Daily Archives: April 30, 2018
Lobster fishermen rescued after boat hung up on sandbar in western P.E.I.
Northeast winds and low tides made setting day a challenge for some lobster fishermen on P.E.I. Monday. A fisherman and four crew had to be rescued in Hardy’s Channel in western P.E.I. at around 11 a.m. when their boat got hung up on a sandbar and water started coming in, according to Lloyd Phillips, the president of the Hardy’s Channel Fish Co-op. And at Covehead Harbour, fishermen said about half a dozen boats ended up docking in Rustico because a sandbar prevented them from getting back into Covehead. >click to read<23:13
GOP Senate candidate Geoff Diehl visits New Bedford waterfront
The endorsed GOP candidate for U.S. Senate visited the city’s Pier 3 on Monday promising to be more hands on for the city and fishermen, according to a news release. “New Bedford deserves a dedicated senator who will put in the long hours to make a positive difference,” state Rep. Geoff Diehl said in the release. “Sen. (Elizabeth) Warren has been more focused on selling books than saving the fishing licenses in New Bedford. … Her lack of action will cost New Bedford vital jobs and cripple the local economy.” >click to read<20:59
Sea trials for new Coast Guard vessel set for the summer
The first Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard was launched at Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver in December and a short time later transferred to Victoria, BC for finishing work. The ship, Sir John Franklin, is the first large vessel to be designed and built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Defence Watch has received a number of emails indicating that there are major electrical issues with the vessel. >click to read<20:16
Northeast Multispecies 2018-2020 Groundfish Catch Limits, Quota allocations for 17 of 19 sectors, Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Area
Through Framework 57, we have set catch limits for 20 groundfish stocks for the 2018-2020 fishing years (May 1, 2018-April 30, 2020), including the 3 stocks managed jointly with Canada.>click to read< NOAA Fisheries is allocating 2018 quotas to 17 of 19 groundfish sectors based on catch limits approved in Framework 57 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. >click to read< NOAA Fisheries is closing the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to all federally permitted Limited Access General Category scallop vessels effective 0001 hr, on May 2, 2018. >click to read<17:29
Why Maine Is The Only State In The US With A ‘Significant’ Elver Fishery
If you’ve ever read a story in the news about elver fishing season, you’ve probably seen some variation of this line: “Maine’s the only state in the U.S. with a significant fishery for elvers.” Maybe you thought that’s because elvers don’t exist in large numbers outside of Maine — that would be a reasonable assumption. But the real reason is somewhat more complicated. Let’s start at the beginning, in the Sargasso Sea. Although it sounds romantic, the Sargasso Sea is actually just an area of the North Atlantic that’s full of Sargassum,,, >click to read<14:56
Governor-Led Orca Recovery Effort to Hold First Meeting on Tuesday
An orca conservation team convened by Gov. Jay Inslee is holding its first meeting on Tuesday. The Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Task Force will focus on ways to help the Northwest’s iconic species. Stephanie Solien, who is co-chairing the Task Force, says many of the remaining orcas are in bad shape. She says the Task Force will focus on three of the well-known threats to the whales. Solien says conservation will be a statewide effort, especially when it comes to saving the chinook salmon the whales feed on. Watch out! >click to read<14:23
FISH-NL calls on FFAW-Unifor to appeal 2018 crab price; questions why union isn’t fighting for inshore harvesters
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on the FFAW-Unifor to appeal the price of snow crab set in early April by the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel. “Why isn’t the FFAW-Unifor fighting for inshore crab harvesters?” questions Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “The $4.55 a pound price set for snow crab in this province is well below the $5 a pound offered in the Maritimes, and the $8 a pound wholesale price that Japanese buyers were reportedly lining up to pay earlier this month.”>click to read<12:33
Sea Rose Trap Co. Opens Bristol Location
The South Portland-based lobster trap manufacturer Sea Rose Trap Co. has teamed up with Bristol resident Mike Prior to open a new location in Lincoln County. The new trap shop is at 452 Harrington Road, in the village of Pemaquid. “We have quite a few customers in the Midcoast area – customers and small trap builders that we service,” owner Don Jackson said. Don Jackson and his son, Adam Jackson, co-own the company, which has been making lobster traps since 1993. >click to read< 12:10
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 35 miles east of Manasquan Inlet, NJ
A Coast Guard aircrew medevaced a 36-year-old man suffering from a possible stroke aboard a fishing vessel approximately 35 miles east of Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey, Sunday evening. The captain aboard the fishing vessel contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia at about 5:45 p.m. to request a medical evacuation. “The crew of the fishing vessel did a great job notifying the Coast Guard immediately after the incident,” said Lt. Spencer Grinnell, the co-pilot on the case. (an inquiry revealed the name of the vessel not included in the report named F/V DS Express.) >click to watch video<11:26
Cold waters, few shrimp means delay in South Carolina season opening
Two years ago, Greg Herald and two partners decided to try to beat the odds. They bought a shrimp boat and began working from Shem Creek. They wanted to become part of the traditional Lowcountry fleet that is struggling just to hang on. Today, the partnership has liquidated. The veteran commercial fisherman among them, Vince Shavender, has gone home to North Carolina. Herald plans to continue selling shrimp from a roadside stand — local catch if he can get it. But last year he traveled as far as North Carolina and Georgia to find enough to sell. The third partner, who bought out the boat, didn’t return phone messages asking if he is still in the shrimping business. >click to read<10:32
The Jones Act Drives America’s Finest Into Exile
America’s Finest, a brand-new 264-foot fishing trawler, ought to be the pride of the fleet. As a newspaper in its birthplace of Anacortes, Wash., explained, the ship features an “on-board mechanized factory, fuel-efficient hull, and worker safety improvements”—priceless features for fishermen operating in the treacherous seas off Alaska. The ship is also said to have a smaller carbon footprint than any other fishing vessel in its region. According to Fishermen’s Finest, the company that ordered the ship, it would be the first new trawler purpose-built for the Pacific Northwest since 1989. Sadly, it seems increasingly doubtful that the ship will ever ply its trade in U.S. waters. >click to read<09:07
Upper Cook Inlet – Commercial fishermen to open with regular periods
Commercial fisheries managers in Cook Inlet are moving forward with a cautious eye on salmon runs but relatively normal fishing regulations for the summer. An Alaska Department of Fish and Game announcement released Friday detailed the 2018 commercial salmon fishing management strategy for Upper Cook Inlet. Managers are predicting a somewhat lower Kenai River late-run king salmon return, but it’s still within the sustainable escapement goal; the sockeye salmon forecast for the Kenai River is predicted to be 2.5 million, which is about 1.1 million less than the recent 20-year average. >click to read<08:04
