Category Archives: Featured
Flounder, fluke, and flying by the seat of your pants – Bob Mone’s life as a fish broker.
The origins of Vineyard Co-op go back to a guy named Steve Boggess, who around 1970 ran Boggess Seafood out of Woods Hole on the pier over where the ferry shuttles back and forth to Naushon. Trip Barnes, who did trucking for Boggess, described him as “a college guy, kind of a yuppie. But he had a mind like a steel trap.” But the Steamship Authority, which owned the dock where Boggess’s office was located, put the squeeze on Boggess and forced him to leave. So Ralph Packer agreed to build a dock next to his gas tanks on Vineyard Haven harbor and Boggess moved his business to the Vineyard. Around 1975 Mone answered an ad looking for a manager at Boggess Seafood. At the time he was driving a milk truck on the Island and the only thing he knew about fish was that you buy them at a fish market. photo gallery, >click to read< 10:59
UPDATED: American fisherman detained entering British Virgin Islands – New Jersey delegation aware
An American longline fishing boat captain has been in jail for a month after he was detained in the British Virgin Islands on June 8 for traveling into BVI waters during coronavirus border closures. Now he is facing criminal charges and a monthslong wait in a sweltering island prison cell. Michael Foy, who lives in Puerto Rico and left the island May 29 on a fishing expedition, was initially detained for illegal entry into the British Virgin Islands, but at his June hearing he was also unexpectedly charged with illegal fishing. >click to read< 13:21
New Jersey Senators write Deputy Governor on fisherman’s arrest – “We are aware that our constituent, Michael Foy, has been detained in Tortola and have been in communication with the State Department and the [United States] Embassy in Barbados regarding the case,” according to the June 30 letter signed by Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez and Congressman Andy Kim. >click to read< 10:09 7/11/20
Bob Guzzo Talks Quotas, Offshore Wind, Coronavirus, and Fishing out of Stonington, Connecticut
“We’re giving up traditional fishing grounds that we’ve had for hundreds of years, that have fed the country, that are now going to light a light bulb and it’s not going to be worthwhile,” Guzzo said of the proposed wind farms located in federal waters. The location of the wind farms also destroys longtime fisheries, said Guzzo. “They’re taking away places that we’ve fished for this country over hundreds of years and we’re losing that ground,” he said.,, Quotas and Coronavirus, “I got tired of throwing fish overboard, I could never stand it. I started too long ago and never had to do this. The way they make you fish today is a crime,” >click to read< 08:01
Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 6, 2020
The run is late this year, but it’s ramping way up across the bay. The total run passed 11 million fish yesterday, with some of the biggest harvests we’ve seen yet this season in 3 of the bay’s districts. Total run in the bay jumped by over 3 million fish yesterday, to almost 11.5 million. Total catch bay-wide is 8.4 million, total escapement is 2.5 million, and there are an estimated 515,000 fish in-river in the bay’s combined rivers. Fish per delivery from the drift boats also jumped by an average of 500 fish per delivery bay-wide. All the districts that fished yesterday delivered more than 1,100 fish per delivery yesterday, and in Ugashik… that number was almost 2,000 fish per delivery. audio, report, >click to read< 14:39
Could this, like spot prawns, be our next local seafood success? The hake catch is six times the size for wild salmon.
B.C.’s hake, also known as Pacific whiting or Merluccius productus, is a transboundary species that crosses Canadian and American waters. Both countries share management of the short-lived, bountiful species under a joint fishery treaty. “Their stock is healthy,” said Bruce Turris, executive manager of the Canadian Groundfish Research and Conservation Society. Turris, who represents the hake fishery on the joint management treaty and has worked with hake for more than 35 years, notes that Canada only harvested around 60 per cent of its total allowable catch in 2019. “We’re still not fully utilizing the resource,” he says. But “it’s not a resource that’s easily accessible,” said Turris, citing a steep investment requirement into the fishery. >click to read< 08:43
Two die after fishing vessel sinks near Florence
A well-known Florence couple has died when the fishing vessel they were on sank in the Siuslaw River bar early Monday morning., The two who died were reported to be Kyle and Amber Novelli of Florence. In addition to commercial crabbing, their business was Novelli’s Crab and Seafood in Florence. “With a heavy heart I am saddened to to inform the many award-winning crab chowder followers of the passing of Kyle and Amber Novelli,” Novelli’s Crab and Seafood reported on its Facebook page. “Sharing their love of crabbing was always their dream. Their personalities will forever leave a lasting impression on anyone who met them. >click to read< 19:26
Lucky 13, and the Latest Fishfinding Tech
Delivered from its Danish builder to owners in Orkney, Aalskere is the third trawler for Iain Harcus with the same name and number – keeping to the Orkney preference for a registration number that adds up to 13., Iain Harcus has fished for 20 years with the 33.90 metre Aalskere that was acquired in 2000, built as Vandal, photo’s, >click to read< Aalskere’s wheelhouse has an uncluttered layout a single E Vejvad Hansen skipper’s chair at the centre 
of Aalskere’s wheelhouse, facing a bank of 55-inch 4K monitors, supplemented by an overhead row of seven Neovo X24 monitors, plus six 19-inch screens at the aft wheelhouse trawl console. There are ten monitors altogether integrated into the Woodsons Quad view system, controlled using a trackball with a cursor that moves seamlessly from one screen to the next. Photo’s, >click to read< 15:46
Opinion: The politically corrupt management of the wild salmon resource in Canada is a sinking ship
Salmon are forest creatures. When forest structures are in decline, creatures of the forest including wild salmon are in decline. When the forest is gone, wild salmon creatures of the forest are gone. When wild salmon are gone, creatures of the fishing industry are gone. When the fishing industry is gone, viability in coastal communities and dependent businesses are gone. When coastal viability structures are gone, coastal people are caught within a downward financial collapse. Younger people are forced to move from home-based coastal areas in search of viable employment. What happened? by Tom Gray, >click to read< 09:25
Nova Scotia Live Lobster Exports to China Hit a Snag
A recent coronavirus outbreak traced to a market in Beijing is disrupting Canadian live lobster exports to China. New testing measures imposed in at least three cities — Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou— have led to cancelled lobster shipments from Nova Scotia this week and delays for shipments that do arrive. “We’ve hit a significant snag,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada. “The latest news is that they will continue to do these random inspections, which has effectively caused many of the large shipments to stop.” >click to read< 10:22
Tasmanian lobster, abalone exports at risk as latest COVID-19 outbreak closes Beijing markets – “Australian seafood exports are not being blocked by China [but] authorities there have advised that they may conduct COVID-19 testing on live, fresh, chilled and frozen imports of Australian seafood upon arrival into China,” said chairman Nathan Maxwell McGinn. >click to read< 13:08
New Russian Crab Fleet Takes Shape
Following the delivery of Rus, Pella is making progress on two more crabbers to the same design, ordered for Sakhalin-based company Ostrovnoy-Krab. In the Far East, the Nakhodka Ship Repair Yard has contracted to build eight crabbers to a design developed by Damen – six for Antey and two for the Pacific Fishing Company (TRK). The first three of this series of crabbers designed to land fresh catches are scheduled to be in the water before the end of this year, with the series as a whole to be completed between 2021 and 2024. >photo’s, click to read< 16:27
Brexit: EU preparing to row back on rights to fish in British waters
Brussels is preparing to back down over a Brexit fishing deal and acknowledge for the first time that European fleets do not have an automatic right to fish in British waters. In a concession to help to unlock negotiations, Michel Barnier is understood to accept that the UK will have to be treated as an independent coastal state and have annual negotiations with the bloc over fishing quotas from next year. The EU’s chief negotiator told European diplomats that the compromise would have to wait until other parts of the deal were closer to being finalised. >click to read< 22:19
Please, Donate if You Can to the San Francisco fishing fleet fire recovery fund
An early morning fire destroyed Pier 45, Shed C on May 23. While we were fortunate not to lose any lives in this tragedy, San Francisco fishing men & women have lost millions of dollars in fishing gear. We are asking for any help you can give at this time. Donated funds will be used to reequip fishing businesses with the gear necessary to continue working and bringing fresh seafood to San Francisco. As a community, we have lost approximately 2/3 of the capacity to harvest the fresh seafood that is delivered to San Francisco and the essence of our livelihoods. Crab traps and salmon tanks and hydraulic blocks and herring nets and buoys and black cod traps and shrimp traps and replacement transmissions and spare parts and tools and extra propellers and forklifts and and… and… please, >click to read<, and donate if you can! The Crab Boat Owners Association is organizing this fundraiser. 23:30
Trump Executive Order Opens the Door for Massive Industrial Fish Farms in Oceans
Last week, the Trump administration announced an executive order opening the door for large-scale fish farming. That order, as reported by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), is designed at its core to expand the scope and facilities for aquaculture. What that likely means is a reduction in regulations, and the creation of large offshore fish farms.,, While offshore fish farms would be a boon to major seafood corporations, smaller fishermen would be harmed by it in several ways. Those environmental effects could deplete the health of wild waters, which fishermen depend on. They could also flood the market with cheaper farmed fish, harming the demand for more sustainably caught seafood. >click to read< 08:04
Squid are back in abundance in Monterey Bay
The squid fishery is among the most lucrative and productive in the state, frequently valued in the double-digit millions. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, landings from California market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) were over 34,000 short tons in the 2018-2019 season, generating more than $33 million in revenue. But according to Diane Pleschner-Steele, the executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, these charming and elusive animals can be difficult to pin down. The statement has proven true in the last couple of years. Spawning squid are targeted because they die shortly after they reproduce, and so fishing season — though technically open all year round — coincides with the spawning season. The catch is historically best in Southern California in fall and Central California in spring-summer. >click to read< 10:35
With Coronavirus pandemic ravaging our country, temporary relaxation of fishery regulations is urged to help fishing industry
Thanks to our Senators and Congressmen who worked to get specific aid to the fishing industry, that has been hit particularly hard by the closure of restaurants, where 70 per cent of seafood in this country is consumed. Fishermen and wholesalers have had to adapt on the fly and find other ways to market their product to various degrees of success. The closure of so many vital aspects of our domestic economy will have effects that will still be felt a long time after the Virus is tamed.,, I am requesting that NMFS immediately contact the various management councils and commissions to request that special meetings [webinars] of fishery advisory panels be held to discuss the pro’s and cons of this idea, and what fisheries could benefit.,,, By Jim Lovgren. >click to read< 20:48
Coronavirus: Commercial fishermen scale back as market demand plummets
With restaurants only permitted to offer takeout and delivery, and many specialty seafood markets offering limited products or temporarily closing amid the COVID-19 outbreak, commercial fishermen are scaling back operations, too, and they’re feeling the impact. “It’s scary what’s out there, it really is,” said Ernie Panacek, 69, general manager of Viking Village, a commercial seafood producer in the borough. “The money that we get comes from those people going out to dinner and going to retail,” he said. “It’s going to be a hardship for a while. No one is going to flip a switch and have it go away immediately. We’re going to feel this for a long time.” 14 photos, >click to read< 07:45
Coronavirus is death knell for Scottish fishing industry
A full four-fifths of the fleet is currently tied up, estimates veteran Fraserburgh skipper Mark Robertson. Like businesses the world over, British fishing has collapsed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. “Sales have totally died a death. We’re not exporting anything. There is no market,” Robertson laments. In keeping with the wider UK fishing industry, the vast majority of his catch, upwards of 80%, is sold in Europe. As the continent awoke to the COVID-19 crisis and went into lockdown, demand for his product crashed. >click to read< 07:47
Tell Your Congressmen and Senators: Our US Fishing Industry Faces The Coronavirus Disaster
With the Coronavirus being spread around the world and nations reacting to this threat in many different ways, from doing nothing, to closing the borders and full quarantines, the unintended effects of such government actions have yet to be fully felt. Granted the stock market has lost 30% in value in just 3 weeks time, the average American really doesn’t feel that unless he is living on his investment returns. With the closing of schools, and restaurants and any places of public gatherings an enormous crisis is being created because many people are being put out of work and some of them may not have a business to come back to when the crisis is over. The Coronavirus may topple an empire if we let it. >click to read< 06:17
A Fundraiser has been started by Hailey and Lukas Engstrom for the family’s of F/V Scandies Rose
From the fundraiser, My name is Hailey Engstrom. My brother Lukas and I are raising money for the families that suffered this horrible tragedy. Our father, We Engstrom recently retired from the Scandies as the deck boss for 10 years, and with the company for nearly 20 years. Coming from a fishing family, this accident hit home with us extremely hard. >click to read< Please contribute to this fundraiser if you can! 08:36
Most likely Carnival Cruise Lines is responsible for 18+ Right Whale deaths in the past 3 year, at which rate they would soon be extinct.
Human caused Right whale deaths have suddenly, in sync with a plummeting whale birthrate, put the right whale on the path to extinction.,,, There is the simple answer, to halt the march towards extinction. There is an easy way to prevent those 18 deaths and at least bring that -18 up to 0. We can stop the majority of the anthropogenic Whale deaths with a simple Cruise Ship lane modification between PEI and the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula. Prior to 2007 ships were almost solely responsible for Right whale deaths, but since 2008 fishing line entanglement deaths have increased and fishermen have become the main target. However data from the past 3 years indicate many more ship strike deaths than entanglement deaths. >click to read< 12:41
OUT TO CATCH THE LAST FISH? Fisheries “expert’s” anti-fisherman rhetoric gets taken to task!
“…most fishermen always want to catch more fish, regardless of how many there are.” This quote from the fisheries “expert” in the article, Warming waters spark marine migration, fish wars >click to read<on the warming ocean, and Joel’s subsequent comment, “And here in lies the problem. Look at what this cubical entrenched pencil pushing empty suit thinks of fishermen. Folks like this need to be taken to task”, inspired a re-post of this anti-fishing propaganda article, OUT TO CATCH THE LAST FISH? It’s a few years old, but sadly, as current as ever! To be a fisherman, these days, is to have first-hand knowledge of bias and mindless prejudice. Manipulating commercial fishing to save the stocks from “endangerment” and worse, has often been job justification for the political and personal agenda-driven, obsequious, career-climbing government fisheries “scientists” and managers. “Destructive” commercial fishing is also a handy foil for corporate style environmental groups’ fund raising efforts; and diminishing the importance of domestic commercial fishing is also a necessary step in the energy industry’s march into the sea. >click to read< Thank you, Dick.17:02
Government Waste – Regulatory Discards
This is what the government and their stupid regulations make us discard. Thrown away dead feeding the crabs. Fishermen would be more than happy to bring them home and give them away to feed the hungry. But nooo can’t do that. With what stupid regulations make us discard we could end hunger in this nation. Totally outrageous. 11:10
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