) is currently investigating illegal fishing methods in the area after receiving reports from the Kirkcaldy Boating and Angling Club. The club became increasingly concerned by a number of boats it suspected were using electric cables to fish near Kirkcaldy. Club chairman Kenny Lonie said: "There have been several sightings of boats using electrodes and divers to obtain razor fish from the Firth of Forth. "Once the fish have been electrocuted, divers follow the grid, picking them up." Lonie explained the club had reported similar activities last year after a number of anglers spotted a boat harvesting shellfish using electrodes. Local environmentalist Mary Douglas said she was appalled to hear that electric cables were being used in the area. "It's an abomination that this is taking place in our waters and it's the result of greed," she said. A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency is aware of the allegations and is looking into the matter. - BBC News: Scots Say Fishermen Electrocuting Fish At least 15 of Mississippi's commercial boats that fish in federal waters will don a new satellite-tracking device on Monday in a government program to battle the
illegal harvesting of reef fish like snapper and grouper.
The Mississippi group will join up to 1,100 commercial fishermen from other states who harvest from the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery and now must connect to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's vessel monitoring system. "VMS is a management tool we use to sustain the fishery by assisting enforcement in catching violators," said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for NOAA's law enforcement office, which is operating the program. "We can see if vessels are going into closed, off-limits areas." Oswell said the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery will be the 17th in federal waters to require commercial fishermen to install the monitoring device, which uses global positioning system satellites to find a vessel's location and speed. The systems will display automated e-mail warnings from NOAA when fishermen get near closed fishing grounds. Over the last 14 years, the satellite tracking systems have aided in fisheries law enforcement around the country, with violations being handed down to commercial fishermen both for harvesting in closed waters and for illegally turning off their systems. Consequences can be steep for violating the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries act, which regulates the taking of fish in federal waters. They can include fines of several hundred-thousand dollars, permanent revocation of vessel and operator licenses to fish in federal waters, and forfeiture of boats and gear. Allen Taylor, with Biloxi's Advanced Marine, which sells marine electronics equipment to commercial and recreational boaters, said the $3,000 to $3,500 units were too expensive for fishermen, so the government is basically buying it for them. Taylor believes the government will continue to expand the use of the tracking devices, which are now deployed on over 4,700 vessels nationwide. - Sun Herald, Mississippi
GRAYS HARBOR – The term “reactive thermal oxidizer” sounds like something out of a Star Trek episode.
News: Fishmeal Plant Addresses Odor Problem Here on Earth, a reactive thermal oxidizer is Ocean Protein’s latest purchase in its quest to eliminate the stray odors that have plagued the fishmeal plant since it first started up three years ago in Hoquiam. The plant, which grinds fish guts into a fine powder, hopes to open by the time commercial fishing season starts on May 15. The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency has issued a construction permit clearing the way for the plant to start operation. The agency secured a court order last year to shut down the plant in the wake of complaints over putrid odors. The company has invested more than $4 million in odor control equipment, training and installation, according to Aaron Dierks, general manager of the Hoquiam plant. As the fish guts are pressed, the juices squeezed out by hundreds of pounds of pressure, the smelly residue gets scrubbed by one system, then burned by the thermal oxidizer. Dierks says nothing smelly should be left at the end. And even if there is, the gases are released via a tall exhaust stack, dispersing them into the air over a wide enough area that any odors should be unoffensive, the plant manager said. The company has also invented a new process that will dry some of the vapor and residue, adding it back into the fish meal process to create a higher value product, while also lowering the odor concentration, Dierks said. The problem before, says Gordon Lance, an air specialist with the Clean Air Agency, is that although the plant’s air scrubbers were capturing the majority of the odors, a small percentage of methyl mercaptan consistently could be detected. Mercaptans are rated by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smelliest substances. It’s the smell found in skunk musk. After more than 700 odor-related complaints in 2005, the Clean Air Agency fined the company $610,000. An out-of-court settlement dropped the fine to $250,000. The company was cited for violations last year, too, but to date, says Dan Nelson, spokesman of the Clean Air Agency, no new fines have been assessed. - The Daily World Brief: Coast Guard to Beef Up Alaska Enforcement JUNEAU, Alaska - The summer 2007 tourist season will start next week, with the arrival of this year's first cruise ship.As in years past, the Coast Guard will be enforcing the High Capacity Passenger Vessel (HCPV) and Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) security zone. An HCP vessel is defined as a passenger vessel over 100 feet in length that is authorized to carry more than 500 passengers for hire. An AMHS vessel is defined as any vessel owned or operated by the Alaska Marine Highway System. The security zone extends 100 yards around and under all escorted HCP and/or AMHS vessels during their transit in the navigable waters of Alaska. The security zone will only be in effect when there is a designated on scene representative present during the escort of the HCP or AMHS vessel. The HCP or AMHS vessels will be accompanied by one or more Coast Guard, Federal, State or local law enforcement agencies (surface or air assets). These are called the "designated on scene representatives." No person or vessel (except commercial fishing vessels while actively engaged in fishing) may enter the security zone unless authorized by the designated on scene representative. The security zones are necessary to mitigate potential terrorist acts and enhance public and maritime safety and security. Violations of this security zone could result in both civil and/or criminal penalties. - Military.com News In Depth: Grouper Prices Rise TAMPA -- Florida grouper is getting expensive and hard to find.Diners, rattled by reports of fake grouper, are asking for the real thing just as Florida's aging grouper fleet struggles through a prolonged drought. So prices are soaring and restaurants are scrambling to adjust. Columbia Restaurant, a Tampa Bay area institution for more than a century, announced this week that it had removed grouper from the menu of its seven stores around the state because of inadequate supplies. On Friday, the Hurricane restaurant on Pass-a-Grille temporarily stopped serving the grouper sandwich that made it famous. The Gulf of Mexico's grouper catch is often cyclical and maddening. "We had the same problem five or six years ago," said Mark Twinam, owner of TW Wholesale, a Madeira Beach fish house. Last year, the St. Petersburg Times tested "grouper" dinners and sandwiches from 11 restaurants and found that six were other types of fish. The Florida attorney general's office investigated, with similar results. Five restaurants paid $2,500 fines and 12 others are under investigation for possible civil sanctions. No one knows for sure why the grouper catch is off. In 2006, federal regulators limited commercial trips to 6,000 pounds to protect red grouper. That hamstrung some heavy producers, but does not account for the dwindling supply. Ed Small, who fished grouper for 27 years, is rerigging his boat for porgies, a small, less desirable species in the snapper family. Last year, Small said, he caught about 1,200 pounds of grouper a day in January and February; that dropped to 375 this year. In one odd wrinkle of fishery management, a new regulation that targets red snapper fishing in Louisiana and Texas may be keeping grouper off restaurant tables in Florida. For the first time this year, commercial fishermen were assigned individual red snapper quotas, most of which went to eastern gulf snapper fishermen. Assured they can catch their snapper any time they want, eastern fishermen reportedly spent the early months of 2007 targeting yellowedge grouper, a deep-water species limited by a general, gulf-wide quota. Yellowedge traditionally are shipped to Canada, where diners have a taste for it. Florida restaurants mainly serve red grouper, which lives in shallow water. Through February, deep-water grouper landings ran 5 percent ahead of last year, while shallow-water red grouper landings had dropped almost 50 percent. – St. Petersburg Times News: New Regulations Worry BC Salmon Farmers VANCOUVER -- A new moratorium on salmon farming expansion on British Columbia’s north coast and compulsory conversion of existing farms to closed-containment systems are recommendations expected from a government review of BC’s aquaculture industry, according to salmon farmers. The recommendations will be presented to the legislature later this month and arise from 18 months of study and community consultation by an NDP-led committee on aquaculture reform. BC Salmon Farmers Association Executive Director Mary Ellen Walling reportedly said “several sources” have told her the committee supports expansion of salmon farming along the southern BC coast — but wants a moratorium on salmon farming expansion north of Cape Caution. The committee is also expected to recommend that the government compel existing salmon farms to stop raising fish in open net sea pens within three years. Instead, it wants farmers to convert to closed containment systems that would fully segregate farm-raised fish from contact with any marine organism. “We know this is a long-time goal of environmental activists, and we expect the NDP are going to recommend this despite the fact that it’s not a proven technology on a commercial scale,” Walling reportedly said. Walling said the committee is also recommending that a seafood certification group based in London, England, be given the authority to determine what types of feed can be used on BC salmon farms. “This is completely bizarre, from our perspective,” Walling said. “They want all fish meal and fish oil used in feed in British Columbia to be approved by the Marine Stewardship Council as being sourced from sustainably harvested fisheries.” – Fish Farmer magazine In an effort to understand how the rest of the world sees commercial fishing, here's a column from the Honolulu Star Bulletin’s marine science writer, Susan Scott. Editorial Review: Overfishing Erodes King Crab Supply I recently discovered a documentary-style TV series called Deadliest Catch. (OK, this is its third season. I'm a little behind.)This Discovery Channel program follows Bering Sea fishermen through 50-foot waves, iced decks and tragic accidents in their hunt for Alaskan king crabs. The show is not for me. I winced to see men dumping live crabs from traps to deck as if these animals were so many chunks of ore. But if king crab was a mineral, it would be gold. "When I see crabs in these traps," one fisherman said, "I think money. I'm making money." On a good run, which averages two weeks at sea, each fisherman can earn as much as $70,000. King crabs belong to a huge class of animals called Malacostraca that includes crabs, lobsters and shrimp. All are crustaceans. The term king crab refers to four species: red, blue, gold and scarlet king crabs. All live on the ocean floor in cold water. The red king crab is the most common of the four and the most commercially important in U.S. and Russian waters. Reds begin life as fertilized eggs tucked under their mother's tail flap for 11 months. Females annually carry from 50,000 to 400,000 eggs at a time. After hatching, the larvae become plankton, and most end up in the food chain. The ones that survive molt several times and then sink to the ocean floor. Newly settled king crabs are about the size of a dime. Red king crabs become sexually mature at 4 and 7 years old (a red's life span is 20 to 30 years). At maturity the young ones join older adults in pods that can be tens of miles in diameter. These enormous pods move around. In seasonal migrations the animals walk together from feeding grounds to mating grounds and back. A crab boat captain's goal is to find one of these pods. I have an aversion to eating wild animals pulled from their homes and plopped onto high-priced dinner plates, and during the show, I rooted for the crabs. (Don't go in there! It's a trap!) But a lot of people do eat king crab, and I wondered about sustainability. How many of these creatures can we take from the ocean before they're gone? In a program called Seafood Watch, Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers use science to answer that question. See their reasoning and recommendations about all seafood sold in the United States. About king crabs, Seafood Watch reports that 57 percent sold in the United States are from Russia's Far East, a poorly managed fishery where stocks are in decline. A better alternative is Alaskan king crab. The fisheries there, however, are not indestructible. Some areas are thriving right now, but others have been declared overfished and closed. Deadliest Catch gives viewers a close look at a dangerous fishery. And far from the show's intention, it also gives me one more marine animal to worry about. (You can reach Scott through her Web site.) – Honolulu Star Bulletin
UNALASKA, Alaska -- A crab boat that spent nearly four decades in the Bering Sea will begin a second life as a tourist attraction in Ketchikan later this month.
Brief: Crab Boat Resurrected as Tourist Attraction For a fee, visitors to the Southeastern port can get a tour of the fishing vessel Sea Star, which appeared on the first season of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch before the boat was retired following crab rationalization in 2005. "The show is very popular--we get quite a few people coming down to the docks here in Seattle wanting to see a crab boat," said Sea Star owner Larry Hendricks, a retired crab fisherman who works as a consultant for Deadliest Catch. Sea Star Tours is a joint project between Hendricks and Gary Stewart, the captain of the retired vessel Polar Lady, which also appeared on the first season of Deadliest Catch. Many of the series' current stars, including the captains of the Northwestern, the Cornelia Marie and the Maverick, are investors in the business, and Hendricks said they'll occasionally drop in on the Sea Star tours to talk with their fans. The Sea Star venture is the latest example of how the success of Deadliest Catch has reverberated throughout the Alaskan crab business. The Aleutian Ballad, a crab boat on the current season of the show, is also running a tourism operation out of Ketchikan. Both the Northwestern and the Cornelia Marie now offer merchandise for sale on their websites. The Sea Star is in Seattle now, but Hendricks hopes to sail it up to Ketchikan by May 20. - KIAL Brief: Louisiana Stops Sales of Untested Chinese Seafood BATON ROUGE – The commissioner of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture signed an emergency rule Friday that stops the sale of all Chinese seafood products in the state until that product is laboratory tested for fluoroquinolones (FQs).Under permanent regulations of the state, the commissioner can place any geographic area under testing requirements for FQs and chloramphenicol if he has reason to believe the product is adulterated with unapproved antibiotics. Louisiana regulatory agents are currently checking retailers, wholesalers, and distributors for seafood products from China that may contain FQs. The state has previously instituted a Stop Sale requirement for all seafood products from Vietnam; this action is similar. Two fish (Chinese catfish and Vietnamese swai) were positive for FQs based on the state’s testing, and other samples are still being tested, according to the National Fisheries Institute. It is unknown how many samples were taken and the mix of species involved. - NFI Brief: Shrimpers Want More Testing of Imports TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. – In light of the FDA's failure to sufficiently test imported seafood for contaminants, the Southern Shrimp Alliance is calling for state governments to increase the frequency of their testing.The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) praised the actions of Alabama and Mississippi to protect consumers by banning the sale of catfish from China after illegal antibiotics were found in the majority of food safety tests. SSA wants state governments to increase the frequency of their testing. “The use of banned antibiotics on certain imported, farm-raised seafood is a known problem,” stated John Williams, executive director of the SSA. “With FDA testing just over 1% of all imported seafood, it is imperative that state governments conduct food safety tests like Alabama.” Despite limited testing, the FDA and state governments repeatedly have found harmful antibiotics and chemicals on imported farm-raised shrimp both at the retail level and in shipments destined for the United States. Shrimp imports from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam have had recent antibiotic violations according to the FDA. U.S. shrimp fishermen, who harvest shrimp that grow naturally in the oceans, argue that farm-raised shrimp tainted with chemicals and antibiotics are more likely to be sold in the United States due to the infrequency of testing and forgiving policies of FDA. U.S. fishermen are distinguishing their shrimp through a quality certification program under the label Wild American® Shrimp and state marketing initiatives. – SSA press release Brief: Sen. Kerry Introduces Bristol Bay Bill WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act, which would permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling in seafood-blessed Bristol Bay. The bill is the Senate companion to a similar bill previously filed in the House. The Bush administration last month said the government intends to hold an oil and gas lease sale in the bay in 2011. “This administration looks at every unspoiled landscape in America and wonders how much oil is buried beneath it. We can’t sell off Alaska’s coastline to the big oil companies,” Kerry said. – Wesley Loy, who writes for the Anchorage Daily News and Pacific Fishing News in Depth: Puget Sound Steelhead Officially "Threatened" SEATTLE – The steelhead trout that still return to Puget Sound-area rivers are a dim reflection of the returns seen a just a decade ago.On Monday, the federal government decided it is time for serious changes to prevent Puget Sound steelhead from disappearing altogether. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the fish as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. The "threatened" listing is not as severe as the agency's strongest protection, "endangered" but it still provides substantial protections for the fish, spokesman Brian Gorman said. "In terms of their present condition, they were in perilous shape, but it also means that they are now afforded some very serious federal protections," he said. "Other federal agencies (now) need to come to us for permission to do anything that might affect these fish." That combined with the state's $8 billion Puget Sound cleanup initiative bodes well for steelhead recovery, Gorman said. Though conditions may change for the fish, which biologists say are in decline because of habitat degradation, dams and culverts, unfavorable ocean conditions and harmful hatchery practices, little -- including sport-fishing opportunities -- is likely to change for people around Puget Sound. Many of the restrictions on shoreline development and land use are already in place because of existing chinook and chum salmon protections. A species categorized as "endangered" is in danger of extinction. One listed as "threatened" is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The listing covers naturally spawned steelhead from river basins near Puget Sound, Hood Canal and the eastern half of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It also covers two winter-run hatchery stocks: the Green River natural and Hamma Hamma River. The Wild Steelhead Coalition said the listing was an important step in protecting the region's depleted wild steelhead populations. The group described the fish as an "extraordinary trout species (that) is born in Washington's rivers and streams, then migrates to the ocean, traveling as far as the Russia coast, to feed and grow to as large as 30 pounds before returning to their native Puget Sound-area rivers to spawn. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SHELTON, Wash. — The largest dam-removal project in South Sound history is paying dividends for salmon.
News: Dam Removal Builds Fish Runs It has been more than five years since a leaky, obsolete old dam on Goldsborough Creek was removed, opening up about 25 miles of upstream fish habitat that had been virtually inaccessible to fish since 1885. The hope behind the $4.8 million project was that wild adult coho salmon in South Sound would find the barrier-free spawning and rearing ground in the Goldsborough Creek watershed, which stretches from Oakland Bay deep into the forestland of Green Diamond Resource Co. Last year, more than 41,200 of the 42,729 young coho salmon leaving the creek to go to saltwater came from above the former dam site, according to a report by the Squaxin Island Tribe, which has been monitoring coho populations in the stream for several years. “We’re seeing more coho smolts leaving the Goldsborough Creek watershed and more adults spawning above where the dam used to be,” tribal fish biologist Joe Peters said. “It’s one of the more productive systems in South Sound.” That was the goal when Green Diamond, the Army Corps of Engineers, the tribe and state Department of Fish and Wildlife teamed up to take out the 32-foot dam, using a combination of $4.8 million in public and private funds. Historically, the dam was used to divert creek water through pipes to company mills on the Oakland Bay waterfront in downtown Shelton. But flooding in 1996 knocked the piping system out of commission, leading the way to serious talks about dam removal. Dam demolition and work to reshape about 1,700 feet of stream bed below and above the dam was completed in November 2001. This time of year, the tribe anchors a fish trap in the stream to catch coho migrating out to sea after spending their first 18 months in freshwater. During a check of the trap Thursday, Peters and tribal habitat biologist Sara Haque counted about 300 young coho, joined by a few chum salmon, cutthroat trout and steelhead — all benefactors of the dam removal. Coho numbers can fluctuate a great deal, depending on ocean survival and weather-influenced conditions in the stream while the fish are there. But the percentage of coho heading to sea from above the dam last year clearly was the highest to date. – Daily Olympian Quick Hits Overfishing in China: BEIJING – An oversupply of fishermen and fishing boats and over-exploitation of fishery resources are characteristic of China.At present, fishermen in the country adopt extensive and pirate fishing methods and have few choices for fishing nets, said Li Jianhua, director of the Fishing Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture. Thus, fishing nets such as bottom trawl and trammel nets are still playing a leading role in many areas and the operation of illegally manufactured fishing boats is also prevalent in some areas. Illegal fishing is widespread and some illegal fishing methods such as electricity fishing are still used, which seriously damage fishery resources and water environment. Warming Chasing Lobster: PRETORIA, South Africa -- Global warming is a cold reality for unemployed West Coast fishermen, out of work because the fish they used to catch have migrated south, Parliament's environmental affairs portfolio committee heard. Speaking at the start of public hearings on transformation in South Africa's multi-billion rand fishing industry, environmental affairs deputy director-general Monde Mayekiso said there were indications a big drop in the region's fish stocks was due to climate change. Chefs Call for Cleaner Rivers: A national campaign to save wild salmon has been launched, as about 200 chefs from restaurants in 33 states call on Congress to pass laws to restore river habitats and tear down the massive hydroelectric dams that have decimated salmon species along the Pacific coast. The initiative, led by celebrity chef Alice Waters of Berkeley's Chez Panisse, follows last year's federal shutdown of 88% of the commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of coastline in California and Oregon. Even More Fish Fraud: SAINSBURY, England – One in ten fish on sale in shops, including Sainsbury's, was incorrectly labelled as "wild" according to tests by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The survey also found 15% of retailers provided shoppers with no information - or incorrect details - about the origin of their fish. This opinion piece by Mike Zamboni appeared in the Eureka Times Standard. Editorial Analysis: Stacking the Deck Against California Fishermen EUREKA -- Stacking the deck is exactly what the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the California Resources Agency did to affect the outcome of the MLPA (Marine Life Protection Act) adoption meeting in Bodega Bay.April 13 was an appropriate day for the adoption hearing because it was certainly hell for fishermen on California's south-central coast. At least 19% of their fishing grounds were completely or partially closed to fishing. I'm talking hook and line and trap, sport and commercial fishing. Several questionable activities took place behind the scenes to guarantee the outcome. First, the Packard Foundation gave the state $7.5 million to implement the Marine Life Protection Act. A lawsuit filed by Coastside Fishing Club on the grounds that the funding constituted a “conflict of interest” failed, but is being appealed. Ecotrust, an environmental organization, was contracted by the Department of Fish and Game to do the economic and social analysis titled “Commercial fishing grounds and their relative importance off the Central Coast of California.” They were directed to use the most recent year's commercial landings to guarantee that the economic loss from the closures appeared minimal. Quota reductions of 90%, coupled with nontransferable or 2-for-1 nearshore permits, have led to a drastic reduction in the number for fishermen operating in the region, giving the appearance of a minimal economic loss. The science advisory team, the stakeholder group and the blue ribbon task force were hand-picked by the Department and the Resources Agency to make sure that they were team players who wanted to work with the process to create MPAs, although the MLPA does not mandate the creation of a single new MPA. Worse yet, the Science Advisory Team (SAT) was directed by the department not to consider current fisheries management when creating an MPA network, and many SAT meetings were closed to the public. The fishermen on the stakeholder group came up with a network of MPAs that would have been acceptable to the fishing community, but of course it was not adopted. When confronted with these facts, John Ugoretz, the departments lead “closer,” responds that it's not about fisheries management, it's about ecosystems. To combat this, the CFC (California Fishermen's Coalition) compiled an 80-page report summarizing existing fisheries management that assures sustainable fisheries off California as well as hiring renowned MPA scientist Ray Hilborn to critique the department's “preferred option.” All suggestions were completely ignored. Less sinister but equally disturbing was the location of the Fish and Game Commission's adoption hearings -- one in Arcata, nearly 500 miles north of the impacted area, and the other in Bodega Bay, a three hour drive north of the closures. These locations require a significant investment of time and money just to attend, If you were able to make the drive you were only allowed one minute for public comment. I drove five hours to the final meeting for one minute in front of the microphone. Although some may argue it is only about 19% of state waters being closed, it's not the amount but rather the areas they're closing that is so controversial. One near shore fishermen from the region, Bill James, said, “The area they closed constituted 30% of the fishing grounds and 50% of the fish.” Were there overfishing issues, most fishermen would support some closures to protect the resource they depend on. Since there is no resource issue, few if any fishermen in the state support the closures, and enforcement and prosecution of those who fish in these areas will be difficult. Although California is technically a right-to-fish state (Article 1, Section 25, California Constitution), the Legislature must not have been aware of this when they passed the MLPA in 1999. They were pressured by environmental groups to believe that all stocks were overfished and required additional protection. We now need the Legislature to revisit this issue to insure that the process is administered fairly, that anti-fishing special interest groups aren't running the show, and that MPAs complement existing fisheries management. Most importantly, we need the Legislature to oversee implementation to insure fishermen and fishing communities are not economically destroyed, a mandate of the MLPA. Mike Zamboni lives in McKinleyville. News: Abalone Poaching Sentence Too Lenient? PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. – Last month in Prince Rupert three poachers caught with 11,000 live abalone crammed into the back of their pickup truck were sentenced. It was the biggest bust of its kind in B.C.’s history, but did the punishment suit the crime? Some people in the poachers' hometown of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii say it wasn't nearly severe enough. An as-yet unpublished DFO report speculates that Northern abalone, once a $1 million a year industry in B.C., will be extinct in coastal waters within 50 years. Harvesting abalone has been illegal since 1990, when Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) put a total ban in place on stocks that reached near crash during commercial fishing heyday of the 1970s and 1980s. Stan and Dan McNeil and Randal Graf, were each charged with three counts, two under the federal Fisheries Act and one under the relatively new Species at Risk Act, a hallowed piece of legislation which claims to offer protection to threatened and endangered aquatic species. When the day of reckoning arrived, Stan McNeil was fined $20,000 and given a 12-month conditional sentence, six months of which could be served under house arrest. The other two were fined $10,000 each and given four months conditional sentence, with three months served under house arrest. All three men are prohibited from diving (that's how abalone are harvested), Stan for five years and the other two for two years each. Stan lost his boat (worth an estimated $150,000), his truck and his dive gear. Judson Brown is one of the locals surprised by what he considers a light sentence. He notes that Stan McNeil may have lost his boat and some gear, but he didn't entirely lose his ability to make a living. Brown wonders what happened to the man's commercial fishing licenses, potentially worth millions. Brown says if this was the case that was supposed to serve as a deterrent for future poachers, he doesn't think the judge went far enough. "Judges don't view resource protection in the same light as a bank robbery or an assault," he says. – The Tyee community newspaper Brief: Sound Familiar? WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers and environmental groups from New Jersey are concerned about Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne’s recent announcement of a plan that would include offshore drilling less than 100 miles from Cape May County’s coastal communities.The plan, developed by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), calls for lease sales for oil and natural gas exploration in 20 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas off the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico, and one area in the Mid-Atlantic region around 50 miles off the Virginia coastline. - Cape May County News N.J.
WASHINGTON -- The world's vast, blue oceans are among nature's most valuable assets, especially here in our state, which boasts a valuable commercial and recreational fishing industry. The resources that sustain Maine's fishing industry are fragile and must be protected.
Editorial: Senator Wants End to Fishery Subsidies Our fishermen recognize the importance of fishery regulations that ensure a balance between protecting fish populations and allowing today's fishermen to sustain their livelihoods. However, fishermen from other nations, who chase the same fish, operate under more lenient regulatory regimes and often with the benefit of direct financial subsidies from their governments. This week, I co-sponsored a resolution in the Senate condemning foreign fisheries subsidies and the unsustainable fishing practices they encourage. Today, we face a global crisis in the world's fisheries. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that one-quarter of global fish stocks are overexploited, depleted or recovering from over-exploitation. These species include tuna, swordfish, shark and marlin. Meanwhile, foreign governments subsidize their fishing fleets, directly funding increased production in their fishing industries. This process can be harmful enough when the subsidies are directed at domestic fisheries within those countries, but it becomes even more problematic when fishermen use the financial backing to pursue species in international waters — species that U.S. fishermen are also chasing without the benefit of government handouts. The United States has developed a fisheries management regime, under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Management Act and other statutes, that promotes sustainable fisheries management, ensuring that our living marine resources are managed to benefit the fishermen of today as well as future generations. Our fisheries regulations extend beyond the boundaries of our Exclusive Economic Zone to encompass activities of U.S. flagged fishing vessels on the high seas. But even where these international bodies do exist, if foreign countries are not members, they are not bound by the regulations of that organization. And many of the countries that engage in illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing activities are the same countries that use government subsidies to super-size their fleets. It is clear that the United States needs to act as a strong voice in global fishing policy, and it is crucial that we do all we can to eliminate destructive foreign fishing subsidies. – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) writing in Seacoastonline, N.H. News: Green Group Slams European Tuna Catch BRUSSELS, Belgium — Environmental group WWF slammed EU nations Tuesday over their failure to cut back Mediterranean catches of bluefin tuna, warning that stocks were facing collapse due to overfishing.The group called for an immediate closure of the bluefin tuna fishery in Europe. EU fisheries ministers failed Monday to agree on plans by EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg to introduce slimmed-down catch quotas. Bluefin tuna has become a much sought after delicacy in Japan and elsewhere, and has been heavily fished to meet demand. Over the past 30 years, Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have dropped by 80%, and the global tuna export market in 2002 was worth $5 billion, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Scientists have called for catch quotas to be halved, but because of commercial pressures nations fishing the Mediterranean have failed to respond. Officials said France, Spain and Italy managed to block reduced quotas, forcing a delay on the issue until June. Aaron McLoughlin, from the World Wildlife Fund, or WWF, said the "only option" now open to the 27-nation bloc was to suspend the tuna fisheries. "It is shocking that, in the face of scientific evidence, the EU has failed yet again to impose vital measures to save bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean," McLoughlin said. Britain's Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw said the EU's failure to act to save tuna, and also eel stocks, was damaging the EU's environmental image abroad. The WWF said EU nations were likely to fill its provisional bluefin catch quotas within the coming weeks after this year's fishing season started in the Mediterranean on May 1. After filling the yearly quotas, the European Commission is obliged under EU rules to shut down the fishery and ensure it is respected. – Houston Chronicle News in Depth: Puget Sound Steelhead to Get Protection SEATTLE – The steelhead trout that still return to Puget Sound-area rivers are a dim reflection of the returns seen a just a decade ago.On Monday, the federal government decided it is time for serious changes to prevent Puget Sound steelhead from disappearing altogether. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the fish as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. The "threatened" listing is not as severe as the agency's strongest protection, "endangered" but it still provides substantial protections for the fish, spokesman Brian Gorman said. "In terms of their present condition, they were in perilous shape, but it also means that they are now afforded some very serious federal protections," he said. "Other federal agencies (now) need to come to us for permission to do anything that might affect these fish." That combined with the state's $8 billion Puget Sound cleanup initiative bodes well for steelhead recovery, Gorman said. Though conditions may change for the fish, which biologists say are in decline because of habitat degradation, dams and culverts, unfavorable ocean conditions and harmful hatchery practices, little -- including sport-fishing opportunities -- is likely to change for people around Puget Sound. Many of the restrictions on shoreline development and land use are already in place because of existing chinook and chum salmon protections. A species categorized as "endangered" is in danger of extinction. One listed as "threatened" is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The listing covers naturally spawned steelhead from river basins near Puget Sound, Hood Canal and the eastern half of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It also covers two winter-run hatchery stocks: the Green River natural and Hamma Hamma River. The Wild Steelhead Coalition said the listing was an important step in protecting the region's depleted wild steelhead populations. The group described the fish as an "extraordinary trout species (that) is born in Washington's rivers and streams, then migrates to the ocean, traveling as far as the Russia coast, to feed and grow to as large as 30 pounds before returning to their native Puget Sound-area rivers to spawn. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer Brief: Deadliest a popular show The Discovery Channel doesn't get a lot of attention, but thanks to Planet Earth and the reality show Deadliest Catch, its ratings last month leapt 40 percent from April 2006. The channel on average nabbed 1.1 million viewers, ranking sixth in prime time among all cable networks, ahead of ESPN, A&E and TBS. (USA, Disney, TNT, Fox News and Cartoon Network were the top five.) Planet Earth averaged 5.1 million viewers, while Deadliest Catch, featuring crab fishermen struggling with the elements in the Bering Sea, has grown a whopping 61% since Season 1. Its Season 3 average so far is 3.3 million, by far the biggest series Discovery has ever had. – Discovery Channel News in Depth: Corruption Allegations Boil Over to Alaska Fish Board WASHINGTON – Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has dropped his support for a controversial salmon marketing program he created that has funneled tens of millions of federal dollars to fishing industry interests in Alaska. The program has become an element of a Justice Department corruption investigation into the Senator's former aide and his son, ex-state Sen. Ben Stevens (R).According to the office of Ted Stevens, the veteran lawmaker has decided to stop backing the long-standing project, called the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which he first created in 2003 as a federally chartered nonprofit organization. Ben Stevens and Trevor McCabe - a former aide to Ted Stevens, fishing industry lobbyist and business partner with Ben Stevens - have served on the group's board of directors, as have representatives from a number of fishing concerns that have made significant campaign contributions to Ted Stevens over the years. "The Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board did not receive funds in the [fiscal 2007 continuing resolution]," a spokesman for Stevens said. "The board is eligible to participate in the competitive grant process and apply for funding from the Promote and Develop Fishery Products and Research Pertaining to American Fisheries fund. The Senator believes that securing funding for the board in FY08 will be almost impossible given the current anti-earmark environment on the Hill. He will focus on other priorities for Alaska this year." The AFMB has become a key element in the FBI's growing corruption probe in Alaska, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The probe already has resulted in the arrests of several state lawmakers and two close friends of the elder Stevens, VECO Corp. executives Bill Allen and Rick Smith. Allen, who also owns a race horse with Ted Stevens, and Smith pled guilty to bribery, extortion and fraud charges Monday and are cooperating with federal agents. Although Ben Stevens was not specifically named in their pleas, he was clearly identified as "State Senator B." While federal agents originally had been focused on the oil industry's role in influencing state legislators, their investigation has widened significantly since a series of raids on lawmakers and lobbyists in the state last summer. In December, federal agents issued a flurry of subpoenas to fishing industry companies, executives and lobbyists in Alaska, Seattle and Washington, D.C., targeting industry giants Trident Seafoods and Icicle Seafoods as well as the At-Sea Processors Association, a trade organization connected to Ben Stevens. Sources close to the companies said they have been cooperating with federal investigators, and officials from the companies subpoenaed have denied any wrongdoing. The AFMB's connection to the FBI probe of Stevens' son has brought renewed scrutiny on the project and the way it has doled out millions of federal dollars since 2003. Critics of the AFMB, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have long complained that it is little more than a pork-barrel conduit for special interests and large fishing companies in Alaska. Perhaps the most high-profile example of what McCain and others call wasteful spending was a grant from the AFMB to Alaska Airlines to paint a jumbo jet to resemble a salmon, a project that cost millions but that was justified as a way to advertise Alaska salmon products. In the state, however, the AFMB has long been seen as a mechanism for companies and individuals close to Stevens and other members of the state's Congressional delegation to secure federal dollars. Over the past several years, more than $100 million in federal funds have been passed from the AFMB to a handful of companies and nonprofit organizations with long-standing financial and personal ties to Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). Ben Stevens and McCabe, while they served on the AFMB's board, also were connected to the At-Sea Processors Association, a collective made up of some of the region's largest fishing companies. In 2006, more than $1.5 million in federal funding was sent through to several corporate members of the APA. Likewise, the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which boasts Young's son-in-law Art Nelson as a board member, also received an $80,000 grant in 2006 from the AFMB, according to board documents. Companies and nonprofit organizations affiliated with the AFMB or that received federal funding in the last round of grants have made significant campaign contributions to the Alaska Congressional delegation, totaling more than $153,000 since January 2001, according to a preliminary review of campaign finance documents. Additionally, APA and individual fishing companies paid Ben Stevens $659,000 to serve as a 'consultant' between 2000 and 2005, according to his financial disclosure forms filed with the state Senate. Other companies associated with Young and Stevens also have benefited from the AFMB's funding. Arctic Paws, an Alaska-based dog-treat company, received a $150,000 grant from the AFMB in 2005 and a second $142,000 grant in 2006 to market its 'Yummy Chummies' salmon-flavored dog treats. Arctic Paws is owned by Brett Gibson and brother Duane Gibson (a former top aide to both Stevens and Young) who left Young's shop in 2002 to join now-incarcerated lobbyist Jack Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig. Although founded in 1997, the dog-treat company did not take off until the past few years, according to published reports, in part because of the funds from the AFMB. 'If they hadn't given us the opportunity, we wouldn't be where we are today,' Brett Gibson told The Associated Press in April 2006. Gibson also has bragged in local press accounts that President Bush feeds Yummy Chummies to his dog Barney, and the brothers won a convert in 2004 when then-Treasury Secretary John Snow started feeding the treats to his dog, Gus, after touring the Arctic Paws facilities along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in July of that year. Ted Stevens also has been a big backer of the fledgling company, handing out samples of the treats during a luncheon with other Senate lawmakers on July 27, 2006. According to a press release issued by Stevens' office following the event, 'At one point, [Stevens] even catered to members' dogs, offering delicious Yummy Chummy dog treats from Arctic Paws.' More than 40 Members of the Senate attended the luncheon, the release says. Neither Gibson returned requests for comment, and a White House spokeswoman said Monday that Bush has a policy of not revealing what brand items either he or the first lady purchase or use in the White House. – RollCall
John Sackton, editor of seafood.com, announced Thursday that all U.S. salmon farms were clean:
News: Seafood.com Editor Says Only Wild Fish Contaminated “It turns out that the only American salmon operations that used melamine contaminated feed were state hatcheries that grow and release fish into the wild. ”EWOS, feed supplier to American Gold Seafoods, the only U.S. commercial salmon farm operator on the West Coast, has certified in a letter that they do not use any Chinese wheat gluten or wheat flour in their feed, and that they have never supplied melamine contaminated feed. “This may be hard for wild fish advocates to get their minds around. But at retail, a store clerk could say honestly that for U.S. grown fish, it was only the wild salmon that got the melamine feed. ”Now, the actual fact is that melamine is a type of nitrogen rich material that is quickly metabolized. Laboratory workers suggest that fish that ingest melamine will have it completely metabolized and excreted within 10 to 15 days. ”Wild hatchery salmon generally spend 3 to 4 years at sea before returning-- so there is simply no reason at all to suggest to anyone a concern about fish that may have eaten this contaminated feed. ”Further, Hal Bernton at the Seattle Times makes the good point that the hatcheries fed this material to millions of tiny smolts-- some 5 cm in size or less. If there was any adverse consequence, it should have immediately shown up in higher mortality among these tiny fish. Yet no hatchery reported any spike in mortality. ”So, it appears from a public health point of view, this is rapidly becoming a non-issue. ”But from a food safety and inspection point of view, it shows the need for much better controls and inspection of food products where cheating may be involved. This was not an accidental mixing of a contaminant into feed. It was a deliberate business strategy on the part of the Chinese companies involved. It should point up the fact that food safety agencies cannot turn a blind eye to cheating and unlawful food sales, as they quickly lead to broader public health and consumer issues. ”This time, the melamine was relatively harmless. That may not be true for some future scam.” – Seafood.com News: Farmed Fish Raised on Chicken Poop WASHINGTON -- In China, some farmers try to maximize the output from their small plots by flooding produce with unapproved pesticides, pumping livestock with antibiotics banned in the United States, and using human feces as fertilizer to boost soil productivity. But the questionable practices don't end there: Chicken pens are frequently suspended over ponds where seafood is raised, recycling chicken waste as a food source for seafood, according to a leading food safety expert who served as a federal adviser to the Food and Drug Administration.China's suspect agricultural practices could soon affect American consumers. Federal authorities are working on a proposal to allow chickens raised, slaughtered, and cooked in China to be sold here, and under current regulations, store labels do not have to indicate the meat's origin. According to the US Department of Agriculture, China's top agricultural export goal is opening the US market to its cooked chickens. Representative Rosa DeLauro, who is fighting the change, says China does not deserve entry to the coveted, closed poultry market. Agricultural exports from China to the United States ballooned from $1 billion in 2002 to nearly $2.3 billion in 2006, according to the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. The USDA, which shares food safety oversight with the FDA, says its proposal to allow the sale of Chinese chicken is in the early stages and that there will be many opportunities for the public to be heard on the matter. In China's agricultural system, many farmers toil on 1-acre plots, while US farmers often work thousands of acres, said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia and former chairman of the FDA's science advisory board. In China, "there are hundreds of thousands of these little farms," Doyle said. "They have small ponds. And over the ponds -- not in all cases, but in many cases -- they'll have chicken cages. It might be like 20,000 chickens in cages. The chicken feces is what feeds the shrimp." The USDA has found that up to 10% of shrimp imported from China contains salmonella, he said. Even more worrisome are shrimp imported from China that contain antibiotics that no amount of cooking can neutralize. Last month alone, the FDA rejected 51 shipments of catfish, eel, shrimp, and tilapia imported from China because of such contaminants as salmonella, veterinary drugs, and nitrofuran, a cancer-causing chemical. A long history of such test results spurred the FDA to begin working proactively with Chinese farmers on safer seafood production methods, Doyle said. "In terms of harmful bacteria, consumers have control over that. Even in [poultry] we produce in the US, there is contamination with salmonella," Doyle said. "In terms of veterinary drugs and pesticides, well, good food handling practices won't fix that. That has to be addressed in the country of origin." – Boston Globe News: Inspectors Say Fish Farm Food Tainted VANCOUVER – Federal inspectors have confirmed that fish meal that may be tainted with the plastic material melamine was shipped to salmon farms in British Columbia, Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said Wednesday.Bell initially said it appeared that the food from the North Vancouver company Skretting Canada had not been distributed in B.C. But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some feed did go to B.C. farms. "CFIA has confirmed to us that in fact there are some B.C. farms that utilized the contaminated feed," Bell said. "Again, the advice that we have received from CFIA is there's no implications to human health." The inspection agency said because the food went to very young fish, there's no risk that the contamination would have made it to the food chain. Bell said Skretting Canada voluntarily recalled its product after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced farmed fish had been fed meal containing melamine, the same contaminant found in tainted pet food earlier this year. A spokesman for the company said it is working closely with the CFIA and the FDA in assessing risks to humans and the farmed salmon. – Canadian Press |