Daily Archives: January 10, 2019

Bruce Tarr pushing bill to expand lobster processing industry in Bay State

State Senate Majority Leader Bruce Tarr didn’t waste any time in the new legislative calendar to again push the state to liberalize its lobster processing laws to allow in-state processing and sale of raw and frozen lobster parts. And this time, the Republican from Gloucester is armed with a report from the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries that supports the legislative reform and spells out some of the economic benefits of allowing in-state processing rather than sending the live lobsters out of state — often all the way to Canada —for processing. >click to read<22:27

Southeast purse seiners to hold another permit buyback vote

Southeast Alaska purse seine fishermen are preparing to vote on another permit buyback, with an eye toward making the fishery more viable in an era of more efficient vessels and smaller salmon runs. The National Marine Fisheries Service is scheduled to send out ballots to fishermen starting Jan. 15 asking whether the fleet should take on $10.1 million in federal loans to buy out 36 permits, removing them from the fishery forever. If successful, the move would reduce the number of permits in the fishery to 279, down about 100 permits since 2012. >click to read<14:35

Coast Guard was escorting boat when it capsized off Oregon, killing 3 fishermen, 2 from New Jersey

The U.S. Coast Guard was escorting a commercial fishing vessel into an Oregon harbor under heavy seas when it capsized on Tuesday night, killing three fisherman, two of whom were from New Jersey. A 52-foot Motor Life Boat Victory went out to to meet the 42-foot Mary B II near the entrance to Yaquina Bay, the Cost Guard said in a statement. The fishing boat was under its own power in the stormy Pacific Ocean contending with waves of 14-to-16 feet when it capsized just after 10 p.m., officials said. >click to read<11:24

Please donate to Oregon Fisherman Josh Porter’s Memorial Fund

The Mary B 2 crab boat capsized about 10pm Tuesday Jan 8, 2019 while crossing the Yaquina Bay Bar Newport Oregon. Three fisherman died in he accident including my brother-in-law, Josh Porter, age 50. He is survived by his wife, Denise Barrett-Porter and a loving family. Josh was the sole financial supporter for his family and tirelessly (and happily) worked difficult jobs as a fisherman and logger in the off-season. >click here, and please donate if you can<10:26  Go Fund Me To Help Fisherman’s Family – >click to read<

Wind turbines are neither clean nor green and they provide zero global energy

The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its latest report, excitedly boasting that ‘the proliferation of wind energy into the global power market continues at a furious pace, after it was revealed that more than 54 gigawatts of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market last year’.,,, Here’s a quiz; no conferring. To the nearest whole number, what percentage of the world’s energy consumption was supplied by wind power in 2014, the last year for which there are reliable figures? Was it 20 per cent, 10 per cent or 5 per cent? None of the above: it was 0 per cent. That is to say, to the nearest whole number, there is still no wind power on Earth. >click to read<09:48

Canadian seafood giant Clearwater convicted of ‘gross violation’ in lobster fishery

Canadian seafood giant Clearwater was convicted of “gross violation” of fisheries regulations last fall after senior management ignored federal government warnings to change the way the company conducts its monopoly offshore lobster fishery, CBC News has learned. The decision to prosecute North America’s largest shellfish producer occurred amid a lengthy and still ongoing lobby effort by Clearwater to change the rule it broke: a Canadian requirement that fishing gear at sea must be tended every 72 hours. Clearwater company CS ManPar was convicted for storing 3,800 lobster traps on the ocean bottom off the Nova Scotia coast for upward of two months in the fall of 2017,,, >click to read<08:46