Monthly Archives: May 2018
Commercial fishers’ plight needs more attention – the plight of our neighbors
I’ve lived in northeastern North Carolina for almost two decades now, and I am ashamed I know very little about the fishing industry. Why am I ashamed? Because as a region, fishing has a very big impact on our economy, tourism and recreation. I remember a few years after I moved here we had a season with a lot of crabs in Elizabeth City’s harbor. I was amazed at all the folks who lined up shoulder to shoulder to bring them in. I have Canadian relatives who were heavily involved in the sardine industry in Saint John, New Brunswick and I have vivid childhood memories of visiting there and smelling the heavy salt in the air and eating bags of dried dulse (seaweed) like popcorn. The sense of community in that fishing village was so evident. By Holly Audette>click to read<15:41
Kodiak man killed in Bering Sea fishing accident
A 55-year-old Kodiak resident died last week aboard a fishing vessel during a transfer operation in the Bering Sea, according to Alaska State Troopers. Alaska State Troopers said in an online dispatch that they learned Wednesday of Christopher O’Callaghan’s death aboard the 95-foot F/V Ocean Hunter. “O’Callaghan was on the deck while the vessel was tied off to another vessel in the open sea, transferring fish,” troopers wrote. “A slack line suddenly went taut, striking O’Callaghan on the chest, causing bruising and internal injuries, resulting in his death. >click to read< 13:15
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 85′ Steel Scalloper/Longline/Shrimper, Cat 3412, Kort Nozzle
Specifications, information and 16 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >Click here<12:28
The Future of Lobstering May Mean Fishing by Computer
Lobster fishing used to be pretty straightforward. But there may be big changes ahead for fishermen in New England. “First thing you have to remember is, you’re taking the lobster industry and flipping it around on its head and shaking it,” Mike Lane said, sitting on his lobster boat in Cohassett Lane. Lane is a life-long fisherman. His dad fished for lobster before him. He’s concerned about the proposals. “How are you going to teach 60-year old men that don’t use computers to use a computer?” >click to read<08:51
Hershel West of Menemsha died peacefully in his sleep at age 94
Hershel was born on March 1, 1924, to his parents Norman and Annie West at his grandmother’s house on Middle Road, close to the West Tisbury–Chilmark town line. As a boy, he delivered mail with his father to Naushon and Nomans islands. He spent most of his life commercial fishing. Besides scalloping, oystering, and lobstering on the Island, he crewed on draggers out of New Bedford. For many years, he crewed aboard the Menemsha swordfish boats owned by the Larsens. . He was well known for his role in the movie “Jaws” as Quint’s mate, along with his beloved dog Tipper. >click to read<21:35
Crew rescued as lobster boat sinks off Escuminac
A lobster fishing boat carrying four men and at least 100 lobster traps capsized and sank off Escuminac Wharf on Tuesday morning. O’Neil Hebert, owner of the Trina Margaret, said no one was injured. He and the three other men were in the water for about 10 minutes before other boats picked them up. The men went to the hospital to be checked out. “At least we didn’t lose [anybody] on the crew,” Hebert said.,, Robert Martin, Port Authority of Escuminac manager, said boats went out to set traps at 6 a.m. Some boats received the Trina Margaret’s distress signal at around 6:10 a.m. >click to read<19:01
Plans For Offshore Wind Energy Draw Criticism At Hearing In Southampton On Monday
“We know the moment [the federal government] gets a taste of wind farms in the Atlantic, we are going to be playing whack-a-mole with energy and oil companies creeping up on our fishing grounds,” Bonnie Brady said at a presentation by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, on Monday night at the Southampton Inn. Ms. Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, said that, like other commercial fishermen in the audience, she worries that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, which has jurisdiction over the Atlantic, will lease more ocean for wind energy development and wind up hurting the industry.>click to read<16:01
Gloucester fish seller, supplier earn sustainability certification
Haddock, pollock and redfish — “The Big Three” — are getting a big new marketing edge from a little blue label. “There’s a lot of them out there,” says Jimmy Odlin from the headquarters of his Portland, Maine-based AtlanticTrawlers Fishing. “We just needed to sell more of it. We knew we needed to expand our market and after researching, we decided that MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certification was the best fit.” The other half of Odlin’s “we” is Gloucester’s Nick Giacalone, who, along with brothers Chris and Vito Jr.,,, >click to read<14:10
Tories ask ethics commissioner to probe fishery bid they say favours Liberal insiders
A Conservative MP is asking the federal ethics commissioner to investigate the bidding process that awarded a lucrative Arctic surf clam license to a group with Liberal links. In his letter to Mario Dion, the newly appointed ethics watchdog, Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty alleges the government’s effort to diversify ownership in the fishery — by clawing back part of an existing quota held by Clearwater Foods and handing it to a group with Indigenous representation — violates the Commons conflict of interest code because it enriches the brother of a sitting Liberal MP and a former Liberal MP.>click to read< 12:57
Criminal investigation ordered into sinking of Nancy Glen
A criminal investigation is being held into the sinking of a fishing boat in which two men died. The Nancy Glen went down in Loch Fyne, near Tarbert, on January 18. Duncan MacDougall, 46, and Przemek Krawczyk, 38, who lived in the village, were on board when the trawler sank. It was confirmed yesterday that police have been asked to investigate. A Crown Office spokesman said: “The procurator fiscal has instructed Police Scotland to investigate the circumstances around the deaths of Duncan MacDougall and Przemek Krawczyk >click to read<
Texas Man Claims Cocaine Came with His Fishing License
Being a game warden is an interesting job. A warden just never knows who or what they’ll encounter while out on the job, even on something as simple as a license check. In the Texas Game Warden’s latest roundup of interesting items from warden reports is a particularly peculiar report. An unnamed Willacy County warden came upon an unnamed angler at Port Mansfield’s Stone Pier. As per standard procedure, the warden asked to see the man’s fishing license. This is where things got interesting. >click to read< 11:06
Cuomo Calls for “Citizen Fleet” to Block Offshore Drilling
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has introduced new legislation to ban offshore oil and gas exploration in New York State’s waters.,, Cuomo has gone one step further than his neighbors in advocating for a ban on offshore E&P. On Sunday, when he announced his legislative initiative, he also threated to set up a “citizen fleet” of small boats to physically block drilling activity. “The only way you stop a bully is by standing up and putting your finger in his or her chest,” Cuomo said in a speech at Battery Park. “I’m going to commission a citizen fleet to stop [drilling] just as Winston Churchill did at Dunkirk.” >click to read< 10:03
Injunction sought against lobster buoy lines
On Friday, Richard Maximus Strahan filed the emergency motion in U.S. District Court for a temporary restraining order to stop either the licensing or deploying of vertical bouy lines, arguing they routinely entangle the endangered whales, causing serious injury and death. The restraining order should be in effect until marine fisheries officials and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association could show there are no more right whales, a migratory species, in the states coastal waters, according to the motion. >click to read< 08:58
Fishing company to pay $400,000 penalty following 4,200 gallon fuel spill into New Bedford Harbor
In August of 2017, the Challenge, a fishing boat owned by the New Bedford company Quinn Fisheries, sunk while docked on the city’s waterfront, causing a fuel spill that spread over a mile and killed at least five ducks. The Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Justice launched an inquiry, and found that the ship sunk when its captain failed to shut off a valve after illegally dumping bilge into the harbor and leaving the boat for the day, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court >click to read< 22:30
August 16, 2017 – Fishing vessel sinks in New Bedford Harbor >click to read<
Could a seal cull help cod recover? It’s not so simple, scientist says
The equation seems simple: seals eat fish, fish are declining, kill the seals, fish recover. But experts warn that many factors need to be considered before drastic measures are taken. With talk revived about ending the recreational fishery, some believe a seal would be a more effective way to help cod stocks recover. But is a cull the answer to our fish stock problem? (HELL YEAH!) Eldred Woodford of the Canadian Sealers Association is taking an even stronger stance, and calling for an all-out seal cull.,, Alejandro Buren, a research scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, says many factors are at play when looking at food web relationships. >click to read<20:28
Councilmember Mike O’Brien booted from gala; wife shouts at fishermen
Rumors swirled over the weekend on Facebook suggesting that Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien and his wife were kicked out of the opening night gala for the newly-opened Nordic Museum at a local shipyard on Friday, May 4. On the way out, while escorted by staff, O’Brien’s wife allegedly shouted “[Expletive] the fisherman!”,,, When asked if the rumors about O’Brien and his wife were true, the manager wrote, “If you are referring to his being escorted off our property, spilling his beer, and his wife’s derogatory comments towards our business customers, yes.” >click to read<19:05
Crab fishermen struggle as season begins under strict new regulations making some fishing grounds off limits
Snow crab fishing began last week in northern New Brunswick, the first season under strict new regulations by Ottawa to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The most drastic of the new measures has been the closing of a zone off the province’s northeastern coast to fishing, a location where 90 per cent of the whales had migrated to last summer. That area is also an area rich in snow crab. As many boats came back from their first trip out to sea, some fishermen couldn’t help but feel anxious about what the season would bring. >click to read<16:11
Save salmon; kill sea lions
Another spring, another much anticipated migration of “Kings of the Columbia,” our Pacific Northwest’s most revered salmonoid, the chinook salmon. Or perhaps not. At one-time chinook and their cousins migrated upstream by the hundreds of thousands. No longer. Salmon and steelhead are on the fast track to becoming endangered species. The Columbia River has its problems when considering fish migrations. The dams, commercial transportation, irrigation demands, you name it. These problems are solvable, but it will take time. There is now one glaring problem that can be simply and quickly resolved. >click to read<15:05
New Beam Trawler Delivered
Over the last 10 months, Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam (Maaskant) has outfitted the 41-meter hull from stock. The vessel, designated UK 46, is for Hakvoort Brothers, based in Urk, the Netherlands. According to the builder, a key feature of the vessel is the installation of twin Optima nozzles manufactured by Damen Marine Components (DMC). This is the first time that Maaskant has installed these in a fishing boat. >click to read<12:49
New Brunswick flooding leads to shortage of lobster bait on P.E.I.
The spring lobster season in P.E.I. hasn’t been open very long, but some lobster fishermen and buyers are concerned about the shortage of bait available to set their traps. One of the causes of the shortage this season is the flooding across New Brunswick, which is making it difficult for fisherman to get their boats in the water and catch gaspereau, a popular fish used as lobster bait in P.E.I. Jerry MacDonald, a buyer for Shediac Lobster Shop who works out of Naufrage Harbour in eastern P.E.I., said this season’s bait shortage is the worst he’s seen in years,,, >click to read<11:53
Deepwater Dilemma: Parts One and Two
Part one is opinions from knowledgeable minds, both environmental planners and long time conservationists, businessmen and board members, but most of all concerned citizens. Part two looks at the concerns and opinions from the commercial fishing community both in Port Judith, Rhode Island and right here at home in Montauk, New York. The fishing and fishing community has already been disrupted by Deepwater Wind in Rhode Island from their Block Island Wind program. Two of those affected, were kind enough to talk to me about their experience and the loss of their trade, their work and their way of life. >click for Part 1< >click for Part 2<11:19
Never give up hope – Sam Parisi
Just when I thought I had no help, my was voice heard. Senator Markey’s aid, Kate Marchet, called to tell me the Senator would be in Gloucester to meet with constituents, and that she would like to meet with me. I had reached out to the Senator about my experience in Saint Petersburg last year on a panel to review S-K grant applicants, and was not pleased with NOAA’s selection process and distribution of the funds, and felt it is rigged by NOAA. Meanwhile, Senator Sullivan of Alaska had presented a bill, S132, the American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act,, >click to read<10:26
A seafood empire and a court battle over Trudeau’s push for Indigenous reconciliation
One of the Trudeau government’s signature acts of Indigenous reconciliation is being challenged in court, exposing the fierce competition between First Nations for a shellfish quota worth millions — and the jockeying by one of Canada’s leading seafood companies to keep control of the fishery. Hundreds of pages of records filed in Federal Court offer new insight into the controversial decision in February to award 25 per cent of Canada’s Arctic surf clam quota to Five Nations Clam Company, led by Elsipogtog First Nation of New Brunswick and its industry partner Premium Seafoods of Arichat, N.S. >click to read<09:43
The ‘Codfather’ is behind bars, and New Bedford’s economy is paying the price
From the icehouse to the auction house, a pall hangs over the fabled wharves in New Bedford. As the new fishing season begins, many of the city’s fishermen are unemployed, their suppliers stuck with excess inventory, and local officials are questioning whether the millions of dollars in lost revenue will cost the port its ranking as the nation’s most valuable, as it has been for the past 17 years. “It’s devastating what’s happened to us, and other businesses here,” said Tor Bendiksen, the manager of Reidar’s, a marine supply company. >click to read< 08:25
The story of a boy, a boat, and love at first bite
Kara Berlin was living the aspirational life of any young urbanite. She was raised in Washington by parents who took her outside to play. She went to college. She moved to Idaho to work a corporate job where terms like “fast track” and “executive management potential” littered her quarterly reviews. But then the economy happened and her employer closed up shop. In Sandpoint, she met Taran White. White had a lot of free time because it wasn’t salmon season. Berlin had a lot of free time because she was unemployed. So they took off to Asia to drink cheap cocktails, get $5 massages and fall in love. They wrote a business plan along the way, too. >click to read<18:04
2 dead after fishing boat capsizes in Nova Scotia
Two people are dead after a boat capsized off the coast of Port Medway in the Region of Queens Municipality, N.S. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax says rescuers responded to a call Saturday morning reporting an overturned crabbing vessel. A woman, 55, was found unresponsive on the beach and was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. A man, also 55, was found near the boat by a vessel and was also unresponsive. >click to read< 16:04
Coast Guard medevacs man 65 miles off Atlantic City, NJ
The Coast Guard medevaced a 51-year-old man approximately 65 miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sunday. A crew member aboard the fishing vessel Settler notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay of a 51-year-old man aboard having difficulty breathing. Sector Delaware Bay watchstanders launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, New Jersey to respond. Once on scene, the man was hoisted and taken to Atlantic City Trauma Center. >click for video<15:03
Lobster prices high, but dropping as summer approaches
Lobster prices are high in the U.S. right now, but members of the industry expect them to come down soon as the Canadian catch creeps up and America’s summer haul gets going. One-pound lobsters, which Mainers call “chicks,” are selling for about $12 per pound to consumers, which is a couple of dollars per pound more than six months ago. The U.S. lobster industry, based heavily in Maine, is in a slow mode as fishermen get ready to pull traps in the summer. >click to read<13:10
Lean year forecast for southern Labrador shellfish crews
Roy Mangrove is worried. After years of seeing cuts to his crab and shrimp quotas, the fisherman from St. Lewis in southern Labrador is facing a further 25 per cent cut in shrimp this season. That drops his quota to 61,000 lb. this year, from 82,000 last year. “Everything going good, you can make a bit of money on it, but for us we got … three trips of crab and one trip of shrimp. So four weeks and we’re finished,” Mangrove told CBC’s Labrador Morning this week. Mangrove and his crew fish in Shrimp Fishing Area 6. >click to read<12:03
Cuomo: ‘No how, no way’ New York State will allow offshore drilling
At his announcement of the bill Friday afternoon in New York City, Cuomo said the federal plan “will devastate our coastal economies and cause irreparable harm to the environment.” He cited the noise and vibration that accompanies exploration, which he said is greater than a jet engine, as detrimental to all types of marine life. The construction of oil production platforms damages the environment. And the risk of an oil spill and its consequences are too great, he said. “One mistake can literally damage an ecosystem for decades,” Cuomo said. “It is just an unacceptable risk. It is that simple. And it defies common sense. Our belief is the only energy activity offshore should be wind turbines,” Cuomo said. >click to read<10:38
