Daily Archives: October 10, 2015
UNE professor receives $493,000 in NOAA grants to study fisheries
A University of New England marine sciences professor was recently awarded two federal grants totaling more than $493,000 to fund studies aimed at improving the commercial fishing industry and the environment. The two grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will research ways to reduce the deaths of Atlantic cod accidentally caught in lobster traps in the Gulf of Maine and Dusky sharks unintentionally caught during commercial pelagic longline fishing. Read the rest here 18:19
New trawler/purse seiner vessel for Northern Ireland
Voyager Fishing Company, based in Northern Ireland, is expanding its fishing capabilities by ordering a new trawler/purse seiner vessel which is scheduled for delivery in August 2017. It will be designed by Salt Ship Design in Norway and built at Karstensens Skipsværft in Skagen, Denmark. Tage Rishøj, director of Karstensens, said: “The Voyager will be one of the most powerful pelagic-fishing vessel in the world with a bollard pull of more than 120 tonnes.” Read the rest here The vessel will be powered with MAN 12V32/44CR main engine, Read about it here 16:01
Lobster season log, day 1
The first Wednesday in October marks the opening day of the commercial lobster season in California. In the weeks and months prior, permit holders are busy building traps, mending lines, and getting their boats ship-shape. As the season nears, activity builds to a crescendo, culminating on the Tuesday before the opener, Bait Day. This is the first day lobster traps may legally hold bait. A week prior to the opener, traps may be set but without bait and the doors must be wired open. According to the Fish and Wildlife website,,, Read the rest here 14:08
Busy readying boats at Digby wharf
LFA 35 lobster season opens Wednesday in upper Bay of Fundy Area lobster fishermen are busy at Digby’s wharf today, loading traps in preparation for the opening Wednesday of Lobster Fishing Area 35. Fishermen from Digby east will be dumping their traps in the water starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Read the rest here 13:35
Ronald Smolowitz – Marine monument plan subverts public input
Your recent editorial endorsing a new Atlantic marine national monument (“A fitting tribute,” Sept. 27) misses the main reason a large and growing number of fishermen, coastal residents and public officials are so opposed to the proposal: It undermines the democratic process and threatens the future of public input in the management of public resources. For many fishermen, this is not primarily an economic issue. Parts of the areas under consideration, particularly Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine, have been closed to most,,, Read the rest here 12:53
Chinese crew member sought after five found murdered on fishing boat
Chinese police have launched a manhunt after finding five bodies, one of them beheaded, on board a fishing boat off the country’s east coast. The boat was found near the city of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province with no-one aboard alive, according to a police notice posted online. One crew member and a life raft were missing. The Zhoushan police notice said was “strongly suspected” of involvement in the case, but offered no further details. Read the rest here 12:00
Tuna fisherman: Wrong man charged with killing whale off New Jersey
A tuna fisherman charged with killing a pilot whale that died of a bullet wound said Friday the charges against him should be dismissed.The fisherman, Daniel Archibald, said in a court filing that the investigation disregarded the facts. He alleges investigators used an illegal, warrantless search. He also says investigators ignored ballistics tests that showed a bullet in the whale could not have come from his , a World War II-era weapon. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey declined to comment,,, Read the rest here 10:52
Diver who died in Portland Harbor apparently was hit by spinning propeller
The diver who died in Portland Harbor this week suffered injuries consistent with being hit by a spinning propeller, authorities said. Dennis McGrath, 56, of Scarborough died Wednesday while removing rope that was tangled on the prop of the 65-foot fishing boat Jamie & Ashley. While he was working, the engine was running and at some point, the prop was engaged, injuring him, authorities said. Meanwhile, a commercial divers association said Friday that basic safety guidelines that are customary in the industry apparently were not being followed and,,, Read the rest here 10:14
Owner of Atlantic Charger, sunk in Frobisher Bay, angry no helicopter responded
The owner of the Atlantic Charger, which sank in the Davis Strait last month, is asking why a search and rescue helicopter wasn’t dispatched from Labrador to rescue the crew. Brad Watkins, who owned the Atlantic Charger before it sank in off Resolution Island Sept. 22, said he’s grateful to the “awesome” search and rescue team that responded. However, he says his crew members were disappointed and angry by the absence of a helicopter during the rescue. Read the rest here 09:05
SMAST researchers employ new methods of fish geolocation
Dr. Geoffrey Cowles and his research assistants, graduate students Doug Zemeckis and Chang Liu, are partners in a multi-institution effort to tag yellowtail flounder, monkfish, and now cod to learn much more than past methods could tell them. Cod are of paramount concern in recent years because NOAA surveys have concluded that they have virtually vanished in the Northeast fishery. Zemeckis said that one of the preliminary findings is that the cod that are there are not migrating north as many believe, but are staying put. Tagged fish are not showing up in Canada, he said. Read the rest here 08:31
Moulton, reps press NOAA on monitors
“We made it very clear that we don’t support the costs of at-sea monitoring being shifted to the fishermen,” Moulton said after the meeting. Moulton, along with fellow representatives William Keating, D-Mass., and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, organized the meeting to help find an alternative to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s plan to stop paying for on groundfish boats and shift the costs — estimated at $710 per day per covered vessel — to the federal permit holders. Read the rest here 07:59
