Daily Archives: June 4, 2016
F/V Northern Leader to be profiled on Discovery’s “Mighty Ships” Series
Demonstrating enviable efficiency, F/V Northern Leader of Kodiak will take a star turn on the popular “Mighty Ships” cable TV program. “Mighty Ships” producers search for unique ships around the world. Its seven-year run has featured a range of vessels including cruise ships, aircraft carriers, cargo ships, dredgers and more. The programs focus on the operational capabilities and technical aspects of the ships while making use of computer-generated animation to show underwater operations. What attracted them to the 184-foot freezer-longliner Northern Leader is its joystick-controlled, eco-friendly propulsion system that runs on electricity — the first U.S. fishing vessel to do so — and its head-to-tail use of the fish it catches. The 3-year-old Northern Leader fishes primarily for Bering Sea cod. Says Discovery: “Catching fish with hooks, not nets, she sends out 80 kilometers of fishing line containing 76,000 hooks. In the heart of the Bering Sea, her crew battles a hurricane with 13-meter-high waves and winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour.” Read the rest here 13:54
#LobsterLivesMatter: Vegan compares lobster rescue to Underground Railroad
We’ve seen the momentum that #BlackLivesMatter has gotten. Did you know that lobster lives matter too? Before a lobster becomes the delicious and buttery culinary concoction familiar to most of us, it is a living creature–often in a grocery store tank. That was a sad sight for a Red Lake, Ont. vegan woman, Christine Loughead, who said that a lone lobster for sale “weighed on (her) psyche.” Triggered by such a burden, she bought the shellfish for $20.23, drove six hours to Winnipeg, shipped it via UPS to a vegan contact out in Halifax for $225, where the lobster was released into the ocean by a fellow vegan out east. She did an interview with me, during which she likened her actions to those who helped blacks escape slavery along the Underground Railroad. Like so many other animal rights activists, she thinks that throwing a lobster into the ocean (even though it’s very likely he got fished back out again) is on par with the emancipation of slaves. Interesting. Watch the video here 12:47
The domino effect. Fisheries policy raising the carapace measure risks dividing fishermen
The domino effect. That’s sort of what lobster fishermen in P.E.I. are up against after the Federal Fisheries Department decided the carapace measure has to go up in Lobster Fishing Area 25. Prince Edward Island’s 225 fall fishermen share Northumberland Strait’s LFA 25 with 470 New Brunswick boats and 16 from Nova Scotia. It’s a narrow strip of water, so it’s impossible to draw a line through the middle of it and keep the Island boats on one side of the line and leave the other side to the mainlanders. Despite fishing the same body of water, the fishermen on either side of the puddle – or at least the organizations representing them – have opposing views on what the minimum carapace size should be. Read the op-ed here 11:58
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc says increasing the minimum lobster size balances sustainability, economic benefits.
A decision to increase the minimum size for lobsters caught in the western end of the Northumberland Strait will not be changed by the new fisheries minister. Dominic LeBlanc — MP for the riding of Beauséjour in New Brunswick — took over the portfolio when Hunter Tootoo resigned Tuesday to seek treatment for addiction. P.E.I. fishermen and others have questioned Tootoo’s recent decision to increase carapace size for Lobster Fishing Area 25. LeBlanc, who was taking questions from reporters in New Brunswick Thursday, said the decision will not be reversed and it is time to move on to other issues. Read the rest here 09:28
