Daily Archives: February 2, 2021
‘It was devastating’: Revisiting the Groundhog Day storm of 1976 on its 45th anniversary
It’s nearly impossible for any Feb. 2 – Groundhog Day – to roll around in southwestern Nova Scotia without people thinking back to the Groundhog Day storm of 1976. On a day when the weather forecast was for warm temperatures and 30 mph winds, the region got walloped by strong winds, storm surges and power outages that went on for days. Sustained wind speeds of 135 mph were clocked over Grand Manan and they topped 100 mph in Yarmouth. The storm devastated fishing communities where boats were tossed around and wharves were destroyed by the wind and the storm surge. School closed and children spent days at home. Due to the power outages, businesses were closed too. There was destruction everywhere. Lots of photos, >click to read< 17:46
MPA Fishing Ban: Another Industry Sell-Out,,, For what? Big Wind, or Conservation?!!
The NFFO has hit back at the Marine Management Organisation’s announced intention to outlaw towed gears in the Dogger Bank SAC and the majority of three other offshore MPAs, describing the move as a ‘further sell-out of fishing’. Describing the announcement as a shocking development, ‘Not even lightweight seine nets are to be permitted,,, The proposals amount to a further sell-out of fishing. It augers ominously for other areas and for fishing communities in our increasingly crowded seas.’ Many will now be asking what has changed. They will also be asking how the government can permit the development of four of the largest wind farms in the world on the same site but take such a sledgehammer to fishing. >click to read< 14:47
Bottom trawling ban for key UK fishing sites
The Marine Management Organisation says it plans to safeguard fishing areas in Dogger Bank and South Dorset by completely banning bottom trawling. The sites are already designated as protected areas,,, Greenpeace recently dropped concrete blocks on to Dogger Bank. The MMO is consulting on proposed by-laws prohibiting bottom-towed gear on the sites. The consultation runs to 28 March 2021.,,, The NFFO described the proposals as having delivered “a sledgehammer to fishing”. “This punishing reversal comes on the back of the government’s failure to deliver on fishing in the Brexit negotiations, and damaging delays in the export of fish and shellfish. >click to read< 13:55
Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat Victory placed on restricted duty
For more than 60 years, one name was the best hope for large commercial vessels stranded or imperiled at sea off the central Oregon coast. Victory. The 52-foot motor lifeboat Victory came to Newport’s Station Yaquina Bay in 1956 (although it remained nameless until the 1970s). It was the first of four steel 52-foot vessels built by the U.S. Coast Guard to replace its aging wooden lifeboats, Invincible and Triumph, and was joined in the early 1960s by the Intrepid, Invincible II and Triumph II, stationed at Grays Harbor, Coos Bay and Cape Disappointment, respectively. The four boats are the only named vessels smaller than 65 feet in the guard’s fleet. “Right now, we’ve basically restricted the use of all four of our 52-foot special weather boats here in the Pacific Northwest,” >click to read< 11:18
Nova Scotia: Appeal judge rejects delaying $340,000 payment to fisherman
A motion to suspend payment of more than $340,000 to a Cape Breton fisherman has been rejected by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. Justice Carole Beaton ruled that numbered company 3102602 Nova Scotia Limited (Roderick Jeffrie, president) is to abide by a previous Supreme Court ruling and pay New Waterford fisherman Paul Fraser. The award to Fraser was made last year after a lengthy trial into the transfer of a crab allocation from Fraser to Jeffrie. Supreme Court Justice John Bodurtha ruled in favour of Fraser in awarding compensation for the eight years Fraser’s quota was used by another company. “I am convinced after reviewing all the documentation from DFO and hearing testimony of the witnesses,,, >click to read< 10:03
California lobstermen ride high-price wave from China
Since it became home to California’s first lobster fishery in the early 1870s, the coastal city of Santa Barbara has established a long and proud history of lobster fishing. The industry is now experiencing a surge in demand because of a trade war between nations that are thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. Almost all of the lobsters caught in the waters off of Santa Barbara’s coast this season will end up in China, where an ongoing dispute with Australia has worked to the advantage of California’s lobster fishing community. The surge in demand from Chinese markets has resulted in high prices that fishermen and distributors here say are without precedent, as well as plenty of uncertainty. >click to read< 08:36
Investigation launched following the disappearance of a fishing vessel and its three crew.
A major search for Alan Minard, Ross Ballantine and skipper Carl McGrath was called off on Friday, January 29 after two days. Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is now looking into the incident. Under its current probes, vessel ‘Nicola Faith’ is listed. Investigation notes say: “Loss of UK registered fishing vessel along with its three crew members in the area of Rhos-On-Sea, Conwy County, North Wales.” >click to read< 07:46
