During biggest salmon return in years, up to 22,000 litres of fuel might have spilled into the Fraser River
The smell of diesel filled the air as crews worked to recover a capsized tugboat that may have spilled as much as 22,000 litres of the fuel in the Fraser River between Vancouver and Richmond on Monday night. Canadian Coast Guard spokesperson Dan Bate said it’s unknown what caused the George H. Ledcor tug to capsize around 10 p.m. PDT Monday, just east of Vancouver International Airport. There were four people aboard the vessel and all were rescued by the crew on a nearby tug, Bate said. In a statement, the First Nation said the fuel spill is “of great concern” to the Musqueam people, who have been fishing the biggest salmon return in years on the Fraser River alongside other fishermen. >click to read<20:28
The mysterious case of Alaska’s strange sockeye salmon returns this year
There’s something unusual going on with the sockeye salmon runs returning to Alaska this year. In some places — like Bristol Bay — the runs are strong. In others, like the Copper River or the Kenai River they’re unexpectedly weak. In some places, there are sockeye that are unusually small. In others, sockeye of a certain age appear to be missing entirely. It’s a mystery. In Southeast Alaska, one of the first Fish and Game staffers to notice an unusual trend was Iris Frank, a regional data coordinator and fisheries technician. Frank’s lab is on the first floor of Fish and Game’s Douglas Island office that looks like it hasn’t changed much in the 32 years since she got there. >click to read<18:06
NEFMC Seeks Input From Fishermen and Research Partners on RSA Programs; Take the Online Survey!
The New England Fishery Management Council is asking fishermen and their cooperative research partners who participate in the Atlantic Sea Scallop, Atlantic Herring, and/or Monkfish Research Set-Aside (RSA) Programs to take an online survey and provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of these programs and pass along any suggestions for improvement. Other stakeholders who have an interest or role in RSA programs also are encouraged to take the survey.,,, The survey, which contains roughly 40 questions, will be available online until mid-September 2018. >click to read<17:02
F/V Lady Kathy comes up for air after 20 years
Local fishing vessel, the Lady Kathy, was hauled out of the Charleston Marina on Monday for the first time in over 20 years for maintenance. Owner of the boat Richard Shore inherited the Lady Kathy from his father a couple of years ago. The boat, named after Shore’s grandmother, was built in 1971 by his grandfather and father. “It’s been a long time, about 20 years since it was last hauled out. That’s suicide for any other boat. Usually you take it out once a year,” Shore said. 3 image >click to read<16:14
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 44’11” Fiberglass Crabber, 8 Cylinder Detroit
Specifications, information and 21 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here<15:19
A mighty wind, by Kevin Gray – The more you read, the dirtier it gets.
Jeff Grybowksi likes to tell the story about the whale.,,, For Grybowksi and his surrogates, as well as for the powerful environmental groups blowing wind into his green-energy sails, this is a handy anecdote, one they frequently recycle to journalists and policy makers. In the face of commercial fishermen’s warnings that Deepwater’s wind farms will kill their industry, Grybowksi’s parable portrays the company as a true steward of the environment. At the same time, the story underscores the brinksmanship that has propelled Grybowski’s company from startup obscurity to leading player in the booming domestic offshore wind trade: They are ready to go down to the wire for the sake of their hedge-fund investors.,,, But not everyone out here is impressed by Deepwater’s plans, or by Grybowski, or his whale. >click to read<10:52
After fire destroys seafood processing plant, Pacific Seafood celebrates their plant reopening in Warrenton
Pacific Seafood in Warrenton celebrated its grand re-opening Tuesday, five years after fire destroyed the seafood processing plant. “It’s been a great day that’s taken five years to achieve,” Pacific Seafood President & CEO Frank Dulcich said. “I’m extremely proud of our community and this team.” On June 4, 2013, a massive fire that broke out at the facility, while contractors torched a new, tar roof. “Within 45 minutes the whole building was engulfed in flames,” recalled Dulcich. “There was a lot of sadness.” Video >click to read<09:27
N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission panel in disarray ahead of quarterly meeting
Just as the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission convenes on Wednesday for its quarterly meeting in Raleigh, there has been a complete turnover of the panel’s commercial fishing members.
By statute, the nine-member board must include three members representing the commercial industry. Sammie Corbett and Alison Willis, both of whom have served since 2014, submitted their resignations Monday night.,,, Both the N.C. Fisheries Association and N.C. Watermen United sent letters Tuesday to state officials asking that no action be taken on any issues that affect the commercial industry until there is full representation. >click to read< 08:44
Man died cleaning tanks onboard boat at Fraserbugh Harbour amid ‘poison fumes’ alert
A man who tragically died onboard a super trawler boat at Fraserburgh Harbour yesterday is believed to have been poisoned by toxic fumes. Four other men were also hospitalised following the incident. The men are reported to have been cleaning tanks on the giant vessel when they were overcome by the fumes. Emergency services initially received a concern call shortly after 2pm yesterday for three men who had fallen ill but despite the best efforts of those involved one man was pronounced dead a short time later.,, The tragedy happened on the Fraserburgh-registered trawler Sunbeam which was docked in the deepwater Balaclava Basin. >click to read<05:43
Help us learn more about the “Michigan Bears” and the men who fished aboard Gloucester’s oldest fishing vessel, the Phyllis A.
On September 6, 1920 five small vessels arrived in Gloucester Harbor and tied up in Smith Cove near Rocky Neck. The little boats and the 20 men who crewed them, had spent 24 days traveling 2,200 miles from Charlevoix, Michigan to start a new life for them selves and their families, doing a method of fishing that had been introduced, but not welcomed, by the fishing industry on the east coast of the Atlantic in the late 1800’s,,, gill net fishing, used here in Gloucester and the East coast to this day. >click to read<21:21
Coast Guard responding to diesel spill in Newport’s Yaquina Bay
The Coast Guard is responding to a diesel spill of approximately 700 gallons that occurred in Yaquina Bay in Newport, early Tuesday morning. Coast Guard oil spill responders from Sector Columbia River’s Incident Management Detachment in Portland arrived on scene at 11 a.m. to oversee cleanup efforts that began when local responders deployed containment booms and applied sorbents. Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector North Bend and Sector Columbia River received a report of the diesel spill at 12:30 a.m., from a representative of NWFF Environmental. The spill reportedly happened when the crew of the commercial fishing vessel Coast Pride left a transfer pump on. >click to read<19:35
Food for hundreds – Iqaluit hunters celebrate successful bowhead whale harvest
The community of Iqaluit is celebrating a major milestone — and preparing to fill their freezers — after a bowhead whale was successfully hunted near the community on Tuesday afternoon. It’s been seven years since the last bowhead was hunted and killed near Iqaluit. This summer, the local Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association aimed to change that, organizing a hunt and encouraging locals to join.,,, As of Tuesday evening, the whale is being dragged back to Iqaluit, where it will be harvested and shared with members of the community. >click to read<18:53
310-pound bull shark caught in Southern Maryland waters
A commercial fisherman pulled an 8.6-foot, 310-pound bull shark from his pound net trap at the mouth of the Patuxent River in Southern Maryland on Monday — an uncommon catch that has been the buzz of the bay as the picture has made its rounds. Larry “Boo” Powley, 65, of Hoopers Island said he found the shark, which had swum into the trap just below Cedar Point to feed on the fish inside, when he checked his four pound nets at sunrise. It wasn’t the first shark he’s caught in the Chesapeake Bay. But he was astounded at its size. “I’ve been on the water for 42 years,” Powley said. “I’ve never seen one that big.” >click to read<17:40
EDITORIAL: All aboard for saving right whales
There are good reasons why there haven’t been any right whale deaths in waters around the Atlantic provinces this year. It’s due to a combination of good luck and good management. Last year, an alarming number of endangered whales died — 13 in Canadian waters and five more off the U.S. The bodies of another two whales have shown up in American waters this year, while several whale rescues from entanglements were carried out in the Bay of Fundy.,,, Something had to be done. Last year, Ottawa ordered ships to reduce speed in Atlantic waters to help the slow-moving marine mammals avoid collisions. Fishermen were asked to reduce rope and other gear in the water to lessen the chances of entanglements. >click to read<15:22
BREAKING: Man dead and others treated after Fraserburgh harbour incident
The emergency services were called at about 14:00 after reports of a group of men falling ill . One man was pronounced dead a short time later. Four other men are being treated in hospital. Details have not been released but they are not believed to be in a life-threatening condition. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) have been informed. >click to read<13:23
NOAA/NMFS to Reimburse Sector At-Sea Monitoring Costs
NOAA/NMFS will pay for all at-sea monitoring costs for fishing year 2018. Any groundfish sector trip beginning on or after May 1, 2018 that was selected for at-sea monitoring coverage is eligible for reimbursement. NOAA will also reimburse industry for an additional 25 percent of their at-sea monitoring costs in fishing year 2017 using remaining prior year funds, bringing the total reimbursement for 2017 to approximately 85 percent. This reimbursement was provided for by Congress through an FY18 funding increase for groundfish at-sea monitoring. >click to read<12:54
In China, rainbow trout is now salmon?
A Chinese fishery recently entangled in a “salmon scandal” — when it tried to pass off rainbow trout as salmon — has just helped the government draft a policy to reclassify rainbow trout as salmon. Two months after the revelation that one-third of the salmon sold in China was, in fact, domestic rainbow trout mislabeled to deceive consumers, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), along with 13 Chinese fishery companies, recently announced new industry standards to broaden the definition of salmon, and now officially recognizes rainbow trout as legitimate salmon in the Chinese market. >click to read<12:28
Divers to refloat boat destroyed in fire, 65 feet of wharf lost to the flames
A team of divers is expected to get in the water in Twillingate Tuesday morning to refloat a longliner that burned and is now mostly submerged. The Sebastian Sails, known to many for the years it was featured on Discovery Canada’s TV show Cold Water Cowboys, was mostly underwater after catching fire on Monday morning. Just the ship’s bow was left above the surface. The fire on Monday also destroyed about 65 feet of the 300-foot wharf in Twillingate, according to Harbour Authority Master Gord Noseworthy. >click to read<10:44
Oil drilling bid for Great Australian Bight not a boring debate for Port Lincoln locals
Plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight off the coast of South Australia have sparked a lively debate in the seaside town of Port Lincoln. In a city that calls itself the seafood capital of Australia, the discussion centres on the future of its greatest asset — The Great Australian Bight. Norwegian oil company, Equinor, plans to drill for oil in the seas that support Port Lincoln’s most important industry.,, Norwegian Fisherman’s Association representative, Bjornar Nicolaisen, also addressed the meeting, on behalf of an ongoing campaign in Norway to protect fisheries from drilling. Overwhelmingly speakers spoke against Equinor’s plans — just three people on the evening put forward cases for the plans. >click to read<09:57
British Columbia: The Last Cannery Standing
While British Columbia’s canning industry dates back to the earliest days of Canadian confederation, the canning process itself is even older, invented by a French chef in the early 1800s. By 1864, Americans were canning salmon on the Pacific coast. Three years later, Scottish entrepreneur James Syme established a canning operation near the mouth of the Fraser River in what would soon become British Columbia—the first of 223 salmon canneries that have come and gone in the province since then. The most fleeting of these enterprises, like Syme’s, lasted a season or two. The most tenacious, the North Pacific Cannery in Prince Rupert, boasted almost 90 consecutive years of fish processing, starting in 1889 and ending in the late 1970s. >click to read<09:07
A Marshfield lobsterman’s impromptu whale watch, Minke whale puts on a show
A minke whale put on quite the show — including a leaping belly flop — for a Marshfield fisherman out at work on Saturday, Quincy’s Patriot Ledger reports. According to the newspaper, Patrick Hurley was bringing in his daily catch when the whale started swimming around his boat. “Wow! He looked right at me,” the lobsterman exclaims as the whale breaches in a video shared by the Patriot Ledger. “Don’t jump on my boat, buddy.” “I gotta get to work,” he later calls to the whale. video >click to watch< 20:23
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting in Virginia Beach August 13–16
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s meeting to be held August 13-16, 2018 in Virginia Beach, VA. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront (3001 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23451, Telephone 757-213-3000). Briefing Materials & Agenda Overview Agenda >click here< Attend Meeting with Adobe Connect >click here< Listen Live! 19:15
Access to justice denied; Labour Board refuses FISH-NL request to live-stream upcoming hearing
“While we’re urging inshore harvesters to attend the hearing in person, the reality is most will not be able to make it,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “For them, access to justice will be denied as a result of this decision.” Almost 20 months after FISH-NL submitted an application for certification to represent the province’s inshore harvesters — breaking them away from the FFAW-Unifor — and the Labour Relations Board has scheduled an Aug. 20th hearing. Earlier this month, David Goodland, FISH-NL’s lawyer, wrote the Labour Relations Board for permission to live-stream the hearing, and share the recording on FISH-NL’s Facebook page. “The request is made in order to ensure all parties affected by the outcome of the hearing have access to justice and in particular have reasonable access to this hearing,” Goodland wrote, adding if the request isn’t granted the “vast majority” of harvesters won’t be able to observe the hearing. >click to read<14:17
Commercial Fishing Operations Reporting Record Catch Along Lake Superior’s South Shore
Commercial fishing operations near the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior are reporting record numbers of whitefish and a strong recovery of lake trout from a low in the early 2000s. During a presentation to the state’s Natural Resources Board, Craig Hoopman, of Lake Superior whitefish, said he is seeing record numbers of young whitefish and a strong rebounding of lake trout numbers. Hoopman, who chairs the state Department of Natural Resources Lake Superior Commercial Fishing Board, said fishing has been phenomenal so far this year. “We’re averaging between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds of whitefish per day in the traps right now and releasing thousands of sub-legal fish,” said Hoopman. “There’s just multiple year classes of fish.” >click to read<12:38
Pacific Seafood wants to buy Bayfront area properties to house their workers
Pacific Seafood processing is asking Newport City Hall to allow them to create their own worker housing because their workers can’t find affordable housing in Newport. Pacific Seafood will be sitting down with city planning commissioners August 13th to work out some changes to the city code to allow the company to provide workforce housing for its workers by acquiring properties on, or near, the Bayfront so their workers can have a place to live and not have it cost them an arm and a leg. >click to read<10:36
UPDATED – BREAKING: ‘Cold Water Cowboys’ fishing boat catches fire at Newfoundland wharf
Plumes of smoke could be seen coming from the wharf near a fish plant in Twillingate, N.L., this morning after a longliner caught fire. Deborah Bourden, who operates the nearby Anchor Inn Hotel and Suites, says the boat that caught fire is the Sebastian Sails, a fishing vessel that had been featured on the reality television series “Cold Water Cowboys.” She says the town’s fire department responded not long after the fire broke out just before 6 a.m. Bourden says she talked to a firefighter at the scene, and was told that the fire is now under control and no one was hurt. Bourden says there were explosions heard and it’s believed they originated from propane tanks on the boat. >click to read<08:32
Twillingate longliner Sebastian Sails badly damaged in wharfside fire – >click to read< Nature of blaze of ‘Cold Water Cowboys’ vessel being investigated; effort underway to put out wharf fire – >click to read<09:48
UPDATED – Unified command responds to grounded vessel near Santa Cruz
The Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), Monterey County, Santa Cruz Fire Department and a representative of the vessel owners have established a unified command in response to a 56-foot commercial fishing vessel that ran aground with a maximum potential capacity of 1,200 gallons of diesel aboard near Natural Bridges State Park, Sunday morning. The captain of the fishing vessel, Pacific Quest, contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, reporting that his vessel ran aground with only himself and his dog aboard. >click to read<06:38
Inuit father faces backlash after posting photo of son with hunted beluga whale on Twitter
An Inuit father who posted a photo on Twitter expressing pride in his son’s first beluga whale harvest says he’s received a lot of online backlash from people who don’t understand life in the North. When someone harvests a whale in Rankin Inlet it’s a celebration for the whole community, said Albert Netser. But it’s more special when it happens for the first time. So when his 16-year-old son Nangaat harpooned a beluga whale earlier this week in the Hudson Bay, like any proud parent, he wanted to share the achievement. He shared the photo, showing his son proudly smiling standing on rocks at the edge of the water in front of the dead whale,,, >click to read<22:39
Prince Edward County fisherman hands family business to Syrian refugee
A veteran fisherman from Prince Edward County is handing the reins of his company over to a 21-year-old Syrian newcomer in an effort to keep the only fish processing operation left in the county alive. Kendall Dewey, 66, was desperately looking for someone to take over the commercial fishing business that had been in his family for four generations. If Dewey Fisheries closed, shops and restaurants in the area could be left without a source of local seafood. So Dewey contacted employment agencies and scouted people locally who might have an interest. His search was falling short until he met Slieman al-Jasem, a refugee from Syria who’d never cleaned a fish before — but had a knack for learning quickly and a desire to run his own company. >click to read<20:53
The fisherman and the government observer – Tuna by the ton: two tales of fishing
Tom Crivello is a tuna boat captain and owner of two large seiners, both of which carry helicopters that are used in hunting for tuna. Crivello’s two boats are the Rose Ann Marie, which is 220 feet long with a capacity of 1050 tons of fish, and the Marla Marie, which is 151 feet long and holds about 500 tons. They are both registered in the U.S. and are based in San Diego, along with about 125 other boats from the American tuna fleet of nearly 140 boats. About a year ago, after fishing for twenty-one years — since the age of sixteen — Crivello decided to retire and try to sell the Rose Ann Marie, which is valued at about five million dollars. He was feeling the effects of relentless pressure and he was determined to do something about it while he still was capable. Others had reached the limit, pressed on, and ended up with drinking problems or even nervous breakdowns. >click to read< 8 pages from May 13, 1982 18:35
