Category Archives: International
The Hairy Bikers hailed as ‘brilliant’ as they visit family-run fishing business in Ayrshire
A sixth generation fishing family from Ayrshire will shine a spotlight on Scottish seafood as they share the screen with celebrity chef collective The Hairy Bikers in a new series. Troon’s Spes Bona Superior Seafood, run by brothers Donald and Robin Gibson, will feature alongside Si King and Dave Myers in their new BBC Two series. The fishing firm have waited patiently for over a year and a half to see what Si and Dave create with their catch as filming took place in May 2021. Dad-of-three skipper Donald, who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, said: “We got a phone call out of the blue and I thought it was a customer so I was asking them what they wanted. “They said ‘no it’s for a TV show, we’re looking to get some guys out on your boat’. >click to read< 09:26
The Bugaled Breizh, sunk in 2004, will leave the Brest arsenal to be dismantled
On January 15, 2023, it will be nineteen years since the trawler Bugaled Breizh of Loctudy (Finistère), sank in less than a minute off Cape Lizard (United Kingdom), a shipwreck that had resulted in the death of the five sailors on board. Since July 2004 and the refloating of the ship for the purposes of the investigation, the wreck is stored out of sight on the naval military base of Brest. Legal proceedings are extinguished on both sides of the Channel. In France, a dismissal order was issued and confirmed in 2016. In Great Britain, the justice concluded in 2021 to a fishing accident to explain the sinking. A thesis firmly refuted by relatives of the victims, who maintain that a submarine would be at the origin of this fatal shipwreck. photos, external links, >click to read< 15:46
Lessons learned: Personal flotation devices with personal locator beacons save lives
On a a bright, fresh autumn morning, a small trawler left harbour for a day’s fishing with a skipper and crewman on board. Once past the breakwater, the skipper handed over the watch to the crewman and went below to rest. The crewman was wearing light clothing and a personal flotation device (PFD) and carried a personal locator beacon (PLB). During the passage to the fishing grounds, with the vessel under autohelm steering, the crewman left the wheelhouse to prepare the fishing gear on deck. As he was leaning over the transom to rig the trawl wires, the crewman lost his balance and fell into the sea. >click to read< 11:27
Final Landing by Farnella Ahead of Vessel Sale
Farnella H 135 ended her 22-year career on 11 December, making her final landing into Hanstholm, after which a thank-you breakfast was held for the crew, reports Gaby Bartai. Owner UK Fisheries announced in November that the vessel would cease fishing at the end of the year, as a consequence of the loss of distant-water quota opportunity in successive end-of-year negotiations with Norway. On 13 December Farnella sailed for Cuxhaven, where she will be sold. This will leave Kirkella as the only remaining vessel in UK Fisheries’ Hull- based fleet. >click to read< 15:38
Brexit, offshore wind farms and high fuel costs scupper Dutch fishing industry
The end of the Dutch trawler fishing industry is in sight now a large part of the Dutch fleet has signed up for the government’s buy-out ruling, according to NOS. In total, about 40 of the 120 trawlers which fish for plaice and sole in the North Sea will be left and that will have a knock-on impact on the rest of the industry, the broadcaster said. For example, the fish auction in Den Helder is now closing its doors and trawlers will now have to head for Den Oever and IJmuiden to unload their catches, NOS said. >click to read< 13:37
Untangling catch shares with Lee van der Voo – Catch shares have changed fisheries and fishing communities across the U.S.
I recently saw some great reporting by the New Bedford Light and ProPublica about how the billionaire Dutch family that owns Blue Harvest Fisheries has emerged as a force in groundfish fishing off the coast of Massachusetts. These are very wealthy, powerful equity groups and corporations that are acquiring access to the fisheries and passing the cost of owning them and fishing them onto fishermen. There’s been profound disenfranchisement of people who used to have a more personal stake in fishing and seafood. Everyone from indigenous communities in Southwest Alaska whose history with halibut goes back to the beginning of time to small-boat, family operations around the United States everywhere have been losing access. Whole communities have fallen apart over that. >click to read< 08:15
Fisherman planning on setting 60k lobsters loose in the Thames
A Fisherman plans to put 60,000 lobsters into the Thames Estuary next year as part of his mission to revive a historic industry. Gary Humm, 47, is determined to make the Essex coastal town of Brightlingsea once again a hub of lobster fishing. He intends to put around 5,000 a month into the waters in 2023. He hopes they will breed and once again provide a source of livelihood for people on this stretch of the English coast. >click to read< 18:00
Lifeboatman of 60 years ‘dumbfounded’ to receive British Empire Medal
Helping to save lives at sea for more than 60 years means he is no stranger to thank you’s. But Cromer 93-year-old Edwin Luckin said he was bowled over when he heard he would receive a particularly big ‘thank you’ – a British Empire Medal. Mr Luckin, who is known to everyone as Ted, has been included on the official list of New Year’s honours for his services to maritime safety. He said: “I was dumbfounded when it came through. My daughter got onto me and said ‘my mother would have been proud of you’.” Mr Luckin said the BEM – awarded for meritorious community service worthy of recognition by the Crown – was a great honour and a nice way to round out a long career of involvement with Cromer’s RNLI station. Photos, >click to read< 13:03
Personal Locator Beacons improve the chance of rescue at sea
A PLB is a personal electronic device that transmits a survivor’s location on or in the water to the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system during an emergency. It’s designed to be carried in a person’s life vest (or elsewhere on their body) and manually activated when the wearer is in distress. PLBs continuously update a survivor’s location. New Year’s Eve is a time of celebration and remembrance. Three years ago, on December 31, 2019, as the new year was being rung in across the lower 48 states, a tragedy was playing out in icy Alaskan waters. F/V Scandies Rose, with seven crew members aboard, capsized and sank before reaching safety. >click to read< Then, there is survivor John Aldridge, a crewmember of the 44-foot lobster 
vessel Anna Mary was last seen aboard the boat during his watch relief at 9 p.m., Tuesday, while the vessel was underway off Montauk, N.Y. How many times have you read of or heard of a fisherman going overboard, only to watch an unsuccessful chain of events involving fruitless search and rescue operations to see them become possible recovery operations, and predictably, abandoned after a period of time, dictated by estimates of rate of survival and sea conditions? Way too many.
F/V L’Ecume II: Search for missing Jersey fisherman ‘will continue’
The search for a missing fisherman whose trawler sank off Jersey will continue, the government has said. Jersey-based L’Ecume II sank after colliding with a Condor freight ferry on 8 December. The bodies of the two crew members, Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn, have been recovered, but skipper Michael Michieli has not been found. Deputy Chief Minister Kirsten Morel said next steps in the search were being considered. “There’s a range of options including further exploration of L’Ecume with divers or it is possible we may also need to look at the potential for raising the vessel,” >click to read< 09:25
Offshore Wind Farms Could Cause ‘Cataclysmic Destruction’ Of Ecosystems
Wind energy, cheap electricity from the elements. Surely a great idea? But has it just become a cash cow for big industry and governments, with precious little benefit to citizens – and, ironically, all at the expense of the natural world? I’ve written many times over the years about the potential for ecological damage caused by badly planned wind farms, particularly large offshore developments, the detrimental effects of which have been vastly underestimated. Now, as the industry expands at an alarming pace, we disregard the evidence at our peril. >click to read< By Jason Endfield 13:29
State Papers: Royal Navy submarine dragged Irish fishing trawler backwards for 1.6km before breaking free
Britain attempted to claim State immunity in an attempt to recover a valuable towed sonar array from a Royal Navy attack submarine which detached after snagging in the nets of an Irish fishing trawler. The fishing boat was subsequently dragged backwards for 1.6km before breaking free. Confidential Department of Foreign Affairs documents revealed that civil servants felt an agreed settlement between the British Embassy and the trawler skipper involved was preferable to the matters coming before the Irish courts. The incident occurred 40km east of Skerries, Co Dublin at 7.20pm on September 12, 1989 when an Irish trawler, MV Contestor, alerted the Shannon-based Marine Rescue Centre. >click to read< 08:05
SEA-NL calls on Ottawa to lift moratorium on Atlantic mackerel
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada to lift the moratorium on Atlantic mackerel in 2023 and establish a quota at least equal to the United States. “DFO’s decision earlier this year to slap a moratorium on the Atlantic mackerel fishery while American fishermen continued to fish the same stock — combined with relatively weak science, and then even less data without fishermen on the water — was wrong from the get-go,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s executive director. >click to read< 12:48
Iconic fishing trawler with exciting history could return to Grimsby’s waters following restoration
An infamous trawler which played a key role in the fishing industry heyday, bringing home the world’s biggest catch, and then used as the base for a formerly illegal pirate radio station could be brought back to its home waters of Grimsby. Home to independent and now legitimate radio station, Radio Caroline, the Ross Revenge trawler – sister ship to the Ross Tiger – began fishing out of Grimsby in 1963 and brought home record catches of fish, including the world record of 218 tonnes of Icelandic cod in 1976, which sold for over £75,000. Photos, >click to read< 08:19
Sunken fishing boat bodies identified
Two bodies recovered from near a sunken fishing trawler off the coast of Jersey have been identified as the crewmen. Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat died when L’Ecume II sank after it collided with a freight ferry at about 05:30 GMT on 8 December. A search and recovery operation for the boat’s missing skipper, Micheal Michieli, continues. Jersey Police said its “thoughts continue to be with the families and friends affected by this tragedy”. >click to read< 16:42
Christmas at Sea
Robert Louis Stevenson telescopes the distance between a cozy Christmas scene and a life-and-death struggle on the high seas Snowstorm. While Queen Victoria’s reign saw the steady rise of steam-powered ships, sailing vessels only slowly became obsolete, and ships often used a combination of steam and sail. Stevenson had very likely experienced first-hand, if only as a passenger, the drama of “Christmas at Sea.” The poem first appeared in the Scots Observer in 1888,,, The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand; The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand; The wind was a nor’wester, blowing squally off the sea; And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee. >click to read< 12:33
Is the UK really allowed to catch more fish because of Brexit?
British politicians earlier this week praised the results of the EU-UK 2023 Brexit fishing quota negotiations, saying the UK will be able to catch 30,000 more tonnes of fish than if the island nation had remained within the European bloc. The UK fishing industry will be allowed to catch 140,000 tonnes of fish in 2023, instead of 110,000 tonnes if Brexit had not happened, Fisheries minister Mark Spencer said on Tuesday. The amount of fish that the UK can catch in 2023 has actually remained the same or similar to previous years. So why are politicians latching on to it now? >click to read< 08:09
Defra announces EU fishing deal to increase fishing opportunities to £750m
Defra has announced the UK fishing industry will benefit from 140,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities next year, following the conclusion of negotiations with the EU. The deal, announced yesterday, represented a 30,000-tonne increase on pre-Brexit volumes and would present UK boats with opportunities worth over £280m in 2023 in EU waters. This brought the total value of fishing opportunities secured for the UK fleet in 2023 in the three main negotiation forums to £750m, a £34m increase from last year, Defra said. >click to read< 09:15
Possible minor allision causes fishing vessel foundering
At about 0530 on 21 September 2021, the German-flagged fishing vessel Ramona set sail from Cuxhaven for the Heligoland Bight. There were five people on board: two crew members and three scientists from the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries Bremerhaven. Since the swell was continuously increasing, everyone on board decided to sail back so as to make further hauls3 in calmer waters for scientific evaluation. At about 0900, the skipper noticed that planks in the fore section were coming loose and the vessel was making water. >click to read< 08:31
Fishing deals expected to net £750 million-plus catch for UK fleet in 2023
An earlier agreement between the UK, European Union and Norway covered six key North Sea fish stocks, including cod, haddock and herring, and access to other waters. The outcome of those talks was expected to deliver additional quota worth £213m to the UK fishing industry. Separate discussions with fellow north-east Atlantic “coastal states” will deliver an extra £256m of quota, while a deal with Norway adds another £5m, according to the government. >click to read< 08:54
L’Ecume II: Unmanned craft carries out ‘extensive search’ below deck at wreck site
An unmanned craft has started work to access and search the last remaining areas of the trawler which sank after colliding with a Condor freight ship. The underwater robot has been surveying the wreck site following the collision between L’Ecume II and Commodore Goodwill which claimed the lives of three fishermen. Ports of Jersey says that areas of the trawler’s deck and accommodation structure have been removed and that the final stage of the search is now under way. >click to read< 16:06
Shetland suffers dip in fish landings but expectations high for next year
The last fish market of the year was earlier today. Shetland Seafood Auctions confirmed a total of 338,627 boxes had gone through the fish markets in Scalloway and Lerwick during 2022. Auction manager Martin Leyland said the amount of white fish landed over the course of the year was slightly below expectations. He cited the energy crisis, which forced many boats to tie up for a spell earlier this year, as well as poor cod quota as the main reasons behind the lower-than-expected figures. >click to read the rest< 13:53
F/V Arcturus: Fuming Scots fishing boat skipper who rescued migrants says UK authorities acting as ‘taxi service’
The Scottish skipper of the fishing boat which helped rescue dozens of migrants from the English Channel last week, has angrily hit out at UK immigration policy for making the tragedy “inevitable”. Raymond Strachan told GB News that British authorities have been acting as a “migrant taxi service” encouraging ever increasing numbers of people to make the journey. In his first full interview since his six-man crew pulled 31 migrants from the freezing waters, the skipper said they often see migrant boats making the dangerous crossing. “It doesn’t matter your political views about the migrant crisis, when you see people in the water, screaming, shouting, begging for their life. If you’ve any compassion at all, then human nature kicks in and the thing to do is rescue people, and that’s what we did.” >click to read< 08:53
The Porcher Fleet Continues to Grow
Aventurine was built in less than a year by the shipyard in Boulogne for its loyal customer in Côtes-d’Armor. It will be based in Saint-Brieuc, also its port of registry. With an 25 metre overall length and an 8 metre beam, the new trawler has a steel hull, aluminium superstructure and seven winches. Propulsion is provided by a CAT3512C main engine driving a France Helice HPV 804G variable pitch propeller. The new trawler’s skipper, Antoine Porcher, 26 years old and grandson of the company’s owner Jean Porcher, appreciates the innovations that have gone into Aventurine. Video, photos, >click to read< 16:47
Boat that helped save 39 migrants returns to Plymouth
A fishing trawler which helped rescue 39 migrants attempting to cross the English Channel has returned to Plymouth. A dinghy was found sinking in freezing waters off the Kent coast in the early hours on Wednesday. A 19-year-old man has been charged over the deaths of four people who died in the Channel. Skipper Raymond Strachan said his boat and crew were “just in the right place at the right time”. >click to read< 12:32
Teenager charged after deadly Channel migrant boat sinking – The United Kingdom has charged a 19-year-old man over a deadly incident in the English Channel in which a boat packed with migrants capsized, resulting in the loss of four lives. >click to read<
Opinion: Who owns the oceans?
There is a question that has been asked in our household for years. For us, it’s a personal question. Generations of family fisherman have been affected by the decisions of others, some known and many invisible. We have had to sit on the sidelines watching the demise of our industry while power brokers, politicians, and the money hungry chart the course when we are not even invited to the table. Now we find ourselves watching the final chapters play out, knowing that we don’t even have a role. The high jacking of our oceans didn’t happen overnight. The slow, methodical process has lined the pockets of the politicians at every level of government. Working in conjunction with private industry and environmentalists they have driven our beloved industry past the brink and left fisherman with no place left to fish. >click to read< 09:59
Report finds Reul a Chuain tragedy stresses importance of wearing a PFD
On the evening of 24 June 2021, the 18-metre Reul a Chuain (OB915) was on passage with three crew to Mallaig, Scotland when a deckhand fell overboard in adverse weather while trying to recover one of the vessel’s nets, which had slipped over the stern during heavy rolling. The skipper attempted to recover him from the water but also fell overboard. Neither of them were wearing personal flotation devices. Both men were recovered by the inexperienced remaining crew member. The skipper was unresponsive and, despite efforts by the vessel’s crew and search and rescue personnel, he could not be revived. >click to read< 11:29
Disabled AIS Contributes to Fishing Boat Collision off Norway
On the morning of October 4, the coastal freighter Edmy departed the port of Larvik, bound for Copenhagen. The harbor pilot got off at the pilot station off Porsgrunn, and the ship continued outbound in fine, clear weather. The navigator was alone on watch, and after checking the radar and looking out the window, he turned to the computer located aft in the wheelhouse to take care of some paperwork. About half an hour later, the navigator felt the ship hit something, and he saw a fishing boat’s mast passing along the side. The mast belonged to the prawn trawler Tornado,,, >click to read< 09:49
Tributes to a ‘a hard-working hero’ who died in trawler tragedy off Jersey’s coast
A ‘generous’ man with ‘big dreams’, Larry Simyunn was also the family’s ‘hard-working hero’, according to his aunt Gigi Skye. Mr Simyunn was one of three fishermen who died after the L’Ecume II collided with Condor’s Commodore Goodwill off the west coast last Thursday morning, along with father of two Michael Michieli and Jervis Baligat – also from the Philippines. Two bodies have since been found at the site of the trawler, although their identities have not yet been confirmed. Ms Skye said: ‘His entire life, Larry has always had such a deep love for his family. He was selflessly driven, devoting everything he had to the people he loved most.’ >click to read< 07:28
