This Week on TalkingFish.org – June 3-7

Jun 7, 2013 by  | Bio |  Leave a Comment

June 6 - The Most Valuable Fishery You’ve Never Heard Of - On May 31, Maine’s elver fishing season came to a close. For the small number of Maine fishermen who can make over $100,000 in two months capturing elvers, the end of the season may come as a bit of a letdown. For the regulators and conservation officers who try to manage the fishery, however, the close probably comes none too soon.

June 7 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, June 7 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, ocean acidification will affect squid; puffins may be in trouble due to depleted herring populations; NOAA cancels furloughs; Maine celebrates the reopening of fishways on the St. Croix; Omega Protein will pay $5.5 million in fines for Clean Water Act violations; the Maine Legislature wants a $3.5 million bond to subsidize groundfish permit purchases; fourteen sea scallop research projects receive $12.5 million in grants.

This Week on TalkingFish.org – April 8-12

Apr 12, 2013 by  | Bio |  Leave a Comment

April 10 - 70,000 Citizens, 100 Scientists Want New England’s Waters Protected - More than a hundred prominent scientists are urging federal officials to prevent the return of damaging, bottom trawl fishing to waters that have protected fish habitat and spawning areas in New England for nearly two decades. The scientists aren’t the only ones speaking up. More than 70 thousand people sent comments opposing the proposal.

April 12 - Top Ten Reasons to Protect New England’s Closed Areas - Why should NOAA reject the plan to expand commercial fishing in 5,000 square miles of protected waters? Let us count the ways.

April 12 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 12 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, communities react to the start of spring herring runs; Maine’s legislature approves a bill to open fishways on the St. Croix to alewives; other Maine bills would help out large vessels and allow groundfishermen to sell lobster bycatch; the elver fishery continues to draw crime and controversy; New Bedford processors diversify; healthy menhaden stocks support smallmouth bass; the disastrous Gulf of Maine shrimp season ends; debate on closed areas continues.

This Week on TalkingFish.org – April 1-5

Apr 5, 2013 by  | Bio |  Leave a Comment

April 3 – For Cod’s Sake - In this video, CLF’s Peter Shelley explains the dramatic decline of cod stocks in New England and the action that must be taken to prevent the loss of this region’s most iconic fishery. Atlantic cod populations are at an all-time historic low. The cod fishery, which for generations has supported a way of life in New England’s coastal communities, may be in complete collapse. Click through to see the video.

April 5 - Help Count River Herring (Because They Count, Too) - Somewhere out there on our coast, out where rivers hit salt water, thousands of small fish are gathering, getting ready for an epic voyage inland. The annual run of river herring is about to start. Hundreds of people are getting ready, too. They’re the volunteers who will gather at bridges, fish ladders and riverbanks to count the passing herring—an important exercise in citizen science that can help to conserve these imperiled fish.

April 5 – Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 5 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, two Senators push for fisheries disaster aid; NEFMC will discuss raising the catch limit for white hake; a bill to open the St. Croix to alewives gains traction; Gov. LePage threatens reprisals against Passamaquoddy Tribe over elver fishery; acoustic monitoring may help locate spawning cod aggregations; Senator Jack Reed pushes for Rhode Island membership on Mid-Atlantic Council.