Monthly Archives: November 2015
NO!!! – Eric, the little endangered sea turtle found in N.S., has died
A rare and endangered sea turtle died Friday, only two days after washing ashore, thin and hypothermic, in Hall’s Harbour, N.S. Community members tried to nurse the ill turtle — nicknamed Eric — back to health. “We’ve really been rooting for him,” said Kathleen Martin, the executive director of the Canadian Sea Turtle Network. “We knew he had a tough battle in front of him. There were a lot of odds stacked against him, but as you do when you’re working with animals, you get attached anyway and hope for the best.” Read the rest here 09:16
Frustrated Bay of Fundy Lobster fishermen losing gear to ship traffic
Tuesday marked the beginning of lobster season in the Bay of Fundy, but some fishermen have run into a problem that is costing them time and money during what they say is the cream of the lobster fishing season. Lobster fisherman Larry Cook almost lost some of his traps Friday when a ship was going to anchor where they were set up. A friend noticed the approaching ship and moved some of Cook’s gear for him. Cook fishes at a place called Deadmans Point, between Blacks Harbour and Beavers Harbour. Read the rest here 08:33
Three offshore wind companies – The Ghost of Cape Wind
The three offshore wind companies seeking to build large-scale turbine projects on ocean waters south of Martha’s Vineyard said emphatically Friday that financing their projects wouldn’t be a problem, should the state give legislative support in a potential energy bill next spring. “Of all the challenges that we think about…financing projects is not one of them,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski, whose company is backed by an entity of the D.E. Shaw Group, a global investment and technology development firm. Read the rest here 14:03
Dungeness crab season delays hit Santa Cruz fishermen hard
Crab fishermen were busy scraping last year’s crust of debris from marker buoys, replacing ID tags on old crab pots and getting new pots ready last week in preparation for the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season, despite uncertainty over when it will begin. “We have to get ready as if nothing’s changed,” said fisherman Will Collins. “And just stand by until it’s ready to go.” “I don’t see it opening till the first of the year,” said Stan Bruno, commercial fisherman and captain of The Grinder, based in Santa Cruz. “The levels are that high.” Read the rest here 11:56
Maine foghorns to be radio activated by May
The Coast Guard on Friday announced plans to install Mariner Radio Activated Sound Signal (MRASS) devices at 17 foghorns located at lighthouses across Maine, including Goat Island Light off Cape Porpoise. Sarah Nunan is one of those people who raised concerns about the new key activated system. Her husband is a lobsterman in Cape Porpoise. “There is a foghorn for the safety of boats out in the ocean,” she said. “What if there is a kayak or a skiff that is right outside the harbor that gets shut in by the fog and does not have a VHF? They cannot activate the foghorn. Read the rest here 11:17
Prince Rupert Reacts to Job Losses at CANFISCO
“A slap in the face” That’s what union executives are calling the cuts to the salmon canning industry in Prince Rupert. The union representing says it will be fighting Canfisco’s decision to end operations at its Oceanside plant. A dark day for workers in the salmon canning industry — as they receive news that they’ll soon be without a job. Executives of the union representing fishermen and allied workers met with its members today to explain details surrounding the imminent closure to salmon canning operations at Canfisco’s oceanside plant. Read the rest here 10:47
A Karachi fisherman’s tale — In search of lobsters and livelihood
The sun had just risen and cast a golden-red light on the the beach at Mubarak Goth — a fishing village located in Deh Mann, Karachi. A light wind blew across the aqua-green waters of the Arabian Sea. The tethered boats of the fishermen, bobbed up and down in eager anticipation of the immeasurable possibilities the new day would bring. The fishermen of Mubarak Village refer to the sea as darya laal which means ‘red river’. It holds a sacred importance since they are dependent on it for food and sustenance. Interesting. Great photo’s! Read the rest here 10:29
WEEKEND FOCUS: Warming waters and the Gulf of Maine’s fate
Headlines around that great body of water, cradled inside of Cape Sable Island to the north and Cape Cod in the south, screamed alarm this fall about a pending ecosystem collapse brought on by climate change. Most of those headlines linked back to a study by Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, published in October in the journal Science. In it, Pershing attributes the non-recovery of cod stocks to the Gulf of Maine having warmed faster between 2004 and 2014 than 99 per cent of all other saltwater bodies on Earth. Read the rest here 09:38
Liberals to reopen Maritime Rescue Sub-centre in St. John’s
New federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo and the Liberal government will reopen the Maritime Rescue Sub-centre in St. John’s. The Nunavut MP signed the mandate given to him by new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a letter nine days after he was sworn in as the minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The sub-centre was closed in 2012 despite loud outcry from advocates and fishermen. Provincial and municipal politicians — such as St. John’s Mayor Dennis O’Keefe —have lobbied since to have it reopened. Read the rest here 08:32
More black sea bass added to quota
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board last week approved increases to the 2016 black sea bass commercial quota and recreational harvest limit (RHL). This means more black sea bass can be taken by commercial and recreational fishermen. The ASMFC announced that the commercial quota is now being set at 2.71 million pounds (was going to be 2.24 million pounds) and the RHL is being set at 2.88 million pounds (was at 2.33 million pounds). Read the rest here 17:22
Trudeau directs reopening of Coast Guard base, action on Fraser salmon
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally directed new Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo to reopen the closed that had become a flashpoint for local criticism of the Harper government. The Kitsilano base was closed in 2013 – vessels and staff were shifted to Richmond – but pressure from B.C. politicians to reopen it intensified after a slow response earlier this year to a spill of fuel oil from a freighter in English Bay. Trudeau released his mandate letters outlining the priorities for each new federal cabinet minister Friday. Read the rest here 17:00
Fears Ramsgate’s fishing fleet could be no more in 2016
A Ramsgate fisherman fears the town’s next year if new fishing restrictions on Sea Bass come into force. The European Commission is considering a complete fishing ban on sea bass for commercial vessels and recreational anglers in the first half of 2016. Ramsgate fisherman Steve Barratt believes this ban would be the death knell of Ramsgate’s fishing fleet. Mr Barratt, has earned a living as a fisherman in Ramsgate for 30 years, said: “It’s getting to the point where you wake up in the morning and you think what’s the point anymore? I’m looking at the sea and there’s more bass there than there was 25 years ago.” Read the rest here 14:33
Canfisco cannery closing operations in Prince Rupert
In another blow to fisheries on B.C.’s north coast, Canfisco says it will cease canning operations in Prince Rupert. More than 500 jobs could be lost at what was once the world’s largest cannery, with the falling demand for canned salmon blamed for the company’s decision. “We’re moving more to fresh and frozen products,” Rob Morley, vice president of production and corporate development for Canfisco told CBC News. Read the rest here 13:35
Stealing from Fishermen – Two NRP busts lead to fishery charges
According to NRP, an Elkridge man was criminally charged on Monday, Nov. 2, with eight counts of poaching after he was caught stealing crabs from watermen’s fishing gear and other natural resources violations. Raymond David Bosley, 45, of Elkridge, was stopped by officers on routine patrol on the Chesapeake Bay on Oct. 12. A check of his recreational vessel turned up numerous crabs, but no crabbing gear. Acting on a tip, officers went to a location in the 600-block of Dover Road in Easton and observed large coolers and several people nearby. The coolers contained 58 striped bass,,, Read the rest here 10:48
Sunken lobster boat raised – Investigation continues
Police said their investigation into an early Wednesday morning fire at the Town Dock that sunk a lobster boat and damaged another boat that was tied to it is continuing Thursday morning. Capt. Todd Olson said this morning a crane was attached to the boat in order to lift it out of the water. The vessel is now out of the water, according to Cyndy Chanaca, a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokeswoman. Read the rest here View seven additional photo’s here 10:30
Swans Island sisters forge careers on the sea
Lesley and Leah Ranquist, sisters in their early 20s, were first introduced to fishing when they were mere kindergarteners. Now they are among the 4 percent of women currently holding commercial fishing licenses in the state of Maine. Lesley and Leah’s story isn’t just noteworthy because they’re young women making a good living in an industry dominated by men; their introduction to lobster fishing started with a grandfather who fished with only two fingers and a thumb. Read the rest here 10:10
Wasting water to kill fish?
The Stanislaus River Salmon Festival 
is Saturday. And so far a record 6,000 endangered Chinook salmon have passed through a high-tech weir near Riverbank. “There’s no cause for celebration,” noted biologist and Fishbo principal Andrea Fuller who has been studying the Stanislaus River and its fish for 20 years. That’s because Fuller said the federal government’s pulse flow releases from New Melones Reservoir during the fourth year of severe drought has created conditions that have water temperatures 5 degrees higher than normal. That is expected to translate into a much higher kill rate for eggs. Read the rest here 08:57
75 Years After Steinbeck Sailed, a Boat Is Readied to Go Back to Sea
Rule 1 in the world of working wooden boats, since the days of dugout canoes and fishing skiffs, has been that when they are no longer of use or they are lost at sea, people build new ones and move on. Sentimentality and fussy restoration are rarely in the tool kit. The Western Flyer, a sardine fishing boat made famous by the writer John Steinbeck, is now on a path to breaking that pattern, as it has so many others before. Seventy-five years after Steinbeck and a scientist friend chartered the Flyer and sailed it from California to Mexico — and into literary legend,,, Read the rest here 07:58
First Nations seek meeting with fisheries minister
Members of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance in British Columbia have written to federal , requesting an urgent meeting to discuss plunging salmon returns in the province’s rivers. The alliance’s Chief Bob Chamberlin says six million sockeye salmon were forecast for the Fraser River this year, but only two million fish arrived, while 14 million pink salmon were expected, but barely one-third showed up. Read the rest here 18:56
Gov. Cuomo Sinks Proposed Gas Terminal Off Long Island
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has rejected a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in the waters off New York and New Jersey, effectively killing the project amid an outcry from residents of some coastal communities that it could endanger the environment and be a target for terrorists. The deep-water docking station known as Port Ambrose was to be built 19 miles off Jones Beach on Long Island and 29 miles off Long Brach, New Jersey. Liberty Natural Gas LLC, the company vying to develop Port Ambrose, said the port would allow it to inject natural gas into the New York-area pipeline,,, Read the rest here 17:55
Europeche accuses Pew of defending the ideas of “false and contrary” to the weight and impact science discussion forums, advisory councils and ideas.
As fishermen provide more and more data and reap the benefits of their efforts to curb by-catches and fish more sustainably through technical methods so the big NGOs will respond in ever more aggressive ways as the evidence begins to undermine their attempts to indirectly and directly influence legislators – in this instance they have upset Europeche who have accused the Pew Foundation (an American charity like the Oak Foundation which sees fit to fund many anti-fishing activities here in Europe – High Fearnley-Whittingstall’s infamous FishFight being one to the tune of,,, Read the rest here 15:00
Sylvia Earle says our Taste for “Aquatic Bushmeat” is Killing the Sea – She is wrong!
A recent Newsweek article titled, “Our Taste for ‘Aquatic Bushmeat’ is Killing the Sea
” comments on the state of worldwide fisheries as food. The article uses interviews with Sylvia Earle and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance to paint a bleak picture of the state of worldwide seafood. The article claims that 90% of fish in the ocean had been removed in the last half-century and 90% of the worlds stocks were unsustainably harvested (since corrected to 29%). Likening fish to “aquatic bushmeat” Sylvia Earle admonishes people who don’t think about what kind of fish they eat or where the fish is from. Read the rest here 13:42
Chinook salmon numbers surge in U.S. Northwest’s Columbia river system
Chinook salmon are swimming in nearly unprecedented numbers this fall through the U.S. Northwest’s Columbia River system, a federal official said on Wednesday, even as fish advocates worry about forecasts for unusually hot, dry conditions ahead. The Bonneville Power Administration has counted 1.2 million returning to spawn in the Columbia and Snake river systems, which run through Oregon and Washington states, since Aug. 1. It is the second-highest autumn run since fish counts began in 1938, Joel Scruggs, a spokesman for the federal agency, said. Read the rest here 12:09
Tropical storm Kate to bring high winds, waves to southern Grand Banks
Environment Canada has issued a tropical cyclone information statement for Newfoundland in relation to tropical storm Kate. The weather office says Kate is transitioning to a post-tropical storm and will have no direct effects over land. However, it will give bring strong winds to the southern Grand Banks today. The system is about 720 kilometres south of Cape Race, with maximum sustained winds of 110 km per hour. Its current movement is east-northeast at 56 km/hour.
Environment Canada also says waves near seven metres are possible not far from the storm centre. Read the rest here 11:15
Gardaí raid premises after fishermen trafficking claim
Gardaí have raided a number of premises and the naval service has arrested a fishing boat in the Irish sea as part of the response to allegations of abuse of migrant workers in the fishing industry. Speaking ahead of the second meeting later today of the taskforce set up to deal with issue, Minister for Agriculture and Marine Simon Coveney said he does not want a “witch hunt” of people who may be in Ireland illegally and may be vulnerable. Read the rest here 10:14
Monster supertrawler currently operating in Irish waters
The country’s fishing watchdog has said a supertrawler currently operating off Ireland’s Atlantic coast is likely to be inspected — even though it is not doing anything illegal. It comes as an online petition, sparked by the presence of the Margiris off the Irish coast and calling for supertrawlers to be banned from the area, has received more than 6,000 signatures. It fished off the Irish coast last year and has now returned, prompting a furious reaction from many fishermen here. Read the rest here 09:46
Fire at Town Dock – Lobster boat sinks, another significantly damaged
A lobster boat sank, another was significantly damaged and a 50-foot section of the 
was destroyed by a fire reported around 4 a.m. Wednesday. The fishing vessel Lindy was on fire when the Stonington Borough Fire Department responded. The boat eventually sank at the dock. The Martha Elizabeth, docked next to the Lindy, suffered significant damage but remained afloat. The Connecticut State Fire Marshal arrived on the scene at 9:30 a.m., and is investigating the cause of the fire. Read the rest here 08:26
Just Now!! The first loads of Mackerel are being unloaded in New Bedford!
The first loads of Mackerel are being unloaded in New Bedford by the Midwater pair Enterprise and Retriever. The fish are rumored to be high quality and should provide a nice bit of money for crews whose livelyhood has been beleaguered by increasingly difficult regulation and closures. With the recent bit of bad weather subsiding expect most midwater vessels to depart for sea in search of some holiday cheer after a very poor herring year. 07:43
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: Bill Lowe 42′ Wood Lobster Boat 871 Detroit Diesel,
Specifications, information and 16 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 20:11
How the sacrifices of fishermen in WWII hit British trawling
In September 1939 a programme was introduced through which fishing fleets of four to eight vessels were created, with two vessels armed with twelve-pound guns. In May 1940 those trawlers which had been fitted with guns were swiftly requisitioned and sent to help with the evacuation of Dunkirk and elsewhere. Fishermen also saved a lot of lives at sea, rescuing crews from stricken ships as well as British and enemy aircraft. When the first Schedule of Reserved Occupations was drawn up all classes of fishermen were reserved from the age of 18, Read the rest here 19:43
