Monthly Archives: October 2017
Red Lobster Criticized For Decimating Biscuit Populations Along Cheddar Bay
CHEDDAR BAY, ME—Warning that local stocks had been depleted to dangerous levels, environmentalists criticized Red Lobster on Wednesday for its part in decimating biscuit populations along Cheddar Bay. “It’s no coincidence that the biscuit population has dropped an alarming 84 percent since Red Lobster was founded in 1968,” said Roger Gross, researcher at the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, adding that the rate at which Red Lobster has been harvesting biscuits from the bay was unsustainable, click here to read the rest 11:44
Fears UK fishing industry losing out on £230 million and 2,700 jobs
The number of people employed in the UK fishing industry is officially falling and so too is the quantity of fish being landed in the UK. While prices are up, there is still concern amongst many in the industry about how much value the UK derives from its own fleet and fish quota. Figures exclusively leaked to ITV News show publicly for the first time precisely how little benefit the UK gains from some of its own fishing fleet. Many “British” boats are foreign owned and, as the statistics show, some of these never land a single fish in the UK. Video, click here to read the story 11:25
This Wing Will Fly! Wing Trawling System Wins Ocean Exchange Neptune Award
The Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Orcelle (R) and the Ocean Exchange Neptune Awards of $100,000 Each Were Given to Atlas Energy Systems and Wing Trawling System for Innovative Solutions That Support Zero Emissions and Sustainable Oceans. The winner of the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award in the amount of $100,000 USD is Wing Trawling System or WTS (USA-AL). This system can be adapted to existing commercial shrimp boats to reduce unwanted finfish by-catch by 60%+, while allowing a 20% increase in shrimp capture, and has shown 35% reduction in fuel consumption. The WTS looks like an airplane wing that flies just over the sea floor and holds the net open, eliminating the heavy sea floor contact of the trawl doors. The system was created and field-tested with six design generations by WTS founder, who has 49 years experience as a shrimper and many years experience as a mechanical designer. click here to read the story visit wingtrawlingsystem.com
Seized lobster destined for Chinese buyers
The lobsters seized in a Monday raid at Halifax Stanfield international airport were purchased by a Chinese company for export to Asia. Pierre Boissonault, a manager for Guang Da International, said Friday that 5,400 pounds of his company’s lobster was seized at the airport on Monday by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada before it could be shipped to China. He also confirmed that the company’s facility in Belliveaus Cove was raided as part of an investigation by Fisheries and Oceans into illegally purchased lobster. click here to read the story 09:10
Two bodies recovered from sunken F/V Dianne, debris hampering police diver search
Police divers could only spend 13 minutes underwater at a time on Saturday and the last dive was conducted about 4.30pm. The police vessel Conroy was expected to bring the bodies back to Gladstone for formal identification on Saturday night, before heading back out to guard the scene until the morning. “We’re still clearing debris from the wheelhouse and just starting to get below,” Inspector Somerville said. click here to read the story 08:40
Foss Hired to Remove Grounded Fishing Vessel Off Waikiki – New Concerns about Foreign Fishermen
Foss Maritime has been hired to remove the grounded fishing vessel Pacific Paradise from a reef off Waikiki after repeated attempts to refloat the vessel by commercial salvage companies have failed. The 79-foot Pacific Paradise ran aground on 10 October about 1,000 feet off Waikiki’s Kaimana Beach, and the vessel has remained stuck there ever since. Several attempts have been made by commercial salvage companies to tow the vessel, but each time the operation has been unsuccessful. click here to read the story 18:34
Hawaii boat crash spurs new concerns about foreign fishermen – while transporting foreign fishermen to work in Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry has raised new questions about the safety and working conditions for foreign laborers in this unique U.S. fleet. click here to read the story
U.S. lobster fishing vessel caught trapping lobster in Canadian waters
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans intercepted a vessel fishing illegally in Canadian waters and reported it to U.S. authorities, an official confirmed Friday. The incident occurred Thursday near the coastal border of New Brunswick and Maine. “Our fishery officers intercepted a U.S. lobster fishing vessel that was fishing illegally within our Canadian fisheries waters about midday Oct. 19,” said Todd Somerville, area chief for conservation and protection in southwest New Brunswick. “We intercepted the vessel. At that point fishery officers board the vessel and then they initiate their investigation. Because it was a U.S. vessel, we do reach out to U.S. law enforcement. … They also responded.” click here to read the story 15:34
NOAA Fisheries Recommends Actions to Help Right Whales
Coming at the end of a devastating summer for right whales, the North Atlantic Right Whale Five-Year Review and its list of recommended actions to promote right whale recovery is particularly timely.,, In July 2016, we initiated this Review, as we do every five years, to make sure that species are accurately listed as “endangered” or “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Our Five-Year Review is now complete and provides updates on the right whale population in U.S. waters. The Five-Year Review recommends, not surprisingly, that North Atlantic right whales continue to be listed as endangered, and confirms that they experiencing: click here to read the recommendations 13:06
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 20, 2017
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates Click here, for older updates listed as NCFA click here 12:50
Reassessed: More than half a million gallons of oil spilled in Gulf near Lousisiana
The U.S. Coast Guard has reassessed an oil spill that happened Oct. 13 (click here) near Venice Louisiana. While initial reports were thought to be at about 400,000 gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, LLOG, the company which owns the pipleine, estimates that 16,000 barrels were spilled — approximately 672,000 gallons of spilled oil. The oil discharge from a damaged pipeline approximately 40 miles south east of Venice, Louisiana. click here to read the story 11:51
FISH-NL and FFAW still at odds over harvester numbers
There is still no official list, no final count of Newfoundland and Labrador inshore fish harvesters for the purposes of determining if there will be a vote on a breakaway union. Leaders with the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) and the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor) union have disputed who has a better total count on harvesters — one truly representative of inshore industry participation. The numbers being floated are very different, by thousands of individuals. click here to read the story 10:37
Eco-Warriors Once Used Old Tires In A Failed Attempt To Create An Artificial Reef
Divers are removing hundreds of old tires and debris environmentalists dumped off the coast of Southern California 30 years ago to help create an artificial barrier reef. Diving crews began cleaning up the mess earlier this month, according to the California Coastal Commission. Activist Rodolphe Streichenberger dumped the refuse in the bay in 1988 to establish an experimental, artificial reef – he fought for years to prevent its cleanup. click here to read the story ‘It just looks like a pile of trash’: Boat crew hauls tire reef out of the sea off Newport click here to read the story 09:37
Board of Fisheries declines request to cap Kodiak sockeye harvest
The Board of Fisheries won’t take up an out-of-cycle request to cap Kodiak sockeye salmon harvests during certain periods of the season, though it won’t be the last time the issue comes up. The board declined to accept an agenda change request that proposed a new management plan for the commercial purse seine fishery in the Kodiak Management Area setting weekly and seasonal limits on sockeye salmon harvest. The request, submitted by the United Cook Inlet Drift Association, raises concerns brought to light in a recent Alaska Department of Fish and Game genetic study showing that Kodiak seiners catch hundreds of thousands of Cook Inlet-bound sockeye salmon during the summer. click here to read the story 08:57
Sunken fishing trawler Dianne found by searchers off Queensland coast
Police say they have found the commercial fishing trawler Dianne in which six men are believed to have drowned when it sank in heavy seas on Monday night. The sea cucumber fishing boat was detected by sonar about two to three nautical miles off Round Hill Headland, near Seventeen Seventy. Police confirmed the discovery in a statement released just after 6:00pm today. Water Police will remain at the scene overnight and a full recovery operation will commence tomorrow morning. Twelve boats were involved in today’s operation, along with a helicopter and several vehicles that patrolled the shoreline. At least one of the boats was fitted with side scan sonar, using soundwaves to detect any possible man-made items under the water. click here to read the story 08:36
Northern Shrimp – If shrimp fishery reopens, Maine to get lion’s share
The Gulf of Maine, closed since 2014 to shrimp fishermen, will operate under strict state allocations when and if it ever reopens to shrimping. The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission, which regulates the fishing for northern shrimp in the region, approved the new amendment that allocates 80 percent of the total allowable catch to Maine, with Massachusetts and New Hampshire each receiving 10 percent. “This the final action and it’s now in place for when the resource recovers,” Tina Berger, ASMFC spokeswoman, said Thursday.The action, known as Amendment 3, click here to read the story 08:19
Barry Myers is Trump’s nominee to head NOAA – Why Does This Guy Make Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz Nervous?
Hawaii relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — in some ways, for its very safety. NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service, is the agency that helps predict and anticipate hurricanes, tsunamis and dangerous floods, issuing warnings that help people prepare or get out of the way. But in this case, it’s President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the agency, a business executive from Pennsylvania, who is causing a political storm. Barry Myers, chief executive officer of AccuWeather, a private weather and data services company based in State College, Pennyslvania, has been named by Trump to serve as U.S. Commerce Department Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, a job traditionally held by biologists and climate scientists. This position is usually also called the Administrator of NOAA. click here to read the story 22:44
DFO raid facility, seize 3 tonnes of lobster as part of probe into unlicenced fishing
Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has intercepted 3 metric tonnes of Nova Scotia lobsters on Monday, shortly before they were reportedly scheduled to be shipped to Asia. The DFO only released the information after Global News attempted to confirm information they’d received from other sources. “An investigation is currently underway into the sale of fish not harvested under a commercial licence,” said a DFO representative. click here to read the story 19:08
Coast Guard medevacs 62-year-old man from vessel near Point Piedras
The Coast Guard medevaced a 62-year-old man from the fishing vessel Pamela Rose approximately eight nautical miles north of Point Piedras, Thursday morning. At approximately midnight, a good Samaritan contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders reporting that the 54-foot fishing vessel Pamela Rose’s mast broke, which injured two crew members leaving one crew member unresponsive, and without a pulse. Watchstanders dispatched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter,, crew hoisted the man into the helicopter and transported him to Paso Robles Municipal Airport. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach watchstanders dispatched a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Morro Bay to tow the fishing vessel Pamela Rose into Morro Bay Harbor. The medevaced man was last reported to be in stable condition. click for video -USCG-
Fishing captain’s wallet went down with his ship, but was recovered by a trawler 4 years later
Four years ago, Capt. John Allen Baker lost his ship — and his wallet — to the bottom of the North Atlantic. It was Dec. 22, 2013, when the fisherman from Canso, N.S., realized that the Gentle Lady wasn’t going to make it. Its load of sea cucumbers had shifted too quickly, causing the ship to lean over and water to pour onto the deck. Baker and his three crew members darted for a life-raft and watched the ship go down about 130 kilometres off the coast of Sable Island. The Gentle Lady is still lost to the sea, but thanks to another trawler, Baker’s wallet has risen from the depths. click here to read the story 15:01
Fishing Industry, NEFSC Team Up for Gulf of Maine Longline Study
The Cooperative Gulf of Maine (GOM) Bottom Longline Survey is now underway for the fourth consecutive year. Two Massachusetts commercial longline fishing vessels and staff from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Cooperative Research Branch will be working in the Gulf of Maine over the next three weeks. They began staging October 5 on the 50-foot F/V Mary Elizabeth from Scituate and 40-foot F/V Tenacious II, which departed from Sesuit Harbor in East Dennis October 10 for the first of several two-to-four day trips. click here to read the story 14:28
Stormwater pollution in Puget Sound streams killing coho before they can spawn
The sweet seep of autumn rain is bringing coho salmon back home to their natal streams all over the Puget Sound basin — where too often they encounter a bitter truth: pollution in a shocking 40 percent of their home range so bad it can inflict a swift death. The culprit is stormwater, and it is causing death rates so high, some populations of wild coho are at risk of local extinction, researchers found.The stormwater problem has long bedeviled the region. click here to read the story 13:14
A Northwest tribal sovereignty battle, centered on culverts – click here to read the story
Thousands fewer inshore harvesters than FFAW-Unifor claimed; FISH-NL receives union support from across Canada
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is pleased with the Labour Relations Board’s release of what officials describe as an “accurate and reliable” list of the province’s inshore harvesters. “It’s been almost 10 months since FISH-NL submitted our application for certification so a list of inshore harvesters from the board is a huge and welcome step forward,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. Obtained from various “sources,” the labour board’s list includes the names of 6,371 inshore harvesters — almost 4,000 fewer than the 10,200 active, dues-paying members that the FFAW-Unifor has claimed to represent. click here to read the press release 11:06
FFAW Statement Regarding FISH-NL and Labour Relations Board – click here to read the statement
Newfoundland and Labrador – What did we get for giving up MPRs under CETA?
The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the trade deal Canada just signed with the European Union, and the signature for Canada was Justin Trudeau. Minimum processing requirements (MPRs) reflect an established right of a province to impose minimum processing requirements for fish landed at our ports. In the past, exemptions have been approved for the export of unprocessed fish when the market required it and/or when processing was not viable. No other province in Atlantic Canada had used MPRs for fish over the past number of years, except Newfoundland and Labrador. click here to read the op-ed by Keith Hutchings10:10
It was just a normal day…then a bomb rolled out of my catch
The skipper of a fishing trawler which brought a bomb into Sutton Harbour has told of the moment he found the device. Jordan Kay, 32, said Thursday morning was just another normal day for him and the crew of the Admiral Blake. They arrived back into Sutton Harbour at about 7am with the day’s catch, before releasing it two hours later. It was only then they discovered the device – thought to be a Second World War relic. Video, click here to read the story 09:21
Reunion for trawler survivor as search moves from rescue to recovery
Ruben McDornan, so far the only survivor from a sunken trawler with seven on board, has had an emotional reunion with his wife and mother at Gladstone Airport, after being plucked from the rough seas by a passing yacht on Tuesday morning. Police have conceded it would be “a miracle” to find any of the other six missing fishermen alive, with the search and rescue moving towards a “recovery” operation on Thursday. “Our thoughts are with the boys missing at the moment because they’re all like family,” Ms McDornan said through tears. click here to read the story 08:54
Vessels Seized – Feds stake claim on 4 of Carlos Rafael’s boats
The government staked its claim to four of Carlos Rafael’s vessels on Wednesday. U.S. Marshals and agents from the Coast Guard Investigative Service boarded the Lady Patricia by Leonard’s Wharf, Olivia & Rafaela and the Southern Crusader II beyond Homer’s Wharf around noon. The fourth vessel, the Bull Dog, was seized at another port. The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday the seized vessels will brought to an “undisclosed location.” For more than an hour after arriving, agents allowed anyone with personal property on the vessels to remove it. click here to read the story 08:25
After 32 summers fishing with his dad, Cambria songwriter says goodbye to Alaska
Songwriter-singer Van William, a Cambria native son, says his recently released music video and the new songs he performs are deeply, profoundly personal.,, He says the music is a reflection of who and where he’s been, and his life’s successes, upheavals and heartbreaks, which — as is the case for most folks — helped to shape the person he is now. He said his summers spent in Alaska have “always been a huge part of who I am,” but “I’ve never been able to share much of it with anyone other than my immediate family. This video highlights how life feels up there and how heartbreaking it is to say goodbye to my years as a commercial fisherman.” Excellent video, photos, click here 20:53
Live Cam May Show True Status of Atlantic Cod Fishery
Atlantic cod, New England’s most iconic fish, has been reported at historic lows for years, but fishermen hope a new video monitoring technique will prove there are more of the fish than federal surveyors believe. Ronnie Borjeson, who has been fishing for more than 40 years, says the federal surveys don’t match up with what fishermen are seeing. “I don’t care if you’re a gillnetter, a hook and line guy, a trawl guy,” he said, “there’s codfish everywhere up there. Everywhere. You can’t get away from them.” Borjeson helped test a video rig designed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth that allows them to record fish underwater and count them on the video later. With this rig, scientists can sample a larger area in the same amount of time and hopefully improve federal estimates of how many cod are left. click here to read the story 16:26
Counting Fish – A film by Don Cuddy click here to watch
Fortune Fish hopes to haul in e-commerce sales with Lobster Gram
In its first foray into the world of e-commerce, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, one of the largest seafood distributors in the country, acquired Chicago-based Lobster Gram in April. The live lobster is still sourced from Maine — and some frozen lobster tails from Brazil, New Zealand and other locales — but all orders are now packaged at Fortune’s facility near O’Hare International Airport and shipped all over the country. It was the fourth acquisition in five years for the fast-growing Fortune Fish, which expects to bring in more than $240 million in revenue this year, according to Sean O’Scannlain, president and CEO of parent company Fortune International. “We’ve always thought, What can we do to sell direct to people all over the country via FedEx? click here to read the story 16:06
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 65′ Fiberglass Longliner with Permits, Cummins 855TA, 40 KW Genset
Specifications, information and 35 photo’s click here Swordfish Directed, Shark Directed, Atlantic Tuna Longline permits. Price Reduced. To see all the boats in this series, Click here12:17
