May Day, May Day, May Day! Maine man charged with false distress call to Coast Guard

ROCKLAND, MAINE — Nathan Libby, of Rockland, is charged with making a false distress call to the Coast Guard on December 3rd, 2020 via VHF-FM radio channel 16.

Based on the call, the Coast Guard initiated a search spanning more than five hours, which included the use of a local Coast Guard vessel, a Maine Marine Patrol vessel, and a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod.

A criminal complaint was filed on January 27th in the U.S. District Court in Portland against Libby, who faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the crime.

“Our Coast Guard rescue crews thrive on taking risks for the sake of helping others in trouble on the water,” said Capt. Brian LeFebvre, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. “Calls like this hoax call – unnecessarily put our rescue crews at risk, drain resources, and may limit our ability to respond to actual emergencies”.

The success of this investigation is a result of the combined efforts of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Department of Justice, Maine Marine Patrol, and Rockland Police Department.

-USCG-

U.S. Coast Guard 1st District Northeast
Contact: 1st District Public Affairs
Office: (617) 223-8515
After Hours: (617) 717-9609

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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