Monthly Archives: September 2017
Hurricane Harvey: Port Aransas family weathers storm in shrimp boat
The word of a hurricane didn’t stop one Port Aransas family from staying in town. But where they did stay may come as a surprise. John and Molly Nixon stayed on their 600-ton shrimp boat – the Polly Anna. They made the decision to ride out the storm while it was still a tropical depression. But quickly, that turned into a category four hurricane. “I’ve never seen the wind blow so hard,” John Nixon said. “It was just screaming. It was so loud. It felt like a freight train was coming by you.” Video, click here to read the story 21:42
Coast Guard medevaced fisherman suffering possible heart attack off Reedsport, Ore.
Coast Guard crews medevaced a man suffering from symptoms of a possible heart attack from a fishing vessel 18 miles off Reedsport, Friday night. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Bend were contacted around 8 p.m. by the fishing vessel Leann crew. The crew reported one of their deckhands was suffering a possible heart attack and requested assistance, the Coast Guard boat crew and aircrew launched in response. The aircrew lowered their rescue swimmer onto the fishing vessel and then both swimmer and deckhand transferred to the motor life boat. Once transferred to EMS personnel on shore, the deckhand was taken to Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay. -USCG- 15:37
Fire-damaged fishing vessel in San Diego Harbor continues to smolder
A fire that tore through a docked commercial fishing and research ship near Seaport Village continued to smolder Saturday. The blaze initially erupted for unknown reasons inside the 120-foot Norton Sound at about 9:30 a.m. Friday. It was unclear if anyone was aboard the vessel when the fire broke out. Firefighters initially battled the flames from inside, finding no victims, but were ordered to pull out because of the intensity of the fire inside the boat after about a half-hour. The fire seemed to mostly burn itself out, then flared up again later in the day. The interior of the vessel continued to burn throughout Friday and into early Saturday. click here to read the story 15:01
At Seattle-based seafood giant Trident, a new generation is at the helm
Joe Bundrant’s first Alaska summer with Trident Seafoods was back in 1979, a tense time for the Seattle-based company founded by his father Chuck Bundrant. The Bristol Bay salmon run was in full swing. But a bitter strike over low prices kept nets out the water, and shut down the regional harvest. Chuck Bundrant had piled up debt to build the Bountiful, a 165-foot processing vessel that was then only a year old. He didn’t want it to sit idle. So, he urged the fishermen to cross the picket line and allow him to freeze their sockeye catch. When the season was over, he pledged to settle with them on a fair market value “He just said, ‘Trust me.’ And those guys went fishing. It was a very powerful lesson for a young guy,” click here to read the story 12:35
What Happened to the Armchair Environmentalists and Climate Alarmists When the Hurricanes Hit?
There are two ways to get ahead. Pull yourself up or push other people down. There are few better exponents of the pushdown option than the environmental groups and their supporters. They are, for the most part, urban guerrillas, useless people who do little or nothing except undermine the lives of others. They are the green bullies who tell others how to live, yet, hypocritically, live in similar lifestyles.,, Where was Greenpeace during the recent hurricanes?,,, I learned a great deal about these urban guerrillas over forty years of working with primary producers like farmers, foresters, and fishermen. No, I won’t be politically correct and call them fishers. Then, there’s the seal hunt! click here to read the story 11:14
Fishermen fear Scottish lobster stocks ‘could collapse’
Fishermen fear that lobster stocks could be on the verge of collapse after an increase in the numbers being caught and a surge in the value of the shellfish. Boat captains operating on the east coast say that fewer lobsters are being brought to shore, with smaller specimens among the catch than in previous years. The Scottish Government has recently introduced catch restrictions for unlicensed fishermen in a bid to keep the numbers being caught down. But there are fears that Scottish waters could be about to see stocks collapse similar to the situation which developed in Norway in the 1970s and 1980s. click here to read the story 10:07
SMAST East opening draws interest nationally
The official opening of the second SMAST facility created ripple effects beyond its location on South Rodney French Boulevard. Construction crews erected SMAST East at a cost of $55 million. The names on the guest list, which packed into the first floor of the 64,000 square foot building Friday, displayed its incalculable value to the SouthCoast. From the political arena, Cong. Bill Keating, Sen. Mark Montigny, Rep. Antonio Cabral and Mayor Jon Mitchell addressed the crowd at the ribbon cutting ceremony. NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator and former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard and former dean of SMAST Brian Rothschild sat in attendance. Eastern Fisheries President Roy Enoksen and Executive Director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting Jim Kendall each listened to the 90-minute presentation that ended with a ribbon cutting. click here to read the story 09:34
Florida Fishermen Pin Their Hopes On Stone Crab Season after Hurricane Irma
On Florida’s Marathon Key, lobster boats pull up to the docks in the afternoon, same as they would on any September day. But this year, instead of hauling in thousands of valuable spiny lobsters, most are unloading the few traps they can find, and maybe a quarter of the usual catch. Boat captain Carlos Moreira is tired after a long day at sea searching for lost traps. “Well you gotta start somewhere, so you just look for one,” says Moreira. “Yesterday, from where I had my traps to where I found them, they were 7 miles away. And to travel around, and try to find a 7 and a half inch buoy in the Gulf of Mexico, is a challenge.” click here to read the story 08:16
A double whammy at trap yard – First, a fire, then a hurricane. What can possibly come next? “A lot of guys lost a lot of gear again. They rebuilt all the traps lost in the fire, so all those traps were lost for a second time,” click here to read the story
Members of commercial fishing industry experiencing high levels of psychological distress
Members of the commercial fishing industry are experiencing levels of psychological distress almost double that of the general population, new research has revealed. A survey conducted by Deakin University showed a 19 per cent rate of depression among commercial fishers, compared to the estimated national diagnosis of 10 per cent. Of the 1000 workers that responded to the 13-page survey, only 9 per cent of said they had experienced no bodily pain in the month prior, with 58 per cent saying they had experienced moderate to very severe pain. click here to read the story 16:39
BREAKING: Multi-alarm fire erupts on fishing vessel docked in San Diego Bay
A fire on a 120-foot fishing vessel billowed smoke over the San Diego Harbor area early Friday. Crews from U.S. Coast Guard San Diego, San Diego Harbor Police, and San Diego Fire responded to the multi-alarm fire at 750 North Harbor Drive near G Street, around 9:30 a.m. The fire was contained to the vessel “Norton Sound” as it was docked in the bay. No injuries have been reported and crews are working to determine if anyone was on the ship when the fire began. The blaze began as a two-alarm fire, before growing to a three-alarm fire and forcing firefighters off the vessel. Video, photos, click here to read the story 15:01
Coast Guard rescues 2 fishermen off Nash Island, Maine
The Coast Guard rescued two fishermen off Nash Island, Maine, Thursday, after their lobster boat became disabled when a swell pushed the vessel onto a rock causing them to swim to shore. At 5:40 p.m., a concerned neighbor called watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Jonesport reporting that his neighbors went fishing at 11 a.m. in a 21-foot white lobster boat and were due back by 1 p.m., but they hadn’t returned. click here to read the story 14:31
Death of deckhand in Hurricane Irma leaves void in Tarpon Springs
The boat was 32 feet, white fiberglass, with sails stretching up, up, up. It was, Carl Shepherd decided that day, the boat he would retire in. “What are you going to do?” asked his friend, Michael Ellzey, who drove him to Fort Myers in August to check out the vessel. Sail everywhere, Shepherd told him. Live out the rest of his life on the water. But Shepherd didn’t get to spend his last years peacefully on a sailboat. Instead, he spent his final moments in chaos on a shrimp trawler in the middle of one of the most powerful hurricanes in recent history. click here to read the story 11:28
A lifetime of trawl doors
Atli Már Jósafatsson comes from a family immersed in metalwork and particularly in trawl doors. The son of Icelandic trawl door pioneer Jósafat Hinriksson, he has been involved with trawl doors for practically his entire working life. Atli Jósafatsson and his brothers grew up up around the metalwork and engineering business that his father established, which increasingly focused on trawl doors as its primary activity, starting at the bottom, and all of them were able to weld before they could drive a car. click here to read the story 11:07
Mi’kmaq chief says there are bigger fish to fry than lobster
A prominent Nova Scotia First Nation chief says he does not blame Mi’kmaq fishermen if they are using their ceremonial fishing licences to try to make a moderate living outside the commercial lobster season.,, Non-Indigenous fishermen have been protesting at wharves, calling for the Department and Fisheries and Oceans to intervene in what they say is the illegal sale of lobster by some First Nations fishermen.,, This year, the Trudeau government has taken conspicuous steps to improve First Nations access to fisheries in Atlantic Canada. click here to read the story 09:35
Everyone’s Mad About Fugitive Salmon in the Pacific Northwest!
In a giant refrigerated warehouse 90 miles north of Seattle, 43,500 Atlantic salmon were stacked in plastic crates, frozen pariahs in a kingdom where Pacific salmon rule. For weeks, locals used nets to chase down the intruders, not to eat them or sell them, but to get them out of the water. Native fishermen who’ve worked Puget Sound for decades mocked them for looking different. Chefs and foodies refused to so much as lay a boning knife on them. Scientists, for their part, say they’re perfectly edible — a good source of protein in a world where increasing numbers of people could use some. But nobody is listening. click here to read the story 09:01
Strained Fluke Quotas, Hurricanes and Safe Harbor
Less than a month after a bill granting vessels safe harbor in New York was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a fishing vessel bound for North Carolina carrying 6,000 pounds of fluke has tested the new policy, straining New York’s federally designated fluke quotas. The F/V Rianda S., which has long been a part of the Montauk fleet, was in transit to land its fish in North Carolina, where it has fishing licenses, on Sept. 17 after fishing in federal waters when it encountered the rough seas generated by Hurricane José and requested safe harbor in Montauk. New York’s fluke fishery is closed for the month of September, due to banner fluke landings this summer that strained the state’s already low federally mandated quotas. click here to read the story 08:25
Plymouth’s fishing community speak of their grief after losing ‘great bloke’ Tony
Members of Plymouth’s fishing community have spoken of their heartache following the death of a much-loved trawler man. Following the tragedy off Plymouth’s coast on Tuesday evening, friends and colleagues have described Welshman Tony Jones as a friendly and caring man, who will be sorely missed. This morning flowers had been left at the gates of Plymouth Fisheries, where Tony’s boat, the Solstice was kept. Bill Crossman, who has worked at the fisheries for many years, said Tony was an experienced fisherman, and a “great bloke”. Video,click here to read the story 22:02
Heartbroken family pray for missing dog Donnie after fishing tragedy – Springer Spaniel Donnie has been missing since Tuesday night’s tragedy which claimed the life of much respected fisherman Tony Jones. click here to read the story 9/29/2017 15:58
New Miramichi Bay Conservation Areas worry fishermen
The federal government has named two new marine conservation areas to protect important fish and their habitat, but some Nova Scotia fishermen say they’ve already lost too much ground on the ocean bottom. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced the Miramichi Bay Conservation Area in New Brunswick waters on Wednesday, covering 1,550 square kilometres of water where the Miramichi River empties into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.,, George Zinck, president of the Prospect Area Full-Time Fishermen’s Association, said his members opposed the creation of the new conservation area, but are more concerned about the potential loss of additional fishing grounds. click here to read the story 20:34
The value of fish landings in Shetland last year was up by 30 per cent compared to 2015
Seventy two thousand tonnes of fish worth around £79 million was landed in Shetland, representing a one per cent decrease in quantity on 2015. Nearly 70 per cent of all landings were of pelagic species, which enjoyed a rise in price, while demersal accounted for around one quarter. Mackerel was the most landed fish, with over 40,000 tonnes coming into Shetland, while herring amounted to 9,471 tonnes. But 2016 saw the lowest amount of pelagic species landed in Shetland in the last five years, with around 8,000 tonnes more brought into the isles in 2014. click here to read the story 17:42
Commercial fishing for Southeast red king crab to open this fall after six years
Southeast Alaska will open to commercial fishing for red king crab this fall for the first time in six years. The crab population has seen a steady increase, according to state surveys. But whether the opening set for November 1 will be lucrative is still to be seen. Joe Stratman, who is Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s lead crab biologist for Southeast, said the red crab population has been on the rise since 2013. “Basically, in the last four or five years we’ve seen improvement in legal, mature biomass estimates in Southeast,” Stratman said. click here to read the story 15:30
Opinion: Fishing Violations? Cite Captains and Crew
Two recent high-profile incidents involving Montauk party-fishing boats have drawn attention to a problem on the water in which paying customers take too many or too small fish, while the crews, captains, and vessel owners evade responsibility.,,, It also is interesting to note that the state appears to be finally paying attention to how recreational fishing affects fish stocks. For decades the majority of its enforcement efforts was directed toward commercial harvesters, despite statistics that, in many cases if not all, indicated that sportfishing had an equal or greater impact on the resource. click here to read the op-ed 12:05
More Mississippi River sediment will mean more problems for Louisiana shrimpers
Louisiana’s quintessential shrimper – the independent, weather-beaten man with a small boat that’s seen better days – may be the hardest hit by two sediment diversions planned on the Mississippi River. A new report indicates many shrimpers will need help adapting, possibly in the form of grants, subsidies and job re-training, once the diversions begin funneling fresh water and sediment into Barataria Bay and Breton Sound. The sediment is likely to alter the distribution, abundance and types of shrimp in areas where shrimpers have fished for decades. Most vulnerable will be shrimpers with small, one-boat operations who are middle-aged or older and cannot easily transition to another career, according to the report by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit group. click here to read the story 10:08
Once-idle shipyard cashes in on crab boat market
Three years ago, Guillaume Hall was working in the oil patch in Fort McMurray, Alta., one of the hundreds of New Brunswickers who had gone west for work. Today he’s building boats five minutes from where he grew up, in the Caraquet area of northeast New Brunswick. Atlantic Boat Building has 36 employees working two shifts, days and nights and on weekends, year-round. One of the new boats, the Crabbin Assassin, is almost finished. Built for a Nova Scotia fishermen, it looks more like a stealth military vessel than a crab boat.”They have a unique design when it comes to fuel savings, stability, and speed, and you get to go faster with a smaller engine,” Robichaud says. “You save fuel, so more money in the pockets of the fishermen.” click here to read the story 09:35
On This Day – September 28, 1889: Cape fishermen heading for South Africa for mackerel
A century ago the fishermen on Cape Cod were making plans to spend the winter fishing for mackerel off the Cape of Good Hope off the southern tip of Africa, a distance of almost 8,000 miles away from homeport. For the wives of the Cape’s fishermen that would mean nearly year-round widowhood as the trip a century ago took weeks under the best of conditions and mackerel were believed to abound in South African waters after December 1st, the same fish seen here six months later. The Cape Cod schooners will salt the mackerel and return to Provincetown to sell their catch. The reprint of the story in The New York Times from a century ago is below. click here to read the story 08:18
Wondering about the success of this venture? click here to read a bit more about it! pg. 196
Gloucester Fishermen to council: Trust in data needed
One by one, the Gloucester fishermen settled in front of the microphone for those with something to say to the New England Fishery Management Council and, one by one, they delivered their thoughts. Some of the remarks, such as those from Tom Orrell of Yankee Fleet and Paul Vitale, captain of the Angela & Rose, were short and to the point. Orell wanted to know why the for-hire boats faced so many restrictions in the Gulf of Maine and Vitale simply wants more fish quota. Now. Joe Orlando of the Santo Pio talked science and cod, while longtime fishermen Al Cottone and Rick Beal (powerful comment) adopted more philosophical tones, speaking to the council on the need for a two-lane channel of trust and truth. click here to read the story 20:59
Atlantic Herring: Council Discusses Amendment 8 ABC control Rules; Passes on Picking“Preferred Alternative”
The New England Fishery Management Council yesterday discussed the list of potential acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rules outlined in Draft Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The document contains nine new control rule alternatives plus the standard “no action.” After considerable debate and a review of the varying impacts of each option, the Council declined to pick a “preferred alternative.” Instead, the Council intends to wait to hear the full range of public comments during future public hearings before indicating any preferences. ABC control rules define how catch or fishing mortality changes with stock size. Click here to read the story 16:51
Fisherman’s tagging experiment offers evidence that setnet-caught kings survive
After the disastrous summer of 2012, when poor king salmon returns gave commercial Cook Inlet east side set gillnet fishermen only a handful of fishing days throughout the season, Brent Johnson began brainstorming. A lifelong setnetter in the Clam Gulch area, Johnson knows he is allowed to harvest and sell king salmon under his commercial fishing permits, but he began thinking up ways to winnow out kings from the rest of the salmon. That way, he could release the kings alive and let them head up the river, contributing to escapement goals so the Alaska Department of Fish and Game could leave the setnet open, allowing him to still catch other kinds of salmon. After a few seasons of testing experimental nets and tagging kings he released, he finally has some results to show, indicating that kings may survive being released from setnets. click here to read the story 14:26
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 45′ Hutt Bros. Lobster boat, 500HP, 6 Cylinder Lugger
Specifications, information and 26 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 12:24
A Sad Update: Fishermen found clinging to capsized boat after major search and rescue operation
Fishermen have been found clinging to the hull of an upturned boat after a major search and rescue operation was launched last night. Three lifeboats and a rescue helicopter were launched on Tuesday evening in a search for an overdue commercial fishing vessel. The RNLI lifeboats from Plymouth, Salcombe and Looe were joined by the coastguard rescue helicopter from Newquay in the search which began at about 10pm.,,, Fishing boat FV Solstice was reported missing having sailed from Plymouth. click here to read the story 11:46
Man dies as fishing boat capsizes off Devon coast – A fisherman who went missing after his boat capsized off the Devon coast has died, investigators have confirmed. His body was recovered from the Solstice after two men clinging to the hull were rescued, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said. sadly, click here to read the story 20:13
Whale Protection Bill SB 1287 – North Coast Senator speaks on progress
North Coast Senator Mike McGuire’s Whale Protection Bill has passed, and now involved agencies are working on implementation. Senate Bill 1287 aims to help stop whale entanglements by crab and fishing gear up and down the California coast. Governor Brown signed it into law in September of last year, which saw a record breaking number of entangled whales, with 66 off the California coast alone. The senator hopes the bill will be fully implemented by mid-2018. It will require crabbers to be responsible for collecting their gear, or else they could face losing their commercial fishing license. click here to read the story 11:25
