The severity of the problem of marine plastic pollution is being highlighted again as researchers have found plastics inside fish caught off the coast of Southern Thailand.

Researchers from the Marine National Park Operation Centre were originally conducting studies on marine pollution by collecting trash from the sea.

After realising that such trash might have adverse effect on the marine food chain, they decided to collect mackerel from local fishermen at the Hat Chao Mai National Park, Bangkok Post reported.

Source: Mother Ship

Commercial fishing of an important species of bait fish is going to be shut down in one of its key areas in New England for about six weeks.

Interstate regulators say the Atlantic herring fishery in the inshore Gulf of Maine is nearing a quota limit and will be subject to restrictions from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31 2019. That means fishermen will not be allowed to bring the fish to land until that date.

The inshore Gulf of Maine's an area that touches coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Herring fishing's a major industry in New England, where the herring industry is centered. Fishermen sometimes catch more than 100 million pounds of the lobster bait fish in a year.

Source: Miami Herald

The board of selectmen this week unanimously granted three aquaculture permits to Falmouth shellfishermen to grow oysters in Eel River near Washburn Island.

"We have been on a long journey to engage a public/private partnership to both promote nitrogen removal through aquaculture, and also achieve some other benefits for the community, including new commercial opportunities for local businesspersons and improving conditions for ongoing wild harvest shellfish," assistant town manager Peter Johnson-Staub said at the Monday, September 9, board of selectmen meeting.

The terms of the license agreement are different from a standard permit.

"We have some minimum standards for these farmers," Mr. Johnson-Staub said. "They have to put in enough shellfish and remove enough nitrogen so we know the town is getting as much nitrogen out of that site as we can reasonably expect."

Source: Cape News

HÀ TINH - An investigation has been launched after 85 tonnes of fish died since Sunday in Th?ch Son and Th?ch Ð?nh communes of Th?ch Hà District.

The information was released by Nguy?n Van Sáu, head of the district's Division of Agriculture and Rural Development in the central province of Hà Tinh.

The fish belonged to 61 households. The damage is estimated more than VNÐ 10 billion (USD 444,000). 

Source: Viet Nam News

MOSCOW, Sept 10 -- The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which in 2011 experienced the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, has no choice but to discharge a massive amount of radioactive waste into the sea since it currently has no technology for treating the contaminated water and no adequate space to store it any longer, Sputnik news agency quoted Japanese Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada as saying on Tuesday.

“We have no way but to release it (into the sea) and dilute it,” Harada said at a press briefing, as quoted by the Jiji Press.

More than a million tonnes of wastewater is currently stored in tanks at the Fukushima site, but the facility is reportedly running out of available space and expects to exhaust its capacity by summer 2022.

Source: Bernama

If you’re trying to be a conscious omnivore, chances are you’re putting some serious thought into the sustainability of the animal proteins you’re eating: Were the animals humanely raised, on farms/ranches that don’t harm the environment? The next level is to think about whether the feed itself of what we eat is sustainable. But even people concerned with GMO soy used for cattle might not be thinking about what their farmed salmon are eating. 

F3 is a collaboration between nongovernmental organizations, scientists, and the private sector (backers include the University of Arizona, the New England Aquarium and the organizers of the X-Prize) to uncover new alternative feed ingredients for aquaculture that reduce or eliminate reliance on wild-caught fish. What’s wrong with fish eating fish? Well, in the case of farmed fish (hogs and poultry, too, but that’s another story), a large amount of feed for these animals relies on fishmeal and oils from small, wild-caught fish (aka “forage fish”) such as anchovies, sardines, and menhaden. And as aquaculture continues to boom — according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, aquaculture represented approximately 47% of global fish production in 2016 — the demand for fishmeal and fish oils to feed farmed fish is fast increasing.

Source: Forbes

A new exploratory fishing vessel is looking to renew an old industry in Nain.

The Torngat I, which arrived in Nain just last week, is searching for scallop and whelk in northern waters this month.

"It's an idea to catch new species that haven't been caught in a while," said Bob Hardy, who is working as a fishing consultant for the Nunatsiavut government and Torngat Fishing Co-operative.

"It's an important project."

Hardy is working alongside some local fisherman to prove that there are viable fisheries outside of arctic char in North coast waters. This past week, they have been dropping buckets looking for whelk as well as dragging the sea floor looking for scallop, which was regularly fished for in the community until 2008 but was abandoned because of market conditions at the time.

Source: CBC Canada

On the water, being so close to nature, soothed his soul. “It’s absolutely beautiful. I even love a good storm. There’s only a few jobs that brings out the soul in you.”

But after more than 50 years working as a commercial fisherman, the Burnaby man hasn’t seen a salmon season as grim as this year’s.

Sananin, 70, who holds a license for the area that includes the Fraser River to the west coast of Vancouver Island, hasn’t been out on the water yet.

Source: Vancouver Sun

Queensland's commercial fishing industry is in danger of becoming a cottage industry and consumers are looking down the barrel of local seafood being replaced by imported product, according to the Queensland Seafood Industry Association.

New fishing regulations came into force at the start of September that build on changes to the Fisheries Act that took effect in May.

As a result, the seafood industry's peak body says their industry and the multi-generational families that earn their living from it have been torn apart by the political agenda of the state government.

After 100 years of involvement in all aspects of commercial fisheries management and consultation, QSIA president Keith Harris said they were now being excluded and ignored in matters that affect every part of their lives.

Source: North Queensland Register

Comercial Mares de Chiloe under the spotlight for serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation.

In a warning letter, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informed Director Rodrigo Becerra that Commercial Mares de Chiloe’s HACCP plan, entitled “Quality Assurance Manual Based on HACCP” for their salmon and trout products, which are intended to be consumed raw or cooked, shipped refrigerated or frozen, and maybe vacuum packaged, demonstrates serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation.

Source: Salmon Business