The city will replace pilings at Gardner’s Basin this month, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Monday, so boat tours and fishing boats will be able to have a complete summer season there. “We are confident the boats will be able to dock at the site by May,” Small said Monday. On March 24 and 31, the city sent letters to the businesses warning that “2023 seasonal operations under (your) Commercial Dock Agreement … for your Commercial Boat Slip must be suspended until the project is complete.” Video, >click to read< 13:32
Category Archives: Mid Atlantic
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 75′ Steel Trawler, 3412 Caterpillar, W/State and Federal Permits
To review specifications, information, and 16 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:54
Gov. Murphy’s “Green” Policies Are Killing N.J. Wildlife
In 2019, Governor Murphy signed an executive order to massively increase New Jersey’s offshore wind dependency. Since then, the state has sold two massive contracts to build the state’s first offshore wind turbines, covering nearly 200,000 acres (covering a distance roughly the same length as Wildwood to Philadelphia) of ocean. As sonar testing began on these projects, whales started washing up on New Jersey beaches in record numbers unseen in fifty years. These die-offs, according to Gov. Murphy and the “experts,” are merely a coincidence — but you and I know better: this is all part of Governor Murphy’s energy disaster plan. >click to read< 10:05
Ship Strikes: Thousands of whales are being killed by passing ships. Can we save them?
A collision with a vessel is one of the main threats to whales and if the whale does not die on impact, it is usually only a question of time. In Moon’s case, Wray knows she made the 3,000 mile migration to Hawaii. “We’re actually hoping that she has passed,” says Wray. She has not been seen since December. With potentially thousands of whales hit every year, and with the number of ships rapidly increasing across the globe, the problem is only getting worse. But as the recent UN high seas treaty shows, there is increasing political will to protect the world’s oceans and their inhabitants. The question is whether it is even possible to save the whales from dying at the bows of ships. New technology suggests yes – but it’s going to take all hands on deck. >click to read< 08:01
We accompanied a local fishmonger to the new Fulton Fish Market. Here’s what we found
It’s 3 a.m. and I’m standing in the bustling parking lot of the New Fulton Fish Market at Hunt’s Point in the Bronx, New York. I’m waiting for Steve Sclafani, the owner and principal fish buyer for Peter’s Fish Market, a fresh fish shop that has been in Midland Park for 49 years. Sclafani has agreed to let me accompany him on this late-night or early-morning shopping trip to the nation’s biggest fish market. As I wait in the dark, I’m having some thoughts (some of them second). My first thought was that I have finally made it to this amazing place, though maybe 18 years too late. The original Fulton Fish Market was at the tip of Manhattan down by the Brooklyn Bridge. Video, 19 photos, >click to read< 09:49
Ignoring dead whales, NOAA proposes another site survey off New Jersey
“Damn the whales, full speed ahead” seems to be the offshore wind policy of Biden’s NOAA. They now propose to approve yet another site survey, just 10 miles off Atlantic City. These surveys are the top suspect for the recent wave of dead whales, centered on New Jersey. The site is a big one because the offshore wind project is huge. Phase 1 is a whopping 1,500 MW, which means over 100 monster turbine towers. The survey area is around 1,500,000 acres or an incredible 2,300 square miles. Ironically the project is called Atlantic Shores, which is where all the dead whales are washing up. More deeply, the Atlantic Shores Wind Project has yet to be approved and may never be. Hugely disruptive site surveys should not be authorized until the Project is approved. >click to read< 13:57
‘Tell us why’: Monmouth Commissioners call for investigation into surge of whale deaths
Monmouth County officials stood in the mist at Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park on Wednesday, where they gathered to call for an immediate stop to offshore wind energy work off New Jersey’s coast. Their announcement marked a new addition to a growing group of elected officials who are demanding answers on recent deaths among whales and dolphins across the region, and who allege offshore wind survey work is the cause. As of Wednesday afternoon, 10 whale deaths had been recorded along the Jersey Shore since Dec. 1. In addition, two separate pods of dolphins had stranded since early February on New Jersey beaches. Another three individual dead dolphins and one porpoise had washed ashore in separate strandings. >click to read< 16:47
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 70″ Steel Stern Dragger with Longfin squid – Tier 1 Permit
To review specifications, information, and 10 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:12
Harsh Reaction to Atlantic City Move to Stop Boat Businesses
We “blew the whistle” this past Saturday, April 1, 2023 that the various boat businesses at Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Gardner’s Basin will not be able to open for business. The City of Atlantic City sent letters to the various business owners just days before the season was set to begin. Some of the business owners didn’t receive the letter until Saturday, April 1, 2023. The reaction from the community to this unwanted news has been understandably hyper negative towards the Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small administration. >click to read< 08:10
Jeff Van Drew, others make call to ‘save the whales’ in Ventnor
Standing next to a 30-square-foot sand drawing of a humpback whale and her calf, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew and other speakers made a call to “save the whales” Sunday afternoon. Van Drew, R-2nd, and state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, headlined a half-dozen speakers who once again opposed proposals for wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey and other Eastern states, claiming the sonar testing has led to a rise in marine mammal deaths over the past four months. They spoke to about 500 people on the beach at Suffolk Avenue. “Those whales — and I don’t mean to sound corny — were a divine blessing from God to wake us the hell up and say we’ve got to do something. This is the real thing. We are really in trouble with this and we’ve got to fight,” Van Drew said. Video, and a pile of photos! >click to read< 21:22
Blue Lobsters Have Better Luck, so PETA Releases Dye Kit to Save Them All
Because many fishers have chosen to spare rare blue lobsters after catching them off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and New Jersey and around the world, PETA is releasing a new dye kit that makes it possible to give all lobsters the same blue hue. Now available for sale, the chemical-free dye binds to lobster shells for up to six months when squeezed into water—making it look like the animals have a rare genetic trait that occurs in just one out of an estimated every 2 million lobsters. >click to read< 14:28
Atlantic City, N.J. Tells Boat Businesses That They Can’t Operate
Last Spring, 2022 Atlantic City, New Jersey Mayor Marty Small had Dredgie Wood’s Fish Heads Restaurant towed away from Gardner’s Basin. This was despite the fact that New Jersey Senator Vince Polistina had successfully negotiated with the state of New Jersey to keep Fish Heads open for the 2022 season. Small waited until a rain-soaked, blustery Saturday to do this dirty deed. It was political retaliation by Small against Wood. Like a bad horror movie, Marty Small now strikes again on April Fool’s Day, 2023. All of the Atlantic City businesses that utilize the water at Gardner’s Basin have received letters from the Small administration that they will not be permitted to open for business. >click to read< 09:13
In response to the Biden Administration’s shoddy wind farm approval
The House of Representatives today passed an amendment offered by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) requiring a comprehensive, independent investigation into the sufficiency of the environmental approval process for 3,400 offshore wind turbines along New Jersey’s coastline during its consideration of the Lower Energy Costs Act (HR 1). Smith said his amendment—which passed by a vote of 244-189 and is now part of HR 1—comes in response to the Biden and Murphy Administrations’ rush to install the massive wind farms around the nation’s busiest port without adequate study on their impact on the environment, marine mammals, the fishing industry, tourism, navigational safety and more. Video, >click to read< 09:07
Dem senators from 4 states ask NOAA to address whale deaths
Democratic U.S. Senators from four states want federal environmental officials to address a spate of whale deaths on both coasts, urging “transparency and timeliness” in releasing information about whale deaths and their causes. The call late Tuesday by New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker; Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse for action by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marked the first large-scale request for action by Democratic federal lawmakers on an issue that has rapidly become politicized. Thus far, mostly Republican lawmakers have called for a pause or an outright halt to offshore wind farm preparation work, which they blame for the deaths of whales along the U.S. East Coast since December. But in their letter to a NOAA administrator, the Democratic senators conspicuously did not blame — or even mention — offshore wind as a potential cause of the deaths. >click to read< 16:52
Witness Drives Home Marine Vessel Safety Concerns as Offshore Wind Growth Questioned
“Radar interference is a major safety problem for our vessels,” said Megan Lapp, the fisheries liaison for a Rhode Island-based seafood company who has spent close to a decade studying the impact of offshore wind farms on the commercial fishing industry. “Marine navigation without reliable radar is a life-threatening situation.” Lapp’s comments came during the first congressional hearing on the industrialization of the ocean earlier this month. She was one of six witnesses to testify before House of Representatives members Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey, Andy Harris of Maryland and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on March 16 in Wildwood. >click to read< 09:01
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 36′ Ellis Tuna/Lobster Boat, 600HP Daytona Mack E7 Diesel, Price Reduced
To review specifications, information, and 57 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:52
Offshore Wind Farm Opponents to Rally in Trenton on Thursday
Protect Our Coast NJ, a coalition of groups opposed to offshore wind farms, will hold a rally Thursday at the Trenton State House Annex to demand that Gov. Phil Murphy stop the projects until the cause of a surge in whale deaths is determined. Keith Moore, of Defend Brigantine Beach, another coastal group, said wind farm opponents will deliver an online petition, signed by nearly 500,000 people, calling for the immediate halt of wind farm development. The rally is scheduled at 9 a.m. Numerous advocacy groups, some formed to address what they call the “transformative industrialization” of the ocean, have been speaking out against the construction of offshore wind energy farms. >click to read< 13:30
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 3/27/2023
Latent Commercial Fishing Licenses – Something that we keep hearing is only 40% of North Carolina commercial harvesters report landings while 60% never report landings. I heard it at the speckled trout scoping meetings, I hear it at Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) meetings, and I see it written in articles. While technically this is true, it does not address why these licenses do not report any landings. More, >click to read< 10:01
Another Dead Whale Washes Up – This Time in Ocean City, N.J.
It’s become like a broken record, where people are starting to become numb to it all … but, for what it’s worth, another whale has washed up. This time in Ocean City, New Jersey. It’s a badly decomposed 9 foot Pygmy Sperm Whale, which our Brigantine source said may have been dead for many months. We caught up with Brigantine Mayor Vince Sera regarding the latest whale washing ashore. Sera provided us with comprehensive and thoughtful comments as follows: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see yet another dead whale wash up on our shore.” “How many more whales and dolphins need to die before Governor Murphy pauses these offshore wind activities?” >click to read< 09:40
Resistance to Offshore Wind Is Growing on US Coasts
A growing chorus of interest groups is calling for a pause in offshore wind activities to allow further assessment of the sector’s impacts on the marine ecosystem. Fishing groups and local residents have filed five lawsuits against proposed or under-construction wind projects along the Atlantic seaboard. A leading body for the U.S. Pacific fishing industry is urging the federal government to call off its proposed auction for offshore wind off the Oregon coast. And the United States’ largest lobbying group for Native Americans recently called for a halt to all offshore wind scoping and permitting. Wind energy is a key component of the Biden Administration’s climate agenda. >click to read< 08:10
Point Pleasant loses a fishing industry icon; Oscar John Stensland
On March 19 th , Oscar John Stensland passed away at age 90 after battling recent health issues. John was a former Commercial fisherman who was part owner of the Trawler Snow White in the nineteen sixties and early Seventies, until he decided to work with his late father, Oscar [senior] who had founded the Fisherman’s Supply Company back in 1948. Fisherman’s Supply was a crucial component of the development of the commercial fishing industry in the Ocean and Monmouth County
areas as the local fleet rapidly developed during the last century, and it provided Fishermen with a local store to purchase gear such as rope, twine, wire, hardware, tackles, blocks, etc. Without Fisherman’s Supply Company, fishermen were forced to travel to Rhode Island or New Bedford for fishing gear until Cape May started becoming major industry suppliers during the Seventies. >click to continue< 17:22
Distressed Whale spotted near offshore wind survey vessel – Jim Lovgren
Monday morning, March 20th, Bill Lovgren, the owner and Captain of the 72′ foot trawler, F/V Holdfast, left the Fisherman’s Dock Co-op shortly after 9 am for an offshore trip targeting Black Sea Bass and Summer Flounder with his two crewmen, James Lovgren, and Paul Kuchinski. Between them they have over seventy-five years of fishing experience from the port. This particular trip was unusual because the vessels fishing offshore generally leave port sometimes during the night due to having a 60- mile distance to travel to get to the grounds by daylight. Bill had to delay his departure Sunday night due to concerns of an oil leak in his generator. First thing Monday morning with the assurance from his mechanic that it wasn’t a critical problem, they threw off the lines and headed offshore. >click to read< 19:20
Locals Upset Over Dredging Issues at the Inlet in West Ocean City
On Wednesday morning, a 75-foot commercial vessel ran aground on its approach to the commercial dock in West Ocean City. The captain and crew say if the channel was dredged properly, this would not have happened. They also voiced their frustrations with the Army Corp of Engineers, and there is agreement locally that a more permanent solution is needed. “Maryland keeps wanting to put a band-aid on this, how many band-aids are you going to put on it before you fix the problem?” questioned Mike Coppa. Coppa is the owner of the Fishing Vessel Instigator, the boat stuck in the channel. Video, photos, >click to read< 07:55
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 35′ Duffy Lobster Boat, 330HP John Deere, 4′ Aluminum Stern Extension
To review specifications, information, and 42 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:55
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 3/20/2023
Last Two Speckled Trout Scoping Meetings This Week, Legislative Update, 3/20/2023, Memorial for Susan West. On Sunday a memorial was held for Susan West in Hatteras who passed away last fall. NCFA Board member Dewey Hemilright, Thomas Newman and I attended. I will write more about the memorial and about Susan’s advocacy for commercial fishing families later. As is always the case for something like this, you get to see many folks that you haven’t seen for quite a while. It was good to see so many familiar faces at a very fitting tribute for Susan. Jerry. >click to read< 08:30
Dem congressman shreds Biden admin for green energy hypocrisy: ‘Pisses me off’
Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden blasted the Biden administration for targeting his state’s lobster industry with eco regulations while ignoring the environmental impacts of offshore wind projects. “The hypocrisy part is what pisses me off because we know that right whales, other whales, get struck by freight vessels all the time. Cruise ships that are out there carting people around hit them,” he said. “And yet they see a small business lobster fishery up in Maine that’s not politically important to them and they try to crush it just to try to prove to the environmental groups that they’re actively trying to protect the right whales,” Last week, Golden joined Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Andy Harris, R-Md., in writing a letter to federal officials demanding more information about the risks offshore wind projects pose to marine wildlife. >click to read< 07:49
Nils Stolpe: How many statisticians does it take to….
Screw in a lightbulb? Trivialize the deaths of at least two dozen whales? Convince the world that the massive installation of wind power off our East Coast won’t irreparably damage our estuarine, inshore and offshore ecosystems? The folks at NOAA/NMFS (and with the convenient parroting of myriad so-called environmentalists, and BOEM, the other part of the federal cheerleading squad selling Ocean Wind as a major solution to our “energy crisis”) have declared that it hasn’t been proven that there aren’t any relationships between the extensive survey work being committed by Big Wind and the associated contractors and the two dozen deaths that have been visited upon several species of whales off New York and New Jersey. What is their proof? Inadequately enough, their “proof” boils down to the fact that they have seen no proof. To my way of thinking, that’s tantamount to convicting someone of murder because there is no proof that he or she isn’t a murderer. But it appears as if, as far as dead whales and President Biden’s and New Jersey’s Governor Murphy’s windmill fantasies are concerned, that’s good enough. At least for NOAA/NMFS, BOEM and a bunch of environmental organizations. Why? >click to read< 09:54
I’m a fishing boat captain. Green energy companies, government want to put me out of business
Offshore wind energy might be killing whales, but there’s no question it’s killing American fishermen. I’ve been a fishing boat captain for over 20 years. I live on an island in Maine and sail out of New Bedford, Mass. My brothers and cousins are lobstermen. Fishing is the trade our family has plied for generations. We’re proud to practice the founding craft of our nation. When colonists first settled New England, they looked to the sea to sustain them. And so it is for our coastal communities four 
centuries on. But for how much longer? Federal regulators and foreign green energy companies seem determined to drive us off the water and lay waste to the communities that depend on fishing. If their well-laid development plans succeed, biblical calamity will follow for working people across New England. Consider the mechanics of fishing. Photos, Video, >click to read< 10:06
Maryland, Virginia race to save dwindling commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay
Alarmed by plummeting stocks of commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, officials in Maryland and Virginia are scrambling to control invasive fish species that are causing at least part of the problem. On Thursday, Gov. Wes Moore asked the federal government to carry out an evaluation to determine if the situation amounts to a declaration of a “commercial fishery disaster,” which would qualify the state for federal assistance. In a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Moore said the state is increasingly concerned about the explosive growth of invasive fish species in the Chesapeake Bay, including blue catfish, flathead catfish and snakehead. >click to read< 09:11
