Ahab's Journal

Fishing with Big Brother

To enforce limits on how much fishermen like John Our are catching, the government is testing out onboard cameras. Excessive? He actually welcomes the scrutiny.

"John Our drives a gleaming black Ford pickup truck with one bumper sticker plastered on the back in sharp white contrast. It reads, “National Marine Fisheries Service: Destroying fishermen and their communities since 1976.” Our believes government scientists don’t know as much about the ocean environment as they’d like to think and have created useless regulations. He blames them for the decline in fishing jobs. And yet Our may represent the government’s latest and perhaps last hope in its efforts to save not just the fish in New England’s sea but also the fishermen whose livelihoods they support."

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Food & Water Watch Exposes Kona Blue’s Claims of Sustainability

"Washington, D.C. – Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group, today released a paper that rebutts the recent claims by Kona Blue Water Farms that the fish it raises are more sustainable than wild fish. The consumer group’s paper enumerates the problems with the Hawaii-based aquaculture operation’s methods and debunks the claims that its Kona Kampachi fish are sixty times as “efficient” as wild fish."

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Maryland hopes to buy back crab licenses

Reverse auction of commercial permits would protect fishery

"Crabbers, name your price. In an unprecedented move to protect Chesapeake Bay crabs, the state is offering to buy back more than half of the commercial crabbing licenses held by Marylanders.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday that it wants to retire up to 3,676 of the "limited crab catcher" licenses it has issued over the years and is willing to pay for them.

The voluntary buyback is the state's most recent bid to protect the bay's iconic crustacean from overfishing as it recovers from a near-disastrous decline. Although the bay's crab population rebounded significantly last year in the wake of stringent restrictions put on commercial crabbing, scientists say it has not fully recovered and remains vulnerable to another drop if people licensed but not now crabbing went out on the water after them."

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Grouper fishing hitting the skids

"CORTEZ — It might not be long before fishing boats at AP Bell Fish Co. are grounded.

Job security is also in jeopardy for the Cortez company’s 17 employees.

Karen Bell, office manager for AP Bell Fish Co., said the business is re-evaluating its operations due to fishing restrictions placed on commercial grouper in May. Others in the fishing industry say the new regulations are creating havoc that will result in job losses and higher fish prices."

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Seaweed invasion hurts shrimpers

"CHARLESTON -- It seemed a good year was shaping up for South Carolina shrimpers with fuel prices down from last season and plentiful rain to carry shrimp out of their nursery grounds along the shore. But then came the seaweed invasion.

Blooms of two types of invasive seaweed for six weeks from May to mid-June tangled shrimpers' nets, costing them time, fuel, labor and much of their catch."

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Fishers are victims; stop blaming them

"This past spring, the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council called for the creation of a preserve on Long Island to protect offshore aquatic ecosystems. Fire Island National Seashore ended its policy of allowing baymen to harvest horseshoe crabs, which baymen use to harvest killies, conch and eels as part of their livelihood. And the Nature Conservancy now prohibits commercial fishing in the former underwater lands controlled by the Bluepoints Co.

Meanwhile, the National Marine Fisheries Service has eliminated the commercial harvesting of summer and winter flounder by New York fishers, yet allows out-of-state fishers to harvest these same fish - in our waters.

Then there are the minuscule quotas for recreational and commercial fishers established in 1996, numerous state permits required for working fishers, and the imposition of a state recreational fishing license whose proceeds will maintain existing government expenses but will not directly assist the beleaguered recreational fishing industry.

All these factors point the way to the imminent extinction of Long Island's commercial and recreational fishing industry."

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Massachusetts fish may get branded statewide

"BOSTON — One local lawmaker wants to see “Commonwealth Cod” served up as a dinner staple on South Shore tables and beyond.

At least that’s one moniker Rep. James Cantwell suggested Thursday for a possible branding campaign for Massachusetts seafood."

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Fishing vigil, rally is a new beginning in fight for justice

"Wednesday night's candlelight vigil and demonstration against the shameful regulatory and enforcement squeeze on a fishing industry already struggling for survival was an invigorating show of passion and solidarity.

While most of the more than 300 people who packed City Hall and then walked to the Fisherman's Memorial were local residents, others came from New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island. That was fitting; it is, after all, not just a Gloucester issue, even though the city and its fishing community have become a flashpoint for these issues. It is the future of the entire New England fishery, and, by extension, the nation's fishing industry at stake.

But while Wednesday's rally came during a potential industry crossroads — with Department of Commerce Inspector General's investigators in town probing the heavy-handed crackdown actions used by federal enforcers against fishermen and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction — the emotional gathering should be seen as just a new beginning in this battle, not a culmination of the effort to date." 

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At least 9 testify in IG's probe

"A day after hundreds packed Gloucester City Hall at a vigil in support of the fishing industry, area fishermen yesterday met with investigators from the U.S. Commerce Department examining complaints of improper and vindictive enforcement tactics by fisheries regulators.

The meetings, held at a harborside location in Gloucester after an earlier round of interviews were conducted in Wakefield, featured testimony from at least nine people, according to a source familiar with the investigation." 

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Legislative panel pushes for Mass.-branded seafood marketing

"Eric Hesse takes pride in the fish he catches.

A dayboat hook fisherman based in Harwich, Hesse believes his approach lets him catch and sell some of the highest quality fish (he catches mostly haddock) available.

And that is why he is expressing caution about a legislative proposal to investigate the feasibility of branding local seafood with the Massachusetts name.

"When you tar everyone with the same brush, with that idea of a Massachusetts seafood brand, it could reduce our product to the lowest common denominator," he said. "

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