Tsunami: Fisheries hit by safety fears
The nuclear crisis has spread fear among people all over the world, but fishermen in areas around the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant say the perception of danger is unfairly affecting their livelihoods.
Although few of their catches are contaminated with radioactive materials beyond allowable limits, buyers and consumers have refused to buy, knocking down the market prices of seafood.
"How long should we wait until the situation gets better? For days? For months?" asked Tetsuro Tsuchida, head of Kujukuri Makiami Fisheries Cooperative.
"Sardines usually sell for ¥40 per kilo. But now the price is down to about ¥15 to ¥20," Tsuchida said.
"I want to know if we're going to be compensated for the loss. If so, who will do it? The prefectural, or central government?" he asked.
Highly radioactive water from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant flowed into the sea until April 6. The operator also intentionally dumped about 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific to empty tanks to hold far more toxic water from the crippled reactor buildings.
Read the rest at The Japan Times.
The Road to End Overfishing: 35 Years of Magnuson Act
Assistant Administrator Schwaab for Fisheries Talks about the Cornerstone of Sustainable Fisheries
As we look toward Earth Day next week, I want to acknowledge and highlight the 35 th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Simply called “the Magnuson Act”, this law, its regional framework and goal of sustainability, has proven to be a visionary force in natural resource management - both domestically and internationally. The Magnuson Act is, and will continue to be a key driver for NOAA as we deliver on our nation’s commitment to ocean stewardship, sustainable fisheries, and healthy marine ecosystems
Because of the Magnuson Act, the U.S. is on track to end overfishing in federally-managed fisheries, rebuild stocks, and ensure conservation and sustainable use of our ocean resources. Fisheries harvested in the United States are scientifically monitored, regionally managed and legally enforced under 10 strict national standards of sustainability. This anniversary year marks a critical turning point in the Act’s history. By the end of 2011, we are on track to have an annual catch limit and accountability measures in place for all 528 federally-managed fish stocks and complexes. The dynamic, science-based management process envisioned by Congress is now in place, the rebuilding of our fisheries is underway, and we are beginning to see real benefits for fishermen, fishing communities and our commercial and recreational fishing industries.
But, we did not get here overnight. Our nation’s journey toward sustainable fisheries has evolved over the course of 35 years. At this particular moment it is important to take time and reflect back on where we have been to understand where we are and fully appreciate the historic visions and strategic investments that got us here, particularly by the Act’s principal architects, the late U.S. Senators Warren G. Magnuson of Washington State and Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Read the rest on SavingSeaFood.org.
Sardines return by the millions to B.C.
Ucluelet, Zeballos and Port Hardy harvested 22,000 tonnes of fast-swimming fish last year
BY GORDON HAMILTON, VANCOUVER SUN
Sardines have returned to the B.C. coast in schools "thick enough to walk on," creating a fascinating spectacle and new fishery on Vancouver Island.
Fishing fleets in resourcedependent communities like Ucluelet, Zeballos and Port Hardy harvested 22,000 tonnes of sardines last year, a tiny fraction of the schools that observers say can be hundreds of metres long as they move into the island's bays and inlets.
"I've seen them on the west coast of Vancouver Island thick enough to walk on," Barron Carswell, senior manager of marine fisheries and seafood policy for the provincial Agriculture Ministry, said in an interview. "It's incredible. They are all over the place. You can go into little bays and the surface of the water is all sardines."
Sardines, also called pilchards, were at one time a major B.C. fishery, but they mysteriously disappeared in the 1940s. Overfishing along their migration route from California to Alaska is believed to be a prime cause.
Their return is being attributed to changes in ocean conditions.
Read the rest at the Vancouver Sun.
175 tons of dead sardines scooped from CA marina
Associated Press
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ 03.31.11
LOS ANGELES -- Three weeks after a huge fish die-off in Southern California, officials have a body count but still can't say what drove 175 tons of sardines into a marina.
Dave Caron, professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California, said Thursday that as many as 2.5 million sardines blanketed the surface and floor of King Harbor Marina.
Read the rest of the story here.
The End of Overfishing in America
By Michael Conathan | March 25, 2011This feature is part of a new series from CAP dealing with fisheries management issues. The series will publish biweekly on Fridays. It is a joint column with Science Progress.Eric Schwaab, the administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, stood before a crowd of fisheries experts on Monday at the Boston Seafood Show. Schwaab had made many forays to New England—home of some of the squeakiest wheels in our nation’s fishing industry—since taking over the job about a year ago. But this time was different. He came bearing a remarkable message: We are witnessing the end of overfishing in U.S. waters.One of the biggest changes to fisheries law in the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was the imposition of strict annual catch limits, or ACLs, in fisheries experiencing overfishing beginning in 2010, and for all other fisheries in 2011, “at a level such that overfishing does not occur.” Schwaab said the 2010 target of putting ACLs in place for all overfished fisheries was achieved, and “We are on track to meet this year’s deadline of having [ACLs] in place, as required, for all 528 managed stocks and complexes comprising U.S. harvest.”Schwaab went on to call this accomplishment an “enormous milestone.” Quite frankly, that is an even more enormous understatement.The end of overfishing should be shouted from rooftops from New England to the Carolinas to the Gulf Coast to Alaska to the Pacific Island territories and back to NMFS’s Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters. This is the biggest national news story our fisheries have seen in years.Read the rest of the story from America Progress.
California City Charts Course in Tsunami's Wake
By Tamara AudiCRESCENT CITY, Calif.—Somewhere under the murky waters of this city's demolished harbor lay the remains of Marty Lopez's fishing business."That boat kept me alive for 27 years," said Mr. Lopez, gazing out at the harbor where his boat, the Nellie, sank in the March 11 tsunami. The Nellie, like many boats here, wasn't insured.Japan's 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed thousands and yielded an unfolding nuclear disaster. No one was hurt when the tsunami arrived in Crescent City, but the wave destroyed its harbor, threatening the economic future of the 157-year-old fishing village just south of Oregon. 
"We're fighting to survive," said Richard Young, the harbor master, in an interview last week. He surveyed the damage to the small but vital fishing industry: Forty-seven boats—many of them part of the commercial fishing fleet of about 100 boats—were damaged, and 16 more were sunk.Earlier in the day, Mr. Young told an official in another city where he had recently accepted a position as harbor master that he wouldn't be taking the job. "Things are so bad here I just can't leave," he told the city official on the phone.The harbor's wooden docks are in pieces; chunks of broken concrete are pushed to the edges of the harbor. Masts and bows poke out of the water as divers work to map the underwater wreckage. Smashed boats are crushed against each other and the harbor wall.Read the rest of the story at The Wall Street Journal.
Judge hears catch quota arguments
March 19, 2011
Written by KIRK MOORE
POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Some mid-Atlantic fishermen challenging a controversial system of catch quotas say that two-thirds of the fishing industry must vote in its favor before it can be imposed.
Their contention was raised during arguments in a federal court hearing in Boston. The New England case has been at the center of a legal and political battle over the catch quota system involving cod, haddock and flounder.
When a federal judge, Rya Zobel, heard the arguments Tuesday, attention focused on one allegation raised by mid-Atlantic fishermen. They argue federal law says the catch quotas cannot be imposed without an industrywide referendum that wins support among two-thirds of the affected fishing boat owners, captains and crews.
"The arguments quickly zeroed in on the issue of catch shares being an ITQ (individual transferable quotas system) and needing a referendum," said James Lovgren of the Fishermen's Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach.
Read the rest of the story here.
Tsunami Passes Alaska, No Reports of Damage
The massive earthquake that struck Japan late Thursday triggered a tsunami which swept along the Alaska coastline from the Aleutian chain to Southeast Alaska Friday morning, causing no reports of damage to date.A stretch of coastline between Attu and Amchitka Pass was under a tsunami warning Friday morning, while the rest of the state faced a less-severe tsunami advisory that continued into the afternoon.A tide gauge at Shemya, Alaska, monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed water rising 5 feet early Friday. Meters near Adak and Dutch Harbor showed smaller rises.The State Emergency Coordination Center activated late Thursday and plans to remain active until all Alaska communties are in the clear. There have been no reports of damage.“Many of the communities now threatened by these tsunamis have recently received new all-hazardRead the rest of the story here.