Daily Archives: February 11, 2017
Coast Guard searching for fishing vessel near St. George, Alaska
A U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules airplane crew and two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews are responding to an electronic position indicating radio beacon alert from fishing vessel Destination approximately two miles northwest of St. George, Alaska, Saturday. Coast Guard 17th District watchstanders in Juneau received the alert this morning and launched the aircraft crews. Six people were aboard the vessel, which is based in Seattle and often moors at Sand Point, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Steenson, U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Alaska. Sand Point is a community of about 975 people in the Aleutians East Borough.The HC-130 Hercules crew arrived on scene to commence search patterns at approximately 10:13 a.m. Two MH-60 Jayhawk crews arrived early Saturday afternoon to assist with the search. Two good Samaritan vessels, fishing vessels Silver Spray and Bering Rose, are assisting with the search. Citizens in St. George have assembled a search party to patrol the shoreline for any signs of the crew or vessel. The EPIRB has been recovered among a debris field containing buoys, a life ring from fishing vessel Destination and an oil sheen. “We are saturating the area with Coast Guard and good Samaritan assets and hoping for the best,” said Chief Petty Officer Joshua Ryan, Coast Guard 17th District watchstander. Weather on scene is reported as 30-mph winds, five to eight-foot seas and snowing. Air temperature is 20 degrees and sea temperature is 30 degrees. Link 22:36
Nova Scotia Lobster fisherman airlifted to hospital after falling overboard
A 32-year-old man was airlifted to hospital Saturday after he fell overboard a lobster boat off Lockeport, N.S. The man had been hit in the chest with a lobster trap before he fell over, according to a report from Joint Task Force Atlantic. The crew was able to rescue him quickly, but the man had hypothermia. A Cormorant helicopter was dispatched from CFB Greenwood to pick up the fisherman. From there, he was taken to Yarmouth for medical care, said Lt.-Navy Sean Ritchie with Joint Task Force Atlantic. The Chasin Crustacean was about 87 kilometres off Lockeport when the incident occurred. The man’s condition isn’t known. Link 18:32
Vineyard Fishermen Warn of Ruin If Conch Rule Enacted
Martha’s Vineyard commercial fishermen spent more than two and a half hours Wednesday letting the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries know what they think of 18 proposed rule updates and new regulations. Some of the changes are minor tweaks to clarify existing rules, but others, if enacted, would affect the Vineyard’s fishing industry more significantly. Island speakers vehemently opposed a draft proposal to increase the minimum size of knobbed and channeled whelk, generally called conch, by three sixteenths of an inch in 2017. “That is a horrifying number,” said Tom Turner, a longtime Edgartown fisherman. “You’re guaranteeing the death of a fishery, and that would happen within two years of a three-sixteenth increase.” Continue reading the story here 15:16
Rebuttal: The actual, factual new realities of Cook Inlet salmon – Catherine Cassidy of Kasilof
In his opinion piece published in the Alaska Journal of Commerce on Feb. 8, (Click here to read it) Mr. Karl Johnstone, presumably from his home in Arizona, gave a eulogy at the graveside of Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishing. Actually, the industry is alive and well and helping Alaskans get through these economic hard times. Mr. Johnstone uses the same old tired, outdated arguments: there is not enough salmon in Cook Inlet for all users; Cook Inlet salmon can’t compete with farmed salmon, sportfisheries are so much more valuable than commercial fisheries; etc. He cites an economic report about angler spending that was conducted prior to the national recession in 2008 and the recent king salmon decline and compares the numbers to the very lowest possible measure of commercial harvest value in Cook Inlet on a bad year. Johnstone claims that Alaska salmon can’t compete with farmed salmon. Twenty years ago that was a problem but the industry adapted and now wild Alaska salmon have a solid market niche and Cook Inlet sockeye is a very premium, sought-after product in America. The worst economic lie that he and his pals have been promoting is that the sport industry and personal use fisheries could actually grow large enough to replace the value of the commercial industry to our state. Then, she pins him. Continue reading the op-ed here 13:46
Fishermen skeptical of third environmental monitoring device in the Minas Passage
A third environmental monitoring platform is being tested in the Minas Passage by the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, or FORCE, but a fishermen’s group maintains the sophisticated equipment being deployed still cannot determine mortality, the ultimate environmental test on marine life in the Bay of Fundy. FAST-3 is a third monitoring platform featuring additional sensors to collect data on fish presence and behaviour that was deployed on Feb 2. Several marine industrial companies around the province contributed to its construction and deployment. The platform isn’t on the actual turbine site but in a 10-metre shallower area adjacent to the Crown-lease area that the Province of Nova Scotia has designated for testing up to five different turbine technologies in the near future. Dr. Haley Viehman, a post-doctoral fellow at Acadia University, will be analyzing the data upon its retrieval within a month. Viehman comes to the province from the University of Maine, where she studied fish interactions for five years using hydro-acoustics to observe fish movements prior, during and after a tidal turbine was deployed in 2012 for a year as a test in Cobscook Bay, Maine. Continue reading the story here 12:31
Lawsuit over fisheries observers to reach Court of Appeals in March
A New England fishermen’s group suing the federal government over the cost of at-sea monitoring is scheduled to present oral arguments before the federal Court of Appeals in March. The government shifted the cost of paying for monitors to fishermen last year. A group led by New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel sued the government over the rule change. The fishermen lost in federal district court and appealed. Attorneys say the arguments are set to take place March 7. Monitors can cost hundreds of dollars per day. Fishermen argue it represents an illegal new cost burden they can’t shoulder in an era of tight quotas. The rules apply to fishermen of species such as cod and sole. link 11:16
Commercial ice fishermen in Rice County Minnesota remove carp by the truckload
February fishing in Faribault is nothing new. Ice fishing houses routinely dot Rice County’s lakes in this frigid month as intrepid outdoorsmen continue their Minnesotan search for the perfect fish. Unusual in this deeply-rooted ice fishing culture is a semi-truck, left idling next to Cannon Lake in the parking lot of Shager Park outside Faribault. On its side, the trailer reads simply, “FISH,” which is all one needs to know about the contents of its load. While Faribault’s anglers are surely prolific with a line and a lure, nobody who takes their pickup on Cannon Lake on a Friday afternoon could fill this semi. Bruce Geyer, a commercial fisherman from Waterville, can. On Friday, Geyer took away an enormous load of carp, sheepshead and ictiobus, which are more commonly known as buffalo. Earlier in the week, Geyer lifted 20,000 pounds of carp, 5,000 pounds of sheepshead and nearly 500 pounds of buffalo. On Friday, he estimated that the day’s load dwarfed that of earlier in the week. Photos, continue reading the story here 10:16
Hollywood to begin filming new Coast Guard movie that no one will watch
A new action-thriller movie based on true experiences from a search-and-rescue unit is set to be the next Coast Guard movie that no one will actually watch, sources confirmed today. “The Impossible Rescue” stars actor Tom Hardy, whose acting credits include “Inception” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Sources say Hardy will be the main protagonist whose rescue efforts saved a bunch of people or whatever. Though the sources added that, what’s the point anyway since nobody will see a Coast Guard movie no matter who the fuck is in it. With Ashton Kutcher and Chris Pine already sporting lead roles in Coast Guard films and supporting roles with Kevin Costner and Casey Affleck, star power seems to have zero effect on audience draw, the sources said. Sources say the film’s cast will also include a generic white woman who will be a two-dimensional love interest, an up-and-coming young actor from some TV show you’ve never watched, while an aging actor that you’ve seen in a bunch of movies but can’t remember his goddamn name will play the unit’s commanding officer. Read the story here 09:41
In Seaside, Oregon, youngsters are learning about crabs in ‘Boat to School’
Commercial Dungeness crab season is red-hot and rolling despite cold and wet conditions. Dean Ellsworth says his 44-foot fishing boat, the “Nola K,” is his winter home at this time of year. Ellsworth and his three-man crew spend long days and nights tossing out and pulling in nearly a thousand 80-pound crab pots during a fishing season that’s hitting its stride.,, This year, fishermen say Oregon seafood is so important to the state that it’s time to take the message to school. In Seaside, Oregon youngsters are learning valuable lessons about Oregon’s famous seafood. The program is called “Boat to School,” and it’s a pilot project that brings together educators, their students and fishermen who show and tell the fifth graders at Seaside’s Heights Elementary School where their food comes from. Photo gallery, read the story here 08:47
Fisherman rescued after falling into water at Fishermen’s Terminal
A man was taken to the hospital after he was pulled from the water at Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal Friday night. Seattle fire officials said the man was walking off a vessel on a makeshift plank and fell, when the plank broke. Israel Bynum, a crew member on the vessel named Rondys, said he had just crossed the plank 30 seconds before his boss did. “I was looking at him, and I heard the board break, and I went to try to support it and there was no support. He just went,” Bynum said. Bynum said his captain, Mark Sehlbach, has been on the TV show ‘Deadliest Catch.” Sehlbach was pulled out of the water and taken to Harborview Medical Center. Later in the evening, Bynum said Sehlbach was discharged from the hospital with a bruised rib. The crew had just returned Thursday from a trip to Alaska. Watch the video, read the story here 08:02
