Daily Archives: July 15, 2021

At 101, Maine woman may be the oldest person in the world still lobstering

Virginia Oliver lobsters her 200 pots in the waters off of Rockland, usually three days a week. Her sea legs aren’t as steady as they used to be, but she might be more at ease on a rocking boat than possibly anywhere else. “They call me the Lobster Lady.” Virginia grew up between the mainland, Rockland, and Andrews Islands, where her family has a home and where her father lobstered and fished for sardines to sell to the local factory. She started lobstering when she was just 8 years old and would go out with her big brother John.  All of her four children lobster, just as her late husband had. What does Virginia like best about lobstering, “being the boss.” She doesn’t go out if she doesn’t want to but she likes the independence life on the water has afforded her and her family. Video,>click to read< 21:19

Lobster fishermen oppose plans to build land-based salmon farm

Two southwest Nova Scotia lobster fishermen say an aquaculture company’s proposal to build a land-based salmon farm south of Yarmouth, N.S., could threaten the region’s coastal environment and economy. They want the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth to reject an application by Boreal Salmon Inc. to build a facility on wetland in Chebogue Point. The New Brunswick-based company, backed by Chilean investors, has already bought about 22 hectares in the area and a public meeting about their proposed project is scheduled for July 20. >click to read< 18:20

RODA Receives NOAA Fisheries Grant

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, has received an additional $155,000 grant from NOAA Fisheries to conduct a second “Synthesis Of the Science” symposium on floating offshore wind interactions with fisheries. This funding builds upon the $150,000 grant the agency awarded to RODA in 2020 to conduct the first-of-its-kind symposium on the current science regarding fisheries and offshore wind interactions. >click to read< 16:04

“Sailing Back To the Bay” trip gets closer to launch

The launch of No. 76, a 29-foot restored Libby, McNeil and Libby double-ender sailboat once used for commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, and its journey in the decades-old wake of fishing boats traveling from Homer to the bay have been rescheduled for 2022. The delay was fortuitous, allowing time for Frank Schattauer Sails of Seattle to complete a new sail that was hoisted on the vessel’s single mast by Dave Seaman and friends on July 3, in the NOMAR parking lot. Seaman oversaw the restoration work and will captain No. 76 when it makes its voyage a year from now. “(The vessels) had keels and ribs of white oak, planking of Port Orford, Oregon’s yellow cedar, and were sprit-rigged with a wing-shaped sail,” said Seaman. “Belying their sweet lines, these boats were built for work.” photos,  >click to read< 14:44

The“30 X 30 Plan” – The Biden Administration’s Latest Eco Con Job

Via yet another decree (Executive Order 14008), President Biden has ordered government agencies to “permanently protect” at least 30 percent of all US lands and waters by 2030. This “30 X 30 Plan” appears to presume that any areas not designated as park, refuge, or wilderness are not “protected,” even though the vast majority of federal lands are already effectively off-limits to mining, drilling, timber harvesting, and even grazing, by virtue of policies heavily tilted toward preservation and against any development.,,, But matters get truly interesting when we examine Team Biden’s plans to eradicate the 80 percent of US energy that now comes from fossil fuels and replace it with pseudo-renewable wind, solar, and battery power. >click to read< 12:20

Audit fishing vessels operating in Jamaica following the worst seafaring incident in nearly 60 years

Maybe because its entire crew was Honduran, the disappearance last week of the fishing vessel, F/V Falling Star, appears to have evoked little emotion among Jamaicans. Yet, the loss of the vessel’s 15 hands, if, indeed, there are no survivors, would represent, perhaps, the island’s worst seafaring incident in nearly 60 years, since the Snowboy tragedy of 1963. Forty men, 39 Jamaicans and their Australian captain, went down with Snowboy in the seas in the vicinity of the Pedro Banks, a series of Jamaican-owned cays off the island’s southwest coast. >click to read< 11:19

Frank Teague, Storyteller, Trucker, Commercial Fisherman, has passed away in Bend, Oregon

“It is with deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of Edward Franklin Teague, beloved father, grandfather and great grandfather who passed away in Bend, Oregon, surrounded by family, on June 6, 2021,” He spent the first half of his life as a truck driver at Weaver Brothers, working for his father-in-law, Russell Weaver. When Frank retired from trucking, he realized a lifelong dream of buying a boat and becoming a commercial fisherman. “With his wife at his side, Frank and Janet moved to Wrangell, spending the next 30 years plying the waters of Southeast Alaska. Their days were spent sometimes fishing, sometimes sightseeing, but always together and that was what mattered most.” “Frank is once again with Janet.” >click to read< 09:36

Wild Wild West sets new record at Stonington lobster boat races

Lobstermen put away the traps and opened the throttles this weekend at the Stonington lobster boat races. About 75 boats participated in the races this year, with a strong local presence and a contingent for Vinalhaven and North Haven, said Jon Johansen, the president of the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association. Cameron Crawford’s Wild Wild West, always a top contender at the races, clocked 61.6 mph, setting a new diesel record by about 1 mph, en route to first place in the diesel free for all, Johansen said. >click to read< 08:59

Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 14, 2021

Bristol Bay’s run is 3 million fish over its pre-season forecast — more than 54 million fish have returned so far. The Naknek-Kvichak’s fleet had the biggest catch of the day, as more than 700,000 fish were hauled in, and the Kvichak saw a sizable escapement. Ugashik’s harvest was over 600,000 for the third day in a row. Messages to the fleet – To Jessie Peraleg, on the Sandie Marie: please call me at my mom’s, 842-4000 ASAP,, To Doug Walling: Wishing my favorite guy in a uniform, DW, is having the time of his life and staying safe!! Missing you… Your Chicago Fisher Girl- J >click to read< 08;07