Daily Archives: April 4, 2019

China bought lots of Florida lobster despite tariffs. Keys fishermen paid the price

Chinese importers bought Florida spiny lobsters in what could be near-record numbers this season, despite a 25 percent tariff their government placed on U.S. seafood last July, according to the leading Florida Keys commercial fishermen’s trade group. That’s great news considering the fear commercial anglers had about the potential impact of growing U.S.-China trade hostilities on one of South Florida’s largest industries. “Going into the season, the big questions were: Will the Chinese buy? How much and at what price,” >click to read<20:25

Blessing of the Fleet returns to Darien Friday – Information, and event schedules

A walk along the Darien waterfront usually comes with the smell of the marsh and the saltwater river. During a week in early April, however, the smell of new paint comes through as shrimp boat owners layer gleaming, fresh coats on their vessels and touch up the names on the sterns. All the work is done for the annual Blessing of the Fleet, a three-day festival that starts Friday and culminates Sunday afternoon as members of the clergy shower holy water onto the boats as they sail up to the U.S. 17 bridge. >click to read< >Blessing of the Fleet Website >Info and Schedules >click to read>

Painting the ‘Lobstering Women of Maine’

“It started with Suzanna, that one right there,” White said in late March, pointing to a large painting in her Church Street studio, just around the corner from Belfast Historical Society Museum. In November 2017, White said she watched the painting’s subject unloading lobster traps at Belfast Harbor. A sternman on her husband’s boat, the woman was clearly in charge of her territory. White said she watched in awe. “She unloaded every one of them and, hey, there’s no way! My husband fishes; there’s no way I’d be doing that,” White said. The experience that snow-dusted day got White thinking. She’d painted many lobster fishermen over the years — but never a woman. That was going to change. “I get these ideas, you know? But I don’t think I’ve ever been so obsessed about >click to read<

Bankrupt company ordered to remove defunct Minas Basin tidal turbine

The government issued a strongly worded order Wednesday to a company that is functionally non-existent. “(Cape Sharp Tidal) is now required to retrieve its turbine in the Minas Basin,” read the Department of Energy and Mines news release announcing the revocation of Cape Sharp Tidal Venture’s marine renewable electricity licence. “If that does not happen in a reasonable timeframe, government will begin the process of accessing the security that remains in place.” But Cape Sharp Tidal Ventures exists only in name. >click to read<14:09

406 Day: National Campaign for Awareness of EPIRB, Emergency Locator Beacon Importance

Editor’s Note: Coast Guard members in your area may be available to discuss 406 Day and the importance of EPIRBs and PLBs.,,,Saturday, April 6, is 406 Day, a national campaign run by NOAA to spread awareness of the importance of emergency position indicating radio beacons, or EPIRBS, and personal locator beacons, or PLBs, in boating safety. In 2018, the Eighth Coast Guard District responded to over 200 distress signals from EPIRBS aboard aircraft and boats. An EPIRB works by transmitting a signal that is picked up by a satellite and then relayed to a rescue coordination center. >click to read<13:41

Letter to the Editor – FFAW fighting for itself, not the fishery

The FFAW-Unifor demonstration March 20 through downtown St. John’s was described to me as a “march of deception.” I disagreed — no one’ s been deceived. The facts have been laid out for all to see over the two and a half years that FISH-NL has battled the FFAW. Instead, I would call the protest a “march of madness.” FFAW supporters demonstrated to “fight for the future of our fisheries” when it’s the union itself that has been threatening their survival. The FFAW-Unifor is in a conflict of interest in representing inshore harvesters/plant workers/offshore trawler men/aquaculture workers/oil tanker workers/cold storage workers/Long Harbour workers, etc. >click to read< by Ryan Cleary 11:31

Environmental groups sue to restrict salmon fishing for Northwest orcas

The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit nearly two decades ago to force the U.S. government to list the orcas as endangered, and the Wild Fish Conservancy asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Wednesday to order officials to reconsider a 2009 finding that commercial and recreational fisheries did not jeopardize the orcas’ survival. >Video, click to read<10:09

Copeland man pleads not guilty to killing his father aboard fishing vessel

Casey Hickok, the Copeland man charged with killing his father aboard a fishing vessel about 66 miles west of Marco Island last month, pleaded not guilty Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Fort Myers. Robert Hickok, 54, also of Copeland, was sleeping when he was bludgeoned to death by his 32-year-old son within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Casey Hickok was charged with second-degree murder when the criminal complaint was filed on March 19. >click to read<09:15