Daily Archives: August 23, 2021
Pushing the Limit: Councillor floats idea of devolving some fisheries control to Shetland
Duncan Anderson, who represents the North Isles, pointed to the Scottish Islands Act which gives scope for local authorities to request more powers or functions. The Scottish Government has the responsibility for managing inshore fishing out to the 12 mile limit. A precedent was set more than 20 years ago when the management of the local commercial shellfish fishery out to the six mile limit was devolved to the Shetland Shellfish Management Organization. Anderson, who is from the fishing community of Whalsay, said he “firmly believes that Shetland should control the fisheries in what would be Shetland’s EEZ, like our Faroese neighbours”. >click to read< 15:47
MEP Calls on Government to “rethink” its refusal to assist Fishing Family
Irish MEP Sean Kelly has called on the government to “rethink” its refusal to assist an Arklow fishing family after it lost substantial funds over a vessel bought abroad which proved to be dangerously unstable. Skipper CJ Gaffney of a well known Arklow fishing family with five generations of service with the RNLI lifeboat, incurred substantial losses over the purchase of the vessel which had been certified as safe by German authorities. The beam trawler Mary Kate was bought in the Netherlands in 2007, with the Gaffneys borrowing 620,000 euro for the purchase. However, when CJ Gaffney began fishing the vessel in January 2008, he noticed that it was significantly more unstable than his previous older boat. Tests showed 20 tonnes of unaccounted steel were in the vessel, and the family opted to lengthen it to make it safer. >click to read< 11:21
Dozens of boats race through Casco Bay for annual Lobster Boat Races
Sunday was the final day of lobster boat races for the season. From Boothbay, to Portland fishermen traveled the coast to compete. Jon Johansen helps run the races. He says each boat pays $20 to compete which goes towards helping high school graduates attend college through the fishermen’s scholarship fund. “The party started on Friday and in certain places it hasn’t stopped yet,” >Video, photos, click to read< 10:03
Dividing the baby
Alaska’s Kenai River is today a textbook example of the problems of managing mixed-stock fisheries right down to commercial set gillnetters protesting they catch comparatively few of the weak stock. The weak stock is in this case Chinook, or what Alaskans usually just call king salmon, and it just happens to be the same fish that gets caught as trawl bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. To date this year, according to National Marine Fisheries Service data, trawlers in the Bering Sea have caught about 11,000 Chinook on their way to a harvest of nearly 1 million metric tons, or about 2.2 billion pounds of pollock. >click to read< 09:04
The last in a long line of Milwaukee commercial fishermen sets course for Alaska
The men have always started their day wondering whether a load of fish is straining the nets that they set the day before. Today their compass doesn’t point them toward any nets at all. The boat’s rumbling 855 Cummins diesel pushes them down the muddy Kinnickinnic River and under the Hoan Bridge. This is the moment when their eyes normally train on the open waters ahead. But today, the 52-year-old man notices his dad, Alvin, is glancing back. I think this is probably going to be the last time I see Milwaukee from the water, 77-year-old Alvin Anderson says. Yeah, his son, Dan, replies glumly. Then Milwaukee’s last working commercial fishing tug – the Alicia Rae – glides through the north gap of the Milwaukee Harbor breakwater. And it is gone. 20 photo’s, >click to read< 08:10
