Monthly Archives: October 2015
Fishtown Local: Something smells fishy
Okay, here we go again. Another behind-the-scenes effort has begun behind our backs, the way it happened before. The newest NOAA effort has begun toward creating a marine national monument in the Cashes Ledge area — about 80 miles east of Gloucester — as well as the deep sea coral and seamount area south of Georges Bank, traditional catch areas for our fishermen. Meanwhile, concerned by what it regards as a lack of transparency and undue influence from conservationists,,, Read the rest here 08:03
Australia: Calls for a long-term strategy to protect threatened marine species from commercial fishing
There are calls for the Federal Government to develop a long-term strategy to protect threatened marine species from commercial fishing. Every year thousands of protected species are killed as bycatch. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) publishes a quarterly report detailing how many protected species have been killed in Commonwealth waters. The Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Tooni Mahto said the numbers were unacceptable. (but they never are, eh Tooni?) Meanwhile, In the Small Pelagic Fishery,,, Read the rest here 20:07
Damage Control For Flooding (Some notes on what to do when you have that sinking feeling)
If you engineer fishing vessels you are going to be expected to have the skills to lead damage control efforts, repair crews, control flooding, and even seal off compartments in order to prevent sinking. All of this needs to be done in a hurry so putting a little thought into how you intend to deal with flooding in some of the areas of your vessel and taking stock of any emergency pumps, equipment, and the condition of water tight doors and compartment bulk heads may be the difference between life or death. Read the rest here with 9 images. By John Johnson. 17:20
A Fluke: 17 Years Later, DEC Sent Him $1K for Some Fish
“What are you going to do with it?” I (Dan Rattner) asked Stuart. “We’re still deciding which part of the South of France we want to go to,” he said. “What part of the State of New York is the check from?” “It’s from the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation.” “Who signed it?” I asked. “The Governor?” “Some woman, Mary E. Balooski or Baloski, I can’t read the writing. And the whole check is handwritten, which is odd. Computers usually fill out checks from the government. This one arrived in the mail.” Read the rest here 14:39
The Court and Overcriminalization: Bond v. United States and Yates v. United States
In both Bond v. United States and Yates v. United States, the Supreme Court reversed federal criminal convictions. Neither defendant’s conduct was constitutionally protected; there were no procedural irregularities in either trial, no vagueness or overbreadth issues, and no police misconduct (debatable) . Instead, each case involved prosecuting a small-time individual with a big-time statute: In Bond, the federal government used the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 against a “jilted wife.” In Yates, it unleashed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on a mischievous fisherman. Both proceedings raised concerns about overcriminalization that implicitly drove the Court’s analysis in a new direction. Read the rest here 13:00
Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, OCT 11, 2015
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 11:30
What’s the Catch? Commercial Fishing and the Risks Needed to Get Your Fancy Supper.
By Guest writer Matt Rhoney – Commercial fishing. It’s gone from an obscure asterisk of a profession to a household name recently. With the advent of reality television and America’s recent fascination with dangerous careers, commercial fishing has become one of the world’s most famously risky gigs. Like oil field workers, scuba divers, and extreme wildlife chasers, commercial fishermen are icons of bold living. People tune in to their sets nightly to watch the exploits of hirsute men who live for the thrill of the chase. Read the rest here 10:49
Fishermen in the Northeast win a small victory
According to Climate Wire, an online publication of Environment and Energy Publishing LLC, New Bedford native son Bob Vanasse uncovered, through the use of Freedom of Information Act requests on behalf of Saving Seafood in Washington, D.C., a cluster of emails being circulated among several environmental groups hoping the president would be convinced to announce the New England monuments in Chile. The emails urged recipients to keep the plan a secret. “I hope no one is talking about Chile to the outside world,” an email from Conservation Law Foundation Interim President Peter Shelley said. Read the rest here 09:49
Prince William Sound salmon catch exceeds 104 M fish
State fisheries officials estimated that commercial fishermen in
have landed 104,085,000 salmon through Oct. 2, and continued to urge gillnet fishermen to assure a market before harvesting more fish. The words of caution were contained in an Alaska Department of Fish and Game fishery update Oct. 2 for Prince William Sound. To date the statewide preliminary Alaska commercial salmon harvest blue sheet shows that the harvest from Prince William Sound includes 98,215,000 humpies, 3,133,000 sockeyes, 2,515,000 chums, 199,000 cohos and 24,000 Chinook salmon. Read the rest here 09:21
Despite problems at sea, N.H. Community Seafood program is going strong
New Hampshire’s commercial fishing industry is a shell of its former self, but there are still enough boats sailing daily, and enough fish in the Gulf of Maine, that the state’s unusual seafood CSA is going strong. “We have been consistently increasing membership since 2013,” said Andrea Tomlinson, general manager of New Hampshire Community Seafood. Almost 600 people signed up for the second of the four six-week sessions – at a cost between $40 and $160, depending on the amount of fish they bought – and Tomlinson said average participation is up,,, Read the rest here 09:11
Stone crab season to start
Commercial fishermen have begun to splash their stone crab traps in preparation of the opening of the season on Thursday. Fishermen can drop their pots 10 days before season starts. Season runs from Oct. 15 to May 15. “We have scattered them out over the Gulf (of Mexico),” said Middle Keys commercial fisherman Gary Nichols, who put out 9,500 traps in three days. “I’m pretty excited about it. The crab bycatch in the lobster traps looks good.” Read the rest here 08:29
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
Toxic road runoff kills adult coho salmon in hours, study finds
A new study shows that stormwater runoff from urban roadways is so toxic to coho salmon that it can kill adult fish in as little as 2½ hours. Scientists have long suspected that the mixture of oil, heavy metals and grime that washes off highways and roads can be poisonous to coho, but the study is the first to prove it. In some place, like Longfellow Creek in West Seattle’s Delridge area, up to 90 percent of females were killed. “It was apparent that something coming out of those pipes was causing it,” Spromberg said. Read the rest here 22:21
Thank you and eat local seafood
The 29th Annual N.C. Seafood Festival 
is now just a memory, but it is one we will not soon forget. The West Carteret High School FFA Alumni is one of the original nonprofit seafood vendors in what has become a celebration of our local seafood industry and a good time for our students to promote agriculture and the FFA to the thousands of festival goers. Our students enjoy working in the booth, and many of them benefit directly from the experience and financial support generated from this seafood festival. Read the rest here 16:25
MSU boat safety training helps save two fishermen
The Atlantic hurricane that sunk the cargo ship El Faro in early October highlights the need for sailors to be trained in how to react in an emergency. Dave Burrage, Mississippi State University Extension professor of marine resources at the Coastal Research and Extension Center, is trained to certify marine safety instructors who are sailors on commercial vessels. Two Mississippi sailors he trained survived an on-the-water collision that sunk one boat in the Gulf of Mexico last year. “Two fishermen were involved in a collision at night, and one of the boats sank,”,, Read the rest here 14:48
Speaker Atkins’ Pacific to Plate Bill signed by Gov. Brown
Seafood markets will be allowed to operate in the public square just like farmers markets, now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins’ Pacific to Plate Act. AB 226 removes red tape, making it easier for shoppers to purchase local seafood. “The massive growth of farmers markets across the state shows us the benefits of allowing direct sales between farmers and consumers,” said Speaker Atkins (D-San Diego). “Coastal communities and small-business owners throughout California deserve the same opportunities.” Read the rest here 12:21
“It’s been an exemplary season,” – Maine fishermen cash in as lobster cracks $4 a pound
Bob Williams has been hauling lobster traps in Penobscot Bay since 1959 and says this year’s season has been among the most profitable ever. “It’s rare for us to have a fairly good catch and high prices,” said Williams, 78, who lives in Stonington. It’s a combination that seems to defy the laws of supply and demand – a large catch tends to lower wholesale prices. But that’s not happening this year even with Maine fishermen on track,,, Read the rest here 11:39
Biscayne National Park’s General Management Plan – No-fishing zone no solution to coral loss
Were Charles Dickens alive today, it’s possible that the drama surrounding the inclusion of a no-fishing zone in Biscayne National Park’s General Management Plan (GMP) could be mistaken as part of the inspiration for his great story A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens’ famous opening sentence from that novel is: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” But the way that the (NPS) and its activist allies talk about the no-fishing zone seems to reflect part of the rest of that opening line: “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Read the rest here 11:02
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Dealings Criticized
A $1,000 check issued last month to Stuart Vorpahl, an East Hampton bayman, from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as reimbursement for the 1998 seizure of fluke and lobsters from his boat was closely followed by a report from the state’s inspector general’s office critical of several of the D.E.C.’s enforcement practices as they relate to the commercial fishing industry. But the report itself is also coming under fire, both for its substance and for the lengthy delay in its issuance. Read the rest here 10:08
Clearwater Seafoods to buy U.K.’s largest producer of wild shellfish in $195m deal
Clearwater Seafoods Inc. has a $195-million deal to acquire the United Kingdom’s largest producer of wild shellfish. Bedford-based Clearwater announced the deal with Scotland’s Macduff Shellfish Group Ltd. on Friday. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the month. The purchase price is C$187 million, including a cash payment of $71 million. The Nova Scotia company is also assuming amost $8 million in seasonal working capital debt. Read the rest here 09:36
