Daily Archives: August 2, 2017
Coast Guard, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office assist 3 fishermen sinking off Gasparilla Pass
The Coast Guard and Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office assisted three men Wednesday after their boat started sinking 4 miles west of Gasparilla Pass. Assisted were: Sherman Williams, 66 Frank Williams, 33 Justin Mahaffy, 31 Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders received a report at 6:28 p.m. Tuesday from the Charlotte County Dispatch stating three people aboard the Salty Lady, a 52-foot fishing boat, were taking on water and they were in need of emergency assistance 4 miles west of Gasparilla Pass. A 29-foot Response Boat-Medium (RBM) boat crew from Coast Guard Station Cortez and the crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Seahawk, an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat stationed at Sector St. Petersburg, launched to assist. A Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office marine unit crew arrived at 7:38 p.m and assisted with dewatering the boat. The boat crew aboard the Seahawk arrived at 8:22 p.m. and the RBM arrived at 10:12 p.m. to join the dewatering efforts.
At 1:19 a.m. Wednesday, the boat crews determined they were not able to keep up with the flooding to safely tow the Salty Lady crew. All three boaters were transferred to the RBM. The boaters were transported to Venice Inlet at 1:52 a.m. Wednesday where family members were waiting. No injuries were reported. The owner is making arrangements to have the Salty Lady towed to Boca Grande. 2 more images click -USCG- 21:11
Playing Catch: Northern Europe Fisheries Fleet Review
Record hauls of wild fish, an unprecedented return on farmed salmon, finance and subsidy garner new orders, new designs and emboldened suppliers. In Scandinavia, particularly Norway, rich, carefully managed fisheries raise just one question for the commercially minded — which wave of business to ride. A growing number of large and small players are in on the action, as historic profits are heralded up and down the supply chain. For the hardened makers of gear that know tougher times, this is the golden age. “We’ve sold record numbers of net haulers to boats up to 50 foot,” says Hydema Syd stalwart Solbjoerg Solgaard. Sales to the U.S. are soaring, she says, and Canada has picked up, especially for automatic hauling equipment. 8 images, click here to read the story 20:29
More Women Move Into Maine’s Rough And Risky World Of Lobstering
It’s 6 a.m. on a calm morning in Maine’s Rockport Harbor, and Sadie Samuels is loading traps from her pickup truck onto her 28-foot lobster boat. The daughter of a lobsterman, Samuels was born in a nearby hospital and has been on the water here for most of her 25 years. “I’ve been coming out fishing in this harbor since I was born. I came here before I went home from the hospital,” she says. “I had my first student license when I was 7.” Lobstering is physically demanding, dangerous work, and it has traditionally been considered a man’s job. But Maine’s lobster fleet has a growing number of women who, like Samuels, are running their own boats, and busting stereotypes along the way. In 2016, women held 434 of the 5,000-plus lobster licenses in Maine. Audio report, read the story here 19:36
Boat owner jailed over fishermen’s deaths in Whitby
The owner of a boat on which two men died from carbon monoxide poisoning has been jailed for 15 months. Mark Arries, 26, from Blyth, and Edward Ide, 21, from Amble, died on the boat which was moored in Whitby harbour in January 2014. The pair were using a gas cooker to warm the boat overnight as they slept. Timothy Bowman-Davies had pleaded guilty to breaching safety laws but claimed he was not aware the men were using the cooker for heating. click here to read the story 17:42
Two topless women want you to think of them when you boil your lobsters
Two 20-something female volunteers stood topless, wilted and all red, their eyes closed, their arms and rubber lobster claw gloves hanging over the sides of a fake lobster pot — like cooked lobsters who had just been boiled to death. The front of the cloth pot, which had fake flames around the bottom, read, “Put yourself in their place.” Twenty-year-old Bangor native Bianca Giron and Mary Ann Persad, 25, of Brooklyn, New York, were volunteers through the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization to oppose the boiling alive of millions of crustaceans every year. They had positioned themselves on the corner of Main and Park streets, near the entrance of the 70th annual Rockland Lobster Festival, which runs from Aug. 2 through Aug. 6. click here to read the story 16:42
Legislative Bills would open red snapper harvest out to at least 25 miles
Louisiana senators and representatives have introduced companion legislation in Congress that would give states management authority of red snapper out to 25 miles or 25 fathoms, whichever is greater, off their coastlines. Currently, states control red snapper out to nine nautical miles. Both Louisiana senators, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, introduced the bill in the Senate, while Reps. Garret Graves, Cedric Richmond and Clay Higgins joined seven other representatives to propose the House bill. The legislation is designed to ensure Gulf of Mexico anglers have broader access to rebounding red snapper stocks during 2018 and beyond. This year, the Commerce Department gave recreational anglers 39 additional days in federal waters after NOAA Fisheries set a three-day recreational season. That move is being contested in court, and without legislation to address the issue, recreational anglers could be locked out of the fishery in 2018. click here to read the story 16:01
Former deep-water fisherman reveals the tough, basic and disciplined life he had at sea
After my last trip on the Black Watch as relief bosun I found myself ashore with some time to myself for a change. However, like I thought, it was not long before offers of another ship came along, leaving me with some really good choices. Some of them I turned down for genuine reasons, like the Northern Crown, because that offer had come far too soon after my last voyage to Greenland, which would not have allowed me even 72 hours in dock. Also I had offers from the very first company that I’d ever sailed in when I left school at the tender age of 15. On that occasion I left school on Easter Friday and went to sea the following Tuesday aboard the Alfred Bannister owned coal burner Loch Park (GY 259). Life aboard those grand old ladies of the sea was so tough, basic and disciplined from the salty old characters who sailed in them, you just couldn’t help but learn the job pretty fast. Michael Sparkes click here to read the story 13:56
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Young Bros. (Slippery 38) Lobster Boat, 6 Cylinder Cummins 6BTA Diesel
Specifications, information and 11 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:25
Jim Lovgren – Fishery managers responsible for Summer Flounder mismanagement
Earlier this year the state of New Jersey was found to be out of compliance by the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission [ASMFC] in regard to the proposed recreational catch specifications for Summer Flounder, [fluke].The ASMFC which jointly manages summer flounder with the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council, [MAFMC] had recommended an increase in the recreational size limit for Summer Flounder to 19 inches for New Jersey. New Jersey fishery management representatives balked at that proposal and instead presented an alternative proposal that would keep the size limit at the present 18 inches but with a shorter season which would still meet the conservation goals as the Commission’s plan. The Commission denied this alternative and declared New Jersey out of Compliance, an action that would result in the shutdown of the Summer Flounder fishery, both recreational and commercial sometime later this summer. Unfairly this shutdown would have occurred after the recreational season was over, and would only impact New Jersey’s commercial fishermen, who are already struggling with a 50% cut back in the quota over the last two years click here to read the story 11:32
10 ‘Unprecedented:’ Another right whale carcass washes up on Newfoundland shore
Another North Atlantic right whale carcass has washed up on the west coast of Newfoundland. Four right whale carcasses have now been identified on the west coast of the province, bringing the number of dead right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to 10. In a release sent Aug. 1, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says “this is an unprecedented number of deaths and the situation is extremely concerning.” In the release, the department said the carcass was discovered south of the River of Ponds area. Its identity was confirmed after a surveillance flight. click here to read the story 11:03
Dead whale washes ashore on Rockaway Beach NJ – A dead humpback whale was found washed up on the sand along Rockaway Beach in Queens Tuesday morning, officials said. click here to read the story
New Zealand: MPI agree to meet Southland fishermen over electronic monitoring regulations
Ministry for Primary Industries staff have agreed to front up to Southland fishermen who have questions about new monitoring and reporting regulations. From October 6, new measures will be rolled in to ensure that all commercial fishing boats are fitted with both GPS equipment and cameras, to improve monitoring of catch levels and to help prevent any illegal activity. More than 100 fishermen, from throughout Southland, met at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill last week to discuss the implications of the ministry’s new Integrated Electronic Monitoring and Reporting System (IEMRS). Many in the commercial fishing industry were frustrated at the fact the new rules had been decided on without proper consultation or thought to their consequences. click here to read the story 09:43
Fish-o-nomics 101
Alaska leads the nation in unemployment, and fish processors in Bristol Bay are complaining they couldn’t find the workers necessary to head, gut and in some cases further process this year’s unexpectedly large bounty of sockeye salmon. Because of this, commercial fishermen were put on limits to avoid plugging processing plants with too many salmon, which left most of them unhappy. “I personally have driven through and away (from) more fish than I’ve ever seen in my life during a legal fishing opener. And that hurts,” fisherman Larry Christensen told reporter Caitlan Tan at KDLG in Dillingham. The public radio station this year live-covered the Bristol Bay fishing season as if it were some sort of sporting event, and there are some similarities. And while fishermen were unhappy with processors, processors were unhappy with the government which they blamed for making it hard to bring in foreign workers to process fish. click here to read the story 08:48
Shrimp tales in economic swales
For the second time in two years, Trico Shrimp Company isn’t sailing off to Texas for the summer season. Even Erickson & Jensen, San Carlos Island’s other commercial shrimping company, stuck around an extra month before moving its operation to its Texas location in late July. It’s been more than a decade since shrimp have been plentiful just off the coast of Fort Myers Beach, but now both San Carlos Island shrimping companies are catching them by the boatful. “We’re catching phenomenal amounts right now,” said Grant Erickson, owner of Erickson & Jensen, earlier this summer. Earlier in July, one of his captains reportedly caught 150 baskets, or about 4,000 pounds, just off-shore. It’s a bit of a mystery why the shrimp have returned. click here to read the story 07:49
