Monthly Archives: May 2017
CETA – Canada-European Union pact worries US lobster industry
Members of the U.S. seafood industry are fearful that Canada’s approval of a new trade deal with the European Union will cause big problems for the American lobster business, just as the catch is hitting historic highs. The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, or CETA, cleared its final hurdle in the Parliament of Canada on Tuesday. The deal gets rid of tariffs on Canadian lobster exports to the 28-nation bloc, putting Canada at a huge advantage over the U.S.,,, Seafood exporters and lobster industry members like Dave Madden, owner of exporter Lobster Trap in Bourne, Massachusetts, said they fear loss of money and jobs in the U.S. under the new rules. He ships about 4.5 million pounds of lobsters to countries such as Italy, France and Spain per year. click here to read the story 19:27
Lobster season off to excellent start in eastern Cape Breton
The opening day of lobster season along the eastern side of Cape Breton is being described as perfect. “So far, so good,” said Merrill MacInnis, who fishes out of Little River Harbour along the North Shore. “Hopefully the conditions will stay great, that’s the big thing. It all depends on the weather.” The season in Area 27, which extends from Bay St. Lawrence down to Forchu, was delayed this year due to bad weather. It was to have opened on Saturday, but fishermen didn’t set their traps until Wednesday. They hauled them the next day. Click here to read the story 18:58
Middleboro-Lakeville Herring Fishery Commission considers reopening local herring runs to fishing
MIDDLEBORO — Each spring for countless centuries, hundreds of thousands of herring have made an arduous journey from Mount Hope Bay, upstream along the Taunton and Nemasket Rivers, to reach their traditional spawning grounds in the Assawompsett Ponds Complex in Lakeville. For thousands of years, too, people living in these parts depended on the abundant alewife fishery as an important source of food and income.,, These days, a joint Middleboro-Lakeville Herring Fishery Commission supervises the local herring runs, closed to fishing since 2006, when a sharp decline in herring populations prompted a statewide ban on fishing. Now that the fishery has rebounded to respectable numbers, the two towns are considering re-opening the local herring runs, possibly as early as the 2018 spring migration. The move would help revive a tradition that has been ongoing – and well regulated – since the 1700s. click here to read the story 18:01
In the News – Sig Hansen arrested after incident with Uber driver
“Deadliest Catch” Captain Sig Hansen was arrested and booked into the King County Jail early Thursday on suspicion of assault and property destruction. According to the Seattle Police Department, an Uber driver picked Hansen and two other passengers up in Ballard after 2 a.m. The group asked to pay cash. When the driver told them they couldn’t because that’s not how the app works, Hansen allegedly got out of the car and kicked the rear of the vehicle. He also allegedly spat on the Uber driver. The driver told officers Hansen and the other passengers appeared “intoxicated.” Hansen was later arrested at a home in Shoreline and then booked into the King County Jail. link 14:32
Amendments to the NAFO Convention to come in to force today
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA, 18 MAY 2017- Significant amendments to the Convention establishing the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), that were agreed in 2007, will come into force today, 18 May 2017. These amendments are intended to modernize NAFO, particularly by incorporating an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. This approach includes safeguarding the marine environment, conserving marine biodiversity and minimizing the risk of long term adverse effects of fishing activities on the marine ecosystem. The amendments will also streamline NAFO’s decision-making process, strengthen the obligations of Contracting Parties, Flag States and Port States, and institute a formal dispute settlement mechanism. Click here to read the press release 13:48
Letter to a son
It has been a year since we got that phone call in the middle of the night from a Bradenton, Florida detective, who said, “Mr. and Mrs. Miller, I regret to inform that” … blah, blah, blah. Not sure your mother heard the rest. She was on the floor in a heap, your sister on the floor in a heap beside her. As it turns out you died from an accidental overdose. Opiate abuse seems to be the bane of your entire generation. Yeah, times in the-late-2000-teens are bad, but times have always been bad, or bad enough.,,, Editor’s note: RDN received this letter from a father expressing remorse over the loss of his son to an opioid overdose. Mr. Miller, his wife and family are not alone in his grief for a loved one lost to this epidemic. We print this, hoping it might help others in some way click here to read the letter 11:26
New Jersey: Fisheries Council decides on flounder limits for season
The State Marine Fisheries Council decided Wednesday to go along with the new 2017 federal regulations for flounder fishing. The regulation, approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, allows a catch of no more than three fish at 18 inches or more for recreational fishermen. Flounder season begins May 25 and continues for 104 days to Sept 6. “It’s the best deal for fishermen,” said acting council Chairman Dick Herb. Click here to read the rest, we will update this as we find the articles 10:04
Sharp Cut to ’17 Fluke Harvest – NY Commercial harvesters are allowed to land fluke in state waters year round, subject to a daily limit of 50 pounds. Click here to read the story 15:04
Fisheries board says no to emergency petition on Copper River fishery
An emergency petition that would have increased closures and restrictions on the Copper River commercial salmon fishery that gets underway this week was defeated May 17 during a special meeting of the Alaska Board of Fisheries in Anchorage. The vote was 3-4. The Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee had submitted the petition asking the board to require the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to publish an additional emergency order on commercial fishery management actions to be taken to assure the sustainable escapement goal for king salmon for the Copper River in 2017. ADF&G Commissioner Sam Cotten responded to the petition earlier, saying that he concluded that the situation did not warrant such action. click here to read the story 08:53
We’re On Board with These Two Fishermen – Salmon Fishing Season Starts Today
Our town of Cordova, Alaska is humming with the sounds of diesel engines firing up, big trucks hurrying around the harbor and fishermen catching up with each across the docks. This week holds so much excitement and anticipation here. Today, May 18th, the fleet of 540 fishermen from this tiny coastal community take off for the Gulf of Alaska where we’ll be setting our nets to catch the first wild salmon making their way back to the Copper River. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game carefully monitors our fishery for long term sustainability and have designated the salmon season to start this week with a 12 hour commercial fishing period starting bright and early at 7 am on Thursday. Click here to read the story 07:42
Proposal to move Bay of Fundy tidal turbine raises fishermen’s concerns
A fishermen’s group in the Bay of Fundy is worried about Cape Sharp Tidal Venture’s plan to temporarily move its tidal turbine from a designated testing area to a site where an environmental assessment has not been carried out. The Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association said the move endangers fish and violates the rules governing the development of tidal energy in the area. The Cape Sharp Tidal Venture turbine is a joint project between Emera Inc. and OpenHydro. The turbine is currently in the Minas Passage near Parrsboro, N.S. Cape Sharp Tidal confirms that work is currently underway to remove the turbine. It wants to bring it to another area in the Bay of Fundy to do operational tests that would run about five days. “They have no approval to conduct that testing and more importantly is there will be no environmental-monitoring equipment at the site,” said Colin Sproul, spokesperson for the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association. click here to read the story 20:15
Aboard the Tradition: Fishermen work to get Trump’s attention on Thames River
Supporters of President Trump are gathering in southeastern Connecticut Wednesday. Among them are a group of fishermen who organized on the Thames River. These fishing vessels were on a different kind of mission. News 8 was on board the Tradition, a 70 foot vessel that is one of more than 25 boats out trying to get the president’s attention hoping for change to what they say are outdated and over regulated rules that could eventually kill the fishing industry here in New England. The vessels set out from Stonington at around 8 a.m. for the one hour sail to the Thames River. The Tradition works out of Rhode Island but the boats there Wednesday also came from Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. Video, read the story here 19:00
Tragedy at sea spurs a father to act – John Gurney implores fishermen to prepare for the worst.
It’s said the most unspeakable grief is that of a parent losing a child. John Gurney has been dealing with that grief since last June, when his son Luke, a well-liked Island conch fisherman with a wife and two young sons, drowned in a tragic accident when he was ensnared by a trawl line and swept overboard. Last week, Mr. Gurney spoke to The Times about the 11 months that have passed since that horrible day. In a conversation punctuated with an occasional laugh and silences of abject sorrow, Mr. Gurney, a gregarious man who looks younger than his 73 years, talked about his love for his son, who was also his business partner and one of his closest friends. He talked about Luke’s love for his work, for his family and his friends. He reminisced about the hundreds of people who spoke to him at Luke’s celebration of life at the Portuguese-American Club, where he heard about the many good deeds his son had quietly done over the years, expecting nothing in return. Click here to read the story 18:42
Bristol Bay fleet chilled more salmon in 2016 than ever before, according to study
The Bristol Bay salmon drift fleet sold more chilled salmon to processors last year than ever before. Bristol Bay is the world’s largest salmon fishery, and is making efforts to sell a larger portion of its catch as fillets, rather than canned. Filling those fresh and frozen orders requires chilling at the point of harvest, which more fishermen are apparently doing. According to the BBRSDA survey, chilling bonuses averaged 16 cents per pound last season. Depending on the base price, the percentage that 16 cents represents can be too large to ignore. While most new boats come with refrigerated seawater systems installed and more are added to older vessels each year, the study found there are still plenty of skippers who are holding out. Click here to listen, and read the story 16:30
Are shrimpers abandoning ship?
When Tam Nguyen’s family immigrated to Port Arthur more than 40 years ago, her father made a living owning and operating shrimp boats, the same thing he did in Vietnam. But Nguyen, who works as a quality inspector at JBS Shrimp Packing Inc. in Port Arthur, said she is glad her six children have left the family business.,,, Nederland resident Kyle Kimball, a third-generation shrimper, loves the work but expects the family business will end when he retires. “It’s grandfather to dad to me to nobody. You don’t want your family to do something like this,” said Kimball, 53. His daughter, Bella, 17, said she plans to go into nursing – a decision her father strongly supports. Click here to read the story 14:51
Historic seiner Veteran returns home to Gig Harbor
The Veteran has come home. The historic purse seiner built by the Skansie Boatbuilding Company in 1926 was recently gifted to the Gig Harbor BoatShop and now resides in the same harbor in which it was launched. For nearly 90 years, the boat was used by commercial fishermen, starting with two generations of Gig Harbor fishermen, Peter Skansie and then his son, Vincent. They fished in Alaska and the Salish Sea. After Vincent Skansie quit fishing, Whitney Cannery purchased the boat and then about 10 years later sold it to commercial fisherman Francis Barcott. When Barcott suddenly died of a heart attack in 1995 while fishing Veteran in Hood Canal, Barcott’s son sold it to another long-time commercial fisherman, Nick Fahey, who fished out of Anacortes. Fahey fished the Veteran for 10 years, then used it as a pleasure boat until earlier this year when he gave Veteran to the BoatShop. All the time he owned Veteran, Fahey went to great lengths to take good care of it, Click here to read the story 13:49
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 55′ Raised Foc’sle Aluminum Trawler/Scallop LAGC-IFQ permit, 3406T Cat
Specifications, information and 6 photo’s click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:08
Commercial rock crab season emergency closure extended for public safety
The emergency closure of the Northern California commercial rock crab season, which was set to end today, has been extended by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) due to public safety concerns over potential toxins in the area. The closure covers commercial rock crab fishing from Bodega Bay in Sonoma County to the Oregon border. The closure comes after state health officials detected high levels of domoic acid in rock crabs found in the region last fall, which can pose health risks and be toxic if eaten. The closure was set to expire today, but CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham extended the commercial crabbing restriction using a new authority granted to him this year. Click here to read the story 09:42
Strip club onboard Alaskan fishing boat making comeback
An Alaska man is resurrecting a strip club he operated on board his converted crab boat before he was convicted on waste disposal charges involving the vessel. This time, he’s billing the enterprise as a nightly protest. Darren Byler says he will begin his summer-long “First Amendment Freedom of Assembly” demonstrations Thursday on the 94-foot Wild Alaskan. He says the demonstrations will feature exotic dancers on board the boat, anchored off a harbor near the island city of Kodiak. Byler has long alleged he was hit with the federal “poop” charges because authorities and others disapproved of the exotic-dancer business he ran in 2014. He is appealing his federal case. “I’m protesting the fact that I was singled out and targeted for morality,” he said. “I don’t like being bullied by the government, and I’m doing this because I can. This is my way of winning.” Click here to read the story 08:53
Commercial fishermen plan flotilla for Trump’s graduation speech at Coast Guard Academy
A group of fishermen will greet President Trump and send congratulations to graduating cadets from a flotilla on the Thames River during the United States Coast Guard Academy commencement today. “Our message is ‘make commercial fishing great again’ and it’s a congratulatory effort to say thank you to the Coast Guard class of 2017,” said Joel Hovanesian, of Wakefield, who is a member of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance. The purpose of the flotilla is also to raise the President’s awareness of regulatory issues in the fishing industry, especially since one of the platforms he ran on was over-regulation and its burdensome effects on small businesses, said Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., of North Kingstown. “Every single fishing vessel is a small, mobile corporation, so if he’s seeing 15 or 20 boats, he’s seeing 15 or 20 small businesses right there and there’s thousands of them along the East Coast,” she said. “In the fishing industry, we’re dealing with a lot of over regulation and we believe there’s a lot of things that could be done to make the industry thrive again.” click here to read the story 07:28
Video, click here Local fishermen hope President Trump will help commercial fishing industry
We will be getting live updates, and will be posting photo’s on this page, Click here
Fishery managers weighing cuts in Bay crab harvest
Chesapeake Bay crabbers will likely face some harvest restriction this season to protect future generations of the iconic crustacean, a move managers say is necessary because of the low population of juveniles. Fishery managers for Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission all say they are considering shortening the season and imposing stricter limits on the harvest of female crabs. They are not proposing changes in male crab catches. News of harvest cuts surprised some crabbers at Maryland’s Blue Crab Industry Advisory Committee last week. The latest winter dredge survey results released in April showed the highest number of female crabs in the 28-year history of the annual count. Female crabs clocked in at 254 million, a 31 percent increase over last year. But the Baywide survey, which counts the crabs in more than 1,000 locations as they burrow in the mud, estimated there were 125 million juvenile crabs in the Chesapeake, a 54 percent decrease from the 271 million found in 2016. That is the lowest tally since 2013 — a year when crabbers also had their catch curtailed — and one of the five lowest estimates since 1990, managers said. Click here to continue reading the article 21:38
Tuna producers up to something fishy as they face conspiracy allegations
Executives of the most popular tuna brands in the U.S. — Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and StarKist — conspired regularly to keep prices high for consumers with a taste for one of America’s favourite sandwich ingredients, according to criminal and civil court records updated this week. A typical can of tuna today costs about $1.50 and the U.S. Department of Justice says that price may be the result of price fixing by Thai, South Korean and U.S. seafood dealers, while major retailers are suing alleging they’ve been ripped off. The U.S. government began investigating criminal price fixing between the three companies more than two years ago. Together the companies supply about 80 per cent of the $1.7 billion of canned tuna sold annually in the United States, according to the court records. Following up, Walmart and other top retailers filed civil lawsuits. Click here to read the story 17:14
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 50-miles off Atlantic City, N.J.
The Coast Guard medevacced a fisherman who was reportedly suffering stroke-like symptoms approximately 50-miles off the coast of New Jersey, Tuesday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay were notified that a fisherman aboard the 90-foot scallop boat Frank & Maria needed medical attention. An MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew was dispatched from Air Station Atlantic City and arrived on-scene and hoisted the man at approximately 8:40 a.m. Coast Guard rescuers brought the man to Atlanticare Regional Medical Center for medical attention. Click here for video 16:17
Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act – Shark fin bill hurts Americans, hinders shark conservation
Information Update #2: The Make Commercial Fishing Great Again Flotilla 2017
First, a hearty thank you to all who plan on attending this historic event! There has been some confusion by those who are still trying to label our gathering as a protest. They are wrong. What this gathering is all about is to show a sign of support to the graduating cadets’ from the fishing industry. We want this to make a positive impact! Also it’s a shout out to President Trump to take notice that our industry like so many others in our nation is under attack from over burdensome regulatory policies enacted by previous administrations. If anyone is interviewed by the media, PLEASE make these messages loud and clear. WE ARE NOT PROTESTING. We are : 1. Welcoming President Trump, 2. Congratulating the Coast Guard cadets, and 3. Asking the President for help to Make Commercial Fishing Great Again. It looks like the weather is going to be awesome. Summer like finally. We should all plan on gathering just south of the RT.95 bridge by 10AM. The commencement address by the President is scheduled for 11AM. We will have representatives on the scene at the event who we will be in contact with. We ask that everyone refrain from blowing horns until the ceremony is over. When we get word from the inside we can let loose with our salute! Again, thank you to all and we will be standing by on VHF Ch. 18 for coordination purposes. Enjoy your day on the water and be safe in your travels. 12:25
Cutting Deep – Commercial Fishermen killing one trout to save another in Yellowstone National Park
“Everything in Yellowstone National Park is a controversy,” says Dan Wenk, Yellowstone National Park superintendent. “And I’m glad it is because it means people care.” One of the things they care about is what’s going on in Yellowstone Lake. That’s where a commercial fishing crew from the Great Lakes region is catching lake trout with up to 40 miles of netting. This is the epicenter of the angry visitor’s angst. Lake trout are not native to the park. An angler caught the first one in 1994. By mid 2000s, lake trout had eaten 90 to 95 percent of the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the lake. Commercial gillnetting to kill lake trout went gangbusters in 2009. “The problem is lake trout are like large wolves on the landscape, only in the lake,” Koel says. “Large, highly predatory, fish-eating machines essentially.” Click here to read the story 12:01
At Sea, Under the Eyes of Cameras
Chris Brown has grown used to the five video cameras that record every move he and his two crew members make aboard the Proud Mary. Since installing the equipment in January on the 45-foot otter trawler, whenever Brown steams out of Galilee in search of flounder and other groundfish in the Atlantic Ocean waters off Rhode Island, the electronic monitoring system kicks on. Brown is one of three Rhode Island fishermen who have signed on to a program that is testing out electronic surveillance as an alternative to human monitors that the federal government requires to be on board one in every seven fishing trips in the Northeast in an effort to stamp out overfishing. The new program being led by The Nature Conservancy offers the potential for closer observation of commercial fishing, enhancing compliance with quotas and deterring misreporting. But not everyone has embraced electronic monitoring. Click here to read the story 10:51
As I see It: More US action required on New England fishery – Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva
On March 30, Carlos Rafael – the infamous “Codfather” of New Bedford, Massachusetts – pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.,,, His fraud in mislabeling nearly 800,000 pounds of fish to evade quotas on cod, flounder and sole was so massive that scientific studies using the misreported landings may have to be scrapped, adding additional uncertainty to a fishery that has been teetering on the edge of complete collapse for decades.,,, The Fisheries Service must also start saying ‘no’ to the New England Fishery Management Council, a regional regulatory body that includes many industry representatives.,,,It’s time to end the convenient and false narratives that blame science-based fisheries regulations and ocean conservation initiatives, such as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument on the edge of the continental shelf off Cape Cod, for problems they did not create. Click here to read the op-ed 09:41
Southeast Alaska winter troll catch falls short of limit, Spring troll fishery underway
The preliminary harvest total is just over 43,000 kings. Most of those, around 40,000, are fish managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada. Those fish mostly come from hatcheries in Canada and the Pacific coast of the U.S. The rest come from hatcheries in Southeast Alaska. The last two years the winter season has ended early as the fleet has surpassed a 45,000 fish guideline harvest level, or GHL, for Treaty kings. “So a down year,” said Grant Hagerman, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s troll management biologist for Southeast.,, Last year the season ended in record time, closing March 8. This year fishing remained open for the full season, through the end of April. Both catch rates and effort picked up in the final weeks of the season. Click here to read the story 08:46
Federal agents raid home of southern Indiana fisherman
The stillness in the air off Zoo Road in English on Monday sounded like a stark contrast to the chaos David Cox described at his nearby home. “They was hollering, ‘David! David!'” Cox recalled. “And there was as many as you could possibly put on my stairway with assault rifles and down here on the ground pointing them at me.”Last Wednesday, a raid from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife brought roughly 50 agents to his front door. They came after an illegal fish. “I said, ‘You serve all your warrants like this for an illegal fish?'” Cox said. Cox is a commercial fisherman who owns Midwest Caviar and combs the Ohio River for paddlefish. He says he recently found out an informant or undercover agent was on his boat last season in Troy, Indiana, when a fish came into question. Video, click here to read the story 19:27
Mississippi Shrimpers optimistic for upcoming season in state waters
With the shrimp season in Mississippi approaching, more shrimp boats are docking in the Biloxi harbor, awaiting the green light to drop their nets in the sound. The Commission on Marine Resources meets next week to discuss recommendations for the 2017 shrimp season in Mississippi waters. Mirel Nelson on the Lady Vera says he’s hoping that past season are not an indicator of what can be expected this year. “To me it looked like it was going down through the years with all the red tide and stuff, but, who knows,” said Nelson. Nelson has been busy for the past few months improving his boat for this upcoming season. Meanwhile, others in the harbor have taken advantage of open shrimp waters in Louisiana. Video, click here to read the story 12:51
