Category Archives: International
Pushing Technology Boundaries
Fishing vessel Aksel Johan has it all – battery hybrid propulsion, heat recovery, peak shaving, and load balancing on the engine, hull and propeller, along with exhaust gas cleaning – plus it’s the first fishing vessel to use a thermoelectric system to harness heat from the exhaust in a world first. Built for Senjahopen company Berg Fisk AS, Aksel Johan is some months behind schedule and should have been delivered in October last year – but delays at the Baltic yard where the hull was fabricated, due to the war in Ukraine resulting in a shortage of manpower, meant that the construction has been challenging. But according to Berg Fisk’s managing director Johan-Arild Hansen, the new vessel has performed perfectly on the delivery trip from the yard in Denmark. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:56
The anti-windfarm ‘odd couple’ joining forces to fight the renewable energy projects Australia’s already failing to build
Deep in coal country, a lifelong environmentalist and one-time Greens candidate is feeling the applause. It’s Thursday night at a Gladstone pub and Steven Nowakowski has won over sceptical locals. His message is a simple one; he believes a wave of new windfarm developments threatens to smash hilltops and turn koala habitat into “industrial zones”. The green movement, he says, are in “la-la land” over windfarms, a comment that draws nods and knowing smiles from the audience. But its only when one local suggests building a new coal-fired power station does the crowd erupt in spontaneous applause. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:59
Irish Fishing Family to Welcome New Trawler
Irish fisherman Eric Murphy and his family will soon welcome a new trawler into their fleet. Built locally by Mooney Boats to a design by Vestværftet of Denmark, Eilean Croineis a sister vessel of Sparkling Star, which was completed and delivered to another owner in 2023. Both vessels will be operated out of Castletownbere in County Cork, mainly performing pelagic trawling, though they may also be configured for demersal trawling for whitefish. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:24
‘Deadliest Catch’: Wild Bill Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis
Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski of ‘Deadliest Catch’ refused to ‘crawl into a shell’ when he learned he had prostate cancer. Deadliest Catch star Wild Bill Wichrowski is opening up about his experience with prostate cancer, in the hopes that sharing his journey will help others in a similar situation. “The fact that I allowed the news to be broadcast, I heard from a million people, ‘Oh, I hope you’re all right,’ he says. “I was hoping that the fact that I kept going, it would show people that if you have this, you can keep working. You can keep your life moving. I wasn’t going to stop unless I had to.” Fortunately for Wichrowski, his treatment seems to be going well. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 17:01
Newly released data reveals record number of cetacean deaths in UK waters
Tragically, more than 1000 whales, dolphins and porpoises were stranded around the UK in 2018 – and it was a similar number the following year with 980 cetaceans reported to the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) in 2019. What is causing the huge upturn in cetacean deaths around the UK? There could be a number of factors of course, there are many theories out there, but at least in the case of the Sperm whales in Yorkshire, we can largely rule out ship strike and entanglement, often casually blamed for the deaths of marine mammals. Whatever your hypothesis, whether you choose to blame climate change, naval sonar, fishing, pollution or plastics, don’t ignore the elephant in the room – industrial offshore wind farms. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:37
The 10 Best Deadliest Catch Boats Ranked
Deadliest Catch showcases real, massive crab fishing vessels battling the freezing Bering Sea, adding nostalgia and drama to the series. Fishing vessels like F/V Southern Wind, F/V Aleutian Lady, and F/V Seabrooke bring unique stories and personalities to the show’s lineup. Captained by industry veterans like Sig Hansen and Keith Colburn, boats like Northwestern and Wizard are iconic symbols of the series. My favorite is #10 on the list, while F/V Northwestern is the quintessential Deadliest Catch fishing boat. It’s appeared in every season of the show and its captain, Sig Hansen, is the unofficial main character of the series. Lots of Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:11
SC shrimp season fully opened but fewer local shrimpers are on the waters.
Two words and one action can help South Carolina’s storied and struggling shrimping industry: Eat local. For some, it’s a culinary click-phrase that goes unpracticed. For others, it’s a habitual routine at farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants. But for Cameron Reaves, who captains a shrimp boat with Beaufort-based Sea Eagle Market, his family’s livelihood depends on people eating locally. “The shrimp market is kind of a mess right now,” Reaves said. “It’s hard for a lot of shrimpers to make it.” Fuel prices – at over $3 dollars a gallon – are slightly lower than last year, but they are still high for what the boats burn through in a day. Reaves’ 70-foot boat that can hold up to 30,000 pounds of shrimp averages 200 gallons daily. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:12
Sunrise Wind on the Horizon
At a May 29 open house addressing the new Sunrise Wind project, consisting of up to 84 turbines to be built 26.5 miles off the coast of Montauk, its corporate parents, Orsted and Eversource, projected the new wind farm will yield 924 megawatts of energy. enough potentially to power hundreds of thousands of houses. The company’s officials said they expect their construction and operations plan to be approved by the federal Department of the Interior by the end of the summer. The proposal is to connect the turbines to the mainland through Smith Point County Park, at the eastern end of Fire Island. From there the cable would run under the Great South Bay and up to the Long Island Power Authority station in Holbrook. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:49
OPINION: The desk-bound green groups that dictate fishing policy
Shetland skippers have worked in harmony with the sea for thousands of years; the maritime world in general and fishing in particular are vital to the very existence of our community and way of life. In contrast, the corporately funded, desk-bound staff of environmental campaign groups operate in a fluorescently lit, urban world of computer screens and utterly misplaced conceptions about our industry. Yet so warped has our political system become that, despite their having no stake whatsoever in our future, they are the ones being allowed to dictate fisheries policy and regulations. It would be ridiculous if it wasn’t so dangerous. It jeopardises the jobs of hundreds of people and poses a genuine threat to our community. Why? more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:46
Falklands Trawler Launched In Marín
The Nodosa Shipyard at Marín in the Galician region of Spain has floated off one of the three large factory vessels it has under construction. The 85-metre F/V Argos Berbés is being built for the Orion Fishing Company, a joint venture between Vigo-based Armadora Pereira and the Argos Group in the Falklands. Outfitting will now continue at the yard’s quayside and Argos Berbés is scheduled for completion at the end of this year, ready for the early fishing season around the Falklands in 2025. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:50
Letter: No. 1 Concern Is Offshore Wind Impact on Ocean
I am the fourth generation of residents, homeowners, business owners and taxpayers on Long Beach Island, as well as the granddaughter of a commercial fisherman and scalloper out of Barnegat Light. I take offense when someone says I have a case of the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard). This is the country’s entire coastal backyard. I am not opposed to “green” energy or for fossil fuels. I am against the destruction of our ocean. Period. The amount of resources the world receives from the ocean is immeasurable. I am not concerned with the view or real estate, tourism and the rest. Of course, all of that will be colossally impacted. My main concern is with the destruction of one of the world’s most precious resources, our ocean. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:43
06:32GCIFA calls for seal population controls
The head of the Guysborough County Inshore Fisherman’s Association (GCIFA) is calling on the federal government to bring in aggressive, new “controls” on millions of hungry grey and harp seals whose sheer numbers, she says, are weakening the east coast fishery. GCIFA Executive Director Ginny Boudreau made the comment to The Journal in an interview after the release last week of the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ report, Sealing the Future, which criticized federal authorities for mismanaging the rising numbers of the animals over the years and called for an increase in their annual harvest. “It’s huge that scientists are now considering the impact of [the more than] seven million seals in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the [nearly] 500,000 here in the Scotia-Fundy region,” Boudreau said. “It’s only ever been about the impact of the harvesters. As more accurate data comes in, I think we’re going to see the seals as the main predator.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:42
Retired truck driver’s life savings sunk with fishing boat after grounding on Farewell Spit
Eddie Lockington is now bankrupt at age 74, with only a car to his name – and he had to refinance that – after his boat, the Scorpio, was left in pieces from the events of two years ago and the insurance company refused to pay out. The boat was eventually cut up by the local council, which salvaged it, and skipper Simon Dunjey has now been sentenced to community work for operating a ship in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk and operating a ship without the right number of crew. Lockington sold his house in Greymouth to buy the $35,000 boat in 2019 and had planned to go fishing after retiring from a life on the road, but then got cancer so decided to hire a crew to run the boat. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:41
AMSA Publishes Safety Lessons Learned from Battery Fire Incident on Domestic Vessel
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has published an outline of safety lessons learned from an incident wherein a domestic commercial vessel suffered an onboard fire caused by a thermal runaway event involving a lithium-ion battery system. An explosion occurred on a charter fishing vessel whilst berthed. The investigation identified that the ignition source was a lithium-ion battery that was not holding charge connected to a battery charger in a way that bypassed the battery management safety system. The vessel was beyond repair following the explosion. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:29
Vard to Build New Stern Trawler for Havbryn
Norwegian shipbuilder Vard has secured a new contract for the design and construction of a stern trawler for Havbryn, part of fishing boat company Strand Rederiet. The vessel will be of Vard 8 02 trawler design, outfitted for semi-pelagic and bottom-trawling operations with gentle handling to meet the latest demands for fish health management, efficiency, and environmentally friendly operations. The new vessel will have a length of 80,4 meters and a beam of 16,7 meters. The hull is ice strengthened according to Ice-1A. The vessel with its propulsion system is compliant with the stringent DNV Silent F notation more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:04
End of Plymouth Fish Market ‘disastrous for Looe’
Mike “Moogie” Pengelly has been fishing off Looe after leaving school in 1967 and owns the small stern trawler the Ganesha with his two sons. He said things could be “disastrous” after the closure of the Plymouth market “put us in a bit of a pickle”. He said: “We’re relying on Brixham now. That’s it. “We used to land on Looe Market, but that collapsed and we went to Plymouth, which was successful. “Now that’s wrapped up and we’re in a bit of a mess at the moment.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:40
Fishy Business: How Brexit Failed To Help a Dying Industry
Brexit promised fishermen to take back control of the waters and get rid of foreign boats in British waters. But since the UK broke up with the European Union, little has changed. British fishing communities continue to struggle, as big companies, many of them international conglomerates, have bought quotas for the country’s most valuable species, controlling the price of the fish from sea to plate. Fishermen believed that the promised reforms, made possible by leaving what they saw as a restrictive European Union, would revive the national fishing industry, and with it bring back — at least to some extent — the prosperity of the past. They turned out to be empty promises. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:12
Rock star fishery booming in Western Australia, as octopus catch quadruples
In a world hungry for healthy sustainable protein, WA’s western rock octopus is a rising star. It’s wild caught, all natural and has no adverse impact on the environment, according to the Fremantle Octopus company’s general manager Emma Davison. “Octopus has more iron and more protein than red meat,” Ms. Davison said. The Fremantle company dominates the relatively new octopus fishery. About 70 per cent of its current market is for raw tentacles favoured by high-end restaurants. The in-demand mollusc is the rock star of Australia’s commercial fishing industry. Since it was established as a managed fishery in 2015 the annual catch has increased by 400 per cent. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 20:31
Seafood restaurants, fishermen say Mary Mahoney’s guilty plea is sign of industry trouble
For years, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House Restaurant, a Biloxi institution known nationwide, bought foreign, frozen seafood from a local supplier and sold it to unsuspecting customers as fresh Gulf seafood, federal prosecutors allege, and the restaurant now has admitted. Between 2013 and November 2019, when the restaurant was raided for unknown reasons, Mahoney’s bought from an unnamed Biloxi supplier and co-conspirator more than 29 tons of lake perch, tripletail, triggerfish and unicorn filefish from Africa or South America and passed it off as premium Gulf red snapper, snapper and redfish, the government’s charging documents say. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:08
The seafood industry is in trouble. Processors and policy makers blame Russia.
Alaska waters produce the most seafood in the country, and many of the state’s coastal communities depend on commercial fisheries to sustain their economy. But Alaska’s fisheries are facing a massive economic slump right now and policymakers are increasingly blaming flooded global markets. The private sector and federal policymakers are teaming up to try to stop the bleeding. Last year was brutal on the seafood industry. Processing companies and fishermen alike suffered amid cratering prices, and they blamed Russia for flooding markets. Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, from Alaska, pointed his finger at the country at a news conference on May 23. “Russians have essentially admitted they’re not just at war in Ukraine, they’re at war with the American fishing industry,” he said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:03
Fleetwood Lifeboat Station are welcoming former Coxswain Tony Cowell as the new Lifeboat Operations Manager
The station’s previous Lifeboat Operations Manager (LOM), Captain David Eccles, served as a lifeboat crew member for Fleetwood RNLI from 1989 to 2009. After retiring from crew David became LOM and then moved on the become Chairman of the Lifeboat Management Group (LMG), before returning as LOM in 2023. With the new LOM Tony Cowell now in post at Fleetwood RNLI, David he has resumed his position as Chairman of the LMG full time. Tony has had an experienced and extensive past involved in both fishing and saving lives at sea. As an ex trawlerman, he started fishing at the age of 15, with his first trip being to Iceland in 1972. In 1975, he joined the family fishing firm, Northfleet Fishing Co, and became skipper of the trawler Constant Hope. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:00Catches up as LFA 33/34 season ends
Catches are up as lobster season comes to a close. Fishers will haul up their traps Friday for the last time until late November. Dan Fleck is the executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association. He says prices have fallen to over eight dollars a pound. “The past several weeks, catch rates have increased. It’s believed this is due to the water warming up. We believe the lobsters were there in the fall, but they weren’t crawling because the water was so cold,” said Fleck. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:01
Storm Brewing over French Halibut Fishery in Atlantic Canada
The Canadian halibut industry is accusing France of seeking an exorbitant share of the fishery in negotiations with Canada on quotas for the valuable groundfish that migrate across the jurisdictions of both countries. Canadian fishermen from Nova Scotia to Nunavut would be the losers if France prevails, said Bruce Chapman, executive director of the Atlantic Halibut Council, representing both inshore and offshore Canadian harvesters. French territorial waters extend into the Atlantic from the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, 25 kilometres from the southern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:41
Positive signals for Stornoway fishing fleet
With the Stornoway fleet expanding and good earnings available, the industry is again seen as an attractive option while vessel owners need to recruit locally as the supply of migrant labour dries up. The three-week courses will offer a grounding in the industry leading to potential careers. The training includes four mandatory one-day courses which are legally required to enable working on a fishing vessel. These are about sea survival, health and safety, first aid and firefighting. “There are now 12 trawlers working out of Stornoway and landing to Goat Island. That includes four which are completely new to the fleet within the past couple of years”. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:11
Crisis in Irish Inshore Fishing Sector Calls for Urgent State Support
Fishermen have been denied the ability to fish for pollack, and the prices of crab, lobster, and other shellfish have either halved or collapsed entirely since the start of 2024. The ongoing crisis with shrimp prices since last year exacerbates the situation, leaving the sector in urgent need of support from the State. Despite multiple meetings with Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, the sector has not received the necessary support. “What is happening around the coast is quite heartbreaking,” Mac Lochlainn stated, highlighting the plight of coastal and island communities with generations of fishing experience now struggling to survive. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:47
Would offshore wind turbines save or ruin the Jersey Shore? Debaters rumble in Berkeley
Police officers filled Central Regional High School on Tuesday night, where tensions ran high as critics and proponents of electricity generated by offshore wind faced off with impassioned speeches during a hearing held by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Capt. Ed Baxter, a scalloper who docks at Point Pleasant Beach, said dredging to bury the power cables outside of important fishing areas, such as the Manasquan Inlet and Shark River, would have serious impacts on commercial fishermen. Rose Willis, a member of the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative of Point Pleasant Beach, said that not only would local commercial fishing companies be affected by the offshore wind project, but also many small businesses that service or buy from their industry. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:14
ICCAT North Atlantic Swordfish Stakeholder Engagement Session
The Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to ICCAT is holding a public meeting via webinar session to receive an update and provide input on the development of a management strategy evaluation (MSE) for North Atlantic swordfish. The meeting is open to all interested stakeholders. The virtual meeting will be held by webinar session on June 13, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT. Please register to attend, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:51
A Very Dire Situation: Downward spiral for Atlantic cod continues in Gulf of St. Lawrence
The latest assessment of Atlantic cod fish stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence continues to paint a bleak picture for the future of the species. Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a warning five years ago saying extinction of the species in the gulf was not just possible, but probable. The first assessment since then has been released. “We are not seeing any recovery of the spawning stock biomass of that stock. It is still experiencing really high levels of natural mortality, especially at the adult stage of life,” said federal Fisheries and Oceans biologist Daniel Ricard. Between 60 and 70 per cent of cod in the southern gulf do not survive beyond age five and are likely being eaten by the huge herds of grey seals in the region, Ricard said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:17
United States Navy testing wind-turbine powered aircraft carriers
The United States Navy is currently testing aircraft carriers powered solely by wind turbines announced Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during a recent appearance at the US Naval Academy. The Secretary proudly spoke to the Midshipmen about the historic change. “We are embarking in a bold green direction, transitioning from the aging nuclear reactors of yesterday to the efficient use of sustainable wind energy, something we’ve never done before!” “The USS Al Gore will be complete with testing in late 2024. Initial testing has revealed a substantial decrease in speed which has only made the already dangerous take-off and landing exponentially more so. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:53
