Monthly Archives: October 2017
The Agnes Water/1770 Community Fundraiser for the “Families & Children of FV Dianne”
The Agnes Water/1770 Community has set this fund up on behalf of the families of Cairns based fishermen Adam Bidner, Zachary Feeney, Adam Hoffman, Ben Leahy, Chris Sammut, Eli Tonks and Ruben McDornan off the fishing vessel “FV Dianne” which tragically sunk during wild storms off the Central Coast of Queensland last week. Seven families have been affected by this tragedy. Six husbands fathers and sons have been lost in the most tragic of circumstances, with only one survivor who was rescued in tretcherous seas after fighting for his life in the wildest conditions imaginable. The purpose of this fund is to help ease the financial burden that these families have now incurred through this tragedy. click here to donate 11:00
Global Ocean Cooling in September
We have seen lots of claims about the temperature records for 2016 and 2015 proving dangerous man made warming. At least one senator stated that in a confirmation hearing. Yet HadSST3 data for the last two years show how obvious is the ocean’s governing of global average temperatures. The best context for understanding these two years comes from the world’s sea surface temperatures (SST), for several reasons: click here to read the story 09:55
Father and son building 50-foot Cape Islanders in backyard
Shawn Boudreau didn’t get a chance to answer. “No,” his wife Lisa called out from the garden in response to the question of whether he’d build a third fishing boat in their backyard. “Two will be enough.” Shawn just sort of half-smiled and looked at the 50-by-30-foot Cape Island hull behind his mobile home on Isle Madame. The boat he launched two weeks ago, All Segments, is already fishing off Digby. Now he’s starting another. click here to read the story 09:22
‘Time is of the essence’: California Fisheries face uncertainty
State regulators and fishing officials said at a Eureka hearing on Friday that only by working together can they overcome the trials and uncertainty that several California’s fisheries face today. With a poor salmon catch in 2017 and 2016 and a potential delay in the North Coast Dungeness crab season following three years of poor landings and abnormal ocean conditions, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Noah Oppenheim said fishing fleets are still feeling the economic effects and that time to address the underlying issues is running slim. click here to read the story 08:46
Red king crab fishery off to a slow start
The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is off to a slow start, compared to last year, according to Miranda Westphal, shellfish biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska. The season opened Oct. 15, and on Monday, just over a week into the fishery, only 1.5 million pounds had been landed. In the same time period last year, the boats had hauled in 6 million pounds. The fishery’s performance, though, is not unexpected, and is in line with what biologists learned during pre-season surveys. She said 52 boats were fishing on,,, click here to read the story 20:29
Portugal faces sardine ban
This comes after the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advised that sardine fishing be completely suspended in Portugal and Spain in 2018 given what it termed the huge drop in stocks in the last ten years. The Portuguese government has in recent months appeared to defend the interests of the sardine fishing industry. But Minister Ana Paula Vitorino appeared to make a U-turn on Wednesday when she revealed that sardine fishing along Portugal’s northern and central coastlines would be banned in order to preserve stocks. click here to read the story 15:07
Joachim Murray lived life with seawater in his veins
My great-uncle, Capt. Joachim Murray, was described in “Doreys and Doreymen” by Otto Kelland (of “Let Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary’s” fame) “as one of these young men from Newfoundland, who through sheer courage and perseverance, in an amazingly short time, raised themselves from doreymen to captain on board fishing vessels out of Gloucester, Massachusetts.” Joachim was the elder brother of my grandfather, Maurice Murray, of Marquise at Argentia. He migrated to Gloucester from Argentia in the latter part of the 19th century. Joachim married Esther Williams of Bay Bulls and they settled into a private life with their young daughter, Louise, at 20 Leighton Ct., Gloucester. On Jan. 29th, 1897, the Gloucester schooner Helen G. Wells arrived in Boston, its flag at half-mast. Its captain, William N. Wells, had been swept overboard in a gale and lost at sea. click here to read the story 14:23
State warns of sick, stranded sea lions on Oregon coast
Oregon wildlife and health officials are warning beachgoers to be aware of sick and stranded California sea lions at the coast and to keep their distance. Officials at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute said they’ve documented a leptospirosis outbreak. The bacteria can prompt sick or dying sea lions to strand themselves on beaches and can also pose a threat to dogs, livestock and wildlife, as well as people. click here to read the story 13:55
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 27, 2017
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates Click here, for older updates listed as NCFA click here 12:39
Baffin Fisheries Coalition launches $1.4M lawsuit against ex-CEO
The Baffin Fisheries Coalition (BFC) is suing its former CEO Garth Reid for allegedly defrauding the company of $1.4 million. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, alleges Reid was building on private land he owned in Winterton, N.L., and invoiced the work to BFC and its subsidiary Niqitaq Fisheries (NFL) — funneling goods and services through a construction company in Quebec. The lawsuit says Reid, who was CEO at the time, claimed the work was for a project in Pond Inlet, Nunavut. He was terminated two weeks ago. click here to read the story 10:57
International Pacific Halibut Commission to revisit minimum size limit
The International Pacific Halibut Commission, which regulates halibut fisheries in U.S. and Canadian waters, is set to take a fresh look at the minimum size limit during its meeting cycle this winter. The current limit allows commercial fishermen to retain fish larger than 32 inches, but the size of mature halibut has been shrinking over the years, which has some wondering whether the limit should be reduced or removed altogether. click here to read the story 09:16
Parents of reality show star, overdose victim Adam Moser, invited by Trump to opioid speech
East Kingston’s Jim and Jeanne Moser stood in front of President Donald Trump in the White House’s East Room Thursday with a photo of their son Adam. Trump reached out, placing his hand on Adam’s face. The Mosers traveled to Washington for Trump’s declaration of the opioid epidemic as a nationwide public health emergency.,, Twenty-seven-year-old Adam Moser died from an apparent fentanyl overdose in Portsmouth in September 2015. click here to read the story 08:36
Rare Blue Lobster Caught By Sea Isle City Fishermen
Eighty-five miles off the Jersey shore, some Sea Isle City fishermen found a diamond in the rough. It was the highlight of their four-day trip, a brilliant Blue Lobster in a sea of blah brown and green sea dwellers. “Well the pot came over the rail and everyone got excited,” Joe O’Donnell of South Seaville said. The crew of Captain Eric’s Two Dukes’ boat had just plucked a rare find 700 feet down off the ocean floor. Video, click here to read the story 07:49
Rare Blue Lobster Caught Off New Jersey Coast Will be Saved – Most lobsters hauled in by commercial fishing boats end up on someone’s dinner plate. But a remarkably rare blue lobster caught this week by the crew of the Sea Isle City-based vessel “Two Dukes” appears headed for an aquarium instead of a pot of boiling water. Photo’s, click here to read the story
Judge denies feds’ motion for Carlos Rafael to forfeit more vessels, permits
Judge William Young didn’t waste any time denying the United States’ motion for reconsideration in the case of Carlos Rafael. The government filed the reconsideration on Wednesday, the same day Young filed his judgement. The government sought Young to reconsider the forfeitability of Rafael’s vessels and permits. Young ordered four vessels and the accompanying permits to be forfeited on Oct. 11. U.S. Marshals seized the vessels the Lady Patricia, Olivia & Rafaela and the Southern Crusader II on Oct. 18. The reconsideration stated, “the court may correct a sentence that resulted from arithmetical, technical or other clerical error” within 14 days. click here to read the story 19:13
NOAA gave bad data to Senator trying to stop shark finning
A federal agency said on Thursday that it made a mistake with a key piece of data it gave to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker as he was building a case to shut down America’s shark fin trade. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, has cited more than 500 incidents involving complaints of shark finning in the U.S., dating back to January 2010, as cause to support shutting down the trade. But the number is actually 85.,,, An NOAA worker’s error involving a new case management system caused the mistake in the number of finning incident reports, said Casey Brennan, chief of staff for the NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. He said the number of reports that led to charges was 26. click here to read the story 18:31
Carving up the Bureaucracy – MPI dismantling received positively by Nelson fishing industry
The announcement of a dedicated fisheries portfolio by the new Labour-led government has local fishing representatives hooked. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this week the primary industries mega-ministry would be split into three parts covering forestry, fisheries and agriculture to allow greater focus on each sector. While the finer points of the new structure were yet to be discussed, the decision has already been well-received by both commercial and recreational fishing representatives. click here to read the story 16:56
Warrenton Marina puts derelict boats on notice
It happened at night — these things usually do. The boat showed up in the Warrenton Marina, its fishing permits already sold. Someone else bought it from the previous owners for next to nothing. They took what they wanted off it and left it sitting in a boat slip. It’s still there. Last month, marina staff issued seizure notices to the owners of seven derelict or abandoned boats in the Warrenton Marina, most of them older, wooden commercial vessels and ranging in size from a 26-foot recreational boat to the 62-foot wooden fishing vessel Master Chris. Often such boats end up abandoned in the marina because the owners get sick, or there’s a death and the question of who has ownership is muddied. Photo’s, click here to read the story 14:40
Gulf of Mexico Now Largest Dead Zone in the World, and Factory Farming Is to Blame
Nitrogen fertilizers and sewage sludge runoff from factory farms are responsible for creating an enormous dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. As fertilizer runs off farms in agricultural states like Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and others, it enters the Mississippi River, leading to an overabundance of nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, in the water.,, This, in turn, leads to the development of algal blooms, which alter the food chain and deplete oxygen, resulting in dead zones. Needless to say, the fishing industry is taking a big hit, each year getting worse than the last. The featured news report includes underwater footage that shows you just how bad the water quality has gotten. Video, click here to read the story 14:13
Cape fishermen push for action on habitat protection
Part of managing fisheries is identifying and protecting that habitat. But the ocean is a big place and a difficult environment to do analysis. Politically, it’s also fractious terrain as fishermen worry about the balance between conservation and being shut out of traditional and productive fishing grounds. And so, it took 14 years for the New England Fishery Management to craft regulations protecting fish habitat, passing Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 in June of 2015. But after over two years of review by the council and the National Marine Fisheries Service, it still hasn’t been implemented,,, click here to read the story 11:19
Many Northern Peninsula harvesters preparing to pack up gear as cod season slows
Now into the last week of October, many fishermen along the Northern Peninsula say the cod season is dwindling for the year. Englee harvester Larry Cull says despite a rough start, it’s been a decent season for his enterprise. “We lost about three weeks because we had no buyer,” said Cull. “It was not as good as last year, but still fairly good.” With a lack of capelin along the peninsula shores this year, most of the cod caught has been particularly small with an assortment of odd baits found in their bellies. click here to read the story 10:50
Admiralteiskie Verfi to build six trawlers for Russian Fishery Company
On 25 October 2017, Admiralteiskie Verfi (United Shipbuilding Corporation) and Russian Fishery Company signed contracts for construction of six trawlers of Project СТ-192, with an option for two more trawlers, says press center of USC. The first trawler is to be built within a three-year period. The sixth ship is to be delivered to the customer in 2023. The contract price exceeds RUB 37 bln. The ships will be built under the state programme of ‘investment quotas’. click here to read the story 09:49
Maine lobster landings, price draw concern
Fishermen have reported catching far fewer lobsters this season than last year’s record-setting numbers. But the scarcity does not seem to have translated into much upward pressure on prices. While harvesters and dealers hold boat price information close to the vest, unofficial reports indicate that boat prices have actually dropped to $2.50 per pound or worse.,, Islesford lobsterman Bruce Fernald, part of the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-Op, said his catch is down about 20 percent this year. click here to read the story 09:19
Three Run for Two Seats on Barnegat Light Council
This fall’s Nov. 7 general election in Barnegat Light is contested. Two three-year seats on Barnegat Light Borough Council are sought by three candidates.,,, Eric Svelling. “I am running because I am being urged to do so from supporters,” said Svelling. “I am a third-generation lifelong resident, 30-year business owner, 22-year taxpayer. I have a unique historical connection to Barnegat Light,” he said. As qualifications, he has also pointed to his work ethic and decision-making amid the uncertainties and dangers of making a living by commercial fishing. He helped build his fishing boat Native Son, and also owns the Edge Runner and Sea Beast, operating from Lighthouse Marina. click here to read the story 08:28
Report on U.S. Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Sent to White House, Not Released to Public
U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross sent a report to the White House on Wednesday containing recommendations on whether to change the boundaries of 11 marine sanctuaries to allow more oil and gas drilling, but the report was not made public. Commerce reviewed sanctuaries containing 425 million acres of coral reefs, marine mammal habitats and pristine beaches, as part of an administration strategy to open new areas to oil and gas drilling. click here to read the story 07:18
F/V Burin Breeze Crew Assists in Two Overnight Rescue Missions
Ralph Paul and his two-man crew Brian Paul and Steve Caul had an eventful adventure while fishing on the St. Pierre Banks yesterday, onboard the Burin Breeze. They were called on for two rescue missions. The first was around 6:00 yesterday evening when Ralph Paul and his crew received a mayday from a vessel fishing for sea cucumber about six miles from their location.,, While heading to their home port of Burin around 10:30 last night—with the crew members from the first rescue onboard—they received a second call click here to read the story 16:00
Fine laid after vessel runs aground in Witless Bay
The company that owns a vessel that ran aground near the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve has been fined $35,000 in Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court. Bright Eye Fishing Corporation pleaded guilty to violations under the Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1994, according to a media release issued by the federal government Wednesday. The money will go towards an environmental damages fund and the company’s name will be added to the environmental offenders registry. click here to read the story 15:34
The Great Pacific Migration of Bluefin Tuna
Shortly after their first birthday, Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) complete an impressive feat. From the spawning grounds in the Sea of Japan where they were born, the young tuna embark on a journey over 5,000 miles (8,000 km) long, across the entire Pacific Ocean to the California coast where they spend several years feeding and growing. Until recently, scientists believed only a small portion of juvenile tuna made the journey, but several new studies show that may not be the case—in some years the majority of tuna aged between one and three participate in the trans-Pacific migration. click here to read the story 14:53
Don’t just drink the Kool Aid – be diligent when you read all of the anti-commercial fishing rhetoric
In the October-November issue of Tradewinds, the bi-monthly magazine published by the North Carolina Fisheries Association, there is an intriguing column by Brent Fulcher, chairman of the association. “The Internet can be a very enlightening tool at time,” writes Mr. Fulcher. “It amazes me when I read comments from those who are opposed to commercial fishermen. When they post on certain sites that are known for their anti-commercial fishing rhetoric, there are no fish left in the ocean. The sky is falling, and those bad commercial fishermen are to blame. click here to read the story 13:59
Ray Hilborn tells US Senate overfishing shouldn’t be most important concern
A U.S. Senate subcommittee considering the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act heard additional testimony Tuesday, with a University of Washington researcher telling lawmakers the U.S. is leaving money in the ocean. Ray Hilborn, a professor at the university’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, noted that in many cases fisheries aren’t even bringing in half of the total allowable catch in some seasons. For example, in 2015, mixed bottom commercial fishermen caught USD 65 million (EUR 55.1 million) worth of fish available in the West Coast. The total allowable catch had an estimated value around USD 168 million (EUR 142.5 million). click here to read the story 12:20
Hearing: Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act: Fisheries Science – click here
Still Stuck! State, Coast Guard still trying to move fishing vessel
A fishing boat that ran onto a reef close to Kaimana Beach in Waikiki nearly two weeks ago is sticking around a little longer. The Coast Guard has made multiple attempts to move the Pacific Paradise, but the 79-foot vessel hasn’t moved. The Coast Guard explained a plan is being developed to either reduce the weight of the ship after taking on water, or even trying to lift the vessel rather than pull it. Before any further actions, the Coast Guard will take a complete assessment to get the Pacific Paradise off the reef. Video, click here to read the story 12:02
