Monthly Archives: April 2016
New Bedford becoming hub for emerging “blue tech” industry
On a March afternoon at The Black Whale restaurant on New Bedford’s waterfront, steps away from docked fishing boats, Chris Rezendes signaled to waitstaff as his party gathered for lunch. He was going to need more tables. Guests included Ed Anthes-Washburn, port director for the city’s Harbor Development Commission; Kevin Stokesbury, chairman of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography at UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST); John Haran, manager of fishery Sector 13 and newly elected member of Dartmouth’s Select Board; and Rezendes, founder of INEX Advisors and an affiliated Internet connectivity company, IoT Impact LABS, based in New Bedford. Read the rest here 13:59:01
Pro Cat US touts catamaran workboat
The white hull of the fiberglass catamaran workboat is under construction at the site in Rouses Point. Based on models used in Europe, it will be the first and only boat of its type and material to be constructed in the United States, Pachiaudo said. Local manufacture will be crucial for its proposed commercial applications, such as deep-sea fishing and lobstering, as the Jones Act requires commercially used, federally registered vessels to be built in the United States. That eliminates potential competition from overseas manufacturers, Pachiaudo said. “We have a market; we have a niche,” he said. “We have a product that has been proven in England.” Read the rest here 11:46
“Gloucester: When the Fish Came First.” New coffee-table photo book captures legacy of the Gloucester fisherman
“I wanted to get to know the place so I picked up 35-millimeter cameras,” Nubar Alexanian recalled. “I wanted to find one of the most successful fishing families and follow them. So from 1979 to 1981, I followed the Brancaleone family. I literally became part of the family.” Alexanian braved 10-day trips at sea, with much sea sickness, and he still wanted to immerse himself more in their world on the frigid northern Atlantic. “The captain would say, ‘I’m not coming in for you.’ But when you are young and determined with a story that you are trying to tell, you forge ahead,” he said. Decades later, Alexanian is now telling his Gloucester story in a large-format book titled “Gloucester: When the Fish Came First.” Read the rest here 09:46
As Canada probes Haida Gwaii ocean fertilizing, new project proposed in Chile
The federal government is still investigating an experiment off the West Coast almost four years ago aimed at boosting salmon stocks that sparked an international outcry. Now a former director and operations officer of Haida Salmon Restoration Corp. says he wants to carry out another ocean-fertilizing exercise, this time off South America. Jason McNamee says the company Oceaneos, where he serves as chief operations officer, has been in talks about fertilizing the ocean with iron with the Chilean government, which could not be reached for comment. In July 2012, the now-inactive Haida Salmon Restoration travelled to international waters near the islands of Haida Gwaii where it dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the water in an effort to restore waning salmon stocks. Read the rest here 08:26
D.B. Pleschner: Pacific Sardines are not collapsing, may be in recovery
On April 10, the Pacific Fishery Management Council closed the West Coast sardine fishery for a second straight year. The council followed its ultra-conservative harvest control policy and relied on a stock assessment that does not account for recent sardine recruitment. But in fact, there are multiple lines of evidence that young sardines are now abundant in the ocean. In addition to field surveys, fishermen in both California and the Pacific Northwest have been observing sardines – both small and large — since the summer of 2015. And California fishermen also provided samples of the small fish to federal and state fishery managers. Read the rest here 19:29
PEIFA president is optimistic, sees signs of higher prices
The president of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association is chomping at the bit to get the 2016 spring lobster fishery underway next weekend and he’s optimistic of higher prices. “Prices are tremendously high, over $8.00 a pound over in Nova Scotia right now,” Craig Avery said Friday. Avery, who will be setting out of Northport Harbour in Lobster Fishing Area 24 on April 30, estimated the starting price for a lobster fishery that got underway in Nova Scotia on April 19 to be between $2.00 and $2.50 a pound higher than what they got starting out in years past. “There’s a lot of optimism out there and we’re hoping, definitely, for a higher price than last year, for sure,” Avery commented. Read the rest here 14:47
Monitoring The Catch Aboard Groundfishing Vessels
Regulations are stiff in the commercial fishing industry – and especially so for those who go after groundfish like cod and haddock. Now, one of the industry’s biggest players is accused of skirting those regulations for years – allegedly cooking the books and reaping big profits on illegally caught groundfish. As Brian Morris reports, that’s having a ripple effect on small, single-boat groundfishermen who play by the rules. Around the docks of New Bedford, people know Carlos Rafael as the “Codfather,” a legendary, self-made figure who dominates the city’s biggest industry. He manages a fleet of some 40 vessels, and also operates a fish distribution operation. Authorities raided his business in February, and federal officials allege he was changing documents – falsifying the types of fish he reported catching. Audio, Read the rest here 14:26
Last In-First Out (LIFO) policy – DFO official assures advisory panel is ‘arms-length and independent
An official from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) says the Ministerial Advisory Panel chosen to assess the Last In-First Out (LIFO) policy on northern shrimp is an “arms-length” independent panel. Fisheries and Oceans minister Hunter Tootoo declined a request for an interview earlier this week. Instead, Sylvie Lapointe, DFO’s director general of fisheries management, was chosen to answer questions posed by TC Media regarding the appointment and independence of the panel. As for the choice of panelists, Lapointe said the minister selected the members based on their “wide range of skills, experience and expertise, to ensure we can have an independent and comprehensive review of the LIFO policy.” Read the rest here 11:45
Governor Walker names two good Alaskans to North Pacific Fishery Management Council
“Alaska strong” is the phrase that best describes Gov. Bill Walker’s recent nominations of Theresa Peterson and Buck Laukitis to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, or NPFMC, which is composed of 11 voting members from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest states. Six of those members are nominated by Alaska’s governor. Theresa Peterson is a fisherman, Kodiak resident and multi-term member of the NPFMC advisory panel, as well as a staff member for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. Buck Laukitis also stresses the importance of catering to the demands of the current fleet while also ensuring that the future of coastal communities is not sacrificed in the process. He also comes with a formidable pedigree for the job. Read the rest here 10:07
Nova Scotia fisherman ‘died a hero’ after helping save crewmate
Fishermen know that the sea is both sweet and cruel. On good days it’s your best friend, giving you food and a livelihood; on bad days it’s a vengeful enemy you’ll be lucky to escape. All three Wedgeport, N.S., men aboard the Dwayne Allen no doubt knew this before they set out Thursday to fish lobster off the province’s south shore. By the end of the day one of them would be dead after helping save the other. Neil LeBlanc Sr.’s son, Neil LeBLanc Jr., was the captain of the Dwayne Allen. Read the story here 09:40
Benefits to harvesters – New business to connect seafood harvesters with seafood lovers
A new business hopes to make it easy to buy seafood direct from local harvesters, with just the click of a mouse. The man behind the website From The Wharf is Blaine Edwards, who came up with the idea after talking to industry stakeholders in the wake of September 2015 changes to provincial legislation, that allowed direct sales of seafood from harvesters to consumers and restaurants. “We felt right away there might be an opportunity to create some kind of mechanism or site or organization, but we didn’t really know what the site would look like, and that’s when we started our research,” Edwards told CBC Radio’s The Broadcast. Read the rest here 09:22
Small Boat Fishermen Worry New Rules Won’t Come in Time to Save N. Atlantic Scallops
A quandary over scallop rules has two groups of fishermen in Maine at odds over the increasingly lucrative shellfish. Kristan Porter, is an independent fisherman who catches lobsters for most of the year with his boat “Brandon Jay.” But for additional income, for five months each year, he and the two other men on his boat have begun collecting scallops. Eric Hansen, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is one of the permit holders that aren’t bound by the same quota that Porter and others follow. Hansen, who typically fishes south of Maine, returned to the Gulf of Maine this year for the first time in decades. His family business obtained one of the permits back in 1994 for free that now could be sold for millions of dollars. Read the rest here 08:41
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney met with local fishermen Friday in Stonington over onerous catch limits
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, spoke with local fishermen Friday who shared their ongoing concerns about federal fishing regulations that limit the numbers of fish they can haul. We need to get all the states along the Northeastern seaboard together to confirm what the scientists are saying about how the regulations are out of date,” he said. “We need to get the New England legislators and governors involved and send a letter to NOAA and to the secretary of Commerce and ask them to change this. What you’re doing by bringing elected officials down here, this is what will create change.” Read the rest here 08:00
Fishermen plead with MP to throw them a lifeline
Small-boat fishermen are being penalised – for not catching enough fish. And they warn that the move could drive them out of business and end centuries of tradition. Defra, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is capping the quotas of under-10 metre boats which did not land their full entitlement in the years 2010 to 2013. The fishermen say that Defra bureaucrats have got it wrong. A group of small-scale fishermen from the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall told their MP of their plight in a meeting in the tiny village of Cadgwith this week. Read the rest here 18:39
Pacific Council approves three West Coast commercial fishing fleets for electronic monitoring
As of 2017, the , and mothership catcher vessel fleets will no longer be required to carry human observers on fishing trips, helping to simplify logistics, reduce costs and increase profits for fishermen. Heather Mann, executive director of the Midwater Trawler’s Cooperative, an Oregon-based organization representing 18 whiting vessels, said: “What this decision does is transfer responsibility for catch accounting from the federal government to vessel operators, where it should be.” Read the rest here 17:24
Our Earth Day Hero: Rodney Avila
As fishing season picks up on New Bedford’s waterfront, retired North End resident Rodney Avila is leading a renewed effort to clean up harbor water that’s the lifeblood for local fishing-related industries. Avila, formerly a commercial fisherman for more than 40 years, said 142 fishing boats have signed up for the city’s Clean Bilge Program. The state-funded initiative began in October and is an effort to change a longstanding plague of “mystery oil spills” in New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor, by offering fishermen clean pump-outs of their bilges. Read the rest here 15:59
In the COSEWIC Crosshairs: West Prince eel fisherman fearful for eel fishery
A West Prince eel fisherman worries far-reaching restrictions might be placed on the American Eel fishery here without recognizing the many steps Prince Edward Island fishermen have undertaken to prevent over-fishing. Tignish resident Allan McInnis attended a Department of Fisheries and Oceans consultation meeting in Charlottetown in late January during which DFO explained the Species At Risk Act (SARA).The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) identified the American ell as a species of special concern in 2006. COSEWIC subsequently reassessed the American eel, the species fished throughout the Atlantic as “threatened” in 2012. Read the rest here 13:31
NY Fishermen: State Officers Violating The Constitution With Searches And Sales Of Seized Catch
State lawmakers and fishermen’s advocates are pushing legislation that would rein in the powers of search and seizure by state environmental enforcement officers. State Department of Environmental Conservation officers routinely cross geographic boundaries in their searches of fishermen’s boats, trucks and properties, charged Dan Rogers, an attorney who has represented several fishermen against DEC charges, and then competes economically against those fishermen in selling the seized fish for profits to pad state budgets. Mr. Rodgers said at a gathering of fishermen and officials at the home of brothers Danny and Paul Lester, commercial fishermen from Amagansett, on Thursday afternoon. “It’s legal under New York State law, but it’s not legal under the constitution.” Read the rest here 11:58
A reminder of Conor Shea
PLEASANT VIEW — It’s fishing-ready but this is one lobster trap that won’t be going back in the water. Lobster fisherman Mike Shea found this reminder of his late son, Conor Shea, while out repairing his lobster gear. Last week, while Mike Shea was going over his gear in preparation for the spring lobster season, he flipped one trap over and his eyes fixed on some handiwork his son, Conor, made last year. Concrete is poured into the base of the traps for extra weight. While the concrete was still wet, Conor had drawn a picture of a lobster in one block and etched his name in two other blocks. Conor Shea, 14, passed away on January 17 in a snowmobile collision. Read the rest here 11:19 Humble and Kind, by Tim McGraw for Coner. Click here
Talks break down again between state, tribes to develop a joint plan for Puget Sound salmon fisheries
State and tribal fishery officials are again at an impasse over efforts , and it is uncertain when — or even if — a new season might open this year for sport anglers and nontribal, commercial fishermen. The talks this year have been complicated by forecasts for extremely poor returns of wild coho, which require harvest cuts to protect the weak runs. Rather than submit a joint plan for federal approval as in years past, both state and tribal officials now say they plan to submit separate management plans to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries. Tribal officials expect they could,,, Read the rest here 10:53
Feds may ease fish population goals for non native, salmon eating Striped Bass
A still-controversial 1992 law intended to boost California’s striped bass population can be scaled back, the Obama administration now believes. In a modest softening of the state’s polarized water debate, a top Interior Department official voiced sympathy Wednesday for a Republican-authored bill that would end the 1992 law’s stated goal of doubling the number of striped bass living in and around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. “It makes sense to remove the striped bass from the doubling goals,” said Tom Iseman, deputy assistant secretary for water and science, adding that “the striped bass is a predator of native species.” Read the rest here 09:30
New England: Fishing advocates praise allocation of funds for electronic monitoring
Advocates for electronic monitoring technology in the commercial fishing industry are pleased that the Senate Appropriations Committee has secured federal resources to help defray costs associated with regulating catch sizes.On Thursday, U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D- NH) announced that $3 million has been set aside for the development and installation of this technology. Fishermen hope it will replace the current model of in-person monitoring, which costs them approximately $700 per day every time they bring a person out.Josh Wiersma of the Environmental Defense Fund said appropriating the money is a step in the right direction. Read the rest here 07:20
East End fishermen gather, demand changes to state enforcement laws
East End commercial fishing advocates gathered at an Amagansett fishing family’s home Thursday to demand a change to state law that allows enforcement officers the “unfettered” ability to seize and sell fish taken in enforcement actions. The request follows years of charges by several East End fishermen that state enforcement officers seized fish then sold it without any procedure for those charged to reclaim their property once they were later acquitted. Since the practice has come under criticism, the state has returned more than $10,000 to fishermen who were acquitted of charges. Among them were the Lester family, whose members in 2013 received a check for $202.25 for seized fish after they were acquitted of illegal fish possession. Read the rest here 20:09
Pillar Point Fish buyer must move hoist
A fish buyer at Pillar Point has been ordered to remove a hoist at Johnson Pier installed in 2014 that critics said skirted coastal laws. Steve McGrath, the general manager at the San Mateo County Harbor District, sent a letter to Three Captains Sea Products last week ordering the company to remove the hoist by May 12. The hoist has been the center of considerable controversy as the company’s owner Larry Fortado filed a civil complaint against the district alleging Commissioner Sabrina Brennan worked on behalf of his competitors to keep him from using the hoist. Read the rest here 19:37
COMMENTARY: 40 years after Magnuson-Stevens, not all promises kept
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act turned 40 last week and federal and state fishery managers marked that event with an opinion piece in the Alaska Dispatch News on April 12 extolling the successes of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its implementation in Alaska as a “global model of sustainability.” As the authors point out, the Magnuson-Stevens Act sets up a “transparent governing process” intended to ensure that “science is behind every fishery management decision” in Alaska. Indeed, the Magnuson-Stevens Act sets up national standards ensuring that all fisheries are managed to achieve “optimum yield from each fishery” with management decisions “based on the best scientific information available,” and guided by carefully considered fishery management plans. BUT,,, Read the rest here 16:31
Togiak herring harvested after surprisingly early opener – roe yield sampled at 15 percent!
The first commercial harvest of Togiak herring this season was reported Tuesday. The season started much sooner than expected, and the processors and the fleet have been struggling to get on the grounds since commercial effort was opened Sunday evening. “One company did manage to buy some fish,” said area management biologist Tim Sands Wednesday morning. “We’re still getting reports that it’s too windy in most places to fish, and turbid enough that it’s hard to even see fish. I think other companies are there, and ready to go.” When two companies or less are buying, the Dept. of Fish and Game keeps the details of the harvest confidential. Unofficially, word from the grounds is that the herring caught were big, and the roe yield surprisingly high, perhaps 15 percent. Sands said he had heard the same. Audio, Read the rest here 14:33
Newfoundland cod stock shows signs of recovery
The Newfoundland northern cod stock has grown significantly since 2006, according to an independent assessment completed by SAI Global on behalf of WWF-Canada and the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor). The assessment cautions, however, that numbers are far below what they were during the peak commercial success of the fishery. FFAW-Unifor, the Seafood Producers of Newfoundland and Labrador, Fogo Island Co-op and WWF-Canada agreed to work together to rebuild the fishery off Newfoundland’s northeast coast, also referred to as area 2J3KL, through a Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in 2015. Read the rest here 14:17
NT coroner says Austral Fisheries should be prosecuted for fisherman’s death at sea
The Northern Territory coroner has told an inquest into a fatal electrocution on a prawn trawler that Austral Fisheries should be prosecuted for providing an unsafe workplace. Coroner Greg Cavanagh made the comment while the company’s chief executive David Carter was giving evidence about his knowledge of. Ryan Donoghue, 20, was using a 240-volt angle grinder, plugged into a socket without a safety switch, to cut rusted shackles on the company’s Newfish 1 trawler in 2013. Mr Donoghue had bare feet when a wave hit him and the trawler’s crew members were unable to revive him with CPR. “This workplace was unsafe,” Mr Cavanagh said. “I reckon that your workplace should be prosecuted for it, but no-one’s going to do it.” Video, Read the rest here 11:52
Commercial Fisherman in mutilated crab case found not guilty
Judge Thomas Nave found commercial fisherman Charles Blattner, 47, not guilty of the fishing violation that an Alaska Wildlife Trooper cited Blattner for on Feb. 6. According to a trooper dispatch report, Trooper Scott Bjork found Blattner on board a vessel in Gastineau Channel with 11 Tanner crab disfigured in a way that allegedly prevented the trooper from determining their true size. Blattner appeared in court March 4 to pay the citation, according to court notes. After discussing the matter and making it clear he disagreed with the trooper’s findings, Blattner decided to take his case to trial. Read the rest here 10:07
Chatham selectmen oust waterways panel member involved in fight
In the wake of a widely publicized fight
at a March 31 meeting, the selectmen have decided to remove David Davis from the town’s Waterways Advisory Committee. Davis was involved in an altercation with Aunt Lydia’s Cove Committee Chairman Doug Feeney at a joint session of the two boards. At that meeting, during a discussion about raising nonresident fees, an argument broke out that resulted in an outburst of foul language from both men and an exchange of blows that was quickly broken up. But the video of the fight spread on the Internet and led to apologies from Feeney and Davis. The selectmen voted unanimously during an executive session hearing last week not to sanction Feeney. Video, read the rest here 09:23
