Memorial Day - No Wild News today

Tuesday, May 27, 2008P

MOSCOW – Russian investigators have accused an American, a Russian and a German citizen of poaching millions of dollars of king crab for export to U.S. markets.

The Interior Ministry's Investigative Committee said the three — identified only by their surnames, Gontmakher, Embarek and Darminov — were part of a company called Eastern Fish Resources.

 The company allegedly organized the harvest and illegal export of nearly 23,000 metric tons (25,350 US tons) of king crab in 2006 and 2007 — more than seven times the government quota allotted to it, the committee said in a statement.

The three face charges of money laundering and poaching, among other things, the statement said.

 According to U.S. news reports, Arkadi Gontmakher is a Ukrainian immigrant who lives in the Seattle, Washington, area. His Washington-based company, Global Fishing Inc., reportedly is the largest importer of king crab to the United States.

 After his jailing in Moscow in September, Global Fishing issued a statement saying the company had "always sought to operate in a legal and ethical manner" with U.S. and Russian regulatory agencies.

 It was unclear where exactly Gontmakher was jailed or whether he had a lawyer.

Poaching of king crab, caviar and other lucrative maritime products in Russia's Far East exploded after the Soviet collapse.  – International Herald Tribune

Wholesale salmon prices are rising steeply. Farmed Atlantic salmon has gone up anywhere from 50 to 75 cents a pound in the past few weeks, and wild Pacific salmon is at an all-time high. But many retailers are absorbing more of the increase than they are passing on.

The most newsworthy cause of the shortage is the closure of California's wild salmon fisheries. Salmon is caught off the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada from spring through fall in scores of discrete "runs." Each run refers to the time that one of six species of salmon -- chum, coho, king (Chinook), pink, sockeye and steelhead -- returns from the ocean to its river of origin to spawn, or lay eggs. Fishermen catch the salmon in the ocean just before they head upstream.

Before fishing begins, the National Marine Fisheries measures how many salmon are returning and decides whether there are enough of them to permit commercial fishing. In the case of the Chinook salmon returning to California's Sacramento River this spring (which accounts for 90 percent of that state's commercial catch), the 2008 estimate was 50,000 to 60,000 fish, according to Brian Gorman, of the federal agency's Northwest region. That number falls well below the threshold -- 120,000 returning salmon is considered the minimum just to ensure reproduction. Five years ago, Gorman said, about 750,000 Chinooks came back to the Sacramento. Thus, the feds closed the fishery for the rest of the year.

What's the reason for the drop? Gorman pointed to salmon's unfortunate evolutionary fate of "hanging out where humans hang out during a crucial period of their lives." Spawning salmon, and the resultant baby salmon, live in streams and rivers. In California, Oregon and, to a lesser degree, Washington, these waterways have been depleted by agricultural irrigation, and dammed for the production of electricity.

Salmon grow to maturity in the ocean, and things can be dicey there as well. Gorman said that in the past few years, in the waters off California, there has been a noticeable lack of "upwelling," the upward movement of deep ocean water that is rich in nutrients. The nutrients nourish tiny organisms called phytoplankton that, in turn, feed bigger and bigger fish, right up to salmon. "If one link is broken," said Gorman, "the whole chain suffers."

Farthest north, in Alaska, the famous Copper River run started last week. Dan Kim, a partner in the seafood importer Alaskan Feast, said, "I've never seen salmon prices this high. Seven years ago Copper River salmon got $6 at wholesale. Last year it went as high as $16. This year they are projecting $18 to $20." Bear in mind that is the price for a whole fish.  "Your yield on whole fish is only about two-thirds," said Bruce Sasso, owner of Stuart's Seafood in Amagansett. "Once you trim it, you're looking at $24 a pound. You've got to sell that for $30, $32." As Pacific salmon goes up in price, the demand for less expensive Atlantic salmon rises, as does its price.

After a month of weekly price increases totaling about 65 cents, Sasso finally raised his retail price of Canadian farmed salmon from $14.95 to $15.95. At Woodbury Fisheries in Woodbury, Greg Apostle is selling Scottish farm-raised salmon for $12.99 a pound.

 Within the last month, his wholesale price has risen almost 75 cents, but, he said, "We're taking most of the loss on our end so that we don't pass it on to the consumer. The last thing we want is to scare customers away with prices." – Newsday, Long Island

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources opened state waters to commercial shrimp trawling late last week.

The decision to open the season comes after biologists with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sample state waters and determine that an adequate number of roe shrimp have spawned. The commercial shrimp trawling season in state waters has been closed since January 23rd.

Three seasons define the commercial shrimp calendar. The first, white roe shrimp season, opened on Thursday. The brown shrimp season typically occurs during the summer months, and the larger fall white shrimp season, composed of offspring from the spring roe crop, carries out the remainder of the three seasons in the fall. – The Times and Democrat, SC

THE cost of fish and chips could soar by up to 50 per cent because of rising fuel costs, a government body has warned.

 The Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish) said rises in the price of diesel used to power fishing vessels would have a "significant effect" on the cost of fish over the next 12 to 18 months as trawlermen struggle to break even.

Research by the non-departmental body found the increase was likely to be between 7 percent and 50 percent, with an average price hike of 23 per cent for the traditional fish and chips.  – The Scotsman, UK

Wednesday, May 28, 2008P

Environmental activists in the South Pacific have protested against what they claim is the world's largest tuna catching vessel by trying to prevent it from hauling in its net.

 Greenpeace said they took the action after following the giant Spanish ship Albatun Tres since Thursday.

 The Albatun Tres can net more than 3,000 tonnes of tuna in a single fishing trip using its seine nets.

 "This is almost double the entire annual catch of some Pacific countries. Yet unsatisfied, the Spanish owners of this super, super seiner vessel is looking to bring even more vessels to fish in the region," Greenpeace said in a statement.

 The statement said activists laid a 25m floating banner reading "no fish, no future" in the Spanish ships' nets to try to stop them being hauled in.

 Greenpeace has been conducting protests in the South Pacific during recent weeks amid concern some tuna stocks are being overfished, hurting the ocean's ecosystems and making scarce a key food source needed by some Pacific islanders.

 "Time and tuna are running out. Vessels of this size cannot be left to plunder and empty out the remaining tuna stocks and need to be taken off the water and scrapped immediately in order to address the over-capacity of the worlds tuna fleets," said Sari Tolvanen from Greenpeace in a statement. – The Age, Australia

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — FishWise, a nonprofit sustainability consultancy for seafood companies, announced last week that My Organic Market, a five-unit independent with locations the Washington, D.C., metro area, has made a commitment to offer only ecologically friendly seafood at its stores.

 "MOM’s mission as a company is to protect and restore the environment,” MOM’s vice president of grocery, Lisa de Lima said in a release. Each product that the company will offer has been assessed according to standards set by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.

 In addition, a low mercury list, created by FishWise and Environmental Defense, will be posted on MOM’s seafood cases to help shoppers identify sustainable species that have been tested to be low in mercury and PCBs. – Supermarket News

 HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Erin Bocklermann doesn't even like lobster. But the tank of squirming, crawling crustaceans was just too much to resist.

 She fed $3 into the machine near the entrance of Remy's bar on Hilton Head Island, pushed a button, and a metal claw descended straight for one of the beasts.

 It closed between the creature's claw and body and started to ascend. But even with its pincers restrained by rubber bands, the lobster wriggled free and splashed back down.

 Meet the Lobster Game, the newest craze that's been sweeping bars along the Carolinas coast over the past few months. The game works the same as every other prize crane game on the boardwalk: You drop money in, use a joystick to line up the metal claw and press the red "drop" button. Then you cuss as the metal arms fail to hold onto the stuffed off-brand Winnie the Pooh.

 But in this game, instead of stuffed novelties, the claw grabs live lobsters in a temperature-controlled tank.

 The prize? The lobster -- which retails for about $30 in the area -- is yours. The bar will cook it for you at no charge. Or you can take it home to cook, make it a pet or whatever you like.

 The game, which first appeared in Florida about a decade ago, has been seen at Myrtle Beach bars in recent years. But it's spreading to more Carolinas destinations. Bluewater Vending has been pitching the idea to restaurants and bars in Hilton Head in recent months. The company's Web site (www.lobstergame.com) says bar owners average a $1,000 per week profit. – Hilton Head (S.C.) Island Packet

CANBERRA -- Organized crime groups around the world and even motorcycle gangs are becoming involved in illegal fishing, lured mainly by demand from China for prized fish species, a study by Australian crime experts said.

The groups from China, Australia, Russia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Japan have all been linked to illegal fishing, with fish stocks either sold illegally or used to launder money, the Australian Institute of Criminology said.

The institute's report on illegal fishing called for greater international cooperation to fight the black market, and said criminal groups targeted prized species in demand in Asia, such as abalone, shark fins and beche-de-mer, or sea cucumber.

"It is clear that overseas illicit markets in seafood products such as abalone, beche-de-mer and shark fin are flourishing, due in part to a steadily increasing demand from mainland China," the institute said. -- Reuters

Thursday, May 29, 2008P

ASSAWOMAN BAY, Maryland -- The sun is just barely up and Gary Tull already has his dredger in the shallow bay between Ocean City and the mainland, a few plastic mesh bags full of the hard-shell clams he's caught all his life.

 Tull clams like it's second nature. He drops the most valuable clams, little ones for steaming, through a slot into a bucket. He pops bigger clams, some as big as a bagel, into another bucket -- without mixing them with less-valuable razor clams or the mud and crabs that come up from the bottom of the Assawoman Bay.

 But Tull's decades on the water may be coming to a close at the end of the month, when Maryland closes forever its power dredge clam fishery in the Atlantic coastal bays. The state legislature mandated the closure amid complaints from sportfishermen that dredging hurts fragile underwater grasses, though state fisheries biologists did not recommend the closure.

 The law means that come Sunday, Tull will take his 30-year-old wooden boat home to Crisfield and give up watering, maybe forever. "I'm 56. What am I going to do? I don't know," Tull said.

 These are uncertain times for the handful of people who make a living dredging hard-shell clams out of the back bays. Soft-shell clam dredging in the Chesapeake Bay will still be allowed, but that practice is so hit-or-miss no waterman makes a living doing it.

 Hand-tonging for clams will be allowed, but the days of making a living catching clams and oysters by hand are past. Tull and his fellow clammers say the Maryland clam industry will die forever at the end of the month. – Delmarva Daily Times, Maryland

YARMOUTH — Folks crowded Yarmouth’s Lobster Rock Wharf Tuesday morning to watch federal fisheries officers steam into town aboard the fishing vessel Kayla and Dylan.

 Officers sprang from concealment a few hours earlier in Lower Wedgeport, arresting five men and seizing the fishing boat in what is being called the biggest haul of illegal, undersized lobsters in quite some time.

 During their search, officers uncovered 35 crates full of undersized lobsters amounting to 5,330 illegal lobsters – up to 4,000 pounds.

 According to fishery regulations, a lobster must have a body length of at least 82.5 millimetres in order to be retained and sold. That’s about 3.25 inches. – TheChronicleHerald.ca, Canada

BOSTON – The best crab cakes taste like sweet, briny crab and not much else. From Florida to New Jersey, most crab lovers are eating blue crabs and seasoning anything crabby with Old Bay Seasoning.

 Utz, the chip company, even makes a crab flavor that tastes like the classic spice mix. In New England, blue crabs don't swim our waters, but big Jonah crabs do, usually way offshore. Rock or peekytoe crabs are caught closer to the coast by Maine lobster fishermen.

 The crabs are boiled and then picked for meat by hand (which makes pretty lumps) or by machine (a stringy mess, but still delicious). Frozen or pasteurized canned crabmeat is cheap and widely available but makes a poor substitute for the fresh stuff, which is more expensive and harder to find.

 For simple crab cakes, toss fresh meat with mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, and a little flour. That's it. Refrigerate them to set the mixture, then roll the cakes in flour or crumbs, and melt some butter in the big skillet. Taste the crab. – Boston Globe

The number of shad migrating up the Susquehanna River in Maryland has fallen by almost half over the past year, part of a worrisome decline up and down the East Coast, scientists say.

The drop means that counts of American shad at Conowingo Dam have fallen by more than 90 percent over the past seven years. That is a stark reversal from the 1990s, when the construction of fish lifts at dams -- and bans on shad fishing -- spurred a revival of what has been called "the founding fish" because of its dominance as a food in Colonial times.

Because of the decline here and elsewhere, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is planning public hearings on whether more restrictions should be imposed on catching American shad, officials said. Fishing for the species is banned in Maryland and Pennsylvania, but not in New Jersey, Delaware, New York, North Carolina and other states. – Baltimore Sun

Friday, May 30, 2008P

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine – The arrival of warm weather in Maine means tourists won't be far behind, scarfing down the state's signature seafood at the numerous lobster joints that dot the coast. And with that comes the perennial debate over lobster-part preferences -- claws or tails.

In these parts, it's a question that can stir spirited debate, something akin to asking Southerners which kind of barbecue is best.

The North American lobster, Homarus americanus, is regarded as the king of shellfish. Served whole with a side of melted butter is the traditional way to eat it, but chefs also use lobster meat in numerous recipes, from appetizers and stews to salads and pastas.

Much of the lobster is edible, including meat from parts many diners never try - the body, legs, even the tail flippers. By comparison, the tail and claws offer rich rewards for comparably little effort.

The tail meat generally is chewier and more fibrous than the claw. That's because lobsters flap them forcefully as a means of locomotion, said Brian Beal, a lobster expert and professor at the University of Maine at Machias.

The claw muscles are softer, because they aren't used as much or as vigorously as the tail. The crusher claw (the larger of the two, used to crush things) generally is tougher than the pincer claw (used to pull things apart).

Beal prefers the tail to the claw. He says it's meatier and more flavorful. The tail and claw have different tastes, he says, much the way that the different parts of other animals have diverse flavors.

Melissa Bouchard, head chef at DiMillo's Floating Restaurant in Portland, Maine, is familiar with the claw vs. tail debate. Year-round, DiMillo's goes through 140 lobsters and 70 pounds of lobster meat a day.

She says claw meat is preferable for lobster rolls and lobster club sandwiches because it's more tender and easier to eat.

Lobster tails, however, are used for the restaurant's deep-fried lobster tail entree, Bouchard says, because they stand up better than claws to deep-frying.

And then there is the best of both worlds. A combination of claw, tail and knuckle meat is used in other dishes such as lobster ravioli, seafood scampi and baked lobster pie.

Bouchard thinks people from Maine prefer the claw meat, while people from other parts of the country like the tail. – Baltimore Sun

MOSCOW – Russian border guards in an Mi-8 helicopter swoop down on a blue fiberglass boat in the gray waters of the Caspian Sea along the frontier with Kazakhstan.

 Three men in the unmarked vessel peer up then speed off before the chopper intercepts them. Hovering over the boat, officers look for the sturgeon whose eggs are the world's most expensive caviar. This time, their hold is empty and the men go free.

 ``Poachers drop all their catch into the water when they feel danger, and then you can't do anything about them,'' Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Trostoshenko, 48, who supervises patrols tracking the illicit fishing in the Astrakhan region, says as the helicopter heads farther out to sea.

 Russia is stepping up efforts to stop the illegal trade in wild sturgeon caviar, adding anti-poaching patrols and raiding markets after banning exports to save the fish from extinction. That's pushed the price of caviar from other countries to records. The number of sturgeon worldwide has plummeted more than 97 percent in 15 years, the environmental group WWF says.

 Sturgeon stocks were decimated as poaching went unchecked after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Dams on the Volga River reduced spawning grounds, and drilling for oil and gas disturbed their habitat in the Caspian Sea.

 Patrols in the Russian part of the Caspian seized 334 boats last year, destroying more than 62 kilometers (39 miles) of nets, 63,000 hooks, and 6.7 tons of sturgeon meat and caviar.

The sturgeon is one of the oldest fish in existence and grows as long as 18 feet. Those in the Caspian, such as the beluga, yield about 90 percent of the world's caviar.

 Russia banned commercial sturgeon fishing in 2002 and stopped exporting wild caviar four years ago. Other Caspian nations, including Iran, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, still permit sturgeon fishing.

 All of the countries except Iran have verbally agreed to a five-year moratorium beginning as early as 2009, says Andrey Krainy, Russia's fisheries chief in Moscow.

 Russian caviar sold abroad is illegal unless the container specifies it came from farmed sturgeon, Krainy says.

 ``We don't export anything and won't be doing so this year, not a single egg,'' he says.

Harrods in London sells 50 grams of beluga caviar, the most prized variety, for 435 pounds ($860), a 60 percent increase since October. The caviar is produced in Kazakhstan. – Bloomberg

Imagine a plate of chunky fat golden chips, crispy on the outside and fluffy as a cloud in the middle, seasoned with cracked black pepper, sea salt and a dash of vinegar. Now try to picture those very same chips without the white, firm and moist flesh of the hammour (grouper) by their side. It’s a bit like an unpleasant dream.

Yet if the UAE’s favourite fish continues to be consumed with such voracity, it might be a nightmare that you’ll have to get used to. Our infatuation with the versatile and flavoursome hammour (or orange-spotted grouper, as it is also known) has prompted warnings of overfishing.

 An expanding population and a rise in tourism has lead to an increased demand for the fish, and local fishermen are responding in earnest, notably off the coast of Ajman.

 As well as depleting fish stocks, overfishing can seriously harm the environment.  Anchor damage can lead to the destruction of coral reefs and local wildlife such as dugongs and turtles can become entangled in fishing equipment and drown. -- The National, United Arab Emirates