Monthly Archives: August 2017
Seafood supplier sues over lobster heist
Seafood importer and supplier Maxfield Seafood sued Seneca Logistics over a major seafood theft from its warehouse in Boston, Massachusetts. In the complaint filed in federal court in Massachusetts, Maxfield – which is based out of City of Industry, California – claimed that Seneca was negligent when a truckload of lobster worth USD 318,000 (EUR 271,762) was stolen. In mid-December 2016, Maxfield called Seneca to request transportation of a truckload of lobster which was to be picked up at two locations in Massachusetts, including one in Everett, according to the complaint. click here to read the story 16:45
4R Harvesters want higher halibut quota
Harvesters in the 4R fishing zone may be seeing plenty of halibut this year, but it’s all getting thrown back into the water. Now, they want a larger quota. Some fisherpersons – including Ernest Decker of Rocky Harbour and Stella Mailman of Port au Choix – claim they’re seeing increased volumes of halibut by-catch. They feel, instead of having to release the fish, the quota – currently set at 1,297 pounds per harvester – can be increased substantially without damaging the stocks. Decker says no matter what you’re fishing in 4R – located from Port aux Basques to the Labrador Straits – you’re bound to get a substantial by-catch.,, Mailman believes the quota can be doubled. “They can come in from the Magdalen Islands and have a 12-hour free-for-all, catch 1,400, 1,600, 1,800 pounds,” she said. “But we’re allowed 1,250 pound? Come on, there’s something wrong with that picture. click here to read the story 16:07
Foreign ownership of British fishing fleet investigated
Foreign ownership of the British fishing fleet is being investigated by a government agency, ITV News has learned. There has long been a loophole that allows predominately EU crews to fish in British waters. Operating under a “flag of convenience”, foreign owned and crewed trawlers can fish in British waters as long as they visit a UK port twice a year. Even then, they only need to sell a small part of their catch in Britain. Now, the Marine Management Organisation is investigating the practice. Video, click here 12:25
This article more than appalled me, I was hurt and offended. Genevieve McDonald, F/V Hello Darlin’ II
I am a commercial fisherman out of Stonington, Maine, and though I do not speak on their behalf I am the Downeast Region Representative on the Maine Lobster Advisory Council. I was utterly appalled by the article, What it’s like to kill hundreds of lobsters a day, written by “coastal reporter” Alex Acquisto. click here to read the story The Maine lobster industry is not only vital to the economy of coastal Maine, but is also one of the last natural resource revenue builders in the state of Maine. Through the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative fishermen have invested millions of dollars to promote Maine lobster. But it’s more than that – the Maine lobster industry is iconic. For many of your readers in Washington, Hancock, Waldo, and Knox counties lobster is integral to our culture, identity, and sense of place. click here to read the opinion piece by Genevieve McDonald, F/V Hello Darlin’ II, Stonington, Maine 10:59
Caught on Tape: Vinalhaven Man Formally Charged with Stealing 200 Lbs Lobster, Boat
A man from Vinalhaven accused of stealing more than 200 pounds of lobsters and a boat has been indicted by a Knox County grand jury. 48-year-old Jason Marriner is charged with theft and unauthorized use of property. The Maine Marine Patrol arrested him in April. Investigators started looking into reports of thefts at the Vinalhaven co-op last fall, then again in January – along with thefts at Linda Bean’s facility, Americanus Lobster. Video, click here to watch 10:11
Hurricane Gert forms off East Coast, becoming second hurricane of the season
Gert became the second hurricane of the season Monday night (Aug. 14), National Hurricane Center forecasters said. Monday night, there were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, but forecasters warned that swells generated by Gert are expected to spread northward along the East Coast of the U.S., from North Carolina to Long Island, during the next couple of days. Late Monday, Gert churned about 445 miles west of Bermuda and was moving north at 8 mph, with forecasters calling for a turn toward the northeast and an increase in forward speed Tuesday night. click here to read the story 09:24
The F/V Akutan’s sad, failed season in Bristol Bay
Fiasco. Disaster. Nightmare. These are words used by those involved with the floating processor Akutan to describe a fishing season gone terribly wrong. The Akutan, owned by Klawock Oceanside, Inc., was supposed to custom process up to 100,000 pounds of Bristol Bay salmon a day for a small fleet of fishermen under the banner Bristol Bay Seafoods, LLC. After July 25, it was bound for the Kuskokwim to give local fishermen their only salmon market.,,, “We’re in peril,” Captain Steve Lecklitner said Saturday. “We know we cannot stay in this river. It’s breaking down our systems. The owners have basically abandoned the vessel. The mortgage holders and the lenders have not established contact. I’m trying to get parts for our generator, and as soon as that’s done, it’s our intention to move the vessel to Dutch Harbor.” click here to read the story 08:16
Hawaiʻi nearshore fishery provides big benefits
Small-scale fisheries support the well-being of millions of people around the world—even in a well-developed economy such as Hawaiʻi’s, they provide important economic as well as social benefits. The total annual monetary value of the fishery is approximately $10.3 to $16.4 million. The non-commercial fishery in particular provides huge benefits to the community—non-commercial catch is around three times reported commercial catch and is worth $4.2 to $10 million more annually. However, the full benefits to Hawaiʻi also include the potential to provide over 7 million meals a year as well as less tangible but just as important benefits such as the perpetuation of culture, community cohesion and sharing knowledge with the next generation. click here to read the story 20:22
N.B. lobster fishermen discouraged by lower prices
The Maritime Fishermen’s Union is voicing concerns about the low prices its members are getting paid for their catches in southeastern New Brunswick this season and suggesting protests could follow. Wages currently sit at $4.75 a pound per market lobster and $4.25 a pound per can of lobster — nearly $2 less than what was expected, according to MFU organizer Michel Richard. There is “no excuse for such a low price,” Richard told CBC’s Information Morning Moncton on Monday, as lobster season entered its second week. “It’s very troubling, and our fishermen are trying to reason why this is happening, and the excuses are not realistic,” he said. click here to read the story 18:33
Organizers: Baltimore seafood business masks shocking labor abuses
Phillips Seafood is a Baltimore-based company that trades on its historic connections to the Chesapeake Bay blue crab fishery. The signature dish at its restaurants is the famed Maryland-style crab cake, and its dining rooms feature models of antique fishing boats and romanticized images of the bay watermen culture that is fading fast. But organizers say it’s mostly fake — a cover story for a rapacious, globalized business that preys on poor Indonesian women to extract rich profits for its U.S. owners. click here to read the story 15:47
The surprising reason you might be seeing more jellyfish in the sea this summer
Scientists have discovered that offshore wind farms and oil and gas platforms provide an ideal habitat in which the creatures can thrive. Until now, the rapid increase in jellyfish numbers in oceans around the world has been largely blamed on overfishing, which wipes out their natural predators, global warming and nutrient run-off. The research suggests that man-made structures have played a role in the jellyfish boom by offering an enticing home for polyps — the tiny organisms which eventually grow into jellyfish. The results suggested a correlation between big jellyfish numbers and man-made structures such as energy platforms and wind farms. click here to read the story 13:41
Why Omega Protein has stirred up a big stink about a small fish
The disagreement between activists and Omega Protein depends on the answer to a simple question: Are there enough menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico? Omega says there are plenty, and it wants to keep it that way. Members of the Sierra Club Gulf Coast Group, the Coastal Conservation Association and other groups have their doubts. It’s an argument recreational fishermen and conservationists have been having with Omega for years. Omega has a menhanden reduction plant in Moss Point and regularly fishes the Mississippi Sound. The opposition to its activities began anew with vigor earlier this year when Omega began seeking a “certified sustainable seafood” designation from the Marine Stewardship Council. MSC is a London-based nonprofit (although it collects royalties from licensing its “ecolabel”) that was set up in 1997 by the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, a global conglomerate that was at the time one of the world’s largest producers of frozen seafood. click here to read the story 10:28
Public urged to remain vigilant after Pacific salmon found in Irish rivers
Thirty Pacific salmon have been found in nine Irish river systems since the first one was recorded in late June. Fisheries chiefs said one of the most recent non-native fish to be captured was a mature male, which was ready to spawn when it was found on August 9 on the Erriff in Co Mayo. It has been suggested that some of the Pacific species have made their way south after “straying” from rivers in northern Norway or Russia. They were introduced to some Russian fisheries in the 1960s and have colonised west along Arctic coasts. click here to read the story 09:02
Maryland fishermen fight federal catfish regulations
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration has joined the cause and also sent a letter to UDSA Secretary Perdue, asking for “immediate regulatory relief” from the mandated inspection program for the wild-caught, U.S. catfish industry. “With the U.S. seafood trade deficit reaching historic proportions, strict harvest limits on most other wild seafood species, and traditional U.S. seafood jobs on the decline, the (Trump) Administration must provide every possible advantage to Americans seeking to invest in the business of wild-caught, domestic catfish,” Hogan wrote in the letter dated Tuesday, Aug. 8. Hogan wrote that American consumers increasingly are demanding wild, domestic seafood, and catfish is among that. The “seafood market for catfish in the Maryland/Virginia/D.C. region has grown from zero to millions of pounds sold in just a few years,” the letter reads. click here to read the story 08:30
Trump administration urged to avoid salmon protection rules
A group that represents farmers is calling the costs of saving imperiled salmon in the largest river system in the Pacific Northwest unsustainable and is turning to the Trump administration to sidestep endangered species laws. The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association wants the government to convene a Cabinet-level committee with the power to allow exemptions to the Endangered Species Act. The irrigators association is frustrated with court rulings it says favor fish over people, claiming the committee could end years of legal challenges over U.S. dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and bring stability for irrigators, power generators and other businesses that rely on the water. click here to read the story 18:12
Fairfield woman part of first all-female team at White Marlin Open
In the small town of Fairfield, Jaime Lynn Buffington is well-known for one specific reason. “Everybody that knows me knows that I’m a huge fisherman,” Buffington said. Fishing is Buffington’s passion. Having spent most of her childhood fishing with her grandfather at the Maryland shore, the 37-year-old has always spent time on boats and for the past three years has fished competitively.She’s worked hard to make a name for herself in the Maryland fishing community, even winning a tournament in Baltimore. But in Buffington’s mind, her biggest accomplishment occurred this past week when she competed at the 44th annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City with her team, the Women’s Offshore Alliance. Comprised of six women, it’s the first all-female group to compete at the tournament. “Two of the ladies are commercial fishermen and do this for living,” Buffington said. click here to read the story 16:10
Boat captain saves cat thrown from bridge
“When I took it out of the net, it grabbed a hold of my arm. I held the cat all the way into the HarborWalk. It was pretty intense,” charter boat Capt. Jordan Smith said. “I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff out there, but never had seen a living animal get thrown off the bridge,” Smith said. Smith, 35, who captains the boat Profishonal with Let’s Fish Destin Charter, was passing Coast Guard Station Destin near the northwest side of the bridge in the afternoon to pick up a group for a fishing trip. “I just saw something out of the corner of my eye. I saw some movement. Then I heard splat! Splat! I thought someone threw some trash down.” click here to read the story 15:34
It started as a normal day…
When Life Cell inventor Scott Smiles went to sea for what was supposed to be a short pleasure trip, the result was far from what he had expected. Something went catastrophically wrong – and he and his friend Rick and their respective sons Riley and Ryan found themselves in the water, clinging to a cool box and having grabbed a hand-held radio from the boat before it went down. ‘He was struck by the fact that all the safety equipment was there on board – but the problem was that it was all kept in different places,’ said Sally Dale of Pinpoint Electronics, the European distributor for the Life Cell, the innovative safety kit that resulted from the startlingly sudden loss of Scott’s boat. click here to read the story 13:55
BREAKING: Dead man found on commercial fishing boat in Portsmouth
State Police report an untimely death aboard a commercial fishing boat tied to the dock at the Portsmouth Fish Co-Op on Peirce Island. On Saturday, August 12, around 11 a.m., N.H. State Police Marine Patrol received a report of a deceased male identified as Seth M. Caron, age 29, of Brunswick, Maine. The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation. Assisting agencies include the N.H. State Police, Portsmouth Police department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. link 12:48
Groundfish: NEFSC to Hold Port Meetings With Fishermen to Talk About Upcoming Assessments
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has scheduled a series of port outreach meetings to talk with commercial and recreational fishermen about the upcoming operational assessments for 20 groundfish stocks. Below is the list of confirmed meetings to date. August 15 in Chatham, 4 p.m, Aug. 16 in New Bedford, 4 p.m., Aug. 17 in Portland, Me. 3 p.m. Aug, 18 in Gloucester,10 a.m., Aug. 28 in Point Judith, 4 p.m. Aug. 30 in Montauk, Details to be announced. click here for locations, and more information The Groundfish Operational Assessments Peer Review is scheduled for September 11-15, 2017 at the science center in Woods Hole, MA. Additional information is available at NEFSC. Need to know more? Contact Stock Assessment Outreach Coordinator Ariele Baker at (508) 495-4741, [email protected].
Prawn trawlers sit idle as fishermen turn to 457 visas for labour
It’s a boom season for the Carnarvon fishing fleet with colder water than usual in Western Australia’s protected Shark Bay spawning a bountiful king prawn and scallop catch. James Clement, marine biologist, former AFL footballer and head of the biggest trawler fleet licenced to fish Shark Bay, owned by ASX-listed company Mareterram, isn’t celebrating just yet. Despite the plentiful high-priced prawn harvest pouring into Mareterram’s Carnarvon wharf and packing sheds — the Shark Bay prawn season runs from late March to October — Mr Clement is having trouble keeping his 10 trawlers at sea for their 21-days-a-month continuous fishing time. A shortage of reliable labour and experienced fishing crew is hampering Mareterram’s total prawn catch, with issues including stress, inexperience, drugs and alcohol forcing some boats to return to port early mid-month to offload jittery crew before the scheduled full moon 10-day lay-off. click here to read the story 10:43
Aww, shucks: shucking event a hit at Digby’s Scallop Days
You could say the 2017 Digby Scallop Days didn’t start off with a bang, but rather, a shuck. The scallop shucking event took place Friday, August 11. One of the first skills competitions held this year, scallop shucking has been around in Digby since the early 1920’s, when scalloping first became big in the area, according to event host Linda Gregory. Contestants used their own unique shucking knives – each with their own design and cut – to shuck like they’d never shucked before. Plenty of photo’s click here to read the story 10:01
Invasive seaweed threatens Gulf of Maine
A team of University of New Hampshire researchers working on Appledore Island at the Isles of Shoals and at off-shore sites in southern York County and Seacoast New Hampshire recently published a study that reaches some unsettling conclusions. Essentially, the ocean floor in the Seacoast is seeing a marked decline in the often tall, leafy native kelp populations and an inundation of short, shrub-like invasive seaweed. Key among those invasives is the short, red fiber-like seaweed Dasysiphnia japonica, a transplant from Japan that is taking over the ocean floor in this region – covering as much as 90 percent of some areas. We were very surprised by what we saw,” said Jennifer Dijkstra, research assistant professor in the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at UNH and the lead author of the study. click here to read the story 09:20
Southern SE could see late pink salmon push
Rain showers expected this weekend for southern Southeast Alaska promise a much needed drink for the limited number of pink salmon that have returned so far this year to the region — after a recent stretch of dry summer heat threatened to zap their freshwater spawning grounds. The fish that amass in the greatest numbers during July and August have delivered an unusual 2017 return mostly to the northern reaches of the Alaska panhandle. Meanwhile, pinks have been surprisingly absent, at least initially, from the historically strong fishing waters of the Ketchikan area and off Prince of Wales Island. What fish have surfaced in southern Southeast have been dealt the added challenge of navigating low-level freshwater streams en route to spawn, namely on Prince of Wales Island. click here to read the story 08:34
Effective fishing regulations benefit all Floridians by Edward Gaw, president, HI-LINER Fishing Gear Inc.,
I often read Bob McNally’s outdoors columns and am frequently informed and entertained. However, a recent piece, “Why are Spotted Seatrout not Gamefish?,” left me scratching my head. To be clear, we are both in agreement that gamefish status for this species needs due and complete consideration and public debate. My exception begins and ends with his assault on commercial fishing. Here at HI-LINER we have a unique division of supply to both the recreational and commercial sectors. We remain sensitive to arguments on both sides of the water. It is our humble perspective that demonizing any fisherman runs counter to our mission. click here to read the op-ed 13:56
Grimsby man stole his boat – and world fame
Some called him The Lone Captain, the BBC called him The Buccaneer. He called himself a Freelance of the Sea. But a criminal court judge had other words in mind and sent him to prison – and hard labour – for 18 months. But history, which dwells inordinately on the glamour of swashbuckling, has found a friendly niche for Dod Orsborne, a curious Jekyll and Hyde of a man who, in 1936, stole a seine netter from its owner and sailed out of Grimsby and into the newspaper headlines of the world. click here to read the story 12:56
Despite guilty plea, ‘Codfather’ continues to fish
New England fishermen are wondering how the fishing fleet owned by New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael continues to fish nearly five months after he pleaded guilty on March 30 in federal district court in Boston to 28 offenses, including conspiracy, false labeling of fish, bulk cash smuggling, tax evasion and falsifying federal records. Those vessels include many Rafael agreed to forfeit in his plea deal for their role in his scheme to sell fish he didn’t have enough quota to catch, under the name of species for which he had enough quota. The fishing year starts May 1 and Rafael won’t be sentenced until Sep. 25 and 26. Many are angry that Rafael’s fleet has been allowed to operate through the summer months when fishermen traditionally catch most of their fish. click here to read the story 09:51
Police identify body found in Portland Harbor, investigating circumstances of death
Portland police have identified the body found Thursday morning in Portland Harbor as that of Paul J. Kirchhoff, a Portland fisherman. The state medical examiner’s office determined that Kirchhoff, 42, died from drowning, with no other source of physical trauma, according to Martin. Kirchhoff’s body was found in the water near Long Wharf.,,, Anyone with information about Kirchhoff’s final hours is encouraged to call the Portland police at (207) 874-8575. click here to read the story 09:27
Statement by Ministers Garneau and LeBlanc on actions taken to address the deaths of whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
“In our efforts to do everything possible to prevent further whale deaths, our government is today implementing a temporary mandatory slow down for vessels of 20 metres or more in length. Speed must be reduced to a maximum of 10 knots when travelling in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence from the Quebec north shore to just north of Prince Edward Island. This temporary measure is effective immediately. ,, “We have taken extensive action to ensure the protection of North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including decisions around fisheries. click here to read the press release 08:59
OPINION: Deadly year at sea reminds us that perceptions about PFDs are outdated
If you follow the news regularly, you read a lot of sad circumstances. Families die because of carbon monoxide poisoning from their stove, people perish when their car spins out of control on a winter drive, or someone gets buried in an avalanche. There is no doubt that living in Alaska has more inherent risks than more temperate locations and Alaskans, in general, take more risks than their brothers to the south. But there are some risks we take that are unnecessary, especially when it comes to the fishing industry, which is risky enough without throwing fuel on the fire. click here to read the op-ed 08:23
