Aug 3
in the Bering….
seen from Japan
seen from Yemen
seen from France
seen from Australia
seen from China
seen from Japan
seen from Taiwan
seen from Canada
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Estonia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
in the Bering….
Crabfishing... growing up on the Swedish west coast was something part of the childhood. You had a bucket a fishing line and clothespin. But this is on an other level.... love to see the outdoorsy Jamie... fishing and be on the sea. He got some serious sea salt in the vanes.
Crabbing Gear
Newport Harbor, Oregon
Crab Fishing, Southern Norway, 1968
Excerpt from this SFGate story:
California crab fisheries will close for the season in April when whales are feeding off the state's coast as part of an effort to keep Dungeness crab fishery gear from killing protected whales, officials announced Tuesday.
The April 15 closure, three months before the crab fishing season normally ends, is part of a settlement reached by the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The center sued the state agency in 2017, saying it was liable for a surge in entanglement of endangered whales and sea turtles because it oversees operation of the fishery on state and federal waters off California's coast.
"This is a great victory for the whales and sea turtles that come to feed off the coast of California in very large numbers every single spring season," said Kristen Monsell, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney.
Dungeness crab season will close April 1 in 2020 and 2021 in the Monterey Bay area and along the Sonoma and Mendocino counties line, both spots where whales amass to feed in the spring as they make their journey north, according to the settlement. The agreement also establishes criteria that could prompt an even earlier closure, including one confirmed whale entanglement in Dungeness crab fishing gear or two confirmed entanglements in other fishing gear or the presence of 20 or more whales in a spot.
Winslow Homer - Crab Fishing, 1883, watercolour over pencil on paper Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is an American landscape and seascape painter and printmaker who is mostly self taught. Homer began his career as a comercial artist. He worked as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War.
As rising ocean temperatures move their food supplies closer to shore, a staggering number of migrating whales have been forced into the path of California’s crab fishing fleet — and the confrontations have increased dramatically over th
As rising ocean temperatures move their food supplies closer to shore, a staggering number of migrating whales have been forced into the path of California’s crab fishing fleet — and the confrontations have increased dramatically over the last five years.
State agencies have tried and failed to keep whales out of crab gear, prompting one nonprofit to take matters into its own hands. In October, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, claiming the department’s failure to prevent Dungeness crab gear from harassing, injuring and killing endangered whales and sea turtles violates the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit calls for increased regulation of California’s Dungeness crab fishery, a prospect many crab fishermen fear will put them out of business.
“Whale entanglements in crab gear have been tolerated by state and federal officials for way too long,” said Kristen Monsell, senior attorney for the wildlife conservation organization. “Our lawsuit and petition seek reforms to finally reduce these heartbreaking and illegal injuries.”
The numbers tell the story: Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigated 71 separate cases of whale entanglement off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California. There were only 30 reported cases in 2014 and 10 in 2012. One-third of the entanglements reported during 2016 involved an endangered species and gear from California’s Dungeness crab fishery. There is no data on how many of the entangled whales perished.
In September 2015, the state fish and wildlife department responded by creating the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group. The working group is comprised of commercial and recreational fishermen, representatives from environmental organizations, and members of the disentanglement response teams. The group created a “best practices guide” that recommends that fishermen make simple changes to avoid whale entanglement, such as adjusting the length of their trap lines and avoiding whales while setting gear.
The Center for Biological Diversity helped create the best practices guide but later became convinced the fish and wildlife department had no intention of turning the recommendations into enforceable regulation. So the nonprofit decided to sue.
Read more here.
Written by Annie Roth, Bay Area News Group
Photo provided by NOAA
Hoi Han, basket-boats