Monthly Archives: February 2018
Opinion: Time for NOAA and Sector IX to strike a deal
Eighty New Bedford groundfishermen. They’ve had no work now for almost three months. In the end, those are the guys and it is their families who are paying the biggest price for Carlos Rafael’s longtime conspiracy to falsify fishing records and smuggle the cash overseas. But since Rafael was the big guy on the New Bedford waterfront, the guy who owns the majority of the boats in Sector IX, the fishermen have been out of work since Nov 20 when regional NOAA administrator John Bullard ordered the sector to stop fishing. >click to read< 10:57
Letter: Save N.C. commercial fishermen
What is the REAL reason behind trying to limit the number of commercial fishing licenses? Did you know that a Commercial Fishing License, by itself, only allows the owner to catch and sell a recreational limit of finfish in N.C. waters? These seasonal limits are established by the Department of Marine Fisheries. A commercial fisherman cannot exceed the recreational limit without purchasing extra gear, permits and applying for endorsements from the state of North Carolina.,, We are being led to believe that those individuals who do not use their Commercial Fishing Licenses regularly … might be up to no good. >click to read< 09:36
On This Day: February 18 – 1952: Coast Guard rescues 32 sailors from stricken tanker Pendleton
On this day in 1952, one of the most daring rescues in the history of the Coast Guard took place six miles off Chatham. The tanker Pendleton, en route to Boston from Baton Rouge with a cargo of oil, split in two during the winter’s worst storm. Eight crew members were trapped on the ship’s bow; another 33 sailors were stranded on the Pendleton’s stern. And in 1875: Twenty-four Cape Cod fisherman lost as two schooners fail to return from Grand Banks >click to read< 08:52
Vessel owner countersues Cape Ann Seafood Exchange
And this is why they call it a counterclaim. Longtime Gloucester fisherman Giuseppe “Joe” DiMaio has responded to the federal lawsuit filed against him by Kristian Kristensen of the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange, refuting many of the details of Kristensen’s initial action and stating the rift between the two business associates originated with a dispute over fish prices. On Jan. 19, Kristensen sued DiMaio and the ownership corporations of his four fishing boats in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleging DiMaio has failed to pay the approximately $710,000 balance remaining on two personal and corporate loans from Kristensen and his related businesses. >click to read< 21:27
Don Cuddy – SMAST codfish counting innovation looks promising
Last December the New England Fishery Management Council voted to increase the amount of cod available to commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Maine by 39% for the 2018 fishing year. This is welcome news. New England fishermen have endured some lean years since 2013 when the cod quota was slashed by 78 percent after new data incorporated into the 2011 assessment indicated that the stock was lower than previously estimated-obviously a great deal lower. Estimating how many codfish might be out there at any given time is the greatest challenge facing fishery managers and the numbers have been subject of much controversy, with fishermen continually decrying the “best available science” as inadequate. >click to read< 19:25
Bering Sea Cod caught quickly – “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the shortest ever,”
The Bering Sea federal trawl cod fishery closed in what may be record time on Feb. 11, just 22 days after the Jan. 20 opener, according to National Marine Fisheries Service Biologist Krista Milani in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.,,, The North Pacific Fishery Management Program is now considering a plan to restrict the number of boats eligible to fish for cod in the Bering Sea. The fish council floated ideas to limit catcher vessel participation in the Bering Sea cod fishery, including controversial catch shares or individual fishing quotas, during a December meeting in Anchorage. >click to read< 15:00 
Professional cleaners aboard, N.S. women tackle lobster boats
It’s a salty job — a group of women in Yarmouth, N.S., can often be found scrubbing the decks of boats, but they’re not sailors. It’s a job lined with sea water and the smell of fresh caught fish, but Jana Jeffery and her cleaning dream team say they’re up for the challenge. “We clean lobster boats, that’s what we’re most known for,” says Jeffrey. They’re professional cleaners with a very specific niche for cleaning lobster boats. The group says it’s a job that’s in high demand especially during the lobster fishing season which runs from the end of November to May. >click to read< 14:39
Video: The Crab Challenge is a Great Way to Lose Your Nipples
When you wish away the Tide Pod challenge, you open up the doors for something even more idiotic like this . . .Evidently, this youngster had his fill of the Tide Pod challenge, so he decides to take it up a notch and let a gigantic crab latch onto his chest. Here’s the “crab challenge”; we’ll be here with our faces buried in our hands. (Be sure to turn up the volume for best viewing.) >click to watch< (I just shake my head,,, kids today.)13:33
California: Commercial crabbing on hold
Although they’re not calling it a strike, crabbers say they will hold off on fishing until next week so plants and the boats can “get cleaned up.” Randy Smith, owner of the fishing vessel Mistasea, said seafood buyers have begun offering $2.50 per pound of crab brought in, 25 cents less than what was being offered when crabbers began fishing on Feb. 5. But, Smith, who attended a meeting of the Del Norte Fisherman’s Marketing Association on Friday, said seafood buyers have told fishermen that they won’t take any more crab until Monday or Tuesday. “It’s kind of confusing whether they don’t want us fishing until then, but they didn’t want a big glut of crabs,” >click to read< 11:48
Lawmakers give Maine lobster promoters key win
A state lobster marketing group is likely to keep touting Maine’s most beloved seafood export in the wake of a key vote from a legislative committee. The Marine Resources Committee voted in favor of renewing the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative for three years on Wednesday. The collaborative needs the full Legislature’s approval to continue existing beyond this year. The collaborative promotes the Maine lobster brand in the media, in the restaurant business and among chefs, and it’s funded by fees paid by members of the state’s lobster industry,,, >click to read<10:13
A bad season for crab – Domoic acid levels high again, meat content poor, crustaceans start to molt
The Oregon Department of Agriculture is ordering crab fishermen to eviscerate or destroy any crab caught since Feb. 13 after tests Wednesday showed domoic acid is again at unacceptable levels. There is also a recall on all live or whole-cooked crab caught since Feb. 13, said Troy Buell, fishery manager with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Recreational crabbing in Curry County has also been closed. The news comes nine days after the long-delayed crabbing season opened in the last section on the Oregon Coast. >click to read< 09:01
Fishing reforms set to proceed after NSW fisherman loses battle in Supreme Court
Mud crab fisherman Dean Elliott has lost his case against the New South Wales Government in a David and Goliath battle over reforms in the fishing industry. Mr Elliott, a commercial fisherman on the state’s mid-north coast, claimed the reforms were “unreasonable” and “capricious” and had left him without an occupation, and facing a loss of up to half a million dollars.,,, critical changes came into effect last year that will force many of them out of the industry.,, But Justice Stephen Rothman dismissed the case in the NSW Supreme Court today,,, >click to read< 19:31
Only room for one fleet; FISH-NL advises Ottawa to reserve northern shrimp in SFA 6 for the inshore
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling for an immediate halt to the fishing of northern shrimp by factory-freezer trawlers in waters off Newfoundland’s northeast coast and southern Labrador until stocks rebound. In light of more scientific bad news today on the state of northern shrimp in that area, which is known as Shrimp Fishing Area (SFA) 6, FISH-NL calls on the federal government to reserve the limited quota solely for the inshore fleet, and ban fishing altogether when shrimp are spawning. Further, FISH-NL requests that Ottawa assign a quota of northern shrimp to the inshore fleet further north off Labrador in SFA 5. >click to read<17:43
Key northern shrimp stock off N.L. down again
Details of the latest northern shrimp stock assessment were released Friday with key Shrimp Fishing Area (SFA) 6 off the province’s northeast coast looking pretty grim. Fishable biomass is down 16 per cent and spawning stock biomass is down 19 per cent in SFA 6, thus leaving shrimp in that area in the critical zone of the precautionary approach framework employed by Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) science. That will likely translate into another drop in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the area,,, >click to read< 16:34
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 16, 2018
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates Click here, for older updates listed as NCFA click here 14:23
Puget Sound fishing firms tussle in Congress over new ship that ran afoul of federal law
By now, the $75 million America’s Finest should be deep into its first winter harvest season, catching and processing yellowfin sole and other fish in the Bering Sea. Instead, the 264-foot vessel — the largest trawler built in the Pacific Northwest in recent decades — is still unfinished. It sits moored at a dock at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, and the shipyard has laid off more than 130 employees. Fishermen’s Finest wants the Washington and Alaska congressional delegations to back a straightforward waiver to the century-old Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting cargo and people between U.S. ports to have a hull largely made of American materials. >click to read< 13:46 
North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission approves new rules for fishing licenses – Critics angered by vote
By a 5-4 vote on Feb. 15, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) redefined the qualifications for a commercial fishing license with rules that did not include specific fishing income requirements, but did contain provisions that angered some critics. Before the two-day MFC meeting in Wrightsville Beach on Feb. 14 and 15, much of the criticism was focused on a proposal that to qualify as a “commercial fisherman,” an applicant must have 50% of all earned income from fishing and have three dozen trip tickets per year. >click to read< 12:43
The UK’s offshore wind boom is great for the climate.(is it?) But what about the fish?
On the deck of the Razorbill, docked in the English port of Ramsgate, Steve Barratt runs thousands of feet of nets through a squeaky pulley, getting ready for another long night of fishing in the North Sea.,, Barratt will head out this night in search of more sole and other fish and on his way, he’ll pass right through a relatively new feature on the water here — the Thanet Wind Farm,,, But he won’t stop and set his nets there.“For some reason — I don’t know if it’s the sound, the humming, the motors — I don’t know what it is, but the fish are not in the wind farm,” he says. “It’s virtually barren apart from a few whelks and a few lobsters.” >click to read< 11:32
Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry could be at risk due to proposed diversion project
Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry could be in jeopardy due to the state’s Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project, a fifty billion dollar initiative supported by Governor John Bel Edwards. “I used to fish out here with my dad in High School and we used to catch loads and loads of oysters and that was the biggest sea plant in Louisiana,” says commercial fisherman Shane Shelley. Shelley is talking about an area known as “Mardi Gras Pass”,,, “It’s going to change the mixture of water which oysters don’t survive in, crabs or shrimp. This could change everything,” >click to read< 10:48
FISH-NL: DFO outreach meetings prove FFAW-Unifor no longer voice of inshore harvesters
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says the most common issue during a recent series of outreach meetings held around the province by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is that the FFAW-Unifor is no longer the voice of inshore harvesters. “That sentiment was expressed at every single meeting — without exception — and with union representatives front and centre in the room,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “The FFAW-Unifor no longer speaks for most harvesters, and that message should be loud, clear, and obvious to the entire fishing industry, including federal Minister Dominic LeBlanc.” >click to read< 09:27
Wind farm company says no fishing vessel damage – claims by local fishermen are a “complete fabrication”
The head of a company that built the nation’s first wind farm says it hasn’t received any reports of damage to fishing vessels in the area, off the coast of Rhode Island. Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said Thursday he believes any claims by local fishermen are a “complete fabrication.” The Providence-based company and the American Wind Energy Association industry trade group are touting new undersea footage suggesting a vibrant marine habitat growing around the five-turbine wind farm. >click to read< 09:05 
4 men rescued from sinking F/V Sea Star speak out
Four people were rescued from a sinking boat about 18 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday night, according to the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard aircrew airlifted four fishermen into a helicopter around 6:20 p.m. Captain Andrew Arnett told NBC 10 News he was sleeping when his crew members awoke him to news that the boat was about to sink. “No longer than 30 seconds after I got up, we’d taken a wave over the stern,” Arnett said. The four fishermen — Arnett, Roberto Fredette, Brandon McCrave and Breck Holdredge — were returning from a five-day trip crab fishing when the boat began taking on water. >click to read< 08:07
‘Conserve Your Flares’: Coast Guard Saves Four New Bedford Fishermen >Video, click to read<
Coast Guard rescues two fishermen near Mendocino, assists two additional fishing vessels near McKinleyville and Fort Bragg
The Coast Guard rescued two fishermen aboard a 38-foot commercial fishing vessel approximately three miles west of Mendocino, Wednesday evening, and assisted two additional commercial fishing vessels near McKinleyville and Fort Bragg, Thursday. The crew aboard the 38-foot fishing vessel Seabird, contacted Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay watchstanders via VHF-FM channel 16 around 11:15 p.m., Wednesday, reporting a high-bilge alarm and flooding aboard the vessel. The Coast Guard aided a second fishing vessel,, The Jumpin’ Jack’s crew contacted Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay, The Kono’s crew contacted Station Noyo River >click to read< 21:50
Moulton: NOAA cuts ‘recipe for disaster’
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cuts more than $1 billion from the agency that manages the nation’s fisheries and coastal ecosystems, explores space and forecasts weather and changing environmental conditions. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton of Salem criticized the proposed cuts, saying the proposed 14 percent decline reflects the administration’s shallow understanding of the importance of NOAA’s programs to coastal communities,,, He characterized the president’s budget proposal as a “a guideline” and said it will be up to Congress to determine the ultimate levels of funding through the appropriation process. >click to read< 20:31
California’s crab fleet awaits share of $200 million in disaster relief
The North Coast fishing fleet has welcomed some rare good news out of Washington, D.C., where the congressional budget deal reached last week included disaster relief funds intended to offset losses from the ill-fated commercial Dungeness crab season of three years ago. But just how much help may be on the way is uncertain and could remain so for some time. There’s bureaucracy involved, and the wheels of government often turn slowly for fishermen seeking aid. >click to read< 17:57
Clam Dredging: A Rebuttal to ShoreRivers by Marc Castelli
I am responding to the op-ed on clam dredging by Mr. Horstman. A reply is necessary because there were many missing and mishandled facts, to the point that it was beyond opinion and became erroneously misleading, which is a concern.,, This is common in op-ed pieces: people set themselves up as an expert, but they aren’t.,, Why are simple facts about how the clam fishery interacts with the environment and natural resources so hard to find in the media? Is it because you, one of the Bay’s environmental “guardians” offer misinformed comments that will try to sway public opinion against clamming? Many of that industry’s best speakers are busy trying to make a living on the water and keep up with the pace of changes forced on it by outside pressures. Simply put they just do not have the time to respond to misleading op-ed pieces. I do. >click to read< 17:18 
Fishermen from across NC speak out against increased commercial fishing regulations
Proposed changes to North Carolina commercial fishing regulations could threaten jobs across the state, and the supply of seafood to the region. Nearly 100 people spoke out at an N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries meeting Wednesday night with most saying they are fearful for the future of their jobs and their families. Almost all were opposed to increased regulations on commercial fishing. They say the commission’s proposed requirements could take away their right to earn a living. >video, click to read< 15:15
Pushing Propaganda: Underwater video shows marine life growing at wind farm
Offshore wind proponents are touting new undersea footage that suggests a vibrant marine habitat is growing around the nation’s first offshore wind farm — a five-turbine operation off Rhode Island’s waters.,, The brief underwater footage is juxtaposed with longer testimonials from local recreational fishermen and charter boat owners who say the wind farm has been a boon for them since Deepwater Wind opened it more than a year ago. But commercial fishermen are notably absent from the video and it doesn’t acknowledge the experiences of Rhode Island fishermen who have had their trawling gear damaged by buried power cables,,, >click to read< >click to watch video<14:00
Islanders, officials discuss the dire state of river herring
Local fishermen, tribe and town officials, state and federal officials, and concerned citizens gathered Monday in the cavernous Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) Community Center to discuss the troubling decline in the river herring population on the Vineyard, and along the eastern seaboard.,,, The decimation done by offshore fishing was a recurring theme in the discussion. “Ninety-five percent of the public doesn’t know how much harm the midwater trawlers are doing,” charter fishing captain, and Aquinnah Deputy Shellfish Warden Buddy Vanderhoop said. Vanderhoop said the trawlers off the New England coasts are also decimating groundfish stocks, such as cod, haddock, flounder, and pollock. >click to read< 13:19
History of disaster
A report prepared by former harbormaster Richard Young provides some insight into how the Crescent City Harbor District got into such dire financial straits that a tax initiative is being proposed for the November election to help the port pay back a $5 million loan. Four natural disasters in five years, including two tsunamis, caused millions of dollars in damage to the harbor’s marina and other facilities, said Young, who was the harbormaster from 2004 to 2014. However, the port has been having financial difficulty for years due to the decline in the groundfish and salmon fisheries and the variability in the pink shrimp and Dungeness crab fisheries, he said. >click to read< 12:05
