Shem Creek, SC » tuna

‘Bench Mark’, winners of the 2010 MegaDock Tournament

Charleston Native — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:58:16 +0000

They were listed first alphabetically as competitors in this year’s MegaDock Tournament, so it was practically “in the stars” that the ‘Bench Mark‘ crew end a day early – with double the catch of the 2nd place team!

Bench Mark’s Blue Marlin and 5 Sailfish releases toppled Reel Passion’s 2nd place spot of 2 Blue Marlin and 1 Sailfish release, but everybody involved had a great time no doubt!

“The interesting thing is that for the first time in years, a large number of blue marlin were encountered, with 14 actually being caught and released. This is more than the total number of blue’s that have been caught this year in the three previous tournaments combined. Further, in recent years, July has been a slow month for encountering blue marlin. The reason for the surge is unknown.” – SCDNR biologist Wallace Jenkins.

Congratulations to the ‘Bench Mark’ crew. So, what’s the split on $105,184 amongst y’all anyway?

[[Show as slideshow]]

NOAA seeks public input on governing Swordfish, Bluefin Tuna fishing

Charleston Native — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:34:38 +0000

NOAA’s Fisheries Service is holding a series of public meetings this summer seeking comments on potential changes in the way commercial and recreational fishermen fish the U.S. quotas for swordfish and bluefin tuna in the Atlantic.

In the case of both fish stocks, U.S. fishermen have not been able to catch the U.S. quotas designed to ensure that the stocks are fished sustainably. While these species are managed internationally, the United States manages the domestic part of these fisheries by taking into account the ecosystem and working to reduce bycatch of turtles and other species. This approach increases expenses for U.S. fishermen and makes it more difficult for them to compete in the marketplace with cheaper imports from fishing nations that subsidize their fleets and do not use an ecosystem approach.

“Swordfish are nearly rebuilt, yet our fishermen are only catching 54 percent of the U.S.
quota. Bluefin tuna are a more complicated story. U.S. fishermen have followed quotas based on scientific recommendations designed to end overfishing. There may be ways to fish more of the U.S. quotas for both stocks in a sustainable manner.” – Jim Balsiger, acting NOAA Assistant Admin. for NOAA’s Fisheries Service

The public process will also be a chance to examine using “catch shares,” which would allocate a portion of the total catch to a person, company, community or sector, to better manage these fisheries. NOAA will examine novel ways to limit the bycatch of sea turtles, marine mammals, or undersized, prohibited and spawning fish in the bluefin and swordfish fisheries.

Jim Balsiger says they’ve “heard a number of ideas from constituents and we want to broaden the conversation to include recreational fishermen, environmental organizations and the general public on how best to manage these valuable highly migratory fish species.”

This effort to involve the public comes as NOAA’s Fisheries Service announces this season’s bluefin tuna quota for U.S. commercial and recreational fishermen. The rule puts in place reductions in overall quota that were adopted at the November 2008 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the international body that manages tuna, swordfish and other species that cross international boundaries.

CREDIT: Greenpeace

The rule, which published on June 1, raises the daily catch limit from one to two bluefin tunas for recreational fishermen. NOAA had originally proposed a daily limit of one but raised the limit to two per day after reviewing comments from the fishing industry and analyzing the change for consistency with the bluefin tuna rebuilding program. The new rule maintains the three-fish per day limit for commercial fishermen.

NOAA received many comments and suggestions during the recent bluefin tuna rule making on ways to improve long-term management of bluefin and swordfish. These proposals will now be part of this summer’s public process.

In addition to considering catch shares and by-catch reduction, some of the proposals that will be discussed include:

• an industry request to lower the commercial minimum size for bluefin tuna from 73 to 65 inches
• an industry request to allow more bluefin tuna to be landed that have been incidentally caught in longline fishing gear
• a proposal to allow approximately 5,000 commercial tuna fishermen who use rod and reel to land swordfish at low catch levels

Public comments on bluefin tuna fishery issues will close June 30, while comments on all other issues, including swordfish, will remain open until Aug. 31.

All meetings will begin with an opportunity for people to view information on the issues raised in the public process and ask questions at 5 p.m., followed by a presentation and opportunity for public comment beginning at 6 p.m.

The closest public meeting to us here on Shem Creek will be held next Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. on June 25 at:

Roanoke Island Festival Park
1 Festival Park
Manteo, N.C. 27954

You can learn more about the public comment process or the bluefin tuna quota at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/

Overfishing: The End of the Line

Charleston Native — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:54:35 +0000

The world’s first major documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

“Overfishing is the great environmental disaster that people haven’t heard about”
– producer George Duffield.

In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with seafood – from right here on Shem Creek, all the way to the world’s biggest consumers of seafood: Asians, Japan specifically.

The documentary examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.

“The End of the Line” lays the responsibility squarely on consumers who innocently buy endangered fish, politicians who ignore the advice and pleas of scientists, fishermen who break quotas and fish illegally, and the global fishing industry that is slow to react to an impending disaster.

“Reading the book changed my life and what I eat. I hope the film will do the same for others,” producer Claire Lewis.

The healthiest sea on the planet

Charleston Native — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:47:28 +0000

In a vast, turquoise-blue corner of Earth, the forces of nature have crafted a truly amazing underwater tapestry of corals – Coral Triangle, the ‘nursery of the seas’ – an area where tuna is part of the culture and biodiversity is paramount.

Find out more at http://www.panda.org/coraltriangle.

How well do you know the fish you just paid for?

Charleston Native — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:38:25 +0000

Sure, it’s easy to tell the difference between a tuna steak and a fillet of salmon, and even easier, shark vs. grouper or trout, but what about halibut and turbot?

Turbot? Huh? Exactly. That’s what a fish broker just got arrested for after an investigation by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. Turns out he was selling turbot – a flatfish native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic – as halibut.

I haven’t tried turbot myself, but fortunately for us here on the East coast, most of his sales took place in Utah and Texas, so it’s a pretty safe bet you’re getting what you pay for here on Shem Creek – and I’ve never heard otherwise.

But I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume that the buyer was getting packaged fish, because as soon as I saw what turbot looked like, I knew I’d never confuse it with halibut, but flounder? Now that’s a different story!

Hi-Res Halibut
(Credit: Wikipedia)

Turbot
(Credit: Wikipedia)

Flounder
(Credit: Wikipedia)

Sustainable fishing levels won’t be back until 2032

Charleston Native — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:26:58 +0000

Here is a short video from NBC on the real-world problem of overfishing and how it has depleted at least 3 fisheries around the world of Atlantic salmon, bluefin tuna, and mackerel icefish.

Bluefin tuna extinct by 2012

Charleston Native — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:07:38 +0000

The WWF last warned about bluefin tuna going extinct only 6 months ago – now, as European fishing fleets prepare to begin their two-month Mediterranean fishing season tomorrow, the WWF says bluefin tuna that spawn – those aged four years and older – will have disappeared by 2012 at current rates.

Demand from Japan has triggered an explosion in hunting over the past decade and they even use illegal spotter planes to track the tuna.

The WWF and other campaign groups say bluefin can only be saved by a complete halt to fishing in May and June as the fish rush through the Straits of Gibraltar to spawn in the Mediterranean.

Here’s a scene you don’t see everyday; watch the guy to the right as he clubs the tuna over the head to kill it:

UPDATE: 6/27/2010: From today’s NYT’s: Tuna’s End

Why mercury in canned tuna is still legal

Charleston Native — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:14:15 +0000

Just ask MotherJones, she knows best.

Hopefully you or your mother aren’t eating tuna everyday like a former co-worker of mine did for breakfast. Sure, he lost lots of weight, and his high protein diet was helping that, but a high canned tuna diet has other side effects too. Symptoms of mercurial poisoning include, but are not limited to:

loss of hair,
heart fluttering,
heart, nervous system, and kidney damage,
and more.

I haven’t ran into John in a couple of years, but hopefully everything is going good for him.

Back on topic, I’ve reported on seafood mercury levels in this blog before. As a matter of fact, my earlier post Seafood Mercury Levels Make Headlines quotes the same High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi article that MotherJones just mentioned, so it’s certainly nothing new on the health front, but it is one that people need to be aware of.

The problem is, with canned tuna providing the highest source of mercury in the American diet, people need to wake up and smell the tuna – without the mercury in it! Oh, and say thanks to the FDA for looking out for us.

It’s almost expected nowadays to hear that Bumble Bee, StarKist, and Tri-Union (parent company of Chicken of the Sea) are doing all they can to quiet their unhealthy ways, but when the FDA, the very agency of the U.S. government put in place to protect us, is out there reputedly taking payoffs from company executives, then we have a serious health issue here in America.

Non-fried, Omega-3 fish deter memory loss

Charleston Native — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:55:22 +0000

Seafood lovers are jumping up and down all over the coast on news from a Neurology.org study stating that fatty fish may help prevent memory loss – including dementia.

“Previous findings have shown that fish and fish oil can help prevent stroke, but this is one of the only studies that looks at fish’s effect on silent brain (lesions) in healthy, older people. While eating tuna and other types of fish seems to help protect against memory loss and stroke, these results were not found in people who regularly ate fried fish.” – Jyrki Virtanen, study leader.

Fish with omega-3 fatty acids are the most helpful, including: herring, mackerel, salmon, and sardines. The study showed that people who ate these fish 3x or more per week had nearly a 26% lower risk of having health conditions such as silent brain lesions, or mini-strokes.

Seafood mercury levels make headlines

Charleston Native — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:20:14 +0000

Last week I watched a documentary focused on the worldwide practice of flash-freezing fish performed by commercial fishermen. Even with the recent article on this blog about mercury levels in South Carolina’s seafood still in the back of my mind, I was thinking more about the possibility of tuna’s extinction due to overfishing for the hungry sushi market than the idea that there may be mercury in all of them.

The subject of mercury levels in seafood came up again this morning while watching an episode on the Today Show. The guest was a doctor specializing in food & health. She mentioned that predator-type fish (shark, tuna, swordfish, etc.) are the ones that contain the highest levels of mercury. She also said that eating seafood in moderation is key. The inspiration for their story was published by the NYT two days ago: High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi, one that immediately caught flak from the National Fisheries Institute.

Shem Creek, SC » tuna

‘Bench Mark’, winners of the 2010 MegaDock Tournament

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NOAA seeks public input on governing Swordfish, Bluefin Tuna fishing

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Overfishing: The End of the Line

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