Daily Archives: September 6, 2017
Years of high lobster landings spark resurgence in Maine’s boat building industry
A lobsterman’s biggest expense is the boat. Analysts say Maine’s boat-building industry has made a remarkable recovery since it bottomed out during the Great Recession of 2008, when many of the state’s boat builders, including Young Brothers Boats of Corea, decided to get out of the business. Inside Mike Light’s boat shop in Steuben, a 44-foot Calvin Beal lobster boat is getting a major face-lift that its owner hopes will keep him fishing for another 6-10 years. The seas take a toll on these hardworking vessels, and when the time comes for repairs, Light says, some fishermen are choosing to upgrade. click here to read the story 21:00
Fishing Industry sees workers compensation rates hit 20-year low thanks to safety campaigns
Stuart MacLean says it was a particularly dark event that helped spark a culture change when it comes to safety in the fishing industry: the sinking of the Miss Ally. Five young men from southwest Nova Scotia were lost at sea when their fishing boat was hammered by a raging storm in 2013. The incident gripped fishing villages everywhere, and MacLean, CEO of the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, believes it had a dramatic effect on the way fishermen approach safety today. “What’s happened in that sector is people have moved from knowing about it to caring about it,” he said. “And I think what people said is, ‘It’s not OK to keep losing people at sea.'” click here to read the story 18:12
Turtleboy says, Time To Start Killing Sharks And Seals At Cape Cod Because We Take What We Want, When We Want
So Cape Cod has officially been taken over by seals, which means the shoreline has officially been taken over by the sharks. The seal population at Cape Cod has exploded because hippies don’t want us to kill them anymore. This of course brings in sharks because seals are obviously the most delicious animals in the sea, and now Orleans has turned into the Golden Corral. Our solution is simple – start killing seals, and if the sharks don’t go away, they can die too. Of course you get a lot of this: click here to read the story 15:38
Tough time for West Coast tuna fishermen as Albacore catch dwindles along the coast
Ask any fishermen, processor, buyer and they will say the same thing: It’s been an abysmal season for albacore tuna. Commercial tuna fishermen are going out further and stay out longer. Recreational tuna charters have been warning customers of the spotty fishing and suggesting salmon trips instead. In past years the albacore fishing came easier, when fish were nearer to shore schooled in numbers, but neither has been the case for the 2017 season. “The fishermen are bringing in very little or no income for their families,” said Oregon Albacore Commission executive director Nancy Fitzpatrick. The slow fishing has meant freezer boats are staying out longer to find the fish and fill their hold, sometimes as long as a few weeks beyond what’s typical. click here to read the story 13:23
Capsized in the storm: Huddled in a shrimp-box, a fisherman survives
As a squall’s winds howled and hungry waves lapped all around, John Trosclair Jr. paddled and prayed in the darkness, hunched in the box he had used to ice down his shrimp. The sharp eyes of a shrimper on a passing boat and help from the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Water Patrol ensured a safe return for the 55-year-old Dulac fisherman, who said that despite hours in the grip of Hurricane Harvey’s remnants, he never lost faith. His survival, and the generous help he received, is already inspiring others on local bayous, who say it affirms the best of what they know about local spirit. “I paddled and I prayed,” John said, while recalling his ordeal. click here to read the story 13:03
Coast Guard Medevacs Man from Fishing Vessel 154 Miles East of Kodiak, Alaska
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a crewman from the fishing vessel Cape Greig 154 miles east of Kodiak, Tuesday. The Jayhawk crew safely hoisted the ill crewman and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical personnel in Kodiak. Coast Guard District 17 Command Center watchstanders in Juneau received notification from Discovery Health Partners stating the 50-year-old crewman was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis. Watchstanders briefed the duty flight surgeon who recommended a medevac. –USCG– watch video click here 12:48
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 49’11” Dixon Marine Lobster/Scalloper, 6 Cylinder Lugger
Specifications, information and 29 photos click here To see all the boats in this series, Click here 11:48
If hulls could talk: A summer of stories from the Ilwaco Boatyard
Earl Soule, 71, considers “re-corking,” or recaulking, a boat a lost art that requires a special touch. “The strength of a wooden boat is the seams,” Soule said. “Everybody thinks it’s the frame, but it’s the caulking. Caulking makes the whole boat tight.” Much of Soule’s work is done by sound and touch, a rare skill he’s cultivated over decades of working on wooden boats. “It’s all by feel,” Soule said in between swings of his mallet. “I can tell what it’s doing all the time because I can feel it.” Soule was helping Florian Mumford replace 12 ribs underneath the planks of Mumford’s 1953 wooden boat, ahead of the black cod season. He said he relies on the boatyard for haul out and repairs at least twice a year. photo’s, click here to read the story 09:08
U.S.-Built Trawler is Not Jones Act-Qualified
The U.S. Coast Guard has issued another letter ruling on U.S. built vessels with foreign-made components. The latest case involves a factory trawler named America’s Finest under construction in the state of Washington. Certain “cold-formed” steel plates were already installed as part of the hull and the cold-forming process was conducted overseas. A U.S. shipyard requested coastwise and fisheries trade status for the vessel, and was just denied by the U.S. Coast Guard. click here to read the story 08:17
Hurricane Irma Passed Over Barbuda as a Potentially Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane; Dangerous Threat for Florida, Southeast
Hurricane Irma, a dangerous Category 5 hurricane, blasted the island of Barbuda, an island of 1600 residents, with gusts of at least 155 mph. Irma is now heading toward St. Martin, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispañola, the Bahamas and Cuba before posing a serious threat to Florida and parts of the Southeast beginning this weekend. Irma became the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin, outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, on record on Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. click here to read the story 07:37
National Hurricane Center – Hurricane Irma Public Advisory – Discussion and 48-hour outlook click here
