Category Archives: Fishing

Octopus farming is ‘unethical and a threat to the food chain’

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Mass-breeding of the highly intelligent creatures is ecologically unjustified, a new study says

Plans to create octopus farms in coastal waters round the world have been denounced by an international group of researchers. They say the move is ethically inexcusable and environmentally dangerous, and have called on private companies, academic institutions and governments to block funding for these ventures.

The researchers say that farming octopuses would require the catching of vast amounts of fish and shellfish to feed them, putting further pressure on the planet’s already threatened marine livestock.

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‘More plastic than fish’: Greek fishermen battle to clean a cruel sea

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In a new scheme, fishermen are paid €200 a month to recycle waste found in nets rather than dump it in polluted waters

The fish market at Keratsini comes alive at night. Under floodlights, crews in rubber waders and boots wash down the decks of boats moored in the harbour, repair nets dangling from cranes, and put on ice the shrimp, calamari, mullet and hake that are their latest pickings.

Recently other things – objects that might never have been pulled from the sea – have also supplemented hauls. “We’re talking about lots of waste, lots of garbage,” says Dimitris Dalianis. “We’re finding it almost everywhere.”

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‘It looked prehistoric’: angler describes fish that resembled creature from Alien

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Rare mud-dwelling fish, with sharp teeth and no eyes, is believed to be a worm goby, but is not dangerous

An Australian fisherman, who captured a rare, unsettling fish that resembled a creature from the sci-fi film Alien, says it was “not all that exciting” and he caught it with a beer in his hand.

Andrew Rose was fishing in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu national park when he snagged a 15cm-long worm goby – a rare, mud-dwelling fish with no eyes, a bony head and sharp teeth.

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Bitten by a great white shark: survivors on their near-death experience

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Human reactions to shark attacks have fascinated Fiona Adolph for more than a decade. Here she examines a global hotspot, Western Australia

On a whisper-still January dawn, the most terrifying day of Allan Oppert’s life began unremarkably and with a feeling of deep calm.

Like most Sundays, he woke to a knock on the door from his friends Dan and Dave. At Allan’s neat house in the small seaside town of Binningup, in the south-west corner of Western Australia, the three men drank strong coffee before towing Allan’s boat to a nearby ramp where three friends were launching another vessel. The two groups were heading out on the ocean together, a familiar arrangement aimed at ensuring safety.

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Out and About: Sea Lion Bill Passes U.S. House

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On June 26 The United States House of Representatives approved HR-2083, a bill sponsored by Washington Representative Jaime Herrera-Beutler . The bill amends Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to authorize the NOAA to issue permits to the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, as well as the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and other tribal entities to kill problem sea lions in the Columbia River or its tributaries.

Another catch-and-release summer for Mille Lacs walleyes

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Anglers will have to release any walleyes they catch in Mille Lacs Lake again this summer and they will be barred from even catching the fish for three weeks during the peak of the season, state wildlife officials said Tuesday. The catch-and-release regulations for walleyes on Mille Lacs will be in effect when Minnesota's fishing season opens May 13, the state Department of Natural Resources said.

Repeal of Mille Lacs walleye agreement another wedge on resource management

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Mille Lacs sport anglers, with Gov. Dayton's and the DNR's blessing, exceeded their walleye harvest limit this summer - a quota that had been negotiated with eight Chippewa bands. On the day Gov. Mark Dayton dishonored Minnesota's 2016 Mille Lacs walleye agreement, he cushioned his announcement by saying he had "contacted tribal leaders to ask for their understanding and forbearance."