Category Archives: International
Enterprise III Joins the Fraserburgh Fleet
Enterprise III has been delivered to James Lovie and his partners, and is a Vestværftet design, outfitted and completed at the yard in Hvide Sande on a hull fabricated in Poland. The new trawler headed for Fraserburgh to start its fishing career and to make its first landings. Accommodation on board is for up to eleven and is fitted out to an exceptionally high standard. The deck is laid out with three trawl winches controlled by a Scantrol autotrawl, three pairs of sweepline winches at the head of the long trawl desk with drums large enough to spool ground gear, three net drums over the trawl lanes, pairs of bagging, outhaul and codend winches, and a forward mooring winch. Photos, >click to read< 17:37 and partners
Governments and bureaucrats can fix the N.L. inshore fishery by consulting directly with harvesters
In 1992, a government of Canada MP loudly responded to demonstrators by saying, “I didn’t take the fish from the God damn water.” In 2023, a government of Newfoundland and Labrador MHA told demonstrators, “There is nothing I can do about fish pricing.” Those two statements are indicative of, past and present, attitudes of politicians toward the N.L. fishery. In 1992, the northern cod fishery was shut down because of lack of cod to harvest and in 2023 the industry is being shut down because of issues around pricing. For a few years now, fish harvesters have been pointing out problems with the price-setting system but those in control ignored their concerns and nothing was done. >click to read< by Harvey Jarvis 11:05
Fisherman asks court to quash licence to investigate offshore wind farm sites
A fisherman is asking the High Court to quash a licence allowing a renewable energy firm to investigate sites off the coast of Dublin and Wicklow in connection with a proposed €1.5 billion offshore wind farm. On Friday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys gave permission for Ivan Toole, of Ashford, Co Wicklow, and his company, Golden Venture Fishing Limited, of the same address, to bring their action against the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government over his granting of the foreshore licence to RWE last January. RWE proposes to undertake geotechnical and geophysical site investigations, including drilling boreholes, and to monitor wind and waves to refine its design of the Dublin Array offshore wind farm, says Mr Toole. >click to read< 10:05
NO TO 2.20: Harvesters Protest at ASP and OCI Offices
Harvesters expressed their frustration today by protesting outside of two locations in St. John’s after the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) walked back on their counteroffer yesterday. The two sides converged outside of the Ocean Choice International (OCI) office in St. John’s, where harvesters were clear they won’t be fishing for 2.20 per pound. “ASP may have reneged on their offer, but our organization still carried out significant consultation with members on whether it would have been accepted. The writing is on the wall: harvesters aren’t fishing unless there’s movement on the minimum starting price. Photos, >click to read the press release< 13:44
SEA-NL: Premier Andrew Furey government must intervene in snow crab tie-up or pay the political price
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) warns Premier Andrew Furey there will be a political cost if his Liberal administration does not urgently move to free the inshore fleet from the hostage situation with seafood processors. “The Andrew Furey government holds the chains that processors and buyers are using to hold the inshore fleet hostage,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “Owner-operators, the crews, and their families will remember if the Furey government stands by and does nothing as they’re starved out.” >click to read the press release< 12:12
Game Changer for Prawns
The Notus Echo, introduced a few years ago to the Irish and Scottish fleets fishing for nephrops, has proved itself an invaluable tool to streamline trawling for nephrops. The approach Notus took in detecting nephrops (prawns, langoutine), which don’t show up on regular fishfinders, is to use a simple grid mounted in the aft part of a trawl which acts as a sounding board. The sound of prawns hitting the grid is routed from this pickup device to the wheelhouse and a real-time display of the rate of catch entering the gear. >click to read< 11:35
Fishing tech all set to net the catch of the day and nothing else
Dom Talijancich has every available sensor technology on board his 24-meter trawler, FV Mako. Everything but a camera and AI system that identifies what type of species are entering his net during a tow. If the technology were available, the Nelson fisherman and businessman would have got it immediately. But there was gap in the market for a piece of equipment like that, and it led him to developing his own company and the technology to do the job. Talijancich’s tech company Advanced Conservation Solutions (ACS) have tech that can improve the sustainability of commercial fishing using artificial intelligence (AI). >click to read< 08:53
R.I. fishermen threaten legal action over South Fork wind farm
A group of fishermen in Rhode Island is threatening to sue the state’s coastal agency, the federal government, and developer Ørsted over the under-development of the South Fork wind farm in federal waters off Rhode Island. The Fishermen’s Advisory Board and the individual fishers it represents said in a letter Wednesday that the deal to approve the South Fork wind farm did not adequately compensate them for their losses. Making matters worse, they say, a fishing vessel working on the project broadcast over a radio channel used for emergency and distress calls in April that nobody was allowed within a mile and a half of either side of recent work to construct the project’s cable. >click to read< 07:46
Planned Tenfold North Sea Windfarm Expansion by 2050
The fishing industry is alarmed by drastic plans to massively increase windfarm capacity in the North Sea. Fishing industry leaders already fighting to retain fishing grounds for their members are deeply alarmed by the plans to increase of offshore wind power by ten times current levels by 2050, to develop ‘energy islands’ of interconnected sites and carbon capture projects. Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), said the development would be on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting of the international fishermen’s movement, the Northern Fishing Alliance (NFA), which represents fishermen from six countries fishing in the North Sea. >click to read< 12:38
Irish trawler owners asked to install cameras for EU fishing regulations project
Irish trawler owners are being asked to voluntarily install remote onboard monitoring cameras that will one day be used to record potential breaches of EU law. The request has been made by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), which wants to see how remote CCTV systems work on trawlers as part a Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) pilot project the fishing industry watchdog is launching. However, the scheme has been compared by a leading fishing industry representative to asking “turkeys to vote in favour of Christmas.” Irish South and West Fish Producer Organisation CEO Patrick Murphy also said: >click to read< 08:51
‘Looks like the worst spring in 25 years’: lobster prices, catches down as seasons wraps up in southwestern N.S.
Landings have been low all spring in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFAs) 33 and 34, which runs from Eastern Passage, Halifax County, to Burns Point Digby County, and includes all of Yarmouth and Shelburne counties. “Some people are down as much as 40 per cent. Some not as much. From the numbers I crunched it looks like on average we’re down 25 per cent over previous years, which sort of looks like the worst spring in 25 years,” says Dan Fleck, executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association. Cotter noted fishers in other recently opened LFAs in the Atlantic provinces are also experiencing low catches, bad weather and cold water temperatures. The shore price, which peaked at $13 a pound in the winter and early spring, plummeted to $8 in early May for LFA 33 and 34 fishers. >click to read< 14:48
Pelagic Sisters from Killybegs Yard
Killybegs shipyard Mooney Boats has completed its largest builds to date, sister vessels Eilean Croine built for Eric Murphy and Sparkling Star for Donal O’Neil. Built to the same Vestværftet design, the two pelagic trawlers are an example of international co-operation and innovative local ingenuity. According to the yard’s managing director Lee Mooney, there are close links with designer Ove Kristensen at Vestværft in Hvide Sande, which has built a number of vessels over the years for Irish 
owners, while several companies within the Killybegs Marine Cluster also provided essential support to ensure that these vessels were completed to the highest standards. ‘We’re thrilled to have completed these two impressive vessels, and we are grateful to the O’Neil and Murphy families for entrusting us with their project, from the design through to the construction stage,’ Lee Mooney said. >click to read< 12:26
Clearwater Seafoods wants 72 tonnes of lobster added to its annual harvesting quota
The Indigenous-owned company has exclusive rights to Lobster Fishing Area 41, or LFA 41, off southern Nova Scotia, where Clearwater maintains a long-held quota of 720 tonnes. Last fall, the Membertou First Nation and Mi’kmaw partners in the company asked the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to increase the total allowable catch by ten per cent. In response, DFO has issued an “interim” total allowable catch of 720 tonnes for 2023 while it considers this request. The Brazil Rock Lobster Association, the Coldwater Lobster Association and the LFA 33 Advisory Committee have submitted letters to DFO in opposition. >click to read< 08:44
Tornados Make Bering Sea Debut
Seattle trawler Storm Petrel has finished its first trips using a pair of Tornado pelagic trawl doors from Vónin, and skipper Acácio DoMar has been impressed with how the new doors have handled. ‘They tow well, square well and shoot away well. They’re a great fit to what we do,’ he said, as the A-season for Alaska pollock was coming to an end. This is the 37-metre Storm Petrel’s main fishery. ‘We fish pollock for most of the year. There’s some codfish, but it’s a small season.’ The company did its homework ahead of investing in new doors, with Acácio DoMar’s fellow captain and fleet manager Dan Martin travelling to Scotland and other places to check out the latest technology. Photos, >click to read< 18:01
Captain Rick Shelford is as Experienced as They Come on ‘Deadliest Catch’
Rick is a dedicated fishing vessel captain on and off the show. Outside of Deadliest Catch, Rick has been working as a captain for more than a decade. But just because he comes from a long line of fishermen, it doesn’t mean Rick’s career was just handed to him by any means. In fact, he worked hard and moved through the ranks to get to where he is today. According to the official website for Shelford Fisheries, Rick started off in 1997 as a green horn, which is someone who works alongside a deckhand and is treated as though they have no fishing experience. He moved up to become an engineer and then captain who is ready and prepared for anything at sea, whether it involves actual fish and crab or the mechanics of a ship. >click to read< 12:20
After tentative crab deal falls apart, fishermen settle in to wait for a better price
St. John’s crab fisherman Keith Boland said he and his fellow harvesters won’t accept a deal that sticks to $2.20 per pound, as decided by the provincial price-setting panel. “The $2.20 is still the major issue, and it will be, time going forward,” he said. On Friday, Fish Food & Allied Workers president Greg Pretty said a tentative deal had been reached with the Association of Seafood Producers: the $2.20 price would be locked in for the season, rather than the association requesting a lower price if the market continues to decline. But to prevent a glut of crab arriving at plants for processing, the deal would also include trip limits, with monetary penalties for fisherman who catch more than the trip limit. Calling it a union “slush fund,” Boland said fishermen won’t accept that. >click to read< 09:45
Wind farms creating ‘death zone’ at sea says ex-Greenpeace boss
Drilling foundations for offshore wind turbines and sound pulses used to prepare for the 900-foot towers may be creating a “death zone” for whales, a former Greenpeace chief claims. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace and its ex-president in Canada, believes the acoustic systems used by vessels surveying the ocean floor harm the marine mammals’ sense of hearing, risking their crucial ability to navigate, and leading to more dead whales washing up onshore. At least 36 “large” whales have washed up along the East Coast since Dec. 1, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. photos, >click to read< 07:51
First sighting of right whales in Canadian waters triggers partial fishing closure
The federal Fisheries Department says it has spotted endangered North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters for the first time this year. The department says two whales were seen Sunday by a surveillance aircraft in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northeast of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It says fishing in the area where the whales were spotted will be closed for 15 days started Thursday at 5 p.m., and a 15-day vessel slowdown will also be in effect. video, >click to read< 18:33
Only three owners out of 57 paid in full months after fishing boat decommissioning scheme starts
Eight of the 57 fishing boats accepted for decommissioning have been scrapped but just three of their owners have received their money in full from the State. According to Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), which administers the government scheme, another six boat owners are still waiting for 50% of the monies they are due. As the decommissioned boats have to be destroyed, there is now a waiting list for the country’s two specialist recyclers, in New Ross and Limerick. As of May 2, BIM says there were 11 boats waiting to be destroyed under the decommissioning scheme, which was set up to cut the size of the national fishing fleet because of reduced quotas in the wake of Brexit. >click to read< 10:16
‘Losing my fishing boat is like losing a limb, or my identity’
Caitlín Uí Aodha doesn’t cry easily but tears aren’t far from her eyes when she talks about Dearbhla. While this is the name of her youngest daughter, it was also the name of her 25-metre trawler. “It hurts, it really hurts,” she says through stifled sobs when she talks about it. She is upset because late last year, she closed a door on a proud fishing tradition that has been in her family for more than 150 years. She did what she never thought she would do: she applied to decommission the boat. >click to read< 09:34
NO DEAL AT 2.20, TIE ON CONTINUES
Yesterday, ASP presented a new offer to the FFAW Bargaining Committee for snow crab, offering a minimum price of 2.20 for the entirety of the 2023 season with the ability for higher reconsiderations if markets improve. The proposal included trip limits as well as an overage fund. The Committee convened yesterday afternoon to review the proposal and consulted with their respective fleets over the last day. The majority of harvesters strongly oppose the proposal, per the fleet results below. “Leadership throughout the province have been clear today: the crab is staying the water until harvesters get a higher share of the price,” says FFAW-Unifor President Greg Pretty. “FFAW-Unifor will formally reject ASP’s proposal, and the Bargaining Committee is preparing to meet for further discussions.” >click to read the Press Release< 20:05
No excuse for low lobster prices
The prices being paid to PEI lobster fishers a week into the 2023 season are underwhelming, with most getting $6.50 a pound for canners and $7 for markets. Last year fishermen were paid anywhere from $7 to $9 a pound, while in 2021 prices soared as high as $11. At Graham’s Pond, Travis Graham’s crew has been getting $6.50 for canners and $7.25 for markets. He said he doesn’t think much of those rates, but he’s optimistic things will get better. Edwin McKie, who fishes out of Fortune Harbour, said his crew has also been getting $6.50 to $7 on their tickets. But he expects things to get better. A friend in Maine told him prices there dropped from $10 to $7, and there isn’t a lot of lobster coming to shore there either. >click to read< 11:21
L’Ecume II: specialist teams leave Jersey as recovery operation comes to an end
Harbourmaster Bill Sadler has been notified by the States police that there are no further tasks for the teams to complete at the wreck site, after parts of the vessel and the body of skipper Michael Michieli, were recovered as part of the operation’s key objectives. The maritime exclusion zone has now been removed along with the anchors and buoys deployed last month. Specialist teams and recovery vessels, including a 60-metre crane barge which arrived last month have now left the Island. The parts of the trawler recovered from the seabed have been moved to a secure location and the wreck is now in the possession of the States police. >click to read< 21:07
’Deadliest Catch’: Sig Hansen Admits Producers Make the Show More ‘Dramatic’: ‘That’s What Sells’
Discovery Channel’s hit reality TV series, Deadliest Catch, focuses heavily on Sig Hansen in season 19. Sig and his daughter, Mandy Hansen, are at the helm of the Northwestern, and they’ve given a lot of insight into what life is like catching crabs on the Bering Sea. Here’s what Sig Hansen admitted about the producers of Deadliest Catch focusing on the difficult weather conditions to make the show more “dramatic.” “They shoot thousands of hours of footage, and I can understand that they are trying to put a storyboard together and make it fit. Everything that they film is accurate, but you will see a lot of the more foul weather as opposed to the calm days. I suppose that’s what sells, but the bad weather is a reality.” Also, an interesting video of the F/V Foremost sinking, leading to the construction of F/V Northwestern. >click to read< 13:41
10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea. Scientists and fishermen are working together to understand why
The snow crabs’ population in the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska has fluctuated for decades. An increase in young crabs back in 2018 gave way to optimism that fishing would be good for years to come, but the hope was short-lived. Gabriel Prout and his family own the fishing vessel Silver Spray in Kodiak, Alaska. He said it was obvious something was wrong the last few years. The Bering Sea fishing grounds are usually covered in sea ice in the winter. But there wasn’t much ice, and they fished further north than usual. Finding snow crabs was still difficult. “It was just very poor fishing,” said Prout. “We searched for miles and miles and miles and really didn’t see anything.” >click to read< 10:15
Surprise ‘farewell’ for award-winning lifeboat cox Mark – but he’s not going far
Award-winning Torbay RNLI’s coxswain Mark Criddle is retiring after 17 years at the helm – but he is staying on as a crew member. Sunday was Mark’s last day leading out an exercise in the Bay as the ‘coxswain’. Old friends, family and crew surprised him on his return to the station. They were joined by the lifeboats from Exmouth, Teignmouth, and Dartmouth, which had come across to escort Torbay’s Severn Class lifeboat home and to celebrate Mark’s formal retirement. The trawlers of Brixham also hooted as he helmed Brixham’s Severn Class all-weather lifeboat back to her moorings. It was a moving event for those watching, and a fitting tribute to Mark’s long and dedicated service. Photos, >lick to read< 09:35
Body formally identified as L’Ecume II skipper
Police in Jersey have confirmed the body recovered from the wreck of a sunken fishing boat has been formally identified as Michael Michieli. Mr Michieli, 62, was the skipper of the L’Ecume II fishing trawler that sank after colliding with a freight ferry on 8 December. The bodies of the two other crew, Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat, were recovered later that month. The Michieli family has been informed, police said. They added: “Our deepest sympathies are with the Michieli family, and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.” >click to read< 15:34
Banff and Buchan MP criticises Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP for ‘disowning fishing industry’
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid has criticised Karen Adam for “disowning the fishing industry” and putting “political games ahead of constituents” after she voted against reconsidering proposals on Highly Protected Marine Areas despite widespread concern from the sector. Mr Duguid said the SNP Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP was “happy to see the fishing sector sink” as she opted against changing “catastrophic” plans for a partial squeeze in Scottish waters. Just three SNP MSPs, Kate Forbes, Fergus Ewing and Alasdair Allan, did not vote with the rest of their party while three others Annabelle Ewing, Christine Grahame and Ash Regan abstained. >click to read< 12:45
P.E.I. fishers call spring lobster prices ‘a slap in the face’
Harvesters say they’re getting between $6.50 and $7 per pound from processors — less than last year, and about half what they were getting a few years ago. “That price we got in 2006, and you could buy a fishing fleet in 2006 for $200,000 and now they’re $1.5 million to $2 million. Everything has gone up … bait, fuel, engines, pickup trucks, rope, traps, buoys, everything,” McGeoghegan said. “So to expect us to go fishing for a price that’s 18 years old is a slap in the face. And we know for a fact … that the demand is high, higher than it’s been in the last 10 years, and supply is the lowest it’s been in 10 years.” Photos, >click to read< 07:52
Deadliest Catch: Where is Captain Casey McManus anyway?!!
High-stakes reality series “Deadliest Catch” is back on Discovery Channel for its 19th season. But a few familiar faces are missing from the popular show. Former cast member Josh Harris does not appear in the new episodes. Nor does his one-time partner Captain Casey McManus of the F/V Cornelia Marie. Instead, McManus has taken a job that keeps him a bit closer to shore. While Discovery Channel had cut ties with Harris, McManus’ future on the show was unclear. However, when details about the currently airing 19th season were released, his name was missing from the list of captains. Video, >click to read< 17:49
