Maritime lobster fishers are about to return to waters claimed by both Canada and the United States. Captains are anxious to see whether the rhetoric by President Donald Trump and pressure from Maine congressman Jared Golden results in increased American pressure. “It remains to be seen – nobody knows,” said Brian Guptil, president of the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association, about the reception Canadian fishing vessels will get this season in an area of water dubbed the Grey Zone. “We’ve heard reports of big coast guard cutters spending a little more time in the area, but we’ll have to wait and see.” The Grey Zone is a 700-square-kilometre area of water long claimed by both Canada and the United States in the Gulf of Maine. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:46
Category Archives: National
Blown Off Course: The Case Against Wind Power | Opinion
President Trump’s declaration on January 15, 2025, that no new wind turbines will be built under his administration and that existing ones should be dismantled, was not rhetorical bluster. It was a long-overdue recognition of wind energy’s central contradiction: its green image masks an environmentally destructive, economically unsound, and technologically brittle reality. His administration’s immediate actions, including the revocation of offshore wind leases and the freeze on onshore wind permits, have reoriented federal energy policy around a single principle: energy must be reliable, economical, and genuinely sustainable. Wind energy fails on all counts. The mythology of wind as a clean, renewable panacea has been driven more by ideology than evidence. Manufacturing a single wind turbine requires hundreds of tons of concrete and steel, mined, transported, and forged through carbon-intensive processes. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:21
Proposed shrimp trawling ban sparks backlash in county
A legislative effort that began as a move to expand recreational fishing access in North Carolina has taken a sharp turn, leaving Carteret County residents and leaders bracing for the potential collapse of a centuries-old way of life. Opponents, including Carteret County Commissioner Chris Chadwick, questioned both the timing and the motivation behind the change. The local shrimping fleet – made up largely of small vessels operating in sounds such as Bogue, Core and Pamlico – would be unable to safely shift their operations offshore, Chadwick said. He also expressed concern about ripple effects to other local businesses. “It would be horrible, not only for the shrimpers, but for the fuel man, for the net maker, for the auto parts store,” he said. “It’s a vast effect that nobody seems to be taking into account.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:08
Biden’s Offshore Wind Dreams Drowning As Trump Guts Industry
The offshore wind industry is floundering as President Donald Trump reverses Biden-era policies designed to boost the industrialization of America’s oceans. While President Joe Biden pushed for an enormous expansion of offshore wind energy during his time in the White House, many of the projects his administration supported with subsidies and favorable regulation have since collapsed or been abandoned by developers due to unfavorable economic conditions and the Trump administration’s crackdown on incentives for the green energy technology. “The windmills are killing our country by the way,” Trump said on June 12. “We’re not going to approve windmills unless something happens that’s an emergency. … I guess it could happen, but we’re not doing any of them.” Fishermen have also spoken out against these projects, arguing that their industry and livelihoods are endangered by offshore wind farms. Lots of links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:48
The Grey Zone: Trump’s rhetoric casts shadow over disputed lobster ground
Federal judge to deny Trump administration’s motion to dismiss lawsuit over block on wind projects
A federal judge in Massachusetts said Wednesday he plans to deny a motion by the Trump administration to dismiss a lawsuit over its blocking of wind energy projects, siding with a coalition of state attorneys general. Led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C. are suing in federal court to challenge President Donald Trump’s Day One executive order halting leasing and permitting for wind energy projects. Judge William G. Young said during a hearing that he plans to allow the case to proceed against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum but will dismiss the action against Trump and cabinet secretaries other than Burgum named as defendants. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:54
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 54’ Fiberglass Dragger, 451HP Cummins Diesel
To review specifications, information, with 21 photos, >click here<. To see all the boats in this series >click here< 06:28
Strength in Numbers: American Food Industries Join Forces to Fight Unfair Competition
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has partnered strategically with other domestic food producers facing similar trade challenges to advocate together as a coalition. Last week, SSA joined representatives from the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) and the Catfish Farmers of America (CFA) for meetings in Washington D.C. to seek stronger enforcement against unfair foreign competition devastating the U.S. honey, catfish, crawfish, and shrimp industries. The ad hoc coalition met with the offices of Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) (featured in a social media post), Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) to present the substantial economic impact these industries have on the economies of Alabama and Mississippi and how that value has been eroded by foreign competitors’ unfair trade practices. Senator Tuberville identified the common challenges faced by Alabama catfish, honey, and shrimp producers in a recent Newsweek editorial. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:22
Opponents of wind energy farms off Morro Bay win another round
Opponents of wind energy farms off the coast of Morro Bay won another round when the House approved a version of Trump’s big, beautiful bill known as Inflation Reduction Act that includes a timeline for subsidies that make the projects less likely to happen. In addition to the wind farms, there are plans to industrialize Port San Luis and the Morro Bay Harbor. The support systems on land would include massive piers and could require new breakwaters and dredging. The House’s version of the Inflation Reduction Act repeals tax credits for projects that don’t start construction within 60 days of the bill’s passage. The proposed bill also requires companies to eliminate Chinese goods from their supply chain before the end of the year and then began operating by the end of 2028. more. >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:32
Dewey Hemilright advocates for US commercial fishing fleet
Dewey Hemilright has spent more than 30 years on the water as a commercial fisherman. Along the way he has become an outspoken, sometimes harsh critic of how commercial fishing is regulated in the United States. He is forceful in expressing his opinions, his language sometimes colorful, but the knowledge is deep, insightful and earned through a lifetime in the commercial fishing industry. He’s a longliner, fishing from his 36-foot-long boat, the F/V Tarbaby. Longlining has become the least environmentally harmful method of commercial fishing, although “25 years ago, it wasn’t, but for the U.S. now, we’re the Mother Teresa,” Hemilright said describing the improvements regulators demanded and the changes the fishing industry made — or at least the changes have been made in the U.S. fishing fleet, which is one of Hemilright’s biggest complaints. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:37
Letter to the Editor: The New York Times missed the mark on ‘shrimp fraud,’ but reforms are needed
This letter to the editor comes from Chef Dean Neff of Wilmington. Neff is responding to an article by food writer and journalist Brett Anderson, published in The New York Times. The article, with the headline “Investigating Shrimp Fraud Is an Urgent Matter on the Gulf Coast,” ran online with the sub-head, “With a flood of imported seafood driving the U.S. shrimp industry to the edge of ruin, a consulting company out of Houston is testing truth in menu labeling,” on April 30, and was published in print in early May. For the past decade I’ve worked as a chef in Wilmington, North Carolina, where I’ve been a two-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast Award. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 90:07
LEGAL ACTION INTENSIFIES AGAINST OFFSHORE WIND
A coalition of commercial fishermen, seafood processors, fish buyers and environmental groups from New Jersey to Massachusetts have filed an emergency motion in federal court to halt construction of Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, citing imminent, irreversible harm to marine life, fishing grounds, the seafood supply chain and coastal economies. The motion seeks a preliminary injunction to immediately halt pile driving and construction activities. Plaintiffs argue the project threatens endangered whales, destroys seafloor habitat, and cripples a multi-generational American industry that provides food, jobs, and economic stability across the East Coast. “To allow Empire Wind to continue construction is to abandon us fishermen and our coastal communities who have, for generations, fed our great country and kept local economies thriving,” said Captain Shawn Machie of the F/V Capt. John in New Bedford, MA. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:55
G7 summit: Who is attending and what’s on the agenda?
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US – will meet on Sunday in the remote town of Kananaskis, Alberta, nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, for three days of intense discussions. This will be the 51st G7 summit meeting. The first took place in 1975 in Rambouillet, France. Back then, it was known as the G6 meeting, as Canada did not become a member until the following year. Russia joined the forum in 1998, making it the G8, but was effectively expelled in 2014, following its annexation of Crimea. Since then, the forum has been known as the G7. Tensions at this year’s gathering, taking place June 15-17, are likely to be high for many reasons. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:53
U.S. shrimp industry dwindling from decades of foreign competition
Shrimp are the quintessential Georgia seafood. But even though they’re ubiquitous on coastal menus, those shrimps often aren’t from Georgia. The shrimping industry has a long and storied history in the Southeastern U.S., but it’s in trouble. For decades, domestic shrimpers have struggled to compete with cheap foreign imports, and they’ve largely lost. Imported shrimp often cost $5 or less per pound. Wild-caught Georgia shrimp can go for more than $15 per pound. Some are celebrating the prospect of tariffs on foreign shrimp, while other shrimp experts are skeptical. Fewer than 200 shrimp boats are working the Georgia coast these days, down from around 1,500 in the early 2000s. Photos, links, more, <<CLICK TO READ<< 07:07
Kodiak fisherman testifies about illegal fishing at U.S. Senate subcommittee meeting
Gabriel Prout and his family have fished the Silver Spray, a Kodiak-based commercial fishing boat, for about 20 years. But on Thursday, he traded his Xtratufs and fishing gear for a suit to represent Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a trade association that represents the Bering Sea fleet, for a meeting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. He was the only fisherman on the panel to discuss the impact of illegal, unregulated and unreported – or IUU – fishing on American fishing fleets. Prout presented a few ideas to the subcommittee he thinks could help, like better monitoring seafood imports and mandating labels for countries of origin. Prout also said other countries have more subsidies for fishermen than the U.S. does and asked for programs to help fishermen facing rising costs. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:02
Fishermen’s voices must be heard amid Attenborough ocean propaganda
He is our national treasure, embraced by kings, princes, prime ministers and celebrities too many to mention. This week, it is his campaign to save the ocean that is driving the UN Ocean Conference as it tries to ratify the High Seas Treaty. Who would dare to denounce David Attenborough, beloved around the world for his conservation crusade, feted in the highest echelons and trusted to such an extent that his every word is gospel? Step forward one Elspeth Macdonald, little known outside her Scottish homeland but a strident, often lone, voice of dissent in the Attenborough global love-in. Macdonald is the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) but she speaks for the industry across Britain when she calls out the “anti-fishing propaganda” of Attenborough’s recently released film, Ocean. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:42
The ‘Lobster Lady’ at 105
There’s late-onset-fame — Morgan Freeman, famously, did not get famous until 50, and then there’s the “Lobster Lady,” Rockland’s Virginia Oliver, whose breakout moment came when she was twice that age. Around her 100th birthday, an age actuaries say more than 99% of us will never reach, Oliver went viral, in the parlance of this century, for being the world’s oldest lobsterman, and a rare lobsterwoman at that. Fame is something Oliver never sought, however. And she still doesn’t really get what all the fuss is about — she’s been hauling traps in the waters around Rockland since she was a young girl during the Depression and has just kept on doing it. “I like to be out there,” she said Friday, June 6, her 105th birthday. “You gotta keep busy.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:46
Grassroots Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Wind Farm Off Long Branch
A coalition of environmental groups and fishing cooperatives has filed a federal lawsuit to block the construction of Empire Wind 1, the offshore wind farm that will be located about 19 miles east of Long Branch. “We are asking the federal court to reinstate the stop work order because the project’s federal approvals were incomplete and failed to safeguard the ecology of our seacoast and the livelihoods it supports,” said lead counsel Bruce Afran in a news release. The stop-work order was reversed in May, just over a month after it was imposed, without explanation from the federal government. Now, the plaintiffs are seeking to block the project entirely, arguing it violates federal environmental regulations, and the lease violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) by awarding U.S. offshore territory to a company controlled by a foreign government. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:55
Kennedy to HHS: Fight foreign shrimp imports that hurt Louisiana and threaten Americans’ health
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging his department to work with its partners to prevent unsafe foreign shrimp from reaching American consumers. While U.S. shrimp manufacturers comply with bans on antibiotic use and numerous environmental regulations, not all shrimp producers in countries like India, Ecuador, Indonesia and Vietnam abide by the same standards. A recent decline in transparency among members of the foreign shrimp industry has raised further concerns. “I write to express my concern regarding the ongoing public health risk posed by the importation of farmed shrimp into the United States. In 2021, the United States imported approximately 1.9 billion pounds of shrimp, accounting for over 90% of the nation’s consumption,” Kennedy began the letter. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:52
Fishing chiefs furious over Sir David Attenborough ‘propaganda’
Aberdeen-based fishing chiefs have launched a scathing attack on a film narrated by “national treasure” Sir David Attenborough. The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) denounced it as a work of “anti-fishing propaganda”. And it accused its makers of using “the full panoply of Hollywood tear-jerk techniques”. The movie is called Ocean, with David Attenbourough. It’s co-produced by two Bristol-based companies, Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios. Ocean was released as a “global cinema event” on May 8, Sir David’s 99th birthday. But its narrative on “destructive” fishing techniques has triggered fury at the SFF. A statement from the Granite City-based federation said: “Once again the fishing industry is in the position of defending its legitimate business activity in the face of a fresh onslaught from environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) designed to influence delegates to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France from June 9-13.Trailer, Photos, links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:26
Massive Offshore Wind Boondoggle Dead In Water
A massive offshore wind project set to be built off the New Jersey coast will be abandoned after its developer had a key Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit pulled in March, according to multiple reports. Atlantic Shores filed to cancel its contract with New Jersey utility regulators to provide electricity to the state on June 4, according to multiple reports. The company cited EPA’s decision to pull its permit and President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking permits for new offshore wind projects as major factors in its decision to walk away from the project, according to E&E News. “This filing marks the closing of a chapter,” Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Chief Executive Officer Joris Veldhoven said Monday,,, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:24
US shrimp fishers see Trump tariffs as a lifeline: ‘We’re basically on our knees’
Sandy Nguyen has strong opinions about where the best shrimp in the US is produced. Her family moved to the Gulf Coast from Vietnam during the Jimmy Carter administration, and her dad, like many such immigrants to the area, worked as a fisher. But things have changed drastically since the 1980s, when the Nguyen family settled in Louisiana. So, when Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs, a move that threw global markets into tumult and caused consternation among many industries, some American shrimpers instead expressed optimism. “I know it’s going to affect a lot of other industries. But for us, it’s good,” said Aaron Wallace, who helps run Anchored Shrimp Company in Georgia. “Really, our battle is the farm-raised shrimp industry overseas,” Wallace added. “We’re basically on our knees [due to] what the imports do.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:05
NJ Commercial Fishermen Sue Trump Admin. For Allowing Wind Farm To Proceed
Last Tuesday, multiple New Jersey fishermen and other groups, including Belford Seafood Co-op in Middletown, sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Borgum for his sudden reversal to allow construction on Empire Wind farm to proceed. The June 3 lawsuit seeks to have the stop-work order reinstated. In addition to Belford Seafood Co-op, many recognizable Jersey Shore names and commercial fishing companies signed on, including: Clean Ocean Action (the same group that hosts beach clean-ups every spring); Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach; the “Miss Belmar” fishing and sightseeing boat, which docks in Neptune under Captain Alan Shinn; Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May and Seaside Park Mayor John Peterson, a Republican. Commercial fishermen in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island also joined the lawsuit. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:08
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 2002 36′ Wayne Beal Lobster Boat, 580HP FPT C90 Diesel
To review specifications, information, with 16 photos, >click here<. To see all the boats in this series >click here< 06:07
NOAA firings, cuts will reduce services used to manage Alaska fisheries, officials say
Trump administration job cuts in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will result in less scientific information that is needed to set and oversee Alaska seafood harvests, agency officials have warned fishery managers. Since January, the Alaska regional office of NOAA Fisheries, also called the National Marine Fisheries Service, has lost 28 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, said Jon Kurland, the agency’s Alaska director. “This, of course, reduces our capacity in a pretty dramatic fashion, including core fishery management functions such as regulatory analysis and development, fishery permitting and quota management, information technology, and operations to support sustainable fisheries,” Kurland told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council on Thursday. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:26
A LOW BLOW TO THE LOW COUNTRY
The Holy City, revered for its historic charm and signature shrimp and grits, now finds itself at the center of a troubling food fraud scandal. A new investigation reveals that most restaurants promoting “local” shrimp in Charleston are, in fact, serving imported product, often farm-raised and falsely marketed as fresh-from-the-boat local fare. From May 19-22, 2025, SEAD Consulting—commissioned by the Southern Shrimp Alliance =conducted genetic testing on shrimp dishes served at 44 Charleston-area restaurants using the patented RIGHTTestTM (Rapid ID Genetic High-Accuracy Test). This testing determined whether restaurants were serving authentic South Carolina wild-caught shrimp or imported substitutes. The results are stark: only 4 out of 44 restaurants were found to be serving genuine domestic wild-caught shrimp. The remaining 40 were misleading consumers in their branding, menu descriptions, or proximity to local docks, with 25 found to be outright fraudulent. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:46
Opponents call final MD approval of OC wind farm ‘unconscionable’
The company expecting to build more than 100 wind turbines off the Ocean City coast has received a construction permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment, prompting swift backlash from project opponents. US Wind, the Baltimore company responsible for the project, had already made its way through the federal approval process and has now received all necessary state-level approvals from Maryland. The company, though, still needs a permit from Sussex County, Delaware, to build electrical substations at a power plant in the area. The Sussex County Council last year voted to reject the much-needed permit, which at the time was expected to delay the project. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:54
Offshore wind power company asks to cancel its New Jersey project
A company developing an offshore wind power project for New Jersey has filed a request to cancel its plans, citing economic and political headwinds. Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, based in Brooklyn, petitioned the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on June 4 to terminate its OREC order, or Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates order. The company, which is a partnership between power and fuel company Shell and EDF Renewables North America, was in the process of developing a 1.5-gigawatt wind turbine power project east of Atlantic City. Had it been constructed, the project would have powered about 700,000 homes across the state. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:35
US imposes anti-dumping duty on Vietnamese shrimp exporters
The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued a preliminary anti-dumping duty of 35% on shrimp exported by 24 Vietnamese companies. The decision follows from the DOC’s 19th administrative review, released on Saturday, of frozen warmwater shrimp imports from Vietnam, covering shipments between Feb. 1, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported. According to VASEP, the DOC determined that Thong Thuan Co., including its Cam Ranh branch, did not sell shrimp below fair value, resulting in a zero dumping margin for the company. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:46
Murkowski, King Reintroduce Legislation to Help Coastal Workforce, Fisheries, and Infrastructure
Friday, U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME) reintroduced the Working Waterfronts Act, legislation which includes more than a dozen provisions aimed at boosting the workforce, energy and shoreside infrastructure, food security, and economies of coastal communities in Alaska and across the country. The bill will also support efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change on coastal communities and strengthen federal conservation research projects. “Maine’s coastal communities are changing. From a warming climate to an evolving economy, the Gulf of Maine faces both historic opportunities and challenges that will define our state’s success for generations,” said Senator King. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:12
Maryland Issues Final Permit-to-Construct for US Wind’s Offshore Project
The Maryland Department of Environment has issued the final state permit to US Wind needed to begin construction of their proposed wind farm off Delmarva’s coast. US Wind’s final approval from the state required MDE to approve an air quality permit application the company submitted in November 2023 regarding over 100 offshore wind turbines about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Worcester County. MDE considered whether or not US Wind’s project would violate any environmental air regulations. MDE’s final decision on the issuance of the permit was released Friday, June 6. The Friday decision from MDE drew quick blowback from Ocean City. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:31
