Author Archives: borehead - Moderator
N.S. fisherman trapped by Russian shelling as he tries to drive Ukrainians to safety
A Canadian attempting to drive Ukrainians displaced by the war to safety says Russian shelling has trapped him in the city of Chernihiv for three days as food and water supplies dwindle. Speaking Friday from a bomb shelter in the badly damaged city in northern Ukraine, Lex Brukovskiy said he feels the shelling is an immoral tactic targeting innocent people trying to escape the conflict. “It’s dirty. It’s unfair because what the Russian army is doing is just taking civilians hostage,” said Brukovskiy, a lobster fisherman from Nova Scotia who travelled to his native Ukraine to offer help two weeks ago. “They’re not fighting army with army. They’re setting their army against regular people.” >click to read< 17:41
CDFW Announces Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Closure Off Central California to Protect Humpbacks
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced the closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the U.S./Mexico border) effective at noon on April 8, 2022. This closure is being implemented because of two recent humpback whale entanglements that occurred off San Mateo County and in Monterey Bay involving California commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. All commercial Dungeness crab traps must be removed from the fishing grounds by the April 8 closure date. >click to read< 16:55
Fish Board mostly leaves Sitka herring alone following truce between users
After days of deliberation and a contentious set of proposals targeting the Southeast Alaska herring fisheries, the Alaska Board of Fisheries ultimately declined to make any major changes. To make attending the multi-week meeting easier for stakeholders, the board split the proposals into topics scheduled in three sessions, with herring first. There were 14 proposals dealing with herring from a variety of stakeholders, but the most contentious was were from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Southeast Herring Conservation Alliance. The tribe’s proposals asked for a variety of changes to Sitka Sound herring management. The tribe’s main focus was to try to preserve more of the herring stock for subsistence use, but the commercial stakeholders say it would have come at the cost of the industry. >click to read< 15:15
$30 million relief fund for lobstermen gets initial nod in Maine House
Starting on May 1, lobstermen in Maine will have to begin using weaker rope or special links on traplines that are designed to allow a whale to break free from fishing gear. The new federal regulations are aimed at preventing endangered North Atlantic right whales from potentially deadly entanglements. Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a fisherman from Winter Harbor in Hancock County, said the proposed $30 million fund from the state will help mitigate the costs for an iconic industry that generates more than $1 billion for the state. “We are going to be hurting for the money to comply with those rope regulations,” >click to read< 13:37
Shrimpers in Darien prepare for the season ahead
While spring just started, shrimpers in south Georgia are already thinking of summer and are preparing their boats for the season ahead. Joseph Keller has been shrimping for 25 years. He’s been spending some extra time on his boat, named F/V Shirley and Tammy, to be ready to start fishing by mid-April. While the official season kicks off in June, many shrimpers try to get out on the water before then which Keller says requires them to be more than three miles offshore. Video, >click to read< 12:14
Texas Tornado Takes Down Wind Turbines
The wind was too strong. Meteorologist Payton Malone shared a photo on social media that shows the impact a Texas tornado had on several wind turbines this week. As you can see here, the turbines were no match for winds that were estimated to be well over 130 mph. For the last couple of years, a hot debate on social media has been the use of wind turbines when it comes to producing energy. Many have already questioned what would happen to them if they were placed in the Gulf while a hurricane sweeps across it. Sorry, I don’t have the answer here. Video, >click to read< 11:22
Beloved NJ Fisherman Dies Suddenly From ‘Massive’ Brain Bleed
Beloved New Jersey native and local fisherman Eric Charles Kelly died from a “massive” brain bleed on Friday, March 11. He was 24. Kelly was passionate about his work as a commercial fisherman. He started as a clammer on the Melissa K. and then worked his way up to scalloping for Cold Spring Fish and Supply Co. (Lobster House), according to his obituary. Kelly also enjoyed antiques and motorsports, especially his cherished 1988 Blazer. >click to read<, Read Eric’s obituary >here< 10:12
Lobstermen’s group stresses connection to Maine tourism as new whale regulations approach
The head of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association spoke at the Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo in Portland Wednesday about threats she said could erase Maine’s lobster industry and hurt the hospitality industry along with it. Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron said the lobster industry is a driver of local economies, with 4,800 vessel owners running independent small businesses, and collectively providing 10,000 jobs on the boats alone, many of those jobs irreplaceable in remote coastal areas. And the industry is booming,,, “With all that’s going so well for us, how could we possibly be looking at our fishing heritage being erased?” McCarron asked the audience. “The reason for that is the North Atlantic right whale.” >click to read< 07:50
Wreck of a 190-year-old Massachusetts whaling ship Industry discovered in Gulf of Mexico
Roughly 15 years before Herman Melville introduced the world to Moby Dick, a whaling ship from Massachusetts sank near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Not much is left of the two-masted wooden brig thought to be Industry, a 65-foot-long (20-meter-long) whaler that foundered after a storm in 1836. An old news clipping found in a library shows its 15 or so crew members were rescued by another whaling ship and returned home to Westport, Massachusetts, said researcher Jim Delgado of SEARCH Inc. photos, >click to read< 21:40
10 fisheries in N.J. may have wrongly received millions in pandemic money
In its first report detailing the waste, fraud and abuse of the distribution of federal COVID funds, a state watchdog agency said nearly $2.4 million in CARES Act funding may have been improperly paid out to fisheries in New Jersey. The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), which is tasked with tracking the distribution of federal COVID funding, said 10 marine fisheries in New Jersey received more money than they lost because of the pandemic in 2020. The state report did not name the fisheries that received the funds. >click to read< 19:08
Alabama Man Cited For Commercial Fishing Violations in Plaquemines Parish
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agents cited an Alabama man for alleged commercial fishing violations in Plaquemines Parish on March 17. Agents cited James R. Owens, 53, of Sumerdale, Alabama, for fishing without a commercial gear license and using shrimp trawls exceeding the size requirements in offshore Louisiana territorial waters. Agents were on a Joint Enforcement Agreement patrol in the Gulf of Mexico inspecting shrimp vessels for Turtle Excluder Device (TED) regulations. They boarded a vessel captained by Owens and found he did not possess commercial gear licenses for each of the four trawls he was actively using. >click to read< 16:00
North Atlantic Right Whales are the Next Victims of Offshore Wind Power Push
The endangered Atlantic Right Whale appears to be the wind industry’s next victim; it already has plenty of offshore industrial activity to contend with. But oil and gas extraction, international shipping, and commercial fishing have obvious embodied economic benefits. Whereas, the only economic benefit derived from wind power is the subsidies it attracts. No subsidies. No wind power. It’s that simple. If America’s crony capitalists get their way, it looks like curtains for the Atlantic Right Whale. Let’s cut to the reality of the proposed 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project, which aims to do just this: put dozens of offshore wind platforms smack in the middle of where endangered North Atlantic right whales congregate. >click to read< 13:15
Regulators say newer new Right whale rules are coming for Maine’s lobster fleet/fixed gear fisheries
Federal regulators said they will soon start a process to create new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet that will go beyond the controversial regulations going into effect on May 1. Michael Pentony, the regional administrator for NOAA, spoke to an online meeting of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum today. He said that the initial rules were designed to reduce the risk to whales by 60%, but recent evidence shows that the agency must act more quickly than planned to reduce that risk even more. “But as we got new information late last fall… for the right whale population, we now know that we need a 90% risk reduction,” >click to read< 11:50
Deadliest Catch: Season 18 – The fight to stay in business
“Over the past 17 seasons, audiences have watched the legendary Deadliest Catch captains navigate treacherous seas, intense rivalries and even saw them fight to stay in business last year when the entire fishery almost shut down, but nothing could have prepared these captains for the loss of fishing the lucrative red king crab. For the first time in 25 years, the Alaskan government shut down red king crab catching for the season. Facing financial ruin, each captain is forced to start over and search the Bering Sea for a new way to make a living. Are these captains up for the challenge? Or will they pack up and head home empty handed? Trailer, >click to read< 10:51
Call for tearing out lower Snake River dams gaining support in D.C. and WA state
For more than two decades Eastern Washington residents have heard proposals to tear out the lower Snake River dams, but only recently has the idea gotten bipartisan support in the nation’s capital, said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.,,, In the Puget Sound, he said he sees signs scattered along roadways with an X through the words “Snake River Dams.” That support from people who don’t understand what the dams mean to Eastern Washington is coupled with growing Congressional support and interest from the Biden administration, he said. Because the dams are federal infrastructure, their future is a federal issue. >click to read< 09:40
A Last Stand for Texas Oyster Fishermen
People often ask if Frances and Johny Jurisich had an arranged marriage, the couple jokes. Both come from oyster fishing families that immigrated from the same small village in Croatia to Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, then west to Texas. In fact, Frances’ father, Misho Ivic, is Johny’s godfather, and the shucking house that Frances’ mother, Franka Ivic, founded in the unincorporated Galveston County area of San Leon is just 12 miles from the Jurisich dock in Texas City. The couple started dating in high school. They married in 2004 and today have three children. On the Jurisich side, Johny is part of the fourth generation to go into oyster fishing. He hopes his 5-year-old son will carry the tradition into a fifth generation. Their 15-year-old daughter has a good head for business, Frances said, and may also go into oysters, but only if the business stays profitable. It may well not. >click to read< 08:32
Golden asks for more lobstermen on panel
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) called on the National Marine Fisheries Services March 16 to expand representation of lobstermen on its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team by including members of Maine Lobstering Union Local 207. The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team is charged with making recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for addressing rising North Atlantic right whale mortalities. Only four of the members of the 60-person team are Maine lobstermen. >click to read< 17:46
B.C. groups call on Alaska to halt interception of Canadian salmon
In a letter addressed to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, four salmon conservation groups presented data indicating that in 2021 more than 650,000 Canadian-origin sockeye salmon were caught in the waters of southeast Alaska. That is six times the 110,000 sockeye B.C. commercial fishers caught last year. “We’re just talking about the fish we know that are getting killed up there,” said Greg Taylor, a longtime consultant with commercial and First Nations fisheries. B.C. salmon populations have plummeted to record lows in recent years. In response, the federal government closed 60 per cent of B.C.’s commercial salmon harvest in June 2021 and announced a fishing licence buy-back program under its $647-million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative. The result for B.C., says Taylor: “It makes us a spawning ground for Alaska.” >click to read< 13:12
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 42’x16′ Novi Lobster Boat with Traps and Permits
To review specifications, information, and 35 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:38
Left and Right oppose an offshore wind farm – People are asking questions.
Developers are selling us impossible promises about offshore wind farms. “This reliable renewable energy resource is a game-changer for the New England grid,” says an advocacy group called New England for Offshore Wind. “It is our best chance to address the climate crisis, meet our future energy needs, and grow our economy simultaneously.” But people are asking questions, and it’s not just about the questions, but also about who is asking them. When the liberal environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, a coalition of U.S. senators led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and a conservative Texas institute like mine come together to question an ocean-based wind farm project, something must be fishy. >click to read< 10:20
Brady hits out at Ministers for ‘passing buck’ as Arklow fisherman flounders in debt
The criticism by the Wicklow TD addresses the failure of both Ministers to take leadership with “neither prepared to do the decent thing and deal with the issue” that has seen Mr Gaffney lose his fishing boat and license and wrack up debts of more than €1million. “What we have witnessed is a case of ‘passing the buck’ between government departments, as they work to avoid taking responsibility for the matter,” said Mr Brady. Explaining his current situation, Mr Gaffney said: “I have no life anymore. Every week there is costs, and every week is like a knife cut. >click to read< 08:50
Whales entangled in fishing gear could prompt early end to Dungeness crab season
On Tuesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that one of the entangled whales had been spotted near Moss Beach, just north of Half Moon Bay, on March 11. The other was spotted on March 19 in Monterey Bay. Both were alive at the time. “In anticipation of increasing risk due to migrating humpback and blue whales, a closure will help minimize additional entanglement risk,” read a report from the department,,, However, the Dungeness crab fishing fleet in the affected areas may already be shutting itself down preemptively, said Sonoma County fisherman Dick Ogg, who is on a working group organized by the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess risk to whales and make recommendations on when it’s time to close the season. >click to read< 07:35
Fisherman from N.S. witnesses heavy damage as he delivers aid in Ukraine
A Nova Scotia fisherman has arrived in Ukraine to help deliver aid to his homeland during the Russian assault on the country. Lex Brukovskiy has a family and lobster-fishing business in Meteghan, N.S., but comes from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where his mother still lives. He raised money in Nova Scotia earlier this month and is now volunteering to deliver aid to people. “Last trip, for example, we delivered medications to Kharkiv and picked up one wounded soldier and a couple of women and children. They also wanted us to load some dogs and cats, but we ran out of room,” >click to read< and listen to the audio report. 19: 15
Crack Pot Alert! MSC HQ sprayed blood red a year after Seaspiracy documentary
Nearly a year after the landmark ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary sparked debate around eating fish, demonstrators from Animal Rebellion spray painted the central London headquarters of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) They held placards that read ‘MSC – Stop Certifying Destruction’ and ‘Protect the Seas – End Fishing’. The group, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, are calling for all fishing to be stopped in a bid to end ‘ocean destruction’. >click to read< 14:17
Rule change calls for monitoring of all groundfish trips – Not everyone is on board.
The most significant proposed change is a monitoring coverage target of 100% aboard eligible trips, which is higher than present monitoring levels. The change is meant to remove uncertainty surrounding catch. This and other changes, known as Amendment 23, to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan were developed by the New England Fishery Management Council. According to a NOAA Fisheries fact sheet, the changes, if approved by NOAA Fisheries, would give groundfish vessels the choice of a human observer or using one of two types of electronic monitoring to meet the increased monitoring requirements, provided the sector has a corresponding approved monitoring plan and a contract with an approved service provider. >click to read< 12:37
Long-Awaited Cordova South Harbor Project Is Finally Underway
“We’ve been needing it for a long time; the harbor that is being replaced was being built in 1981 when I first came here and was expected to have about a thirty-year lifespan,” says fisherman Jeff Bailey of the FV Odyssey and FV Miss Margeaux. “Now, it’s on year forty.” Bailey adds, “Every year, more floats become waterlogged and roll over, and the cleats on the dock have broken loose with a number of larger vessels… It’s not uncommon for floats to break loose with boats attached, and we have to go corral them.” Though the state originally built Cordova’s South Harbor, it later turned it over to the community, which became responsible for maintenance and repairs. “As fishermen, we invest in our equipment every year, building new boats and new fishing nets and making modifications and improvements, but the harbor didn’t evolve in this same way,” >click to read< 11:55
‘Eat on the Wild Side’: The nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing
It’s called “Eat on the Wild Side.” It started as an idea by leaders of the Deep Sea Fisherman’s Union to recruit, train and retain a skilled and more diversified workforce. In July 2021, they contacted the Workforce Development Department of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO for help in setting up this new training program. And by December, they had created the nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing. The program, also known as the DSFU Inbreaker Program, began accepting applications in January and almost immediately had more applicants that they had boats/employers to handle the demand. >click to read< 09:21
The Texas oyster industry is struggling as the state’s reefs close for harvesting
At Johny Jurisich’s family dock in Texas City, more than a dozen empty oyster boats with names like Sunshine and Captain Fox lazily float in the marina on a recent Monday morning, an odd sight for what is normally peak oyster harvesting season. Currently, 21 of the state’s 27 harvesting areas are closed, with three more areas set to close Tuesday. Alex Gutierrez, who owns a few oyster boats and has worked as an oyster fisherman for 35 years, said he usually hires between 10-15 people to work with him each season. But recently he’s been dipping into his savings and doesn’t think he’ll be able to afford the annual maintenance on his boats. >click to read< 08:31