Tag Archives: during the pandemic

When things don’t add up. By Jerry Leeman

Sitting here towing along thinking back 20 years ago fishing in the Gulf of Maine. We used to land a lot of white hake. An average trip was always around 15k to 30k of hake 5k of monk tails on average. These days you worry of catching too many and you try to stay within the realm of your allowable catch because fish cost money to catch. Yes, even as crazy as that sounds boat quotas have been restricted from bad data collection to be so low, we have to purchase quota from other permits to maintain fishing. Then with these restrictions it puts a damper on markets. Imagine, markets that used to take in 200-500k of one specie a week then no longer are capable of taking in those fish because markets are not strong due to poor biomass data and allowable catches which have altered markets. >click to continue reading< 16:28

Letter: Columbia River Non-Tribal Gillnet Fishery Is No Threat to Recovery of ESA-Listed Salmon

Salmon management should be based on the best available science, but the efforts Sen. Wilson praises are not supported by the science. The commercial gillnet fishery harvests within all management guidelines, The non-tribal gillnet fishery in the lower Columbia is an important part of the cultural fabric of Washington state. It is a component of a commercial fishing industry that provides hundreds of year-round jobs in rural Washington and has for 150 years. Commercial fishermen were deemed “essential workers” during the pandemic because they harvest protein to feed residents of the Northwest and of the world and contribute substantially to Washington’s food security and the state economy. >click to read< By Robert Sudar, Longview 19:58

Thousands of Mainers told to repay pandemic-related jobless benefits

Joseph Parker collected jobless benefits in 2020 as society grappled with an unprecedented public health emergency and economic disaster. Parker, a then-sidelined contract worker on a lobster boat, gratefully received benefits through an emergency federal program for workers who didn’t qualify for state unemployment insurance. The checks continued for about six months before Parker was able to return to work, and he said he hasn’t filed a claim since. Then he was caught up in the state’s attempt to recoup $46 million from 11,000 Mainers it says were overpaid federal unemployment benefits distributed during the pandemic. >click to read< 08:42