Monthly Archives: January 2016
Lobsterman faces multiple court dates over fishing charges
Gloucester lobsterman Joseph Sanfilippo has several court dates in his future for alleged violations of Massachusetts fishing regulations. On Tuesday, Sanfilippo, 48, of 1 Thorn Hill Way, Gloucester, was in for a clerk magistrate’s hearing that was continued to March 1. The charges from that hearing — reportedly for numerous violations — would not be released until after the hearing was conducted. The magistrate would also determine if there were legal grounds to allow the charges to go forward. Read the rest here 10:43
Land-based salmon farm on Vancouver Island nears economic viability
North America’s only land-based Atlantic salmon farm battled through technical and equipment issues in 2015, but the operators are edging close to covering production and overhead costs. The Kuterra land-raised Atlantic salmon farm — a commercial pilot project located near Port McNeill on Vancouver Island — has been forced to replace several substandard pumps, install additional oxygenation and carbon dioxide stripping capacity and repair a malfunctioning feeding system that over-fed the fish by up to 75 kilograms a day. Read the article here 09:01
‘Shafted’ by FFAW, Flowers Cove fisherman tells court
A fish harvester from Flowers Cove says he feels “shafted” by his union because of the terms of a compensation fund negotiated with Nalcor, to offset the loss of scallop grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. Edmund Moores is one of 71 people who are suing the union, in a trial that continued Wednesday in the . The Fish, Food and Allied Workers argues that the $2,590,875 should be paid out in annual installments over 30 years. The court has been told they believed the money would be paid out in a lump sum. Read the article here 08:27
Producers warn dropping dollar isn’t all good news for fishery
Amid all the doom and gloom about the economy, the price of oil and the provincial deficit, there’s a bright spot for Newfoundland and Labrador: the Canadian dollar has been tanking. The dollar dropped by more than 17 per cent from a 12-month high last May to a low of 68.69 cents last week. The exchange rate hurts any Newfoundlander going on a trip to Florida, but it helps in plenty of other ways. For one thing, the exchange rate helps soften the blow of abysmal oil prices for the provincial government, and it makes the province more attractive to American tourists who want to spend their greenbacks here. Read the article here 07:58
Don Cuddy – Fishermen fight back against government overreach
I attended the hearing with John Haran of Dartmouth, manager of Northeast Fisheries Sector XIII which includes 32 fishermen. Sector XIII is a plaintiff in the case along with New Hampshire commercial fisherman Dave Goethel. The all-day hearing concluded without a ruling. Federal District Judge Joseph Laplante will issue a decision in his own time after deliberating on a legal case with potential ramifications not only for the fishing industry but with respect to any government agency’s attempt to increase its own power. Steve Schwartz, an attorney with Cause of Action, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on government overreach, represents the fishermen. He told the court that the scope of an agency’s power is determined exclusively by Congress and that NOAA lacks the statutory authority to require fishermen to pay for monitors. Read the op-ed here by Don Cuddy 07:33
How a groundfish disaster today can spawn a different-looking fishery tomorrow
The federal government declared the Northeast groundfish fishery a disaster in 2012. But disaster arguably struck the region’s groundfishing fleet, particularly in Maine, long before that. In 1982, there were 328 vessels from Maine actively fishing for groundfish. By 2012, the number had fallen to 63 vessels participating in the first true industry that took root in colonial America — fishing for cod, haddock, flounder, pollock, hake and other ocean bottom dwellers. In 2014, 52 Maine vessels held groundfish permits. Read the article here 21:20
Fishermen in court – Scallop license holders say they’ll get nothing from area closure and union deal
Fishermen holding scallop licences for the Strait of Belle Isle were expecting to get paid when a compensation deal was negotiated by their union with Nalcor Energy, all tied to the Lower Churchill Project. The fishermen were not paid, and have now taken their union to court. The 71 fish harvesters involved in the case green lit negotiations, allowing the FFAW-Unifor to seek something in return for a planned permanent closure of part of their fishing grounds (a roughly 1.5-kilometre stretch of Area 14A) for the Labrador-Island Link. Read the article here 19:33
After 39 years of NOAA/NMFS fisheries management, how are they doing? How are we doing because of their efforts?
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 76′ Steel Clammer/Scalloper, 450HP, 6 Cylinder CAT
Specifications, information and 15 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 14:43
Lund boat a piece of history – Salvaged cedar from old logging bridge used to rebuild former fishing boat
Anyone who knows boats will tell you that you don’t buy a wooden boat, you marry one. Like any good relationship, it takes patience and attention, and you have to love the process of doing it, not just the end result. When it’s done right, you can see the love gone into it from a mile away. Take a walk on the Lund docks and spot the Lady Miriam and you’ll see what I mean. “I fell in love with that boat when I first moved to Lund,” said Steve Suche, who bought it in 1999 and spent the next five years tearing down and rebuilding it. “I like working on her almost more than I like taking her out,” said Suche. And it shows. Read the article here 12:40
A new report is a reminder of what many Alaskans already know: seafood is a big industry in the state.
ASMI Communications Director Tyson Fick said his organization commissioned the McDowell group to update a study on the role seafood plays in Alaska, and America’s, economy. “There’s more labor income from seafood than from tourism and mining combined, which is pretty substantial, and certainly very, very important in places where seafood is primary, like Bristol Bay,” Fick said. The report says the 60,000 workers in Alaska’s seafood industry earn $1.6 billion per year. That includes the equivalent of about 4,650 full time jobs in Bristol Bay. Audio, read the article here 11:49
Video – P.E.I. lobster fisherman takes GoPro underwater
Eric Creed has spent much of his life on the Atlantic, but thanks to a new camera he’s captured a glimpse of what lies beneath. The 25-year-old from Montague, P.E.I., got a GoPro camera last summer while working as a lobster fisherman with his dad. He rigged up a cage for the camera from a wire lobster trap, hit record and dropped it about 30 to 40 feet below the boat off the shore of Grahams Pond in eastern P.E.I. “It was pretty amazing to see. My biggest goal was to see a lobster in its natural habitat and that’s what we were able to see,” he said. Various video’s click here 11:30
U.S. dollar surge boon to N.S. lobster
When the value of the Canadian dollar plummets, cross-border shoppers feel a twinge of pain in their pocketbooks. But for people in the fishing industry, it’s been a big boost. “We’re getting a strong return on our investment when we sell to the United States,” says Dannie Hansen, vice president of sustainability with Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd. “And because of our capital investments this year (of) millions of dollars in innovative equipment, it has been a great help for us on our bottom line at the end of the year.” Read the article here 10:13
Two classes of fishermen: Kings and Serfs
When you hear of fishermen being divided by the government into two classes — “kings” and “serfs” — you would think it would be from medieval times or some scheme hatched under a third-world dictatorship. But no, this is happening in the Gulf of Mexico (and other fishery’s, nationwide) right now with the commercial red snapper catch share program as documented by an investigative report by AL.com published this week. The report states that the catch share program “has turned dozens of Gulf of Mexico fishermen into the lords of the sea — able to earn millions annually without even going fishing — Read the post here 09:41
Coast Guard rescues 3 fishermen after vessel capsizes near Coos Bay, Ore.
Coast Guard crews rescued three men from the water after the 49-foot fishing vessel Sara Jo became disabled and capsized on the Coos Bay bar Tuesday. “The distress call from the fishermen and the EPIRB notification allowed for a quick and organized response,” said Lt. Wes Jones, a helicopter pilot at Coast Guard Air Station North Bend. “Our crews responded extremely efficiently today, and we had all three men out of the water within 28 minutes.” Read the post here 08:55
Feds to help Gloucester brand its seafood
Gloucester’s effort to develop a specific brand for the bounty of seafood yanked from local waters, as well as the means to promote food produced at local farms, is receiving a boost from the Obama administration. The White House’s Rural Council chose Gloucester as one of 27 communities nationwide from about 350 municipal applicants to participate in the Local Foods, Local Places initiative designed to help transform locally harvested food into local economic development and healthier eating. Read the article here 08:16
NOAA Expands Critical Habitat for Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales
Using new information not previously available, NMFS (read the Fed Reg
) is expanding critical habitat for endangered North Atlantic right whales to cover its northeast feeding areas in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank region and southeast calving grounds from North Carolina to Florida. This final rule, which was initially proposed in February 2015 and received 261 general comments over a 60-day comment period, does not include any new restrictions or management measures for commercial fishing operations. Read the post here 15:41
PETA – Serving fish at an aquarium would be like serving poodle burgers at a dog show
They’re crazy! Choose the fish!
As construction continues on OdySea Aquarium in Scottsdale, Arizona, PETA sent a letter to the project’s developer this morning with a simple request: Keep fish off the menu at the aquarium’s restaurant, the Lighthouse Café. In its letter, PETA points out that fish caught in huge commercial fishing nets suffer the agony of decompression as they are hauled up from the deep, while farmed fish spend their entire lives in filthy, cramped enclosures, making fish flesh a poor menu choice for an institution intended to teach people to respect and appreciate sea animals. Link 15:00
Study finds shark hotspots overlap with commercial fishing locations
A new study from an international team of scientists found commercial fishing vessels target shark hotspots, areas where sharks tend to congregate, in the North Atlantic. The researchers suggest that sharks are at risk of being overfished in these oceanic hotspots. During a four-year period from 2005 to 2009, the researchers tracked more than 100 sharks equipped with satellite tags from six different species in the North Atlantic while concurrently tracking 186 Spanish and Portuguese GPS-equipped longline fishing vessels. They found that the fishing vessels and sharks occurred in ocean fronts characterized by warm water temperature and high productivity, including the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current/Labrador Current Convergence Zone near Newfoundland. Read the article here 12:56
‘Charleston Fishing Families’ raising funds, donations for families of lost crab fishermen
The Eagle III sank miles away from its home port in Port Orford but that hasn’t stopped people in the bay area from stepping up to support the families of those who were on board, show the fishing community is truly ‘coast-wide.’ The group is putting on a rummage sale, bake sale and silent auction fundraiser at the Coquille Tribal Community Center this weekend. They say, in a matter of days, hundreds of dollars’ worth of items were donated. “We thought this was going to be a little tiny yard sale and we were going to raise a couple hundred dollars and call it good,” Clemens explains, “and it just ballooned into something so miraculous and amazing.” Video, read the rest here 10:58
Coast Guard medevacs Fisherman off boat near Oregon Inlet, NC
The Coast Guard medevaced a 22-year-old man Tuesday aboard a fishing vessel near Oregon Inlet. Sector North Carolina watchstanders received a call at 5:30 a.m. that a crew member aboard the 43-foot fishing vessel Sea Dog had fallen and sustained an injury to his ear. A Coast Guard 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew launched from Station Oregon Inlet at 5:48 a.m. and arrived on scene at 6:10 a.m. Read the post here 10:26
In the Gulf – Effects of Illegal Fishing on Local Fishing Industry
Over 1,000 pounds of red snapper were seized from a lancha by the U.S. Coast Guard. There were 4 Mexican nationals aboard the boat. They were taken to the U.S. Coast Guard at the island. A charter fisherman said when people fish illegally his profits take a big hit. It can also drain a fishing spot. “Everything changed. We didn’t catch anything in that area, nothing. We didn’t even mark anything on our fish finder. It was absolutely zero,” Michael Walker said. Walker takes people out to fish. If there are no fish to catch, it can result in the loss of a customer. Read the rest here 09:19
Lobster Advisory Council opposes limited lobster licenses
As a Feb. 10 hearing before the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee nears, Maine lobstermen continue to debate a bill that would tweak the system by which commercial lobster licenses are issued. The proposals included in the bill were first presented to industry members in a round of town hall-style meetings hosted by Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher during the summer and fall. The ideas have also been discussed in meetings of the state’s seven regional . Read the article here 08:54
State legislators call on Brown to declare crab fishery disaster
A group of nine California legislators sent a bipartisan letter to Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday calling for him to declare a crab fishery disaster in order to help secure financial assistance for the state’s impacted fishing industry. The state legislators’ letter urges Brown to ask U.S. Secretary of Commerce to declare a fishery disaster through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. If approved, the designation would allow the federal government to issue disaster assistance as allowed under two federal statutes — the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act. Read the article here 08:20
Burgeoning sea otter population in southern Southeast Alaska depletes commercial fishery species
Sea otters enjoy feeding on sea cucumbers, sea urchins, Dungeness crabs and geoducks. Unfortunately, so do people. In southern Southeast Alaska, commercial fisheries for these invertebrate species provide income for local economies. At the same time, a growing population of sea otters is consuming the invertebrates. Predation from the otters is already having an economic impact on commercial fisheries, and the effect is likely to be even greater as the sea otter population continues to increase. Read the post here 07:43
Ventura Harbor Entrance Closed Until Further Notice
The Ventura Harbor’s entrance is closed and will continue to be closed for at least the next week, and this is impacting local fishermen. The harbor entrance is the only way fishermen docked in the Ventura Harbor can get out to the ocean and go fishing. Some of them have been trapped in the harbor since Friday, and they say every day that goes by is another day they are losing thousands of dollars. “For us we get a load of squid it is $40,000 a night so for us it’s a big deal,” said squid fisherman Brian Lapeyri. Fishermen who work on the Aleutian Spirit are currently stuck at their dock in the Ventura Harbor. Read the article here 22:07
Seals blamed for drop in Strait of Georgia juvenile salmon stocks
A bountiful population of harbour seals is a prime suspect in the decline of coho and chinook in the Strait of Georgia, according to a new study. The population of harbour seals has grown steadily with federal protection, from fewer than 5,000 in 1970 to about 40,000 in 2008 in the Strait of Georgia — a period that corresponds with marked declines in coho and chinook. “In the 1970s, you could take 60 to 70 per cent of the population sustainably every year and there’d still be plenty of fish coming back to spawn — and that just doesn’t happen any more,” Read the article here 19:47
New U.S. Coast Guard Safety Regs For Life Rafts
By the end of next month there will be new Coast Guard safety regulations for the use of flotation devices on all sea vessels. Smaller passenger vessels will no longer be able to use life rings and other flotation devices as the only form of survival gear, but instead equipped their boat with a life raft to assure that in the case of a vessel sinking, every passenger is safely out of water. Scott Wilwert is the Coast Guard Fishing Safety Coordinator in Juneau.“On February 26 2016 survival craft requirements for commercial fishing vessels as well,,, Audio, Read the rest here 16:46
New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Portsmouth, NH January 26 thru 28, 2016
The New England Fishery Management Council and its advisory bodies will meet at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel, 250 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH January 26 thru 28, 2016 . View the Final Council Meeting Agenda, Click here Register to Listen Live, Click here 16:20
Canneries look for a list of concessions from American Samoa
Faced with a decline in their competitive advantage, the governor’s executive assistant Iulogologo Joseph Pereira says the canneries are seeking concessions from the government and a response is being formulated to help the canneries — the largest private employer in the territory. The canneries and fishing industry in American Samoa are facing serious challenges with the fishing restrictions imposed in June — and since the beginning of 2016, the Forum Fisheries Agency or FFA is no longer issuing fishing licenses to the U.S. fleeting to fish in waters of 17 Pacific island countries under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. Read the article here 13:58
