Monthly Archives: May 2018
Fishermen roll out for early Louisiana inshore shrimp season
It began as a trickle of boats late Saturday and early Sunday, heading out to favorite shrimp-hunting spots in the lakes and bays of Terrebonne and Lafourche, where they waited for the time to lower nets like horses at their starting gates. Then at 6 a.m. Monday the booms splayed out and the trawl doors splashed, marking the start of the 2018 Louisiana inshore shrimp season. Until now they called it the “May season.” when brown shrimp were moving from estuaries toward the Gulf of Mexico, and it would be one span of a few weeks in which to catch them. >click to read<09:00
Coast Guard assists fishermen near Humboldt Bay
The Coast Guard assisted four Dungeness crab fishermen aboard a 45-foot commercial fishing vessel a half-mile west of Table Bluff, Monday evening. The Miss Jessie crew contacted Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay watchstanders via VHF-FM channel 16 around 5:30 p.m., reporting their fishing vessel had lost steering in 10-foot seas and 30-mph winds just outside the breaking surf. The boat crew towed the Miss Jessie across the bar to Woodley Island Marina, where they moored up around 9 p.m. Monday. -USCG- video>click here<19:30
How fellow fishermen worked together to rescue a crew in Hardy’s Channel
In the shallow waters of Hardy’s Channel, near Lennox Island, P.E.I., a swamped lobster fishing boat is still sitting half- submerged, after getting stuck in a sandbar on Monday. The crew was rescued late Monday morning after the boat started taking on water. Skipper Nick Lewis says he is grateful for the nearby fishermen who came to their rescue, and saved their lives. Three boats came to the aid of the five fishermen, who were all in the water, without survival suits on. >click to read<18:04
Coast Guard, NOAA OLE increase efforts to protect North Atlantic right whale
Northeast Coast Guard units and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement personnel are increasing focus this year on the enforcement of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to detect and deter illegally-placed fishing gear and reduce the likelihood of fatal whale entanglements from occurring.,, Additionally, Coast Guard units across the First District will engage in an operation taking aim on at-sea inspections of unattended lobster and gillnet gear. The goal is to identify and remove illegally-rigged and improperly-marked gear in an effort to decrease whale entanglements within New England’s waters. >click to read<17:32
Following harvest shortfall, Sitka contemplates a herring moratorium
The Sitka Assembly has formed a committee to draft a resolution which may call for a moratorium on herring fishing in Sitka Sound. The move comes after the failure of this spring’s commercial sac roe fishery, which fell over 8,000 tons short of the expected harvest level. The idea of a commercial fishing moratorium has been around for a long time, backed primarily by the Sitka Tribe and other subsistence users concerned over declines in the local harvest of herring eggs. >click to read<16:35
N.L.’s 4R harvesters await Quebec crab price
Crab harvesters in zone 4R area 13 are wondering if their unique advantage to sell to Quebec will soon come in handy. With a 50 per cent reduction in quota for the 2018 4R crab fishery, Port au Choix fisherman Robert Dobbin is keeping a close eye on the price for crab in Quebec this year, although selling his catch to Quebec is not something Dobbin has done in roughly 15 years. “When I first started crab fishing with my uncle it was 45 cents a pound here, and for a few years we would go across to Quebec side and get a dollar a pound,” he said. “This year we’ll have to wait and see. >click to read<15:57
‘Perfectly reasonable’ to drill for oil in area closed to fishery, Liberal MP says
St. John’s MP Nick Whalen is standing by a move to open oil exploration bids in a marine refuge that is closed to fishing, even though the move has drawn significant criticism from fish harvesters, scientists and conservation groups. Last December, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the closure of what’s called the Northeast Newfoundland Slope to bottom contact fishing. The closure was meant to protect sensitive sponges and corals, and are a vital fish habitat. It’s perfectly reasonable for those areas to be closed to fishing. – Nick Whalen >click to read<14:26
New England Enviros Are Protesting A Clean Power Project!
Environmentalists in New England are voicing concern over a proposal that would provide an abundance of clean hydropower, hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue every year. Charlie Baker, the moderate Republican governor of Massachusetts, has worked relentlessly to reduce his state’s carbon footprint and is now looking to Canada for renewable energy sourced from a series of dams.,, If completed, the arrangement would power 1.2 million homes with 1,200 megawatts of low emission hydropower and reduce overall energy costs. >click to read<11:48
Dan Webster’s Sustainable Shark and Fisheries Trade Act Championed in Senate by Marco Rubio, Lisa Murkowski
At the end of last week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced they would champion in the Senate U.S. Rep. Dan Webster’s, R-Fla., proposal for the U.S. Commerce Department to increase regulation on the international shark trade. Last month, Webster, who is the vice chairman on the U.S. House Water Power and Oceans Subcommittee, unveiled the “Sustainable Shark and Fisheries Trade Act” which modifies the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. The proposal has support from both sides of the aisle,,, >click to read<09:50
Fishing and Politics! ‘When you love both jobs and when you enjoy what you’re doing on both sides, you make it work’
Colin LaVie is a fishing politician: the MLA for Souris-Elmira and a lobster fisherman. He has been fishing professionally out of the eastern P.E.I. port of Souris Harbour for 24 years now, but his passion for it began as a young boy when he started fishing with his father. “He got me into the fishing, and I just fell in love with it…. There’s just no life like it on the water.” He said he loves it so much that it makes balancing his fishing work with his political work worthwhile, even in the busiest of times, like when the house is sitting. >click to read<09:20
Iconic Monterey boat the San Giovanni on dry land for some TLC
The last remaining large scale wooden fishing vessel in Monterey has been hauled out to dry dock for renovation. The San Giovanni has been at home port in Monterey harbor for almost 60s years and the boat has become a piece of history in the community. Until four years ago the crew was still taking the boat out on commercial fishing expeditions, making it the only wooden boat of it’s size still operating in Monterey. After the work is completed on the San Giovanni this spring her captain plans to put her back in action. >click to read<08:12
