An Australian article from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland caught my eye. Fuel prices have made it non viable for trawlers to operate at profit and they seek FURTHER subsidy from the government for gas.

Part of the article read:

Today's action follows yesterday's threat by desperate Sunshine Coast trawler operators that they will blockade major Australian ports if the federal government refuses to provide their industry with emergency funding.

They said if help wasn’t forthcoming, the industry would be dead on the Coast by Christmas.

Rally organiser Michele West, who has been fishing for the past 20 years, said high fuel prices and the indiscriminate dumping of cheaper imported prawns on the market would spell the end of the industry.

I agree with the sentiment of the poster "aussiefish"whom nailed it by saying "What a great Christmas present for the ocean environment . Finally a end to one of the most destructive fishing methods on the planet. Lets hope the government take aggressive action against any vessels blocking our waterways. 2009 will be a great year if the longline and netting industries also collapse.
We do not need to eat prawns or swordfish. I hate to see my tax dollars funding blatant environmental vandalism for profit."

There has been a few stories running about and it worth reading them HERE

Commercial netting interests once again tried to get the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to allow larger mesh sizes in nets so they could be used as a gill net. The issue was discussed with public testimony before the full Commission at its June 12 meeting in Ft. Lauderdale.

Read the full story HERE

"In November 1994 an overwhelming 72% of Florida voters said yes to the constitutional amendment limiting marine net fishing. The amendment includes both a prohibition on the use of gill and entangling nets in all state waters and a size limit on other nets. Although the restrictions have been in place for nearly fourteen years, there are still factions within the commercial industry who refuse to accept the legal reality that the constitutional prohibition on gill nets means no gill nets."

The giant squid which has been on display at Underwater World for the past year and a half is off to its new home at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane.

There it will be thawed out, preserved in formalin, made into a resin model and then cut up into different bits – not for the world’s largest calamari platter, but for research.

The seven-metre squid was caught in fishing nets off the South Island of New Zealand and had spent much of its afterlife being gazed upon in awe by the thousands of tourists who passed through the exhibit. Story here SQUID MOVE

The Northern Territory's fishing industry has admitted commercial barramundi fishers are still affecting protected species, despite following a code of conduct that is supposed to help them avoid the animals.

The NT fishing industry says fishers are reporting what are called "interactions" with threatened species like crocodiles, dugong, turtles and sawfish.

Fisheries officers will now board commercial barramundi fishing boats during the next three months to observe the fishers' interaction with threatened species.

Fisheries spokesman Steven Matthews says more details need to be collected about the encounters that have been recorded in log books, which were introduced in July last year.

"A number of fisheries staff and suitably qualified people will be accompanying the fishers on their day-to-day activities, to observe how they set their gear, how it's retrieved and obviously recording and interaction if it does occur," he said.

Seafood Council spokesman Rob Fish says the observer program will initially run for three months.

"We have actually spoken to some of the fishermen at this stage and the log book just says interaction," he said.

"Some of it has just been crocodiles stealing fish from nets. So what we need to do in the first instance is to confirm and redefine what an interaction is."

He says the long term goal is to have no interactions in the log book.

"The positive is, the industry has come forward and reported some interactions with some of the species that we try to avoid through our code of conduct," he said.

"That step now allows us to look at measures to mitigate these measures further, or check the level of the interactions that are occurring."

But the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is calling on the NT Government to do more to control the practices of commercial barramundi fishers.

AMCS spokeswoman Prue Barnard says some methods of fishing used impacts heavily on the environment and fishers need to be more careful.

"I'm very saddened. It would be very sad to think that the barramundi that you're eating at the shop is potentially killing an endangered species," she said.  News Article

Mom the Outdoor Adventurer

Many Moms really enjoy outdoor adventure. If your Mom is one of this breed, plan a backpacking getaway in the mountains, pitch a tent on the beach, raft on a river or explore a regional desert bursting with springtime wildflowers. A nearby outdoor destination can provide a spectacular backdrop to any Mother’s Day weekend:

• Choose a stimulating weekend of kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, SCUBA, fly fishing, even skiing.
• Perhaps the perfect trip for Mom is a relaxed and carefree weekend camping and enjoying nature in its stillness and tranquility. In that case, make reservations at a campground and start packing.
• Attack the mountains on horseback, or just hike with a backpack. If Mom is truly extreme, consider hang gliding from the summit.

"I'm not really seeing my mum hang gliding from the summit"  Happy Mothers Day from RiverandReef.com

A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.

The bird, which died in Thursday's collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.

The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hitting a person.

Pelicans grow to up to 30lb (13kg) and can dive from heights of 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres).

Ms Shoemaker, 50, returned home on Friday, the Associated Press reports.

Our exclusive story by Al Simson has been making a splash about the world on various sites. Blogsites have been  grabbing the lines from this interesting story that has made headlines in the Australian Courier Mail
and here by Fox News.
Unfortunately one of our favorite sites Moldy Chum  could not find the link to Al's own story here and got this second hand version instead.

THIS little skink had been swallowed by a fish in a remote Cape York river, and was already partially digested when the fish was caught by a fisherman.

But, fortunately for the skink, the fish, a saratoga, is much sought after by sports fisherman because of its willingness to attack anything that moves and its fighting qualities.

Pictures: Live lizard emerges from fish

Visiting American angler John Berzins was fishing with guide Al Simson in the Doughboy River on the western side of northern Cape York this week when he hooked this fish.

Seafood lovers take note: there's good news and bad news.

First, there's the bad news for those who enjoy tuna on rye.

High concentrations of mercury, a neurotoxin that can damage developing brains in fetuses, are found in some kinds of popular fish such as albacore tuna. Swordfish and shark, king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy and tilefish also contain dangerous levels of mercury.

Women of reproductive age and young children are advised to avoid these types of fish and limit overall consumption of all fish to no more than 12 ounces per week, according to the Food and Drug Administration, as it takes months for the body to rid itself of mercury.

Read the whole article via Super fish

A local Seattle company is offering a service to have your old, leaky breathable waders repurposed into various accessory products.  Click Read More for details.

Our mission is to recycle and repurpose as many pairs of damaged breathable waders as possible. Why? Because we know we can and need to make a difference for our environment in this lifetime. Our favorite waters have been and are currently being affected by our choices, and now more than ever we need to make the difficult choices the right choices. We encourage you to be good stewards of our planet and find ways to give back to and protect the very water leaking through your waders.

Not only do we see incredible potential in your old waders for cool new re-purposed gear when you recycle but we also envision the volume of wader material accumulating in our landfills being drastically reduced. This result alone stokes our proverbial fire and we endeavor to make sure you feel the same way.

Go green with your old waders!