Daily Archives: December 9, 2022
Coast Guard Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 23 miles off the coast of San Francisco
The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 63-year-old male off the fishing vessel F/V New Huck Finn approximately 23 miles southwest of Point Reyes, Friday. (Video, click the image) Crewmembers from the fishing vessel F/V New Huck Finn contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders around 10:15 a.m., reporting a crew member was in need of medical assistance due to symptoms relating to a cardiac event. Video, >click to read/watch< 21:23
DC Power Couple Threatens Maine Lobster
Whenever someone promises two for the price of one, the savvy consumer is naturally suspicious. Should the same suspicion not extend to the newest transmogrification of the Washington “power couple”? It is, after all, just the latest evolution of the shell game hucksters once played on street corners. As more than 5,000 Maine lobster-fishing families prepare for the coming holidays with existential worry, The Maine Wire this week highlighted perhaps the apex predator of DC power couples: White House Chief-of-Staff Ron Klain and spouse Monica Medina, assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, who has been a driving force in the campaign to eradicate lobster-fishing. >click to read< 15:28
Search for skipper and crew of sunk Jersey fishing boat called off
The search for a skipper and two crew lost when their Jersey fishing boat collided with a freight vessel in the Channel and sank has been called off after rescuers concluded there was no chance of them still being alive. A support vessel with a remotely controlled underwater craft is heading to the area to survey the spot where the boat is resting 40 metres down on the seabed to establish the best way of recovering it. The Jersey coastguard offered its sympathies to the family and friends of the skipper, Michael “Mick” Michieli and the two unnamed crew members, who are from the Philippines. >click to read< 15:10
Vindicated: Fishing industry celebrates big rise in cod quota
Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Simon Collins said on Friday that skippers feel vindicated after arguing that catch allocations in recent years did not reflect the reality on the grounds. For years, fishermen have said they have never seen so many cod which is now evidenced through the latest assessments which describe key commercial stocks as at their highest level for decades. “Deficiencies in stock assessment processes are finally being addressed, and the science is now catching up with reality, proving that fishermen have had the right of it,” he said. >click to read< 13:53
Lobster more than a Maine event
The headline said that Whole Foods would no longer be selling Maine lobster in its stores. My first reaction was to wonder what the lowly, although expensive crustacean had done to warrant such action from Whole Foods usually described as an upscale grocery chain that is owned by Amazon and as such is a part of the Jeff Bezos’ empire. To add insult to injury the California based Monterey Bay Aquarium through its environment focused seafood watch went and “red listed” Maine lobsters. I guess that means shipments of Maine lobsters will be stopped at the California border. I wonder if that includes the border with Mexico where just about anything gets through? Obviously, the Maine lobstering industry is up in arms over all this. >click to read< By Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr 12:56
Bomb Damaged Crabber Rebuilt
F/V Galwad-Y-Mor has fished from Grimsby for many years and was 20 miles north of Cromer in December 2020 when the crew reported to the skipper that there was unusually high tension on the back rope, indicating that the gear had snagged on an obstruction in a water depth of around 30 metres. Before the crew could take any further action, what is now believed to have been a 250kg bomb dating back to the Second World War 
detonated directly beneath the hull, triggering a massive shock wave. Galwad-Y-Mor is believed to have dropped 6-7 metres into the gas bubble generated by the explosion, with the vessel thrown sharply back to the surface as the bubble filled. The result was massive damage to the vessel and all of the crew were hurt – with some of them receiving life-changing injuries. photos, >click to read< 10:59
Regulators see hard years ahead for the scallop fishery, New Bedford’s cash cow
Scientists report that young scallops off the eastern seaboard have been struggling to grow to maturity for nearly a decade now, constraining one of the nation’s most lucrative fisheries to its lowest biomass in more than 20 years. In a presentation before the New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday, the council’s scallop analyst Jonathon Peros projected that the latest regulations adopted by the council will cap next year’s scallop harvest at 25 million pounds, a steep drop from a record harvest of 61 million pounds recorded just four years earlier. >click to read< 09:45
The search for three fishermen is under way for a second day after a fishing boat sank off the coast of Jersey.
The captain and two crew members of the L’Ecume II are missing after it was in collision with the Commodore Goodwill ship just after 05:30 GMT on Thursday. Jersey Coastguard confirmed its tug, the RNLI and the Channel Islands Air Search plane was involved. Local fishermen also offered to assist in the search after the fishing vessel sank in about 131ft (40m) of water. The decision to resume the search was made after reviewing the footage from a remotely operated underwater vehicle that was used to examine the sunken vessel. >click to read< 08:40
