Category Archives: International News
Buddhists fined almost £30,000 – for releasing foreign lobsters bought in Greenwich into the sea.
Ni Li and Zhixiong Li were among 100 Buddhists who released the crustaceans into the Channel as part of a religious ceremony – despite them being an invasive species. They spent more than £5,500 on 361 live American lobsters and 35 Dungeness crabs, which they released from three boats, chartered off Brighton Marina.,,, But the ceremony on June 15, 2015 wreaked havoc on local marine life, forcing the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to offer local fishermen £20 for each alien lobster they caught. click here to read the story 11:48
Leaked fishing camera report ‘sound’, top advisor said
The report, carried out by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), was leaked to Greenpeace in June. It raised doubts about whether camera technology on fishing boats would be much use in court as evidence of illegal fishing. MPI later called the report “misleading” and poor quality, and Mr Guy said scientists had binned it. But in emails released to the Green Party under the Official Information Act, a top science advisor described the report as “robust and sound”. The camera technology will be rolled out on all boats from October 2018. The minister’s spokesperson said they could be used to spot some fishing offences, and would have a strong deterrent effect. click here to read the story 11:09
Russian trawler hulls protected with Cathelco systems
Chesterfield based business Cathelco are supplying hull corrosion protection systems for three trawlers which mark the first stage in modernising the Russian fishing fleet. The freezer trawlers are being built by the Vyborg Shipyard for the Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet JSC who will operate them in the North and Far East fishing basins. Each vessel will be equipped with the latest trawl equipment enabling the production of up to 160 tons of raw fish products per day. The first in the series of vessels, named The Barents Sea, is 86m in length and 17m in breadth will be rated to Ice3 class with hull strengthening to Arc4. The trawler will have an automated fish filleting and canning plant together with facilities for processing fish oil and meal. click here to read the story 13:45
Body found during search for missing Greymouth fishermen
A body has been recovered during the search for two missing fishermen on the West Coast. Police were yet to formally identify the body, found on Tuesday afternoon, but Bill Cairney confirmed it was his nephew, Jay Cairney. “Yes, they found Jay’s body – it’s very upsetting, very very hard,” he said. The Greymouth-based fishing boat Wendy J apparently lost power and sank in poor weather near Jackson Bay, South Westland on Thursday night. click here to read the story 22:37
UK fishermen see Brexit bonanza, but there’s a catch
Newlyn – For the fishermen of this small port on the toe of England, Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was an answer to their prayers. After 45 years chafing under what they saw as unfair quotas in one of the world’s richest fishing grounds, the UK government would finally, in the lexicon of Brexiteers, “take back control” of British waters. But what Brexit gives with one hand, it can also take away. European fishermen want Brussels to use its trump card – continued access to the essential EU market – in negotiations on how to divvy up the seas. click here to read the story 12:15
Fishing Vessel Wendy J sinking survivor reveals chaotic scenes and wait for rescue
The skipper of the doomed Greymouth fishing boat the Wendy J has reported chaotic scenes on deck as the boat foundered in heavy seas as he and his crewmen scrambled for lifejackets. Mark Thomas was swept into the sea at Smoothwater Bay on Thursday night and “somehow grabbed hold of a life ring in the water”, he recalled to Westfleet general manager John Brown, after Thomas was plucked to safety on Saturday. Dressed only in shorts and a T-shirt, Thomas took shelter in a flax bush and drank from a nearby creek while he awaited rescuers, who did not arrive until more than a day after the sinking. He was found near the mouth of Teer Creek, about 8km south of the bay, a narrow and rocky cove around the corner from Jackson Bay. His two crewmen are still missing. click here to read the story 09:06
Parasitic sea lice plagues global farmed salmon industry
A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world. The tiny lice attach themselves to salmon and feed on them, killing or rendering them unsuitable for dinner tables. The lice are actually tiny crustaceans that have infested salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile, major suppliers of the high-protein, heart-healthy fish. Scientists and fish farmers are working on new ways to control the pests, which Fish Farmer Magazine stated last year costs the global aquaculture industry about $1 billion annually. click here to read the story 20:26
Beached trawler remains stranded on Fraser Island
Maritime officers will attempt to refloat a beached trawler on Fraser Island on Tuesday night, following unsuccessful attempts over the weekend. Officers from the Department of Maritime Safety have made repeated attempts to remove the vessel from the sandbank after it became stuck about 6.30am Saturday. A further attempt to tow the vessel on Sunday night failed after the tow line broke. click here to read the story 11:13
‘Lazy’ NSW fishing reforms breach ‘hierarchy of wealth’ test, fishing consultant says
Daryl Sykes now manages the NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council, but has been involved with reforms in Queensland, Victoria and in Commonwealth waters as a member of the Australian Fish Management Authority. He said the reform model in NSW “didn’t look at the individual fishing businesses” and had ignored the “hierarchy of wealth” principles underpinning other reforms. He also said it was not based on science, was lazy in its approach, and had ignored widespread concern in the industry about the devastating impact it had on family fishing businesses. click here to read the story 19:03
UPDATED: One Fisherman Survives, Two missing – Greymouth boat Wendy J sank on southern West Coast
The commercial fishing boat which sank on the rugged coast of South Westland ran aground on the rocky shore after becoming entangled in a rope. Two men are missing from the Greymouth-based Wendy J after it got into trouble near Jackson Bay on Thursday night. The alarm was raised yesterday morning after a light aircraft spotted wreckage and a life raft on the shore. A survivor, Mark Thomas, was found yesterday near Teer Creek, about 10km southwest around the bouldery coast from Smoothwater Bay, the area where it is the boat sank. Smoothwater Bay is a small cove whose entrance is marked by rocky outcrops. click here to read the story 23:35
West Coast search resumes for two fishermen missing after Wendy J sank – “An improvement in weather conditions has allowed a helicopter to start an aerial search and ground search teams are carrying out a shoreline search,” police said this afternoon. click here to read the story 11:26
Sargon trawler came back from the dead in the days of no radio
In these days when ships are fitted with powerful radio apparatus with worldwide range, it is easy to forget the days when a ship was completely out of touch when she was out of sight of land. She could be lost for weeks on end. A classic example was the Sargon, missing from Grimsby for nearly a month and given up as lost with all hands. She was eventually picked up and returned to port in triumph. Sargon’s epic cruise started on January 5, 1923 when she sailed from Grimsby for the Murmansk coast. click here to read the story 17:51
Smuggled North Korea Clams Show China’s Struggle to Stop Kim
In the fishing grounds where the Yalu River opens up to the Yellow Sea, Chinese and North Korean trawlers intermingle as they search for crabs, conch and yellow clams. Drifting among them are Chinese boats called “mother ships” that act as floating middlemen, offering dollars, renminbi and even goods like cigarettes for the latest catch, according to traders who have been aboard the vessels. One of them, who called himself Mr. Du, said the seafood is then taken ashore to China and sold in wholesale markets, where it all gets mixed together. The practice is just one form of smuggling along China’s 1,350-kilometer (840-mile) border with North Korea, roughly the distance from Paris to Rome. Locals use boats, cars, trucks and several rail lines to carry everything from diesel fuel to silkworms to cell phones back and forth across the Yalu. click here to read the story 12:32
Small scale NZ commercial fishers worried new video surveillance will give away their best spots
New regulations to digitally monitor commercial fishing boats are worrying some small-scale operators, who suspect constant video surveillance may give away their best fishing locations. But the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) argues controls are necessary to guard against overfishing. Hayley and Carey are cod and tuna fishers, who feel MPI’s constant new electronic monitoring and reporting regulations are too intrusive and expensive. “The thought of that actually is abhorrent to me, we live on this vessel a lot while we are at sea,” Carey Nelson says. Video, click here to read the story 08:55
Dongwon chairman had direct control in price fixing say lawsuits
Dongwon Enterprise chairman Jae-chul Kim, a legend in the tuna sector, directly controlled US subsidiary and tuna brand Starkist Co during the years of the alleged price-fixing conspiracy, a new wave of class-action lawsuits against the big players in the sector claim. Two lawsuits filed on Aug. 29 by retailers Moran Foods and Dollar General Corporation and a third filed on August 30 from Krasdale Foods are the latest to make allegations that the involvement in a price fixing conspiracy went right to the top at the South Korean firm, which owns US-based Starkist via its Dongwon Industries operation. click here to read the story 18:00
Why did a trawler run aground on Lady Musgrave Island?
Marine authorities are investigating what caused a 50m fishing trawler to run aground on Lady Musgrave Island on Friday. Two men and a dog were forced to spend the night on board the stricken ship after an initial attempt to free themselves failed when their anchor line and boom broke. Mana is a Bundaberg-based fishing trawler. They were retrieved by crew from a passing boat on Saturday. The vessel remains grounded in the intertidal zone on the south side of the island, between the low and high water marks. click here to read the story 12:39
South Africa – Disgruntled small scale fishermen, ‘Suspend lobster fishing rights allocation process immediately’
Police were called to maintain order when a group of disgruntled fishers stormed the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries offices on the Foreshore yesterday. They were demanding the immediate suspension of the West Coast rock Llobster fishing rights allocation process. They want the West Coast rock lobster offshore allocations shifted from big companies to near shore and small scale fishers. click here to watch video, read the story 11:19
Clearwater Seafoods Sees ‘Long-Term Opportunity’ in China
Over the past 40-plus years, Clearwater Seafoods has established itself as North America’s largest vertically integrated harvester, processor and distributor of premium shellfish. The company now sells 80 million pounds annually to more than 40 countries. But something happened in 2015 that prompted a major shift in its selling strategy. Nova Scotia-based Clearwater, which brands its product as wild-caught, premium seafood that is managed from ocean to plate, launched the Belle Carnell, a new fishing vessel that almost doubled the intake of one of its top products, the Arctic surf clam. click here to read the story 13:32
New generation longliners
BP Shipping is unveiling designs for new longliners that are to be presented at IceFish, with plans for the new vessels already at an advanced stage. “This continues the very good co-operation we have had already with the Hvide Sande Shipyard in Denmark, which is currently building a 26 metre combination netter/flyshooter for owners in Iceland,” said BP Shipping’s Björgvin Ólafsson. “The new Hafborg will be delivered around New Year and will be ahead of schedule. click here to read the story 09:57
Black market lobsters cost man $94k
A WA man has been fined and banned from lobster fishing for two years after selling hundreds of rock lobsters on the black market. Graham Thomas Davies from Yanchep has been ordered to pay a fine and costs of $94,409.35 after pleading guilty to multiple charges following an investigation by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Fisheries. “This outcome highlights how serious the court considers these offences,“ compliance manager Todd A’Vard said on Wednesday. The department says Davies sold more than 300 rock lobsters he had caught recreationally between November 2015 and March 2016. click here to read the story 12:51
UPDATED: Afloat, and Away! Trawler ends up on the rocks on north Cornwall coast near Padstow
Dramatic pictures show a £1 million trawler left high and dry when it washed up on the Cornish coast today (September 5). The Cornish registered fishing Vessel, Le Men Du, was found this morning on the coast at Greenaway near Padstow. The fishing boat, which is 15 metres long and 6 metres wide, had been trawling in the Bristol Channel off the north Cornwall coast all day yesterday. Its current position at Greenaway was registered by Marine Traffic, a website showing live vessel positions, at about 6am. It is hoped that the boat will re-float on tonight’s rising tide. click here to read the story 12:28
£1m trawler beached at Greenaway near Padstow successfully refloated – click here for short video 9/6/17
UPDATED 23:00 – Hurricane Irma now a powerful and dangerous Category 5 storm
Hurricane Irma is now a very powerful and dangerous Category 5 storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma has winds of 175 mph and is expected to affect the northwestern Leeward Islands as an extremely dangerous hurricane accompanied by life-threatening wind, storm surge, and rainfall. The latest data shows the storm moving west but that would keep Jacksonville and the First Coast in the front right quadrant or the worst side of the storm. All of Florida is in the cone of concern. click here to read the story 09:06
UPDATED 23:00 National Hurricane Center – 1100 PM AST Tue Sep 05 2017 Hurricane Irma Public Advisory click here
Catch Shares – New Zealand’s fisheries quota management system: on an undeserved pedestal
In popular imagination, New Zealand’s fisheries management system is a globally recognised story of sustainability, reflecting a “clean and green” environmental ethos. Indeed, New Zealand’s fisheries have been ranked among the best managed in the world – an accolade based on the early and wholehearted adoption of a Quota Management System (QMS). This perception is echoed in a recently published article, but we take issue with the methodology and its conclusions. Claims that New Zealand’s QMS is an unmitigated success simply do not match the facts. click here to read the story 18:32
Scientists concerned over health of fish species as wastewater treatment plants fail to remove drugs
Human antidepressants are building up in the brains of bass, walleye and several other fish common to the Great Lakes region, scientists say. In a new study, researchers detected high concentrations of these drugs and their metabolized remnants in the brain tissue of 10 fish species found in the Niagara River. The discovery of antidepressants in aquatic life in the river raises serious environmental concerns, says lead scientist Diana Aga, PhD, the Henry M. Woodburn Professor of chemistry in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. “These active ingredients from antidepressants, which are coming out from wastewater treatment plants, are accumulating in fish brains,” Aga says. “It is a threat to biodiversity, and we should be very concerned. click here to read the story 16:57
Is There a Better Way to Farm Fish?
Aquaculture is a huge industry. In 2014, for the first time, more than half of all seafood consumed by humans came from fish farms, with salmon among the most farmed species. But aquaculture is also contentious — in large part because of the problems with existing open-net pens. Yet Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, says the industry is already starting to move away from open-net pens. While Dunn says 90 per cent of new investment globally is in variations on the technology, leading salmon-farming countries such as Norway are investing in hitherto unfeasible technologies, such as land-based tanks and recirculating aquaculture systems. click here to read the story 10:54
Study links fish farms to spread of antibiotic resistance
New research that finds a possible link between fish farms and the spread of antibiotic resistance doesn’t surprise marine biologist Inka Milewski. “Anytime you have animals grown in very concentrated conditions in these intensive livestock operations, whether it’s pigs or chickens, or in this case, fish, you’re going to have the potential for disease problems,” Milewski said in an interview Sunday from her home in the Miramichi in New Brunswick. “The solution to a lot of these problems is to put antibiotics into the feed. And so it should come as no surprise to anyone that they have found antibiotic resistance associated with fish farms.” The study released last week by Jing Wang of Dalian University of Technology in China concluded that genes for antibiotic resistance are getting into ocean sediments through fish food. click here to read the story 09:49
Crab fishermen off Orkney taken to safety in Scrabster
Eight crab fishermen have been escorted to safety by lifeboats after their boat rapidly started filling with water. Coastguard and lifeboat personnel responded to the incident involving the vessel Kingfisher north-west of Orkney. Its problems started at about 17:30 on Sunday when water started leaking from a burst pipe. They were accompanied to Scrabster on the Scottish mainland by RNLI lifeboats from Stromness and Thurso. link 09:12
Countries Pledge To Recover Dwindling Pacific Bluefin Tuna Population
In a joint meeting Friday in Busan, South Korea, the two groups that manage Pacific bluefin tuna reached a historic long-term agreement that would put the species on the path to recovery. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission agreed to take steps to rebuild the population to 20 percent of historic levels by 2034 — a sevenfold increase from current levels. Stocks of Pacific bluefin have fallen to 2.6 percent of their historic size, with countries like Mexico, Japan, Korea and the U.S. exceeding fishing quotas within the last two years. click here to read the story 17:02
Case Study: Fishing Vessel Corrosion Protection
Oxifree TM198 is 100 percent environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor supplied by Corrosion Solutions Norway AS. After a simple pretreatment, TM198 can be applied on structures using an applicator gun. The application is fast and efficient and can even be applied to live equipment eliminating the need for a shutdown. M/S Endre Dyrøy is the first vessel in Norway to have been applied with this unique corrosion inhibitor at 30 different objects/points. Most of the treated points had clear signs of corrosion, whereas some points were treated before they were corroded. Despite the fact that the vessel is well taken care of, part corrosion is a general problem that occurs on this type of vessel as these often operate in tough environments characterized by high humidity and salt. click here to read the story, see more photo’s 14:00
Chinese fishermen jailed for massive illegal fish and shark haul in the Galapagos Islands
A group of Chinese fishermen have been jailed and fined a whopping $7.5 million just weeks after shocking photos emerged of their ship’s hull filled with endangered sharks. Twenty Chinese fisherman were sentenced to between three and four years jail time in Ecuador after authorities found 272 tonnes of frozen marine animals apparently from the Galapagos Marine Reserve, including protected sharks.,, “There were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of sharks,” Mr Salinas recalled. “This is going to be historic. The biggest seizure of sharks in the history of the Galapagos, for sure.” Photos, click here to read the story 19:22
Accused drug smuggling kingpin flown to US after living in Queensland
Alleged US marijuana smuggling kingpin Peyton Eidson is locked up in a California jail cell after 30 years on the run as a fugitive in Australia. Eidson’s American lawyer, Erick Guzman, hopes the 72-year-old is offered leniency by US prosecutors.,, US authorities have described Eidson as “the leader” of a sophisticated operation using fleets of vessels to secretly ship large quantities of high-grade marijuana from south-east Asia to northern California.,, Two co-accused, Mark Gayer and Mark Wolosky, attempted an elaborate scheme in 1989 to fake their deaths by sinking a fishing boat off California, but the duo was captured (read about it) in California in 2000 and sentenced to 11 years’ jail. click here to read the story 15:58
