Daily Archives: September 25, 2018

Victory! Court Shuts Down Offshore Aquaculture in Gulf of Mexico

Today, Center for Food Safety, representing a coalition of fishing and public interest groups, won their lawsuit challenging the Department of Commerce’s new federal rules that would have permitted, for the first time, industrial aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters. “This is a landmark victory for protecting our oceans, for fishing communities and conservationists,” said George Kimbrell, CFS Legal Director and lead counsel in the case. “Allowing industrial net-pen aquaculture and its known environmental harms in the Gulf of Mexico is a grave threat. Very simply, as the Court properly held, aquaculture is not ‘fishing.’ These types of harms cannot be allowed under existing fisheries law never intended for that purpose.” >click to read<18:51

F/V Captain Billy Haver: Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez charged with murdering shipmate allegedly assaulted wife in Virginia

The Mexican national charged with killing a crew member on a fishing boat Sunday in waters off Massachusetts was arrested in March for allegedly trying to strangle his young wife in Virginia, according to police and court records. Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 27, is due in federal court in Boston to face charges in Sunday’s bludgeoning and fatal stabbing of one crew member, identified only by the initials of J.S. and attempted murder of a second victim, identified as R.H., on board the Captain Billy Haver. >click to read< More info – Authorities did not say what sparked the attacks, but Vazquez’s mother-in-law blamed drug addiction. Lindsay McDannold told WCVB-TV that Vazquez is a heroin addict. She thinks “that’s probably what precipitated this issue.” The Seaford, Virginia-based Captain Billy Haver has been impounded by the Coast Guard in Boston. >click to read<16:38

High Liner: Captain Salvatore Parisi and F/V St. Rosalie

My grandparents, Salvatore Parisi, and his wife Grace came to this country in 1922 from Sicily, and settled in Gloucester, Mass. They had four children at the time of arrival. Oldest son Joseph, and daughters Rosalie, Lena, and Grace., and he bought a fishing boat called the St. Rosalie. Along the way, a few more children were added and they had six sons, Joe, Ben, Charles, Tony, Mathew, and Nick, who all went fishing. >click to read<14:37

‘We can have peace’: Town of Tignish reflects on tragedy after both bodies found

As family and friends prepare for the funerals of Glen DesRoches and Moe Getson, both who were missing after their boat capsized last Tuesday, the community of Tignish is reflecting on a week of tragedy, and how they plan to move forward. Mayor of Tignish, Allan McInnis, said it’s been a difficult week for the town, but that finally finding both men’s bodies is a relief for everyone. “Now we’ll do our mourning properly and then we can put everything to rest where we don’t have to constantly be thinking of our lost comrades,” McInnis said. >click to read<13:29

CETA: U.S. lobster industry alarmed as European deal gives Canadians a ‘huge’ advantage

Canada may be getting beaten up at the NAFTA talks in Washington, but off the east coast, it is enjoying something of a free-trade coup. This country’s trade accord with Europe has given the Canadian lobster industry a sudden leg-up on American competitors in the lucrative market, adding to alarm in the U.S. lobster world over retaliatory tariffs from China. As European duties start to come off the crustaceans, Canada is gaining a price edge ranging from six to 20 per cent over shellfish from the United States, prompting the American industry and a prominent member of Congress to press the U.S. government for help. >click to read<

Governor’s task force releases draft plan to save southern resident orcas

Draft recommendations from the governor’s southern resident killer whale task force were released Monday, shedding light on a plan to help save the endangered orcas. The draft is filled with actionable items meant to address issues the orcas face, like prey availability, toxic contaminates and vessel traffic. The 45-member task force will have time to suggest changes before the final report is due to Gov. Jay Inslee’s office on Nov. 16. From there, the governor might take executive action or bring recommendations to the state legislature. >click to read<10:03

Canada, U.S. agree on quota cuts on Georges Bank, “significant concerns” with assessment methods

Canada and the United States have agreed to sharply reduce quotas for two key groundfish stocks on their shared Georges Bank fishing grounds off southern Nova Scotia. A joint transboundary government and industry panel is recommending a 25 per cent cut in haddock and a 32 per cent cut for cod in 2019. Co-chair Alain d’Entremont of Scotia Harvest Inc. in Nova Scotia, says there are concerns the huge numbers of haddock hatched in 2013 did not survive or were overestimated in the first place.,,, D’Entremont says predictions based on models have proven inaccurate when later checked against what actually occurred in the fishery. >click to read<08:55