After three dismal years for local Chinook salmon fishermen, Bill Webb and his seafaring colleagues at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay may finally have some significant fishing time to look forward to this summer. Webb, the skipper of “The Cricket,” said he’s been surviving on income from Dungeness crab fishing and salmon relief payments from the federal government in years past.  “I’ve been able to squeak by and make ends meet. But it’s borderline, you know?”  Read More

San Francisco Bay is full of dangerous sharks, and “you need to catch them before they catch you” — that’s how one local recreational fishing company out of Fisherman’s Wharf puts it. Several charter fishing operations in the Bay Area have websites with photos of people proudly raising long leopard sharks, soupfin sharks, threshers and the giant seven-gill sharks — sharks as long as the people holding them are tall. Read More

WHAT: BP could be paying millions in compensation to bogus fishermen. State applications for commercial fishing licenses have jumped nearly 60 percent, despite most fishing grounds being closed by the disastrous oil spill. Louisiana has sold 2,200 licenses since the spill. Read More