Daily Archives: September 16, 2017

UPDATED: One Fisherman Survives, Two missing – Greymouth boat Wendy J sank on southern West Coast

The commercial fishing boat which sank on the rugged coast of South Westland ran aground on the rocky shore after becoming entangled in a rope. Two men are missing from the Greymouth-based Wendy J after it got into trouble near Jackson Bay on Thursday night. The alarm was raised yesterday morning after a light aircraft spotted wreckage and a life raft on the shore. A survivor, Mark Thomas, was found yesterday near Teer Creek, about 10km southwest around the bouldery coast from Smoothwater Bay, the area where it is the boat sank. Smoothwater Bay is a small cove whose entrance is marked by rocky outcrops. click here to read the story 23:35

West Coast search resumes for two fishermen missing after Wendy J sank – “An improvement in weather conditions has allowed a helicopter to start an aerial search and ground search teams are carrying out a shoreline search,” police said this afternoon. click here to read the story 11:26

Don Cuddy: NOAA scientist says manage fishery as a whole, not by individual stocks

It was interesting therefore to hear a presentation in Plymouth last Thursday by Dr. Russell Brown, a career NOAA Fisheries scientist with a specialty in population dynamics. In 1994, Brown said, the haddock stock on Georges Bank was estimated to be at a critically low point, around 10,000 metric tons. Fishermen had a 500-pound trip limit and were trying to avoid them to catch cod.,, Today the biomass is estimated at 280,000 metric tons and fishermen are trying to avoid cod catching haddock. Unfortunately they are not enjoying a lot of reward because cod have become what is known as a “choke species.” click here to read the story 22:40

Sargon trawler came back from the dead in the days of no radio

In these days when ships are fitted with powerful radio apparatus with worldwide range, it is easy to forget the days when a ship was completely out of touch when she was out of sight of land. She could be lost for weeks on end. A classic example was the Sargon, missing from Grimsby for nearly a month and given up as lost with all hands. She was eventually picked up and returned to port in triumph. Sargon’s epic cruise started on January 5, 1923 when she sailed from Grimsby for the Murmansk coast. click here to read the story 17:51

Coast Guard ship fined for going too fast in Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Transport Canada has fined the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Sir William Alexander $6,000 for going too fast in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The ship allegedly violated the federal government’s 10-knot speed limit that was put in place in August to prevent further deaths of the endangered North Atlantic right whales.​ As of Sept. 16, there’s been 11 right whales confirmed dead in the Gulf. “We take the speed restriction very seriously,” Delphine Denis, a spokesperson for the federal Minister of Transport, said in an email. click here to read the story 16:41

Carcass of a North Atlantic right whale spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrenceclick here to read the story

Shelburne company facing charges in lobster fisherman’s death – failed to ensure PFD met safety standards

A Shelburne fishing company is facing five charges under Nova Scotia’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of a lobster fisherman who fell overboard while setting traps in January. Little Rye Fisheries Ltd. will be arraigned in Yarmouth provincial court Monday. The case will then move to Shelburne. Jimmy Buchanan, 44, was working about 50 kilometres southeast of Cape Sable Island when he fell overboard on Jan. 7. RCMP received a call about three hours after the incident happened. click here to read the story 14:16

Protest seeks shutdown of Atlantic salmon farms in Washington state

Activists in Washington state plan to launch a protest flotilla on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean’s Puget Sound over the accidental release of tens of thousands of farm-raised Atlantic salmon that they say threaten dwindling stocks of wild fish. The afternoon protest, which seeks to shut down farms that raise the non-native salmon in underwater pens, is expected to draw dozens of boats, kayaks and canoes on a route along the San Juan Islands where the spill happened.  That raised fears they would compete with wild fish for food, prey on the young, and expose them to disease. Protesters said native fish like Chinook salmon and steelhead trout were already struggling before the spill. click here to read the story 13:26

CETA: Canada-European Union pact worries US lobster industry

Members of the U.S. seafood industry are fearful that Canada’s approval of a new trade deal with the European Union will cause big problems for the American lobster business, just as the catch is hitting historic highs. The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, or CETA, cleared its final hurdle in the Parliament of Canada on Tuesday. The deal gets rid of tariffs on Canadian lobster exports to the 28-nation bloc, putting Canada at a huge advantage over the U.S. click here to read the story  11:06

Georgia: Longtime St. Marys dock owner ready to rebuild

At 91 years old, it would be easy for Calvin Lang to throw up his hands and decide not to rebuild the businesses he has operated in downtown St. Marys more than five decades. Hurricane Irma destroyed his east and west marina docks sunk the Cumberland Queen, one of the boats used to ferry passengers to Cumberland Island National Seashore. The storm also ripped more than half the roof from his seafood processing building where he has hundreds of pounds of shrimp in freezers he hadn’t opened Friday afternoon. click here to read the story 10:20

Beached crab boat refloated

Many hands and some well-timed weather helped a team of islanders to right and relaunch a crab-fishing boat that ran aground on Rose Spit. “We just got really lucky,” said Stan Hansen, who was hired along with Port Clements-based D&E Towing to try and clear the Carmanah Light off North Beach. Several volunteers also joined in, unloading dozens of crab pots to lighten the 14-metre steel boat. “By the time we went to take it off, it was perfect,” Hansen said. “The old girl almost jumped off the beach like she didn’t want to be there.” click here to read the story 08:32

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for September 15, 2017

Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here for older updates click here 08:04