Daily Archives: December 19, 2016
Party boat captains irate over summer flounder cuts
Few things are causing more ire among recreational fishermen than the summer flounder cuts. Some party boat captains have called it “nail in the coffin” measures that are being taken by fishery management that starts from the top down with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It seems that every time we make a sacrifice there ends up being less boats on the water. It seems like they want us off the water,” said Gambler party boat owner and captain Bob Bogan. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is recommending a 3.77 million pound recreational harvest limit for 2017. That’s down from 5.42 million in 2016. Read the story here 18:32
Captain/owner charged with manslaughter in deaths of 2 crew members
A Cushing man has been charged in federal court with seaman’s manslaughter in the deaths of two crew members when his lobster boat sank off the coast of Rockland during a storm in 2014. Christopher A. Hutchinson was arrested Monday, according to court documents, and charged by indictment in the deaths of Tomas Hammond, 26, of St. George, and Tyler Sawyer, 15, of Waldoboro, on Nov. 1, 2014. He is scheduled to make his first appearance Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The federal Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, which dates back to the 1800s, criminalizes misconduct or negligence by anyone responsible for managing a vessel, including a captain, pilot or owner. Hutchinson was the sole survivor in the sinking of his boat, the No Limits. He is accused of taking oxycodone, using marijuana and drinking alcohol before taking the boat out in the early-morning hours. The boat was headed for a fishing area called Eleven Mile Ridge, despite National Weather Service warnings of dangerous weather and sea conditions. Read the story here 15:52
Fisherman survives barb through chest from 250kg stingray
Fisherman Shane Huxley has talked about the moment he came close to death when he was pierced in the chest by the barb of a three-metre bull ray off Coffs Harbour. While out fishing with his deckhand 14km off the coast on Tuesday at 2am, Shane went to let the nets go on the boat and noticed a large ray in it. He said he continued to follow normal procedure, which is to cut the stingers off the tail and release the ray when the tail flicked out of his hand, swung sideways and drove its barbs into his chest. “I presumed it was hitting my heart, I walked up to the deckhand and said, mate I’m buggered, we’re not going to get back,” the veteran fisherman of 37 years experience said. Shane was extremely lucky with the barb missing his heart and skimming his ribcage. It was an emergency situation strikingly similar to that of the late Steve Irwin, who died after a stingray barb pierced his heart in 2006. Video, read the story here 15:22
Warming waters have fish on the move. Regulators need to act now! Captain Sam Novello, Gulf of Maine Fisherman
T0 NOAA & NEFMC – Because of our warming ocean temperatures fish & squid stocks are moving into north for cooler waters to survive. In the near future , these stocks will be moving into the waters and these stocks will be more abundant there than in the southern waters. Most Gulf of Maine fishermen have very little quota of these stocks and most have no quota at all! Our regulators and the NEFMC should be addressing the issue now. Today in the Gulf of Maine, most of fishermen and boats are now out of commercial fishing. At one time there was 2500 fishing permits in the fishing industry. Today I believe there about 200 active permits left. Most of these permits are small family day boats who are struggling to stay in business fishing. It would be a devastating disaster to our natural fishing resources and having Gulf of Maine fishermen dump these fish because of lack of quota. Regulators and Management should consider using incidental catch limits on new stocks. Example- 2000 lbs, per trip. All Gulf of Maine communities and fishermen would benefit by using incidental catch limits in Gulf of Maine waters! Captain Sam Novello, Gulf of Maine Fisherman 15:01
National Aquarium Willing To Pull Baltimore Canyon Designation Effort If Community Opposition Continues
After backlash from local, state and federal leaders opposing the proposed designation of the Baltimore Canyon as an Urban National Marine Sanctuary, National Aquarium officials late last week responded with a commentary outlining a willingness to compromise on the proposal or even withdraw it altogether. In response to the concerns, National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli issued a statement of his own in the form of an open letter in an attempt to clear up the misconceptions.“With good intentions, we reached out to, continues,, Two weeks ago, the Mayor and Council fired off a letter opposing the designation to Governor Larry Hogan and state leaders. Last week, a coalition of U.S. Congressmen representing mid-Atlantic states fired off a similar letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan expressing serious concern with the proposal and calling into question its legality. Read the story here 12:21
Government of Canada is consulting on New Proposed Marine Protected Area
Canada is taking action to protect marine biodiversity, ecosystem function and special natural features by proposing St. Anns Bank in Nova Scotia as a Marine Protected Area (MPA) under Canada’s Oceans Act. The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced today the launch of a 45-day public consultation period that ends January 31, 2017, as part of the pre-publication of the proposed regulations in Canada Gazette Part I. The Government of Canada will consider comments provided by the public during the consultation period to formulate the final regulations that will establish and govern the new MPA. The work supporting the proposed MPA has been a collaboration with the St. Anns Bank Stakeholder Advisory Committee, composed of representatives from industry, academia, environmental non-government organizations, provincial and federal government regulators, First Nations and Indigenous organizations. The Advisory Committee participated in the development of the conservation objectives and the delineation of the MPA boundary and zones. Read the rest here 11:59
Controlling Agreements – To fish or control?
On Nov. 14, Nova Scotia fisherman Graeme Gawn told a Parliamentary committee that “thousands of inshore” fishermen have been “disenfranchised from their traditional fisheries.” Mr. Gawn was referring to the fact that many fishermen have yielded control of their licences to corporations. The consolidation of inshore licences is supposedly illegal. Under Canada’s Policy for Preserving the Independence of the Inshore Fleet in Canada’s Atlantic Fisheries, the holders of individual (owner-operator) fishing licences are supposed to harvest and sell their own catch. As former Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea stated, the policy is designed to “ensure that inshore fish harvesters remain independent, and that the benefits of fishing licences flow to Atlantic coastal communities.” It doesn’t always work out that way. Read the op-ed here 09:51
Push for 35-mile-long canyon off Virginia coast to become marine sanctuary is suddenly put on hold
For more than a year, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center built a case for naming a vast canyon in the Atlantic the next national marine sanctuary. There were dozens of meetings held, hundreds of letters written and thousands of signatures gathered from supporters on a petition. Suddenly and quietly last month, however, an aquarium task force that had been pushing to make the Norfolk Canyon a sanctuary put everything on hold indefinitely. To make a long story short, what happened was Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate was elected, and the chances for a lot of conservation initiatives suddenly looked much iffier. “We’re not really sure where this new administration is going to go with environmental protection,” said Mark Swingle, the Virginia Beach aquarium’s director of research and conservation. “The timing just doesn’t look right now. So we just decided to take a pause here to see what’s going to happen.” Read the story here 08:15
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman near Kodiak Island, Alaska
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a fisherman from the fishing vessel Transit in Shelikof Strait near Kodiak Island Sunday morning. The 37-year-old fisherman was hoisted and transported to Kodiak where he was met by awaiting emergency medical services personnel. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Anchorage received a medevac request from the captain of the Transit who reported a crewmember was suffering from seizure like symptoms. The duty flight surgeon recommended the medevac and the helicopter crew was dispatched. Weather on scene during the time of the medevac was reported as 7-mph winds with choppy seas and 12-miles of visibility. Link 07:35
