Saving Seafood

Rescue team saves entangled humpback whale off New Jersey coast

July 13, 2018 — A rescue team has saved a juvenile humpback whale that had been entangled in a line for months in an operation Wednesday off the New Jersey coast, the federal fisheries agency said Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries agency said the whale was the same one that was seen swimming in Raritan Bay on July 4.

The first report of the entangled whale came last November, but a team’s attempt to cut the line was only partially successful, and a tight wrap of line remained around its upper jaw, NOAA said, adding that it was “wrapped around especially sensitive locations, including the eye and blowhole.”

On Wednesday, a team from the Cape Cod-based Center for Coastal Studies was able to make a delicate cut to disentangle the whale off Sandy Hook.

“If left alone, the animal had no chance,” David Morin, NOAA Fisheries’ Atlantic large whale disentanglement coordinator, said in a statement. “The whale would have died a slow and painful death. Even in response, the tight wrap left such a small area — about a foot or two wide — that we could cut.”

Read the full story at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Levittown Man Trafficked More Than 3,500 Protected Turtles, Feds Say

July 11, 2018 — Federal prosecutors indicted a Levittown man Tuesday for allegedly trafficking protected diamondback terrapin turtles.

According to William McSwain, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, David Sommers, 62, of Levittown, was charged with smuggling the turtles and submitting false records for a shipment sent to Canada. The indictment included four violations of the Lacey Act for allegedly trafficking more than 3,500 turtles in interstate commerce.

Federal prosecutors said Sommers would capture the diamondback terrapins and their eggs from marshes in coastal New Jersey. The Levittown man would sell them illegally and had sent turtles across the border with Canada in 2014 in a package that he claimed contained a book.

Sommers is accused of violating the Lacey Act, a wildlife trafficking law, while transporting the turtles from New Jersey into Pennsylvania, according to prosecutors.

“Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are a semi-aquatic species of turtle native to brackish waters in eastern and southern United States. They are not found in the wild in Pennsylvania but have a dwindling habitat range in neighboring New Jersey. The terrapins are prized in the reptile pet trade for their unique, diamond-shaped shell markings. The turtles are protected under New Jersey law and by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (“CITES”),” prosecutors said in a press release.

Read the full story at Levittown.com

New Jersey fishermen get up close with great white shark

July 9, 2018 — We might be at a summer fishing peak with quite a variety providing something for just about every taste and style.

The incidental catch of a small great white shark at the Cigar has created quite a buzz.

A 4- to 5-foot great white was hooked and released after a short fight that brought it to the boat by Chris O’Neill of Little Egg Harbor Township. As soon as the crew of Joe O’Neill, Chris’ uncle from the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, Sam Messler, of Manahawkin, and Robert McLauglin, of Barnegat, identified it as a great white, they quickly released it unharmed because it a protected species.

O’Neill, who is 34, said in a phone call Friday afternoon that he and his crew are responsible fishermen who follow all the rules. Sounds as though the crew did everything right during the release. They fish together a lot on his 26-foot Angler boat that he docks in his “backyard,” meaning he lives on the water.

He also said he has caught bigger striped bass. He then made a guess that the fish was months old. And he estimated the phone call from the local scribe was the 30th he has received from various media.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Great white shark surprises New Jersey fishermen: ‘This is crazy’

July 5, 2018 — After about 7 hours of fishing for tuna 40 miles off the coast of New Jersey on Sunday, fisherman Chris O’Neill and three other crew members decided to come closer to shore and search for mako sharks, a popular game fish in the area.

The group — which included Chris’ uncle Joe, Sam Messler and Robert McLaughlin — put out three fishing lines at 20, 40 and 65 feet deep. After about 45 minutes, O’Neill noticed the 40-foot reel start to turn. The crew waited quietly for about two minutes before the reel started to scream.

“We started reeling it in. At first, we didn’t know what we had, though we were hoping it was mako,” O’Neill, of Little Egg Harbor, told Fox News.

Within 15 minutes, a fin surfaced and the fishermen pulled the creature to the side of the boat. As O’Neill turned the 4- to 6-foot fish over, he saw its jaw and knew “right away” it wasn’t a mako: it was a great white.

“As soon as its head flashed out of water we knew what it was,” O’Neill said. “We’re fishermen. We do this a lot. You get to know the species.”

The great white shark’s triangular-shaped teeth, large gills and broad jawline are dead giveaways, O’Neill described.

Read the full story at Fox News

Rescue Efforts Continue For Whale Trapped In Fishing Net

July 3, 2018 — A rescue effort is underway in New Jersey’s Raritan Bay as the Coast Guard and state police try to free a humpback whale entangled in fishing lines.

The whale is believed to be the same one spotted a year ago and hasn’t been able to shed the line since then. “It’s in the whale’s mouth… wrapped around the top of the head, across the blow hole,” photographer Artie Raslich told CBS2’s Meg Baker.

The Coast Guard has made several attempts to free the whale to no avail.

Monday afternoon state police escorted a disentanglement officer out to find and help the whale off the shores of Keyport, New Jersey.

The Coast Guard is warning boaters in the area to keep a close eye out for the whale and to stay 100 yards away for their safety and for the safety of the giant mammal.

“I think terrible need to be aware of what we are leaving out there being responsible terrible animal out there suffering.” Keyport resident Christina Greenberg said.

Read the full story at WLNY

Fishermen encounter great white shark off New Jersey coast

July 3, 2018 — A party of four fishermen looking for one brand of ocean predator encountered another — a great white shark — while fishing over a once-lost shipwreck 10 to 15 miles from the shoreline.

According to a crew member, the shark was hooked by accident Sunday with fishing gear and let go immediately.

Chris O’Neill of Little Egg Harbor said as soon as they identified the shark they cut the line and released it. O’Neill took a photo of the shark when it was near their 26-foot-long boat.

“There are a lot of rules and regulations when it comes to these sharks. As soon as we knew what we had we turned him loose,” said O’Neill.

Great white sharks are prohibited to be landed by fishermen and must be released if hooked.

O’Neill said they were not trying to catch a great white. His party was fishing for another species of shark called a mako, a popular game fish. In the video at the top, you can see all the giants of the sea that venture into the Jersey Shore’s waters.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Atlantic City charter boat captain reappointed to fisheries council

June 29, 2018 — Atlantic City charter boat Captain Adam Nowalsky has been reappointed for his second, three-year term on the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council.

Nowalsky has more than 20 years of saltwater fishing experience and is captain of the Karen Ann II, a 35-foot charter fishing vessel.

The Mid-Atlantic council is one of eight regional councils that work with the National Ocean Atmospheric Administration to manage ocean fish stocks, determining both fishing limits, and how allowable harvests are split between recreational and commercial fishermen and between states. Appointments are made by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The Mid-Atlantic council includes members from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Delaware Bay ferry sunk for artificial reef

June 20, 2018 –The 320’x68’ ferry Twin Capes, former flagship of the Delaware River and Bay Authority’s fleet linking New Jersey and Delaware, is now a destination for fishermen and divers after it went to the bottom of the ocean Friday.

The double-ender vehicle and passenger ferry was emplaced on the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef site, in 120 feet of water 26 miles southeast of Cape May, N.J., where the former Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa was likewise put to rest in May 2017. Contractor Colleen Marine, Norfolk, Va., handled the Tamaroa project and did a repeat performance with the Twin Capes, towing the old ferry away in August 2017 to clean and prepare it for the reef deployment.

Built in 1974 at Todd Shipyards, Houston, the Twin Capes was the biggest vessel on the 17-mile run between Cape May, N.J., and Cape Henlopen, Del., with capacity for 895 passengers. But over the years its higher operational costs compared to the authority’s three other vessels became a handicap.

Read the full story at Work Boat

Public hearings scheduled on proposed bluefish management changes

June 18, 2018 — Fisheries agencies are considering changes to the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan and will hold public hearings this month to hear from recreational and commercial fishing interests.

The amendments are being considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

They would change commercial and recreational allotments, fishery management plan goals and objectives, commercial allocations among states and the commercial quota transfer process.

Public hearings in New Jersey will be held 6 to 8 p.m. June 27 at the Ocean City Library, 1735 Simpson Ave., Ocean City; and 6 to 8 p.m. June 28 at the Ocean County Administration Building, 101 Hopper Ave., Toms River.

Currently, the allocation is 83 percent for recreational and 17 percent for commercial fisheries, but transfers from the recreational to commercial sector have happened every year since 2001, the agencies said.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Murphy gets state, fishing industry more time for wind energy plan

June 1, 2018 — New Jersey under Gov. Phil Murphy is fully committed to offshore wind, working toward generating 3.5 gigawatts of its clean energy by 2030. The Board of Public Utilities has been ordered to prepare to seek bids on more than 1,000 megawatts of wind power, and a Danish company with a lease for an ocean wind farm has opened an office in Atlantic City.

So when the governor asked early last month for another 180 days to comment on the next round of vast ocean wind leases — this time in the much used and fought over New York Bight between the city’s harbor, Long Island and South Jersey — his request was very credible.

If even an ardent supporter of green energy wants more time to consider the impacts of massive wind farms on other users, he must be speaking for all New Jersey businesses and people with a stake in these very valuable waters.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City