Category Archives: Gulf of Mexico
Nature is not a Whore!!!
We have incredible fishing grounds on our East Coast!!! Why destroy a renewable sustainable Resource??? Molesting these grounds by dumping massive amounts of construction materials on them is insane!!! Keep in mind the many rules the EPA has against ocean dumping!!! Not to mention the likely hood of them turning into a Dumping Ground after they become useless… Out of sight out of mind!!! What wonderful habitat the Turbine bases will make for the Green Crabs ocean Locust!!! We can’t forget about the Whales… The European Wind Farms do not see a significant Whale migration… What aren’t they saying??? >click to read< 09:41
Secor Power: Coast Guard is suspending search for remaining crewmembers
The Coast Guard is suspending its search Monday for the remaining missing Seacor Power lift boat crewmembers 8 miles south of Port Fourchon. Eight crewmembers remain missing. Coast Guard boat and aircrews, local agency crews and good Samaritans searched for a cumulative 175 hours, covering over 9,200 square nautical miles. “We extend our appreciation to everyone who volunteered to assist during the search effort. Suspending a search is one of the toughest decisions the Coast Guard has to make,” said Capt. Will Watson, commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. >click to read< 15:17
Seacor Power: Two more dead crew identified – search of capsized lift boat continues – Nine still missing
Confirmed deaths stood at four after the Lafourche Parish coroner identified the latest victims, both found inside the jackup barge: Anthony Hartford, 53, of New Orleans and James “Tracy” Wallingsford, 55, of the northeast Louisiana village of Gilbert. Hartford’s wife, Janet, said a knock came to her door at 3 a.m. with news of her husband’s death. >click to read< Seacor Power death toll rises to four as dive teams recover two bodies -The 
confirmed death toll in the Seacor Power liftboat disaster has risen to four, after dive teams recovered two bodies inside the overturned oil exploration vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Nineteen crew members were aboard the Seacor Power when the vessel flipped over in about 50 feet of water during hurricane-force winds and high waves on Tuesday. Six were quickly rescued, nine remain missing, and now four are confirmed dead. >click to read< What we know about capsized lift boat Seacor Power and rescue efforts off Louisiana coast, an inventory of related stories, >click here< 20:55
Divers search Seacor Power wreckage for survivors – Second body recovered 33 miles from Seacor Power site
Search-and-rescue divers worked Friday to get inside the cabin of the capsized Seacor Power lift boat, hoping to find survivors a day after rescuers several miles away plucked the body of a second crewman from the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< Second body recovered 33 miles from Seacor Power site – He has been identified as 69-year-old Ernest Williams of Arnaudville, LA. Officials say the body was spotted by an aerial crew around 7:10 p.m. Thursday night. A Coast Guard boat was deployed to recover the body Friday morning. >click to read< 20:31
Seacor Power: Coast Guard points to early survivors as search continues, with updates from the Gulf this evening
Evening came to Port Fourchon on Thursday with still no word on the fate of a dozen missing crewmembers from a capsized lift boat seven miles offshore, though officials suggested for the first time that human life may still remain aboard the Seacor Power. U.S. Coast Guard officials said the observations of rescuers who were scrambling to save the crew hours into the aftermath of the disaster Tuesday caused the agency believe at least 
two members who had survived the capsizing were still on board. >click to read< Coast Guard saw five crew members on hull of Seacor Power Tuesday; 2 went back into vessel – A team of divers contracted by the U.S. Coast Guard headed to the wreckage site Thursday,,, As of Thursday, a total of six crewmembers aboard the Seacor Power had been rescued, and the body of 63-year-old captain David Ledet had been recovered. The remaining 12 members are unaccounted for, including the two who were on the hull late Tuesday and said they were going back inside. >click to read<‘ God please bring him home’ – The niece of Gregory Walcott, 62, of Abbeville, said her family holds out hope that her uncle is among the survivors in an air pocket awaiting rescue. “Knowing him,” Crystal Randle said Thursday afternoon, “he’s worrying about us.” >click to read< 21:46
Video: “WE’RE STILL HERE!” Captain brings shrimp boat and crew to safety through big blow in the Gulf of Mexico
“We might lose her.” Aaron Callais, who is from Galliano, says they were about 10-15 miles off the coast of Grand Isle when the wind and waves started thrashing against his boat, F/V Ramblin’ Cajun. There were three people on board,,, The video, shows lightning lighting up the sky as the boat is tossed, often leaning to the side. Callais prepared his crew for the worst, asking them to secure their life jackets. Then, a call to his parents. “The windows are cracking…they’re rattling…we’re about to lose the boat, I think we’re going to roll. I love you mom, I need you to put dad on the phone.” >click to read/watch< 14:40
Grand Isle scrambles to clean up after freak storm: “It was like a baby hurricane”
Businesses, residents and town workers in Grand Isle scrambled Wednesday to pump out water and clear debris ahead of a second batch of bad weather expected to blow through the island by about 3 p.m. Grand Isle was hit suddenly by a violent storm Tuesday afternoon with wind gusts of up to 90 mph and rain that flooded streets, sank boats, stripped shingles off of roofs and threw trash cans and other unsecured personal property around, said Mayor David Camardelle. photo’s >click to read< 14:34
1 dead after capsized vessel caught in ‘microburst’ of bad weather off the Louisiana coast; 12 still missing, 6 rescued – The Coast Guard searched for 12 people missing off the coast of Louisiana on Wednesday,,, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III confirmed the missing crew members were on board the Seacor Power before it flipped over miles south of Port Fourchon. Capt. Ronald Dufrene said his offshore trawler Mister Jug was among the shrimp boats that struggled to survive the storm. >click to read<
It’s Not Just Windmills – Nils Stolpe
Demand for undersea cables will only grow as more businesses rely on cloud computing services,,, “All of that data is going in the undersea cables.” I have known Captain Jim Lovgren for most of thirty years. I have worked with him on a number of issues,,, Based on this I have no compunctions about strongly recommending that you read the piece that he wrote and titled, “Its Time For A Fishing Industry Buy Out By Offshore Wind” And, unfortunately, I see the struggle that both recreational and commercial fishermen are facing with myriad huge windmills planned in our coastal waters as only the tip of the iceberg. >click to read, with links< 20:51
What’s good for America?!!: Impact of Foreign Workers on American Jobs a Contentious Issue in US
The colossal impact of immigrant labor in the United States extends to Louisiana’s struggling fisheries. “I’ve been hiring workers from Mexico, Honduras and everywhere else for 20 years,” Dean Blanchard, president of Blanchard Seafood, Inc. George Barisich, a fisherman in the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, draws a distinction between lawful and undocumented immigration. He voted twice for former President Donald Trump, who 
championed restrictive immigration policies. Even so, Barisich agrees with Blanchard that immigrants play a vital role in his industry. “During shrimping season, we need legal immigrants to work in those factories,” he said. “It’s hard work, it’s decent pay, and it’s stuff young Americans just don’t want to do anymore.” >click to read< 11:05
Maryland Governor Calls for more HB-2 Visas – Governor Larry Hogan urged federal officials to make more H-2B Nonimmigrant Temporary Worker Program visas available to help protect Maryland’s $355 million seafood industry and supply chain. >click to read<
The host parish for Mid-Barataria diversion just voted 8-0 thumbs down against it – would destroy economy, culture
The Plaquemines Parish Council has decided to oppose Louisiana’s $2 billion plan to channel land-building sediment and nutrient-laden water from the Mississippi River,,, Members said the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project would destroy their parish’s seafood-based economy and culture. The 8-0 thumbs down from the governing authority in the project’s home parish marks an expected rebuke for Gov. John Bel Edwards, his coastal planners and their nonprofit advocates, who see Mid-Barataria as the flagship project in the state’s 50-year, $50 billion effort to stave off the disappearance of much of the bottom third of Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< 11:13
Polluted water flowing into Tampa Bay could cause massive algae bloom, risking manatee and fish habitats
Millions of gallons of water laced with fertilizer ingredients are being pumped into Florida’s Tampa Bay from a leaking reservoir at an abandoned phosphate plant at Piney Point. As the water spreads into the bay, it carries phosphorus and nitrogen – nutrients that under the right conditions can fuel dangerous algae blooms that can suffocate sea grass beds and kill fish, dolphins and manatees. It’s the kind of risk no one wants to see, but officials believed the other options were worse. >click to read< 18:38
Supreme Court – Oystermen bemoan ‘disgraceful’ water wars decision
Shannon Hartsfield, a fourth-generation oysterman, fears debilitating drought in years to come after the Supreme Court yesterday found that Florida failed to show Georgia is cutting off south-flowing water. Hartsfield’s livelihood is in Apalachicola Bay, an estuary and lagoon along the Florida Panhandle that once hosted up to 400 bustling fishing boats. It is now closed to allow wild oyster reefs to regenerate after suffering through historically dry conditions in recent years that have slowed the inflows feeding the bay. Hartsfield, head of the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association, claims Georgia is also to blame for not allowing fresh water to flow down two rivers, past Atlanta’s suburbs and to the Gulf of Mexico. The Supreme Court disagreed. >click to read< 09:35
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Florida In Water Fight
After years of legal battling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected a lawsuit in which Florida argued Georgia has used too much water in a river system shared by the states. The 12-page ruling dismissed the lawsuit that Florida filed in 2013 after the oyster fishery collapsed in Franklin County’s Apalachicola Bay. Florida contended that Georgia drew too much water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which starts in northern Georgia and ends in Apalachicola Bay, and that more water should be directed to Florida. >click to read< >Supreme Court Ruling< 17:15
Garret Graves calls CARES Act funding for Louisiana fisheries a ‘slap in the face’
U.S. Congressman Garret Graves released the following statement regarding the $12,477,165 allocated to Louisiana fisheries to mitigate the economic hardships accrued by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Louisiana Sixth District Congressman is “baffled” only 4.9 percent of the available funds was provided to Louisiana despite being one of the top fisheries states in the nation. Last year, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Louisiana received $14.7 million of the $300 million allocated. Rep. Graves’ statement >click to read< 21:00
LDWF Agent Completes Successful Search and Rescue Mission in the Gulf of Mexico
LDWF Senior Agent Matthew Perkins received a call around 3 p.m. about a shrimp boat that was taking on water off the coast of the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge. Perkins responded immediately in a 32-foot vessel with a CPSO deputy. Around 4 p.m., Perkins and the CPSO deputy found the shrimp boat and were able to rescue the three people on board. They transported them back safely to shore with no injuries around 5 p.m. >click to read< 10:53
Back on the Bayou: Local shrimp boat blessings return after a year lost to COVID
In a decades-old tradition, Catholic churches in fishing communities throughout south Louisiana lead the blessings in hopes of a safe and prosperous shrimp season. This year, the Rev. Antonio Speedy of Holy Family Catholic Church said the Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou Grand Caillou will look more like normal but will still have to keep the pandemic in mind. “It will be mostly family units on the boats, and it’s an outdoor event, so there will be plenty of wind blowing around, but we still have to stay prudent.” >click to read< 10:02
Fishing industry unimpressed with Biden Harris’s NOAA/NMFS climate crisis notions. (Offshore Wind Farms, either!)
President Biden ordered NOAA to collect information from a wide range of groups on increasing the resilience of fisheries as part of his plan to address climate change and to protect 30% of U.S. ocean areas by the year 2030. The NOAA directive is included in the sweeping executive order Biden signed his first week in office that made “the climate crisis” a centerpiece of his presidency. “Fisheries, protected resources, habitats and ecosystem are being affected by climate change,” acting NOAA Fisheries chief Paul Doremus said at the beginning of yesterday’s conference call. >click to read< 07:55
Study shows three times as many Red Snapper as previously estimated in the Gulf of Mexico
The $12 million Great Red Snapper Count estimated that the Gulf holds about 110 million adult red snapper, those at least 2 years old. A 2018 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine fisheries’ estimate was about 36 million. Clay Porch, director of NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center Director in Miami, said peer reviewers will be going over the science for the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, which is likely to consider revising quotas in April, Porch said Tuesday. >click to read< 14:24
Barataria Bay project seen to create 27 square miles of land, displace brown shrimp and oysters
“The fishing industry doesn’t see the payoff here. It’s going to kill us more than it’s going to help anything,” said Cooper, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. He said he feels as though the sparsely populated fishing communities of lower Plaquemines Parish, where the diversion is to be built, have been written off.,, Louisiana’s proposal for Mid-Barataria calls for spending part of a $303 million chunk of mitigation money to help fishers adapt to the disruption in their lives and their bank accounts. But industry representatives doubt that the government’s analyses sufficiently assess the economic cost of such a drastic change to an industry that not only supplies seafood,,, >click to read< 10:12
Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources talk Bonnet Carré Spillway, CARES Act funding
Many fishermen got some help from that $1.5 million of CARES Act money that was granted to the state of Mississippi, with most of that going to the seafood industry. $734,222 of that money went to local commercial fishermen, $451,284 went to seafood dealers and processors, and $239,179 of it went to the charter boat fleet.,, At Tuesday’s Commission on Marine Resources meeting, Joe Spraggins, Department of Marine Resources executive director, explained the process of how $21 million in Bonnet Carré Spillway relief funding will get to those in the industry. >click to read< 18:25
A Chesapeake blue crab turned up on Dollymount Strand in Ireland
While the crab is not much to look at in terms of alien invaders, the National Biodiversity Data Centre has warned it is larger and more competitive than native crabs, and the female can lay up to six million eggs a year. Once in competition with the smaller Irish native crabs the American version – also known as the American blue crab, would be likely to take over, scientists fear. The appearance of the crab on Dollymount strand, where it was photographed last month by Ruth McManus, is the first recorded appearance of the crab on these shores. How it got here is a bit of a mystery, the centre says it hopes the “Dollymount One” is something of a one-off. >click to read< 15:40
From Oregon to Massachusetts, fishermen’s wives associations are the backbones of their communities
In spring 2020, the fishing community of Newport, Oregon, shuttered along with the rest of the country. A coronavirus outbreak at a local Pacific Seafood processing plant left fishermen sitting on docks with no buyers for their Dungeness crabs, while restaurants closed and families found themselves housebound. That’s when Taunette Dixon and her organization, the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, stepped in.,,, In Massachusetts, the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association was founded in 1969. “We were shore captains,” said Angela Sanfilippo. “We would make sure when the boats came in, they’d get everything they needed so they could go back out the next morning at 2.30. The wife would be responsible to make sure these things happened. As their wives, we knew more than them.” >click to read< 11:32
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 1995 60′ Steel Shrimper, Cat 3408, Fed Permit
To review specifications, information, and 10 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here<12:02
Cortez: Net Spreads and Stilt Houses
Commercial Fishing Captain Gregorio Rodriguez – Lived the American Dream
Captain Gregorio Rodriguez, a commercial fisherman in Key West of nearly 50 years, went home to the Lord peacefully in his home on Monday, March 1, 2021, in Key West, Florida at the age of 75. Gregory (Goyo to those who knew and loved him) was born in Mariel, Cuba in 1945 and came to the U.S. in 1961. In 1971 he started a life of fishing and never looked back. He loved his career and his boat F/V Trinity with all of his heart. He is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Maria Rodriguez, whose strength and care in his last days was remarkable. The love he had for his wife and the bond they shared was unheard of and the envy of many. >click to read< 17:36
Gina M. Raimondo Sworn in as 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Gina M. Raimondo was sworn in as the 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Secretary Raimondo was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris after a bipartisan vote of 84-15 in the United States Senate. In her role as Secretary of Commerce, Raimondo will lead a key agency focused on promoting economic growth, >click to read<11:20
Cortez supporters scramble – Net camp gets 60-day reprieve.
Raymond Leslie Guthrie Jr., who has been been fighting since 2017 to save his net camp on Sarasota Bay at Cortez, has received a 60-day stay on removing the structure. Circuit Judge Ed Nicholas granted the stay Monday,,, Guthrie and his supporters are looking at their options, including trying to get a long-term lease on the property, or possibly working a deal with county government. “My preference would be a long-term lease for the Guthrie family,” said Karen Bell, Net camps, picturesque structures built offshore on stilts to store nets, >click to read< 08:53
Pink Gold – The next generation of shrimping comes into its own on San Carlos Island
They tie off and wait their turn to unload at the shrimp house owned by Erickson & Jensen, which has been on San Carlos Island since 1965. The shrimp house is a cavernous structure with plywood floors and an open ceiling. On this particular morning, an industrial fan in the corner blows hot air and a radio plays Savage Love by Jason Derulo. The cries of gulls and the clink of boat rigging can be heard from the wharf. Inside, the air smells of fresh shrimp, the scent of the sea. A small crew of day-pay workers mill around, smoking and looking at their phones. They are mostly men, their skin tanned and their faces lined from years spent near the water. At the center of the room stands Anna Erickson. >click to read< 09:19
Wanda Carol Jentry – A Fisherman’s Wife
Surrounded by family, Wanda Carol Jentry, went to her forever home to be with our Lord after a brief battle with cancer. Wanda was born on November 5, 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama,,, Wanda married her high school sweetheart, David Jentry. Wanda and David joined her dad, Miller, in the commercial fishing industry that eventually led them to Washington and then on to Kodiak, Alaska in the late 70’s. Her passion for helping people, as well as, her love for being a fisherman’s wife led her to join Kodiak’s Fishermen’s Wives & Associates when she moved to Kodiak. She is survived by her husband of 55 years David Jentry, her children, grandchildren, family, and friends. >click to read< 21:03
Florida to Supreme Court: Ga’s excessive water use killing bay’s oysters
In the early 1980s, Steve Rash would drive across the bridges that ring Florida’s Apalachicola Bay and see fishing vessels so crammed together on the water that a person could walk from boat to boat. There were hundreds of oystermen using traditional wooden hand tongs to harvest the estuary’s culinary jewel. Business was good. As recently as 2008, one in every 10 residents of Franklin County held an oyster license. Together, they harvested roughly 10% of the country’s wild oysters. But all of that came crashing down in 2013, when the oyster population collapsed and never recovered. >click to read< 12:23
