Category Archives: Featured
It’s not easy being the family left onshore when the lobster fishery starts
The knot in my stomach started as soon as I read the post that dumping day in the southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery was a go for the next day. Part of it was due to the fact that it was not a unanimous vote during that morning’s LFA 34 lobster industry conference call. Eleven port reps voted in favour of a Dec. 1 opening following a two-day delay, but seven were opposed. Truthfully, though, even if it had been a 100 per cent unanimous ‘yes’ vote, the knot in my stomach and the lump in my throat would still be there. How do I know? Because it’s there every single year. photos, >click to read< by Tina Comeau
UPDATED: Fishing trawler aground near Frisco
A fishing trawler has run aground on the Outer Banks. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore says the F/V Jonathan Ryan is stuck in the surf about a mile south of the Frisco Campground. The trawler is 65 feet long and weighs some 113 tons. >click to read< and Fishing Vessel Grounds At Cape Hatteras National Seashore – National Park Service staff are monitoring a commercial fishing vessel that grounded at Cape Hatteras National 
Seashore (Seashore). The F/V JONATHAN RYAN is located near off-road vehicle ramp 48, approximately 1.25 miles southeast of the Frisco Campground. >click to read<, 11:55 Fishing trawler runs aground along southern Hatteras Island – The Jonathon Ryan fishing boat ran aground near Frisco NC. I have no information n what happened but there are still people on the ship and I’m sure it will get pulled back out. Authorities are on the scene. Video, >click to read< 13:29
Meet the families working to keep fisheries alive on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie
Lake Erie fisherman Tim Martin knows that his business has helped strengthen local food systems. He and his four family members harvest and process their own fish, then sell it at their retail location in Port Burwell, Ont. During the pandemic, when global supply chains buckled and grocery store shelves were wiped clean, the family was able to stay in business. They experienced a heavy rush of local customers, most of whom, Martin says, have become loyal regulars. Yet in Port Burwell, where the Martins have operated for more than 30 years, they are the only permanent commercial fishing business that remains. Deteriorating infrastructure on the waterfront and a high cost of entry into the fishery fails to support any aspiring newcomers. Here are three families still working in the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry in Ontario,,, photos, >click to read< 09:23
Devastating Damage from B.C., Atlantic storms no easy fix
The rainstorms in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada have impacted livelihoods, with damaged highways and rail lines cutting off communities and hampering key supply chain routes. Unprecedented rainfall from atmospheric rivers in B.C. and the Maritimes has dropped hundreds of millimetres worth of rain — surpassing in days the totals some regions see in a whole month. Video, photos, >click to read< For a page of some amazing stories from both coasts, with more being added as we find them. >click to read< 14:16
Record crab and lobster prices drive value of N.L. landings past billion-dollar mark
“It was remarkable,” Doyle says, referring to the $7.60 per pound, more than double last year’s price, Doyle and his son Thomas received for the roughly 16,000 pounds of snow crab they landed with their under-40-foot vessel, Tango Delta, this year. “In regard to prices, it’s better than I’ve ever seen it,” adds Doyle, adding that they also received record prices for their lobster landings. It’s not hard to hear upbeat language like that when talking to Newfoundland and Labrador fish harvesters this year, because their bank accounts were likely swollen by incomes of 40 to 50 per cent higher than past years. >click to read< 09:33
‘Not work, it’s a passion’: Commercial fisherman Santo La Macchia still hooked at 101
Australia’s oldest commercial fisherman, and his son, “Young Bobbie”, planned to have left their mooring in Avalon’s Careel Bay about 1pm on Monday, pointing their 70-year-old trawler Joyce towards the prime squid fishing waters off Patonga on the Central Coast.,, “We like to do the afternoon shift,” explains “Young Bobbie” (to distinguish him from Santo’s late father who started the fishing dynasty in 1924). “Young Bobbie” joined his father on Joyce in 1972, and now trawler, licence and trading company are in his name. So which of them is skipper? “He is,” says Santo, pointing at his son. “But sometimes, when he does something wrong, I’m the skipper.” >click to read< 07:50
The 40 year old fishing boat feeding a town in regional Victoria
The 15-member strong Apollo Bay Fishermen’s Co-op has invested nearly $500,000 in a small, 40-year-old fishing boat to fish along the coast every few days and provide the town with fresh seafood.,, The F/V Tambo Bay has since been modified to fish waters just off the rugged coast of Western Victoria. Her captain is Russell “Frosty” Frost, who retired from lobster fishing several years ago. The call of the sea was too strong for Frost and when approached by fellow members of the co-op, he agreed to take on the role of skipper. >click to read< 08:51
Southern Newfoundland cod stocks expected to be in ‘critical zone’ until early 2024
In a presentation of the assessment’s findings on Friday, stock assessment biologist Karen Dwyer said cod born in 2011 have been supporting the 3PS stock, between southern Newfoundland and St-Pierre-Miquelon, and the fishery over the last few years. She said “recruitment”, fish younger than two years old, have dropped to historically low levels. Very few fish have been born in any one year since 2011,,, Some factors affecting the health of the cod stock could be the changes in the ecosystem, said Dwyer. Meanwhile, the debate over whether seals are among the biggest reasons for the deterioration of the cod stock in 3Ps is far from over. >click to read< 15:50
Irish fishing fleet to be gutted by one third to make Brexit quota – “This is a very sad day.”
Sixty trawlers will be decommissioned and taken out of business by the end of next year leaving just 100 vessels left in the whole country. The Government is to pay out €63.5 million in compensation from EU funds to the fishermen who are leaving the industry. All of the country’s fishing groups agreed to the deal except the West and South Fish Producers Association. Precise details are expected to be given to the Dail in the next week or two. >click to read< 07:30
Maine lobstermen appeal to the public to fund legal fight against federal regulations
Without the financial means to fight both the government and environmental activists, lobstermen said their very existence is at stake. Lobstermen speaking at the press conference (today) said they feared the offshore regulations currently proposed would creep inshore, where most of them fish, eventually choking off their livelihoods. They also stressed how much money their industry brings into the state and how it supports communities beyond fishermen. According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine’s 2020 lobster catch was worth $406 million. That was down from $491 million in 2019. “That’s why we need everyone to step up and help us save the fishery,” photos, >click to read< 17:59
Observations from the Albatross IV Correctional Cruise by Captain Jim Lovgren
Five New England fishermen and myself met at Woods Hole Ma. On the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2002, to board the N.O.A.A. Research Vessel Albatross IV. The other fishermen were Jim Odlin, Sam Novello, Bud Fernandes, Matt Stommel, and Steve Lee. We met with Steve Murawski, (who did not go out on the trip) and with Henry Milliken, and Russell Brown who were in charge of reviewing the fishing and filming of this short cruise. Individually we walked around the vessel and checked out the net and gear. As I was the last fisherman to arrive, the gear, (which was laying on the deck) had already been closely scrutinized by the other fishermen, and some problems had been identified. >click to read< 08:04
Offshore Wind Farms: As turbines rise, small-scale fishermen have the most to lose
David Aripotch is 65, a weathered man with gray hair, just tall enough to see over the helm. He has been fishing for almost a half-century, but he still gets excited every time the net is lifted from the ocean. It’s all the other things that eat at him. The federal fishing quotas that sometimes make him steam as far south as North Carolina to catch fish he can find off Long Island. The mind-boggling expenses of running a fishing boat: $5,000 a month for insurance, $30,000 for a new net, $60,000 for a paint job. Worst of all are the wind farms. “There’s so many things going against you as a commercial fisherman in the United States,” he said. “And now these wind farms, it’s almost like that’s the final nail in the coffin.” >click to read< (2nd article of 2 parts, >part 1<) 09:20
Another Stab in the Back
Reinstatement of excluding commercial fishing in Obama’s Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument by Joe Biden is another stab in our backs. It will hurt fishermen from Maine to Rhode Island. As if we don’t have enough problems with losing ground. Lobstermen and crab fishermen will also be excluded in 2023. A huge mistake has been made, based on the lack of evidence that fishermen have damaged reefs, corals, or hurt any whales. I fished those waters for twenty years, and never saw a piece of coral. The depth is 2.000 feet, but we’d set our nets at 600 feet, never touching bottom. This situation is not good, and will put more fishermen out of business. I don’t know what can be done to overturn this, but something needs to be done. Sam Parisi, Gloucester, Mass. 16:17
A Proclamation on Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. >click to read<
N.J. commercial and recreational fishing groups aligning against coming offshore wind farms – ‘This is our farmland’
Capt. Hank Lackner docked a 100-foot trawler in Cape May on a recent day after unloading a catch of squid that might end up as calamari on someone’s plate just about anywhere in the United States. Lackner fears that offshore wind farms coming to the waters off the New Jersey coast in the next few years could threaten his business. Other commercial and recreational anglers, along with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a political action organization, share his concerns. Jim Donofrio, founder of the RFA, and one of the most outspoken critics of offshore wind, says the industry creates too many issues for fishing that haven’t been fully addressed. “We want them gone,” Donofrio said. >click to read< 07:55
Community rallies support for lobster fisherman seriously injured while working on lobster boat
Julie Smith is taking things day by day. Her fiancée, Andrew Saulnier, has a long road ahead of him after the 24-year-old fisherman was seriously injured onboard on a lobster boat Saturday morning. The 24-year-old Saulnier was taken to the Yarmouth Regional Hospital before being airlifted to the QEII in Halifax, where Smith, who is six months pregnant, remains by his side. She says he is communicating and is now able to eat again. “They had to amputate his left leg above the knee, and they were thinking that they might have to amputate the right, but it’s looking way better, so they’re holding off on that,” Smith said. >click to read< – >click here for “Helping Andrew and his Family” fundraiser< 08:16
Seacor Power: Coast Guard points to early survivors as search continues, with updates from the Gulf this evening
Evening came to Port Fourchon on Thursday with still no word on the fate of a dozen missing crewmembers from a capsized lift boat seven miles offshore, though officials suggested for the first time that human life may still remain aboard the Seacor Power. U.S. Coast Guard officials said the observations of rescuers who were scrambling to save the crew hours into the aftermath of the disaster Tuesday caused the agency believe at least 
two members who had survived the capsizing were still on board. >click to read< Coast Guard saw five crew members on hull of Seacor Power Tuesday; 2 went back into vessel – A team of divers contracted by the U.S. Coast Guard headed to the wreckage site Thursday,,, As of Thursday, a total of six crewmembers aboard the Seacor Power had been rescued, and the body of 63-year-old captain David Ledet had been recovered. The remaining 12 members are unaccounted for, including the two who were on the hull late Tuesday and said they were going back inside. >click to read<‘ God please bring him home’ – The niece of Gregory Walcott, 62, of Abbeville, said her family holds out hope that her uncle is among the survivors in an air pocket awaiting rescue. “Knowing him,” Crystal Randle said Thursday afternoon, “he’s worrying about us.” >click to read< 21:46
Women of New Bedford’s Waterfront
Captain Jessica Walker, 34, first stepped foot on a commercial fishing vessel, which happened to be the Legacy, when she was 19. The college history major was looking for a summer job and this one was far from “potato country”, the place in Northern Maine she called home. She started with summer trips that eventually became full-time work. She worked her way up to mate and learned everything from the boat owner and previous captain, David Wilhelmsen. When he stepped down, Walker assumed the role of captain in the summer of 2013. Further up in the harbor, fishing vessel Reliance was docked earlier in the week for maintenance before departing for the next scalloping trip. Two men with welding helmets sat on the deck repairing the metal gear while Crystal Vaughan stood up in the wheelhouse attending to inventory. 21 photos, >click to read< 10:20
Grand Isle scrambles to clean up after freak storm: “It was like a baby hurricane”
Businesses, residents and town workers in Grand Isle scrambled Wednesday to pump out water and clear debris ahead of a second batch of bad weather expected to blow through the island by about 3 p.m. Grand Isle was hit suddenly by a violent storm Tuesday afternoon with wind gusts of up to 90 mph and rain that flooded streets, sank boats, stripped shingles off of roofs and threw trash cans and other unsecured personal property around, said Mayor David Camardelle. photo’s >click to read< 14:34
1 dead after capsized vessel caught in ‘microburst’ of bad weather off the Louisiana coast; 12 still missing, 6 rescued – The Coast Guard searched for 12 people missing off the coast of Louisiana on Wednesday,,, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III confirmed the missing crew members were on board the Seacor Power before it flipped over miles south of Port Fourchon. Capt. Ronald Dufrene said his offshore trawler Mister Jug was among the shrimp boats that struggled to survive the storm. >click to read<
SPECIAL REPORT: Winds of change – Developers grease the skids to ingratiate themselves and minimize negative reception
Rural onshore windfarms have long been a subject of much debate, Windfarm developers have found that their financial contributions to local communities, like sports clubs, local organizations and projects, have helped to ingratiate themselves with the locals and minimize negative reception. HUH! Between these generous handouts and potential legal challenges, many developers of windfarms have found the projects an expensive business. But now the sector has spotted another option on the horizon – literally. Offshore wind farms. The biggest criticism of the offshore wind 
energy sector in Ireland so far has come from fishing interests, Patrick Murphy of the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation told Southern Star recently that the commandeering of sites at sea by windfarm developers today is akin to the land grabs from the native Americans in the 19th century. >click to read< 12:59
Innovative Monkfish Catcher Vessel Built in Brazil
High-quality monkfish in southern of Brazil is is driving a local fishing company to build the very first fishing vessel in the country for this fishery. Blaze I’s construction is currently approaching completion and it is expected to start fishing in the second half of 2021. For two decades, seafood company Blaze has been providing premium products to European, Asian, and African markets. Despite the solid commercial relationship with the Portuguese and French customers that the company has built since the beginning, it has been suffering over the past three years with the closure of European markets to the Brazilian fish due to sanitary concerns. That was one of the reasons why Blaze decided to invest in its own boat. According to José da Silveira Jr., one of the owners, the company’s expectation is to obtain a European certification. photos, >click to read< 15:29
Lower and middle class Americans will pay for the Biden Administration offshore wind power “plan”
Last week, the Biden administration announced “a bold set of actions” that it said will “catalyze” the installation of 30,000 megawatts of new offshore wind capacity by 2030. A White House fact sheet claimed the offshore push will create “good-paying union jobs” and “strengthen the domestic supply chain.” One problem: It didn’t contain a single mention of electricity prices or ratepayers. The reason for the omission is obvious: President Biden’s offshore-wind scheme will be terrible for consumers. >click to read<,,, Offshore wind is a bad deal for the marine environment, ratepayers and taxpayers. Biden’s plan should be torpedoed before it leaves the harbor. 17:28
Changing environment may be to blame for reduced fish populations – Seals, Professor? Regulatory changes?
A new study aimed at determining how best to boost recovery of Atlantic cod has researchers pondering whether ongoing fishing and environmental changes, rather than evolution, are behind failed recovery of many stressed fish populations. (Seal predation?!!) Research published Monday, April 5 by Rutgers University, including genetic sequencing of this iconic species, offers major implications for ocean conservation, says Malin Pinsky, an associate professor in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “Fish populations around the world have collapsed and many have not recovered,” said Pinsky. >click to read 09:43
A campaign to bring 100-year-old steam trawler Viola back home to Yorkshire from an island off Antarctica
Resting on the ex-whaling station Grytviken in South Georgia, an island south east of the Falkland Islands, the now-rusted Viola has only snow-capped mountains and albatrosses for company on the sub-Antarctic isle. But over in Hull, a campaigning group called the Viola Trust is hoping to raise £3m to bring the Viola back home,,, Despite her rust and age, the Viola is in surprisingly good condition. She is the oldest steam trawler in the world with her engines still intact. >click to read< 14:46
Fishermen: “Sea-life in Dublin Bay facing wipe-out” from offshore wind farm surveys
More than 40 fishermen claim marine surveys are damaging fish and wildlife. The surveys are being done as part of offshore wind farms. Fisherman Paddy Macaulay told us that a previous windfarm survey on the seabed in 2011 “destroyed everything on the seabed”. He said: “All life that we sustain our living from was gone for two and a half years, and slowly it came back”. As part of the offshore licence, companies behind the wind farms are required to engage (seat at the table, Pilgrims?) with the fishermen who claim that is not happening. Fisherman Sean Ryan said: “This is only the survey phase when they go into the construction phase,,, >click to read< 13:55
ITS TIME FOR A FISHING INDUSTRY BUY OUT BY OFFSHORE WIND
If Offshore wind farm companies want the commercial fishing industry to support the construction of massive wind farms on their long time historical fishing grounds, then those companies must offer a vessel buy out option to fishermen before they are put out of business by these same wind developers.,,, While the Biden administration is busy throwing billions of dollars to people who aren’t even citizens, how about throwing a few billion to the commercial fishermen that your green new deal is about to destroy. If multi national corporations are allowed to just prance right into our territorial waters and take them over from the local fishermen leaving them bankrupt and out of work, then the federal government ought to own up to the damage it is creating to the fishing industry and create a voluntary buy out program, jointly financed by them and of course the Windmill companies,,, >click to read< By Jim Lovgren 21:37
Renewal programme continues as Courageous joins local fleet
Skipper Ian Shearer and his partners Christopher Irvine, James Johnson and Malcolm Reid sailed into their home port of Symbister on Saturday after crossing the North Sea from Hvide Sande in Denmark where the vessel was built. The new vessel replaces the previous Courageous, formally known as the Guardian Angell, which they had bought from Yell in 2015. The move enabled the young fishing partnership, four men were aged between 17 and 25 at the time, to get a foothold in the local industry. The fifth shareholder in the company is local fishing agent LHD. >click to read< 14:37
1 dead, another presumed dead after fishing boat capsizes off Cape Breton
Four crew members from the Tyhawk fishing vessel were rescued from the water Saturday evening and taken to hospital. But one, identified by community members as Seth Monahan, died. The vessel’s captain, Craig Sock, is missing and presumed dead after an unsuccessful overnight search. 
The Tyhawk belongs to the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick, according to band councillor Ruth Levi. She said Monahan was originally from nearby Metepenagiag, N.B., and had been living in Elsipogtog for many years. He had two young children, she said. Levi described Sock as a “gentle soul” who loved hockey. He was known as “Jumbo” to his friends. >click to read< 20:42
Lobsterman: A day in the life
“Let Her Go” is oversized for Frenchtown’s small harbor, so Ledee bases her in Red Hook, where his day begins in darkness. Rising at 3 a.m., he packs hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, curried chicken for lunch and a cooler of drinks for himself and his mate, 19-year-old Kyle LaPlace. Lobsters and fish support him and his brother Gregory, who co-owns the business, as well as the men who crew with him, build the fish traps, survey and repair the boat and provide dock space. It’s a complete microeconomy. “Fishing has been good to me,” Ledee says. 18 photos, >click to read< 07:50
“DFO operates in denial of Reality”- Scientist says seal predation not having a significant impact on spawning cod stocks
Instead, Karen Dwyer, weighing in on the contentious debate over the health of cod stocks, said Thursday that environmental factors and a limited supply of the cod’s primary food source — capelin — are more to blame.,, Trinity Bay fisherman Keith Smith said DFO continues to downplay the impact of seal predation on cod. “It’s like DFO operate in denial of reality,” Smith said. “Fishing mortality is at an all-time low while natural mortality, likely led by the growing seal population that consumes vast amounts of both capelin and cod, remains high,”,,, >click to read< 11:04
John Gillett: Fishery mismanaged while people go hungry
Canada is doing the world a big injustice by mismanaging our Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. If our fisheries were managed right, we could supply a million tonnes of fish protein to the world and still have enough for our own country. Canada refusing to address the predation of millions of tonnes of fish a year by 10 million seals is criminal to me. Canada, under the UN food security program, has an obligation to share food with the world, not let it be wasted by not controlling the seals that are destroying what fish harvesters harvest and causing an ecological marine disaster. >click to read< 09:10
