Daily Archives: October 7, 2016
Coast Guard rescues 5 fishermen from sinking vessel near Grays Harbor, Wash.
The Coast Guard rescued five fishermen from the 56-foot commercial fishing vessel Taplow which began taking on water 19 miles south west of Grays Harbor, Friday. The men safely boarded a Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor 52-foot motor life boat and were transported by the crew to Grays Harbor. Coast Guard Sector Columbia River watchstanders received the distress call from the captain of the Taplow stating that they were taking on water, their engine room was half flooded and their pumps had stopped working. The watchstanders directed the crew to activate their Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon and don immersion suits. An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast was issued and the MLB as well as a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Sector Columbia River were directed to launch. An additional Sector Columbia River helicopter crew, who had landed at Grays Harbor for a personnel transfer, also responded to the vessel in distress. The helicopter crew that was at Grays Harbor was the first to arrive on scene with the Taplow, delivered a pump and remained on scene until they were relieved by the second helicopter crew. A rescue swimmer was then deployed to assist with the dewatering efforts and await the arrival of the Grays Harbor MLB crew. Link 23:06
Oct 7, 20:00 EYE OF HURRICANE MATTHEW MOVING NORTHWARD OFF THE COASTS OF GEORGIA AND NORTHEASTERN FLORIDA
At 800 PM EDT (0000 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Matthew was located near latitude 30.7 North, longitude 80.6 West. Matthew is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue tonight. A turn toward toward the north-northeast and then to the northeast is expected on Saturday. On the forecast track, the center of Matthew will continue to move near or over the coast of northeast Florida and Georgia through tonight, and near or over the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph (175 km/h) with higher gusts. Although weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours, Matthew is expected to remain a hurricane until it begins to move away from the southeastern United States on Sunday. Read the update here 20:23
Australian Maritime Safety Authority conducts crackdown on fishermen taking drugs
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is undertaking a major campaign across Far North Queensland targeting fishing fleets under the influence of drugs. Five men have already been charged after Cairns Water Police conducted a joint agency patrol in remote northern waters. Water police travelled 800km over an extensive eight day operation from Cairns to Cape Grenville. The search began on the 20th September this year, targeting vessels that were operating under the influence of drugs. Sergeant Andrew Ibell said the amount of fishermen with drugs in their system was alarming and correlated with marine incidents over the last few years. In total 37 boats were intercepted and five skippers tested positive to having drugs in their system. It is alleged a combination of methamphetamine and cannabis was detected within the operators,’ Mr Ibell said. Read the rest here 19:51
Marystown an obvious choice for Norwegian-style salmon farm, contractor says
The company contracted to build a controversial aquaculture hatchery in Marystown says Newfoundland is the perfect place to bring its Norweigian technology — not only are weather conditions similar, but it’s closer to American buyers. “I think Grieg [Seafarms] is looking at the horizon,” said Yoav Dagan, vice president of Aqua Moaf Group. “It’s going to extend their shelf life. They will not have to take the fish from Norway to Poland and then to go back to process. They’re going to process it on site here in Canada and to track it right away to the U.S. market.” According to a news release issued Tuesday, construction on the hatchery and nursery facility will begin in 2017 and will use recirculating aquaculture system [RAS] technology. (How do they do that with the sea cages?) The company said it will use 11 sea cages to grow and harvest 33,000 annual tonnes of Atlantic salmon. According to Aqua Moaf, it will be the largest and most advanced salmon harvesting facility in the world. “It’s everything that the client wants, it’s antibiotic free and environmentally [friendly] so this is where we are going,” Dagan told CBC Radio’s The Broadcast. “If you come to our farms you will see that we are zero discharge, so basically we do not release anything into the environment. Everything is recycled. We treat the waste so basically the waste that is going out is coming out as a solid.” (something ain’t stackin’ up here.) Video, Read the story here. 17:50
Tough day at the Chatham Break: a capsized boat, and the windows blown out of another
David Wiener and his son Hans were returning to Pleasant Bay Thursday through the infamous Chatham break, a maze of water crashing over shoaling sandbars, when they found themselves riding the face of a 10-foot breaking wave. The steepness proved too much for their 23-foot center console boat. “The nose (of the boat) went down and (the boat) pulled right,” Hans Wiener said as he sat wrapped in a towel near the fishermen’s monument after the two men were rescued by Harbormaster Stu Smith and Assistant Harbormaster Thomas Deeg. Their boat wasn’t the only vessel to feel the power of the Chatham break Thursday. At 6:30 a.m., Tim Linnell was heading out at sunrise for a day of fishing for dogfish and skates. His vessel, Perry’s Pride, is substantially larger than the Wieners’ boat and built to take the pounding the ocean can dish out a hundred miles or more offshore. Following in a line of vessels headed out through the break, Linnell’s wheelhouse windows were blown out by the last in a set of four waves when his vessel didn’t recover in time from the previous swell. Video Read the story here 16:15
Fish Board imposter?
A former member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries facing multiple felony charges of lying about his Alaska residency to collect Permanent Fund Dividends is suggesting he might have fallen victim to an virtual imposter. The claim comes in a 19-page brief filed for Roland Maw of Kasilof in which his attorney seeks to quash the Maw indictments. Attorney Nicholas Polasky of Juneau argues that a grand jury indicted Maw without any evidence that Maw was the man actually sitting at a keyboard making online reservations to travel out-of-state and purchase resident hunting and fishing licenses in Montana. “Mr. Maw does not necessarily assert that he is not the person who made the statements or engaged in the conduct that is represented in every single exhibit,” Polasky wrote. “However, Mr Maw does not agree that he is the person who made the statements or engaged in the conduct in some of the exhibits.” For that reason, Polasky wants most of the exhibits in the Maw case tossed and the indictment along with them. His request does reveal for the first time the extensive file the state has put together on Maw, the one-time director of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association. UCIDA is the most powerful commercial fishing organization in Cook Inlet. Read the story here 13:06
Fishermen Oppose Commercial Ban – national marine monument exclusion is unfair and unnecessary
Fishermen believe a monument in the Mid-Atlantic is unnecessary and allege it was not based on science but pressure from nongovernmental environmental groups, including the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Resources Defense Council. To exclude commercial fishermen while allowing recreational fishing makes no sense, fishermen contend. They also claim the monument will not only fail to prevent harm to non-target species such as pilot whales, but will increase interactions with them. “It’s a huge blow,” Hank Lackner of the Jason and Danielle, a trawler based in Montauk, said. “And there was no need for it.” Mark Phillips, who fishes for fluke, squid, and haddock from the Greenport-based Illusion, agreed. “The funny thing, there is no coral there. It’s all sand and mud, and I’ve dragged all of that bottom. A handful of boats out of Montauk have dragged it all. There is no coral, period,” he said. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree that many of the areas in which trawlers fish are devoid of coral, according to Ms. Brady. Read the article here 12:08
Fish farms a necessity: minister – It’s time to get this crap out of the water and into industrial parks
Farmed fish are here to stay as wild fish stocks have come under increasing pressure worldwide, says Nova Scotia Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell. Colwell responded Thursday to a federal audit tabled before parliament that warned the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had not yet crafted a plan to restore 12 of 15 wild fish stocks deemed to be in critical condition. “The real issue is we don’t have enough wild fish stocks. We’re probably fishing worldwide to the maximum it can be,” Colwell told the Chronicle Herald Thursday. Read the story here
The Minister is using fear monger tactics to push open pen aquaculture as the savior of humanity, but, at what cost? If this is as he say’s, and he cares about environmental issues, there is only one answer, and it is to remove this industry from the ocean and into enclosed facility’s on land in industrial parks that keep wild fish segregated from the chemicals and waste generated by this industry. Large concrete tanks with the ability to treat the waste is the only answer. Cooke Aquaculture seems to have plenty of money to buy into fishery’s in the US, and other country’s while they wreak havoc on area’s that they conduct their business, perhaps they should invest in enclosed land based fish farms. Perhaps the Minister should do the right thing instead of boosting profits and environmental destruction for the open pen aquaculture industry. 10:48
Is ‘fishermen’ a sexist and exclusionary term?
Many words in English can come across as exclusionary. But is “fishermen” one of them? And if not, what’s the alternative? A question came to my desk the other day: “Hello, can I ask a language question? Is it ‘fishermen’ or ‘fishers’? “Fishermen is obviously discriminatory, but fishers seems to be disliked by many within ABC Rural. And fisherpeople is out of the question. As someone who has never fished I feel like I have no authority to decide.” It’s a good question, asked with noble intentions. But one thing made me pause: is “fishermen” an exclusionary term? There’s a line on this that says it isn’t. Read the story here 09:34
Seven plead guilty to illegal Elver Eel trafficking
Seven people pleaded guilty to federal charges of trafficking nearly $2 million worth of baby eels on the East Coast. The pleas took place between Tuesday and Thursday at federal court in Portland. Six pleaded guilty to selling or transporting illegally harvested elvers in interstate commerce. Elvers can only be fished commercially in Maine and South Carolina and are one of the country’s most lucrative fisheries on a by-the-pound basis. They are sold to Asia and used for sushi. The six who pleaded guilty to selling or transporting the elvers were Yarann Im, Mark Green, John Pinkham, Thomas Reno, Michael Bryant and George Anestis. Thomas Choi pleaded guilty to exporting elvers that he knew had been harvested illegally. The charges carry a maximum of five years in jail. link 08:30
Oct 7 0500 – HURRICANE MATTHEW MOVING PARALLEL TO AND JUST OFFSHORE OF THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA
At 500 AM EDT (0900 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Matthew was located by NOAA Doppler weather radars and an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft near latitude 28.2 North, longitude 80.0 West. Matthew is moving toward the north-northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the north is expected tonight or Saturday. On the forecast track, the center of Matthew will be moving near or over the east coast of the Florida peninsula through tonight, and near or over the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday. Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Matthew is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Although weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours, Matthew is expected to be a category 3 hurricane as it moves near the coast of Florida today. Read the update here 07:30
Stay, or Go. McClellanville Fishermen face tough decision as Hurricane Matthew approaches
Hurricane Hugo just devastated the sleepy fishing village of McClellanville, but they rebuilt and started fishing again. The community has since weathered several storms. As Hurricane Matthew approaches, fishermen have some of the toughest decisions to make. “I have a house but i stay on my boat,” said shrimp boat captain Timmy Glines. “I don’t have insurance, a lot of money invested and i don’t want to lose it.” Glines will stay but he knows the destruction Hugo caused firsthand “It was very scary,” Glines said. “I don’t want to do it again, ever ever. This is just a bit less, if it was 150 mph, I’d get out of here.” The big question for the captains here– should I stay or should I go. The docks in McClellanville look like the back of an entertainment center — boats and ropes tied up so tightly — some captains staying, others will go. Video, Read the story here 06:57
