Daily Archives: June 10, 2016
Fishing Partnership Support Services named Community Health Worker Program of the Year
The Fishing Partnership Support Services has been named Community Health Worker Program of the Year Award for 2016 by the Mass. Association of Community Health Workers, the statewide group announced Friday. The organization that started out as a health insurance provider in 1997 is today, since 2011, a comprehensive provider not only of health care through the Massachusetts Conductor, but a one-stop resource where highly skilled “navigators” walk fishing families, and even some who aren’t, through the often daunting and difficult task of dealing with bureaucracies of many kinds. Verna Kendall of New Bedford, office manager of the New Bedford partnership office, said that initial goal was a narrow but important one: “When we began the fishing families had no place to go for health care, so Jim (her husband) and the group started the health plan. Read the rest here 22:41
Dire warnings in the battle for Atlantic Canada’s lucrative northern shrimp
Nova Scotia fishermen and politicians are warning Ottawa about a possible repeat of the political meddling that led to the devastating collapse of the cod stocks in the early 1990s. This time, however, the problem isn’t cod, it’s northern shrimp. A federal panel reviewing the quota for Newfoundland’s north coast wrapped up the last of six public hearings Friday in Halifax, where 150 fishermen, processors, industry representatives and politicians packed a stuffy conference room. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, the temperature in the room went up as the presenters traded barbs over the fate of a lucrative industry that is only around 40 years old. Read the rest here 20:56
Family members upset over Newburyport fishermen monument
A memorial located along the city’s waterfront honoring the lives of fishermen lost at sea has been temporarily moved and partly dismantled, and family members of one of the victims are voicing their complaints over how it was done. Almost 20 years ago, the Newburyport-based Heather Lynn II sank after colliding with a steel tow line that connected a barge to a towboat. The 45-foot-long fishing vessel capsized, and its crew of three drowned. In recognition of the tragedy that took the lives of Jeffrey Hutchins, Kevin Foster and John Michael Lowther, the Heather Lynn II Memorial was erected along the city’s waterfront more than 16 years ago near where the former harbormaster’s shack was located. More recently additional names were added to the memorial to honor Capt. Sean Cone, 24, and Dan Miller, 21, who died when the Newburyport-based Lady Luck sank about 30 miles southeast of Portland, Maine, on Feb. 1, 2007. The monument was moved a few weeks ago to a weedy edge of the nearby parking lot as work progresses on a new harbormaster facility that also includes amenities for transient boaters. Read the rest here 17:21
LIFO – Northern shrimp quota panel hears from New Brunswick fishing companies
Two major New Brunswick fishing companies appeared Friday before a federal panel in Halifax to argue for the existing northern shrimp allocation regime. They are trying to maintain historical access they were granted to fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Labrador as the northern shrimp stock declines. “How is pushing a fleet out involved in the fishery for 38 years a fair policy?” questioned Jean St. Cyr, a policy analyst for two offshore shrimp licence holders in New Brunswick: Caramer Limited and Lameque Offshore Fishing Limited. Both companies are based out of New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula. The federal government is under pressure in Newfoundland and Labrador to end the so-called, last in, first out policy — also known as LIFO — in the northern shrimp fishery. Read the rest here 13:11
Aiden Penton’s story – Fogo Island fisherman has taken big risks to build his business
Aiden Penton did not need written notes when he addressed the LIFO panel at Gander two weeks ago. The Fogo Island fisherman simply told his life story. “My father was a fisherman, my grandfather was a fisherman and my great-grandfather …” he told panellists Paul Sprout, Wayne Follett, Trevor Taylor and Barbara Crann. His family has been making a living from the sea for so long that “I don’t know how far I can go back,” he said. But he knows one simple truth: he was born a fisherman, and carries on a family legacy that began several generations before. He went ‘aboard the boat’ when he could only crawl and he’s made a living from fishing for almost 50 years. He’s seen some pretty hard years. He’s seen fisheries fail. Read the rest here 12:47
An open letter to all red snapper fishermen – An allocation solution?
There has been no proposal that can satisfy all the stakeholders in the Gulf Red Snapper fishery—the commercial, recreational and charter fleet. The latest move to reallocate red snapper quota from the commercials to the recs has angered the commercials because it took money from their business without adding significantly to the recs season. The same thing happened when the charter fleet separated from the recs. It gave them a longer season at the expense of the recs season. If you gave all the quota to the recs, two viable industries would be shut down and only increase their season to 18 days, roughly. Compounding the issue are the different regulations in state waters. It’s easy to game the system when I can practically fish in three, maybe four, states from Dauphin Island. So what do we do? I would ask you to consider a Gulf-wide tag system for the recs, very similar to the system for commercials and charter fleet. How would it work? Read the rest here 12:16
No-wake violation leads to 289 fishing violations for Delaware commercial waterman
DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Natural Resources Police arrested a commercial waterman June 3 for nearly 300 fishing violations, after boarding his vessel for a no-wake violation near the Lewes Public Boat Ramp on May 31. Most of the violations were for illegal take of knobbed conch, according to the department. Shawn P. Moore, 40, of Georgetown, was charged with 289 counts of possession of undersized knobbed conch measuring less than the legal size limit of 5 inches in length, plus four counts of unlawful method of take for summer flounder, four counts of possession of unlawfully taken fish, and one count each of no commercial license in possession while fishing and failure to observe a slow-no-wake zone. Moore pled not guilty to all charges at Justice of the Peace Court 3 in Georgetown and was released on a $15,400 unsecured bond pending a later appearance in the Sussex County Court of Common Pleas. Read the rest here 11:51
Fishermen Using Experimental Lionfish Traps
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is advising the public that several commercial fishermen will be using “experimental lionfish traps” this summer, and said boaters are asked to be careful to avoid these traps. Currently, traps are located east of St. David’s Head in approximately 25-28 fathoms [150-168ft] of water; however, traps will also be placed in other areas of the Bermuda Platform – South Shore, Southwest, East and North. Traps will be identified with flag buoys similar to those used on lobster traps. The lionfish traps are similar in design to lobster traps and have a fixed funnel so that large fish like groupers cannot get into the traps. They also have escape slots that allow smaller fish to get out but keep the lionfish in. Read the rest here 08:47
Interior Approves New York City Offshore Wind Project, Commercial Fishermen Oppose
The Offshore Wind Project in New York City is given a go signal by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) last week. On the other hand, the commercial fishermen disagree in building windmills on pylons within approximately 329 square kilometers of the New York Bight. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that the department took a major step in broadening the nation’s energy portfolio, channeling power near population centers on the East Coast. The Offshore Wind Project is a public-private collaboration by Con Edison, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and New York Power Authority (NYPA). On the other hand, the fishing industry has urged for BOEM to relocate the project. They reasoned that the wind development might constraint valuable scallop habitat and initiate navigational hazards for fishing boats. They added that the construction of the project could also harm the scallop fishery. Read the rest here 08:25
