Daily Archives: October 29, 2017
Don Cuddy: At the fish auction, you need a translator
A sow jig hake, a lemon sole Georges or a pee wee channel anyone? Now that is some real New Bedford fish auction talk. Allow me to translate. A hake is one of our underutilized but tasty New England fish species. A sow hake is a fish that weighs in at ten pounds or more while a ‘jig’ is a variety of bottom fishing employing a lead weight with a hook attached that is jerked up and down, by hand or mechanically, to attract and snag bottom dwelling fish. And a 12-inch flounder caught in the Great South Channel is known in the trade as a pee wee channel. Sow jig hake recently fetched $3.15 per pound at the display auction in New Bedford,, click here to read the story 16:27
Calling for a shutdown – Fish farm protestors challenge Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Protesters calling for the shutdown of fish farms interrupted a speech by Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Dominic LeBlanc on the dock of Victoria’s inner harbour Saturday. Joined by Minster of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna,,, The two ministers were invited to speak to announce the federal government had reached its 2017 conservation goal of designating five per cent of Canada’s oceans as protected areas. But that announcement was interrupted by a peaceful protest by a group called Fish Farms Out Now. click here to read the story 15:31
Yarmouth Sea Products outlines extensive safety steps taken following serious injury to crewmember in 2015
It was just supposed to be another ordinary fishing trip, except that on the water things don’t always happen the way they’re supposed to. But that can change. An accident onboard the scallop dragger Compass Rose II in June 2015 left a crewmember (Clayton Joudrey) with permanent injuries. In a room of fishermen and others 28 months later, the owners of that vessel, Yarmouth Sea Products Ltd., gave a presentation on the extensive safety steps that have been undertaken to prevent such an accident from happening again. The presentation was ordered by the court as part of the penalty,,, click here to read the story 13:43
Hurricane Irma cuts Florida lobster harvest by half
A fresh catch of spiny lobster arrives dockside. But for marina owner Gary Graves, this delivery is too little, too late. “Basically, lobster fishing is pretty much over for us this year,”said Graves, who is vice president of Keys Fisheries wholesaler. Graves says Hurricane Irma dealt a severe blow when it hit Florida in September. Leaving a trail of wreckage on land, the storm also came just a month into lobster harvesting season. “We’re going to probably end up maybe 50 percent of a normal season the way it looks right now,” he said. click here to read the story 11:19
Sheriff’s captain accused of helping ‘Codfather’ smuggle cash
A Captain with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in connection with helping Carlos Rafael, the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing businesses in the U.S., smuggle the profits of his illegal overfishing scheme to Portugal. Jamie Melo, 45, of North Dartmouth, Mass., was indicted on one count each of bulk cash smuggling, structuring and conspiracy. In August 2017, Melo was arrested and charged in a criminal complaint. click here to read the story 10:46
Declared unfit for human or animal consumption – Eighty tons of contested Bristol Bay salmon trashed in Anchorage landfill
Some 158,318 pounds of highly contested Bristol Bay salmon from the F/V Akutan have reached their final destination: the Anchorage landfill. This summer, the custom processor was supposed to process up to 100,000 pounds of salmon a day for Bristol Bay Seafoods LLC, a small group of fishermen. But nearly everything that could go wrong did. The vessel’s owner went broke, the crew wasn’t paid, and when 158,318 pounds of fish came off the boat in early September, the third-party testing group NSF declared it unfit for human or animal consumption. click here to read the story 09:17
