Daily Archives: June 11, 2020

Coast Guard medevacs Fisherman 10 miles west of Hernando Beach

The Coast Guard medevaced a man with severe abdominal pain from a fishing vessel 10 miles west of Hernando Beach, Florida Thursday. A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew responded to the call and safely transported the 49-year-old man to Tampa General Hospital in stable condition. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders received a VHF marine radio call on channel 16 at approximately 10:44 p.m. Wednesday from the fishing vessel Morning Star. Video, >click to watch/read< 19:00

Ships not complying with right whale protections in Cabot Strait

Oceana Canada has released one week of results from its ongoing study, which is assessing data from vessels travelling inside speed restriction zones. Between May 19 and May 25, 72 per cent of vessels recorded passing through the strait between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia were observed travelling at speeds above the requested 10 knots, with the highest observed at 21.1 knots. The findings will be part of a fuller study to be released in July that will look at the first trial period of the speed restriction. >click to read< 17:55

In Newport, a coronavirus outbreak spreads to local economy

Pacific Seafood ceased operations at all five of its Newport plants. The Oregon Health Authority said the outbreak is contained to Lincoln County and that risk to the public is low. But Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said most of those who tested positive are locals. The town’s economy is hurting again without a major fish buyer and supplier. And businesses are shutting back down to try to slow the spread of the virus. “They live here, they work here, they’re community-based people,” Sawyer said. “And, of course, the problem with that is that people live and work with people that work in other industries.” >click to read< 12:16

Shrimp Season begins in Georgia waters

Darrell Gale and his crew hit the Darien River Tuesday night and had an early morning for the start of shrimp harvest season. Gale said he had a good catch, but it could have been better. The captain caught more small fish than he would have liked, but still ended up catching about 1,000 pounds of shrimp. However, that’s 2,000 pounds less than last year’s season opening. “They waited a little long to open the beaches and the smaller shrimps came out. Well…you don’t get as much profit with the smaller shrimps,” Gale said. Video, >click to read< 10:02

Fisherman Darren Porter has been keeping a one-man vigil at the Windsor causeway since last Thursday

The Hants County weir fisherman and marine science data collector has been floating in his open boat up to 20 hours a day to raise awareness for the lack of fish being allowed up the Avon River. “About six minutes on a tide,” said Porter of the amount of time the big gates in the Windsor causeway are opened to allow water through. That, he argues, is not enough time to allow the inner Bay of Fundy salmon, shad, gaspereau, striped bass and tom cod to get up the Avon River. That also, he argues, puts the operators of the gates (Department of Agriculture) in violation of the federal Fisheries Act. >click to read< 09:03