Category: November ’14

FISH-SAFE: What do Coast Guard casualty stats tell us?

The Coast Guard First District maintains a database of incidents to which it has responded.  As of Oct. 7, there were fewer commercial fishing casualties to date in 2014 than in any of the last five years – 176.  That compares to the prior five years for this date when the totals have ranged from …

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Gulf of Maine Cod – SPECIAL REPORT

New England council requests emergency action for GOM cod HYANNIS, MA – Following hours of difficult discussion punctuated by impassioned testimony from numerous commercial and recreational fishermen who had much at stake, the New England Fishery Management Council on Oct. 1 voted to ask the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take emergency action to “reduce …

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EDITORIAL – Science must acknowledge climate change effects

Populations of many fish species – summer flounder, butterfish, squid, black sea bass, cod, and bluefin tuna to name a few – are clearly being impacted by changing ocean water temperatures.  The challenge now is to realign fisheries stock assessment science and fisheries management protocols to acknowledge this new reality. Climate-related changes in migration, abundance, …

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A welcome ‘good news’ story: GOM haddock stock healthy and growing

HYANNIS, MA – The most recent stock assessment for Gulf of Maine haddock indicates that the resource is not overfished or subject to overfishing and, in fact, is projected to increase thanks to the recent addition of several large year classes to the population. Jim Weinberg of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center presented these findings …

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GMRI report: Plan for emerging fisheries in the Gulf of Maine

PORTLAND, ME – If fishery population centers keep trending northward due to warming water temperatures, and if quotas continue to be allocated based on historical landings, the summer flounder dilemma could extend to more stocks – Mid-Atlantic states having large quotas with low stock abundance and New England states having high stock abundance with low …

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New bluefin stock assessments show stunning reversal in abundance

by Rich Ruais As recently as 2009, the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was warning that the eastern Atlantic stock of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea faced “a high risk of fisheries and stock collapse.” This implied terrible stock condition led …

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New Maine company offers seafood freezing, packaging, frozen storage

BUCKSPORT, ME – Central Maine Cold Storage is now open for business.  The privately funded company formally unveiled its $2 million state-of-the-art, on-demand seafood freezing, packaging, and storage facility on Oct. 9 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony attend by Gov. Paul LePage. The company is offering IQF (individually quick frozen) and blast freezing processes for all …

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LMR – Lobster supply increases; prices hold steady

The October lobster market combined dramatically improved catches with many Maine fishermen saying they were now on par with their 2013 numbers, pleasing prices, and mammoth catches from Canada’s Bay of Fundy fishery. The Fundy fishery, Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 35, opened Oct. 15.  Though catches varied for each of the fishery’s 95 or so …

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Small scallops abound; future looks especially bright on Georges Bank

HYANNIS, MA – Georges Bank is littered with scallops.  Biomass there is extremely high, and the enormous 2013 year class promises to fuel the fishery for several years to come. Just not in 2015. “There are a lot of scallops out there, but they’re still pretty small – not a lot of meat on these …

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Health insurance open enrollment starts Nov. 15

GLOUCESTER, MA – Open enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) starts Nov. 15 and runs through Feb. 15, 2015.  Signing up means getting health care coverage and avoiding tax penalties, too. As part of the ACA, trained and certified “navigators” offer free assistance with the application process and provide information on the …

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