Search Results for: Hank Lackner
Commercial Fishermen Wary Of Proposed Sanctuary For Hudson Canyon
The Biden Administration has renewed a longstanding proposal,,, Even though most of the Hudson Canyon is about as far from the South Fork as Queens and Brooklyn, commercial and recreational fishermen from East End ports frequent the waters above it, and news of the sanctuary nomination was met with some reflexive concern from commercial fishermen, in particular, who worry that if the designation is made it could lead to them eventually being blocked from fishing in an area critical to their annual harvests. “About 25 percent of what we catch is from there, squid, scup, fluke, a lot of stuff comes out of that area,” said Hank Lackner, one of the owners of Montauk’s largest commercial fishing trawlers, the 94-foot Jason & Danielle. “And for the local fleet, the mid-sized trawlers, that’s the end of their rope — that’s as far as they can go. They don’t have another option.” photos, >click to read< 17:58
N.J. commercial and recreational fishing groups aligning against coming offshore wind farms – ‘This is our farmland’
Capt. Hank Lackner docked a 100-foot trawler in Cape May on a recent day after unloading a catch of squid that might end up as calamari on someone’s plate just about anywhere in the United States. Lackner fears that offshore wind farms coming to the waters off the New Jersey coast in the next few years could threaten his business. Other commercial and recreational anglers, along with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a political action organization, share his concerns. Jim Donofrio, founder of the RFA, and one of the most outspoken critics of offshore wind, says the industry creates too many issues for fishing that haven’t been fully addressed. “We want them gone,” Donofrio said. >click to read< 07:55
LI fishermen see ‘tough’ days ahead as NYC restaurants back in lockdown
With New York City restaurants back in lockdown, Long Island fishermen once again face the loss of one of the biggest markets for their fish as a choppy 2020 comes to a close. Hank Lackner, who operates the state’s largest commercial trawler, a 93-foot dragger out of Montauk, said he’s already applied for the relief. “It’s been really tough,” said Lackner, adding his revenue is down 40% to 45% this year. “It’s only going to get tougher,” with city restaurants in lockdown, and talk of a bigger statewide pause in January. >click to read< 10:39
Coronavirus: The country is shutting down. Shutdown NOAA’s Fisheries Observer Program, nationally. Right Now.
I am writing this editorial today as a responsible, conscientious American fishermen and citizen, in complete disbelief of the irresponsibility of a U.S. government agency during the current international coronavirus crisis. While the nation is in national emergency mode, states are closing public spaces, schools, universities, daycares, restaurants, encouraging social distancing, putting people in quarantine, outlawing large gatherings, and taking unprecedented emergency measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, NOAA Fisheries is pursuing the complete opposite when it comes to the fishing industry and ignoring all public safety precautions. more by Hank Lackner, F/V Jason and Danielle >click to read<06:03
Coronavirus: The country is shutting down. Shutdown NOAA’s Fisheries Observer Program, nationally.
I am writing this editorial today as a responsible, conscientious American fishermen and citizen, in complete disbelief of the irresponsibility of a U.S. government agency during the current international coronavirus crisis. While the nation is in national emergency mode, states are closing public spaces, schools, universities, daycares, restaurants, encouraging social distancing, putting people in quarantine, outlawing large gatherings, and taking unprecedented emergency measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, NOAA Fisheries is pursuing the complete opposite when it comes to the fishing industry and ignoring all public safety precautions.
As I was driving home after picking up my daughter (whose college classes for the rest of the year had just been canceled due to COVID-19) from the airport on March 18, I received a call from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Observer Program, informing me that I was being selected to take a government observer on my next fishing trip the following day. This is insanity. I cannot believe that anyone would even have the audacity to ask such a thing at this point in time. This observer is a stranger to me; I have no idea who they are or where they have been or whom they have been in contact with. I am not putting myself, my family, my crew and their families at risk of contracting COVID-19 from an observer I don’t even know. I fish out of Montauk, NY. The state of New York is one of the hotbeds of coronavirus in the United States. Why would a government agency be mandating close contact between strangers, who will be sharing quarters on a fishing vessel, during a worldwide pandemic in one of the highest risk areas of the nation? And literally requiring people to put their lives in danger, at the same time that the rest of the federal government is telling people to quarantine themselves to prevent risk or spread of the disease? My vessel had already been tied to the dock for five days because of the coronavirus- we were unable to even get grub to go out fishing!
I am not going to be responsible for putting my family, my crew, or their families in danger by taking a potentially infected stranger on my fishing vessel during this time of declared national emergency. Their lives take precedence over an irresponsible government agency, and over any collection of fishery statistics. I am not taking this risk until the pandemic is over and the disease is cured, however long that might be. The people of the United States need food during this crisis, and it is my job to provide that. If there is any question of who should be shut down during this crisis there is no doubt that it should be the irresponsible government agency and observer program, not the commercial fishing industry that is trying to put food on people’s tables as they are quarantined at home.
Sincerely,
Hank Lackner
F/V Jason and Danielle
#FishermensLivesMatter
Commercial Fisherman Plead With State Consultant For License System Overhaul
The young men who work the decks of Hank Lackner’s dragger, Jason & Danielle, spend up to three weeks at a time far over the horizon from their homes in Montauk, toiling in heat and high seas. “My crew just spent 13 days at sea, working 20-hour days—these are true commercial fishermen,” Mr. Lackner told a consultant who has been hired by the state to craft new licensing guidelines at a meeting in Southampton last week. “They spend 200 days a year on my boat, they don’t have a lot of chances to get out. They shouldn’t be eliminated from this process. We don’t want them to go away. We have to figure out a way where the [landings of] trips they worked gets them some kind of credit for being on the boat.” For years, young commercial fishermen have been stalled from setting out on their own by the state’s embargo on issuing “new” licenses, and by inflexible rules for transferring existing licenses from those who are leaving the industry to those trying to get in. >click to read<10:58
Deepwater struggles to assuage concerns of fishermen
Commercial fishermen peppered representatives of Deepwater Wind this week with concerns, questions and “what-if” scenarios about the planned offshore wind farm’s feared impacts on marine life and the men who work the waters for a living. The company, which is planning to spend more than $700 million to construct 15 wind turbines in the ocean 30 miles southeast of Montauk, walked a standing-room-only audience at the East Hampton Town Trustees meeting on Monday night through the coming permitting and presumed construction process that will follow. Its officials also tried to again assuage the concerns of fishermen about the effects the South Fork Wind Farm will have on fishing. click here to read the story 08:13
Fishermen Demand Answers on Wind Power Plan – “You’re going into our fishing grounds,” Hank Lackner, owner of the 90-foot trawler Jason & Danielle, told the Deepwater Wind officials. Visibly angry, he demanded details as to how fishermen would be compensated for interruptions, likening that compensation to the incentives offered to the town, which he said are effectively bribery. “When I can’t fish where I have for decades . . . and have to change my business operations, what are you going to do?” click here to read the story18:36 12/14
Fishermen Oppose Commercial Ban – national marine monument exclusion is unfair and unnecessary
Fishermen believe a monument in the Mid-Atlantic is unnecessary and allege it was not based on science but pressure from nongovernmental environmental groups, including the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Resources Defense Council. To exclude commercial fishermen while allowing recreational fishing makes no sense, fishermen contend. They also claim the monument will not only fail to prevent harm to non-target species such as pilot whales, but will increase interactions with them. “It’s a huge blow,” Hank Lackner of the Jason and Danielle, a trawler based in Montauk, said. “And there was no need for it.” Mark Phillips, who fishes for fluke, squid, and haddock from the Greenport-based Illusion, agreed. “The funny thing, there is no coral there. It’s all sand and mud, and I’ve dragged all of that bottom. A handful of boats out of Montauk have dragged it all. There is no coral, period,” he said. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree that many of the areas in which trawlers fish are devoid of coral, according to Ms. Brady. Read the article here 12:08
The Northeast Observer Waiver Has Been Extended Through 5/30/2020!
NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors for an additional two weeks, through May 30, 2020. Administrator authority to waive observer requirements, and is also consistent with the criteria described in the agency’s emergency rule on observer waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor and evaluate this situation. As we have done in other parts of the country, >click to read< 15:04
Coronavirus: The country is shutting down. Shutdown NOAA’s Fisheries Observer Program, nationally. Right Now. – 06:06 March 20, 2020, I am writing this editorial today as a responsible, conscientious American fishermen and citizen, in complete disbelief of the irresponsibility of a U.S. government agency during the current international coronavirus crisis. >click to read<
