Author Archives: borehead - Moderator
Talley’s subsidiary found guilty of bottom trawling in conservation area
Convictions for bottom trawling in a protected area of the Tasman Sea should send a strong message to the fishing industry, says the Ministry for Primary Industries. Judge David Ruth in the Nelson District Court found Talley’s subsidiary Amaltal Fishing Co breached the conditions of its high seas fishing permit when its vessel, Amaltal Apollo, trawled in a protected area. Both Amaltal Fishing Co and the then-master of the vessel, Charles Shuttleworth, were found guilty on 14 charges. A date has not yet been set for sentencing. >click to read< 10:02
From Sandy Hook to Cape May, rising gas/diesel prices impact the marine industry
California: 3 commercial fishermen rescued off Sonoma Coast by fellow crabbers
Three commercial crabbers whose boat went down several miles off the Sonoma Coast were rescued late Tuesday afternoon through a combination of close communication and sheer luck. The crew of the Susan E already was in the water, clutching floating debris, when another fishing crew arrived, drawn by their frantic calls, and was able to pull them from the ocean in time. “It was f–king scary,” said Kyle Alexander, a deckhand on the 40-foot Argo, which had been harvesting crab from the Timber Cove area earlier in the day and was the only boat coming into Bodega Bay behind the Susan E from up north. “To see my friends floating next to a boat that was going down…” >click to read< 08:15
Partial Bogue Sound shrimp trawling ban will have impacts on watermen, economy
Mike Norman, who owns a 35-foot boat and sells shrimp at Norman’s Shrimp in Salter Path, mostly in the summer, said the partial Bogue Sound shrimp trawling ban will have a significant impact, and he believes it’s just the beginning. “They (sports fishermen) got Bogue Sound this year and I guarantee you that in the next couple of years, they’ll get Core Sound and Straits and Adams Creek,” he said. “I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and I’m 61 now. My brother told me the other day I’m going to have to get a job. But that’s hard for a commercial fisherman.” >click to read< 17:58
Peterhead fisherman who died after trawler Njord capsizes has been identified
Ronald McKinnon, originally from Peterhead, was one of three crew members airlifted to Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen after inhaling fumes. Five more of the crew were then rescued by an offshore vessel. The Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre scrambled a helicopter after the alarm was raised at 1:39pm on Sunday. The trawler was about 100 nautical miles west of Stavanger when it got into difficulty. Now tributes have been paid to Ronald on social media, with the fisherman being hailed as a “true friend”. >click to read<, >and click here<15:18
Ottawa leaving West Coast fishing sector to flounder after salmon closures
The West Coast fishing sector is being hung out to dry and deserves a just transition like other climate-affected industries after the federal government put in widespread closures to the salmon fishery last year, the fish harvesters union says. Boat captains, crews, and shore workers are suffering dire economic hardship with zero emergency or transitional supports after the ministry of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) closed 79 salmon fisheries last June, said James Lawson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. >click to read< 14:15
‘Alarm bells’ ring in N.S. lobster fishery decision after DFO’s move involving baby eels
A group representing more than 500 lobster fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia is raising concerns about Ottawa’s commitment to voluntary licence buyouts to increase Indigenous access to the fishery. Late last month, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans cancelled bargaining with commercial licence holders in the elver, or baby eel, fishery, claiming they wanted too much money to exit the business. DFO is now looking at an across the board commercial quota cut for elvers without compensation to make room for Mi’kmaw harvesters. >click to read< 13:23
Italy Fishing Boats Strike Over Fuel Costs
Italian fishing boats will stay in ports this week due to a national strike over high fuel costs that is threatening supplies across the country. “There is grave concern for the dramatic consequences that won’t just affect consumers,” said Rome’s Centro Agroalimentare, Italy’s biggest fish market, which sells 80’000 tons of fish products a year. “We ask the government to act quickly” to support companies in the industry. Energy and fuel costs are surging in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. >click to read< 11:48
Depredation: Whales and the Violent Fight for Fish on the Line
In the Gulf of Alaska, as well as in longline fisheries throughout the world from the Bering Sea to the Antarctic and tropical waters between, toothed whales, that is, any whale that feeds with teeth instead of baleen, such as sperm, pilot, and killer whales are learning to see fishers and their gear as a source of an easy meal. Scientists researching this behavior, known as depredation, say whales are increasingly eating lucrative catches right off the hook instead of foraging naturally. There’s no easy way to stop it, and the behavior is spreading through whale culture. Whales’ penchant for hooked fish might be the biggest fisheries story that hardly anyone knows about. >click to read< 10:01
Investigation launched into capsize of Peterhead-based trawler
An investigation is under way into the capsize of a Peterhead-based trawler, where one crew member died and three others were taken to hospital. The 78ft Njord had a total of eight crew members on board when it got into difficulty in the North Sea, about 100 nautical miles west of Stavanger in Norway. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has now confirmed an investigation has been officially launched to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. >click to read< 08:45
Gulf Coast fishing industry suffering due to high gas/fuel prices
Bayou La Batre Mayor Henry Barnes Sr. says some commercial fishing businesses have been forced to tie up their boats for t least a month due to extremely expensive gas bills. “Their fuel bill for one trip can run anywhere from $30-$50,000 for one trip because it’s high,” Barnes said. “It’s a domino effect you know you’ve got the shrimpers who catch it and you got the processors that process it. They’ll hire anywhere from 40 to 50 people per business. That’s 40 to 50 families that’s going to be without a job because of fuel prices,” Video, >click to read< 07:27
North Korean fishing trawler presumed scrapped returns from the dead
A large North Korean fishing vessel supposedly scrapped years ago reappeared last month, state media showed, renewing uncertainty over just how well ship trackers can monitor the country’s commercial fleet. The ship in question is the Sam Chon Li 1, a 3,800-ton trawler that last broadcast over its automatic identification system (AIS) in late 2018 with an unknown destination, according to maritime intelligence platform MarineTraffic. Records show the ship is either “decommissioned or lost,” suggesting it had been scrapped. But KCTV footage from late last month appears to show a fully intact Sam Chon Li 1 docked at Sinpho,,, >click to read< 21:48
Protestors gather outside NCDMF Monday to oppose new flounder, shrimp rules
The Coastal Conservation Association’s North Carolina chapter organized the protest Monday. About 33 participants stood out front of the division building on Arendell Street, holding up signs with messages expressing their displeasure with recent actions the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission took in regards to the management of the southern flounder and shrimp fisheries. Some passing motorists honked their horns in response to the protest. The association is a recreational fishing nonprofit dedicated to coastal environment conservation. CCA-NC Carteret County chapter president Van Parrish was leading the protest Monday. >click to read< 16:04
Pacific Coast crabs are suffocating
The crab pots are piled high at the fishing docks in Newport, Oregon. Stacks of tire-sized cages fill the parking lot, festooned with colorful buoys and grimy ropes. By this time in July, most commercial fishers have called it a year for Dungeness crab. But not fisherman Dave Bailey,,, Recent years have also brought outbreaks of domoic acid, which renders crab unsafe to eat, and increasing incidents of humpback whales getting tangled in crab gear. However, there’s another emerging problem that threatens not only Bailey’s livelihood but the very ecosystem that sustains it. I’ve come today to see 
a tool that could help crabbers manage. On the counter in the kitchenette, amid bowls of instant noodles and tinned oysters, Bailey shows me a sturdy black tube, about 60 centimeters long, that fits neatly inside a crab pot. Photos, video, >click to read< 13:25
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 07, 2022
Save the Gulf of Maine –The Maine Reset, Ep6: Small Fish in a Big Sea
Sedgwick, ME Lobsterman Brian Tripp shares his story, what he loves about lobstering & what he is most concerned about for the future. MLA’s Patrice McCarron talks about the legal fight to protect Maine’s fishing heritage. >click to watch the video< – This Vimeo video, Like Skyrocketing Electric Bills? Then You’ll LOVE Offshore Wind! is Ep: 5, which wasn’t allowed on You Tube, >Click to watch<. It’s a rigged game, and we are the pawns. To see all the videos in this series, >click here< 10:52
Canada considers quota cut on commercial elver eel fishery to increase Mi’kmaw access
The federal government is considering cutting the commercial elver quota by 14 per cent this year to increase Mi’kmaw access to the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels. Ottawa has cancelled negotiations to buy out commercial licence holders. The bargaining was an attempt to make room for Indigenous participation without increasing fishing effort. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans notified the industry of its intentions late last month. In recent years, Mi’kmaw bands have been demanding a piece of the action. That has led to numerous riverside confrontations between Mik’maw, claiming a treaty right, and DFO officers. >click to read< 09:34 Nova
Massachusetts Seafood Collaborative calls for sanctions on Russian fish imports
The Boston-based Massachusetts Seafood Collaborative, which has several Gloucester members, is calling for sanctions to take a bite out of Russian fish imports because of the war in Ukraine. The collaborative, which counts the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association as a member, said that in 2021, the U.S. imported $4 billion worth of Russian fish for processing, leading directly to jobs and paychecks for Massachusetts residents. “Though Russia blocks imports of American fish,” the collaborative said, “our commitment to free trade and open markets allowed this one-sided relationship to bear fruit. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has forced our industry and our nation to decide between our ideals and our wallets.”>click to read< 08:42
Scottish fishing trawler Njord capsizes off Norway leaving one dead
One person has died after a Scottish fishing vessel with eight people on board capsized off Norway. The Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (NJRCC) launched a rescue operation after the alarm was raised on Sunday. Rescuers found the eight crew standing on the keel of the capsized vessel Njord which got into difficulty about 100 miles west of Stavanger in the North Sea. Three people were winched into a search and rescue helicopter and were flown to Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen where one of them subsequently died. >click to read<,– and >click here to read< 07:37
Gulf of Maine: Lawsuits over North Atlantic right whale regulations coming to boil
Lobsterman Brian Cates lives so far at the edge of Maine he can look out the windows of his house and see Canadian boats out in Canadian waters. Cates and other New England lobstermen are worried about how the coming regulations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service will affect their livelihoods. Cates fishes in disputed waters. There, around the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, there’s a strip of ocean claimed by both Canada and U.S. alike called the grey zone. Cates fishes up against Canadian lobstermen, their traps and lines often getting caught up on one another. And the rules coming down from the federal government are not helping, >click to read< 19:14
Spring Fishing Ramping Up After Harsh Winter Weather
With two months to go before the six-month commercial lobster season closes in lobster fishing areas (LFA) 33 and 34, the fishing fleet will be back on the water in full force come April in southwestern Nova Scotia. Going into March, the fishery had slowed to a crawl with severe winter storms keeping the fleet ashore and even prompting some fishermen to land their gear. “February has been a challenge, the weather,” said Tommy Amirault, president of the Coldwater Lobster Association. “I think a lot of people are encouraged by the price, but the weather has been an issue. It’s slowed the fishery down and that’s probably a factor in the price.” >click to read< 13:03
Maine seafood harvesters are taking on an unexpected new hobby
Lobstermen repeatedly haul unwieldy traps, oyster farmers bend over to pull up hulking cages and scallopers hunch over to shuck their prized shellfish at sea. Harvesting seafood for a living can exact a stiff toll on the lower back. The industry has long had a reputation for a “rub some dirt on it” mentality when it comes to these and other daily aches and pains, but a new program aims to introduce fishermen to yoga to keep them on their feet and out on the water. >click to read< 12:26
Help small-scale English Fishermen by ScrapTheApp.
Grand Isle shrimp dock owner Dean Blanchard takes good with the bad after Hurricane Ida
The docks at Blanchard Seafood plant are about as close to the Gulf of Mexico as possible without getting wet. When Hurricane Ida struck the island, all that changed. The processing plant was not only inundated, but the winds tore away walls and ceilings, leaving owner and wholesaler Dean Blanchard with more than $1 million in damage. “It was Katrina-like damage,” Blanchard said. “There was less water damage but a hell of a lot of wind damage. We thought Katrina was a once-in-a-lifetime storm, but apparently it wasn’t.” At 63, Blanchard has seen his share of disasters impacting not only his seafood business but also the whole state. >click to read< 09:38
This Down East town isn’t enthusiastic about becoming a rocket launch site
A Maine rocket firm’s bid to fire rockets into space from Jonesport might have fizzled. The head of a Brunswick-based aerospace firm acknowledged that it looks increasingly unlikely his company will get local approval to launch rockets from an island off Jonesport,,, Blushift has been hoping to win local support to use Water Island, a small island roughly 1,500 feet long, to launch rockets up to 80 feet long into orbit every month or so. But the proposal has run into significant opposition in Jonesport and the neighboring town of Beals, which together support a large lobster fishing fleet. Many residents have said the launches could hurt the local fishing industry. >click to read< 08:38
Scots skipper took Peaky Blinders cast out to sea
Billy Milne, 42, got the order to ferry the cast and crew from the hit gangster show about in his old fishing boat. But for some of them it was their first time at sea and the choppy conditions in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, didn’t agree with them. He feared there might be some unexpected drama as the team, including Finn Cole who plays Michael Gray on the Beeb series, battled to find their sea legs. Billy said: “There were some white faces because of the swell. Billy’s traditional wooden boat The Comet caught the eye of the Peaky Blinders production team as they scouted Scotland for filming locations. Photos, >click to read< 18:33
Evidence Bolsters Classification Of A Major Spawning Ground For Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Off The Northeast U.S.
The prevailing understanding has been that Atlantic bluefin tuna comprise two populations with strong natal homing to spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea. However, there has long been speculation that spawning may occur in other regions, and a 2016 paper demonstrated a bluefin tuna spawning ground in the Slope Sea. The Slope Sea is a wedge of ocean that is bounded by the U.S. shelf break and the Gulf Stream as it moves away from the U.S. east coast. >click to read< 15:38
Putin blows up Brexit
Whisper it, but Britain and the EU are getting along. While the years following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union have been characterized by one-upmanship, failures to communicate and outright disagreements, the days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen politicians and officials on both sides of the Channel come together to coordinate their response. Disputes about trade rules in Northern Ireland and fishing quotas might be unresolved, but as Vladimir Putin’s forces batter Ukraine, everyone has more important things to worry about. >click to read< 14:49
Scottish officials ordered to withdraw from fishing talks with Russia
The Scottish Government has said it will not take part in any fisheries negotiations with the Russian Federation in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Environment Secretary Mairi Gougeon has instructed Scottish Government officials to withdraw from any such negotiations until further notice. She confirmed the move as she called for talks over fish stocks involving both the UK and Russia to be postponed. >click to read< 11:22
Despite Ukraine invasion, the U.S. and Russia are still working together to solve salmon mysteries
Tensions continue to simmer between Moscow and Washington in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In many respects, the divide between East and West is deepening: Oil companies are canceling partnerships with Russian firms. State legislators are calling for the state’s sovereign wealth fund to dump Russian investments. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. would close its airspace to Russian aircraft. But the United States and Russia are continuing to work together on at least one issue: salmon. >click to read< 10:10
