Daily Archives: July 20, 2021

Dennis R. Toothaker, U.S. Army Veteran, retired Maine lobsterman, has passed away

Dennis R. Toothaker passed away on July 6, 2021, at Maine Medical Center in Portland. He was surrounded by his family. Dennis was born on August 5, 1943, in Brunswick. Dennis attended Brunswick High School and received his diploma. He served in the United States Army. He went to Ranger School and drove tanks. He also did burial duty and guard duty while stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. He worked at Pejepscot Paper Mill. Dennis started lobstering at age nine. He was surprised at the age of 15 when Cliff Moody (due to illness) trusted Dennis to run his lobster boat for the summer. He enjoyed tuna fishing and caught two tunas in a skiff. He retired as a lobsterman. >click to read< 21:26

Too Few Tuna! Commercial season off to standard slow start

Safe Coast Seafoods and Ilwaco Landing each recorded their first offload of the 2021 commercial tuna season Monday, July 12 in Ilwaco. Landings have been slow to start the season, fishermen and processors reported, which is par for the course. August has historically been the month with the heaviest commercial tuna landings for Oregon and Washington, with the season wrapping up around October, depending on weather. “It’s a pretty typical start with fish scattered and in low numbers, but we are encouraged that the water temperature and sea life look more typical and are in good shape to hold large numbers (of tuna) as they come in,” >7 photos, click to read< 18:49

SEA-NL accuses federal Fisheries Minister of favouritism. Demands an apology.

Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans apologize for showing favouritism to her home province – describing Nova Scotia as “leading the way” in Canada’s seafood sector. “Bernadette Jordan needs to be reminded she’s the Minister for all of Canada – not just Nova Scotia,” says Ryan Cleary, interim Executive Director of SEA-NL, a new and distinct voice for the province’s licensed, owner-operator inshore harvesters. “Premier Andrew Furey himself must ask the Minister whether her goal is to lead the way for jobs and more fish to leave Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Cleary. “It’s time the Furey administration took a stand for the wild commercial fisheries.” >click to read< 14:49

RCMP check of U.S. fishing vessel in B.C. led to multiple weapon seizures and a U.S. warrant arrest.

The crew of an RCMP Shiprider vessel, boats that have been enforcing the Quarantine Act and Customs Act since the pandemic began, came across a 54-foot fishing vessel about two nautical miles from the border near Moresby Island on June 23, according to police. The captain and three occupants told police they were travelling from Seattle to Alaska to fish. Police directed the boat and crew to Bedwell Harbour for inspection from the Canadian Border Services Agency where undeclared prohibited firearms and parts along with unrestricted firearms were found. During the inspection, officers found one of the individuals was found to have a U.S. felony warrant for drug-related charges. >click to read< 13:17

Underwater gliders will monitor North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

The newest glider will carry a hydrophone, which can identify the calls of right whales and report their locations,,, “There is no one way to effectively determine where the whales are at any given moment when they are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” Fred Whoriskey said, “So we need to start blending our approaches.” Aerial surveillance is only good on sunny days with few waves, he said, adding that hydrophones mounted on fixed buoys have their limitations. “This year we are deploying gliders into the shipping channels,” he said. “They go down, listen and detect whale calls and come up to the surface periodically and broadcast information whether there are whales there or not.” >click to read< 11:25

The fishing war over Brexit has begun! Norway races to catch fish before they reach UK waters.

The fishing war over Brexit has begun! Norway is racing to catch fish before they reach UK waters. According to rumors, BREXIT would trigger a fishing competition among Norwegian trawlers as the Scandinavians strive to collect as many mackerel and herring as possible before migrating to British waters. Northern European fishermen are no longer allowed to fish up to the UK’s 12-mile coastline border under post-Brexit laws. As a result, Norwegian boats are racing to grab their catch before the salmon migrate west in September. N-TV, a German television station, has prophesied an impending “herring and mackerel race” between Norway and the United Kingdom. >click to read< 10:14

British Columbia: Fishermen left high and dry over sudden DFO closures, financial relief needed.

Gord Johns, NDP MP for Courtenay-Alberni, is calling on the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to provide immediate relief to salmon harvesters following the sudden announcement by her department to close 60 percent of commercial salmon fisheries on the west coast of British Columbia. “This decision has blindsided fish harvesters, many of whom have already heavily invested in fishing equipment and supplies for the season and now face financial hardship,” Johns wrote in a letter to the minister, Bernadette Jordan. >click to read< 09:10

You don’t need five shirtless dudes to catch a big fish. One badass woman can get the job done.

If I want to be as badass as Michelle Bancewicz Cicale from Seabrook, I have some work to do. But hey, you gotta start somewhere! Michelle has been fishing most of her life. Like most things, if you implement the three P’s, practice, patience, and persistence you are bound to get better at it. In 2015 she started fishing mostly for tuna and in 2019 she bought her own boat. The FV No Limits. “No Limits” seems like an appropriate name for Michelle’s boat. ESPECIALLY after she reeled in this monster of a Blue Fin on her first solo venture! photo’s,>click to read< 07:43