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News: Trail of Trawlers Seen from Space VANCOUVER —World-renowned fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly opened his e-mail recently and was stunned by the picture that flashed onto his screen. There before the University of British Columbia researcher was a satellite image that confirmed something he'd long known, and that he'd written groundbreaking research papers about, but which he'd never seen so graphically illustrated. Kyle Van Houtan, an environmental scientist at Duke University in North Carolina, sent Pauly a picture of a Chinese trawler fleet at work in the ocean off the mouth of the Yangtze River. Behind the trawlers were what Pauly has named “mud trails” – great plumes of sediment churned up as the weighted nets plowed along the ocean floor. “Divers have filmed this mud before,” said Pauly, who in 1998 wrote a seminal research paper that coined the term “fishing down the food web” to describe how commercial fishing is depleting the world's oceans. “What was not known before was that you could see these mud trails from space. I was flabbergasted by it.” Van Houtan had found the pictures by looking at images shot from a QuickBird satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe. Pauly said the satellite images show in stark reality just how destructive ocean trawlers are. “They lift up huge quantities of mud. Basically the implications are terrifying,” said Mr. Pauly. “Trawling is destroying bottom habitat.” Van Houtan provided Pauly with a number of pictures of trawlers at work in oceans around the world. One was of a fleet of trawlers at work off the Yangtze (see above photo, to appear today in the science journal Nature.). “The one from China blew everyone's mind,” said Pauly, who has shared it with his colleagues around the world. “This really shows the impact of trolling is like agriculture on land. There is no chance for wild animals to live there. “All the [ocean] shelves on Earth are being trawled. The damage being done is enormous. “I say it is like a geological force, because firm ocean bottoms are being turned into soft, oozy bottoms on a gigantic scale.” Pauly said the trawlers destroy coral reefs and other hard bottoms, replacing them with soft, muddy bottoms. Storms, tidal currents and the continual passage of trawlers stir up the sediment, which drifts back to the bottom smothering life. “These mud flats [that are created] are good for the production of shrimps only and nothing else,” said Pauly.“An environment that was dominated by large animals essentially becomes a microbial vat.” - Globe and Mail News Brief: Unalaska to Debate Refuge for Ailing Vessels
UNALASKA -- Next week Unalaskans will weigh in on where ships should be taken if they run into trouble around Unalaska Island.
Consultants from Nuka Research and Planning Group will be in Unalaska to get feedback about the best places of refuge in the area. The idea is to compile a plan that local, state and federal authorities could use in the event of a maritime emergency. "Local people can have the input now as well as at the time when [an emergency] is happening," said Nuka's Mark Janes. The question of where to anchor distressed vessels came up most recently during the recovery of the car carrier Cougar Ace last summer. While tugboats towed the ship towards Unalaska Island, city officials and Coast Guard officers spent several days haggling over the details of where exactly the ship would be taken, and addressing the city's concerns about the hazards of bringing it into Unalaska Bay, where it eventually was moored for repairs. Janes said that was a rare case in which responders had the luxury of time to debate those issues, and that compiling a list of agreed-upon ports of refuge before the next emergency will make those decisions easier under more pressing circumstances. - KIAL
SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Coast Guard seized a Mexican fishing boat carrying tons of shark and an undisclosed number of shark fins after the vessel was spotted Sunday allegedly poaching 11 miles inside U.S. territorial waters.
News Brief: Coast Guard seizes Mexican Fishing Vessel Six of the crew members, all Mexican citizens, were detained and questioned – but not arrested – after the longline fishing boat was escorted Monday to the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in San Diego Harbor. Authorities said the seizure was the first off the California coast in more than eight years involving a Mexican fishing vessel suspected of illegally fishing inside the 200-mile U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. A Coast Guard cutter, the Sea Otter, was on patrol Sunday when it spotted the Mexican fishing boat, which was towing several miles of longline fishing gear. Five Coast Guard sailors boarded the vessel and found the sharks inside the vessel's hold. Longline fishing for shark is legal, but 19 species of the fish are protected under U.S. law, officials said. The shark meat will be sold to a local seafood wholesaler and the proceeds will be put into a trust account until the case is settled in court, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service. The 60-foot boat, named the El Vencedor, is registered to Naviera Puerto Nuevo, S.A. de C.V., a company based in Ensenada, Mexico. The six fishermen, expected to be released to Mexico, are currently being allowed to stay aboard their vessel. The California Fish & Game Department is assisting in the investigation. - San Diego Union-Tribune News In Depth: New Forms of Pollution Threaten Columbia River VANCOUVER - New data on contamination in the Lower Columbia River show concentrations of pesticides, industrial compounds and flame retardants between Portland and Longview that rival those in Seattle's Puget Sound.Hydrologist Jennifer Morace of the U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA zoologist Lyndal Johnson, are the two scientists in charge of testing at six sites from Point Adams, just east of Hammond, Ore., to Warrendale, about 140 miles upriver. They say the levels of some toxics detected in river sediment and fish tissue in the most industrialized stretches of the Columbia could be compromising the health and eventual survival of juvenile salmonids. The Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership announced results of recent toxics monitoring tests Monday, kicking off a three-day conference on the river's health. A final report on the monitoring data, collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA, will be available in August. After 20 years of participation in the National Estuary Program, a federally funded environmental protection effort, Lower Columbia River habitat continues to suffer from decades-old applications of the banned agricultural pesticide DDT (dichloro diphenyl tichloroethane), restricted industrial insulators and lubricants (PCBs) Polychlorinated biphenyls, and chemical compounds PAH (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), found in petroleum and its byproducts. LCREP is now asking Congress for $2.3 million from the 2008 budget to continue monitoring toxics in the river system. Morace and Johnson reported that, in addition to contaminants DDT and PCB in the river's food chain, they also detected newer toxics, including estrogen compounds, various pharmaceuticals, mercury, modern pesticides and the flame retardants PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ether), entering the river. Flame retardants are commonly used in plastic components of televisions and computers as well as furniture, cars and even clothing. Though the testing didn't seek to pinpoint sources of emerging pollutants, Morace said other studies have traced antibiotics, hormones and flame retardants to stormwater runoff and sewer treatment releases. Research shows elevated concentrations of the detected pollutants can damage the endocrine and reproductive systems of threatened and endangered species of salmon, raising the question of how clean-ups might fit into federal species recovery efforts, said Johnson. Catie Fernandez, director of the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce in Astoria, attended the first day of the conference in Vancouver Monday, and said even though it is still not clear exactly where all the river's contaminants are coming from, she hopes the research will form a foundation for future policy decisions - a key topic of discussion among the conference speakers. "It is helpful to know what we're dealing with in terms of contaminants in the estuary," said Fernandez, whose organization teams up with agencies on the North Coast to monitor and manage estuarine ecosystems. "Once we understand where they're coming from we can hopefully see some regulatory actions." – Chinook Observer News Brief: Oystermen Face Tougher State Controls SEATTLE -- Commercial oyster harvests will have stricter state controls this summer in hope of preventing outbreaks like the 113 cases of oyster-related bacterial illness reported in Washington last year.The Washington State Board of Health unanimously passed an emergency rule Wednesday setting maximum times that may elapse before oysters must be chilled after harvest, and imposing stringent monitoring of commercial oyster beds. The rule does not apply to oysters designated for cooking only. State Department of Health officials proposed the rule after the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus sickened a record number of people last summer with nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps, headache, fever and chills. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said about 300 cases of 'vibriosis' linked to Pacific Northwest oysters were reported across the U.S. last year. Many more cases were likely not reported, health officials said. The new rule applies to 12 major growing areas and Hood Canal and will be in effect from June through September, when the bacteria thrive and invade oysters. After the summer, the board will study the rule's effects and consider making it permanent. It also will apply to any other area linked to an illness. Previously, state controls were based on guidelines set by the shellfish industry and approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. The new state rule requires oyster producers to sample growing areas at least every two weeks for the bacteria and keep detailed records. Health authorities will immediately sample any area linked to an illness and, based on bacteria levels, could apply more stringent temperature controls or close the area. Two or more cases of illness also would automatically close the area. – Seattle Times News: Salmon Season Kicks Off at Copper River fishery ANCHORAGE -- A new salmon year opened Monday morning as commercial fishermen go after Copper River kings and reds.The Copper River annually is the scene of the first major Alaska salmon harvest of the season, and gastronomes across the continent savor the springtime arrival of the fish in restaurants and supermarkets. Some 500 boats, most of them based in Cordova, unfurled their nets beginning at 7 a.m. for a 12-hour opener. Fresh fish were expected to show up locally in a day or so, but buyers beware -- king fillets likely will cost $20 a pound or more, and reds won't come much cheaper. State biologists predict a commercial catch of 1.36 million red salmon, the fleet's main money fish. Last season's catch was 1.5 million reds, the fifth-best haul in 116 years. Fishermen are likely to tally about 50,000 kings. Early catches were expected to be typically weak. The migrating salmon will start to enter the river in greater numbers as fishermen get more shots at them, maybe as soon as Thursday. This year, the operator of two upscale Manhattan restaurants -- the China Grill and a new place called Wild Salmon -- planned to fly two chefs to Cordova to personally 'witness' the fishing, handpick some king salmon, then jet back to New York to serve the fish Tuesday night. It's great to see Copper River salmon promotions break out of the Northwest and "stretch clear across the country," said Thea Thomas, a commercial gillnetter and president of a Cordova-based salmon marketing association. Alaska Airlines was set to haul up to 160,000 pounds of Copper River salmon to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with the first planeload to arrive at 6 a.m. Tuesday, the airline said. Fishmongers from Seattle's downtown Pike Place Market were expected to toss the first salmon off the aircraft. As you might imagine, the media is invited. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing for the Anchorage Daily News News: Trawler Company Seeks Delay in Ruling ANCHORAGE – After what appeared to be a sound thumping in federal court, a Seattle-based trawl company is appealing and has asked the judge to delay a ruling the firm says could needlessly cost it millions of dollars.Fishing Company of Alaska filed its motion for delay last Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The company, along with Legacy Fishing Co., had sued federal fishery regulators last year, arguing new regulations known as Amendment 79 are unfair and would force them to retrofit their boats to comply. The regulations take effect next January. Amendment 79’s main objective is to force so-called head-and-gut trawlers to reduce bycatch – the catching and dumping of unwanted fish. In March, federal Judge James Robertson ruled in favor of the government. Now Fishing Company of Alaska – Legacy has dropped out – is appealing. The trawl company, which operates six of the larger vessels in the 23-boat H&G fleet, contends it has no problem with the basic goal of Amendment 79. The company already is meeting the more stringent bycatch standards the regulations require, the company’s attorneys wrote. What the company objects to is extra requirements regulators tacked on to strengthen monitoring of the catch by onboard fishery observers. They include a prohibition on “mixing” trawl hauls, banning operation of more than one flow scale, and requiring a single point of observation. These requirements came without proper consideration by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in violation of federal law, the company’s attorney argues. Because the regulations take effect in eight months, Fishing Company of Alaska will be forced to spend millions of dollars to “essentially rebuild” its boats unless the judge stays his March ruling pending the appeal, which the company contends it has a good chance of winning. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in The Highliner blog of the Anchorage Daily News
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate passed an amendment last week that boosts FDA authority to inspect imports of fish, shrimp and other seafood for antibiotics and banned substances.
Legislative Watch: Senate Approved Tougher Fish Inspection Rules The amendment, one of many attached to the Prescription User Fee Act of 2007, was introduced by an Alabama senator, and cosponsored by Louisiana senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, as well as senators from Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. "American fishermen and seafood workers adhere to the world's strictest food safety standards, and we should hold our imported seafood to the same level of scrutiny," Landrieu said in a statement Thursday. "Importing unsafe seafood from other countries like China and Vietnam puts American consumers at risk and hurts American shrimpers and fishermen in the Gulf. Our amendment gives the FDA full authority to rigorously inspect our imports and the facilities where they are produced." Tougher seafood inspections gained steam on the federal level after Louisiana joined Alabama and Mississippi last week in cracking down on Chinese imports. Fish shipments were testing positive for banned antibiotics, which are illegal to use in food because people can develop a resistance to them. They also can have side effects in unknowing consumers, like any other medicine. The amendment would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report back to Congress on what steps are being taken to ensure proper inspections are occurring. The secretary would also have to develop a system to trace seafood imports, potentially allowing federal inspectors to better find the source of tainted food when it's discovered. The FDA found banned antibiotics in shrimp imports from China, Indonesia and other countries in trace amounts. Scientists debate the level of consumption needed to cause health concerns. Louisiana is the fourth leading catfish producer in the U.S., mostly in central and northwest parishes of the state. Over the past 10 years, jobs have been lost, and revenue has dropped from $75 million to $20 million, as local fishermen and processing plants struggle to compete. – The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, La. News: Restaurants Adopt Humanity Standards When the Memphis restaurant in Santa Ana featured an entrée prepared with grass-fed beef during a special event last year, diners congratulated the restaurant for serving the humanely treated food.Executive chef Diego Velasco says after the event he can remember customers asking, "When are you going to do this again?" Velasco, co-founder of Memphis cafes in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa, said the reaction prompted him to experiment with other humane dinner specials, using naturally-raised salmon, poultry and pork. He now plans to add two permanent dishes to the Santa Ana bistro's dinner menu this summer, including a pork tenderloin made of free roaming black hogs. Similar moves are taking place at restaurants across America – from fast food giant Burger King to eateries operated by fine dining prince Wolfgang Puck. Both recently announced sweeping animal welfare policies at a time when consumers increasingly are loyal to brands that raise pigs, cattle and poultry with kindness. "We think they should have the best possible stay on this Earth, while they are with us," said Joe Essa, executive vice president of Beverly Hills-based Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, which operates a few express eateries in Orange County. Still, some animal-rights advocates maintain that such practices don't change the ultimate fate for these animals, humanely raised, or not: Death. "At the end of the day, cutting an animal's throat is an inherently violent act" that Farm Sanctuary does not support, said Gene Baur, president of the group, which promotes a vegan lifestyle. Puck's change of heart For years, Wolfgang Puck's restaurants have been the target of protests by animal rights groups, including Baur's Farm Sanctuary. Among the group's chief concerns has been Puck's practice of serving foie gras, a fatty liver produced by overfeeding ducks and geese confined in small cages. The chef, whose restaurant empire last year served 10 million diners, made an about-face. In March, he said he would ban foie gras from his 14 fine dining establishments, and all Puck restaurants and catering services will use cage-free eggs, pork and veal. The new policies are expected to be in place by the end of the year. Around the time of Puck's announcement, Burger King said it would start buying poultry from suppliers who gassed chickens, as opposed to those who use electric stunning. The latter involves hanging broilers by shackles, with their heads hanging down as they enter a stun chamber. Locally, chains such as El Pollo Loco and Taco Bell – both based in Irvine – said they buy foods from suppliers whose animal welfare procedures are regularly audited. Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council, which represents companies that raise and sell about 95 percent of broiler chickens sold for consumption in restaurants and supermarkets, said low-volt stunning is a humane process approved by the USDA that renders birds "insensible" so they're incapable of feeling pain when they're slaughtered. Less suffering, tastes great According to a recent poll by market research firm Technomic, animal welfare was the third most important social issue for diners. A majority of those diners also said they'd frequent socially responsible restaurants more often. But while such policies play a critical role in marketing, they are not the only motivator for consumers and chefs who prefer naturally-raised foods. "We get letters every day that say cage free eggs taste better," said Michael Sencer, executive vice president at Fullerton-based Hidden Villa Ranch, which sells cage-free brown eggs under the Horizon label. That combination – taste and social responsibility – has become a powerful selling point for businesses, including Hidden Villa Ranch. Sales of the company's cage-free eggs have tripled every year for the last five years, Sencer said. – Orange County Register News: Wild Salmon Fishing Going Green LUMMI ISLAND, Wash. -- Already the most selective and sustainable commercial salmon fishery in Puget Sound, reefnet fishing just boosted its eco-friendly status with the addition of solar-power panels to two of its boats.Although this commercial fishery takes place off Lummi Island north of Bellingham and near the mouth of the Fraser River, there are some South Sound connections to the world’s first solar-powered wild-salmon fishery. Ian Kirouac, 33, a 2005 graduate of The Evergreen State College, has split his time between Olympia and Lummi Island since joining the commercial fishing co-op four years ago. Recently, he has been busy spreading the word about this little-known, yet ancient, fishery and the co-op’s venture into solar power. When he isn’t fishing, which is most of the summer, he also is active finding new markets for the Fraser River-bound sockeye, pink and chum salmon that the co-op members catch. Among the restaurants and retail outlets buying salmon from the co-op and selling it to customers in South Sound are Cielo Blu, The Mark, Anthony’s HomePort and Top Foods. “We have more demand than we have fish,” Kirouac said. Reefnet fishing might be the oldest form of fishing in the world—it was originally practiced by American Indians in the Puget Sound region, using cedar bark rope and marsh grass to simulate underwater reefs. The fish swam over the artificial reefs and into a net where they were caught live and landed into cedar canoes. Today, the boats are bigger, and winches are used to pull the net. But the time-honored fishery, which is down to just 11 sets of gear, including seven owned by the co-op, remains much the same. Last year, the reefnetters caught about 48,000 sockeye, or about 5 percent of the catch by U.S. nontreaty tribe commercial fishers, Jording said. “This is not a profitable fishery,” Kirouac said. “We’re the tiny guys.” A reefnet gear consists of two stationary fishing boats, or platforms with a net, preceded by lines and ribbons designed to look like a reef, stretched between them at flood tide when the salmon are likely to head into the mouth of the Fraser River. Crew members stand in 15-foot towers on the boats, keeping an eye on the water for signs of fish. When fish are spotted heading into the net, the net is pulled and the fish are gently rolled into a live holding pen aboard one of the boats. They’re allowed to swim around to relax a bit while crew sort out any other salmon species, including endangered chinook salmon, and return them to the water unharmed. “We have less than a 0.25 percent mortality with our incidental take,” Kirouac said. “No other fishery can match that.” You might ask: Where does the solar power fit into the equation? Working with Bellingham-based Alpha Energy Inc., the co-op members installed 12 solar panels on two of their fishing boats/platforms this spring to operate the net-pulling winches and other equipment onboard. The solar panels replace thousands of pounds of electric batteries that the crew otherwise would have to haul to shore and recharge every few days. If the solar panels perform as expected this summer, the co-op will retrofit more of its gear, Kirouac said. – The Olympian, Olympia, Wash. News Brief: Copper River Opening a Tough Day CORDOVA, Alaska -- The first day of the Copper River (Alaska) salmon season was a mess. Winds blew up to 40 knots. Visibility was horrible. Celebrity chefs and not-so-famous chefs gathered to eyeball what has become a culinary milestone of each passing year: the first big salmon run.Strong winds and high waves kept most of the fishermen out of open water, where sockeye are most often caught. In Chinook waters, the wind blew gillnets tight, allowing many fish to escape before entangling themselves. Many skippers simply gave up. Others stuck it out but landed only minimal catches. Pricing was similar to last year: $3.75 for sockeye and $6 for Chinook, with retail prices to be more than $20 a pound. – Pacific Fishing News Brief: Togiak Opener Less Lucrative Than in Past The Togiak herring fishery opened last Thursday, and participation is dismal. The department has counted only 23 gillnetters and 13 seine vessels.Seven spotter planes are working, and only five buyers are on the grounds: Icicle, Trident, NorQuest, Yardarm Knot and North Pacific Seafoods. Two processing ships that were there last season – Icicle’s Arctic Star and Trident’s Aleutian Falcon – are absent this year. Fishing and processing capacity is so depressed that the fishery expects that only about 16,000 tons out of a preseason harvest limit of 23,634 tons will be caught before the herring spawn plays out. The trouble: Japan is aging and changing. Today’s younger people aren’t willing to pay huge prices for herring roe, or kazunoko. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy in the Anchorage Daily News
OTTAWA - Roughly three out of four British Columbians told a federal government-commissioned pollster they oppose special commercial fishing rights for aboriginal Canadians, according to internal documents obtained this week.
News: B.C. Wants No Native Fishing Rights The poll was initiated last summer just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper stunned aboriginal groups, federal bureaucrats and the B.C. government be declaring his government is opposed to "racially divided" fisheries. Despite the findings and Harper's declaration, the federal government has since gone ahead with West Coast treaties that include exclusive rights to the commercial fishery. B.C. Conservative MP John Cummins, who obtained the poll and other documents through the Access to Information Act, said he's perplexed the government ignored public opinion. Cummins is particularly peeved because he alleges the pollster's questions were "distorted" to create encouraging responses in favor of native commercial fishing rights. "The prime minister made a very clear statement about separate native commercial fisheries and I think it was an unequivocal statement," said Cummins. "And immediately after that statement (bureaucrats in three departments) decided they would conduct a poll in an attempt to demonstrate that he was out of step with the public in British Columbia. "And even though they manipulated the questions, or distorted the questions and distorted reality in the preambles to the question, the public in British Columbia came out very clearly and stated that they didn't view separate native commercial fisheries very favorably." The survey of 1,098 British Columbians, including 94 French-speaking British Columbians, was done between July 18 and 23 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, according to the polling firm Pollara. Half the respondents lived in the Lower Mainland. The poll showed roughly three-quarters of those surveyed, or 73%, said they agreed with the statement that "all commercial fishers, regardless of whether they are members of First Nations, should be subject to the same rules and should be treated equally by the law." A second question showed a two-to-one margin in favor of the position of Cummins, a commercial fisherman who has harshly criticized federal policy dating back to 1992 establishing separate commercial fishing openings for bands. 62% said they agreed with the statement that the federal policy is "unfair" because "they permit one set of rules for First Nations commercial fishers and another set of rules for non-First Nations commercial fishers." – Vancouver Sun News Brief: Does Organic Label Mean Anything? When it comes to seafood, the USDA has not developed an organic certification standard for fish – whether wild or farmed. Since there are no regulations determining whether a fish is organic or not, any can be labeled as such.And as far as cosmetics and body care products go, it’s futile to buy organic, according to Consumer Reports, which states that they found “indiscriminate use of synthetic ingredients” in personal-care products. In addition to the official “organic” labels, consumers also run into identifiers like free-range, free roaming, natural, and all natural – but none of these mean a product is organic. Weak government standards (such as chickens being labeled “free-range” because their coop door is opened for five minutes a day) makes these phrases less dependable than the organic stamp. Which means Gala apples and filet mignon are worthy organic purchases, but the “organic” shampoo and salmon stores are offering can be passed over. – Science Line Reins Tightened on Deep Sea Trawling AUKLAND, New Zealand -- Tighter restrictions on bottom trawling in the high seas will likely further reduce the dwindling returns for New Zealand fishing operators.Interim measures that emerged last week from an international summit in Chile are likely to result in a "decrease in economic return generated by New Zealand high seas bottom trawling in the South Pacific", said the Ministry of Fisheries. Trawling is blamed for widespread destruction of vulnerable marine species. The new rules confining bottom trawling outside national waters to existing volumes and areas - subject to an environmental impact assessment - follow research showing a marked decline in the returns from high seas bottom trawling. Between 2000 and 2005, the practice - which targeted hoki and orange roughy - netted an average $15 million a year, but that fell to $9 million last year, the ministry said. Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton thought this year's catch would drop further. "This year the indication is it could be even less." Anderton said small operators would feel the effects of the measures, but he expected many would be relieved that it was not an outright ban. But he warned that a ban could still come. The Seafood Industry Council's Alastair MacFarlane, who represented an international coalition of fishing industries at the meeting in Renaca, Chile, said the major impact on the New Zealand fishery was likely to be a requirement to assess the impacts of bottom trawling. "The other thing that's required is likely to be the carrying of official observers on board vessels fishing in the high seas - and that's going to be a cost." Anderton has said that New Zealand fishing boats could find it a challenge to satisfy the new controls agreed on at the third round of talks in Chile last week to establish a South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization. New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen chief executive Pete Dawson said he had not yet analyzed the measures but feared the outcome would place another burden on the small operator, on top of recent agreements to restrict fishing within the country's exclusive economic zone. – New Zealand Herald News Brief: Sea Lion Bites Fisherman in the Butt PETERSBURG -- KFSK radio reports that crewman Troy Curtis was sitting on the rail of the vessel Cora J while offloading a catch of halibut the other day. That’s when a sea lion lunged out of the water and bit him on the rear end.“The sea lion came up and grabbed ahold of me and tried to pull me over,” Curtis said. “Thank God I was holding onto the rail. Thank God it wasn’t one of my kids.” He staggered into the galley and then was taken to the hospital, where he required a bunch of stitches, the story reports. “They got teeth three or four inches long – a good little puncture tear action there.” The story notes someone was pulled into the water by a sea lion in Kodiak in 2004, and people have been complaining about aggressive sea lions in Petersburg for a while. News Brief: Astoria, Newport Port Commission Elections ASTORIA -- With retired longshoreman Bill Hunsinger replacing commissioner Jim Bergeron and Astoria writer Kathy Sanders claiming the seat of commission president Don McDaniel, Bernie Bjork is the only incumbent candidate left standing after Tuesday's port commission election.Final unofficial results show Bjork keeping his Position 2 seat with 4,015 votes (54%), beating challengers Patrick McGee, who had 2,493 votes (33 percent), and John Dunzer with 828 votes (11%). In the Port's closest election, Hunsinger earned 4,627 votes (56%) to Bergeron's 3,428 (42%) to grab Position 3. In Position 4, Sanders took 3,508 votes (47%) over McDaniel's 1,670 (23%), Jim Stroup's 1,398 votes (19%) and Ted Thomas' 645 votes (8%). In many ways the election was a referendum on how the existing board handled the supervision and subsequent firing of Executive Director Peter Gearin. – Daily Astorian NEWPORT – A tsunami of cross words inundated voters as incumbents Ginny Goblirsch and Mark Fisher sparred with Bill Lackner and JoAnn Barton, respectively, for four-year terms on the Port of Newport Board of Commissioners. With 85% of the vote counted, Goblirsch had 1,422 votes to Lackner's 545 (72-28%), while Barton held a 1,066 to 937 edge (53-47%) over Fisher. - Newport News-Times
CAPE D - The U.S. Coast Guard is working to identify a mystery object hauled in from near Peacock Spit last Thursday evening.
News Brief: Mystery Object Towed into Ilwaco Harbor Fashioned from bright-orange material similar to a life raft and marked with reflective tape, the 20-foot-long cylinder - 6 feet in diameter - was dragged in by a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Cape Disappointment, said Bob Coster, civilian search and rescue controller at Coast Guard Group Astoria. "It's nothing I've ever seen," said Coster, adding that the object was apparently moored at some point. "We're still trying to figure out who owns it and what it is." Crews initially thought it was a life raft, he said, and so did someone aboard the 104-foot seagoing tug Howard Olsen, which was northbound with a tow at 8 p.m. when it reported the floating mass near Peacock Spit. An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew investigated, and the motor-lifeboat team towed the object to Ilwaco where it remains. Also on Thursday, a Coast Guard crew from Station Grays Harbor towed the 50-foot sailing vessel Caelestis to Westport after it lost steering around 7 p.m. About one hour later, a Grays Harbor team towed the 38-foot crabbing vessel Karen L, which was disabled off the south jetty at the harbor's entrance. - Chinook Observer, Ilwaco News: New Marine Reserves to Hurt Fishermen MORRO BAY, Calif. — California has created an especially ambitious network of marine havens along its 1,100-mile coast, which officials liken to President Theodore Roosevelt's creation of national parks, except these "parks" are at sea.Many of the first 29 preserves midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco aspire to return the sea to paradise conditions, the way it was before modern California became the world's eighth-largest economy. The havens ban or restrict fishing and any other harvesting -- which has drawn a storm of protest from fishermen, restaurateurs and officials who say the rules will hurt businesses and town treasuries. No one challenges, though, that the habitats are worthy of Jacques Cousteau: muddy seafloors, deep marine canyons, near-shore rocky reefs and estuarine eelgrass beds. Inhabitants include coho salmon, steelhead trout, sea otters, sea lions, Dungeness crab, gray whales and brown pelicans. While not as readily accessible as landlocked counterparts, the marine preserves, initiated last month after bureaucratic and financial delays, will offer scientists and tourists a view of submerged or waterborne life reputed to be among the most diverse and productive in the world. Nothing on this scale The notion of such marine protected areas "really hasn't been done on the scale of California's," said John Ugoretz, environmental program manager with the state's Department of Fish and Game. "I'd say the only place where you could compare this with is the Great Barrier Reefs in Australia, where they have a big system of marine protected areas," he added. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that the new zones make his state "a national leader in ocean management." But in fishing communities like Morro Bay, population 10,000, the new restrictions could put many fisheries out of business, said Mayor Janice Peters. Under increasing federal and state rules, the town's annual sales tax receipts from fishing have declined to $3 million from $10 million several years ago, she said. Critics are challenging state officials over whether the West Coast waters are indeed in distress. In fact, they say, the heavily regulated Pacific fisheries are in much better shape than the East Coast's, which California officials don't dispute. Still, the officials say the zones are an attempt to see the real potential of the sea once man's influence is eliminated or curtailed. Marine protected areas are used nationwide and worldwide, but California's plan is considered noteworthy because of the state's vast coastline and the major population centers that heavily use the ocean, state officials said. There is a catch Still, a recent survey commissioned by the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries showed two-thirds of Californians disagree that fishing harms the ocean, and most supported family-run fishing operations. Vern Goehring, manager for the California Fisheries Coalition, said the new regulations fail to address developers and others whose businesses indirectly contaminate the ocean. 'Regulating fishing is just easier than taking on the commercial polluters,' he said. State officials say the closures are meant to re-establish and study untouched breeding grounds. – Chicago Tribune Museum Focuses on Japanese-Canadian Fishing Families NANAIMO, B.C. -- The Empire Days weekend is going to be an action packed one for Nanaimo District Museum.Starting Thursday, May 17, the museum officially opens it’s latest feature exhibit, "Uprooted: A Journey of Japanese Canadian Fishing Families." “Using a replica fishing village as a backdrop and a variety of artifacts and media, the exhibit explores the story of Japanese Canadian fishing families living in Steveston, B.C. from 1890 to the present,” said David Hill-Turner, the museum’s curator. Japanese men and women played important roles in the commercial fishing industry, owning boats and working in canneries and salteries. “From the earliest time, anti-Asian sentiment affected the lives of Nanaimo’s early Japanese settlers and it peaked with the internment and loss of boats and homes during the Second World War,” said Hill-Turner. “A replica internment home will be used to tell this story and explain the long period of rebuilding and seeking redress for their losses.” On Friday, May 18, the museum will celebrate International Museum Day with other cultural organizations from around the world. Admission to both the museum and Bastion will be free on Friday, and by donation at the Bastion during the rest of the Empire Days weekend. “We’re also going to have the first official cannon firing at noon Friday,” said Debbie Trueman, general manager of the museum. The museum will also launch its seventh annual photography contest earlier than usual this year to give people more of an opportunity to capture the changing face of Nanaimo. Drop off your photo submission anytime after Friday and no later than Aug. 5. Registration forms are available at the museum at 100 Cameron Rd. (located behind Port Place Mall). An added bonus to the weekend will be a programming feature at the museum called the Chocolate Bar Wars. – Nanaimo Daily News News in Depth: B.C. Panel Says to Yank the Salmon Pens VICTORIA -- A B.C. legislative committee says massive changes are needed in the way fish farms operate on the British Columbia coast in a report endorsed by environmentalists and some First Nations, but condemned by the industry.The committee tried Wednesday to strike a compromise position between those who want salmon farms moved away from the ocean to protect wild stocks and industry proponents who say they've made huge strides to make aquaculture safe. Yet the compromise position—ocean-based, closed-containment farms—doesn't yet exist. If the government follows through with the recommendations, ''the industry will start liquidating their assets and move out of the province,'' said Spencer Evans, general manager of Tofino, B.C.'s Creative Salmon. ''The recommendations aren't realistic. They're not feasible,'' said in Alistair Haughton of Mainstream Canada, one of several members of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association. Environmentalists applauded the report's recommendation, saying it's completely in line with public opinion and concerns. The change ''would eliminate environmental impacts caused by open net pens such as sea lice epidemics, sea lion and seal kills, and escaped farmed fish,'' said Craig Orr of Watershed Watch. ''It would also eliminate the potential economic impacts to wild marine fisheries.'' The committee says current fish farming practices are simply too risky to continue, although scientists bitterly disagree over whether raising Atlantic and chinook salmon in pens open to the ocean is dangerous to wild fish and the ecosystem in general. So rather than wait for consensus, the report says, the provincial government needs to step in. The problem is that farming fish in giant tanks on land is simply not feasible, partly because it would require huge amounts of energy to properly control the temperature and water flow. But ocean-based, closed-containment pens would provide a ''floating barrier technology that ensures no contact between wild and farmed fish and minimal release of waste into the marine environment.'' There is a wide schism within the committee, which was dominated by the Opposition New Democrats. B.C. Liberals said they do not agree with the recommendations, especially the move to unproven closed-containment technology and the farming ban north of Vancouver Island. Among other recommendations:
- Press News Limited News: B.C. Salmon Pen Recommendations at a Glance Recommendations of the provincial Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture for fin fish aquaculture:
For a full copy of the report, visit www.leg.bc.ca and look under committee reports. - Prince Rupert Daily News
Gland, Switzerland -- Ahead of the world’s major meeting on wildlife trade, WWF released its top ten list of species needing urgent global action to reduce threats from trade.
News in Depth: Dogfish on Greens’ Threatened List Delegates from 171 countries will attend the Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), June 3-15 in The Hague, The Netherlands. Some of the species on WWF’s top ten priority list are among the most endangered. For example, the tiger and the Asian rhino have required constant and urgent action over the past decades because of ever-present, pervasive threats to their survival, including poaching and illegal trade. Others, particularly marine species, are on the list because their populations have declined massively in recent years due to global market demand. WWF’s top ten “to do” list for the world’s governments includes the following marine species: Porbeagle – Porbeagle shark is a powerful, medium-sized, highly migratory shark. There is international demand for, and trade, in its high-value meat and fins. It is also used as fertilizer. WWF calls upon governments to include the species in CITES Appendix II. Spiny dogfish – Spiny dogfish is a slender, smaller sized white-spotted shark that grows to about one metre long and travels in schools. It is found in cool, coastal waters worldwide. Known as rock salmon, it is used in fish and chips in the UK and as a smoked meat delicacy in Germany, called Schillerlocken. WWF calls upon governments to include the species in CITES Appendix II. Sawfish – Populations of the seven species of sawfish have drastically declined. They are traded as live animals for public aquariums, and also for their fins and meat. Their distinctive saw-like snouts are sold as souvenirs and ceremonial weapons, while other body parts are used for traditional medicines. WWF calls upon governments to include these species in CITES Appendix I. Red and pink coral – A jewel that comes from reefs and atolls, it is the most valuable of all the precious corals. Pink coral has been fished for over 5,000 years and used for jewelry and decoration. Over-harvesting and the destruction of entire colonies by bottom trawls and dredges have led to dramatic population declines. WWF calls on governments to include all species of red and pink coral in CITES Appendix II. European eel – The European eel comes from coastal and freshwater ecosystems throughout Europe, including Mediterranean countries. Stocks have declined dramatically over the past several decades due to overfishing and poaching. There is significant international demand for this species, both for live juvenile eels (shipped from Europe to Asia) for rearing in aquaculture and for the highly valued meat of adults. WWF calls on governments to include this species in CITES Appendix II. - Underwatertimes.com News Service News Brief: Alaska Short of Snow ANCHORAGE -- A lack of snow in much of Alaska could mean low water levels in some fisheries, according to the May snow survey report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.With the exception of Southeast Alaska, which saw record snowfall, the entire state is at 70% of normal snowfall levels. Unless spring brings more rain, officials say the affected waterways could include the Deshka River, Montana Creek, Little Su, Willow Creek, Deep Creek, Anchor River and the Ninilchik River. - KTUU News: Red Snapper: If Price Seems Too Good to be True, It Is HOUSTON -- Passing off cheap tilapia, black drum, bay snapper (sheepshead) or another fish for expensive American red snapper is against the law. But that doesn't stop some restaurants. Fisherman Charles Graham and restaurateur Frixos Hrisinis offer these tips when ordering snapper.If it seems too good to be true, then likely it is. Snapper is expensive. If a restaurant is offering an 8-ounce red snapper fillet for $9.99, be suspicious. Snapper costs about $14 per pound. Add labor and ingredients, and most restaurants have to charge $15 to break even. Buy the whole fish when possible. There are about 250 snapper species. American red snapper has brilliant red skin and a flat head. Its cousin, the B-liner or vermillion, is narrower with a bullish-shaped head. Lane snapper are pale pink with yellow stripes. When buying whole fish, look for clear, red eyes and bright red skin that fades toward the belly. When buying fillets, buy it with skin on if possible. Not only does it hold the fish together when cooking, but the skin allows you to make sure it's the real thing. Mykonos Island owner Hrisinis is cleaning American red snapper himself these days. The fish from the Gulf of Mexico has gotten so pricey, he wants to make sure nothing is wasted. "You see this snapper?" said the restaurateur, dangling the fish by its tail. "You're not going to see it on menus if prices continue to go up. If you do — it'll be $50." Chefs say prices have reeled out of control since federal regulators reduced the total allowable catch for American red snapper, prompting some to take the deepwater fish off their menus and bait diners with other lures. "The stock is depleted," said Roy Crabtree, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Southeast regional administrator. "We were taking too many fish out per year. The rate was too high. We needed to slow it down to rebuild the population. We were not letting the fish grow old enough to produce eggs." Fishmongers and chefs predict prices for American red snapper — when they find any — to reach an all-time high come fall, when many Gulf fishermen reach their individual fishing quota. The quota is based on the total allowable catch, which dropped to 6.5 million pounds from 9.1 million, a limit in place since the late '90s. The catch is split between commercial and recreational anglers, 51 percent and 49 percent, respectively. The new measures from the NOAA's Fisheries Service coincide with a year-end deadline from a federal court in Houston to implement a long-term strategy for reviving the Gulf snapper population. The new measures leave many of the 500 fishermen who have quota shares uncertain about the future. While fishermen are harvesting fewer true red snapper, demand has increased. The scramble reminds chefs of the redfish ban in the '80s, when Paul Prudhomme popularized blackened redfish coast to coast. "When they banned redfish from the Gulf, everybody went to Gulf red snapper," PK's Blue Water Grill owner Pat Kiley recalled. "People fell in love with snapper. It replaced redfish, and restaurants found a substitute. Now we'll have to find a substitute for it." – Houston Chronicle |
