Category Archives: International
New Peterhead festival to champion north-east seafood
Europe’s top white-fish port will provide the backdrop for a new north-east food and drink festival this autumn. SeaFest Peterhead has been organised to champion the area’s valuable seafood sector. Organisers are already hailing the new addition to the Blue Toon’s social calendar as a “must see”. It is due to take place at the harbour on Saturday September 9 from 11am to 4pm. Billed as a “fin-tastic” extravaganza to “shell-ebrate” the bounty of the sea, it will showcase the rich fishing heritage of Peterhead and the wider north-east region. >click to read< 09:15
Trawlers concerned about impacts of ocean wind farms as marine park management plan drafted
A group representing fishermen in south-east Australia says it will be forced to stop cooperating with offshore wind projects in Bass Strait if shark fishing is further restricted in marine parks. The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association, which represents fishermen and sellers in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, said it was concerned about a ban on the practice. It comes as a new South-east Marine Parks Network Management Plan is drafted. “Our concern is shark fishing with hooks and gill nets and that that will be stopped in some of these marine parks,” trawl fishing association chief executive Simon Boag said. He said fishers could lose 4,000 square kilometres of shark fishing grounds in Gippsland because of wind farms. >click to read< 18:35
Local seafood restaurant ‘heartbroken’ after hooded figure caught destroying vital boat
A popular local seafood restaurant has been left heartbroken after their shellfish supplier’s boat was destroyed. On Friday, July 28, a hooded figure was caught on CCTV damaging a boat at Methil Dockyears that supplies lobster and shellfish to North Queensferry’s Wee Restaurant. The popular seafood eatery has said they are ‘beyond rage and despair’ after they heard the news that the boat, Tina Louise, was damaged and sunk at around 7am. The owners of the Tina Louise said: “In the early hours of Friday morning, this man climbed over the security fence at the Methil Boat Club, wearing a mask and with a battery-powered drill in hand. >click to read< 08:53
Offshore Wind has a Cost Crisis
The horrific term “cost crisis” is not from me. It comes down from on high, in this case the mega-conference: US Offshore Wind 2023. But now they have a cost crisis. Could the bust be at hand? The evidence is piling up. So there are three converging factors. Higher material and equipment costs, higher interest rates and political resistance. For example it has not gone unnoticed that the House Republicans are trying to roll back the lush subsidies granted under the amusingly named Inflation Reduction Act. Local resistance is growing as well. The biggest developer offshore America is Ørsted and they are now suing New Jersey’s Cape May County and Atlantic City for withholding local permits needed to bring a big project’s power ashore. Anti-offshore wind demonstrations are becoming a common occurrence in coastal towns. >click to read< 08:02
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Young Brothers Tuna/Charter, Caterpillar 3126
To review specifications, information, and 34 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:45
Fisherman missing on Okanagan Lake identified by family
Maddy Pool identified the missing man as her step-father, Travis Van Hill. She says Van Hill was working last night on a boat that fishes for shrimp at night. According to Pool, no storm was forecasted last night, which is why the boats went out. She said the company is “really smart” about storms. “There were two boats out there last night. The one boat made it in safe and the other one didn’t, which was the one that my stepdad was on.” The boat capsized near Ellison Provincial Park at the north end of the lake, and being that Van Hill was working, WorkSafeBC has been called in. >click to read< , and here. 10:50
Fisherman’s friend: Blue lobster caught for second time is released into the sea
What do you call a once in a lifetime experience when it happens for a second time? Perhaps Bangor fisherman Stuart Brown is the man to ask. Catching an extremely rare blue lobster is said to be a one in two million chance. Doing it again just a few months later and the odds soar. Same lobster, same boat, same location off the Belfast coastline. The second catch, from the waters close to Blackhead Lighthouse on the northern shores of Belfast Lough, was even more unlikely because lobsters do not usually remain in the same area. Photos, >click to read< 10:18
Irish fishermen face double Brexit whammy as EU funding deadline looms
Irish fishing businesses face a double whammy this year of having less fish to catch and being unable to draw down EU Brexit funding in time. Tight deadlines, a lack of labour and materials shortages are putting at risk hundreds of millions of euros worth of funding from Brussels that MEP Billy Kelleher said is crucial to keep coastal communities afloat. “All the plans are in. Everything is done. It’s just the inability to draw down,” Mr Kelleher said of the EU funding. “Brexit hasn’t gone away. The impact of it hasn’t gone away. So I mean it would be a shame to forfeit funding that could ameliorate or reduce the impact of Brexit in certain communities.” >click to read< 12:11
Spanish mackerel fishery changes force anglers to leave livelihoods with no compensation
For decades, Lisa Putzka’s life was governed by wind and tides. Mrs. Putzka and her husband Walter made their living catching Spanish mackerel off the North Queensland coast. But everything changed in 2022 when Mr. Putzka was diagnosed with brain cancer and given less than two years to live. At the same time, a major shake-up of the east coast Spanish mackerel fishery was announced, sending shockwaves through the fishing community. From July, the entire commercial catch quota was slashed from 578 to 165 tonnes, a reduction of more than 71 per cent. Among them is 67-year-old Trevor Purkis, who had planned to fish his way into retirement onboard his beloved Trevanna. Instead, he is preparing to sell his boat at a loss and leave the industry. “It’s going to break my heart,” Mr Purkis said. “Forty-three years I’ve been going to sea on this boat.” Photos, >click to read< – 20:49
How foreign private equity hooked New England’s fishing industry
The 85-foot trawler, deep green and speckled with rust, was returning from a grueling fishing trip deep into the Atlantic swells. As sunrise broke over New Bedford harbor, the fish were offloaded in plastic crates onto the asphalt dock of Blue Harvest Fisheries, one of the largest fishing companies on the East Coast. About 390 million pounds of seafood move each year through New Bedford’s waterfront, the top-earning commercial fishing port in the nation. Leeman and his crew are barely sharing in the bounty. On deck, Leeman held a one-page “settlement sheet,” the fishing industry’s version of a pay stub. Blue Harvest charges Leeman and his crew for fuel, gear, leasing of fishing rights, and maintenance on the company-owned vessel. Across six trips in the past 14 months, Leeman netted about 14 cents a pound, and the crew, about 7 cents each — a small fraction of the $2.28 per pound that a species like haddock typically fetches at auction. Photos, >click to read< 12:04
Linda Greenlaw Casts Claim That Deadliest Catch Is More Scripted Than You Think
In Sig Hansen’s estimation, “Deadliest Catch” is not reality television. The veteran skipper regards “Deadliest Catch” as more of a documentary — or perhaps more accurately, a docuseries. Still, “Deadliest Catch” is known to gin up drama. And according to the show’s newest cast member, Linda Greenlaw, “Deadliest Catch” is more scripted than you think. A well-known and highly regarded fisherman, Greenlaw is the sole female swordfishing captain on the East Coast, as well as a noted survivor of the “perfect storm” that plowed through the waters of the Northeast in 1991. Greenlaw is also no stranger to reality TV, having starred in Discovery’s “Swords: Life on the Line,” a series that focuses on the Northeast swordfishing industry. >click to read< 11:07
‘We are at 50% of the quota we had’: boss of UK’s last long-range trawler rues ‘squandered’ Brexit hopes
Just hours after docking, the latest catch – about 300 tonnes of frozen fish fillets – has already been transported in Kirkella-branded boxes to the fish market at Grimsby, to be weighed, graded and sold. While this may sound like a vast amount of fish, the UK’s only remaining “distance trawler” has returned home only half-full from its latest expedition. “The catch wasn’t so good this time,” says the first mate, Dean Jackson, 53, who is finishing up checks of the vessel on the bridge before enjoying some time at home with his family after about six weeks at sea. “Fishing is erratic,” he says. “We had four days when it was really good. But the problem when you get really good fishing is you’re at the mercy of the factory and processing.” >click to read< 12:27
What you should know about The Shrimpocalypse, the wipeout of a time-honored US industry
On the inviting, teal-colored water in the shipping channels off the coast of southern Louisiana, Phillip “Rooster” Dyson pilots his bright red shrimp boat named Papa’s Shadow through a landscape he no longer recognizes. His practiced gaze sweeps over the water, but very little remains of the small fishing community of Cameron, where he has lived all his 40 years. The rickety wooden social clubs, bars, homes, and colorful shrimping boats are gone, most of it replaced by giant liquid natural gas terminals, and many more are planned for Louisiana’s fragile coast. “It costs $400 just to take the boat out,” he said in his strong Southern Creole accent, adding that July can often be a slow month for shrimp. One of his most recent catches in mid-July brought in a measly $200, to be shared between himself and the two men that work on his boat. Dyson has eight kids, while his employees also have families. Photo gallery, >click to read< 11:47
Ross Greer’s boasts about environmental scheme left in tatters by brutal rebuke from fishermen group
Ross Greer’s boasts about the “astounding success” of an environmental project seen as a precursor to the hated highly-protected marine areas have been left in tatters following a brutal rebuke from a fishermen group. The Scottish Greens MSP paid lavish tribute to a No Take Z one at Lamlash Bay. Mr Greer praised the project at First Minister Questions in May but his comments have been called into question by the Shetland Fishermen’s Association. “Brown crab and juvenile lobster stock levels have fallen in Lamlash Bay, and the increased abundance of scallops has actually been smaller inside the protected zone than outside it. The anti-fishing lobby have long made much of the supposed benefits of Lamlash Bay, but conveniently fail to mention the whole truth – and instead only publicise the cherry-picked information that suits their political agenda.” >click to read< 20:24
The Worlds Most Advanced Fishery Training Vessel
A Norwegian high school has taken delivery of a 10-million-euro training vessel for those looking to become fishers. The most advanced of its kind Skulebas is designed and built by Hvide Sande Shipyard in Denmark, and is rigged for trawling, seining, gillnetting and longlining. It’s not just the capacity to switch between these fishing methods that puts Skulebas in a class of its own, but also the hybrid propulsion combining battery and diesel-electric propulsion. Skulebas is about to set off for Norway, where it will serve as a training vessel for the Måløy High School (years 10 – 12, after primary education), for young people planning to work as fishermen, navigators, engineers, and cooks. Video, photos, >click to read< 16:27
Commercial fishers fear gillnet ban on Great Barrier Reef will destroy business, communities
“I’ve got an 18 month-old daughter and I don’t know how I’ll provide for her at the end of the year,” Mr Waldon said. The third-generation commercial fisherman runs a large gillnetting operation near Marlborough off the central Queensland coast and spends long hours at sea catching fish, such as barramundi and threadfin, to provide for his young family. But with a recently announced ban on gillnet fishing, he feared he would not be able to earn a living anymore. “We’ve got all our life savings tied up in fishing licences, quotas, boats and it’s all rendered completely useless … it’s scary,” Mr Waldon said. Video, >click to read< 09:52
Government boost for Scottish fisheries
A financial injection of £18.7 million is going into ten projects across Scotland through the Infrastructure Scheme, aiming to improve ports, harbours, processing and aquaculture facilities. A further £2.1 million is being routed to four Scottish projects through the Fisheries Industry Science Partnerships (FISP) scheme to provide vital research that will inform fisheries management. These projects are supported by in excess of £74 million in match funding from alternative private or public contributions. Funding is also available for the catching sector across the UK to replace or modernise engines to reduce emissions, improve reliability and enable new technologies to be tested. >click to read< 12:38
Australian man, faithful pup rescued by Mexican ship after months at sea
An Australian sailor finally touched dry land on Tuesday in the Mexican port city of Manzanillo, capping off months spent adrift at sea with his dog until a surprise rescue by a Mexican fishing ship. The castaway, 54-year-old Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock, was spotted by a fishing boat owned by seafood group Grupomar with his 
hound, Bella, on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico, the company said Monday. The sailor and his pup originally set sail in April from the Mexican coastal city of La Paz bound for French Polynesia about 3,728 miles (6,000 km) away. “I’m just so grateful. I’m alive,” said Shaddock, sporting a bushy beard and long hair topped by a hat featuring the logo for “Tuny,” a Grupomar tuna brand. >click to read< 19:46
Entangled North Atlantic right whale spotted in Gulf of St. Lawrence
A North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Lamèque in northeastern New Brunswick. A research vessel saw the whale, a 13-year-old male known as EG No. 4042, east of Lamèque and northwest of Prince Edward Island, on Saturday, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced Monday. He appears to be carrying a “long trailing line, with no visible buoys,” according to a news release. Groups who respond to marine mammals in distress planned to attempt to disentangle the whale on Sunday morning but couldn’t because of the weather. >click to read< 13:47
£20.8 million funding boost for the Scottish fishing industry
The UK Government today (Monday 17 July) announced the latest Scottish projects to receive investment from the £100 million UK Seafood Fund. A total of £18.7 million is being awarded to 10 projects across Scotland through the Infrastructure Scheme to improve capability at ports, harbours, processing and aquaculture facilities. In addition, £2.1 million is being allocated to four Scottish projects through the Fisheries Industry Science Partnerships (FISP) scheme to provide vital research that will inform fisheries management. >click to read< 11:41
‘The Bad Day’: Two maritime disasters that shook the Shetland Islands
By a terrible grim coincidence, this week sees the anniversary of two of the worst disasters ever to happen in the Scottish fishing industry, and on both occasions it was the Shetland Islands which were afflicted by the tragic calamities that took place almost 50 years apart and cost the lives of 163 men. On both occasions, wild storms caught fishermen out at sea and led to the destruction of fishing boats, often with the loss of all on board. The first disaster took place 191 years ago today on July 16, 1832, in the midst of what became a summer of mourning on Scotland’s northern archipelago. >click to read< 09:54
Aussie sailor rescued after surviving two months lost in the the Pacific with his dog Bella by eating raw fish and drinking rainwater
Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella were picked up by a tuna trawler off the coast of Mexico after a helicopter accompanying the ship spotted their catamaran. The Sydney man left La Paz in Mexico in April bound for French Polynesia but a few weeks into the journey a storm destroyed the electronics on his vessel. Mr Shaddock said he was forced to drift for two months with only his dog for company with the pair eating raw fish and drinking rainwater to stay alive. Video, photos, >click to read< 22:16
EU and UK fishermen to install cameras and sensors on boats for post-Brexit quotas
On Monday, ministers are expected to unveil a package of measures that will form part of the post-Brexit regime for fishing in British waters, following 18 months of talks with industry bodies. It will include proposals for both EU and UK vessels to be required to place monitoring equipment on their boats to enable officials to conduct audits of their catches. Currently, cameras are installed on a handful of boats involved in pilot and scientific schemes in British waters. Officials have also been examining sensors that detect or measure fishing operations such as the movement of nets. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs wants to make the technology mandatory for vessels involved in catching certain fish, after an initial period of developing the scheme with volunteer boats. >click to read< 17:12
Andy Hillstrand from Deadliest Catch – What Happened to Him?
Talk about the show Deadliest Catch, and the mention of Andy Hillstrand is a must. The famous face on the show left the whole fans shocked when he decided to exit it in 2020. Andy sailed through the sea with this F/V time Bandit and his crew of sailors to catch crabs in the crab season. He was ready for everything the sea had to offer him. But his sudden exit from the reality show left everyone wondering why he would do that after years of amicable filming with the Discovery Channel. So, why did Andy have to leave the show, and where is he currently? This article answers all the questions. >click to read< 14:36
American boat patrols waters around new offshore wind farms to protect jobs
A battleship-gray vessel was on the prowl. In this ramp-up for U.S. offshore wind, American marine companies and mariners fear they’ll be left behind. So Aaron Smith, president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, was looking through binoculars to see whether ships servicing the new wind farms were using foreign-flagged vessels instead of U.S.-made ships with American crews. The ship is named the Jones Act Enforcer, after the century-old law that says the transport of merchandise between U.S. points is reserved for U.S.-built, owned and documented vessels. The motto: “We’ll be watching.” Smith was documenting operations to show to federal law enforcement officials and members of Congress. 15 Photos, >click to read< 10:02
Dungeness RNLI mourns the devastating loss of much-loved Coxswain Stuart Adams
Stuart was the backbone of the RNLI station at Dungeness, providing leadership and true friendship to all the volunteers that worked with him. He guided the volunteers through huge changes throughout his years at the charity, where he lived and breathed ‘Saving Lives at Sea’. Stuart initially joined the RNLI as a volunteer in 1978 alongside his fellow fishermen in Dungeness. He was a keen fisherman from a young age and started commercial fishing as a full-time occupation after school, 
which is where he was introduced to the RNLI. In 2000, 22 years after joining as a volunteer, Stuart became full time Coxswain of Dungeness Lifeboat, where he dedicated his life fully to the role. Stuart was a confidante, a father figure, a calming influence and a figure of stability where no person felt unsafe going to sea under his command. He was highly respected by all that knew him, as well as being full of good humour. He actively ensured that the volunteers felt able to learn and was completely selfless in all of his endeavours. Photos, >click to read< 08:52
Nicola Faith: Fishermen were probably ‘trapped on deck’ when boat capsized, inquest hears
Three fishermen who drowned probably died because they were trapped on deck when their boat capsized, an inquest has heard. Ross Ballantine, 39, Alan Minard, 20, and skipper Carl McGrath, 34, all died after the Nicola Faith fishing boat went down off the Conwy coast in January 2021. All three men’s bodies were recovered from the coastline off the Wirral and Blackpool in March 2021. The boat itself was discovered a month later on 13 April 2021, and was eventually raised in May 2021 using a 43m long crane barrage. A report following their deaths revealed the boat was not fit to sail, and there were “various faults” with the ship, including a lack of proper safety equipment. >click to read< 11:14
Suffolk and Essex fish industry revitalized by selling at Brixham
Fishermen on the Suffolk and Essex coast have begun selling their catches to a market 350 miles away and said the move has been “a game changer”. Brixham market in Devon now regularly collects fish from the east coast and sells it through its online auction. Those involved said it revitalised the fortunes of an industry whose expansion hopes were dashed after Brexit. But critics fear its success will make it harder for Lowestoft to set up its own fishing hub. Three times a week a lorry from the Brixham Fish Market visits a refrigerated lock-up at Southwold harbour in Suffolk.”It’s been a game changer for all of us,” said Fran French from Mersea Fishermen’s Association on the Essex coast. Photos, >click to read< 08:25
Aloncar Launches Innovative Artisanal Vessel
The Aloncar shipyard in Argentina launched on 17th June the last trawler in a series of three similar vessels that have been under construction since last year. Virgen de Itatí 2 replaces a smaller coastal boat with the same name which has been operating from the Patagonian port of Rawson for more than 15 years. Although it has an overall length of just 10 metres, Virgen de Itatí 2 is designed to have the functionality of a larger, modern fishing vesel. The shipyard’s engineers took care to optimise its hydrodynamic qualities, developing a final layout that has proved to be effective and stable. The design incorporated an inverted bow arrangement. Virgen de Itatí 2 is also outfitted with the latest equipment. Photos, >click to read< 11:55
Gripes in Grimsby over Brexit fishing failure
Grimsby, perched on the southern side of the River Humber, near Kingston-upon-Hull in northern England, was built on the fishing industry. Some 70 percent of people in the town voted for Brexit, hoping that the UK’s departure from the European Union would boost its flagging fortunes. But seven years on from the landmark referendum, those who banked on a turnaround are disappointed, while those who feared it are not taking it lying down. At 7:00 am, the auction at Grimsby’s wholesale fish market in the heart of the town’s vast docks is in full swing. “We have mackerel. 1.5 (pounds) a kilo? 1.7? 1.8? 1.9?” shouts the auctioneer. >click to read< 08:27
