Daily Archives: February 8, 2018
Conservation Law Foundation files Lawsuit to protect right whales
After a year of major losses for North Atlantic right whales, a local environmental advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service Thursday, arguing that the agency should do more to protect the critically endangered mammals. But lawyers at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, which filed the suit, argued that the agency should be doing more. “Regulators are not just morally mandated to act . . . they are also legally required to ensure fishing efforts do not cause harm to these animals,” said Emily Green, an attorney at the foundation. >click to read< 20:47
Desperate search continues 40 miles off coast as families of fishermen hold on to hope
The families and friends of two missing commercial fishermen are holding out hope that the two men will be found after their boat began taking on water and vanished early Thursday in international waters about 40 miles off the New Jersey coast. Paul Matos, 30, of Point Pleasant, and his crew member, Dennis Smallings, were aboard the 46-foot Queen Ann’s Revenge when one of the men sent out a distress signal at about 1:20 a.m. >click to read< 16:54
ASMFC to require Maine to collect catch reports from all lobstermen
An interstate fisheries commission voted Tuesday to require all licensed lobstermen in Maine to start filing catch reports within the next five years. Lobstermen in Maine, where currently only 10 percent of licensed lobstermen are required to file catch reports, overwhelmingly have been opposed to such a requirement. Other states, all of which have lobster fisheries smaller than Maine’s, already require 100 percent of active lobster harvesters to file daily catch summaries. Maine’s Department of Marine Resources also has opposed requiring all lobstermen to file reports. >click to read< 16:08
Helicopter lands on Frying Pan Shoal as rescuers try to save fishing captain
There are questions about why the captain of a fishing boat in trouble off the northeast coast of mainland Nova Scotia was not rescued Wednesday when the other crew members were picked up. Fisherman’s Provider II started sinking Tuesday after running ground on a rocky shoal about four kilometres off Canso. There were four people on board at the time. Another fishing vessel, the Miss Lexi, came to the stranded men’s aid and managed to get three of the fishermen off the vessel. But the captain refused to leave and stayed on the boat. >click to read< 14:11
Fire-stricken Fishing Vessel Grounds in the Samoan Islands
A fire-stricken commercial fishing vessel that had been adrift in the Pacific for more than three months has run aground in the Samoan Islands on Monday. The 88-foot Taiwanese-flagged Chu Zai Fa No. 1 reportedly caught fire in international waters on November 4, 2017 and remained adrift until this week, when it grounded in Leone Bay about 300-yards off the western part of Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa. The fire forced the Chu Zai Fa No. 1 crew to abandon ship, and most were rescued by a Korean-flagged vessel and brought to Fiji aboard a sister fishing vessel. The master and one crewmember are said to be missing. >click to read< 13:26
UPDATE: Contact established with Coast Guard searching for overdue fisherman near Jacksonville
Original story: The Coast Guard is searching Wednesday for three fishermen who failed to return to Jacksonville. The fishermen, including the captain John Zimmerman*, departed from Safe Harbor January 31st in the 34-foot fishing vessel Jessi K. ,, watchstanders received notification at 4 p.m. Wednesday from the vessels owner when the vessel failed to return home Tuesday. Update: Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville Command Center watchstanders were able to ping the cell phone of the 34-foot fishing vessel Jessi K’s captain and make contact. The captain stated they were delayed and out of communications range. >click to read< 12:57
Coast Guard medevacs man from fishing vessel off coast of Montauk, N.Y.
A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a 51-year-old man, early Thursday morning from a fishing vessel approximately 45-miles south of Montauk. Watchstanders at Sector Long Island Sound command center received notification at approximately 2:00 a.m., on VHF-FM channel 16 from the master of the vessel who was suffering severe stomach pains. At approximately 4:40 a.m., the Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted the man from the 75-foot fishing vessel ‘Ocean Blue.’ The man is reported to be in stable condition. -USCG- 11:43
Coast Guard searching for fishing vessel in distress off Barnegat, NJ
The Coast Guard is searching for a fishing vessel in distress approximately 40-miles off the coast of Barnegat, New Jersey, Thursday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert for the Queen Ann’s Revenge, a 46-foot fishing boat, at 1:20 a.m., while watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay were notified by fishermen of a distress call over VHF radio shortly after the EPIRB alert. >click to read< 10:45
One Square Mile: Opioids In New Bedford’s Fishing Industry – Parts 1 and 2
Captain Mario Gonsalves drove up to the docks one December morning to find his fishing boat caked with ice. Gonsalves and his five-man crew fish for whiting, squid and scup year round — in all kinds of weather.“Right now we drug test all the time,’’ Gonsalves said. “We never used to do that but since a couple months back we started drug testing everybody…. Part 1 >click to read< Andrew Dillon has had a front row seat to the opioid epidemic in New Bedford. His dinner is a favorite for local fishermen. Sometimes he sees customers come in so high they can barely stay awake. Part 2>click to read< 10:01 
