Daily Archives: September 21, 2017

Long may your big jib draw, Torbay fishermen

A new, and long-awaited, jib crane is taking a load off fishermen in Torbay. “It means the world to me. No more strain on my back,” says John Waterman, who frequently hauls up boxes of cod weighing 150 pounds. The new piece of equipment comes courtesy of Paradise-based Steelfab Industries, which is lending the $50,000 crane to the fishermen for the foreseeable future. “We had a jib crane that we weren’t using at the time, so we put two and two together,” said Noel George, who is with the company. click here to read the story 20:37

New Projects for Boksa Marine Design

Florida based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Boksa Marine Design said it has kept bust over the past few months, with many of its 2017 projects having progressed from design and engineering phases on some and build-to-water on others. Boska provided an update on several of those projects. (Of special interest) The Two Dukes, a 70’ lobster boat, got her feet wet for the first time in the inlets leading into the Pamlico Sound of North Carolina.The Two Dukes was built by Custom Steel Boats in Merritt, N.C.  click here to read the story 17:18

Hurricane Harvey decimates Galveston Bay’s oyster population

The storm was the latest setback to a multimillion-dollar commercial fishing and seafood-processing industry that appeared poised to finally rebound from floods, including two devastating tropical weather systems, and an extended drought in less than a decade. Shrimpers, crabbers and other fishermen who work the bay also will feel an impact. But it’s most lethal in the case of the oysters, as Harvey-spawned rains and rainwater runoff drove down the bay’s salinity to fatal levels. of 12 to 30 parts per thousand are ideal for a healthy oyster harvest in Galveston Bay, which researchers say is the nation’s most bountiful. Yet preliminary tests performed by commercial fisheries on Tuesday revealed salinity levels at 0 to 5 parts per thousand – and excessive water continues to drain into the bay. click here to read the story 15:14

Commerce chief Ross makes waves, roils fisheries rules

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has wasted little time in giving a jolt to the nation’s fisheries. In June, the 79-year-old billionaire investor who now oversees NOAA Fisheries singlehandedly extended the fishing season for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, ignoring protests from scientists and environmentalists that it could spur overfishing of the popular species. Then in an unprecedented decision in July, he handed a big win to New Jersey fishermen and the state’s Republican governor, Chris Christie, by overturning catch limits for summer flounder that had been approved by an interstate fisheries commission.,, “Secretary Ross finally challenged them — the first time in the history of the commission they got challenged — and they don’t like it,” said Donofrio, who gave the president a “Fishermen for Trump” bumper sticker at a recent event. “I love it. … The commission got kicked in the balls, and they don’t like it. That’s just too bad.” click here to read the story 12:27

Salmon trollers get winter season in Southeast Alaska

The good news for commercial salmon trollers in Southeast Alaska is they will have a winter season for king salmon starting up next month; the bad news is that winter season may be shortened this year. Trollers have been concerned over the possibility of no winter season and what low king numbers mean for the future of the fishery. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced September 20 that the winter troll season will open October 11th. It could remain open through the end of December but managers will have to wait and see about fishing opportunity later in the winter. click here to read the story 11:44

City of Monterey looking to buy up commercial fishing rights

The city of Monterey wants to control nearly a million pounds of groundfish in Monterey Bay.  At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, councilors looked at purchasing the fishing rights to 880,000 pounds of fish from Monterey native Giuseppe Pennisi. Pennisi is about to put his federally allotted fishing quota on the market and City Manager Mike McCarthy said the city is ready to pay $583,000 to buy the rights. “If the city is unable it is unlikely any other local organization will be able to buy it,” McCarthy said. The fear is an outside organization from Oregon or Washington would come in and buy the stock, pushing out local fishermen. click here to read the story 11:23

Cox’s cove fisherman trucks 2,619 pounds of cod fillet to Quebec and sells out in less than an hour , boosting argument for outside buyers

The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says the actions of a Cox’s Cove fisherman this week in trucking cod fillet to Quebec and selling it for a profit boosts the argument for the province to allow in outside buyers. “Inshore harvesters aren’t making the money they should be making because free enterprise doesn’t exist for them,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “Canadians are willing to pay good money for our cod, better money than local processors are paying, and harvesters are missing out. That must end.” Fisherman Rick Crane from Cox’s Cove on Newfoundland’s west coast trucked 2,619 pounds of frozen cod fillet across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to a Quebec community, where the fish sold out on Tuesday evening in less than an hour. click here to read the press release 09:51

Op-Ed: Westerly Sun is complicit in environmental deception

I was disappointed to see that the Westerly Sun would put a misleading editorial authored by the ecoRI “news” staff on the front page of its free weekly publication, The Express, (Northeast Canyons and Seamounts on D.C. hit list, 9/7/17), as if it were truly factual news. (read it, click here) There is absolutely no factual basis for the claim that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendations to President Trump regarding the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument would “lead to the destruction of treasured lands and marine ecosystems.” EcoRI calls the area an “undisturbed underwater ecosystem” that would “once again be exposed to threats from commercial fishing.” One has to ask, if the area remains undisturbed and “pristine” after decades of commercial fishing, why would restoring fishing rights in the area suddenly threaten these ecosystems? click here to read the op-ed by former fisherman Richard Allen 08:20

What would they say if it were commercial fishermen? – D.E.C. Officers Target Another Party Boat

On Saturday, for the second time in three weeks, State Department of Environmental Conservation officers boarded a Montauk-based party boat and charged anglers with possessing undersize and over-the-limit black sea bass and porgies. Benning DeLaMater, a D.E.C. public information officer, said in an email yesterday that the agency’s officers, along with a fisheries enforcement officer from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had been on patrol in Montauk Harbor and inspected the Viking Starship when it returned to port.,,, A subsequent inspection of the vessel allegedly turned up more than 1,800 additional fish in 9 coolers and 19 buckets, all of which had been abandoned.,,, On Aug. 31, State D.E.C. officers observed fish being thrown overboard from another party boat, the Fin Chaser, click here to read the story 07:57