Author Archives: borehead - Moderator
Cody Umentum of Denmark went from a Mexican beach to the F/V Wizard
Little did Cody Umentum know that, in the four years after he graduated from college, he would visit over a dozen countries on multiple continents and have one of the most demanding, rewarding and incredibly dangerous experiences of his life. He went from sipping cocktails on a little island in Mexico to fishing for crab as part of the crew under captain Keith Colburn of the FV Wizard, a 156-foot boat featured on the Discovery Channel series “Deadliest Catch.” In all, he took two trips aboard the Wizard, but the second one truly tested his limits. With terrible storms, in the middle of the northern reaches of the Packifc ocean, and working over 80 hours a week, he often thought he had made a mistake. >click to read< 09:45
Douglas Whitten Allan III of Wakefield R.I. has passed away
Douglas Whitten Allan, III (51) of Wakefield passed away on March 14th, 2022 after a short and difficult illness. He was the son of the late Douglas W Allan, Jr and Barbara F Allan (Wakefield). He leaves his daughters Caitlyn Marie (Exeter), Meagan Lynn (Wakefield), and Sara Skye (Florida), his sister Catherine Allan Robinson (Wakefield) & family, his life partner and best friend Stacey Hannaford (Stafford Springs, CT) and his beloved cat Pearl. Douglas was born in Westerly, RI and a graduate of South Kingstown High School. He was a “lumper”, aka Commercial Fishing Vessel Off-Loading Technician in Point Judith for 34 years. >click to read< 08:02
Commercial fishing out of Wheatley Harbour is like ‘farming on the water’
On a foggy March 9, I followed the 15-mile-long County Rd. 1, the Wheatley Road, due south from Tilbury. Except for two bends, that skinny ribbon of two-lane asphalt shoots arrow-straight and pancake-flat across the see-forever farmlands connecting Tilbury to Lake Erie’s north shore and to Wheatley, the world’s largest commercial, freshwater fishing port. So it was with Lady Anna II. I heard the low purr of a slow-turning diesel engine before I saw her. When I first spotted her, she looked like a small, grey box suspended over Lake Erie. And, before I knew it, her bow slicing the glassy-smooth water at a cruising speed of nine knots, Lady Anna II was at the mouth of Wheatley Harbour. >click to read< 22:00
An Update on Canadian Lobsterman Lex Brukovskiy in Ukraine
Though the air raid sirens shatter his rest, Canadian fisherman Lex Brukovskiy says he’s feeling a sense of calm being back in Ukraine to help his war-ravaged homeland. “Sitting back home and watching it, it was hard,” he said in an interview on Monday. And on Tuesday, he said in a followup telephone interview he’s been assigned a van to drive in a convoy that will make its way to besieged cities in eastern Ukraine with humanitarian supplies before bringing refugees back to safety. “I feel a lot more useful here.” “I’m just doing my part, helping out. He estimates that he’s currently working with about US$20,000 in donations that has come in from friends, fishers and acquaintances, many of them from Meteghan. >click to read the article< 17:55
Brighter Hope for fishermen as they take ownership of boat
Two young brothers and their friend have taken ownership of the Copious and renamed her Brighter Hope (LK98). Tom Robertson, 33, and Ross Robertson, 30, along with George Jamieson, 36, have acquired the 19m vessel. Brighter Hope is named after Mr Jamieson’s grandfather John James Fullerton’s 45ft boat Brighter Hope (LK 502), which was bought in the early 1950s. New skipper Tom Robertson said: “We hope to start fishing within the next two weeks after doing some upgrades and sorting the paperwork. >click to read< 14:43
Aging fleet, broken parts force DFO to cancel northern cod stock assessment
As the 30th anniversary of the cod moratorium approaches, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it can’t complete research on northern cod stocks because of broken parts on an aging vessel. Mechanical issues on a Coast Guard survey ship has forced DFO to cancel the assessment of Newfoundland and Labrador’s northern cod stock for this year. The department said it had to make changes to data collection in 2021 due to offshore weather and the condition of its research vessels. The situation is also affecting research on the province’s capelin stock, which will see an update this year rather than a full assessment. >click to read< 14:23
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 78′ Steel Longliner, 400HP Twin Cat 3406 Diesels
To review specifications, information, and 40 photos’, >click here<, A turn key vessel in excellent condition. To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:30
Fisherman forced deckhand to swim across crocodile-inhabited Queensland river
A Far North Queensland fisherman has denied claims he forced a deckhand to swim across a river known for crocodiles, starved him and locked him in a freezer. Yarn Garrick Ward is on trial at the District Court in Cairns, accused of torturing his former worker, George Jelef, in a remote river system near Karumba in June 2019. Mr Ward has pleaded not guilty. “He said he was going to break my legs … I thought he was going to bash the shit out of me,” Mr Jelef told the court. >click to read< 11:25
Changes to Sitka commercial herring fishery don’t get board support
Several proposals to make changes to the commercial sac roe herring fishery in Sitka Sound failed to win support from Alaska’s Board of Fisheries over the weekend. Two of those would have made a permanent move away from a competitive fishery. Another would have allowed permit holders to opt for an alternative way to harvest herring eggs for market. Two proposals sought to end the competitive purse seine fishery in Sitka Sound for sac roe and replace it with an equal share fishery. >click to read< 10:51
Lobster prices on the rise
If you want lobster for dinner tonight, you’re going to pay dearly for it. The prices for lobster are right through the roof. “A year and a half ago fuel was about $1.60 a gallon. Now we’re paying almost 5 dollars.” Mike Theiler’s been lobster fishing these waters for 33 years. “No matter what we do with our fish and lobsters its predicated-on Diesel fuel,” Theiler said. A lobster fisherman’s daily cost includes fuel at 20 gallons per hour or $100 an hour, then add the cost of bait for the pots, and crew. Video, >click to read< 10:05
Galway Hooker Lit in Ukrainian Colours
One of Galway’s fleet of traditional craft has been lit in Ukrainian national colours in support of the people of Ukraine The Naomh Cronán is decked out in yellow and blue on Galway’s Claddagh basin each evening after sunset. The 40 foot Naomh Cronán was built to the design of the traditional craft once used for fishing and turf-carrying along the Atlantic coast. “We were preparing lights for our fleet for St Patrick’s day on March 17th, and decided to light one of the vessels for Ukraine,” Peter Connolly of Bádóirí an Chladaigh, the Claddagh Boatbuilders, said. >click to read< 08:52
F/V Mucktown Girl: TSB weighing what steps they will take next, including opening an investigation
The F/V Mucktown Girl halibut boat went down off the coast of Canso, N.S., on Sunday. Four of its five crew members were rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard, but the fifth man fell off a life raft as the crew was being transferred to a coast guard vessel around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. The fisherman, Jeremy Hart of Windsor Junction, N.S., was eventually pulled out after spending five hours in the ocean but died in a hospital on Sunday. Board spokesperson Chris Krepski said Tuesday the TSB has been notified of the situation and is assessing what the next steps will be. >click to read< 22:17
Safety kit saves the life of a fisherman
What had started out as an ordinary working day for commercial fisherman Paul Reed turned into his worst nightmare when he went overboard from the >F/V Sidney Rose<, miles from land. But his decision to put on a lifejacket that morning, equipped with a locator beacon, likely saved his life. He’s been fishing for 38-years and has had just the one man overboard experience. But once is all it takes to never return to shore again. Paul activated his PLB,,, His skipper then raised the alarm with a Mayday, confirming to authorities that the alert they were searching for was, in fact, a man overboard. >click to read< 17:51
Eastern Canada: Engineers say ditching length limits would mean safer, ‘greener’ fishing boats
Engineers Canada, a national organization that represents professional engineers and engineering associations in each province has declared federal regulations of fishing vessel design an issue of importance. The Fisheries and Oceans rules that were built on the logic of limiting catch capacity have had “unintended consequences”, Vessel proportions have become extreme, with some boats more than half as wide as they are long. McDonald said if Canada is sincere about the goal of fighting climate change and is interested in enabling the fishing industry to adopt fuel-reduction strategies, the vessel length rule needs to be changed. Then there’s the safety issue. photos, >click to read< 14:51
Captain: Monster waves wrecked ideal fishing trip and boat
When Captain James Kirwan, 59, and his crew set sail from Chaguaramas aboard Crystal Eye on Thursday for a week of fishing in Tobago waters, the only thing on their minds was the number of shark and tuna they intended to catch. However, just a few days into the trip, Kirwan and four fishermen had to abandon ship and jump into the Caribbean Sea on Saturday night, after huge waves crashed into the 55-foot trawler causing it to sink. “Everything was all right. The weather wasn’t bad. We already had 3,400 pounds of shark and some other big fish. I decided to let the crew pack up the gears and take a rest.” Moments later the sea turned rough,,, >click to read< 12:37
Marshfield Selectmen Recognize Resident after 911 Call Led to Rescue of Three Fishermen
Pam Harght was working from her Marshfield home in February, when she saw smoke coming from a boat, about a mile away. The boat disappeared from view, and she called 9-1-1. Police Chief Phil Tavares says if it was not for that phone call, three people would have been dead. First responders from Scituate and Marshfield rushed to the area and rescued three men from the 55-foot fishing vessel, the “Bing Bing” out of Gloucester. Audio, >click to read< 12:05
Tributes to Dorset’s sustainable fisherman David Sales who was honoured by the Queen
Tributes have been paid to a West Bay fisherman who was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to commercial fishing and the environment. David Sales spent 63 years in the fishing industry and worked to promote more sustainable practices, including policy to increase the minimum size of lobsters caught so that they could breed before capture. “Not long after introducing the regulation, we started catching berried female lobsters, a wonderful sight. At last, the lobster stock was being given a chance to recover.” Video, >click to read< 10:37
Boat captain charged with fishing violations
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Offshore Patrol Vessel Program officers stopped the 48-foot commercial vessel, named Legacy, in the Pompano Endorsement Zone in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. They found the captain, Ronald Birren, had a monofilament entanglement net, known as a gill net, which has been illegal in Florida waters since 1995. Birren, of Hernando Beach, was cited for 2,611 pompano over the limit, possession of 76 undersized pompano, and having the gill net. >click to read< 08:22
Indigenous rights-based changes to Tofino crab fishery weigh heavily on family-run businesses
Recent changes to trap limits have Dungeness crab fishers in Tofino fearing for their livelihoods. When Dungeness season opens on April 1, commercial crab fishers in Area E (Tofino) must re-allocate 50 per cent of their inside trap allocation and 25 per cent of their offshore trap allocation to five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. DFO is required to give priority to the Nuu-chah-nulth under an order from the British Columbia Court of Appeal. DFO announced the changes to Area E Tofino harvesters before even consulting with the five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. Jason Voong, president of the B.C. Crab Fishermen’s Association and second-generation Area E Tofino crab harvester, says the changes are essentially putting the cost of the court ruling on the backs of small, family-owned businesses. >click to read< 17:08
Sister confirms death of fisherman who spent five hours in waters off eastern Nova Scotia
A commercial fisherman who was lifted from the ocean after spending five hours in frigid waters off eastern Nova Scotia has died, a family member confirmed Monday. In an interview, Alana Lewis said her brother, 35-year-old Jeremy Hart of Windsor Junction, N.S., died at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday after being found by a rescue team. “When they found him he was unresponsive, but at that point they still had hope that they could save him,” Lewis said. “But they were unable to get his core temperature back up and he passed away.” She said an autopsy was being conducted Monday, adding that Hart had only joined the crew of the halibut fishing vessel F/V Mucktown Girl last Thursday. >click to read< 15:14
Five fishermen rescued after boat sinks: ‘God saved us from drowning’
According to reports, the 55-foot trawler with 350 hp engine, captained by James Kirwan, and owned by Christopher Ragbir, began taking in water around 7pm near the marine border with Grenada. The men on board were Kirwan, 59; Kyle Dyer, 31; Azim Baksh, 35; Keston Frederick, 36; and Jerome Nicome, 63. Before the boat submerged, distress calls were sent but the signal was too weak. Frightened and in frigid conditions, the men, wearing life jackets, jumped into the Caribbean Sea as the boat went under. The men said it was their prayers to God that delivered them from tragedy. photos, >click to read< 08:57
Retired Commercial Fisherman/Dr. Roland August Hublou has passed away in Everett
Dr. Roland Hublou, 88, known affectionately by his many friends as “Doc” and “Hub”, passed away peacefully on February 9, 2022 in Everett, Washington. Roland was born on October 6, 1933 to his parents, Francis and Blanche Hublou, in Minot, North Dakota. Roland was an excellent dentist, practicing at the Everett Medical Dental Building until his retirement in 1997. Roland’s other love was fishing, which led him to his second career in the commercial fishing industry. He was an active and successful commercial fisherman with his sons, from 1973-2007, building three commercial gillnetters over the years; “Persistence”, the “Eagle Jack” and his final boat, “Doc’s Eagle”. He was elected President of the Puget Sound Gillnetters Association in 1980, and spent many years in all aspects of the fishing industry,,, >click to read< 21:35
To Whom This May Concern: Over-Spreading of R/V Bigelow Net
I believe that the Over-Spreading of NOAA’s nets used on their surveys began in the 1970s when NOAA changed from an old side-trawler which towed from the side of the vessel & the main towing wires were together. Then came the NOAA’S modern stern-trawlers & the main towing wires put 18 feet apart from each other wire. (R/V Delaware 2) R/V Bigelow main wires are 38 feet apart which causes over-spreading!! Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel has another problem with R/V Bigelow’s net. It under-spreads in shoal waters,,, >click to read< 19:32 By Sam Novello
Missing fisherman found off Nova Scotia coast – Fishing vessel was being towed by the Coast Guard
A fisherman who went missing in the waters off Canso, N.S., has been found. The crew member had fallen off a life raft Sunday morning as a crew of five was being transferred to a coast guard vessel. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said on Twitter just after 2 p.m. AT that a search and rescue crew aboard a Cormorant helicopter found the missing fisherman and transported him to Sydney, N.S., for medical care. The crew members from the vessel were all wearing immersion suits, the centre said in an earlier tweet. The Canadian Coast Guard said the Mucktown Girl is a 15-metre longliner,,, >click to read< 15:02
The Yemeni fishermen risking everything to feed their families
Catching fish for a living in Yemen isn’t only about jumping in a boat and throwing a net into the sea. You need to also say goodbye to your family and prepare them for the fact that they might never see you again. Because what was once a fairly routine occupation has, since war started in 2014, often become a matter of life and death. This has little to do with storms or treacherous currents at sea, but rather the fact that after the Saudi-led coalition declared most of Yemen’s territorial waters a conflict zone, fishermen have frequently been fired upon and killed when attempting to work there. As of August 2019, at least 334 fishermen had been reported killed or injured since 2015,,, >click to read< 13:48
Trade war, Covid and now Ukraine invasion eat into Alaska seafood sales
First a trade war, then a battle against an infectious virus and now a real war are all affecting Alaska seafood exports. Shipments to China fell from as high as 30% of Alaska’s total seafood export value in the 2010s to 20% in 2020. “The U.S.-China trade war has displaced $500 million of Alaska seafood,” And though people bought more seafood to prepare at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, sales to restaurants and food services fell by 70%, Woodrow said. The food service market “still hasn’t fully recovered.” The Alaska product at risk in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is pink salmon roe. Eastern Europe is a major buyer of the product, he said. “It’s a regional preference.” Alaska in 2021 shipped to Ukraine about $20 million of pink salmon roe,,, >click to read< 11:37