Monthly Archives: June 2018
New Hampshire fishermen face declining prices
Local commercial fishermen say the price per pound they earn for their catch has dropped in recent years as their industry continues to struggle financially.Fishermen say they have been selling their fish at prices several cents per pound less than in years past, citing strict catch quotas, a decline in businesses that buy their fish and a rise in imported fish as causes for the drop in their earnings. Hampton fisherman David Geothel said prices for small American plaice, a species of flounder on which he relies in the face of strict cod catch limits, have dropped from $1.40 to $1.50 per pound in previous years to between 40 and 70 cents per pound now. >click to read< 21:55
Volunteers clean up Cape Breton beach of debris left by storm
You wouldn’t have been able to tell from Saturday’s weather, but just days ago, lobster fishermen in Cape Breton lost thousands of dollars of gear in a wind storm. CTV’s chief meteorologist Kalin Mitchell said a peak wind gust of 91 kilometres per hour was recorded in Sydney during Tuesday’s storm. On Saturday the community came together to collect lobster traps, broken fishing gear, and trash of all kinds from the shores of Schooner Pond Beach in Donkin. >click to read<
Land ahoy! Fishermen challenge presidential designations of ocean monuments
This month, the Antiquities Act turned 112 years old. Originally conceived to protect Native American artifacts in the Southwest, the law has, like so many federal laws, been twisted over time by power-hungry government officials. Controversy over the law’s abuse is coming to a head in New England, where fishermen are locked out of a large section of their fishery by the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. After spending years working to recover fish stocks and promote more sustainable fishing methods, they rightly see this move as a betrayal that threatens their livelihoods. Why is a 112-year-old law so controversial today? The answer lies in the aggressive reinterpretation of the law by presidents seeking to expand their power. >click to read<14:00
FISH-NL demands Ottawa explain itself in light of massive cuts to caplin quotas
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is demanding Ottawa explain itself in light of huge cuts to caplin quotas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off eastern and southern Newfoundland and Labrador. “This is a banner year for caplin in the Gulf with the federal government’s own scientists reporting an abundance of fish not seen in years, and yet the quota has been cut by 35 per cent,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “How does that make sense? It doesn’t.” “At the same time, scientists said in March that the caplin stock off eastern Newfoundland and Labrador was down 70 per cent, but the relatively small commercial fishery isn’t having an impact,” he added. >click to read<11:57
Obituary: Joey Murrin – Voice of Irish fishing industry for more than 40 years
Joey Murrin, who has died in his home port of Killybegs, Co Donegal, at the age of 81, was a leading fish industry lobbyist and natural communicator with a unique ability to simplify the most complex issues. A consummate negotiator, he dealt with 15 government ministers during his career, and was feared by several; even former taoiseach Charles J Haughey once expressing irritation at his popularity. Born in Killybegs the youngest of four children, he began his career at sea in 1954 as a deckhand, fishing on the San Paulin owned by Tommy Watson. >click to read< 11:24
Marshfield lobsterman ‘living the dream’
Pregnant female: toss. Notch in the fin: toss. Jonah crab: toss. Legal lobster: Keep. Shell smaller than 3¼ inches: toss. Shell hasn’t hardened after molting: toss. This is the sorting method lobsterman Steve Carver follows as he pulls in his lobster traps — 200 per day — in Green Harbor. He can have up to 20 lobsters in a trap and throw all of them back into the water to comply with fishing regulations. And that’s only part of what makes lobster fishing a brutal profession. “We redefine ‘tired,’” Carver, 46, of Marshfield, said on a recent Thursday out on the water. “It takes a certain kind of person. All in all, it’s just a lot of hard work. I don’t see how you could do it if you didn’t love it.” Photo gallery >click to read<10:04
Poor salmon runs result in low harvests, disaster request
Poor salmon returns across the Gulf of Alaska are putting commercial fishing catches far behind the average and prompting a request for a disaster declaration. Commercial fishermen and fisheries managers have been puzzling so far this season as to why the sockeye salmon runs that usually keep boats in the water have been so weak. Copper River fishermen have been frequently closed this season because of poor sockeye counts at the sonar at Miles Lake. As of Wednesday, 320,145 fish had passed the sonar, below the cumulative management objective for that date of 409,931 fish, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s online fish counts. >click to read<09:09
Cormorant, Fisheries Act concerns need to be addressed
Cormorant management and Canada’s Fisheries Act are just two of the issues that members of the Committee of Advisors to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission have raised and want action taken on by the Canada and US governments,,, “One of the concerns our committee has raised is with Canada’s Fisheries Act proposals-in particular with proposed marine protected areas,” Mr. Purvis told the Recorder.,, Another area of concern, said Mr. Purvis, is for needed cormorant management control. “I know in areas like the Les Cheneaux Islands in the US there are no fish left due to cormorants. They decimated the perch fishery for instance. And the US government had at one time allowed for a cull of cormorants, then they took this away. Now the perch fishery in that area is gone.“ >click to read<08:15
S-K Fund: Salem profs win $296K for Cape Ann project to developing to mussel aqua-farm
Two Salem State University marine researchers will receive just over $296,000 in Saltonstall-Kennedy grant funds to expand their project aimed at developing offshore commercial shellfish aquaculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. The project by SSU marine biology professor Mark R. Fregeau and SSU colleague Edward Maney Jr. is the only North Shore-based project included among the 38 projects nationally that will receive a slice of the $9 million NOAA is doling out in the 2018 Saltonstall-Kennedy funding cycle. >click to read<19:49
U.S. Commerce Department Announces Appointments to Regional Fishery Management Councils for 2018
The U.S. Commerce Department announced the appointment of 30 members to the eight regional fishery management councils that partner with NOAA Fisheries to manage ocean fish stocks. Twenty-nine of the new and reappointed council members will serve three-year terms from August 11, 2018 through August 10, 2021. One appointed member is filling an at-large seat recently vacated on the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and this member will serve through August 10, 2020. >click to read<17:02
Canadian Confederation of Unions contributes $10,000 to FISH-NL’s legal fund
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) has been pledged a $10,000 contribution from the Canadian Confederation of Unions (CCU), the only association of independent, democratic unions in the country. “We consider the inshore harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador our brothers and sisters in their struggle,” says Kelly Johnson, President of the CCU, which represents 20,000 public- and private-sector workers across Canada. “We value independence, and the freedom of workers to make their own choice.” >click to read<15:26
No Booze, No Drugs – ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Sig Hansen avoids jail, gets probation for assaulting Uber driver
Celebrity fishing-boat captain Sig Hansen was given a deferred sentence, ordered to undergo alcohol treatment and put on a year of probation Thursday for assaulting an Uber driver after a night of drinking in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood last year,,, Seattle Municipal Court Judge Ed McKenna, who last month postponed Hansen’s sentencing after raising concerns about his drinking, handed down the sentence after learning that Hansen voluntarily agreed to outpatient treatment and to abstain from drug and alcohol use for the next year. The judge also received further details about a 2008 disorderly conduct case in Alaska in which an allegedly drunken Hansen was charged after punching a man at least twice in a bar. >click to read<14:54
NewBrunswick: Some go home with more money in their pockets, some less, as fishing season ends
Lobster and crab fishermen in northern New Brunswick are removing their gear from the water Friday, as the season draws to a close. Saturday marks the official end to what fishermen described as a roller-coaster season in the Acadian Peninsula. All areas close to fishing on June 30, except for Neguac and Burnt Church, where the lobster season was extended until July 2. There were outcries and protests from the fishing community throughout the season, over new measures imposed by the federal government to protect endangered north Atlantic right whales, after a historically deadly summer. At the end of this eventful season, the feelings are mixed. >click to read<12:39
The cost of herring – Fishermen feeling bait price squeeze
“We made no money this spring,” said Bass Harbor fisherman Justin Sprague. The cost of operations for lobstering continues to increase while the boat price of lobster has hardly budged. The cost of herring, the preferred bait for most Maine lobsterman, has gone up especially sharply. “We don’t have any margin at this point,” Sprague said. “It’s frustrating, to say the least.” Bruce Colbeth manages the C.H. Rich lobster wharf in Bass Harbor. “By the time these guys pay for fuel, bait and stern men, there ain’t too much left for them,” he said. “I remember six years ago you could sell (herring) bait for $26 a bushel. Now it’s doubled.” >click to read<11:41
Unexplained sockeye dropoff shuts down Yakutat fishery
Add Yakutat’s wild sockeye run to a growing list of struggling Alaska salmon stocks. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game shut down set net fishermen in the Yakutat District on Thursday after fishery managers determined less than 10 percent of the historical average have returned. Weirs on the Situk River have counted only 1,700 returning sockeye this year. That’s down from an average of 20,000. It’s the smallest return on record for this time in the year and a dropoff managers did not predict. >click to read<11:03
Queen Elizabeth Makes Millions from U.K.’s Offshore Wind Farms
Leasing the seabed to offshore wind developers was the most profitable business last year for The Crown Estate Ltd., the company that generates income for Queen Elizabeth II. Earnings from the clean-energy technology in 2017 jumped 32 percent from the previous year to 37 million pounds ($49 million), according to a statement. The gain boosted the investor’s energy, minerals and infrastructure portfolio income by 20 percent. The U.K. is a world leader in offshore wind with more turbines in the sea than any other nation. At least one machine was installed every day in 2017,,, >click to read<
Maine DMR sets up lottery for new scallop licenses
This week, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) announced the final terms for two newly established lotteries for scallop fishing licenses. One lottery is for dragger licenses, the other for diver licenses. The catch, though, is that nobody knows for sure how many licenses, if any, will be available each year. DMR has been working for more than a year on a plan to bring new entrants into the scallop fishery. The lotteries announced this week are the culmination of extensive discussions last year among members of DMR’s Scallop Advisory Council with considerable input, often heated, from industry members. >click to read<09:09
Musquash teen who died fishing dreamed of being a lobster fisherman
Musquash teen Devan Breau died doing what he loved — fishing, according to his obituary. “Devan was a true country boy at heart and could always be found outdoors on his dirt bike, ATV and at the lakes,” it states. “From the time he was a small boy, Devan wanted to be a lobster fisherman and he made that dream come true with amazing passion and work ethic.” The body of the 18-year-old was found Wednesday in the East Branch Reservoir on the outskirts of Saint John, three days after he left his home to go fishing.,,, “A smile of a man that got to live his dream for a year fishing for Bradley Small,” Joel Bradley Small posted with a photograph on Facebook. “He done way more then I have ever ask him to do on the boat.” >click to read<19:08
The S-K Fund: NOAA is recommending almost $9 million in funding for 38 projects across the nation.
For more than 40 years, NOAA has awarded grant funding under the Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) program to organizations across the country. Funds address needs of fishing communities, support economic opportunities, and build and maintain resilient and sustainable fisheries. Demand for innovation, information, service and funding from federal agencies continues to grow. This year, NOAA received 155 applications requesting nearly $40 million. In order to better match research and development proposals with S-K goals and mission needs, this year’s recommended projects fall into four priorities: • Marine Aquaculture • Adapting to Environmental Changes and Other Long Term Impacts in Marine Ecosystems • Promotion, Development and Marketing • Territorial Science >click to read<17:28
Southeast Alaska commercial troll summer king season opens July 1
Southeast Alaska’s commercial salmon trollers open their summer season for king salmon July 1st with a harvest target of 53,800 Chinook. The fleet is expected to catch that in a short opening. That’s after low catches and restricted fishing for kings this spring. The first summer opening is expected to last four or five days and will be managed in-season. That means the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will announce a closure once the catch nears that harvest target. Grant Hagerman is the department’s troll management biologist for Southeast and says fishing in the spring season has been slow. Audio report, >click to read<17:06
Norm Van Vactor: The Pebble mine is going nowhere. Time for Northern Dynasty to admit it.
Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Vancouver-based mining company, is hosting its annual shareholder meeting this week to discuss the Pebble mine: a massive open-pit copper and gold mine the company wants to develop at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The plan calls for digging up and dewatering many miles of streams where our salmon spawn. Those same streams are responsible for the chinook and coho salmon that indigenous people throughout the watershed rely on for their subsistence harvests. Those same streams provide the wilderness fishing experience that many visitors come from around the world to experience. These streams are the basis of our livelihoods, communities and culture. And they are no place for a mine. >click to read<14:55
Cape Breton lobster fishermen trying to salvage traps after wind storm
Lobster season has taken a devastating turn in Cape Breton after strong winds and rough seas caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to traps and gear. CTV’s chief meteorologist Kalin Mitchell says a peak wind gust of 91 kilometres per hour was recorded in Sydney on Tuesday. Since then, lobster fishermen from Sydney to Louisbourg have been finding their equipment scattered along the shoreline of eastern Cape Breton, and now they’re trying to salvage whatever they can. “Trying to find everything, can’t find nothing,” said one fisherman in Glace Bay on Wednesday. “It’s all up on the beaches. It’s terrible.” Video >click to read<13:45
Ken Johnston – Place: Northumberland Strait; time 2026
This is the tale of J.B. Mc Click and his desire to purchase fishing gear, boat and licence and become part of a strong fraternity, the lobster fisherman of Northumberland Strait. J.B., now 25 years old, recently married and with a child on the way, was thrilled that he had the opportunity to attain his goal . He had worked as a fisherman’s helper, understood the inherent dangers, appreciated the rewards of hard work and could not believe his good fortune. This long-awaited chance to be self employed presented itself at the end of November 2025 when a gentleman with whom he worked offered him the business. There will be more of J. B’s chronicle but allow me to digress and afford you a flashback to the years 2018-20. So much was happening at that tumultuous time surrounding the “Pipe” fiasco so in order for you to digest it all, my plan is to take you on a journey. >click to read<12:51
‘She’s got a good list on her,’ – Fishing crew safe in Burin after storm disables boat
The skipper and crew of a fishing boat disabled by high winds on the Grand Banks Monday night are happy to be back in port on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Skipper Les Fudge said he and his crew were aboard the Little Jack, about 120 miles from Burin, when the winds came up. They decided to head to shore, he said, when they lost propane and in the middle of changing over the tank, the spar and stabilizers came down. Luckily, there were other boats fishing in the area known as “the gully.” >click to read<11:34
Florida, they’re killing it, one flush at a time
Once again, Florida’s fisheries are suffering from the legacy of long-time mismanagement of Florida’s water resources. Southwest Florida is plagued by an unprecedented red tide that is causing unprecedented kills of gamefish. Reports from those on the water estimate that tens of thousands of snook are dead – all of them adults in the peak of spawning season. Reports are also of many dead breeding-size redfish. And tarpon, which usually seem to avoid red tide, are also now being reported dead. The ongoing red tide is a sign of the ‘new normal’ in Southwest Florida because too many nutrients are entering Florida’s estuaries and coasts due to water mismanagement. Here are the facts: >click to read<10:30
‘This is catastrophic’: Charter captain speaks out about red tide impact in SWFL – >click to read<
Fisheries Act – Prince Rupert council calls for parity with East Coast fisheries
With changes coming to the Fisheries Act, Prince Rupert city council wants to make sure independent B.C. fishers are included. “All we’re asking for is parity with the East Coast,” Councillor Barry Cunningham said. “The East Coast has more of a thriving fishery, even though at times it’s in disarray. It’s definitely more beneficial to the communities and the individuals on the East Coast, whereas, in our fishery on the West Coast, corporations are slowly gobbling it up.” Council moved to bring a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities, stating owner-operator licences should be applied to the West Coast. It asks that amendments to the Fisheries Act,,, >click to read<09:27
Bay of Fundy fishery has whale of a problem
I’ve worked for the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association for 25 years. It’s been a good career; there’s always something new in the fishery. I’ve gotten to know some great people both locally and across the country. I come from a fishing family: my father, brother and brother-in-law are all fishermen. I have a strong attachment to what I do and why I do it.,, The right whales ventured north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Things were bad last summer. Twelve whales were found dead. Two were entangled in fishing gear. The rest: blunt force trauma or unknown causes, though none of those had fishing gear on them. Government swung into reactionary precautionary mode. We watched amazed and horrified from the other side of the Maritimes while fishery after fishery closed.
Then last week it was our turn. by Bonnie Morse >click to read<21:25
Rachel Irene, Wild Wild West win at Bass Harbor boat races
Sun-baked racers looked as red as the cooked version of their daily catch once prizes were doled out at the 8th Annual Bass Harbor Lobster Boat Races on Sunday. Cameron Crawford’s 1,000-plus horsepower Wild Wild West was the winner in the diesel free-for-all category and the overall “Fastest Lobster Boat” competition, but didn’t set a new diesel speed record. Greg Lewis’s Rachel Irene, a Mitchell Cove 35 with a 500-horsepower Cummins under the platform, earned the title of “Bass Harbor’s Fastest Lobster Boat.” >click to read<20:16
Horror photos of farmed salmon spark legal threat
The diseases, damage and infestations suffered by hundreds of thousands of caged salmon in Scotland have been exposed by more than 300 graphic photos released by the Scottish Government. Pictures taken since 2015 by fish health inspectors investigating mass deaths at salmon farms along the west coast and on islands reveal eight diseases, bloody lesions, eye damage, deformed organs, plagues of flesh-eating sea lice and much else.,,, The investigations were into outbreaks of disease and other issues at 27 fish farms run by six companies. The majority – 15 – were at farms operated by Marine Harvest, along with four run by The Scottish Salmon Company, three by Scottish Sea Farms, three by Cooke Aquaculture, two by Greig Seafood, two by Loch Duart and one not known. >click to read<17:42
Deadline to comment on Pebble Mine is 5 P.M. today
Please be aware that 5:00 p.m. today is the deadline to submit comments on the second proposed Pebble Mine. Online, it might only take a few minutes. Many people thought the mine wouldn’t be built, but that is not the case. The project is moving forward and a second Pebble Mine proposal is in the works. Please submit your comment online at Pebble Project EIS at www.pebbleprojecteis.com or mail comments to Program Manager, Regulatory Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, PO Box 6898, Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, AK 99506-0898. >click to read<10:06
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