Daily Archives: October 5, 2022

Canada is doing its part to protect right whales

Since 2017, the Canadian lobster industry feels like it’s been trapped in a “South Park” episode. There has been a steady drumbeat eager to “Blame Canada” for the plight of North Atlantic right whales. Right whales were rarely observed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence until recently. All that changed in 2017 when a large number unexpectedly moved to the Gulf. Tragically, we lost 17 right whales: 12 in Canadian waters and five in the United States. Two of the 12 Canadian fatalities were found to be caused by crab gear entanglements. Our Maine peers have made huge strides and sacrifices in recent years to protect right whales. Canada has also been leading the way, with the most aggressive management measures in the world.  >click to read< By Geoff Irvine and Nat Richard 15:55

Pelagic Partnership Takes Delivery of New Artemis 

The latest pelagic vessel to join the Scottish fleet has been built for a partnership that began fishing with the 64-metre former Resolute, which became Artemis for its new owners back in 2020. The partnership of Interfish subsidiary Northbay Fishing Company and the Wiseman Fishing Company, headed by Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA) chairman Alex Wiseman, have now taken delivery of the new Artemis, skippered by Adam Wiseman. The new vessel’s hull was built at the Karstensen Shipyard Poland and arrived in Skagen in February 2022 for outfitting. It sailed from the yard in Skagen in early September, headed straight for fishing grounds and started its fishing career on herring. Some fine photos, >click to read< 13:31

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 34′ Ernest Libby Lobster/Tuna Boat, 430HP Cummins

To review specifications, information, and 35 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:50

The U.S. is not harvesting as many fish as it could, driving up imports

In 2020, the global fishing industry reached an all-time record of production worth an estimated $406 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Fish is a key source of protein, making it essential in feeding the growing world population. In the United States, New Bedford, Massachusetts, is the country’s most valuable fishing port, bringing in a whopping $376.6 million worth of seafood in 2020. “Fishing stocks did have a collapse in the ’90s. It changed the species that we were offering. It changed the availability. It changed the pricing,” Laura Foley Ramsden, fourth generation “fish mongress” of Foley Fish in New Bedford, 15-minute video, >click to read< 09:52

Maine Elected Officials Rebuke “Seafood Watch” But Stay Silent on Endangered Species Act’s Threat to Lobstermen

Maine lobster was recently placed on the unsustainable “red list” by the environmental group Seafood Watch, a non-profit associated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Gov. Janet Mills, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden all came out in defense of the Maine lobster industry, defending its sustainability bona fides. It was a nice photo op, but the truth is King, Collins, and Pingree had plenty of warnings that the environmental left was using the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to damage Maine’s economy and sovereignty. They chose to do nothing. >click to read< 09:14

Bristol Bay’s sockeye runs break records, but local permit ownership has declined for decades

This summer, 79 million sockeye returned to Bristol Bay. It was the largest run on record. But over the past half-century, there has been a dramatic shift in who fishes commercially in Bristol Bay. Local permit ownership has declined sharply, and research shows that’s due in part to a regulatory change to Alaska’s fishery management from the 1970s. Propelled by years of low salmon returns and more people coming to the state to fish, Alaskans voted in 1972 to amend the state’s constitution and implement a limited entry system. This system restricted the number of commercial fishing permits in areas around the state, including Bristol Bay. >click to read< 08:14