Daily Archives: January 24, 2017
Norwegian authorities arrest Latvian trawler with crew of 30 people
The Independent Barents Observer reported that the Latvian boat was detained last week as its crew was illegally crabbing in the Norwegian shelf in the Svalbard fishery protection zone. The Senator had reportedly put out 2,600 snow crab traps in the area without the Norwegian authorities’ permission. The crabber was subsequently forced to set course to the port of Kirkenes, where it today is awaiting police prosecution. A crew of 30 people was working on board the ship when it was arrested,” said Smits. According to the online publication, however, most countries licensed to fish around Svalbard do not support the Latvian vessel’s arrest and consider it to be politically motivated. Smits indicated that the Latvian boat was arrested in breach of the 1920 Paris agreement banning discrimination in trade. Read the rest here 20:43 Snow crabs raise conflict potential around Svalbard, Read the story here
A legacy of hard work and devotion – Steve Parrish Sr., Supply, N.C.
Steve Parrish Sr. always had an answer. His son, Steven Parrish, remembers his dad being able to figure out anything, answer any question he had. Parrish, who owned and operated S&S Trawl Shop in Supply for more than 30 years, died Monday at 60. Parrish leaves behind a legacy of hard work, devotion to the environment and his own take on “turtle excluder devices” (TEDs), which his son said he helped develop along with a team of scientists and other groups. Parrish was one of only two people in the state who built TEDs. Along with being instrumental in developing TEDs, Parrish grew his Supply business from a small operation in a garage to one that supplied fishing gear along the East Coast and as far away as Mexico and Honduras. Read the story here 18:50 Read Complete Obituary
Commerce nominee Ross promises to protect “peer-reviewed research” at NOAA
Under Wilbur Ross, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will continue to provide accurate and factual data to the public, including peer-reviewed research, without political filters, Ross wrote last night in a letter to Senator Bill Nelson (D–FL), the ranking member of the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. “I see no valid reason to keep peer reviewed research from the public,” Ross wrote. “To be clear, by peer review I mean scientific review and not a political filter.” Read the rest here 17:03
How Trade and Sanctions Made This Russian Fisherman a Billionaire
Peering into the mid-morning darkness from his sixth-floor office on Russia’s Kola Bay, Vitaly Orlov strains to see the new factory he’s just built across the water, his view obscured by a creeping cloud bank that shrouds the Arctic seascape in impenetrable gray. The $30 million structure is the crown jewel of Orlov’s Murmansk-based Norebo Holding JSC. Set amid rows of aging tenements and a wooden church, it was built to service Norebo’s fleet of fish trawlers that together hauled in almost 11 percent of the 4.75 million metric tons (5.24 million U.S. tons) the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency says were caught by Russian fisherman last year. “I’ve only ever been sure of one thing — that my life will always be tied to the north and the fishing industry,” Orlov, 51, polite and deliberate, pocket square tucked into a tailored suit, said in his first foreign media interview. Read the story here 14:42
“Wild Alaskan” owner gets probation in waste dumping case
An Alaska man convicted of illegally dumping human waste into a harbour from a floating strip club he was operating has been spared serving prison time. Darren Byler instead was sentenced in Anchorage Monday to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, in increments of no less than $2,000 a year, beginning this year. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason warned Byler that failure to pay the fine could result in him going to prison. Federal prosecutors were seeking an 18-month prison term. Byler, who plans to appeal the case, has repeatedly said he was targeted because of disapproval over the business he ran on the 94-foot “Wild Alaskan,” a converted crabbing boat. Speaking to the court before his sentence was handed up, he said the prison term sought by prosecutors was overkill. He repeatedly called it a “poop charge.” “This case was all about an emotionally charged political witch hunt” by various entities, including the Coast Guard and the prosecution, he said in a written statement released after the sentencing. Read the story here 12:30
New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Portsmouth January 24 thru 26, 2017
The New England Fishery Management Council will be meeting in Portsmouth N.H. at the Sheraton Harborside. To read the final agenda, click here Register click here to listen live via webinar. 12:06
Tax Incentives Could Help North Pacific Fishing Fleet Rebuilders, Otherwise, Gulf Coast Builders May Have A Competitive Edge
The Seattle-based North Pacific fishing fleet is expected to get $1.6 billion in upgrades or rebuilding over the next decade, but in-state ship builders have been capturing only about a third of such business so far, and cheaper Gulf Coast competitors could eat their lunch as the stakes grow. Washington maritime industry leaders say bipartisan HB 1154 could help provide a net big enough for the state to harvest more of that economic growth. “We can’t miss this opportunity,” Keith Whittemore said. “The boats have to be built in the U.S…but they don’t have to be built in Washington.” Whittemore is the executive vice president of business development for Vigor Industrial Shipyards, a shipbuilding and repair company with 12 locations and 2,500 employees in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Read the story here 11:31
NOAA Quietly Deletes Apology For Sharing Anti-Trump Facebook Post
A branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responsible for tracking hurricanes apologized Saturday for sharing a Facebook post critical of President Trump. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), rather surprisingly, deleted the apology from its Facebook page, which claimed a “hacked” personal account was responsible for sharing a post by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. NHC’s Facebook page shared a Sanders post highlighting Saturday’s march in Washington, D.C., in protest to Trump taking office. NHC then quietly deleted off its Facebook account, but not before meteorologist Dr. Ryan Maue captured a screenshot. Read the rest here 10:59
White Spot Disease: Gold Coast prawn industry in ruins as 1500 tonnes of seafood left to rot
About 1500 tonnes of poisonous prawns are rotting in ponds in the northern Gold Coast and the State Government has no idea what to do about it. The tiger prawns have been decaying in 112 ponds in Alberton and Woongoolba over the past month after Biosecurity ordered they be killed to help get on top of the white spot disease crisis that has ravaged the industry. Angry farmers say their hands are tied as they risk polluting major waterways and cruelling other industries if they release the dead prawns, killed by 2.8 million litres of chlorine. In addition to the prawns, some farmers were also worried small live crabs may have escaped the ponds when they were disinfected last month and carried the disease into rivers. Read the story here 10:27
Study: Musculoskeletal Disorders in Northeast Lobstermen
Abstract- Background – The objective of this study was to report on the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in lobstermen in the Northeast United States. Methods – Crews were randomly selected from those licensed to fish in Maine and Massachusetts and followed prospectively. The survey utilized a Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire format to characterize musculoskeletal disorders. Results – A total of 395 individuals participated. One half of the respondents reported low back pain. Back pain was attributed to or exacerbated by lobstering. Low back pain was prevalent among both captains and sternmen, while sternmen reported more hand/wrist pain than captains. Multiple locations for pain were common in individual subjects. Conclusions – Equipment or technology to assist material handling should be a priority, as the body segments with high prevalence of pain (back, hand/wrists, shoulders, knees) are all affected by the repetitive and forceful handling of the lobster traps. Read the study here 09:17
Nova Scotia’s deadliest industry slowly becomes safer
It is one of the most mundane tasks on a fishing boat: tying up the bumper balloons that prevent the vessel from crunching into the wharf when it docks. But for fisherman Mitch MacDonald it proved life-altering. For 10 years he fastened them with little problem. That is until last May, when his boat pitched unexpectedly and a balloon fell overboard, the rope sawing through his left index finger. “It pretty much burnt right through my finger and took the end of my finger off overboard,” he said. MacDonald has not regained the full use of his hand. The injury cost him thousands of dollars in lost income as he had trouble holding onto things and couldn’t work the rest of the fishing season. He is not alone. In 2016 there were 224 injuries on fishing boats, according to the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, but good news is the numbers are declining. Six years ago 351 injuries were reported. Read the story here 08:37
