Daily Archives: May 22, 2019

Search for missing fisherman will be weather-dependent Thursday

RCMP say the extent of the search Thursday for missing fisherman Jordan Hicken will depend on the weather. Hicken, 22, from Montague, went overboard while fishing off Naufrage early Tuesday morning on his father’s boat the Plum Crazy, RCMP said. Poor conditions limited Wednesday’s search to the shorelines. Weather improved later in the day and had raised hopes of getting back on the water Thursday but RCMP say that decision will be made once conditions are known. >click to read<20:41

Ottawa to offer ice compensation to iced-in fishermen in N.L., Quebec

The federal government announced Wednesday it will provide emergency financial assistance to fish harvesters kept ashore by severe ice conditions in areas of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. Up to $5 million in funding is being set aside for payments to eligible applicants who fish out of ports in the most ice-affected areas.,, The release notes that eligible applicants must be fish harvesters who had established and exhausted an Employment Insurance (EI) fishing benefits claim based on their fishing activity in 2018, who are not receiving or eligible for any EI benefits, and who fish out of ports in the identified ice-affected areas. >click to read<20:00

No monument changes planned, but up to Trump

U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Wednesday he has no plans for additional changes to national monuments,,, Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said its disappointing the administration won’t enact the recommendation to allow commercial fishing at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument off the New England coastline. That would reverse what she considers an unfair designation by President Barack Obama in 2016.,,,”It’s unfortunate that the secretary is unwilling to do anything at this time because these areas are extremely important for the domestic commercial fishing industry,” Brady said. “They are very fertile fishing grounds.”Zinke also recommended allowing commercial fishing at the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and at the Rose Atoll National Monument in the Pacific Ocean near American Samoa. >click to read<19:11

Doherty: Pharmaceuticals are poisoning NJ’s water supply, putting families at risk. We must act now.

In response to reports demonstrating that the water supply is awash with pharmaceutical pollutants, Senator Michael Doherty (R-Warren, Hunterdon, Somerset) is renewing his call for action on legislation,,, The United States EPA, in a conjunction with Riverkeeper and Cornell University, have confirmed that the Hudson River is heavily-polluted by commonly-prescribed pharmaceuticals such as anti-depressants, blood pressure, and cholesterol medications.“If we don’t act now, generations of children could suffer from serious health problems, all because they drank contaminated water. Our commercial fishing industry could also collapse, delivering a huge blow to the economy. By refusing to address pharmaceutical pollution now, we are literally putting New Jersey’s future in jeopardy.” S-1653, would establish the “New Jersey Water Supply and Pharmaceutical Product Study Commission. >click to read<18:22

A shrimping standoff

The shrimp season officially opened off the Oregon coast on April 1, but local shrimp boats are still sitting idle at the docks because of a failure of the shrimpers and processing plants to come to terms on price. It’s not an unusual situation for local fisheries to become stalled over the price paid for the catch, but the reality is that it’s tough for all concerned — local fishermen, workers at fish plants that are sitting idle and owners of the fish plants themselves. Nobody makes money while the boats remain at the docks. To make matters worse, boats from out of the area,,, >click to read<16:42

Land Based In Name Only? Belfast lobstermen fear Nordic Aquafarms’ discharge pipes will harm fishery

Some Belfast lobster fishermen told the local Harbor Advisory Committee that they were concerned that dredging for installation of Nordic Aquafarms’ discharge and intake pipes along submerged lands could release mercury in the ocean sediment and pose a hazard to navigation. “The fishermen have concerns,” advisory committee member Dan Miller told the council. The committee doesn’t have any purview over Nordic Aquafarms’ proposal, he noted. “Our place is to ask you to make sure those concerns are in some way addressed by the appropriate agency.” >click to read<15:10

FISH-NL against proposals to grant Labrador harvesters 25% of northern cod quota; calls on FFAW-Unifor to reveal its stand

The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is against proposals that could see 25 per cent of the northern cod quota allocated to harvesters from Labrador and processed there. “No one group or organization should be entitled to a percentage of the overall total allowable catch,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “The inshore harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole must be the principle beneficiary of adjacent fish stocks.” >click to read<11:14

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Duffy Tuna/Charter/Lobster, 655HP, Northern Lights 7.5 KW auxiliary

Specifications, information and 14 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here<10:44

The partners of Santaska have agreed to sale the cannery on the Egegik River in Alaska

FD Financial, Corp., part owner of Santaska, Inc., announces today that the Alaska cannery, Santaska, is on the block. It’s for sale. “We have had this valuable piece of property on the Egegik River in Alaska of some years now, and it’s time to move on.” Reluctantly, Rudy De La Garza CEO of FD Financial continues, “This was once one of the biggest salmon canneries in Alaska. The dream was to rebuild and open the cannery but,,, >click to read< >link to photo’s< 10:11

Fisherman search Wednesday will focus on the shore

With the Joint Rescue Centre handing over the search for P.E.I. fisherman Jordan Hicken to RCMP, the search Wednesday is expected to be focused on land. Hicken, a 23-year-old from Montague, went overboard while fishing off Naufrage early Tuesday morning. The coast guard had vessels on the water along with two aircraft, and as many as 60 local boats were involved in the search. The search was called off about 8 p.m. RCMP are taking it over as a missing person case. >click to read< 08:52