Saving Seafood

Woman shot on fishing vessel in Port of Cape May

October 5, 2015 — The New Jersey State Police said a Lower Township man was arrested for attempted murder after he shot a Whitesboro woman aboard a fishing vessel docked at Lund’s Fisheries.

Capt. Stephen Jones of the State Police said Ernest Davis, 43, of Lower Township was being held in the Cape May County Correctional Center in lieu of $1 million cash bail, charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons charges related to the shooting.

Jones said Lower Township Police Department called in the state police after they responded to Lund’s Fisheries at the Port of Cape May, Oct. 3, at around 10:32 p.m., after the report of a person being shot. After determining the shooting was aboard the fishing vessel Storm, the LTPD called the State Police, which responded with officers from their Marine Bureau.

Read the full story from Shore News Today

NEW JERSEY: Feds to lease offshore windmill sites off New Jersey coast

September 23, 2015 — ATLANTIC CITY (AP) — The federal government plans to lease nearly 344,000 acres of the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey to companies interested in building offshore windmills to generate electricity.

The Interior Department and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management say that if fully developed, the leases could result in enough wind-generated electricity to power 1.2 million homes.

The leases are to be sold Nov. 9.

“On the heels of this summer’s historic ‘steel-in-the-water’ milestone for the nation’s first commercial offshore wind farm, today’s announcement marks another major step in standing up a sustainable offshore wind program for Atlantic coast communities,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday.

In July, construction started on Deepwater Wind’s $225 million, 30-megawatt offshore wind project off Block Island in Rhode Island that will provide electricity to Block Island and Rhode Island mainland consumers.

Read the full story by the Associated Press at NewJersey.com

 

NEW JERSEY: Fluke season to end on windy note

September 22, 2015 — A fluke season that can best be described as mixed, heads toward its conclusion under tough conditions. The season ends this Saturday, Sept. 26.

Persistent high winds forecast for the rest of the week will be making things difficult for the boats.  Few, if any, sailed on Monday and several have already cancelled trips for today. Before you head down the dock, check the website of your favorite boat to make sure they are sailing.

It’s unfortunate because the fishing appeared to be getting on track after weeks of up-and-down action. The fluke were beginning their offshore migration and there were a number of nice ones being caught.

Capt. George Bachert on the Angler, Atlantic Highlands, said that the days leading up to last Saturday, where there was early morning fog and boat traffic to contend with, the fishing had been the best of the year.  Soo Cu from Palisades Park landed a 9-pound, 5-ounce fluke on Thursday’s trip along with six other keepers. There were a number of other limits  around the boat as well.

Read the full story from the Asbury Park Press

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