Category Archives: International News
New analysis shows seismic risks related to Pebble Mine
New analysis commissioned by Bristol Bay fishermen contends that plans for the Pebble mine project and environmental review do not adequately account for seismic risks on the proposed mine site, putting the fishery and regional communities and cultures as risk for devastation. With the U.S Army Corps of Engineers expected to release its record of decision on a critical permit application for the mine in mid-July, concerns remain with fishermen and others opposed to the mine abutting the Bristol Bay watershed over seismic and other risks outlined in the report produced by Lynker Technologies, in Boulder, Colo. >click to read< 18:06
Michael Shellenberger: Sorry, But I Cried Wolf on Climate Change – A Mea Culpa
If climate change is a problem, then wind turbines and solar panels aren’t a solution: heavily subsidised and unreliable wind and solar are an economic and environmental disaster. When climate alarmists managed to hijack energy (and with it economic) policy it was a case of lunatics (Offshore Wind 
Farmers, politicians)taking over the asylum. Last week, Michael Shellenberger hit the headlines with a heart-felt mea culpa, the foundation for which is laid out in his latest work, ‘Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All’. At 459 pages it’s a thoroughly researched piece of academic work that can’t be easily dismissed or ignored; as a grand and exhaustive effort to expose the fanciful and far-fetched claims being made about a planet on the brink it’s had a perfectly predictable result. >click to read< 16:38
Five rescued after fishing vessel Exploits Navigator sinks – Canadian Coast Guard credits EPIRB
Early Thursday morning the Canadian Coast Guard Marine Communications and Traffic Services station in Port aux Basques received a distress call that the 40-foot fishing vessel Exploits Navigator had run aground in Trinity Bay. Five people were onboard. They abandoned the vessel and took to a life raft. They were rescued by the Coast Guard vessel Sacred Bay and taken to Hickman’s Harbour in good health. The Canadian Coast Guard credits an Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon (EPIRB) with helping them locate the life raft. >click to read< 11:44
Trump Memo On Lobster Aid Leaves Industry Wondering What’s Next. How about a U.S.Fish Bill?!!
In a memo, the president urged Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to consider taking appropriate action “to provide assistance to fisherman and producers in the U.S. lobster industry that continue to be harmed by China’s retaliatory tariffs.” He also asked the secretary to consider including lobster and other segments of the seafood industry in future assistance to mitigate the effects of the tariffs. But none have heard details on what Perdue might do to offset the impact on the industry of Trump’s trade war with China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also mostly quiet. >click to read< 10:01 – A reminder from Sam Parisi to those interested in creating and implementing a U.S. Fish Bill – Greetings to all commercial fishermen, fish processors, equipment suppliers, politicians, and citizens, that are interested and supportive of creation of the U.S. Fish Bill. >click to read< 10:06
Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 4, 2020
A big bump of fish hit the Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik yesterday — those fleets caught most of the bay’s daily harvest of nearly 1.2 million. Total harvest around the bay is now approaching 5 million. Escapement yesterday was 140,000, and 1.8 million fish have escaped around the bay this season. The total run is at around 6.8 million. The Nushagak district’s daily harvest was 60,000 yesterday, bringing the season’s harvest to,,, Breaking that down by river system, audio report, >click to read< 07:25
Scotland: North-east fishermen start selling direct to find new markets in lockdown
Fishermen across the north-east have resorted to selling catches directly off the boat instead of markets to try to make ends meet during the coronavirus lockdown. Orders from restaurants and hotels have plummeted,,,Instead, crews have turned to advertising catches on social media to drum up trade online among local residents to fill up the order book. Macduff-based Salt Water Seafood has been coordinating landings in the town’s harbour as well as from five vessels operating out of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. >click to read< 12:35
Shrimper Steve, the Spot Prawn King
Before the mid-2000s, when the first Spot Prawn Festival took place in Vancouver and The 100-Mile Diet was published, nearly all of B.C.’s spot prawns were sent overseas. The shellfish were brand new to most consumers, explains Steve Johansen, a fisherman with Organic Ocean who sold 100-Mile-Diet author J.B. MacKinnon his first spot prawns and launched the festival with Vancouver chef Rob Clark in 2007. “Even people who lived in B.C. all their lives didn’t know what a spot prawn was, and the other half of those people thought tiger prawns were from B.C., whereas they’re all raised in Southeast Asia.” Spot prawns are the largest of seven commercially harvested shrimp species in British Columbia. >click to read< 09:32
Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 2, 2020
Fish are picking up around the bay. The run leapt past the 4 million fish mark and is approaching 5 million, and the runs in the Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik both passed 1 million yesterday. Egegik had the largest daily harvest. In the Nushagak, the total run passed 2 million. Coronavirus update (Covid-19), U.S. House and Senate extend application deadline for PPP,Audio report, >click to read< 14:02
N.S. Premier Stephen McNeil: China not ‘reasonable’ requiring lobster shippers to assume Coronavirus liability
“I don’t believe that the requirement to accept liability on live seafood going into that marketplace is a reasonable one,” McNeil told reporters in Halifax Thursday. China is the second largest market for Canadian lobster, with exports of live lobster alone in 2019 valued at $457 million, most of it supplied by inshore fishermen from Nova Scotia. That demand has upended traditional economics in the fishery. Even as landings soared in recent years, the increased demand from China helped keep prices up. Earlier this year, it came crashing down when China shut down because of the Coronavirus pandemic. >click to read< 09:50
Fishing community plans tribute to “Uncle” Andy Gove
Andrew Gove began lobstering in the waters around Deer Isle as a boy of 7, fishing with his grandfather off Eagle Island in Penobscot Bay. Last year, at the age of 89, the lobsterman universally known as “Uncle” hauled his gear for the last time and retired to his home on Stonington Harbor with his wife of 73 years, Rose. Gove died late last month and now the lobster fishing community is planning a tribute to the man who was a respected patriarch of the lobster fishing industry. Plans call for a fleet of boats to gather off Greenhead at the western end of the Deer Island Thorofare at noon on Sunday, July 12,,, >click to read< 18:15
Southeast Alaska Dungeness crab catch starts strong again, price drops
It’s not as large as last year’s haul. But the catch from the first week of the fishery has topped 960,000 pounds and is expected to increase with additional landings from that first week still to be tallied. Effort is down substantially. Only 119 permit holders landed crab in that first week, compared to 170 in that first week last year. The recent average is 147 permit holders landing crab. The average price has also dropped from last year. It’s around $1.72 a pound compared to $2.97 a pound in 2019. >click to read< 13:17
In Lobster Town U.S.A., When the industry suffers, the pain ripples.
Blaine Olsen, a lifelong lobsterman, was navigating his 30-foot boat off the coast of Stonington, Maine, when his sternman, who’s also his wife, yelled above the diesel engine’s din about the pittance the local cooperative was paying harvesters. He shot Ginny a doleful stare for a good five seconds. “Holy sh-t, man,” he said. “It costs us $600 a day to go out.” The dock price, $2.25 a pound for soft-shell lobsters, was half what it was a year ago, making it virtually impossible to earn a profit. The novel coronavirus has barely touched the public health of this corner of rural down east Maine, with Hancock County reporting just 16 cases and one death as of June 30. Its economic health is another matter,,, >click to read< 10:50
Fishing brothers hook a whopper
Operating as the Medea Fishing Company Ltd, brothers Adam and Nat Davey have been working in the Northland fishing industry since they left school. From the outset they had expansion plans, and purchased an 8-metre boat, ‘Messina,’ and a commercial quota. In 1998 they upgraded to a 10-metre boat, ‘Moana,’ which enabled them to fish further afield and could hold a 3-tonne catch.,, The brothers considered fishing outside the 200-mile zone, but soon realised their commitment was to the Far North and creating opportunities locally. A new and bigger boat was needed, however, and with an increased fish quota, and fish receiver’s licence, they could expand their operation and sell locally, with future generations of Northlanders in mind. >click to read< 08:38
Bureau of Prisons: ‘Codfather’ Carlos Rafael transferred from prison to ‘community confinement’
Community confinement indicates Rafael, 68, is either in home confinement or a Residential Reentry Center (RRC, or halfway house), according to Taylor, which is overseen by the BOP’s Philadelphia Residential Reentry Management Office. According to the BOP’s inmate database, the projected date of his release from custody is March 4, 2021. Rafael was sentenced to 46 months in prison in September 2017 after pleading guilty to 28 offenses, including conspiracy, false labeling of fish, bulk cash smuggling, tax evasion and falsifying federal records. At the time his attorney William Keating requested he serve his sentence at FMC Devens, which is a federal prison for male inmates that need specialized or long-term medical or mental health care. >click to read< 15:30
Fishermen’s News ceases publication after 75 years
The commercial fishing industry has seen dramatic events in the last 75 years, and during that time, Fishermen’s News has been around to document and report those changes. One of the most important changes, at least in the life of this editor, was the acquisition of Fishermen’s News by me and my brother, Peter, in 2000. Former publisher and editor Walt Kisner was ready to retire, and he didn’t want to sell his paper to “the man,” so he reached out to the sons of his former partner, Dick Philips. >click to read< 12:54
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 49’11″x 20′ Lobster, Longliner, 335HP Volvo
To review specifications, information and 35 photos, >click here< Vessel is in good condition. To see all the boats in this series, >click here<11:09
Kiwi longliners meet at Falklands; San Aotea on Thursday leaves for New Zealand
A 25-day slog across the frigid Southern Ocean is finally over for a New Zealand Sanford fishing vessel on a mercy mission to help the crew of a fellow fishing boat who spent months at sea in rough waters near Cape Horn due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The San Aotea arrived in the Falkland Islands on Monday and teamed up with the crew of the San Aspiring, and the two ships are now are berthed together at Port Stanley. The crew on the San Aspiring had been fishing for toothfish and doing scientific research off South Georgia since February. They carried on fishing throughout the lockdown. >click to read< 08:31
So long and thanks for all the fish: Irish fishermen say UK Brexit position could spell ‘unmitigated disaster’
Although a debate between the UK and EU around immigration has garnered more headlines in recent years, fishing rights are perhaps the most tangible example of why the UK wanted to leave in the first place. Over two-thirds of the EU’s fishing waters, and two-thirds of the EU’s fishing catch, belong to Ireland and the UK. Around half of Ireland’s fishing catch take place in UK waters. Now that the UK is leaving (and, theoretically, taking its waters with it) Ireland’s fishermen and fishing industry are under threat of being locked out of waters that had been frequented by Irish trawlers long before either country joined the EU. >click to read< 23:11
Seafreeze Limited and Sea Fresh USA Certified as Sustainable
Longfin squid (Doryteuthis (Amerigo) pealeii), also known as loligo, and Northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus) caught by Seafreeze Limited and Sea Fresh USA off the U.S. East Coast achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification today. The accomplishment firmly places the USA as a 
global leader in the production of certified squid, as the only two MSC-certified sustainably managed fisheries occur in US Atlantic waters. Certification was granted by independent certifier SCS Global Services based on the MSC sustainable fisheries standard following a 10 month assessment, and will remain certified through 2025. The fishery will undergo annual audits during that timeframe to ensure the MSC standard continues to be met. >click to read< 15:30
Transportation Safety Board says ‘countless’ reports show fishermen need to wear PFDs, use EPIRB emergency beacons
Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigator Chris Morrow said it has concluded many times that fishermen need to wear personal flotation devices (PFDs) and they have to have emergency beacons on board. He said the investigation into the capsizing of the Ocean Star II lobster 
boat found those to be consistent issues. An emergency beacon, known as an electronic position indicating radio beacon or EPIRB, might not have helped the crew aboard the Ocean Star II, but Morrow said they were in the water a long time without PFDs.,, On May 5, 2018, > Richard Moreau and Liz O’Connell <drowned after their small crabbing boat capsized near Port Medway, N.S. >click to read< 14:40
Dominion debuts first offshore wind farm in U.S. federal waters
Gov. Ralph Northam joined state and local officials, industry representatives and stakeholders Monday for a boat excursion 27 miles off the coast to take an up-close look at the massive turbines. Before embarking on the tour, Northam signed landmark offshore wind legislation during a ceremony in front of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach. He said the legislation will continue to position Virginia as a national leader in offshore wind development as the state builds a new industry with thousands of clean energy jobs. >click to read< 12:09
California plans to protect whales from crab traps rankle all sides – one thing was clear, no one’s happy.
Stakeholders on both sides of the aisle had complaints — environmentalists don’t think the protections go far enough, while industry groups say the regulations threaten the economic viability of the crab fishing industry. Set to take effect Nov. 1, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) will serve as the primary mechanism for mitigating entanglement risk to humpback and blue whales and leatherback sea turtles whose populations are endangered and could suffer additional casualties due to getting caught in Dungeness crab fishing gear. The regulation would replace the interim authority given to the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife,, >click to read< 09:13
#FishermensLivesMatter: Until this pandemic is over, say no to fishery observers being placed on fishing vessels
On July 1st the Trump Administration’s agency, NOAA will require that fishing vessels resume taking fishery observers on their fishing trips. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic these activities have been suspended for almost three months due to the danger of spreading the deadly disease among the
fishing industry and their families. Fishery observers are required by National Marine Fishery Service regulations to observe commercial fishing operations in almost all of our countries fisheries based on various criteria that include likelihood of interaction with marine mammals or other protected species, amount of bycatch in each fishery, adherence to regulations, and anything else they can justify to support this huge taxpayer money gobbling con game they have created. >click to read< by Jim Lovgren #FishermensLivesMatter 22:27
Always Top Quality! Your Seafreeze Ltd. Price Sheet for July 2020 Has Arrived!
Contact our sales team today! To review the complete price list from Seafreeze Ltd., >Click here< – “The only thing we treat our fish with, is respect” Seafreeze Ltd! >Click here< to visit our website! 10:43
The Things That Didn’t Make It To The Screen On Deadliest Catch – Other Fishermen Have Suffered As A Result Of The Show’s Success
Much of what fans see on screen is true to life, with a bit of Hollywood’s embellishment for dramatic effect, of course. But while fans witness everything the crew does, much of what’s captured on camera, hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage, doesn’t even make it past the cutting room floor. Furthermore, while fans see how the fishing season affects the crew, they don’t see how it affects the town or other local fishermen. While Discovery has been praised for the award-winning show, there’s plenty that goes on behind the scenes that have never made it to the screen. Deadliest Catch speaks to the lives and risks the Bering Sea crews take every year, and while truly crazy things are captured on camera, not everything is revealed to the world. >click to read< 09:15
Sakonnet Lobster found a way to deal with Coronavirus. Door-to-door delivery
Doug Mataronas saw what restaurants were doing during the initial weeks of the governor’s orders to stay at home, so he figured he’d give it a try. He started delivering fresh lobsters to the doors of customers in Little Compton and Tiverton, and then went as far as Boyd’s Lane in Portsmouth — all the way over the Sakonnet River Bridge — where customers who placed orders online or by phone would meet him at the Park and Ride. Mataronas thought the deliveries would only last for a short time while restaurants were closed, but he continues to get orders from people for his Saturday deliveries, though the retail delivery orders have slowed a bit since restaurants have started to open up to outdoor dining. >click to read< 08:07
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
Coronavirus results in falling New England lobster prices
The American lobster fishing industry, based mostly in Maine, has had to cope with a supply chain that has been disrupted by the pandemic. Wholesale prices were lower than previous years this spring, and consumers started to see lower prices at markets earlier in June. Members of the industry said prices could likely fall more in July. America’s lobster catch typically picks up in the summer, when lobsters shed their shells and reach legal trapping size. This year, fishers will likely bring lobsters to the docks in a time when restaurants are slowed or shuttered and seafood processors aren’t taking nearly as many of the crustaceans, industry members said. >click to read< 08:25
