Daily Archives: February 18, 2013
Updated, Corrected. Search continues for five Nova Scotia fishermen, F/V Miss Ally capsized in heavy winds and high seas
Fishing Vessel Miss Ally
LIVERPOOL, Nova Scotia, Feb. 18 (UPI) — Rescue crews searched Monday for five men whose commercial fishing boat capsized in heavy winds and high seas of Nova Scotia, authorities said. The 44-foot boat ran into trouble Sunday night as it contended with 26- to 33-foot waves and hurricane-force winds about 75 miles southeast of Liverpool, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. UPI
Family of missing Nova Scotia fisherman losing hope Helicopter spots overturned vessel and life-raft
The father of one of the five men missing off the south shore of Nova Scotia says he is losing hope his son will be found alive after the fishing boat he was on capsized late Sunday night. “I don’t have any hope right now,” George Hopkins told CBC News. His son, 27-year-old Joel Hopkins, is the father of two young children. “I’m a fisherman myself, so I realize what’s going on. I would think they would have found him by now. Every hour the chances are less.” Read more
Search continues for missing fishermen
US Coast Guard assisting in long-range search for missing Canadian fishermen
Watchstanders at the 1st Coast Guard District in Boston received a request from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax on Monday to assist in locating the 45-foot fishing vessel Miss Ally, homeported in Nova Scotia, whose crew was beset by weather and were having difficulty returning to port in Halifax. Read more
I Need a Site! In early days of manhunt, Christopher Dorner sought ride to Mexico from San Diego fishermen: report
A week before his final fiery shootout with California authorities, fugitive cop-killer Christopher Dorner tried to sweet talk some San Diego fisherman into giving him a ride to Mexico, according to a local report. The visit surprised the fishermen because the wharf caters to commercial fishing boats, not tourists. “I’ve been down here for 40 years and he’s the first guy that came down here and asked for a ride,” local troller Roy Sherman told NBC Bay Area. Read more
Judge dismisses Humane Society lawsuit that opposed killing sea lions at Bonneville Dam
A U.S. District Court judge in Oregon today dismissed the Humane Society of the United States’ challenge to the government’s plan to kill salmon-munching California sea lions at Bonneville Dam. Judge Michael Simon issued the 44-page opinion earlier today. The National Marine Fisheries Service “did not act arbitrarily or capriciously” when it re-authorized Oregon, Washington and Idaho’s ongoing program to kill sea lions, Simon wrote. The states first applied for lethal take in 2006, which led to on-and-off legal challenges. Read more
Alaska Bearing Sea snow Crab Season Shaping Up As Less Icy
After a 2012 Bering Sea snow crab season that saw unusually severe sea ice inhibit fishermen’s efforts to catch almost 89 million pounds of the shellfish, 2013 is shaping up to be much friendlier. According to Kathleen Cole, a forecaster with the National Weather Service ice desk, this winter was unlikely to match 2012, even before it began. Despite some recent rumors of encroaching ice into the Bering Sea fishery, the situation is better than last year, she said. “We’re just not going to have a year like last year. It’s going to be, by no means, that bad,” she said. “Last year was something that we’d never seen before, and hopefully something that we’ll never see again.” Read more
The Gulf Stream Stalled, Sea Level Rose & the East Coast Flooded in November 2012
The Gulf Stream has been weakening continuously since 2004, accelerating sea level rise on the U.S. east coast, with the highest impact on sea level rise centered around Cape Hatteras according to a report, accepted for publication in t
he Journal of Geophysical Research. The International team of oceanographers led by Princeton & Old Dominion University professor Tal Ezer has 99.99% statistical confidence that the correlation between the Gulf Stream weakening and sea level rise is real. Read more
Louisiana Volunteers round up derelict crab traps at rodeos
Fishing gear lost at sea will be wrangled to shore with help from the University during upcoming derelict crab trap rodeos. Julie Anderson, renewable natural resources professor and fisheries specialist, said the rodeos are daylong cleanup events during which volunteers remove derelict crab traps from coastal waters. The lost traps pose safety and environmental threats, as well as economic losses for fishermen, she said. Read more
Bill in Legislature seeks early action for derelict vessels
OLYMPIA —State officials would be encouraged to deal with derelict boats sooner — preferably before they sink — under a proposed law moving through the Legislature. “A lot of this is breaking new ground,” Hansen said. “We are trying innovative ways to deal with this problem. ”Whidbey Island is where the Deep Sea, a 140-foot derelict crab-fishing vessel, caught fire and sank in May, costing the state nearly $3 million. About $1.6 million went to clean up an oil spill, raise the vessel and tow it away. Another $1.3 million was spent on dismantling and disposing of the ship. Read more
Victim’s father seeks Foxy Lady II answers
Two months after the Gloucester-based scalloping boat Foxy Lady II and its crew of two were lost at sea, the captain’s father says he still has questions about what may have happened, and how the vessel could have gone down without any signal from its own electronic emergency beacon. Read more
Letter: Fishermen must band together – Sam Frontiero, Gloucester – do what you have to do
I’ve been writing letters as a fishermen’s advocate for years now because I was a fisherman for almost 40 years, it’s been the history of my family for generations, and still is. It really bothers me what this government is doin
g to this tradition so that it ends in a recognized “economic disaster” because of rules and regs which are discriminatory to this industry only. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Fisherman are a very passive breed. They’ll work as hard as anyone but when it comes to really get together, they let that part go. NOAA isn’t going to quit, so do what you have to do. Read the letter
Cod quota rollover is tightened, too – “we intend to allow just under 2 percent” John Bullard
NOAA Regional Administrator John Bullard has agreed to extend a 10 percent carryover of uncaught fishing quota to the new fishing year — for all stocks except the Gulf of Maine cod, for which a carryover and potential bycatch would account for fishermen’s total catch under dire new catch limits due to take effect May 1. ”For all allocated groundfish stocks, except Gulf of Maine cod, where the stock remains in poor condition and there is a high risk of exceeding overfishing limits, we intend to continue to allow fishermen to carryover up to their full 10 percent unused quota in 2013,” he said. “For Gulf of Maine cod we intend to allow just under 2 percent carryover in 2013 to avoid a risk of exceeding the overfishing limit. Read more
