Today's Main Story: Blue Harvest Fisheries Expands Scallop Fleet to New Bedford with Purchase of Harbor Blue Seafoods  Blue Harvest Fisheries acquired the assets to Massachusetts-based Harbor Blue Seafoods, which includes the company's seven scallop vessels and related facilities. Blue Harvest's operation now includes 15 scallop vessels and accompanying shoreside operations in Newport News, Virginia and New Bedford, Massachusetts. "Blue Harvest is now clearly positioned as an industry leader in terms of access to the highly valuable Atlantic sea scallop resource" said Jeff Davis, President and CEO of Blue Harvest. California's Dungeness crab fishery will finally commence this weekend, ending a four-month delay to the fishery because of high levels of toxic domoic acid in the crabs. The state's fishermen will be able to pre-soak their traps this Friday March 25; fishing will open a day later on Saturday. "We thank the affected communities for their patience and fortitude as we have worked with our partners at [California Department of Public Health] and [Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment] to open a portion of the commercial fishery along a traditional management boundary as recommended by the industry," said Charlton H. Bonham, Director of California's Department of Fish and Wildlife. In other news the ADF&G wants to close a tax loop hole on fish harvested by factory trawlers operating off Alaska's cost. The loop hole undervalued price estimates for yellowfin sole and other types of fish, which has reduced the overall tax rate paid by factory trawlers for their harvests. The plan also wants to retroactively apply the lost tax revenue to last year's catch. Much of the fish is harvested by the Amendment 80 fleet. "The law says you're supposed to be charging them what the value is. We haven't been doing that," said ADF&G Commissioner Cotten said in a phone interview Friday. "They've enjoyed the undervaluation for years, and so we want to correct that." Meanwhile, Susan Chambers writes of the "disaster tow" committed by the West Coast trawler The Seeker that will keep it from fishing in 2016. The trawler captured 47,000 pounds of canary rockfish in November 2015. The species was listed as overfished at the time, even though an assessment of the fishery found it to be rebuilt. "The Seeker's misfortune is an extreme example of the [West Coast catch share] program's failure, particularly for those fishing in the non-whiting sector," writes Chambers. Finally, we run several reactions to Sweden's proposal to label live lobster from North America an invasive species and ban its import to the market. Canadian representatives said they are prepared to fight any type of ban. The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) asked Swedish representatives to consider the widespread fallout if the ban were enacted. "Europeans releasing live lobsters into the sea, after arrival from North America, is a local law enforcement issue and perhaps not part of an international commerce dispute that could cripple mutually beneficial trade in lobsters," said the NFI President John Connelly.