Daily Archives: May 20, 2020

Eight Projects Selected for S-K Funding – Here we go again! Fisherman get the shaft, thanks to NOAA

To those fisherman who put in an application for Saltonstall-Kennedy Program Funding money, I feel badly for you who were not selected. Again, NOAA gave the money to universities, foundations, and other special interests and not you, who it should be for. Unfortunately for those who applied, this has been going on for years under NOAA’s selection of those that apply. I believe when authored by Senators Leverett Saltonstall (R-Mass.) and John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 1954 to promote and market domestic seafood, that they didn’t think our fisherman would be left out. Two years ago, I was chosen by NOAA to serve on a panel to review those who applied.,, by Sam Parisi, >click to read< including the press release. 19:12

Port of Port Townsend: Marine trades plan for reopening in Phase 2

When the governor first announced his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, boat builders in Port Townsend put down their sanders, chisels and saws and headed home. But as the fishing season drew closer, and Alaskan towns began to institute two-week quarantines for incoming boats, crews scrambled to get their fishing vessels ready. On March 30, Gov. Jay Inslee said marine trades businesses could continue to work on commercial fishing vessels in addition to government and transportation vessels. “I don’t think there’s any debate that the marine trades have been essential workers throughout the closure,” said Eron Berg, director of the Port of Port Townsend. While the port scaled down haulouts, marine trades businesses scaled down to just working on commercial fishing vessels. ACI Boats, a boat construction company at the port’s boat yard, launched a newly built commercial fishing vessel that will head to Bristol Bay amid the pandemic. >click to read< 17:39

Brownsville: How Coronavirus pandemic is affecting shrimp producers

About two months ago, one of Andrea Hance’s boats came in with about 10,000 pounds of shrimp. Hance said on average the price of shrimp that they get from the boat is about $5, but buyers were not willing to pay that much. “They were coming back after they told us that they were not going to bid at all, you pressure them a little bit and then they said well we’ll give you a bid, but you’re not going to like it,” said Hance. “Well we ended up selling our shrimp for $3 a pound so we lost quite a bit of money on the last trip.” These are prices that John Keil Burnell, who is one of the owners of Shrimp Outlet in Brownsville, is seeing. Video, >click to read< 16:16

DFO closes fishing area after right whales spotted in Gulf

DFO is implementing the first season-long fishing closure of the year after North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. DFO says a cluster of eight grids in the middle of the Gulf will be closed until November 15. In a release, the department says the closure is expected to have minimal impacts on nearby fishing areas for crab, lobster and groundfish. >click to read< 14:52

‘I’m not a quitter’: lobstermen turn to kelp farming in the face of climate crisis

Back from a day of scalloping, lobsterman Bob Baines has docked his boat, the FV Thrasher, at the Spruce Head Fishermans Co-op. His sternman, David McLellan, clad in waterproof overalls like Baines, shucks the last few hauls, tossing the meats into a bucket and the shells overboard. It’s the last week of scallop season, but there is a new venture on the horizon. Baines, 64, steers the Thrasher back out toward Hewett Island on Penobscot Bay to check on the underwater kelp farm that he “planted” in December. It’s a willowy structure made up of moorings, buoys and ropes that hovers 7ft underwater and spans 1,000ft wide, like a monster cat’s cradle. Baines is among the latest of 19 veteran lobstermen along the Maine coast who are applying their hard-earned expertise to kelp farming. >click to read< 12:46

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 50′ Fiberglass Stern Trawler, 425HP Volvo Diesel, Northern Lights 12 kw Generator

To review specifications, information and 23 photos, >click here< Vessel is in good condition. To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 11:44

‘We’re open’: Alaska businesses can operate at full capacity Friday, Dunleavy says

Alaska businesses can open at full capacity on Friday and sports can resume, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced Tuesday evening. “Friday, we’re open for business across the state of Alaska,” Dunleavy said at a news conference. Alaska will enter phase three and four of the government’s five-phase reopening plan at 8 a.m. Friday. That means restaurants, bars, gyms and other businesses can fully open. All churches, libraries and museums can too. Sports and recreational activities can resume, Dunleavy said. It’s the governor’s latest major lift of coronavirus-related restrictions. Previously, certain businesses could only operate at 25% to 50% capacity. “It’ll all be open, just like it was prior to the virus,” Dunleavy said. >click to read< 10:29

The Lunacy of Global Seafood Supply Chains

Like all global supply chains right now, this one feels unstable and unsustainable. Most of the seafood we eat in America, even in Gloucester, the country’s oldest seaport, comes from overseas. Most of what local fishermen catch is sent elsewhere. “The models aren’t designed to feed local and regional markets,” Tolley says. Those famous fish sticks bearing the logo of a Gloucester fisherman? By the time they reach your frozen foods section, they’ve made an exhausting global journey, exported for processing, then reimported. Nearly 500 commercial boats fished out of Gloucester a decade ago. Today, there are two dozen. This reflects both the decades-long collapse in groundfish stocks—the cod and haddock that once abounded in the cold waters off Cape Ann—and ever-more-aggressive federal measures limiting who can fish and for how much. >click to read< 09:07

Captain David Vincent Haynie Sr., Reeadville Va.

David Vincent Haynie, Sr., age 81, of Reedville died Sunday, May 17 from complications of lung cancer. He was predeceased by his father and mother, Capt. E. Vincent Haynie and Frances Armsworthy Haynie. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, their children and grand children, family, and friends. His maritime career began at age 16 rowing the striker boat on his father’s menhaden fishing vessel in Lewes, DE. He owned and was captain on his trawler F/V Lady Jennifer operating from Texas to New Hampshire. He was a menhaden fish spotter from 1965 to 1974 and a well respected captain serving on numerous menhaden vessels for 31 years on the Chesapeake Bay, North Carolina and the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< 07:56