Former Challenger Becomes Becomes New Harvest Moon
Skipper James Third and his son AJ Third have bought the twin-rig prawn trawler Challenger FR 90, renaming her Harvest Moon FR 366. The vessel was built in 2010 by Parkol Marine Engineering to an SC McAllister design for Martin and Chaz Bruce and their late father Alistair Bruce of Fuimus LLP of Fraserburgh. The vessel has main dimensions of 19m LOA, beam 7m and 4.24 moulded depth, and a Caterpillar C32 main engine. >click to read< 13:03
Maine lobster rules should be based on real-world data – the government needs more than guesswork
The people involved in the Maine lobster fishery got a reprieve from new federal whale protection rules last week. U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker ruled Saturday that the Maine Lobstering Union had successfully shown that a temporary ban on fishing would cause some of their members “irreparable harm.” Walker found that the government scientists failed to show that the rules would protect any whales, or even that there would be any North Atlantic right whales in protected areas to benefit from a closure. >click to read< 10:55
Oregon F&W Commission adopts 1st Dungeness Crab FMP to be developed on the West Coast
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted regulations for implementing the Oregon Dungeness Crab Fishery Management Plan. The FMP describes the status of Dungeness crab and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife management of two commercial crab fisheries, bay and ocean, and the recreational crab fishery in the bays and ocean. While the majority of regulations are already in place for the management described in the FMP,,, >click to read< 10:01
What was life like for fishermen in the 19th century?
We have a proud and rich heritage here in Suffolk, there’s no doubt about that. If you head out to the coast, you’ll find some amazing stories and tales going back centuries. In particular, Southwold is a place where fishing has been practised for 1,000 years. And one local man has spent decades working on his debut book, ‘Shorelines: Voices of Southwold Fishermen’, exploring the cultural and historical significance of the longshore fisherman that once populated the settlement. >photos, click to read< , out now and available from Black Dog Books. 08:45
‘Safety culture’ among fishermen sees fewer accidents, lower insurance
Premiums have fallen 57 per cent since 2015, creating $12 million in annual savings for the industry, but while lower rates reflect an increased focus on safety and fewer accidents, fatalities are still occurring. Last week, the captain of the Miss Janet went missing from the fishing boat off southwestern Nova Scotia. His body was recovered off the coast of Yarmouth.,, There has been no shortage of serious incidents in the past 12 months, including the death of all six men on board the scallop dragger Chief William Saulis,,, >click to read< 07:50
Experts Slam Biden’s Plan To Build Taxpayer-Funded Offshore Wind Farms
Energy experts criticized President Joe Biden’s plan to prioritize wind farms, arguing wind power is costly, inefficient, and indirectly produces greenhouse gas emissions.,, On average, however, offshore wind produces just 45% of its energy capacity,,, “It is amazing that they’re touting wind at the very time when the EU is going through an energy crisis, in which they’re shutting down factories, fertilizer production, agricultural processing because their wind isn’t working,” ,,,“That the Biden administration is out there touting it and we want to go in the same direction they’ve gone in, I don’t know, you can’t make this stuff up,” >click to read< 21:08 Britain to Downgrade Renewables, Embrace Nuclear Power – In the wake of Britain’s recent catastrophic wind drought, the Boris Johnson administration appears set to embrace nuclear power as their main strategy for achieving net zero. >click to read<
How Valuable Is FishNet-USA?
The question should actually be “how much is FishNet USA worth to you?” I’ve been writing stuff for the commercial fishing industry for over three decades. That’s a lot of words, and I suspect that no one who is on the present distribution list, who has read my columns in National Fishermen or on Saving Seafood, or has FishNet issues forwarded to them from someone on the list has not benefitted from some of them. Thanks to the Covid mess, and also thanks to what seemed to me to be some philosophical differences between me and some prior sponsors who were part of a commercial fishing consortium that was trying to get into the windmill business, my industry support has dwindled down to the point where the funds coming in just about cover my internet/telecommunications costs. Unlike just about all of our domestic fisheries, this is not sustainable. >click to read< By Nils Stolpe 16:26
An inside look at Seattle’s fishing industry
This unique network of professionals, ranging from shipbuilders to pipe fitters to marine electricians and more helps fuel the local economy and offers a range of career options. When fishing fleets, based at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 91 on the Seattle waterfront in Interbay, return laden with their catch, a single ship might carry fillet blocks, loin blocks, surimi, roe, fish meal and fish oil, says Kelli Goodwin, senior manager, Maritime Operations at the Port of Seattle. These products are separated and loaded into export carriers, on-site freezer cold storage, rail cars (for fish oil) or long-haul trucks for domestic distribution. “The next fish stick or fish fillet sandwich you eat, likely was caught by a vessel that calls Seattle home,” >click to read< 14:05
RCAF marks 20th anniversary of the Cormorant
On the Oct. 11, 2021, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CH-149 Cormorant fleet of AW101 helicopters celebrated 20 years since the aircraft’s initial delivery to Comox, British Columbia. This significant milestone compliments the fleet’s recent achievement of 100,000 flight hours. Since delivery of the CH-149 Cormorant helicopters, the Royal Canadian Air Force has been performing thousands of life saving missions throughout Canada, from the peaks of snowy windswept mountains, the east and west maritime coasts, to the high Arctic as well as internationally – providing humanitarian support. >click to read< 11:59
The 100-year-old NSW fisherman who has spent his life trawling
A lifelong professional fisherman is still braving rough seas in a tiny old trawler at the ripe old age of 100. Santo knows the Hawkesbury River better than anyone, having been on the water for much of his life as a dedicated commercial fisherman. He continues to head out on the waters of Broken Bay north of Sydney with his son Robert, 71, two nights a week as his 101st birthday in November approaches. >click to read< 09:02
Trident Seafoods’ Chuck Bundrant, a pioneer of U.S. fisheries off Alaska, dies at 79
Chuck Bundrant, an epic figure in North Pacific fisheries who started his career as a deck hand on a crabber and went on to cofound Seattle-based Trident Seafoods, died Sunday at his Edmonds home. He was 79. Bundrant was a fierce competitor who played a pivotal role in ushering in a new era in harvests off Alaska as foreign fleets were pushed out of the 200-mile zone and Americans rushed in to catch pollock, crab, black cod and other seafood. And as U.S. fleets gained control, he fought to ensure that Trident’s network of shoreside processing plants and seagoing vessels would prosper. >click to read< 08:02
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 15, 2021
Legislative updates, Bill updates, Calendar, >Click here to read the Weekly Update<, including a synopsis of a one-day Capitol Hill visit by Jerry Schill. To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 19:05
It’s A No-Brainer: Emissions Free Nuclear Power Only Antidote To Net-Zero
Attempting to satisfy a net-zero carbon dioxide emissions target using unreliable wind and solar is a guarantee of energy poverty. Every country that’s attempted to rely upon sunshine and breezes as meaningful power generation sources, has suffered rocketing power prices and now finds itself suffering from scarcity of supply. The mandated renewable energy targets and endless subsidies to wind and solar were designed to destroy reliable and affordable power supplies, which is precisely what they have done. No surprises, there. Western Europe is bemoaning the fact that their ‘abundant’ wind resources are steadfastly refusing to deliver the goods.,, It’s a disaster, to be sure. >click to read< 13:55
One-Stop Longline Shop
Mørenot already has a long background in producing both longlines and hooks, so the addition of a set of deck hardware to the range makes the company into a one-stop longline shop, according to Mørenot Ísland’s managing director Magnús Smith. The Catch LineTech system is a full package of hauler, hook splitter and baiting machine with versions for both coastal and offshore vessels, all designed from the outset as electric systems, rather than having been adapted from existing hydraulic equipment. photos, >click to read<13:00
Coast Guard issues “party in interest” designation to owner/operator of container vessel
U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board marine casualty investigators boarded the container ship MSC DANIT, Saturday, in the Port of Long Beach. Prior to the visit, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Braden Rostad, Chief of Investigations, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach determined that the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) DANIT was involved in a January 25, 2021, anchor-dragging incident during a heavy weather event that impacted the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The anchor-dragging incident occurred in close proximity to a subsea pipeline, which was subsequently discovered to be the source of the Orange County oil spill on October 2, 2021. >click to read< 12:09
The death of a lobster boat sternman has sparked a bitter upheaval on the remote island of Vinalhaven,,,
Ivy LaChapelle was hardly surprised when her 28-year-old son, Roger Feltis, moved from mainland Maine to Vinalhaven, a sparsely populated island of spruce-covered coves and hardened fishermen, accessible only by ferry. “He loved the water,” she said.,, The move was like turning a fresh page: He met a girl, Jennie Candage, landed a job as a sternman on a lobster boat with a boss who liked him, and had a circle of friends. But not everyone among Vinalhaven’s tight-knit population of 1,200 was welcoming. >click to read< 09:14
Inquest into Bugaled Breizh deaths sunk off Lizard coast of Cornwall
The Bugaled Breizh went down on January 15, 2004 off the Lizard Peninsula in favourable conditions, with no apparent defects to the vessel. The possibility a submarine may have become entangled in the trawling gear and dragged the vessel under has been proposed since it sank. But an inquest at the High Court heard on Thursday that the system of wires, chains, weights and nets that made up the trawling rig was found relatively intact on the seabed. >click to read< 08:44
Sanity! Federal judge blocks lobster fishing ban in the of Gulf of Maine
A federal judge in Maine on Saturday blocked a seasonal ban on traditional lobster fishing in a stretch of offshore waters in the Gulf of Maine that regulators say is needed to save the endangered right whale from extinction. In his 28-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lance Walker said regulators had relied on “markedly thin” statistical modeling instead of hard evidence to show the thousand-square-mile area they had planned to close was really a hot spot for the imperiled whale. While the area targeted for closure may be a viable habitat for the right whale, there is no hard proof the whales actually gather there,,, >click to read< “This victory by the Maine Lobstering Union is a significant step in protecting one of Maine’s most precious industries – lobstering,” 21:10
Brixham fishermen recover rare ship relic off Dorset coast
A 19th Century anchor trawled up from the sea bed by a Brixham trawler could have come from a luxury liner or even one of Brunel’s magnificent steam ships. Or it could just be the anchor that tethered a hulk used by Royal Navy gunners for target practice.,, The latest one was hauled up off Bridport on the Dorset coast by skipper Dean Thomas and his crew on board Richard’s boat Rebecca.,, They were unable to lift the haul, and faced with the prospect of losing the entire net, they spent more than 12 hours slowly bringing it back to Brixham. >click to read< 16:40
Can American lobstermen survive new restrictions, ESA listing of the North Atlantic Right Whale?
For centuries, North Atlantic right whales were aggressively hunted for their meat and their oil, which was used to keep lamps lit and to make soap.,, Since 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has documented 34 dead whales (21 in Canada; 13 in the U.S.), and 16 whales with serious injuries from entanglements or vessel strikes. In an attempt to conserve and rebuild the population, NOAA announced new regulations in August 2021 on the Maine lobster and Jonah crab industries, including the closure of large parts of the Gulf of Maine to lobstering between October and January and requiring more traps per trawl to reduce the overall number of lines in the water. >click to read< By A.N. Smith 13:15
Coast Guard, good Samaritan’s rescue 3 from fishing vessel taking on water near Cape Flattery, WA
The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan vessel crew rescued three people aboard a 48-foot fishing vessel taking on water Friday one mile north of Tatoosh Island near Cape Flattery. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound command center received a report at 1:15 a.m. Friday that the 48-foot commercial fishing vessel F/V Garda Marie began taking on water within the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary with three adults aboard. >click to read< 12:17
California oil spill forces fisheries to wait at least 2-4 weeks before restrictions lift
“Nothing,” Terese Pearson, who runs the 50-year-old business with her husband, Tommy, said of the empty state of the tanks, now nearly two weeks after an oil spill off Huntington Beach earlier this month.,, On Wednesday, the response team started collecting samples that will be tested for chemicals found in crude oil. For Pearson, the testing can’t come soon enough.,, This was the first time in the shop’s 50 years it didn’t have lobster to offer on the season’s opening day, which started just as the oil spill shut down local waters. photos, >click to read< 11:37
Photo’s, Florida Stone Crab season begins for local crabbers
Stone crab season began in Florida on Friday prompting area crabbers to the Gulf of Mexico with traps loaded with fish heads and pigs blood. The goal: haul in thousands of pounds of the highly sought after crustacean claws, known for their delicate and succulent taste. Justin Ivers, left, of New Port Richey, and Josh Brokus, of New Port Richey, collect a basket of stone crab claws on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, while offloading them from a stone crab boat at Lockhart’s Seafood Fish and Stone Crab Market at 589 Island Dr. in Tarpon Springs. Photos, >click to read< 10:55
The NLGIDC Supports the Position of an Inshore Fisheries Coalition on the New Redfish Fishery
The Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NLGIDC) clearly supports the position of a coalition of inshore harvester associations, Indigenous nations, and those involved in seafood processing in Newfoundland & Labrador, Quebec and New Brunswick. This coalition issued a News Release on this important issue on October 14, 2021 that called on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to immediately suspend its consultation process on the rapidly growing redfish resource in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. >click to read< 09:57
The redfish fishery is returning. So is angst about quotas for inshore harvesters
A coalition led by the union representing workers in Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishing industry is sounding the alarm about plans for an emerging commercial redfish fishery, saying there are big concerns about potential quotas for inshore harvesters.,, That process is favouring the offshore sector, according to the president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, and forgetting the inshore harvesters when it comes to redfish. Keith Sullivan and the FFAW spoke out at Thursday on behalf of a coalition that includes inshore harvester associations, Indigenous groups and seafood processors in Atlantic Canada. >click to read< 09:17
The NLGIDC Supports the Position of an Inshore Fisheries Coalition on the New Redfish Fishery – >click to read<
Fish Galore! It’s a fine Fishy Friday in Newlyn
Cool cloud colours this morning but still autumnal temperatures pervade… Lots of fish photo’s, from Tuna to Turbot! >click to read< 08:34
The body of a missing fisherman was found off Yarmouth
The body of a missing fisherman has been found off the coast of Yarmouth, N.S. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said the 52-year-old was found at 2 p.m. AT Friday by search and rescue personnel. JRCC spokesperson Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens offered his condolences to the family, friends and community of the fisherman. The man was the captain of a fishing vessel identified as the Miss Janet, which was travelling from Shelburne to Saulnierville. The man’s identity has not been released at the request of his family. Our condolences. >click to read< 15:54
East Hampton Town Baymen Will Resume Truck Beach Civil Disobedience
East Hampton Town baymen are planning a second act of civil disobedience on Sunday morning at a stretch of ocean beach on Napeague commonly known as Truck Beach,,, “The baymen are planning an event,” Daniel Rodgers, an attorney representing several of them, told The Star. “Going forward, they have alerted all interested parties to continue to use the beach as normal, on a daily basis as well as weekends. They intend to make their point until someone is arrested.” >click to read< 12:26
Full Steam Ahead! SEA-NL founding convention is scheduled for Nov. 18-19th in Gander
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) — a new group formed to represent the province’s more than 3,000 licensed, independent owner-operator fish harvesters — has scheduled its founding convention for Nov. 18-19th at Gander’s Quality Hotel. “It’s full-steam ahead for SEA-NL,” says Ryan Cleary, interim-Executive Director. “Enterprise owners will finally get their own distinct voice in the industry they drive, and, ultimately, achieve a direct say in all decisions that impact their enterprises.” >click to read< 10:14
F/V Bear still stuck in the sand at Island Beach State Park
A 68-foot fishing boat named Bear was (remains) stuck in the sand Thursday morning after it ran aground at the southern end of Island Beach State Park overnight, according to the Coast Guard. Sometime Wednesday night, watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay received a report through VHF Channel 16 of a grounded fishing boat in the sand with three people aboard, officials said. Video, 20 photos, >click to read< 09:42
