Monthly Archives: September 2018
Feds say few commercial fishing trips are monitored
Federal officials revealed Wednesday that most of the New England fishing cooperatives that catch cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish failed to meet the minimum standards for having observers on their boats. National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator Michael Pentony sent letters to 14 of 19 sectors informing them that they were below the required 15 percent of their trips accompanied by fishery monitors and federal observers. Ten sectors were below 10 percent. Observers count and identify the fish caught and discarded, which helps scientists estimate impacts on fish populations. “We are not trying to point fingers or lay blame,” Pentony told the New England Fishery Management Council at their meeting Wednesday, calling it a systemic problem. >click to read<08:57
Captain Jimmy Morgan, Legendary Menemsha Draggerman, Dies at 94
Capt. Jimmy Morgan, the legendary Menemsha fisherman and one of the last of a breed of commercial draggermen that included Louis Larsen, Eric Cottle, Robert Flanders and others, died Tuesday at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. He was 94. From his years spent at the helm of the 46-foot wooden dragger the Mary and Verna, to more recent years as an artist and model boat builder, Jimmy Morgan had been a fixture in Menemsha for more than seven decades. “The only one you can believe at this table is me,” he told the Gazette in a 2015 interview alongside his wife Roberta. “But when talking to an old man — I’m 91 — you should check your facts.” When it came to fishing, Jimmy Morgan was the genuine article. >click to read<21:13
Seafood Processor Pleads Guilty to Massive Crab Meat Switcheroo
A Virginia seafood processor has pleaded guilty to falsely labeling millions of dollars worth of foreign crab meat as a “product of the USA,” the Justice Department announced Wednesday. James Casey, owner and president of Casey’s Seafood Inc., entered his plea in federal court in Newport News, Virginia. Prosecutors said he admitted conspiring with others to substitute foreign crab meat for Atlantic blue crab and, as part of the plea, admitted to falsely labeling more than 183 tons of crab meat, which was then sold to grocery stores and independent retailers.>click to read<17:35
F/V Captain Billy Haver Crewman Held Without Bail, Coast Guard May Day Call Audio
The fisherman charged with killing one crew mate and injuring another on board a commercial fishing vessel off the Massachusetts coast has been held without bail. Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez made his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday in Boston where he is charged with murder and attempted murder. Authorities say Vazquez, a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally, used a hammer and a knife to attack his shipmates Sunday on the Virginia-based vessel Captain Billy Haver about 55 miles off the coast of Nantucket. >click to read< Audio of the mayday call received by the U.S. Coast Guard from the fishing boat “Captain Billy Haver” which was approximately 60 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. >click to listen<15:23
NOAA findings on right whale endangerment could affect lobster fishery
A new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center finds that the decline of the North Atlantic right whale population over the past eight years is due to multiple factors that include entanglement with fishing gear. The whales’ range expansion has exposed them to vessel traffic and fisheries in Canadian waters, which did not have protections for right whales in place until late last summer, the report says. Lobster populations are also changing distribution in the Gulf of Maine, causing U.S. fisheries to move farther offshore in pursuit of lobsters, thus increasing overlap between fishing activity and right whale foraging areas and migration corridors. >click to read<14:30
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: North End Marine 42′ Lobster Boat, 750HP John Deere
Specifications, information and 15 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< (July 2017: New main engine, transmission and propeller installed.) 13:42
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Declares Commercial Fishery Disasters for West Coast Salmon and Sardines
Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that commercial fishery failures occurred between 2015 and 2017 for salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and California, in addition to the sardine fishery in California. “The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “After years of hardship, the Department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.” >click to read<11:02
After Florence: With local North Carolina shellfish likely off-limits this season, how will fisheries adjust?
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has ruled out shellfish harvesting for the time being, a decision that its spokesperson said will likely stick around during the coming months. – As the public learns about new contaminants and spills into local waterways daily, many, including fisherman, are concerned about whether its safe to harvest in public waters in the wake of Hurricane Florence. With oysters, clams, and other shellfish likely out for the season, local fisheries are working to catch up with remaining aquaculture that’s still fair game. >click to read< 10:34
Blood, guts and albacore -‘Battlefish’ series gives glimpse into gritty world of West Coast commercial albacore fishing
It’s blood, hooks, aching backs and sun-burnt skin. And cussing. Lots of cussing. A new Netflix series, “Battlefish,” debuted Friday, Sept. 21, giving audiences a raw glimpse into the commercial albacore tuna fishery off the Washington and Oregon coast. The series follows five crews from fishing vessels TNT, Oppor-Tuna-Ty, Intrepid, Judy S and Ashley Nicole from the ports of Ilwaco, Warrenton and Westport during the 2017 albacore tuna season. California-based Pilgrim Media Group, creators of other reality shows such as “Wicked Tuna,” “The Ultimate Fighter” and “Dirty Jobs,” produced the series. >click to read<09:07
New England Fishery Management Council scale back Atlantic herring catch
The New England Fishery Management Council unanimously approved a new management approach that will dramatically cut the catch limits for herring over the next three years, but the regulatory board stopped short of temporarily shutting down the fishery, as one option on the table would have required. The new rules adopted by the council, which put in place a formula for setting annual catch limits, were applauded by some environmental advocates as recognition of the fish’s key role in the larger ocean ecosystem. But the decision was made over the objections of groups representing commercial fishing boats that catch herring and lobstermen who use the fish as bait. >click to read<08:02
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
Dismal returns for chinook salmon on B.C.’s Fraser River reveal latest threat to endangered orcas
A test fishery for chinook salmon on the Fraser River this year is reporting dismal returns, raising new concerns for the endangered southern resident killer whales who rely heavily on these fish for their survival. The federal government announced in May a reduction in harvest of chinook by roughly one-third and closures in some key whale foraging areas after declaring the southern resident killer whales are facing an imminent threat to their survival. The federal government acknowledges that lack of prey is one of the critical factors affecting the whales’ recovery. >click to read<20:36
Mexican national charged with murder, attempted murder in deadly hammer, knife attack on fishing boat off Nantucket
A Mexican national is facing charges after a fisherman on a Virginia-based fishing vessel died during an altercation about 55 miles off the coast of Nantucket over the weekend, officials said. A Boston-based spokesman says the Coast Guard received a call Sunday afternoon from the 83-foot Captain Billy Haver, reporting that a member of the crew had attacked several other fishermen with a hammer and a knife. The Coast Guard placed a law enforcement team on board the vessel and arrested Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 27, on several charges, including one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. >click to read<19:00
Bristol Bay salmon pay day is biggest on record on largest sockeye run since 1893
It’s a record breaking pay day for salmon fishermen at Bristol Bay, topping $280 million at the docks. That’s 242 percent above the 20 year average – and the number will go higher when bonuses and post season adjustments are added in. Bay fishermen averaged just under $215 million at the docks last year. According to a summary by the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, the 2018 sockeye salmon run Bristol Bay of 62.3 million fish was the biggest since 1893, and nearly 70 percent above the 20 year average. It also was the fourth consecutive year that sockeye runs topped 50 million fish. Audio report, >click to read<16:30
Fishing insider embraces new role as Vineyard Wind liaison
In 12 years, research biologist Crista Bank spent a lot of hours at sea aboard local fishing vessels, but never once heard wheelhouse chatter about the industrial-sized wind farms planned a dozen miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. “It wasn’t really a topic of discussion,” said Bank, the new fisheries liaison for offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind. “You would think it would be, something this huge on the horizon.” Even for her, deep in research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology, the magnitude of what will be Vineyard Wind’s $2 billion, 106-turbine offshore construction project didn’t sink in until she happened to pass five turbines off Block Island two years ago. >click to read<14:01
State of Louisiana seeks shrimpers for bycatch study
State fisheries officials are asking Louisiana shrimpers to participate in a study that aims to monitor how much other types of seafood get caught in trawlers’ nets. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the voluntary 2019 study is part of the agency’s commitment to “support the sustainability certification of Louisiana’s shrimp fishery.”,,, Participation in the state study will require commercial trawlers to allow agency staff members aboard their boats during designated trips throughout the 2019 shrimp seasons. The staff members will collect a sample from each haul. A background check and vessel and site inspection is required of each participating fisherman. >click to read<12:12
Body of 2nd fisherman in Kyla Anne capsizing found, says family member
A body has been found on the shore in western P.E.I., on the Northumberland Strait, and a family member has confirmed to CBC News it is Maurice (Moe) Getson. Getson was one of two fishermen who died when the fishing boat, Kyla Anne, capsized off North Cape on Tuesday. The body of Capt. Glen DesRoches was recovered on the weekend. Getson’s body was found near Campbellton, about 45 kilometres from the site of the sinking. One of Kyla Anne’s crew members, Tanner Gaudet, was able to swim to shore after the boat capsized. >link<10:06
One dead, one injured in attack aboard trawler
One mariner is dead after being attacked by a fellow seaman aboard the trawler Captain Billy Haver, according to the Coast Guard. A person who heard the radio transmissions from the trawler to the Coast Guard said the crew member allegedly used a hammer and a knife in the alleged attack, though the Coast Guard would not confirm. Another mariner was allegedly injured by the same man. A call went out to Sector Southeast New England Sunday afternoon from the Captain Billy Haver, which was 60 miles east of Nantucket at the time of the incident,,, >click to read<08:57
Fishermen facing cuts to Georges Bank stocks, Council considering catch limits for yellowtail, cod, haddock
The New England Fishery Management Council is expected to vote this week on the 2019 total allowable catch limits for three Georges Bank groundfish stocks the United States shares with Canada, with significant reductions expected for each stock. The council, set to meet Monday through Thursday in Plymouth, will discuss total allowable catch, or TAC, recommendations by both the science-based Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee and the management-based Transboundary Management Guidance Committee. The latter, however, is expected to hold more sway in developing the 2019 limits. The U.S. and Canada already have negotiated the catch limits within the TMGC recommendations for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, Eastern Georges Bank haddock and Eastern Georges Bank cod. >click to read<21:42
Annual NAFO meeting adopts measures for Greenland halibut, Flemish Cap cod
The 40th annual week-long meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) ended on Friday in Tallinn, Estonia, where there were a number of measures accepted by Canada and other NAFO member contracting parties aimed at improving the monitoring and management of international fish stocks outside Canada’s 200-mile limit in the Northwest Atlantic. In addition to the traditional total allowable catch (TAC) and quota decisions made, other decisions included: >click to read<20:01
New England Fishery Management Council meeting September 24-27, 2018 in Plymouth, MA.
The New England Fishery Management Council will be meeting at Hotel 1620, 180 Water Street, Plymouth Harbor, MA. September 24, 2018 – September 27, 2018. To read the final agenda, >click here< Register for webinar >click here< to listen live. 19:42
Fishing vessel burns at Fishermen’s Terminal
Dozens of firefighters responded by land and by water to a fire on a large fishing trawler at Fishermen’s Terminal just after 7 this morning. Seattle Fire says there are no injuries. The fire was burning below deck, which made access difficult. Hoses had to be run down the long dock. But firefighters had the fire under control a short time later.,,, The boat is the “Ocean Explorer“, a 145-foot long fishing trawler based out of Seattle. Lucas Bonnema photos>click to read<13:50
Body found believed to be one of the two missing Tignish, P.E.I. fishermen
The body of one of the two fishermen involved in a boating accident early last week has been found. The body was found around 7 a.m. Sunday wrapped in seaweed on the south side of the North Cape point by someone searching the shore. The coroner has taken possession of the body. A search was originally initiated the night of the accident, Tuesday, Sept. 18 and involved resources from RCMP, Ground Search and Rescue and community members in Prince County for Glen DesRoches, 57, the captain of the lobster fishing boat ‘the Kyla Anne’, and his longtime first mate, Maurice (Moe) Getson, 54, after their boat capsized on that afternoon.,, The identity of the body has not been officially released at this time. But according to multiple accounts on the scene rescuers believe it is the body of the ‘Kyla Anne’s’ captain, Glen DesRoches. >click to read<12:46
New proof that fish farm escapees interbreed with wild salmon: DFO
For as long as there have been fish farms in this province, there have been fish escaping from cages into the wild. Conservationists have suspected those escapees breed with native fish, changing their DNA. Now they say they have proof. One of the largest escapes in Newfoundland happened in 2013, when more than 20,000 salmon got away from a farm in Hermitage Bay. That incident inspired DFO scientists to study the genetic material of fish in salmon rivers on the island’s south coast. “We looked at 19 rivers in the first year and hybrids were detected in 18 of those rivers,” said lead researcher, biologist Brendan Wringe. >click to read<10:27
