Daily Archives: May 29, 2017
Ice conditions continue – FFAW getting calls from ‘desperate’ workers in 3L
Staff representative for FFAW-Unifor, John Boland, says he is fielding 20 to 25 calls per day from concerned fish harvesters and plant workers in the Bonavista and Trinity Bay areas — all regarding ice conditions. “There are people out there that are severely hurting right now,” Boland told The Packet. “An awful lot of people out there who work in plants — this is a pretty difficult time for them.” Heavy ice conditions have prevented many fish harvesters from fishing, and landings are slow in other areas. Many fish plant workers have yet to work this season as a result. Boland says many workers have had no income at all since early April in some cases. Click here to read the story 19:23
Fishermen trouble
The 68-year-old president of the United Fishermen of Alaska – one of the 49th state’s most powerful lobbies – and three other commercial fishermen have been cited in Cordova for failing to report salmon catches.Jerry McCune said earlier this week that he simply made a mistake after dropping his commercial catch at a tender. McCune said he told the tender to record his catch for the day plus three salmon – a “little teeny king” and two sockeye – he was taking home with him. When he got his “fish ticket” back from the tender, he said, he tossed it into the cabin of the boat without checking to see if his so-called “home pack” catch had been recorded.,,, Some Cordova commercial fishermen reacted to the charges against McCune and the others with claims the actions were politically motivated. Some subsistence, personal-use dipnet, and rod-and-reel fishermen from communities upriver on the Copper or elsewhere in Alaska cited the accusations as evidence of widespread under reporting of Copper River king salmon harvests in the Cordova area. There was no evidence to support either of those ideas, but emotions run hot in Alaska fishery politics or what is often just referred to as “fishtics.” click here to read the story 14:18
Coastal Alabama Rep. slams NOAA ‘junk science’ behind shortest red snapper season ever
Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne shares the frustration of most in his district when it comes to the federal government’s overregulation of red snapper fishing. According to him, Coastal Alabamians are infuriated over the announcement that the much-anticipated red snapper season will only last a pitifully short three days. He believes they have a right to be mad. “[My constituents] have every reason to be outraged, because they have a right to fish in the waters of the United States, and they’re being deprived of that right by junk science. Put junk science in, you’re going to get a bad result out, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here,” Rep. Byrne said. Every year, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announces how long the fishing season will last based on the size and stock of red snapper fish. click here to read the story 13:45
FISH-NL calls on FFAW to come clean on details of marine escort fees; show compassion to members who owe back dues
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on the FFAW to come clean and reveal the “administrative fee” the union charges fishing boat owners hired by oil companies as marine escorts. On another front, FISH-NL is calling on the FFAW to show compassion to members who owe back dues — given the slash in quotas and severe ice conditions — and allow repayment over a broader time frame. “The FFAW is feeding off its membership at every chance,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “At the same time, when the membership is vulnerable and expects the union to show some compassion, the FFAW turns its back on them.” Click here to read the press release 13:29
New Zealand: West Coast fishermen describe 1.45am liferaft ordeal as heavy seas pound boat after stranding
A father and son survived a harrowing ordeal with their skipper to make it into a liferaft as their boat was pounded by heavy seas in the middle of the night before coming ashore on Cobden beach. Mathew Fisher and his son Adin were on the fishing boat the Kutere, along with owner Les Horncastle. The vessel became stranded on the sandbar while pounded by waves, but the men managed to set off flares and then get off the boat by liferaft. All three are safe and well. “I was down below sleeping at the time when the boat lurched and next minute I was hit by a wave,” Mathew Fisher said. click here to read the story 13:06
A Lobsterman’s Tale of Survival
The darkest moment of John Aldridge’s 12 terrifying hours of floating alone in the Atlantic Ocean came in the first moments after he was flung off his lobster boat. “You hit the water, you’re in such disbelief,” he recalls. “Nobody in the world knows you’re missing. Their life is happening right now, but your life is done! Right now, in the middle of the ocean, today’s the day you’re going to die.” Not only did Aldridge survive — by pulling a James Bond-like maneuver to turn his boots into flotation aids — but, nearly four years later, he’s still working in the profession that put him in so much danger. And he’s retelling the remarkable tale in a book just released. Click here to read the story 10:37
Paul Sparkes: Other species
Lobsters in the hundreds of thousands were hooked, trapped and dragged ashore at Pool’s Island, Bonavista Bay, in the 1870s. Overnight it seemed that everyone was a lobster-fisherman and everyone made money. The story of the first lobster canning operation there is told by our legendary Capt. Abram Kean in less than a page in his 218-page book of life, politics, seal hunts and fisheries. In character, he ends up his little report on the boom and bust lobster experience by blaming the government for its lack of hands-on control. “Seventy years ago,” Kean wrote in 1935, “the canning of lobster was unknown in Newfoundland. The first indication we would get of lobsters would be in April in seal nets. After eating all we wanted for food, the rest would be given to pigs … about sixty or sixty-five years ago people commenced canning lobsters in Bonavista Bay.” Canned Caplin?? Canned Squid?? click here to read the story 09:38
Fishing vessel run aground in Ventura Harbor, California
The Coast Guard responded to a grounded vessel south of Ventura Harbor Sunday. Members of Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Santa Barbara and Coast Guard Station Channel Islands Harbor responded to a 36-foot commercial fishing vessel at approximately 1 a.m., after it ran aground near the mouth of the Santa Clara River. MSD Santa Barbara led the response and investigation efforts with the aid of Coast Guard Station Channel Islands Harbor, Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, Ventura Harbor Patrol, Ventura Fire Department, and Oxnard Fire Department. No injuries or pollution have been reported. The Coast Guard is currently working on the safe removal of the vessel and its contents. The cause of this incident is still under investigation. USCG 08:46
