Daily Archives: May 20, 2018
43-foot vessel missing in Willapa Bay with one aboard; search suspended Sunday
At 12:33 p.m. Sunday the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for a Long Beach Peninsula man whose commercial crabbing vessel sank Saturday in Willapa Bay. “All searches for mariner yielded negative results,” the Coast Guard said on its Twitter feed. “Search has been suspended and efforts are switching to vessel salvage/fuel recovery.” Coast Guard crews responded Sunday morning to a diesel-oil sheen and debris field in Willapa Bay after searching throughout the night for the 43-foot vessel Kelli J and its local skipper, Kevin Soule, who is believed to have been pulling crab pots at the time of the accident. Port of Peninsula Manager Jay Personius confirmed Sunday afternoon that Soule was at the helm Sunday and is thought to have been the only person on board. >click to read<20:39
Andrew Cuomo’s wind farm won’t fly without fracking
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo led the cheer squad last month when the Interior Department announced it would begin allowing offshore wind turbines to be built in the shallow waters between New Jersey and Long Island. Mr. Cuomo had recently announced a $6 billion plan to build 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, with the costs passed on to bill payers. But though Mr. Cuomo portrays himself as a champion of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, his simultaneous opposition to a New York City-area nuclear plant exposes his wind plan as a mere play for progressive prestige. Mr. Cuomo isn’t the only Northeastern governor with windy ambitions. Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker signed a bill in 2016 committing his state to develop 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027, and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy decreed in January that the Garden State would aim for 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. >click to read<
Alaska Dive Fishermen Plead for Relief from Sea Otters
Phil Doherty, head of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association, is working to save the livelihood of 200 southeast Alaska fishermen and a $10 million industry but faces an uphill struggle against an opponent that looks like a cuddly plush toy. Fishermen have watched their harvest shrink as sea otters spread and colonize, Doherty said. Divers once annually harvested 6 million pounds (2.7 million kilograms) of red sea urchins. The recent quota has been less than 1 million pounds (454,000 kilograms). “We’ve seen a multimillion-dollar fishery in sea urchins pretty much go away,” he said. >click to read<12:46
Cape Breton – Lobster prices drop for area fishermen
Cape Breton fishermen might be feeling the pinch of a recent drop in the price of lobster. The season for clawed crustaceans opened May 15 in the island’s largest lobster fishing area, which spans from Bay St. Lawrence to Fourchu. Marlene Brogan, manager of Ballast Ground Fisheries, said when the season opened the price of landed lobster was $6.50. On Friday, it dropped for some fishermen to $6, with the retail price coming in at $9.50 for live lobsters. >click to read<12:02
The difference between Blue and Yellow (Fin Tuna)
From Humdrum to Gourmet: There was a time when eating tuna fish was not considered a gourmet experience. Canned tuna was a standard luncheon selection for school children and weekend casseroles. Demand for tuna was small: In 1950, the worldwide catch totaled 660,000 tons (approximately); today the desire has increased geometrically, and the world catch recently reached an excess of 7 million tons. From Trash to Treasure In the 1970s, Bluefin tuna was considered trash fish. It was used in cat food and sport fishermen paid to have it hauled off their boats. In the mid-1990s the reputation for Bluefin tuna in Japan was so bad that it was referred to as neko-matagi, food too low for even a cat to eat. Today it is the most expensive fish in the sea. >click to read<09:34
Coast Guard terminates fishing vessel voyage for multiple safety violations near Dutch Harbor, Alaska
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mellon terminated the voyage of the fishing vessel Nushagak Spirit near Dutch Harbor after discovering several safety issues and environmental concerns on board the vessel Monday. The crew of the Mellon conducted the boarding of the Nushagak Spirit three nautical miles east of Umnak Island where they discovered one fishing violation, 14 safety violations and the improper discharge of bilge water. Specifically, the vessel’s master admitted to pumping water from the bilge over the side of the vessel, a violation of the Clean Water Act. >click to read< 07:46
