Monday, June 2, 2008P

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Long Island Sound’s ailing lobster industry is trying to recover from a slump that has lasted nearly a decade, but it won’t be getting any help this year from Connecticut’s state legislature.

 Just before the legislative session ended this year, lawmakers declined to pass a proposal to allocate $1.1 million to continue supporting a state lobster program that aims to help restore the dwindling lobster stock. The program, which helps restock the population by marking female lobsters to protect them from capture while they spawn, is also providing economic assistance to lobster fishermen whose income was adversely affected by mass lobster deaths in 1999.

 The program pays them for each female lobster they mark with a V-shaped notch on their tail and then return to the water. But the program will not be able to continue past June 30 without the additional financing.

 A spokesman for Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she hopes to sit down soon with state environmental officials and lobstermen “to see if there is a way to continue this important program with existing appropriations.”

 The proposal to renew funding for the lobster recovery effort became a victim of fears about declining state revenues and widening deficits. When Governor Rell, a Republican, and the Democratic lawmakers who control the legislature agreed not to make any increases in the two-year state budget passed in 2007, it meant the lobster program would not get new financing.  – New York Times

Five years have elapsed since the Pew Oceans Commission’s seminal report urging prompt action to arrest the alarming decline of this country’s ocean resources. Four years have elapsed since a blue-ribbon presidential commission said much the same thing, urging special attention to problems like overfishing and the deterioration of coastal wetlands and estuaries. Despite an occasional burst of energy, however, the Bush administration and Congress have left much to be done. And time is running out.

As is true with many environmental issues — climate change comes immediately to mind — the states have done a better job. New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have either passed legislation or established a regulatory structure to better manage their coastal waters (states control the first three miles, the federal government controls the rest until international waters begin 200 miles offshore). California, always at the leading edge, has begun setting up a network of fully protected zones where fish can flourish with minimal commercial intrusion.

These actions show that progress is possible and challenge the White House and Congress to do better.

President Bush has expressed interest in leaving a positive “blue legacy.” Last year, he created one of the biggest protected marine reserves in the world — 138,000 square miles of largely unspoiled reefs and shoals near Hawaii. He should create at least one and possibly more such reserves elsewhere in American waters before he leaves office — and should persuade other world leaders to do the same.

The president must also give teeth to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the basic law governing fishing in federal waters. Congress reauthorized and strengthened the law in 2006, establishing more ambitious timetables for rebuilding depleted fish species and giving scientists greater say over how many fish can be taken from the sea. Everything depends on whether the National Marine Fisheries Service buttresses good law with strong rules and does not let the commercial fisherman hijack the process.

For its part, Congress must give ocean issues greater priority, in part by reorganizing the way the federal government deals with them. America’s waters are managed under 140 different laws spread across 20 different government agencies. A bill known as Oceans 21 seeks to bring order out of chaos and give ocean protection the prominence it deserves. The bill is slowly gaining traction in the House but could use a strong push from Senate Democrats and the White House.

Many experts believe that the biggest long-term threat to the oceans may be global warming, which could disrupt ocean chemistry in ways that cause havoc with the food chain. The science on this issue is still unclear, however, and in any case, global warming is best addressed in broad legislation like the climate change bill now before the Senate.

In the meantime, there is much that Washington can do to strengthen the resilience of the ocean and its inhabitants so they can withstand whatever stresses the future may bring. – New York Times

PINGTUNG, Taiwan -- The first bluefin tuna caught this season has been sold for $57,055 (U.S.) in an auction at Donggang Harbor.

 The giant tuna fish, weighing 112 pounds, was caught by a fishing boat named Wan Yi Tsai,  which is registered with the Liouciou Islet off Pingtung County.

 To qualify as the first tuna caught for the season, the fish must be a northern bluefin tuna -- a species native to both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean. Its weight must exceed 180 kilograms, and the fish must have been alive when it was removed from the water.  – China Post

(Editor’s note: Conservation groups around the word have denounced the continued fishery on bluefin tuna as unsustainable. This fish sold for $509 a pound.)

Rising fuel costs may force one third of ocean-going long-line tuna fishing boats across the world to halt operations, an industry group said.

 About 140 boats from Taiwan, China, South Korea, Fiji and elsewhere are already standing idle at port, said Yuichiro Harada, managing director at the Tokyo-based Organisation for the Promotion of Responsible Tuna Fisheries.

 "Another 260 boats are considering suspending operations, bringing the total number to about 400" out of 1,174 boats operated by members of the organisation, Harada told AFP.

 "The more you operate, the more money you lose" due to high fuel costs, he said, adding that a typical Japanese boat would lose 100,000 yen (970 dollars) in one day of long-line open-ocean fishing.

 How long the boats might stay in port for could vary from region to region and

depend on whether fuel prices cool, he said.

 Long-line open-ocean fishing mostly catches big-eye and yellowfin tunas, mainly for the Japanese market. Fishing of bluefin tuna is restricted amid fears of extinction. – AFP

Tuesday, June 3, 2008P

KOCHI, India –  Ordinary shrimp is no longer an exotic offering. With production and availability increasing dramatically in the last two decades, shrimp seems to have lost its halo among European and US customers.

 Restaurants have replaced ordinary shrimp with organic variety or rare species like codfish and cuttle, national president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) Anwar Hashim told FE. Reports by the UN suggest that shrimp imports by the US and Japan are decreasing.

 "The declining preference is a concern, given that frozen shrimp accounts for 50% of our total exports. It also throws open an opportunity that India can exploit. We have the expertise and resources to rear and export the rarer varieties."

 Global shrimp production has increased dramatically in the last two decades, with the shift from capture fisheries into farm fisheries. The emergence of China in the trade has dramatically altered the dynamics. From 2000 to 2003, farmed marine shrimp production in China increased at an annual rate of 43%, while in 2004 the production witnessed a very low growth rate of only 8.5% over 2003.

 In 2005, the figure hit a historical record reaching 624,000 tonne, up by 16% over 2004. Preliminary figures show that marine shrimp production in China kept growing in 2006. P Vannamei continues to be the single species dominating shrimp production in China accounting for more than 70% of total farmed shrimp production.

 Steven Leavitt of Freakonomics reveals that consumption of shrimp by US citizens has grown tremendously. Between 1980 and 2005, the amount of shrimp consumed by Americans nearly tripled, from 1.4 pounds per person to 4.1 pounds per person.

 He explains that demand increased substantially because prices dropped sharply. "The real price of shrimp fell by about 50% between 1980 and 2002. When quantity rises and prices are falling, that has to mean that producers have figured out cheaper and better ways to produce shrimp," he writes.

 The entry of the cheaper white shrimp (vanammei) has meant stiff competition for the Indian Black Tiger. It is estimated that Indian shrimp exports to the US fell by 24.2% in volume and 21.8% in value during January-September 2007, when compared with the same period in '06.

 Operating margins have disappeared and from the fisherman to the aquaculture farmer and to the processor, all are battling negative cash flows. – Financial Express, India

SCOTLAND'S unhealthiest takeaway meals are being named and shamed by the Scottish government in an attempt to wean the country off battered fish and creamy curries.

 Ministers have announced a crackdown on carry-outs in an effort to tackle the obesity crisis gripping Scotland.

The £500,000 Take Life On campaign, being launched this week, will ask us to choose healthier alternatives to chips, curries and kebabs as well as to consider the health benefits of cutting down on alcohol and taking more exercise. The advice includes: "Try not eating all of the batter on your fish" and "Avoid creamy sauces".

Shona Robison, the Minister for Public Health, said: "The major message of Take Life On is that simple switches in our daily lives can make a real difference to our health and give us a feel-good boost.

"It doesn't mean making big sacrifices or cutting out pleasures altogether. Small changes like walking to work, aiming for at least two alcohol-free days per week or cutting down on crisps and biscuits by making switches to fruit or vegetables all add up." – Scotland on Sunday

Fisheries committed to demonstrating their sustainability through the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) independent certification program welcomed their 100^th member last week.

 As the latest fishery to enter the program, the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery joins 74 other fisheries currently in assessment and 25 fisheries already certified, for a milestone total of 100 fisheries engaged in the program.

 These fisheries – both certified and in assessment – include a diverse and geographically widespread range of fisheries, from small community-based fisheries in Africa, Asia and Europe to some of the world’s largest fisheries in North America, Europe and New Zealand.

 From Alaska salmon to Kyoto snow crab, North East Arctic saithe to Antarctic South Georgia icefish, MSC-engaged fisheries represent a wide variety of species and over 5 million tons of seafood caught every year. – Press release

A family owned commercial fishing business in Virginia and two of its owners paid $6.8 million in fines and forfeitures after pleading guilty to hiring 126 illegal aliens to work on their boats.

 The charge is a misdemeanor and federal prosecutors had recommended home confinement in addition to the monetary penalties, but U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson sentenced Yvonne Michelle Peabody, the company’s vice president, to three months in prison.

 At the sentencing hearing last month, the judge said he was making an example out of Peabody, who had served on the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council’s law enforcement subcommittee at the same time illegal aliens had been working on the family’s eight scallop boats.

 She paid a $50,000 fine and will also spend an additional four months on home confinement after her release. Her father, William Peabody, will serve five months of home confinement and paid $100,000 in fines. – The Triton, Va.

Thursday, June 5, 2008P

PORTLAND, Maine—Sen. Susan Collins says the federal government has delayed a requirement that lobstermen change the type of rope they're using.

She said the National Marine Fisheries Service agreed to delay until April 2009 a requirement that lobstermen using sinking rope to prevent whale entanglements. The requirement had been scheduled to go into effect this October, which is typically the peak of the lobster season.

 Industry estimates have placed the cost of compliance at $10,000 to $15,000 for each near-shore lobsterman. The cost would be greater for those who fish farther offshore in winter months. – Boston Globe

Almost offhandedly, Tommy Pearson points across the ocean toward the horizon: "Look at all those birds, must be some dolphins coming." Sure enough, a couple of minutes later we're in the midst of a pod that seems a quarter-mile across. It's an awesome sight, hundreds of dolphins arching through the waves.

But Pearson doesn't slow down. He's on his way to work, and this is just another sight on his daily commute. That's what life is like when your office is at the edge of the continental shelf and you get there by boat.

 At 45, Pearson has spent his whole life on the water. It's the only work he's ever done. And right now, the one thing on his mind is spot prawns.

Few things excite Southern California seafood lovers like spot prawns. Their shells are a pale orange that seems to glow from within, and their snow-white flesh is as firm and sweet as lobster.

Sauté them with butter and garlic and some halved cherry tomatoes, strap them in a grill basket and give them a few minutes over an open flame, bake them in salt . . . with an ingredient this good, you don't need to do much to make a great meal.

But spot prawns are a crustacean with a complicated story. In the first place, despite their size, they're not really prawns; they're shrimp. And let's not even get into a discussion of their sex lives.

Buying spot prawns while they are still alive and kicking (no hyperbole here) is the key to quality. Almost immediately after they die, an enzyme in the prawn's head spreads through the body and starts to turn the flesh to mush.

The prawns are kept alive in tanks of chilled oxygenated water that look like big aquariums. Aside from Asian groceries and a few small seafood specialty markets, you'll hardly ever find anyone selling spot prawns.

But at Pearson's Port, the year is divided into two seasons: Spiny lobster in the fall and winter, and spot prawns in the spring and summer. – Los Angeles Times

SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Hold the drawn butter, please.

 A national animal rights group says it is cruel and unusual to boil and eat Maine lobster and they want to draw attention to the suffering of Maine’s trademark crustacean.

 So, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have an idea for the century-old Somerset County Jail — turn it into a “lobster empathy center.”

 The county jail is up for sale, as the sheriff, staff and inmates prepare for a move to a new, modern facility in East Madison this summer.

 “No building would be more appropriate than a jail to set up an interactive display about how these intriguing animals suffer when they are trapped off the coast of Maine and housed in filthy grocery-store tanks before they are boiled alive,” Lindsay Rajt, manager of PETA Vegan Campaigns writes in a June 2 letter to the Somerset County commissioners. – Maine Today

Commercial fisherman Jeff Mikus is not calling it the final nail in the coffin yet, but a 30 percent reduction in Chinook salmon fishing for the west coast of Vancouver Island is just one more blow, he says.

You get to the point where it’s just a slap in the face.”

The Canadian government announced a Pacific Salmon Treaty deal that would see the U.S. government paying $30 million to Canada — in the form of buyouts for trolling vessels — and both countries paying $7.5 million over five years to improve tagging management programs.

 Ironically, the agreement states that commercial fishing hasn’t caused the salmon shortage – poor habitat and poor water management are the culprits – but commercial fishermen have far less political clout than land developers and water districts.

Final approval is still required for the deal which is intended to last 10 years, beginning in 2009.

 West Coast Trollers Association president Kathy Scarfo has said that the proposed 30 percent reduction will affect trollers exclusively, rather than sport of native fishers. – Westcoaster.com, Tofino, B.C.

Friday, June 6, 2008P

 <<< TOP >>>

---