Daily Archives: February 14, 2018

Coast Guard Saves Four Fishermen from sinking New Bedford Fishing Vessel

A New Bedford-based fishing vessel sank Wednesday night off Martha’s Vineyard, but its crew of four is fine thanks to their fast action in taking safety measures, the Coast Guard said. The Sea Star radioed at about 6:20 p.m. that it was quickly taking on water, listing heavily and crew members were donning their emergency suits, Petty Officer Nicole Groll, a Coast Guard public affairs specialist said about 9:10 p.m. Wednesday. >click to read< 22:21

A Talk – Commercial Fishing Navigates Change to Bring Home Profit

A taste of the enthralling work of commercial fishing Saturday described a tug-of-war with not just the deep, but also a sea of federal regulations. How the captain and crew know where to set up the hooked lines for tuna, how the moon rules when fish bite, the extent that Big Brother’s eye is on the industry, the astounding amount that a scallop fishing permit is worth, what happens when one guy, days out to sea, gets a fever,,, Karter Larson’s talk on commercial fishing from Barnegat Light’s Viking Village dock is standing room only each year at the LBIF. >click to read< 21:39

I Tried to Find Love on a Sea Captain Dating Site

This Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating strange and misfit love stories. Because love is weird, and weirdo love is the best love. We are all of us are beautiful and unique snowflakes, and it’s only right that dating apps cater to every possible community. If you’re into woke graphic designers, Bumble is the dating app for you. Fancy a freelance type who goes to the same coffee shop every day? Happn. Want the dregs of society to send you unsolicited dick pics? It’s Tinder. But what if you’re craving a man of the tides? A date who knows their stern from their bow? Enter Sea Captain Date. >click to read< 19:12 

St. Anthony Seafoods becomes seven-month operation for first time in its history, Employees are worried

For the first time since the plant went into operation in 1999, St. Anthony Seafoods will not be running year-round. With uncommon layoffs and rumours about even more future cuts to shrimp quotas, plant worker Trudy Byrne says it’s a particularly stressful time. “This year even our engineers got laid off. We went from a year-round facility to a seven-month facility,” she said. Byrne has worked for the plant since its dawning days and says there is worry across the board about the future of both the shrimp fishery and the shrimp plant. >click to read< 18:19

How towns are affected by reduced fishing fleets

Over the years I have seen our fleet in Gloucester, Mass decline. As a former fisherman in the sixties we had about two hundred draggers, and times were good . Then the foreigners came with bigger boats using small mesh nets catching everything, and it was not until 1974 that we enacted the 200 mile limit. This was overdue. Now comes the good, the bad and the ugly. The good news was, we were rid of the foreigners! The bad news was NOAA took over. The ugly news is our fleet has dwindled to around fifty fishing vessels, thanks to the bad news part. NOAA, the unreliable science people, determines our livelihoods. >click to read<16:39

Commercial fleet highlights economic impact of Sitka Sound herring catch

Despite three days of impassioned testimony before the Board of Fisheries in January, not much has changed for the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery, which will ramp up in about a month. Local subsistence harvesters won an increase in the size of their exclusive use area, but failed to persuade the board to reduce the commercial catch. Fishermen and processors from Petersburg joined with other commercial interests to remind the board of the economic importance of the annual springtime export. >click to read< 14:53

Letter: CCA wants to kill competition

Many years ago I believed in the need for a Coastal Recreational Fishing License, and after reading the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) mission statement written at that time, which included the benefits for ALL those involved in the coastal fisheries (recreational and commercial), I joined and became a lifetime member to help achieve the goal of a recreational saltwater fishing license. Over the years I have seen this association move more and more into just another political attack group. After spending three years on the Southern Flounder Advisory Council, I had seen enough. Doug Bolton >click to read<13:46:06

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 55′ Bruno Gillnetter/Lobster, 475HP CAT 3408, with permits

Specifications, information and 9 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >Click here< 12:04 

Letter: Predators prevent salmon, southern resident orca recovery

Seal and sea lion population explosions along the West Coast and particularly in our Salish Sea region have corresponded with the declines of salmon and steelhead runs. Per recent reports from the Puget Sound Institute, these mammals take six times as many Chinook as tribal, recreational and commercial fishers combined in Puget Sound alone. That doesn’t even include predation by birds, fish, whales and other animals.,, H.R. 2083 (the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Act) seeks further control of California sea lion populations in the Columbia River. >click to read< 10:24

Missing fishermen found clinging to capsized vessel in the Gulf

The Coast Guard has concluded its search for an overdue vessel with two people aboard, Tuesday. The boaters were located clinging to the hull of their capsized vessel by a good Samaritan vessel, Lady Tierny, approximately 18 miles south-southeast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The Lady Tierny transported the survivors to emergency medical services in Port Fourchon. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report that a 23-foot white Mako commercial fishing vessel with two people aboard, last known to be approximately 10 miles west of the Southwest Pass jetties in the Gulf of Mexico, did not return when expected. >link< 10:02

“ammonium” – San Francisco’s love affair with Dungeness crab grows more toxic

According to a new study published by researchers at San Francisco State University, wastewater pollution also makes our relationship with Dungeness crabs more toxic. Waste doesn’t disappear with a flush. In San Francisco, wastewater from homes and streets drains to treatment facilities operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The facilities clean the water according to federal and state standards. But a form of nitrogen, called “ammonium,” remains when SFPUC releases the water into the Bay and Pacific Ocean. >click to read< 09:05

A key vote looms on commercial fishing in North Carolina

A high stakes meeting of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC), set to begin today, includes a proposal that advocates say could devastate the state’s commercial fishing industry by redefining the requirements for a license.  “This can change the whole ball game,” said Dare Commissioner Steve House, who is planning to attend the meeting and speak out against the proposal. “They’re working to obliterate an industry and a whole way of life. And it’s not just a battle anymore — it’s all-out war. And I’m ready to fight it.”  >click to read< 08:30