Category Archives: National
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 72′ Steel Offshore Lobster Boat, Caterpillar D343
To review specifications, and information, and 51 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:22
6 Ocean Priorities for the Biden Administration from the Environmentalist
Since President-elect Biden was voted into office last November, he and his team have been sharing what they want to accomplish in their first 100 days in office.,, In the midst of any political transition, it is easy for environmental issues to be pushed aside in the name of more “urgent” issues. Fortunately, the new administration has given us promising signals that environmental action is high on their to-do list. Here are six things that must be prioritized in the coming weeks and months,,, >click to read< 09:48
To honor our lost fishermen, we must act
Every time a Coast Guard crew embarks on a rescue mission to a commercial fishing vessel, we all want the same outcome – a successful rescue and safe return to shore. Maine communities know too well those outcomes vary. We rescued four fishermen in November 2018 after the Aaron & Melissa II sank 50 miles south of Rockland. Two years later, last November, we lost four fishermen when the Emmy Rose sank northeast of Provincetown. And a year ago this Saturday, Joe Nickerson and Christopher Pinkham perished when the Hayley Ann sank 47 miles southeast of Cape Elizabeth. >click to read< 08:14 More lobstermen in New England are wearing life jackets while they work – >click to read<
Stanley Clarence Hasbrouck of Tillamook, Oregon, has passed away
Stanley C. Hasbrouck, loving father of six, passed away on Jan. 7, 2021 at the age of 88. Stan was born on May 3, 1932 to Fred and May Hasbrouck, he was the youngest of 5 children. He joined the army in 1952 and served his country during the Korean War. Stanley was a commercial fisherman most of his life. He was also a mechanic, heavy equipment operator and the airport manager in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. >click to read< 09:55
New York State more than doubles the number of foreign wind turbines planned off the coast of Long Island
New York State’s decision last week to award two “massive” offshore wind power contracts to Norwegian energy giant Equinor will more than double the size of a planned wind farm off the coast of Long Island. It also promises “substantial” upgrades to a section of the electric grid at Oceanside. The 
plan, announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last week as part of an expansive post-COVID-19 green economy, would bring the number the number of turbines expected to be spinning off the South Shore by 2027 to around 170, encompassing some 80,000 acres from Jones Beach to Islip, the company said. >click to read< 08:50
Coronavirus cases detected at Alaska seafood plant
Seattle-based Trident Seafoods reports that four workers at the company’s Akutan, Alaska, seafood plant have tested positive for coronavirus, including one who had difficulty breathing and had to be evacuated by air to a hospital in Anchorage. The Akutan plant in the Aleutian Islands is a processing hub for Bering Sea harvests of pollock, crab and cod, with a workforce of 700 employees that will swell in the weeks ahead to 1,400 people. >click to read< 07:29
As Commerce Secretary, Raimondo to play key role in offshore wind.
In the selection of Gina Raimondo as the next U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the offshore wind industry would get a champion in Washington. What influence she could bring to bear for the emerging energy sector remains to be seen, but if confirmed to her new position in the Biden cabinet, Raimondo would oversee federal fisheries regulators who have raised some of the concerns about potential negative impacts of erecting what could be many hundreds of wind turbines in the ocean waters off southern New England. >click to read<09:45
Del Norte Fishermen Experiencing A Disappointing Start To Dungeness Crab Season
Though his was one of the first boats to pull up at Citizens Dock after fishermen pulled their pots on Saturday, Kurt Ivison didn’t have much,,, Kept from plying their trade initially due to poor quality crab and later because of a price dispute with seafood processors, Del Norte County fishermen, and others on the North Coast, set their pots at 8 a.m. Thursday. According to LCZ Unloaders employee Kevin Wilson, fishermen had a “gentleman’s agreement” to start bringing in their catch at 8 a.m. Saturday. Wilson and his coworker Justin Green noted that everything was going at a slower pace, rough weather earlier in the week might have contributed to the lack of crab coming in. >click to read< 08:44
Stocks head for weekly loss as economy’s coronavirus pain deepens – Seafood industry hit hard
A federal report says the coronavirus pandemic has taken away about a third of the commercial fishing industry’s revenue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says revenues from catch brought to the docks by commercial fishermen fell 29% over the course of the first seven months of the year. The report says revenues declined every month from March to July, including a 45% decrease in July. The NOAA report says the seafood industry at large has been hit hard by restaurant closures, social distancing protocols and the need for safety measures. >click to read< 09:15
Capt. Douglas M. Swain, 78, of New Bedford has passed away
Captain Douglas M. Swain, 78, of New Bedford died January 12, 2021 peacefully at home. He was the husband of Claudette E. (Verville) Swain. Born in New Bedford, son of the late Robert J. and Helen F. (Goss) Swain, he lived in New Bedford all of his life. He was formerly employed as a fisherman for many years retiring as captain of F/V Ambassador. Doug had a great relationship with his crew and the owner Geir Tonnessen. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Doug received the Purple Heart and the Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze stars. >click to read< 10:40
New York Selects Equinor for Largest US Offshore Wind Award
“Together, Equinor and the State of New York will create a robust offshore wind supply chain capable of manufacturing, assembling, and staging these projects at scale. As Equinor works to expand its renewable energy presence across the United States and the globe, New York’s leadership clearly illustrates the transformative benefits of offshore wind on climate goals and economic activity alike,” says Siri Espedal Kindem, President of Equinor Wind U.S.,,, “Governor Cuomo has taken the necessary actions to position New York as a national hub for the U.S. offshore wind industry, >click to read<09:34
In Loving Memory: Nick McGlashan, By the McGlashan Family
Bruce “Nick” McGlashan was born in Anchorage on Aug.1, 1987. He was the second child to Bruce Lanford and June McGlashan. Nick was baptized at the Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension in Unalaska two weeks later by the late Father Ishmael Gromoff. Nick would serve with Father Ishmael as an altar boy. He grew up in Akutan, AK.,, Nick McGlashan loved his family, friends and fans. He passed away on Dec. 27, 2020. This handsome, bright, and caring young man was taken from all of us, much too soon. He was very outspoken about his struggle with addiction in recent years and became a mentor for those going through similar battles. >click to read< 08:34
Photo’s: Humboldt Crab Fishermen are Finally Out There Catching You Some Deliciousness
After a much-delayed start to this year’s crab season, Humboldt’s crab fisherman fleet is finally on the water with industry insiders predicting commercially caught crustaceans could be on local tables as soon as next week, thank God. Local photographer Matt Filar awoke way too early this morning to head to Trinidad to capture some images of our hopeful crabbers as they headed out to sea to drop pots. >click to view 9 photos<07:36
Longtime, devoted Galveston shrimper Joseph “Captain Joe,” Grillo dies
Joseph Anthony Grillo, a commercial shrimper for more than 50 years who fought for legislation to protect the island industry, died on Jan. 1 at his home. He was 89. Grillo, affectionately known as “Captain Joe,” was born Jan.10, 1931, in Apalachicola, Florida. He moved to Galveston with his family in 1940. Grillo was a loving family man, a hard-working commercial shrimper and devoted Roman Catholic, his family and friends say. Grillo purchased his shrimp boat, which he named Santa Maria, in 1952 and he and his wife operated it until they sold the boat at their retirement in 2003 to the Galveston Historical Foundation, which made it a part of its Texas Seaport Museum on Harborside Drive. >click to read< 09:55
The President vetoed a bill that would have decimated family fisheries and the ocean
Thanks to a last-minute veto by President Donald Trump on January 1, dozens of American family fishing businesses will be saved from going out of business, and the ocean ecosystem will be better protected—both of which were being threatened by a bill that was more rhetoric than science. In mid-December, Congress passed S. 906, the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act. The legislation would have phased out the use of drift gillnets, the only proven commercially viable way to catch swordfish, and would have effectively closed the West Coast swordfish fishery. This comes amidst particular uncertainty for fishermen in the region, who were already facing daunting challenges. >click to read< 09:15
Three fishermen saved after shrimp boat sinks off North Topsail Beach
On Dec. 30, Lawrence Hansley and two others headed out to sea with Hansley’s shrimp boat, Salty Boy. It’d been six or seven months since he was on the inlet. While out on the water, the team entered a channel not far off NTB. “We went through a set of buoys, and I know we had to line up for the red buoys, but we didn’t see the red buoy,” said Hansley. That’s when they were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The boat touched the bottom of the seafloor, coming up onto a sand bar, and ran aground. >video, click to read< 08:10
North Pacific pollock fleet preps for season after tough 2020
Skipper Kevin Ganley spent most of the summer and fall pulling a massive trawl net through the Bering Sea in a long slow search for pollock, a staple of McDonald’s fish sandwiches. The fish proved very hard to find. “We just scratched and scratched and scratched,” Ganley recalls. “It was survival mode.” Ganley’s boat is part of a fleet of largely Washington-based trawlers that have had a difficult year as they joined in North America’s largest single-species seafood harvest. >click to read< 19:28
Mid-Atlantic Council Flirts With Overfishing
The relationship between the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and overfishing goes back a long way. In 1999, the Council adopted a summer flounder quota that had just an 18 percent probability of preventing overfishing, an action that led to the landmark court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Daley, which established the principal that, to pass legal muster, a fishery management measure must have at least a 50 percent probability of achieving its conservation goals. Immediately after the court handed down that decision, the Council divorced itself from any management measure that might condone overfishing, and spent nearly two decades successfully rebuilding and conserving once-overfished stocks. At one point in the early 2010s, it was the only one of the eight regional fishery management councils that had completely ended overfishing, and didn’t preside over any overfished stocks. >click to read< 14:36
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 88′ Master Marine Steel Scalloper, Cat 3412, Kort nozzle, 2 Detroit gensets
To review specifications, and information, and 16 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here<11:39
From Congressman Huffmans friends on MSA Re-Auth! – Healthier, Climate-Ready Fisheries on the Menu for Congress
The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), our federal fisheries law, has not been reauthorized since 2006. And with a robust new draft bill to amend it, House lawmakers are breathing new life into the conversation about managing our nation’s fisheries. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-2), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, and fellow subcommittee member Representative Ed Case (D-HI-1), released the draft bill in December to reauthorize and update the MSA. It seeks to address the changing needs of sustainable fisheries and coastal communities, including tackling new challenges–like climate change and its drastic impacts on marine ecosystems. >click to read< 06:15
Low fuel prices may have saved Gulf Coast shrimpers
Texas shrimpers had a painfully low amount of shrimp harvested in the Gulf in 2020. It dropped from an annual average of 45-50 million pounds of shrimp to 38 million pounds. Yet in the beginning stages of a new year, there is interesting news about what actually happened. According to Andrea Hance with the Texas Shrimp Association, “We actually ended the year on a fairy positive note and it’s kind of hard to believe,,, video, >click to read< 16:48
Capt. Willard Hamilton Norris, Deltaville’s Last Active Wooden Boat Builder Passes Away at 94
The Bay region lost a boatbuilding icon on Jan. 7 as Capt. Willard Hamilton Norris, 94, of Deltaville passed away. Norris built boats past age 90, best-known for his deadrise workboats. In a 2017 Chesapeake Bay Magazine story, he said he hoped to continue building until he was 100. During the 
heyday of planked wooden deadrise workboats on the Chesapeake Bay, Willard was born in 1927 to a traditional boatbuilding family on Lovers Lane in Deltaville.,,, With the help of his wife Shirley, he built his first “paid to build” boat in the footprint of his soon to be living room and used the profits from the boat to complete his home. >click to read< 10:29
Renewables and unions: Biden rounds out energy Cabinet
President-elect Joe Biden closed out his Cabinet picks last week with the choice of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) for Commerce secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for Labor secretary,,, Offshore wind insiders say Raimondo appears to be an answer to the growing friction between a burgeoning renewable sector and the fishermen who have long been the ocean’s dominant users.,, Raimondo would oversee NOAA Fisheries, a critical gatekeeper to the growing line of offshore wind projects awaiting approval from the incoming Biden government. >click to read< 17:08
New Bedford: The Codfather should get a Trump Pardon
Anyone who really knows Carlos Rafael and all the good he’s done will most likely agree with me that he’s worthy of a presidential pardon. He was convicted on federal charges that he bilked fishing regulations to increase his profits. Anyone who really knows Carlos Rafael understands the thousands of local families who depended on the capital and labor that his fleet created, sustaining generations of fishermen, workers’ salaries, the fish house jobholders, lumpers, ice-packers, fuel suppliers,,, by Phil Paleologos, >click to read< 08:22
What happened to Nicholas Fudge, also known as “Duffy” on Wicked Tuna?
Reality TV shows are known to make fans fall in love with the stars. It is common for fans to get to know the celebs as real people as they go along with them in their adventures. Therefore, when one of them dies mysteriously, the loss is felt deeply. The death of Duffy left all his fans shaken and in grief. Of course, fans wanted to know what happened to their favourite fisherman. >click to read< 15:41
Deadline to Apply for Seafood Trade Relief Program Coming Up
“U.S. fishermen affected by retaliatory tariffs need to file an application for this program by Friday, Jan. 15,” said Richard Fordyce, Administrator for USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “We still have funding available, and these direct payments will help them recover from the effects of retaliatory tariffs on their ability to make a living.” STRP is available for the following types of seafood: Atka mackerel, Crab (Dungeness, King, Snow, Southern Tanner, Flounder, Geoduck, Goosefish, Herrings, Lobster, Pacific Cod, Pacific Ocean Perch, Pollock, Sablefish, Salmon, Sole, Squid, Tuna, Turbot. To apply, visit farmers.gov/seafood or call 877-508-8364. >click to read< 12:20
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as his commerce secretary
The Biden transition team announced the president-elect’s choice of Raimondo for this key economic position Thursday night. The agency has a critical role in everything from technology policy to climate change to promoting American industry. Beyond that, the statement said she has “worked to quickly bring the state economy back from the depths” of the pandemic; “expanded clean energy jobs and put Rhode Island on a path to achieving 100% renewable energy.” >click to read< 10:40
New Jersey Offshore wind developer is hosting a webinar for recreational fishermen this coming Wednesday. The purpose of the meeting is to get feedback from recreational fishermen. The group has brought on for-hire vessel operator Captain Adam Nowalsky as the recreational fisheries representative and liaison. >click to read<
Stay calm under pressure. You may not be a trauma surgeon, but you can use some of the same coping mechanisms.
While being a human is rarely a stress-free endeavor, this level of anxiety is new for many of us. But for people with the world’s most intense and dangerous jobs—occupations that can involve life-and-death decisions—such tension is a fact of life. We reached out to a few of them to learn about how they cope without freaking out, and to hear what advice they have for the rest of us. From the land to the air to the sea, the terrain—both literal and psychological—these folks navigate can be tough. Here’s what it’s like for Air Traffic Controller Nichole Surunis, Coast Guard Rescue Pilot Jared Carbajal, Fishing Boat Captain Dick Ogg, Trauma Surgeon Daniel Hagler. >click to read< 10:10
F/V Emmy Rose owner claims no responsibility for sinking of vessel
The Portland fishing vessel Emmy Rose sank in November, and according to a new limitation action in federal court, the owners of the boat say they shouldn’t be held responsible. A lawyer for Boat Aaron & Melissa, Inc. is asking the court to exonerate or limit the company’s liability. Four fishermen were lost, including three from Maine. Video, >click to read< 07:48
Obituary: Grant Thompson, 40+ years owner operator of commercial fishing vessels, industry innovator in Bristol Bay
Grant Thompson, 73, passed away on September 14, 2020, while playing tennis with friends at Zephyr Cove, Nevada. He grew up in Seattle, and at age 15 was invited by neighbor Erling Thomason to work on purse seiner Betty in Petersburg, which proved to be a life-changing experience. He spent the next 40+ years owning and operating commercial fishing vessels, became a founding partner of Norquest Seafoods in 1982, and contributed to revolutionizing the commercial fishing industry in Bristol Bay. >click to read< 15:15
