Daily Archives: June 21, 2016
Mississippi 2016 shrimp season began with small shrimp, low prices
“Shrimp season opened June 6, and about 200,000 pounds of brown shrimp were landed during the first week,” Burrage said. “The bad news is they were running about 50-60 or 60-70 shrimp per pound, which is even smaller than the shrimp were last year at opening.” In addition to brown shrimp, another 50,000 pounds of larger white shrimp were landed the first week of the season. These shrimp escaped harvest last year and now are sized at 16-20 per pound. “They were either jumbo or gumbo,” Burrage said, referring to extra-large shrimp or a smaller size suited only for use in stew. Burrage said prices have been terrible. Brown shrimp are selling at the factories for 55 to 75 cents a pound. The big, white shrimp are bringing $2.50 to $4.50, depending on whether they are sold to factories or used to fill orders for restaurant customers. Read the rest here 21:07
Coast Guard tows disabled fishing boat to Monomoy Island, MA
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane towed the 86-foot fishing boat Buzzards Bay with five people aboard after it became disabled Tuesday 50 miles northeast of Cape Cod. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England were notified by the captain of the Buzzards Bay at around 3:30 a.m. that the boat was disabled due to a main diesel engine failure. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane was diverted to assist and arrived on scene at around 8:30 a.m. The crew was able to safely put Buzzards Bay in tow at around 9:30 a.m. and began making way toward Nantucket Sound. Harriet Lane intends to bring Buzzards Bay to an anchorage east of Monomoy Island Tuesday evening. Buzzards Bay is expected to remain anchored until a commercial towboat arrives. Three images at the link 20:06
Newlyn fishermen to stage protest ahead of EU referendum
NEWLYN fishermen were among those who decorated London-bound boats to campaign against Britain remaining in the European Union last week – and they’re not finished yet. While Nigel Farage and Bob Geldof were making headlines on their flotillas last Wednesday, the west Cornwall fishermen and their supporters also decorated their boats with red Vote Leave flags and sailed to the Thames to support ‘Brexit’ campaigners. “We have seen a lot of support from our local fishermen,” said Liz Lane, the co-ordinator for Vote Leave in Cornwall. “Last week’s event, even though it was slightly interrupted by Bob Geldof’s actions, has really woken up a sleeping giant,” she said. Read the story here 18:20
Tragedy – Captain Luke Gurney, a respected member of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishing Community
A multi-agency search on water and by air ended Monday afternoon about 1 pm when the Coast Guard announced that rescue crews had located and recovered the body of Luke Gurney, a missing Martha’s Vineyard conch fisherman and father of two, who became entangled in gear and was swept off his 42-foot boat No Regrets, near Nantucket. Jeffrey Canha of Vineyard Haven, a commercial fisherman, told The Times late Monday that the mood was somber on the town dock at Owen park where Mr. Gurney often tied up his boat. Mr. Canha said Mr. Gurney played and coached hockey and was deeply enmeshed in the Island community. “He was always upbeat, always positive,” Mr. Canha said. “Willing to help anybody.” Read the story here 14:54
Brexit: Bob Geldof’s Boat Funded by Goldman Sachs!
Bob Geldof and his despicable tirade against fishermen in the Thames has been exposed as a Goldman Sachs funded operation. Reports from insiders also reveal that the BBC director was on board the boat as Geldof made vile remarks and gestures to bemused fishermen protesting the loss of their fishing grounds to EU regulations. Bob Geldof was seen on the boat swearing and shouting at the fishermen, and the millionaire champagne socialist compounded his ridiculous protest with a continual barrage of insults from his Goldman Sachs funded boat. Geldof, who recently lost his daughter Peaches to a heroin overdose, encourages negligence at every turn and is not a good example of human fortitude unlike the fishermen he was berating. Bastards. Link 14:13
Rec Fishers, environmentalists join forces in NT debate (attack) over impact of finfish trawling
Amateur fishers have banded together with charter operators, environmentalists and some commercial fishers to raise an alarm about the ecological and social impacts of finfish trawling in the Northern Territory. The unusual alliance has been drawn together as stocks of some of the Territory’s most-prized fish species dwindled. The groups – which have often been at odds with each other – have come together with the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) to raise their concerns.,, Amateur Fishermen’s Association of the NT (AFANT) chief executive Tristan Sloan said AFANT had received reports of damage in the Timor Reef from finfish trawling, and likened it to the “maritime equivalent of two … bulldozers and a length of chain dragging along the bottom, dredging up all the coral”. Read the rest here 11:27
Massachusetts Environmental Police busts Maine skipper for six hidden bags of scallops during offload
A Maine captain faces prosecution after an inspector, who was checking the boat as scallops were offloaded Thursday in Gloucester, reported finding additional shellfish, worth more than $6,000, hidden in the vessel’s hold. “He was offloading at the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange in Gloucester and one of our officers asked to inspect the permit and the catch, and in conversation with the captain asked if he had any more than the 600 pounds, and the captain said no,” said Maj. Patrick Moran, coastal bureau chief for the Massachusetts Environmental Police. The vessel in question, the Loriann, has a home port of Bristol, Maine. “On weighing it in, it was found that it was 607 pounds, or 7 pounds over.” Moran said the inspector asked the captain to look at his permit and inspect the hold, not an unusual request. Read the story here 09:34
Humane Society Nuttery – Fish Have Feelings, Too!
When you think about fish, it’s probably at dinnertime. Author Jonathan Balcombe, on the other hand, spends a lot of time pondering the emotional lives of fish. Balcombe, who serves as the director of animal sentience for the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross that humans are closer to understanding fish than ever before. “Thanks to the breakthroughs in ethology, sociobiology, neurobiology and ecology, we can now better understand what the world looks like to fish,” Balcombe says. “We humans kill between 150 billion and over 2 trillion fishes a year. … And the way they die — certainly in commercial fishing — is really pretty grim, ” Balcombe says. “There’s a lot of change that would be needed to reflect an improvement in our relationship with fishes.” (My relationship is fine. I eat them, and you should too!) Listen, and read the rest here 09:07
Gulf sanctuary could add coral reefs off Texas, Louisiana
Federal officials are considering enlarging a research sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana by adding more than a dozen coral reefs and banks. The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, which is about 100 miles off Galveston, is federally protected to avoid damage from vessels and oil and gas drilling operators. In the early 2000s, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began exploring options for expansion of the 56-square-mile sanctuary. It has proposed five alternatives for expansion. Staffers recommend adding 15 reefs, including one basalt sphere – a geological feature. Public comments on all of the alternatives are being accepted until Aug. 19. The agency will review the public input,,, Read the rest here 08:16
Lobsterman rescued from boat fire ‘lost everything,’ still thankful
Hoarse and shaken from jumping into the cold Atlantic to escape his burning boat a day prior, Joshua Ford said Monday he’s “fortunate” to be part of the fishing community and grateful to his rescuers from New Hampshire Fish and Game. Ford also has a survivor’s tale that will likely live on in the history of local fishermen. It began late Sunday morning when Ford, 31, and his 24-year-old deckhand, cousin Curtis Oliver, were returning to port with a boat full of lobster traps. Ford was motoring the F/V GIB, a lobster boat built in Dover three generations ago, that he’d admired since he was 17. “I loved the lines,” he said. “It was a really beautiful boat.” In the “middle of the ocean,” in the boat he bought five years ago, Ford said he heard a “weird noise” and opened the engine box to investigate. Flames “the size of the boat” escaped from the engine area and consumed the entire boat, Ford said. Read the story here 07:02
