Author Archives: borehead - Moderator
NTSB: Hot Work Failures Led to Fire on Aleutian Falcon
The fire was reported on the commercial fish processor Aleutian Falcon on Feb. 17, 2021 while the vessel was docked for repairs at a shipyard in Tacoma, Washington. The Tacoma Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire four days later. No one was on board the vessel at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries reported. An estimated 20-30 gallons of hydraulic oil leaked into the water but were captured by a containment boom. The vessel was declared a total loss with an estimated value of nearly $16.5 million. >click to read< 09:38
Scarborough crab boat owner backs call for gas to be extracted from North Sea
A Scarborough crab boat owner says gas in two fields off the North Yorkshire coast needs to be extracted to prevent the country being “dependent on everyone else”. The Resolution gas discovery was an early North Sea discovery made by Total in 1966 and extracted from North Sea of The Well Dressed Crab Company, said he could remember seeing its rig off the coast in the 1980s. Mr Roberts said: “It’s not only about fishing, the population is an interested party too. “I’m part of UK PLC and I want to know where gas is coming from. “There will be people opposed to it but they will be the same people who expect to go home and turn on the gas boilers and expect to put a pan of stew on the stove.” >click to read< 08:05
Port Royal ousting old shrimp boats from dock.
Port Royal is moving ahead with a plan to demolish the town-owned dock,,, “I think we all want to see a working waterfront,” Town Manager Van Willis says of the effort. “We’re hoping with a new dock and state-of-art processing facility we’ll become a location to offload.” Owners of the old boats tied up at the dock have been given until April 15 to move. The town, however, will be responsible for moving abandoned boats or those that have sunk. Most of the boats never leave the dock. “Unfortunately, almost every single one doesn’t actually shrimp,” Willis says of the shrimp boats, some of them barely seaworthy, that are tied to an equally dilapidated dock. >click to read< 16:33
Minister Murray Shirks Responsibility in Setting Gulf Shrimp Quotas
A group representing Indigenous shrimp harvesters as well as shrimp harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and New Brunswick are calling on the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to set a total allowable catch (TAC) for the 2022 gulf shrimp fishery. This coalition, which represents approximately 100 shrimp enterprises employing over 500 harvesters and thousands of plant workers in Atlantic Canada, says there is no excuse for interim quotas set by Minister Joyce Murray and the delayed decision is a financial threat to their sustainability, and in many cases, their business’s survival. >click to read< 15:25
How to Be a Paid Extra in New Bedford-Based Movie ‘Finestkind’
In between major stories about the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge getting a redesign and parking at the Noah’s Place Playground remaining free for another summer, the Paramount Pictures film Finestkind is quietly staying in the headlines here on the SouthCoast Finestkind is, in fact, looking for some local people to help fill in some busier scenes. The movie’s casting agency is accepting submissions. In part, Kendall Cooper Casting is looking for authentic New Bedford-area fishermen with real-life experience. The post asks for “experienced commercial fishermen and local New Bedford people of all ethnicities who are interested in working as extras on the film. >click to read< and access the “Extra” sign up page. Best of luck. Remember us when you hit it big! 13:04
P.E.I. alternative bait manufacturer sees increased interest amid Mackerel and Herring fishery closure
In 2017, Mark Prevost and Wally MacPhee had an idea to create an alternative, sustainable bait to fish lobster with. With experience in lobster fishing and buying, the pair saw a need for an alternative bait after noticing fluctuations in cost of bait, decreasing fish availability and increasing waste from the use of traditional baits like mackerel and herring. With a few barrels welded together and a hand-cranked meat grinder, the pair experimented with ingredients and field-tested their new product in the waters of P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. >click to read< 11:36
Political pressure for an early opening of the Gulf crab fishery
Quebec urges Ottawa to authorize the opening of the snow crab fishing season as soon as possible in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, in which crabbers from the Magdalen Islands, Gaspé and New Brunswick participate. In a letter sent on March 28 to his federal counterpart Joyce Murray, a copy of which was obtained by the QMI Agency, the Quebec minister responsible for fisheries, André Lamontagne, points out that the early opening of the snow crab fishery in the Gulf is, so far, “the most effective adaptation measure that reconciles the protection of Right whales and fishing activities”. >click to read< 10:17
CDFW to close the commercial Dungeness Crab fishery in response to Humpback Whale entanglements
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program and announced the closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the Oregon state line) effective at noon on April 20, 2022. This closure is being implemented in addition to a closure of Zones 3 through 6 announced on March 25 because of three recent humpback whale entanglements involving California commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. >click to read< 08:18
Coast Guard aircrew medevacs man from fishing vessel off New Jersey coast
The Coast Guard medevaced a 46-year-old man from the fishing vessel F/V Captain John Wednesday approximately 45 miles east of Point Pleasant. Another crewmember aboard the Captain John used a marine radio to notify Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay watchstanders of the medical emergency at about 5:30 p.m. The man was safely medevaced at about 6:30 p.m. and taken to Air Station Atlantic City where his care was transferred to awaiting emergency medical services personnel. -USCG- 07:40
Illegal sales of First Nations lobster nets $55K fine for two Nova Scotia men
Two men from southwestern Nova Scotia have been convicted for illegally buying and selling lobster caught under an Indigenous Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) licence. Licence conditions prohibit the sale of the catch. Terry Dale Banks and Tyler David Nickerson were fined a total of $55,000 in Shelburne provincial court Wednesday. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said the charges stemmed from a September 2018 inspection of a Shag Harbour lobster pound. >click to read< 20:16
Mississippi: Fishing industry focuses on new fisheries, education
Environmental disasters, global markets, strict fishing regulations and the increasing average age of working fishers is bearing down on the industry, threatening its long-term viability. These factors have Ryan Bradley concerned for the future of the Mississippi fishing industry. So, he is taking action to help fishers stay in the industry and draw young people to the business. “This is a proud industry. We work hard. But it is a high-stress profession, and you have to be a thick-skinned person to do this job,” said Bradley, who is a fifth-generation commercial fisherman and executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the common interests of the state’s fishermen, fishing industry and seafood consumers. >click to read< 19:06
More Northern Ireland fishermen can’t afford to go to sea due to surging fuel costs
Harry Wick, CEO of the Portavogie based NI Fish Producers Organisation said that the rising cost of red diesel is making some 900 fishing related jobs in Northern Ireland increasingly vulnerable. “In terms of the price of fuel it is a very serious issue for us,” he said. “We currently have vessels tied up because it just isn’t economical for them to fish at the minute. “If red diesel prices stay above 90p for the remainder of the year they are looking at a 733% drop in operating profit. Now bear in mind anything over a 100% drop in operating profit means that you are operating at a loss. >click to read< 16:28
Midwater trawler critics intend to appeal court decision
Fishermen in the Gulf of Maine are seeking to appeal a federal judge’s reversal of an exclusion zone that keeps herring trawlers 12 miles offshore. The March 4 ruling by US District Court Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston could reopen some Northeast waters to midwater herring trawlers, reversing the 2019 rule change that excluded them from a wide swath. from the Atlantic coast from Long Island to the Canadian border. In his opinion, Judge Sorokin wrote that the concept of “localized depletion” put forward by opponents of midwater trawlers has not been adequately defined by NMFS, leading him to rule that the exclusion zone decision violated Magnuson-Steven National Standard 4. Fishing Management and Conservation Law. >click to read< 14:28
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 72′ Dragger with State/Federal Permits, 3412E Cat
To review specifications, information, and 101 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:39
All About the Fishing Fleet at Terminal 91
The factory trawlers, or fish processing vessels, of the North Pacific Fishing Fleet are back in Seattle after four months of harvesting pollock in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The docks at Terminal 91 are buzzing with activity as crews unload their recent harvest and prepare to set sail again in late May. For more than 100 years, the North Pacific Fish Fleet, homeported at Terminal 91 and Fishermen’s Terminal, has fed the world and the economies of the Pacific Northwest and state of Alaska. Our region supplies 13% of the total U.S. commercial fisheries harvest by value. Commercial fishing activities at the Port of Seattle generated more than $671.2 million in business output in 2017 and supported 7,200 jobs. Learn more about the North Pacific Fishing Fleet, photos, >click to read< 10:16
Nova Scotia: Mackerel closure causes bait concerns as fishermen prepare for lobster season
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Joyce Murray announced on March 30 that there would be no directed commercial or bait fishing for southern gulf spring herring and a closure of the Atlantic mackerel commercial and bait fisheries this year in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Guysborough County Inshore Fisherman’s Association Manager Ginny Boudreau’s first concern was about what was not covered in the DFO news release: loss of licences and lack of compensation. Those licenses have essentially been taken away from them…How you can just take thousands of licences out of the commercial fishery and not even a mention of that in the news release?… that’s huge,” >click to read< 08:41
‘RIP CRABS’: Dead crustaceans dumped on London street in protest of deaths
Protestors have dumped piles of dead and rotting crabs on a London street demanding more action over the mass crustacean deaths along the Teesside coast. The strange occurrence was first noted six months ago when huge piles of dead and dying creatures started to wash up on the beaches at Redcar, Markse and Saltburn and north to Seaton Carew. An image was also etched into the sand at Saltburn beach on Tuesday by local people with a message that read ‘RIP crabs’. A government enquiry into the incident blamed an algal bloom for the crustacean deaths which were first noted last October. It ruled out pollution, dredging activity on the Tees and other causes,,, >click to read< 07:50
Barry A. Nelson – The Sea Captain boarded his Vessel for his final Voyage after his last set.
He was born in Oakland, California to Clarence and Virginia Nelson. He was preceded in death by the love of his life, Peg (Margaret) Nelson. His career spanned yacht clubs, his and Peg’s deeply beloved sailboat, Pathfinder, his own yacht maintenance and repair business, fisheries wholesale and retail at Peg’s Fish Market, their own fishing vessels – the F/V JJ, the F/V Atlas, and the F/V Mystic. Barry and his beloved wife, Peg touched many lives and dedicated much of their lives in service to the commercial fishing industry. Although they did not have children of their own, many have felt they simply adopted the West Coast. Their regard and respect for the hard-working men and women of the West Coast ran deep, Barry served as a Director to the WFOA (Western Fishboat Owner’s Association), was an Oregon Salmon Commissioner for 25 years, as well as a Port Commissioner for Wichester Bay, >click to read< 21;32
Canada and France reach agreement with total allowable catch rollover of 3Ps cod
Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Joyce Murray, announced that an agreement has been reached with France regarding 3Ps cod for the 2022-23 fishing season. Both countries intend to roll over the current total allowable catch (TAC) of 1,346 tonnes. Canada and France (in respect of Saint Pierre and Miquelon) co-manage fish stocks, including cod, in the 3Ps zone off the south coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Under the Procès-Verbal Agreement, the two countries meet annually to negotiate management measures, including the TAC of these shared stocks in the North Atlantic. >click to read< 20:35
DMR brings news of declining young lobsters, resiliency measures to local lobstermen
“We’re not talking about whales.” Those were among the first words from Kathleen Reardon, lead biologist for the Maine DMR, to lobstermen at Stonington Town Hall on March 31. Both ongoing lawsuits and legislation aimed at protecting right whales from entanglement with lobster trap lines have delayed lobster stock assessments and analysis. But now lobster councils are meeting across the state to hear about a draft addendum to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission lobster management plan for the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, where 90 percent of U.S. landings are. The ASMFC manages near-shore fisheries for 15 states, including Maine. The draft addendum would affect Lobster Management Areas 1 and 3 and off Cape Cod as well as Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. >click to read< 16:37
Russian head of NAFO has stepped down; country must be expelled/fish quotas transferred to Ukraine
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says it’s not enough that the Russian president and chair of the international organization that manages fish stock inside and outside Canada’s 200-mile limit has stepped down. The Russian Federation itself must be expelled from the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, with the country’s thousands of tonnes of quotas transferred to the Ukraine, another member of the 13-country organization. “Russia has violated every protocol on the face of the earth with its war on Ukraine, and its membership in NAFO should be cancelled outright, and its fish quotas transferred,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “Russian seafood is banned around the world, so it stands to reason that its offshore dragger fleet should not be permitted to fish as a NAFO-member country.” >click to read< 11:50
Commercial Fisherman William Van Druten, Jr. of Frisco, NC has passed away
Bill was born in Passaic, NJ on March 11, 1942 to William and Trina Van Druten. His life was driven by his love for the sea. The depth of his life was immense; from playing basketball at Rider College, to pursuing his career as an educator, and ultimately moving to Frisco, NC to achieve his lifelong dream of being a commercial fisherman. It is the sea that called to him throughout his life and he instilled a love for it in so many. Realizing this dream was one of many pearls in his life. Being known as “Tall Bill” in the fishing community delighted him and brought him great contentment. >click to read< 10:40
Immediate closure of herring and mackerel fisheries a broadside into coastal fishing communities
The Coalition of Atlantic and Québec fishing organizations questions the rapidity of the government decision and the lack of transparency in the science. “How do you go from a no closure to a closure situation without consulting commercial fishers,” said Martin Mallet, MFU Executive Director. “The 2021 stock assessment showed that the 4000t quota would enable recovery of the resource. This decision had been taken in collaboration with industry, and we were to revise the situation after the next stock assessment in 2023. Without consultation or even advance notice of a potential problem, DFO has slammed the commercial fishery.” This unilateral closure of the spring herring and mackerel commercial fisheries will have a major negative impact on the fishery since these fish are a significant source of bait for the lobster and snow crab fisheries. >click to read< 09:16
Massachusetts state regulators reject plan to use ropeless lobster traps
The proposal, submitted by a group of lobstermen organized under the name “Pioneers for a Thoughtful Coexistence,” asked regulators to allow them to set as many as 200 ropeless traps in areas along the South Shore, where lobster fishing is closed three months a year. DMF Director Daniel McKiernan denied the plan and laid out three reasons for his decision, the first being that the proposal “lacks a study design that will contribute meaningfully to further understanding the efficacy of ropeless fishing.” >click to read< 08:02
S.497 would establish the American Fisheries Advisory Committee within Department of Commerce
After reaching out to Senator Ed Markey and Senator Elisabeth Warren and informing them that under NOAA, the SKG Grant money was not going to our fisherman as intended. My experience of being on a panel in Saint Petersburg to evaluate the applicants for two days, I discovered that the panel was there to please the public and that NOAA has complete say of who got the money! I reported this to Bruce Schactler, and Senator Sullivan. Markey who was opposed, sent his aid to met with me. After I told her what happened Markey came on board and it will now go to the House of Representatives. I am asking all Senators to support this bill. It will set up an advisory panel as was in 1954 and give our fisherman a better chance of the funds. Please, >click to read< Best Regards, Sam Parisi
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for April 04, 2022
Over the last couple of months, many NC anglers have reached out to the NCFA seeking to get a better understanding of what’s really going on in the world of fisheries management here in North Carolina. That said, there have been several anglers who have questioned our assessment of the CCA’s true agenda, which in our opinion is to reduce or even eliminate harvest of wild fish stocks in both the commercial and recreational sectors. I had an angler from Pamlico County tell me that the CCA had assured him that once the nets were gone recreational bag limits for Red Drum, Southern Flounder, and Speckled Trout would increase and nothing I write could convince him otherwise. This got me thinking that maybe he and other anglers would be more receptive to the truth if someone else wrote it. >click to read the attached article< 16:40
B.C.’s arguably most famous fishing vessel is restored following years of hard work
The BCP45 turns 95 this year. Fifty years ago, the ship first rose to fame after being featured on the five-dollar bill. Now it’s on display at the Maritime Heritage Museum in Campbell River, after years of restoration work. Video, >click to watch< A five-dollar bill’s big fish story – It was 1951, and eager for a life at sea, a 14-year-old boy signed on as a cook aboard his uncle’s fishing boat, the BCP45. His name was Allen (Ollie) Chickite, and he was from the We Wai Kai Nation of Quadra Island. George Hunter was one of Canada’s least known yet most published photographers. He is considered one of the greatest chroniclers of post-Second World War Canada. photos, >click to read< 11:30
F/V Nicola Faith investigation complete almost a year after wreck was raised
The investigation into the sinking Nicola Faith fishing boat which claimed the lives of its crew is now complete almost one year after the vessel was found. Carl McGrath, 34, Ross Ballantine, 39, and Alan Minard, 20, were on board the vessel when it left Conwy Harbour on January 27, 2021. The wreckage was lifted from the seabed last May in a two day operation before being transported to a secure location for further investigation. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch are due to report their findings in a report to be published in the coming weeks. >click to read< 09:08
Bait Crisis: Lobstermen worry fishery closures will create bait supply issues
Last week, Fisheries and Oceans Canada shut down commercial harvesting of herring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic mackerel in Atlantic Canada and Quebec amid dwindling stocks. The two species are important sources of bait for the lobster industry. Some Island fishermen say they were caught off guard by the announcement as they prepare for setting day about a month from now. “It’s tough on fishermen because … we need the bait to fish lobster,” said Mallory Harris, who fishes in North Lake. Other fishermen said they’re already seeing the price of bait for lobster traps increase. >click to read< 08:14
Into the ice: A crab boat’s quest for snow crab in a Bering Sea upended by climate change
Aboard the F/V Pinnacle in the Bering Sea. Through the wheelhouse window, Capt. Mark Casto spotted a white line on the horizon. The edge of an ice floe was illuminated by bow lights piercing the morning darkness of the Bering Sea. He throttled back the engines. Soon, the Seattle-based crab boat began to nose through closely packed pancake-like pieces and bigger craggy chunks, some the size of boulders, which bobbed about in the currents and clanged against the hull. Casto grabbed a microphone to relay a change in plans to the deck crew. Pull the pots up and stack them aboard. They would search for crab somewhere else. “Where the hell did that ice floe come from? … We’re retreating. It’s a hard word to say,” Casto declared. photos, video, charts and grafs, >click to read< 17:50
