Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Fiocchi Urges Fishing Industry to Apply for NOAA Grants

September 18, 2015 — TRENTON, N.J. – Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi is urging businesses and individuals involved with commercial and recreational fisheries to apply for $10 million in grants made available by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for projects that improve and enhance fisheries and coastal ecosystems.

“Fishing is an important part of the South Jersey economy and these grants present an opportunity to sustain and improve this industry,” said Fiocchi, R-Cumberland, Cape May and Atlantic. “Individuals or companies that understand the benefits of fishing, value the ecosystem of marine life and have proposals to further develop aquaculture should apply for an NOAA grant. People who earn a living or enjoy fishing may have a project that benefits not only New Jersey, but fisheries throughout the country.”

The application deadline is Nov. 2. Forty grants will be awarded, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000. Citizens of the U.S., corporations, associations and non-profit entities are eligible for the program. For more information, visit http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mb/financial_services/skhome.htm or www.grants.gov.

Read the full story at Cape May County Herald 

Salmon that will get you baked: weed-infused fish the latest in cannabis cuisine

September 17, 2015 — Sliced thin with flecks of dill peeking out, the salmon looks like any other of gravlax you would have for brunch. But put it on a bagel with a schmear of cream cheese, and you will get pretty stoned eating this delicacy.

The mastermind behind the THC-infused salmon – cured in salt, dill, lemon, sugar and a weed tincture – is Josh Pollack, owner of Rosenberg’s Bagels and Delicatessen in Denver.

“I love bagels and lox, and I love cannabis,” Pollack said.

Pollack, a New Jersey native who grew up going to establishments like Russ and Daughters, moved to Colorado for college. He loved the state, but missed the bagels from back east. After graduating, he worked in finance for a while, but tired of that and moved on to a more fulfilling passion: food.

“I’ve always been food obsessed,” Pollack said. “Bagels and lox has always been a comfort food.”

It was tough to find his favorite comfort food, so specific to the New York and New Jersey area, in Denver. So last year, Pollack opened Rosenberg’s Bagels and Delicatessen to serve up classics like bagels and lox.

Read the full story at The Guardian

 

Rutgers Scientist Explains Fisheries Management in New Jersey

September 16, 2015 — Olaf Jensen, assistant professor at Rutgers University’s Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, is one member of the scientific community who helps decide how best to manage fish species in New Jersey as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee.

On Sept. 9, he was a guest lecturer at the Tuckerton Seaport as part of the Lunch n’ Learn series co-hosted by the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Jensen explained the challenges and difficulties in assessing dynamic fish populations. To put his audience of mostly recreational fishermen at ease, he told a funny story about a forester and a scientist having a conversation on numbers. “The forester says he goes out and counts the trees and makes a decision on how many he can cut down while still sustaining the forest. The fisheries manager says, ‘I do the same thing, except you can’t see the fish and they move.’”

Three fisheries that hold the most interest to recreational fisher-folk are summer flounder, black sea bass and striped bass. Jensen promised to discuss their numbers, but first he gave a little quiz and imparted some interesting facts:

He asked if the group could estimate how much the commercial fisheries dockside landings in New Jersey are worth. No one came close to the $150 million annual figure.

Read the full story at The Sandpaper

 

By the numbers: Sandy sunk New Jersey fishing

September 6, 2015 — The fishing sector in New Jersey suffered nearly $300 million in estimated damages and lost earnings as a result of superstorm Sandy, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The report — Social and Economic Impacts of Hurricane/Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy on the Commercial and Recreational Fishing Industries: New York and New Jersey One Year Later — shows that the 3,100 fishing-related businesses in New Jersey provided 21,900 jobs and generated $342 million in 2014, with most of that labor and economic impact emanating from the Jersey Shore.

Read the full story from the Asbury Park Press

Captain’s Death Rattles a Marina in New Jersey

BELFORD, N.J. — August 30, 2015 — He was a retired construction worker who turned his fishing hobby into a low-pressure business, taking a delight in almost anything he brought back.

Unshackled from the industry’s harsh economy, he came and went on his own hours, defying some of the mantras of professional trawling. There are no sick days. Never get on the water alone.

Tom Andresen, 59, was on the water alone last week when something went wrong. The stern of his 40-foot boat, known as El Jefe, tipped backward just off the Sandy Hook peninsula. In an instant, the calm waters swallowed it, dragging the vessel to the bottom of a 75-foot-deep channel. Only an ice cooler floated to the surface.

Fishermen at the Belford Seafood Co-Op, where Mr. Andresen docked El Jefe and sold conch, sand sharks and lobsters, said they could not recall a boat’s taking such a sudden plunge on smooth waters. A private diving team recovered his body from inside the boat’s engine room on Friday, his family said. The United States Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the sinking.

Read the full story from the New York Times

New Jersey Police Find Sunken Fishing Boat, but Captain Remains Missing

August 26, 2015 — Investigators found a sunken fishing boat off New Jersey on Wednesday after it was seen taking on water the day before, the authorities said.

The New Jersey State Police located the 40-foot steel trawler, known as El Jefe, after witnesses reported watching the boat sink about two miles offshore in the Sandy Hook Channel on Tuesday afternoon. Its captain was believed to be aboard. Investigators spotted a cooler floating Tuesday near where the boat sank, but the search was later called off for the night, said a spokeswoman for the United States Coast Guard, which was assisting in the effort.

Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, investigators found a boat using side scan sonar, which scans the sea floor, and divers identified it as El Jefe, the State Police said. However, they did not find the boat’s captain, Tom Anderson.

The department’s marine services bureau suspended the search Wednesday afternoon because of dangerous water currents and planned to return to the site Thursday.

Mr. Anderson was alone when the boat sank and had not been seen since, the Belford Seafood Co-Op said in a post on Facebook. The New Jersey seafood market, on Sandy Hook Bay, said Mr. Anderson, who is from New York, had been docking his boat there.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Captain Tom Anderson tonight,” the market said in the post on Tuesday.

Read the full story at the New York Times

New Jersey: Boat found near crash site

August 25, 2015 — State police have located a sunken vessel in the Sandy Hook Channel near where a fishing trawler was reported missing. Divers are investigating Wednesday.

The Coast Guard watchstanders received word that a 40-foot steel fishing trawler called El Jefe started taking on water at 4:30 p.m. and then sank in the Sandy Hook Channel, officials said.

The Coast Guard, the NYPD, the FDNY, and the New Jersey State Police all sent boat crews to search for the boat and its crew. NYPD helicopters also searched for the vessel.

Read the full story at Fox 5: New York

New Jersey: Coast Guard launches search for sunken fishing boat in Sandy Hook Channel

August 26, 2015 — STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies were searching for a fishing boat that reportedly capsized off the coast of New Jersey on Tuesday evening, authorities said.

A witness notified the Coast Guard Sector New York command center that a 40-foot steel fishing trawler known as “El Jefe” had begun taking on water at around 4:30 p.m. in the Sandy Hook Channel and sunk shortly after, according to a statement issued by the Coast Guard.

Read the full story at Silive.com

 

 

Scallop Abundance Found off Southern New Jersey Coast

August 21, 2015 — There could be as much as 500 million dollars worth of scallops waiting to be harvested off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware.

“If they all grow up. It’s going to be worth a lot of money over several years,” said Dvora Hart, a mathematical biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Photo images taken by NOAA’s Habcam this spring revealed the high density of scallops located in the Elephant Trunk, a fishing ground offshore of the two states. Dvora estimates there could be as many as 7.9 billion scallops in a 1,200 square mile zone in the trunk.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Dozens of whales join fishermen off New Jersey coast

August 18, 2015 — Dozens of long finned pilot whales joined anglers fishing offshore in the 24th Annual MidAtlantic offshore fishing tournament taking place this week in Cape May.

Several pods of the whales mixed in with the fishing boats as they trolled for trophy fish in the offshore canyons.

Pilot whales are the second largest member of the dolphin family with killer whales being the largest. According to Bob Schoelkopf  founder of the  Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine said pilot whales feed mainly on squid and they travel in large groups with up to 150 individuals. Males can reach up to 25 feet and females are about 18 feet.

View the video and read the full story at Asbury Park Press