Tag Archives: Bay of Fundy
Search resumes for missing F/V Chief William Saulis fishermen in Bay of Fundy
Police say the search for five missing fishermen from the Chief William Saulis fishing vessel in the Bay of Fundy will resume from the air on Friday morning. Nova Scotia RCMP said in a news release that they are partnering with the Department of Lands and Forestry to search by helicopter. The ground search is still suspended due to safety concerns, after a snowstorm that hit the province on Thursday. Police say they will reassess conditions on Saturday. >click to read< 11:37
F/V Chief William Saulis: Support being extended to families of lost and missing fishermen – Vessel Owner Issues Statement
“As our community continues to grieve, it is most important that the families and friends of those lost know we are here to support them in whatever way they need – physically, mentally, spiritually,” said Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood on Thursday, Dec. 17. “We are a resilient community but now is not the time to talk about bouncing back. Now is the time to grieve. To cry. Be angry. To feel.”,,, With families at the forefront during this time of grief, Mood reached out to Bertha Brannen, a grief recovery specialist in Yamouth, who will work with families of those lost. >click to read< 07:49
Search Suspended; Owner Of Capsized Vessel Issues Statement – Yarmouth Sea Products issued a statement Wednesday about the loss of the Chief William Saulis and the six fishermen aboard. >click to read the statement in full<
Yarmouth is heartbroken by fishing tragedy – ‘It’s such a feeling that ‘sad’ doesn’t even describe’
If there is one thing Yarmouth prides itself on, it is for being a fishing community.,, There are ups. And there are downs. It’s almost like wedding vows. For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. And sometimes, tragically, ‘till death do us part.,, Southwestern Nova Scotia has not been immune to loss, heartbreak and tragedy on the sea. And it can also be cruel. And now comes more heartache. The scallop dragger F/V Chief William Saulis and its six-member crew was on its way into port on Tuesday, Dec. 15 when something went terribly wrong. >click to read< 10:19
F/V Chief Williams Saulis: ‘Hearts are extremely heavy’ as search for missing N.S. fishing crew ends
The Maritime Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said late Wednesday afternoon that it is suspending the search for five missing fishermen in the Bay of Fundy. The news comes after 36 hours of searching for the crew of the Chief Williams Saulis, a scallop vessel based out of Yarmouth, N.S. The RCMP will now handle the investigation as a missing persons case. The JRCC said the search covered 260 nautical miles by sea and air. One body was recovered on Tuesday night, but had not yet been publicly identified. >click to read< 07:16
Body of Newfoundland Fisherman Recovered, Search for Others Called Off in Nova Scotia – Residents of the Town of Fortune are rallying around the family of a man whose body was recovered,,, The man, Michael Drake, was one of six crewmen on board the Chief William Saulis,,, >click to read<
RCMP suspend search for Chief William Saulis fishermen due to impending storm – Chief Deborah Robinson of Acadia First Nation also expressed her condolences in a statement on Thursday morning. Eugene Francis, nicknamed Geno, was a community member who lived on the Yarmouth reserve, growing up in Milton, N.S., where his parents and son still live. “We were devastated to hear that Geno was among those on board and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all the families, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who are impacted by this tragic event,” Robinson said. >click to read<
Missing fishermen identified as Bay of Fundy search stretches into 2nd day
The mother of one of five fishermen still missing in the Bay Fundy says she has accepted her son won’t be found alive, as searchers continue for a second day to comb a stretch of Nova Scotia coastline for signs of the crew of a scallop fishing vessel that hasn’t been heard from since Tuesday morning. Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes, Michael Drake and Geno Francis, along with captain Charles Roberts, were the six men on 
board the Chief William Saulis. Lori Phillips said her son, Cogswell, 29, had been fishing with the captain of the vessel for seven years. “I know he’s not coming back alive, but I want him to come back home,” Her son had high-functioning autism, Phillips said, and Roberts, the captain, took him under his wing. “He was always there for him. He was his protector,” Video, photos, >click to read< 16:35
Digby, NS residents apprehensive as search continues for missing scallop boat – Digby resident David Stephens talked about the impact on the local community, while fellow scallop fisherman Kim Emino discussed his own personal search and rescue effort for the missing fishermen. Video, >click to watch<
Search continues for 5 remaining fishermen of missing scallop boat, crew identified
Searchers are back on land, sea and on the ground today, Dec. 16, looking for missing crew members of the Chief William Saulis,,, The body of one crew member was recovered from the water Tuesday night. Five others remain missing. Multiple people, including the Coldwater Lobster Association, have posted on social media that the crew consisted of Captain Charles Roberts and crew members Aaron Cogswell, Michael Drake, Dan Forbes, Geno Francis and Leonard Gabriel. “We’re going to be out through the rest of today,” JRCC spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens said Wednesday morning. “No determination has been made as to any change to that posture right now.” >click to read< 13:16
Search continues for 6 fishermen aboard missing fishing vessel in Bay of Fundy
An emergency signal from a scallop fishing vessel, the Chief William Saulis, came in at 5:51 a.m. Debris was spotted from the air around 8:22 a.m. Two life-rafts washed ashore but no one was on board, said Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens, with the JRCC. “We’re going to continue the search into the rest of the evening and as long as it takes to make sure that we make all possible attempts to find these individuals,” he said. At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, he confirmed that the search would continue throughout the night. >click to read< 17:09
Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw lobster harvester to file an injunction against DFO for seizing traps
“I’m going to get (my lawyer) to file an injunction on my behalf preventing the DFO from violating my rights until they get this moderate livelihood stuff settled,” Matthew Cope, 34, said. Cope, who is from the Millbrook First Nation, said he left the wharf in Digby, N.S. on Aug. 29 to check on his lobster traps when he saw DFO officers aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel, The Earl Grey, seizing 60 of his traps. “We had ten trawls of fifteen each. They took six of them. We caught them in the middle of taking our trawls so I stood up beside them and I said, ‘What are you guys doing?’” Cope explained. “I have a pre-existing inherited treaty right for fishing and I have a right to do so unhindered,” he said. >click to read< 21:46
Canada unveils 2020 protection measures for North Atlantic right whales
Over the past several years, Canada has put in place comprehensive measures to help protect this species from interactions with fishing gear and vessels.,, announced the enhanced 2020 measures that will help reduce the risks to North Atlantic right whales during the 2020 season from April to November. To help prevent entanglements with fishing gear, Fisheries and Oceans Canada: will implement new season-long fishing closures in areas where whales are aggregating in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, expand temporary fishing closure areas into the Bay of Fundy, more >click to read< 07:59
Video survey says Bay of Fundy bottom littered with plastic
A video survey of the Bay of Fundy bottom turned up some odd objects but by far the most common sight was plastic, particularly bags, said researcher Tony Walker, a professor at Dalhousie University’s school for resource and environmental studies. Video, click to read< 1.8 million pieces of garbage litter bottom of Bay of Fundy, says study – >click to read< 08:01
Nova Scotia lobsters still in sweet spot despite climate change
Canadian scientists have attempted to predict the impact of a warming ocean caused by climate change on the lucrative Nova Scotia and New Brunswick lobster fishery on the Scotian Shelf. In most areas, lobster habitat in the offshore is expected to remain suitable or improve over the next few decades, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers of Marine Science. Offshore is defined as beyond 19 kilometres from land. “Some of the climate projections suggest that it may not have a big impact over the next number of years on adult lobsters,” >click to read< 08:49
Growing tradition: Alma lobster fleet launch brings out the community
Lobster fishermen will be feeling the love early Monday in Alma, N.B., when about 10 boats leave the harbour for the start of lobster season. The village of Alma is hosting its lobster festival over the weekend to coincide with the start of the season. The festival started on Friday with crafts and karaoke. There is a barbecue and music on Saturday. The pancake breakfast kicks off Sunday’s activities.,, The evening ends with people gathering to prepare for the launch, which is scheduled for just after midnight. Photo’s >click to read< 18:50
A fish tag that knows it’s been eaten is helping endangered Atlantic salmon
New tracking devices inserted into Atlantic salmon reveal that up to 48 per cent of the critically endangered fish are being eaten while leaving Nova Scotia’s Stewiacke River on their ocean migration. The insight is the result of acoustic tags that can tell when a tagged fish has been eaten.,, Striped bass the main predator,,, One thing has not changed: Atlantic salmon remain in deep trouble in the inner Bay of Fundy rivers where they are wiped out or on the brink of extinction. >click to read< 10:13
Move over Fishermen, Alberta company to try to harness Bay of Fundy’s powerful tides
An Alberta-based company has been granted permission to try to harness electricity from the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy. Nova Scotia has issued two renewable energy permits to Jupiter Hydro. The Jupiter application says it will use three “floating barge type platforms” carrying its patented technology. The company says it uses helical turbines mounted as if they were outboard motors. .,,,Energy and Mines Minister Mombourquette also authorized a power purchase agreement that allows the company to sell the electricity it generates to Nova Scotia Power for 50 cents per kilowatt hour. >click to read< 10:03
EDITORIAL: Tidal turbines’ troubled waters
For decades, politicians and provincial boosters have been touting the potential of Nova Scotia’s tidal power. We’re steeped in tide lore around here, from the Shubenacadie River’s tidal bore to those time-lapse videos of dockside fishing boats being floated off the bottom by the incoming tide. There’s enormous power in the Bay of Fundy, if only some clever engineer could channel it somehow into our energy grid. It’s clean, it’s renewable and it’s free. Well, it’s proving more complicated, expensive and difficult to harness that energy than even the most skeptical observer could have imagined. And an accident involving a fishing boat is just more bad news for efforts to use the tides to wean ourselves from coal-burning electricity generation. >click to read<13:15
Scallop fishermen find walrus skull in Bay of Fundy
What was going to be a cold day out dragging for scallops on the Bay of Fundy turned out to be an exciting one for the captain and crew of the Sitansisk 1. In the scallop drag, David Underhill, a 28-year-old crew member from St. Mary’s First Nation in Fredericton, discovered a walrus skull with tusks attached. “It was first thing in the morning, it was our first tow and we were just going out to pick the table to get the scallops on board, and I seen it right away.” What Underhill could see among the scallop shells was the walrus skull and tusks. Photo’s, >click to read<13:51
Feds planning 2019 protections for North Atlantic right whales
How the federal government will confirm, modify or adapt protective measures for North Atlantic right whales in 2019 remains to be seen, but officials are sharing the initial findings of 2018’s scientific surveys and studies. After a catastrophic loss of 12 right whales in Canadian waters in 2017, no right whales died here this year, but at a technical briefing Tuesday, officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Transport Canada didn’t say whether protections put in place this year were enough — or too much. ,,, Instead they shared key results of a recent peer review of new science by researchers, industry representatives, government officials — as well as scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. — who gathered in Montreal in an effort to reach evidence-based conclusions.>click to read<08:48
Nova Scotia issues permit for new tidal energy project in Bay of Fundy
The Nova Scotia government is moving ahead with a project that aims to harness the immense power of the Bay of Fundy’s tides, despite the uncertain future of the Cape Sharp Tidal venture. The Department of Energy and Mines has issued a marine renewable energy permit to Black Rock Tidal Power allowing it to test a 280-kilowatt floating platform for up to six months. The floating platform will be installed in Grand Passage, between Long Island and Brier Island in Digby County. The permit will allow the Halifax-based company to learn how its device operates in a marine environment and “take a staged approach to deployment.” It comes as an Irish technical team works to determine why the rotor on the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy is not turning. >click to read<16:21
Whale-watchers ask why herring fishery carries on where right whales sighted
A whale-watching tour operator and one of her customers say they are concerned nothing was done to stop herring seiners after two North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the Bay of Fundy off Brier Island, N.S. ,,”My big concern is the herring fishery,” Blackman said. “The seiners have been moving in every night. The last three nights they have been right in the place we spotted the whale this afternoon. Right in the opening between Brier Island and Long Island. “We’re watching the herring seiners come in, and they set up with these huge nets which are endangering the whale.” >click to read<09:51
New Brunswick officials suspected pesticide use near lobster pens
An email exchange between employees of Northern Harvest Sea Farms and New Brunswick environment officials reveals the tensions at play last summer and fall during sea lice outbreaks in the Bay of Fundy. The documents — obtained by CBC News through a right-to-information request — surround attempts by the salmon aquaculture company to apply pesticides to its salmon cages in Campobello Island’s Head Harbour. Pesticides can be fatal to lobster, and the salmon farm is near lobster-holding facilities maintained by local fishermen. >click to read<10:19
Ownerless Bay of Fundy turbine operating without fish kill monitoring gear
Even before Cape Sharp Tidal, owned by Irish company OpenHydro and Emera, placed it on the floor of the Minas Passage two weeks ago and OpenHydro was placed in receivership days later, the 10-billion tonnes of seawater hauled into the narrowing between Cape Split and Cape Chignecto was already tainted by bad blood. “The opposition isn’t about just whether it kills fish because other things kill fish too — fishermen kill fish,” said Mary McPhee, former facilities operator for the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, the government-funded tidal test site commonly known as FORCE. “What fishermen want is for the tidal power people to be treated in the same manner as they are. They want the law to be applied equally. So if a fishery has a quota, why can’t tidal power have a quota?” >click to read<08:47
Sharks are killed a ‘stone’s throw’ from protected waters off East Coast, Canadian researchers to question U.S. rules
Canadian scientists on the Bay of Fundy are seething over a spate of recent photos of sharks killed in the bay by U.S. fishermen. Especially upsetting have been social media posts showing a large porbeagle shark that was landed in Eastport, Maine. Porbeagles are protected on the Canadian side of the border, but not in the U.S., which does not consider the species in any danger of extinction. “The shark is protected for one minute, then in a heartbeat it’s no longer protected,” said Steven Turnbull, a marine biologist specializing in shark research at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. >click to read<20:01
The lobster wars are over. We won
You may recall a few weeks ago when we discussed the coming Lobster Wars involving the United States, Canada and China. (There’s an odd combination for you.) The first component of the conflict has to do with the ongoing dispute between America and the Great White North over who actually owns the “gray area” surrounding the Bay of Fundy off the coast of Maine.,,, It’s the trade war aspect which was of more current interest because it would cut off some of the markets for American fishermen leading to an increase of supply domestically and a cut in demand. >click to read<15:41
Bay of Fundy: Right whales trigger fishing area closure, gear must be removed from Grand Manan Basin by 6 p.m. Sunday
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has announced more fishing closures in the Atlantic region due to the presence of right whales. DFO said two right whales were spotted in the Grand Manan Basin — critical habitat area in the Bay of Fundy. The area will be closed to fishing beginning Sunday at 6 p.m. until further notice. All gear must be removed from the closed area before that time. The fisheries affected include groundfish species, herring, mackerel and lobster, DFO said. >click to read<15:05
Forget Lobster: The Scallop Is the Real Seafood King
When I tell people that I’m a part-time resident of Maine, I often get an enthusiastic, “Wow, you must get sick of lobster.” And, yes, it’s true. I do get sick of lobster. But not from eating too much. I get sick of lobster cultists, that roving band of hard-shelled Hare Krishnas who loudly express devotion to the crustacean as they wander the Maine coast in search of shrines they call “pounds.”,,, The central tragedy of their endless rovings is the long and pernicious shadow they cast over the region’s true and absolute delicacy. I am talking, of course, about big, flavorful sea scallops, which are the north’s bona fide maritime royalty.,,, Fundy scallops are massive; some are the size of filet mignons. Often, two or three scallops per person are enough for dinner. >click to read<12:56
Bay of Fundy fishery has whale of a problem
I’ve worked for the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association for 25 years. It’s been a good career; there’s always something new in the fishery. I’ve gotten to know some great people both locally and across the country. I come from a fishing family: my father, brother and brother-in-law are all fishermen. I have a strong attachment to what I do and why I do it.,, The right whales ventured north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Things were bad last summer. Twelve whales were found dead. Two were entangled in fishing gear. The rest: blunt force trauma or unknown causes, though none of those had fishing gear on them. Government swung into reactionary precautionary mode. We watched amazed and horrified from the other side of the Maritimes while fishery after fishery closed.
Then last week it was our turn. by Bonnie Morse >click to read<21:25
DFO orders fisheries closure in Bay of Fundy after right whale sighting
The federal government announced Monday evening the first temporary fisheries closure in the Bay of Fundy as a result of a North Atlantic right whale sighting. The area, just east of Grand Manan, will be closed to fixed-gear fishing activities starting at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a statement. It said the closure, which affects lobster, crab, groundfish, herring and mackerel licenses, will remain in place until further notice. It’s believed to be the first closure of its kind ever in the bay, according to Laurence Cook, chairman of the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association lobster advisory board. Cook was busy fielding calls and texts from “angry and upset” members after government informed the association around 6 p.m. Monday, he said. >click to read<11:42
Pesticides Contaminate Fish Farms, Lawsuit in Canada moves forward
Northern Harvest Sea Farms, an ocean-based fish farm in New Brunswick, Canada, was scheduled to appear in court yesterday to answer legal charges stemming from the off-label use of an unnamed pesticide added to its operations to combat severe sea lice outbreaks. The company holds nine licenses for farmed Atlantic salmon cages on the Bay of Fundy, as well as for fish farms off the Newfoundland coast. Sea lice outbreaks are a common at over-crowded, ocean-based fish farms because such facilities afford the optimum conditions for rapidly reproducing and spreading lice. In response, some companies have turned to using illegal and off-label pesticide applications to stave off the problem, which causes huge farmed salmon kills.>click to read< 09:37
Impressive pearl found in Bay of Fundy scallop
When Karen McCavour started fishing for scallops with her husband four years ago, she had no idea the mollusks could produce pearls. But over those years she has developed a growing collection, and a nearly perfect pearl discovered just last week is now one of her most prized pieces. The scallop fishery opened on the Bay of Fundy early last Monday morning. Scallops have to be shucked while on board, and that’s what crew member Andrew Fowler was doing when he came across the large, round pearl. >click here to read< 10:39
Bluefin tuna in P.E.I. are so hungry they no longer fear humans
Bobbing up and down on cold Atlantic waters, several fishermen toss scaly, silver mackerel overboard. It’s a delicious snack for a bluefin tuna — the largest species of tuna in the world, measuring more than six feet in length and weighing up to 1,600 pounds. The newcomer among them, a writer and ecologist, expects to spend the afternoon patiently waiting for a bite. Instead, the bluefin tuna here in North Lake, P.E.I. are so abundant and so hungry that within minutes their trademark yellow caudal finlets are circling the boat. click here to read the story 18:29
