Daily Archives: May 29, 2022

Boaties rescued off Fraser Island

The Bundaberg RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew has assisted in a mission to help four trawler crew members, who set off an emergency beacon, after their boat was damaged off K’gari (Fraser Island) overnight. The rescue crew was tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to locate the 15 metre vessel, around 2.45am Monday morning, after its EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio) was activated. The four people on board reportedly deployed a life boat as a precaution, in case they needed to abandon their trawler, which had damage to its hull and propeller.>click to continue< 21:37

San Francisco D.A. wants a fisherman to pay nearly $1 million over illegal Dungeness crabbing in MPA

A commercial fisherman from Vallejo is accused of illegally catching more than 250 Dungeness crabs at the protected North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Friday. On Feb. 11, an unidentified fisherman alerted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife of commercial Dungeness crab traps in the North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve area, according to a complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. Officers from the CDFW then found what appeared to be a line, also called a “string,” of 92 commercial Dungeness crab trap buoys in the southern part of the reserve,,, >click to read< 17:21

Reallocation: coming to a dock near you?

Ever since quota transfers in “shared fisheries” have been made so easy to justify (see the Massachusetts justification for the recent reallocation of fluke, bluefish and black sea bass at https://tinyurl.com/yckkr6vm), such transfers each year are going to cost us hundreds of tons of product and tens of millions of dollars of business. And as long as one-third of the voting members of the eight regional fishery management councils and three commissions either work for or run the state agencies that are funded in very large part by Wallop-Breaux revenues (see my most recent piece on Wallop-Breaux funding at https://fisherynation.com/wallop-breaux-funding-the-rest-of-the-story), without a major campaign to make the quota setting system more fair to commercial fishermen, the businesses that depend on them, and the seafood consumers they should be supplying, I don’t see that changing. >click here to read the article by Nils Stople< 14:02

Commercial Fishing Captain Malvin Kvilhaug of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, has passed away

Malvin Kvilhaug, 83, of Fairhaven passed away peacefully on May 26, 2022 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was at home surrounded by his family. Malvin was born in Aakrehamn, Karmoy, Norway, and was the son of the late Martin and Hulda (Grodem) Kvilhaug. Malvin began his life in Fairhaven in 1961 and made a large impact on the tight-knit Norwegian community. Captain Kvilhaug was a successful scallop captain and fishing was a major part of his life. Malvin made his way in the fishing industry through hard work, determination, and a ‘never give up’ mentality. Malvin was a captain for many years and enjoyed time on his boats – FV Michigan, FV Contender, FV Concordia and the FV Sandra Jane all out of Fairhaven. In addition, he was one of the five co-founders of the Fishery Survival Fund. >click to read< 11:53

Sea Hunt! Sub proposed for war on lionfish

Two marine enthusiasts are taking lionfish hunting to a whole new level, and depth as they are working on outfitting a submarine to wage war on one of Florida’s most-wanted invasive species. Scott Gonnello and Scott Cassell have begun plans to outfit a one-person Kittredge K-250 submarine into an underwater lionfish hunting machine and plan to bring the sub to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo for World Oceans Day on Wednesday, June 8. The sub was first welded together in the 1970s but was rotting away in a backyard in Cassell’s home state of California until he obtained it 1991. Cassell has since logged more than 15,000 hours under sea in it, he said. >click to read< 10:33

Fisherman on a Mission to Save the Kaiki, Greece’s Iconic Fishing Boat

In 2007, the European Union announced a new policy to bring a balance between fishing resources and all the related activities surrounding it, including the destruction of Greece’s iconic ‘kaiki’ fishing boats, in an effort to address the depletion of fish in the Mediterranean. In reality, this means the physical destruction, or “cutting,” of fishing boats that are more than ten years old, with the offering of compensation for the loss of fishermen’s ancient livelihood and their wooden boats,,, About 13,000 kaikia have been deliberately destroyed since 1994 after the EU directive called for the demolition of the small wooden fishing boats which Greek fishermen have used for millennia. Video, photos, >click to read< 09:24

Factory trawler runs aground near Unalaska airport runway

The F/V Enterprise, a factory trawler, ran aground in Unalaska Saturday evening. The 124-foot fishing vessel ran up against the shore at the end of the runway at Tom Madsen Airport at approximately 8 p.m. Ports Director Peggy McLaughlin said the matter had been passed to the Coast Guard. Representatives from the coast guard could not be reached for comment on Saturday night. >click to read< 07:59