Daily Archives: January 14, 2017

Fisherman Reaching Out to New England Congressional Delegation to Support Senator Murkowski’s S.B. 437

Recently, President Obama declared a large area of the Continental Shelf closed to fishing by Executive Order designating New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument. As a retired fisherman, I am very concerned with more and more Monument area’s that forbid our fisherman from fishing in those waters. I fished these waters back in the 60’s for whiting in March, April, and May. This was good because we laid off fishing for haddock cod flounder groundfish. There were also off shore lobster men there. We had a 90 foot dragger and we saw one the first off shore lobster boats out there. When my Dad saw him in that 45 foot boat, he said he was nuts! Lobster and Red Crab will continue fishing there for seven years, while fishermen were excluded in mid-November. I would like to reach out to our Senators and Congressmen in New England and ask them for their support of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Senate Bill 437, the “Improved National Monument Designation Process Act” that in essence would have input from each state before going to Congress.

It says, “The President may not declare any area of the exclusive economic zone to be a marine national monument unless: it is specifically authorized by Congress, the President has certified compliance with NEPA, and each state legislature within 100 nautical miles of the proposed monument has approved it. Neither the Department of the Interior nor the Department of Commerce may implement a restriction on the public use of a marine national monument until the expiration of an appropriate review period providing for public input and congressional approval.”

Thanks to Senator Murkowski, we might put a halt to more monuments. After all, those in the fishing industry and the consumer they serve have the most to lose. Senator Murkowski has twenty-six senators on board and I commend her and Senator Sullivan for their efforts to help our fisherman all over.

Thank You, Sam Parisi ,Gloucester Proud to have been a fisherman

Forty-foot fishing trawler run aground near Powell River

Mounties are investigating after a 40-foot fishing trawler ran aground in a village north of Powell River on Thursday. The vessel ran into trouble and slammed into the marina in the small community of Lund around 10 p.m. According to witnesses, people onboard intentionally crashed into the marina to keep the boat from sinking. Police have remained tight-lipped on the incident, only saying that it’s under investigation. Crews worked to get the trawler off the sea floor on Friday. Video, read the rest here 14:45

Safety first crossing the Kaipara bar after Francie tragedy

If in doubt, don’t go out. There are three types of bars on New Zealand coastlines, the Coastguard says – dangerous, very dangerous and extremely dangerous. Coastguard get called to around 15 incidents on bars around the country each year as boats head out to fish deeper offshore waters. The foundering of the Francie on the Kaipara Harbour bar last November, with the tragic loss of eight lives, was an extreme outcome of a fairly common incident. Coastguard Kaipara president Iain Guilliford said the Kaipara bar was easily the biggest in the country, covering nearly 10 km and stretching 8km out to sea. Waves catching up from behind pose the biggest threat coming in. They can lift the rear of the boat pushing the bow under water and causing the boats to skew around and roll, or swamp it. Read the story here 13:46

Gloucester Seafood Processing company’s future in question

Illinois-based Mazzetta Co. remains mute on the fate of its Gloucester Seafood Processing subsidiary, but a state agency on Friday confirmed it has spent about five months helping place workers laid off from the Blackburn Industrial Park facility. Officials from Mazzetta, based in Highland Park, Illinois, have not responded to multiple requests for comment, so it is unclear whether the layoffs — which Messina pegged at about 175 — will lead to the international seafood company completely shuttering the Gloucester business it opened in 2015.  Read the story here 10:03

Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry gets a boost as China lowers tariffs

Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry is starting 2017 with a boost for the bottom line thanks to lower tariffs on seafood entering the booming China market. The Jan. 1, 2017, tariff cuts announced just before New Year’s Day by China’s ministry of commerce will benefit about a quarter of Canada’s seafood exports to China. The exports to China were valued at $634 million as of October 2016. Global Affairs Canada told CBC News crab, frozen halibut and albacore are among the export products most benefiting from the tariff reductions.  Tariffs on these products will be reduced on average from 11 to five per cent, leaving more money in the pockets of seafood companies in 2017. The tariff on northern shrimp — Pandalus borealis — is also being reduced from five per cent to two per cent. Nova Scotia exports more seafood than any other province. As of October 2016, it had already exported $218 million worth to China, putting it on track for another record year. Read the story here 09:27

Maine Department of Marine Resources wants to raise the price of commercial fishing licenses

If approved by the Legislature, the proposed fee increases would range from as little as $1 for a Maine resident to harvest green crabs to as much as $114 for a lobsterman with two sternmen. Under the new fee schedule, which would take effect January 2018, the cost of securing a Class III lobster license would top $1,000 for the first time, hitting $1,002. The fee hike would enable the Department of Marine Resources to hire an additional lobster biologist, outfit its science staff with field technology and pay for Marine Patrol officer raises and ballistics vests, among other things, without increasing the department’s $21.3 million bottom line, department spokesman Jeff Nichols said. Read the story here 08:36

Victorious United Cook Inlet Drift Association file to vacate salmon rule

A Cook Inlet salmon plan will take a lot more work from federal managers in the next few years. The United Cook Inlet Drift Association, an industry group of salmon drift netters, has requested the U.S. District Court of Alaska to vacate a piece of fisheries policy they successfully sued to overturn after an appeal court ruling this past September.In the meantime, the old plan replacing the vacated plan will require some work. “Given the dire situation faced by UCIDA as a result of the federal government’s utter abdication of its (Magnuson-Stevens Act) responsibilities in this important fishery, the Proposed Judgment sought by UCIDA is immediately necessary,” according to the motion filed by UCIDA on Jan. 7. “It would ensure that the checks and balances guaranteed by the Act — including the requirement to use the best available science, to manage the fishery in accordance with the 10 national standards, and to achieve optimum yield — are provided to UCIDA and the fishery in the short term while NMFS works with the council to produce a new FMP.” A three judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with commercial fishing groups against a 2011 decision by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to remove several Alaska salmon fisheries from the FMP. Read the article here 08:03