Monthly Archives: November 2014
Off the Hook: Florida fisherman lands in U.S. Supreme Court case weighing government overreach
John Yates doesn’t make his living as a commercial fisherman anymore. The federal conviction he is fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court took care of that. Instead, he scraped together everything he had, opened a boutique furniture store and called it Off the Hook. Read the rest here 19:32
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, November 30, 2014
The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 19:05
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting December 1-5, 2014 – New Bern, NC Attend via Webinar
Click here for Meeting Agenda Click here for Briefing Book Materials Webinar Registration: Watch the meeting LIVE as it happens – Sign up for daily Webinars here 17:24
What Wrecks Reveal
From the paper by Penny McCall, – Amidst the hope required to going out fishing day after day, Findus was a portent, a ghost of the devastated future that any small fishing boat could easily become. During the time I knew Alasdair and worked on his small fishing trawler, he told me Findus’ story again and again. The first time was after a month of patiently tolerating my questions about environmental relations and fishing practices. Alasdair pointed out that I had never asked him about friends he had lost at sea: ‘wouldn’t that be quite an obvious question?’ he asked. And then Alasdair told me about Findus and the wreck of his small fishing boat, the Kathryn Jane Read the rest here, 22 pages 15:01
Crew okay, rescued after lobster boat sinks off Wedgeport
While day one of the LFA 34 lobster fishing season got off to a smooth start with relatively few problems, day two of the season saw the sinking off a fishing vessel off of Wedgeport. All four men aboard the vessel, the Lady Wallace, were reported to be okay. They were picked up in a life raft by another nearby fishing boat. Read the rest here 14:03
Bristol Bay’s big run may hurt prices in Cook Inlet
Bristol Bay is expecting a sockeye salmon harvest topping 40 million fish next year, including the southern Alaska Peninsula. That’s bound to challenge harvesters and processors in ensuring quality, and have a chilling effect on prices for Upper Cook Inlet sockeyes. Read the rest here 13:34
As The Boat Grows – F/V Miss Berdie
Newport, Oregon-based Miss Berdie was built by Rodriguez Boat Builders of Bayou LaBatre, Alabama in 1987. When the owner approached Fred Wahl Shipyard and the naval architect Hockema & Whalen Associates (HWA) about increasing the vessel’s capacity,,, Read the rest here 11:52
Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) Opposed to 55-square-mile closure area of Stellwagen Bank
Could a closure of Stellwagen possibly lead to other state closures in the future, if the “showroom environmentalists,” as Donofrio calls them, get their foot in the door? Will Buzzards Bay be next? Or Vineyard Sound? Area anglers and businesses supported by recreational fishing are strongly urged to attend on the 16th and oppose the closure. Read the rest here 10:21
Possible rule changes for hogfish overfishing
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Life Research Institute recently completed a stock assessment of hogfish and found the ones in Atlantic Ocean waters off Florida are currently undergoing overfishing, which means the fish mortality rate is at a level that is too high and not sustainable, according to research institute fisheries biologist Mike Murphy. Read the rest here 09:02
The Lie’s and Deciept of the Florida Propaganda Machine – Did 1994 gill-net vote mislead?
The question now is whether the people were duped into voting for the ban in November 1994 by a sophisticated propaganda campaign that included misrepresentation and reporters for major newspapers who were paid employees of the man behind the ban — two decades later, net-ban proponents continue to use questionable tactics to counter any challenges to the net ban. Unbelievable! Read the rest here 22:05
Greenpeace – Just 97 of the ‘world’s cutest’ sea mammals remain – Are these people for real?!?!
One of the world’s “cutest” sea mammals is at risk of extinction unless a ruling is passed to protect the vaquita porpoise. 
Mexico has one last chance to save the creature – a small, shy porpoise, described by one scientist as looking like “they’re wearing lipstick and mascara”. It is only found in a 4,000sq km region of the Gulf of Mexico Read the rest here 20:25
Fisherman Joseph Landry found guilty of manslaughter in Phillip Boudreau ‘murder for lobster’ trial
A Cape Breton lobster fisherman has been found Guilty of manslaughter in the death of a man at sea. Joseph James Landry, 67, of Little Anse, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death last year of Phillip Boudreau. Landry’s wife wiped her eyes, crying, after Saturday’s verdict but Landry showed no visible reaction. Read the rest here 16:31
’Tis the season for flying Christmas crustaceans – Airport gears up for lobster season
Holiday shipments of live lobster begin this weekend at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and will continue for about a month. Several carriers have cargo jets slated to transport hundreds of tonnes of the fresh seafood around the globe in the coming weeks, the Halifax International Airport Authority said Friday. Read the rest here 15:44
LONG ISLAND, Maine – “Steve “Mike” Hanson was larger than life out here,” “He wasn’t just a lobsterman.”
‘This isn’t just a loss for one family’: Lobsterman’s death unites Maine island town in grief, efforts to help family – A lobster fisherman, known to his friends as “Wild Bill,” Hickok is mourning the passing of his fellow islander Steve “Mike” Hanson, who died Nov. 19 from a head injury after falling at his home. Hanson, 59, lived on Long Island with his wife and their 14-year-old son. Read the rest here 14:29
EXTREMELY important meeting re offshore windmills – Notice from the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association
This Monday, Dec 1 at Inlet Seafood from 6-8 p.m., an EXTREMELY important meeting re offshore windmills, run by Cornell with funding from BOEM, the fed agency in charge of determining how and where to site these things in federal waters. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTENDING IF,,, Read the rest here 13:08
F/V Blazer Goes Down – Five Fishermen Safe – Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin picks 3 from the raft, 2 pulled onto Motor Life Boat
“The preparedness of the crew of Blazer was exceptional,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew Blanchard, search and rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Sector North Bend, Oregon. “They recognized when they needed help and took the steps necessary to put themselves in a position where we could quickly and safely bring them home to their families. Read the rest here 12:33 An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Facility Newport, Ore., poses for a photo at the facility with three crew members of the fishing vessel Blazer Video 23:47
South Atlantic Fishery Council credibility is at stake
Last year, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council made a big splash,,, The phrase “catch shares” is nowhere to be found in the document. Instead creative code-speak is used to describe the strategy throughout the document: “sector share management system,” “individual quota management system,” We’re shocked and disappointed to see the SAFMC depart so dramatically from the stakeholder-driven,,, Read the rest here 11:41
Tuna showdown looms at Samoa conference
Small Pacific island states and powerful foreign fishing nations are heading for a showdown next week over management of the world’s largest tuna fishery. The islands want the annual meeting of the influential in Samoa to limit fishing for bigeye, a tuna prized by sashimi markets in Asia, America and Europe. Read the rest here 08:45
Critical Offshore Weather Stations Dead for Six Months – Seafarers push for fix, citing heightened risks in storm-wracked BC waters.
Environment Canada lacks the resources to keep critical weather monitoring stations up and running throughout the year off the B.C. central coast, putting commercial and recreational mariners at risk as they enter one of the B.C. coast’s most dangerous stretches of open water. Read the rest here 08:32:10
Rhode Island Seafood Scene: Make room calamari, crabs are moving in
Another ocean-dwelling species, crab, has scuttled into a prominent position in the Rhode Island seafood scene, providing a welcome boost for beleaguered southern New England lobstermen. Brownish, with large, often black-tipped claws, Jonah crab are most abundant between Georges Bank off of Cape Cod to the North Carolina Outer Banks. They are caught mostly by lobstermen in the same traps used for lobster. Read the rest here 08:23
Phillip Boudreau ‘murder for lobster’ case now in jury’s hands
The jury in the “murder for lobster” trial in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., has been sequestered for the night after beginning deliberations Friday afternoon. Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy spent the morning giving jurors directions and outlining their duties. Kennedy said there are three possible verdicts: guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter; or not guilty. Read the rest here 20:38 ‘Murder for lobster’ rocks Acadian village of Petit-de-Grat Read it here 22:08
Lobster wars: discount stores slug it out on the UK high street with £5 shellfish
Lobster, once associated with only the swankiest restaurants, is now on the frontline of the supermarket price war. Discount stores fighting to lure Christmas shoppers are importing hundreds of thousands of £5 crustaceans from Canada. Read the rest here 20:16
Expanded powers for conservation officers in Manitoba
Don’t call them natural resource officers anymore. The Manitoba government introduced legislation today that would formally recognize conservation officers as with the powers of peace officers. Read the rest here 19:54
UPDATED: Video – F/V Hornet sends May Day, F/V Exodus, USCG respond.
SEATTLE — Coast Guard crews assisted three people after their vessel began taking on water three miles west of the Columbia River entrance, Friday. Following dewatering efforts, a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew took the 46-foot fishing vessel Hornet into tow and safely delivered it and the crew to a marina in Ilwaco, Washington. Read the rest here 18:45 Video here 21:36
Welcome to Butt Hole Road – Please rethink shellfish farming in bays – Bob Maddex, Fenwick Island
For many of us who enjoy kayaking and other water sports on Little Assawoman Bay, the proposal by the State of Delaware to use oysters and clams to help clean up the bay seemed, at first, like a good idea. But now we have learned that the shellfish will be a part of an experiment involving a huge commercial operation,, Read the rest here 17:18
Low haul, rough waves expected for North Coast commercial crab season
While last year’s crab season got off to a rocky start due to contentious price negotiations, North Coast fishermen this year will instead have to worry about rough seas and another year of low hauls. The commercial Dungeness crab season north of the Sonoma-Mendocino county border starts on Dec. 1, with crabbers getting a head start to lay down their pots today. Read the rest here 17:01
And they’re off; lobster boats hitting the water in LFA 33
SHELBURNE – Harbours along the South Shore twinkled with the lights of lobster boats Friday morning as the fall season got underway for LFA 33, which includes eastern parts of Shelburne County. Read the rest here 12:07
Regulations changed on AJs, black sea bass in South Atlantic
The date change also aligns the beginning of the commercial harvest season for black sea bass with the commercial season for vermilion snapper, which are commonly caught together with hook-and-line gear.,, The trip-limit changes will all be on the commercial side and include reducing the trip limit for black sea bass, Read the rest here 09:45
Maryland: Commissioners ask state to roll back rockfish limit
A former waterman, Fithian described the proposed reduction of the bag limit as a direct attack on commercial fishing. Fithian said after reading the letter at the commissioners meeting that he recently saw a rockfish cut open to reveal a large number of immature crabs in its stomach.,, might be partly responsible for recent downturns in the crab population. Read the rest here 09:35
