Daily Archives: September 26, 2017
Inmarsat launches new Pacific North West Pricing Plan for Fleet One
The new single SIM subscription plan represents the latest Inmarsat initiative to enhance vessel performance for Pacific North West fishers, while also ensuring the safety of those at sea. The targeted offer covers the Gulf of Alaska, South East Alaska, and the North West Canadian and US coastal area (Washington, Oregon, and California), as well as parts of the Bering Sea*. It delivers free Fleet One-to-Fleet One voice calls for up to 30 minutes, Pay-as-you-go IP data and the seasonal flexibility to suspend services during inactive periods. click here to read the story 17:48
“This is the stupidest thing I ever did,” ‘Codfather’ is sentenced to 46 months for skirting tax and fishing regulations
Carlos Rafael, the New Bedford, Mass. fishing magnate whose brash business style earned him the nickname “The Codfather,” was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Monday for tax evasion and flouting fishing quotas, a case that could impact the ability of hundreds of fishermen to continue working out of the port where he ran his illicit enterprise. In the federal courthouse in Boston, Rafael, 65, told US District Judge William G. Young he mislabeled more than 700,000 pounds of fish not out of greed, but to protect workers whose jobs were threatened by limits on dwindling cod stocks. click here to read the story 15:04
And just four years ago, we posted this article that should be revisited at this time. Carlos Rafael and His Fish Are the American Dream – click here to read the story.
Owner of One of the Nation’s Largest Commercial Fishing Businesses Sentenced for Falsifying Records & Smuggling Proceeds Abroad, US Justice Dept. click here to read the presser
FISH-NL – Northern Cod – “Why is DFO setting us up to fail?”
Earlier this year, DFO gave harvesters two options for fishing northern cod off Newfoundland’s east coast and Labrador for 2017: 1) fish the entire season at the weekly limit; or 2) fish only from Sept. 17th-Nov. 30th at double the weekly limit. Harvesters who choose option one, and have one cod IQ (individual quota), can fish with six gill nets. Harvesters who choose option 2, and who have three combined IQs (and many harvesters do), are essentially fishing six times the weekly limit, but are still limited to six gill nets. click here to read the press release 14:11
Collaborative project between researchers, fishermen aims to reduce West Coast seabird bycatch
A collaborative project between researchers and the West Coast sablefish fishing industry is showing promise for reducing the number of seabirds caught in longline fishing gear, in particular several albatross species including one threatened with extinction. The combination of using streamer lines (also called bird-scaring lines) to protect longline fishing gear from seabird attacks on baits, and setting hooks at night when the birds are less active can significantly reduce seabird mortality, the researchers say. click here to read the story 12:39
Stewart Lamont: ‘We’re in the relationship business – we sell lobster on the side’
Stewart Lamont, 62, managing director of Tangier Lobster Co. and founder of the Lobster Council of Canada, represents the lobster sector in the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance.,,, My cousin, a friend and my mentor, had a lobster export business. He recruited me in 1981 saying we’d work six months with six months off; I could do the two things I wanted – travel and write. It sounded superb. I didn’t want to go into the real world anyway. We’d operate six months, shut down, come back six months later. Increasingly, clients would give us a blast – “where were you in February when we needed a good lobster?” We decided we had to run year-round. click here to read the story 11:59
Two well-known marine survival companies become one as LRSE of Tiverton, RI, buys Landrigan Corporation of Boston
Jim O’Connor got his start in the life raft and survival equipment business in 1978 working for Landrigan Corporation of Boston and on Sept. 1, he became the proud new owner of the company having purchased it from Jean Landrigan. O’Connor, who owns Life Raft and Survival Equipment company of Tiverton, R.I., will now have the combined resources of the two most well-known names in the industry. Landrigan Corporation is one of the oldest companies in the life raft and marine safety equipment business, started 50 years ago. click here to read the story 11:03
Port au Choix fisherman says halibut tags are a union money grab
A fisherman in Port au Choix is protesting a Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) Union policy he believes is illegitimate. Dean Olfrey recently caught three halibut without purchasing the mandated tags from the Fisheries Science Stewardship and Sustainability Board (FSSSB). Olfrey says it now appears he will not be getting charged for this protest, due to what his lawyer calls “union interference.” The FSSB had introduced the halibut tags as part of its Atlantic Halibut Sustainability Plan for the 4R fishing region. But harvesters outside of Newfoundland and Labrador, though fishing in the same region, do not have to use the tags. click here to read the story 09:37
Hurricane Maria Public Advisory 0800 AM EDT Update
At 800 AM EDT, the center of Hurricane Maria was located near latitude 33.3 North, longitude 73.1 West. Maria is moving toward the north near 7 mph (11 km/h), and this general motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected through tonight. A turn toward the north-northeast is expected on Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Maria will pass east of the coast of
North Carolina during the next couple of days. click here to read the update 08:59
Ottowa Targets Fishermen
Finance Minister Bill Morneau sucker-punched Canadian business owners, and now Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc wants to finish fishermen off. Mr. Morneau’s attempted seizure of retirement savings held by small business owners, farmers, doctors and lawyers is well-documented. In a similar attack, Mr. LeBlanc is going after fishermen, many of whom have spent decades building retirement nest eggs from their investments in licences and vessels. In a speech this summer in Chester, N.S., Mr. LeBlanc said he wants to “bring our government’s support for the middle class to life through a progressive fisheries policy.” Sound familiar? click here to read the story 08:34
