Daily Archives: December 7, 2017
Coast Guard medevacs man from fishing boat 80 miles west of Hernando
The Coast Guard medevaced a 28-year-old man from a fishing boat 80 miles west of Hernando, Thursday. At 2:15 p.m. Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders received a call via VHF-FM marine band radio channel 16 from crewmembers aboard the 70-foot commercial fishing boat, Rooster, stating a fellow crewmember had fallen aboard the boat and was suffering from rib pains. A flight surgeon was notified and recommended the man be medevaced. Video, click here 21:20
Big changes could be coming to East Coast herring fishery
Federal fishing regulators are considering changing the way they manage one of the largest fisheries on the East Coast to better account for its impact on the environment and other industries. The regulatory New England Fishery Management Council has released a group of alternatives for how it could change management of Atlantic herring. The small, schooling fish are harvested from Maine to Florida and are used for fish oil, food for humans and bait for fishermen and lobstermen. click here to read the story 20:22
F/V Pacific Paradise: Salvage crew removes fishing boat 2 months after grounding off Waikiki
With the help of a small swell, salvage crews successfully towed the commercial fishing vessel Pacific Paradise out beyond the reef at Kaimana Beach this morning and expect to tow it out to a disposal site by sunset today, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. At today’s 7 a.m. high tide, a tug boat successfully towed the 79-foot boat from its shallow, sandy bottom out to deeper sea of about 600 feet. Two tug boats were on hand to do the job. click here to read the story 19:22
NEFMC: Scallops, Council Approves Framework 29 – Whiting, Approves 2018-2020 Specifics; to Send Amendment 22 to Public Hearing
The Council took two actions today related to small-mesh multispecies, which include two stocks of silver hake and offshore hake –collectively known as “whiting” –and two stocks of red hake. click here to read the notice 16:37
The Council today approved a sweeping package of measures for Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The framework includes specifications for the 2018 scallop fishing year, which begins April 1, as well as default specifications for 2019. It also includes actions related to Closed Area 1 carryover pounds, the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area, and flatfish accountability measures, among others. click here to read the notice
Coast Guard rescues 2 people from fishing vessel taking on water
The Coast Guard rescued two people from their vessel near Venice, Louisiana, Wednesday. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a notification at 7:25 p.m. of two people aboard the fishing vessel Lady B as it was taking on water. Watchstanders directed the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew and a Coast Guard Station Venice 24-foot Special Purpose Craft boatcrew at 7:36 p.m. The aircrew arrived on scene at 8:43 p.m. and safely hoisted the two people from the submerging vessel and transported them back to Air Station New Orleans. The survivors were reported in stable condition. –USCG– 15:26
Crab start delayed again
The commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed again along the entire Pacific coast north of Point Arena, California until at least Dec. 31 after tests showed some crab are still too low in meat yield. Crab on the south Washington coast met the meat standard in Dec. 4 testing, but all areas north of Cascade Head have to be at or above 23 percent before the season can open. South of Cascade Head, the required meat threshold is 25 percent. (Cascade Head is located just north of Lincoln City on the north Oregon coast.) click here to read the story 14:04
20,030,171: final tally on Nushagak District banner year
With final tally from fish tickets, Bristol Bay’s westside district officially reached a milestone most never thought possible. After Bristol Bay’s sockeye season winds down, the Department of Fish and Game works on inputting all the data from fish tickets, both the electronic and paper kind. Westside area management biologist Tim Sands says this gives a more accurate tally, which coincidentally just pushed his district to a new milestone. click here to read the story
New Bedford again grieves for its sons lost to the sea
The loss of two fishermen in the sinking of a clamming boat this week stunned this port city long familiar with the dangers of the sea. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell called the Misty Blue tragedy “a stark reminder of the dangers inherent in commercial fishing,” adding that it “underscores the respect and appreciation we have for those who make their living at sea.” He said the city pledges its support for the families of the lost crew members of the Misty Blue — Jonathan Saraiva and Michael Roberts. click here to read the story 11:38
Trump receives recommendation to reopen national monuments to fishing
Ryan Zinke has officially recommended making changes to three marine national monuments, which could open the door to commercial fishing in some of those areas, if President Donald Trump signs off on the plan. Zinke’s recommendations include allowing regional fishery management councils make decisions on commercial fishing opportunities in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England. Zinke also recommended to Trump that he let councils make similar decisions, as well as possibly revise the boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands and the Rose Atoll monuments. click here to read the story 11:14
Congresswoman Aumua Amata pleased with recommendations on marine monuments
Congresswoman Aumua Amata is pleased with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendation that President Trump consider expanding access to fishing in certain marine monuments. The Interior Secretary’s final recommendations include allowing traditional fishing and commercial fishing rights in three marine monuments, including the Pacific Remote Islands monument and the Rose Atoll monument. Aumua says in a statement this a major step forward in efforts to restore fishing rights in American Samoa. click here to read the story 10:50
Fishermen: Narragansett Bay cleanup might be doing harm
Narragansett Bay is cleaner and clearer than it’s been in decades. But after huge strides in treating wastewater and controlling storm runoff, some are asking a question that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago about what is arguably Rhode Island’s most valuable natural resource: Is the Bay too clean? Fishermen are raising the issue after seeing steep declines in numbers of flounder, lobster and other species that were once so abundant that they formed the bedrock of their industry. It has gotten bad enough that lobsterman Al Eagles says that he and others now call the Bay “Chernobyl,” a reference to the site of the devastating Soviet-era nuclear disaster. click here to read the story 09:20
Waste Water Treatment Plants: Once home to thriving aquaculture, Great Bay is under great strain – You can see it in the lack of eelgrass beds that used to cover thousands of acres of tidal flats. These new treatment plants have filtered or poisoned most of the nutrients from the Piscataqua River and the many other rivers that serve their municipalities that dump their now super-treated effluent into the tidal water, now so sterile and lacking in nutrients and full of poison that plants and animals cannot survive. click here to read the story
On This Day: “December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy.”
“December 7, 1941 – a date,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed, “which will live in infamy.” On Thursday, Americans will mark the 76th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes made a surprise raid on Pearl Harbor, a major U.S. Navy base near Honolulu. click here to read the story 08:17
He saved 6 men at Pearl Harbor. Finally, 76 years later, he’s being honored – 
Anyone who heard the story of Joe George at Pearl Harbor knew at once this was the story of a hero: a young sailor who risked his life in the fiery Japanese ambush to rescue the last six survivors from the sinking USS Arizona. Joe George should get a medal for what he did, everyone would say. Strangers who heard the story said it. The men he saved said it. But for more than seven decades, no one could make it happen. click here to read the story
