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London’s Thames clean enough for salmon
Salmon have been introduced to the River Thames after experts declared the water clean enough for the fish to breed - after almost 200 years.
The young salmon were released into the Thames tributary, Lambourne river, at Welford, near Newbury, Berks. Thames salmon died out in the 1830s, with salmon from other sources, which do not breed there, present from 1974, the Environment Agency (EA) said. It is hoped a salmon population will be back in the River Thames in 5-10 years. An EA spokesperson said the new salmon should stay in the river for a year before heading downstream through London, and up to Greenland before coming back to breed. Darryl Cilfton-Dey, of the Environment Agency, told BBC news: "People do fish for salmon on the Thames but the population is so small at the moment that there's not a great deal of chance of catching one. "Hopefully if these come back, and if they breed and if the young from those come back, then in a few year's time there'll be quite a few salmon around." Salmon eggs, about 5,000, were incubated and 2cm (0.8in) long baby salmon introduced to the river. – BBC Crab boats caught in ice off St. Paul Island ANCHORAGE -- Three Bering Sea crab boats and two ships were stuck in sea ice late Wednesday, and nervous crews were hoping the wind and tide would soon shift the ice pack and free the vessels.'It's an uncomfortable feeling,' said Ian Pitzman, captain of the Jennifer A, one of the three crab boats hung in the ice near the village port of St. Paul, on St. Paul Island. Speaking from the boat via satellite telephone, Pitzman said the problem began when drifting ice began closing in on St. Paul. His boat and others headed for open water, hoping to escape. Some boats made it out but others bogged down and got stuck in the ice about a mile offshore, unable to move, he said. There was no real crisis Wednesday night, Pitzman said. But the vessels do face some measure of danger, depending on how the ice moves. 'The ice can grind you into the beach,' he said. One of the greatest dramas in the harrowing history of Bering Sea crab fishing happened just a mile or so from the Jennifer A's position, when the crab boat Alaskan Monarch got hung in the ice in March 1990. The ice damaged the boat's rudder and a storm drove the boat against the rocky beach. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter lifted the crewmen to safety, including two who were swept overboard by crashing waves. A famous video of that rescue has been widely viewed in the crab fleet, and Pitzman's wife, Stephanie Pitzman, of Homer, has seen it too. So she was a little concerned to receive word Wednesday that her husband was aboard an icebound boat at St. Paul, where the Jennifer A had delivered its last load of snow crab for the season and was just trying to head for Homer. Stephanie Pitzman said someone from the Discovery Channel, which is filming a new season of its highly rated crab-fishing cable series Deadliest Catch, called to see if she knew how to reach the Jennifer A. The caller wanted to make sure the crew was shooting footage of the ice using the camera the Discovery Channel had provided the crew for the season. 'I couldn't believe it,' she said. 'I was like, uh, excuse me? I hadn't heard anything about the ice. I got on the radio right quick to find out what was going on, and all was well -- but they're trapped.' The Pitzmans have five kids, ages 11, 9, 7, 5 and 2. Ian Pitzman said boats getting hung in the ice outside St. Paul harbor, which often ices up in winter, is hardly unprecedented. However, the veteran skipper said it had never happened to him before. Aside from the 103-foot Jennifer A, two other crab boats, the Tempo Sea and the Nordic Viking, also were hung in the ice. Another crabber, the Time Bandit, had left St. Paul only about half an hour earlier, and it managed to get through the ice and reach open water, Pitzman said. He said the ice was a foot to 18 inches thick, but floes were stacked up, making the ice much thicker in places. The Jennifer A has a four-man crew, plus a state observer who rides aboard the boat to document the catch, Pitzman said. Two ships, the 356-foot crab processor Independence and a freighter called the Eastern Wind, also are hung in the ice, Pitzman said. The crab boats deliver their catches to the Independence for processing. The ship is owned by Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp. and can carry a crew of 235, although it wasn't known Wednesday how many people were aboard. A spokesman with the Coast Guard in Juneau said Wednesday the Guard hadn't received any calls for help from St. Paul. That's because there's not really a crisis at the moment, said Pitzman, speaking from the Jennifer A. 'It's quite likely to resolve itself tonight uneventfully,' he said. - Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in the Anchorage Daily News Mexican wild shrimp season called ‘historic’ The current Mexican shrimp seaons has been historic. 27,934 metric tons of wild shrimp have been caught this current season.Acccording to the chief for the Fishing Unit of Sagarpa, Guillermo Zazueta Russell, these figures represent a net increase of 51.4% in comparison to last year's season. He added that this season's production has surpassed the highest production season recorded in 1997-1998. Out of the total metric tons registered, 19,169 tons correspond to off-shore landings mainly by large vessels; this represents a 61% increase in landings compared to last year. On the other hand, the remaining 8,765 tons correspond to landings in on bays and estuaries and mainly by smaller boats. The National Fishing Commision, has established March 31 as the closing date of the season. This includes the California Gulf, lagoons and estuaries, bays in the states of Southern Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. - noroeste.com Shark, once thought extinct, found A rare and endangered shark, not reported for more than a century, is among marine creatures that have been discovered by University Malaysia Sabah researchers.UMS vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said that apart from the Borneo shark, scientifically known Carcharhinus borneensis, the university’s researchers have also discovered a new species of crab and ray fish. The university’s Borneo Marine Research Institute director Saleem Mustafa said the discoveries reflected the diversity of marine life in the waters around the world’s third largest island. Dutch scientist Pieter Bleeker first recorded the Borneo shark in the Sabah east coast district of Sandakan in 1859. There had not been any further record of it until a recent survey of fishery resources along the coastal areas of Sabah and Sarawak, Saleem said. The Borneo shark, brown on the top half of the body and white on the belly half, is said to reach lengths of up to 2m. It is also said to be a rare viviparous species, which gives birth to living offspring. On the new crab species, Dr Saleem said UMS researchers found it at a swamp in Likas barely 2km from the city centre in 2005. Mackerel catch to be limited HATTERAS -- A meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) did nothing to dispel concern that the door to another fishery could close on North Carolina commercial fishermen.The SAFMC has proposed a reduction in the coastwide total allowable catches for king and Spanish mackerel under Amendment 18 to the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery Management Plan. Under the council's preferred action, the total allowable catch for king mackerel would drop from 10 million to 7.1 million pounds. The total allowable catch for Spanish mackerel would drop from 7.04 to 6.7 million pounds. The limits include both a commercial fishing quota and a recreational fishing allocation. Gregg Waugh, SAFMC executive director, said that although neither species is over-fished, the reductions are based on stock assessments warning that over-fishing might occur. He said the council is also concerned that new, lower quotas for snapper-grouper species and resulting closures of those fisheries could result in more fishing pressure on king mackerel stocks. – Outer Banks Sentinel |