Daily Archives: October 3, 2018

Defenders of right whales pursue limits on aquaculture and fixed gear fisheries

Right whale defenders are now taking aim at aquaculture as they try to protect the highly endangered species from deadly fishing gear entanglements. Advocates usually focus on the lobster industry,,,Right whale defenders are now taking aim at aquaculture as they try to protect the highly endangered species from deadly fishing gear entanglements. Advocates usually focus on the lobster industry,,, Researchers from Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K.-based nonprofit that advocates for marine animals, want regulators to reduce surface-to-seabed lines in all Gulf of Maine fisheries, not just lobstering. They name aquaculture and gill net as rope-based fishing methods that are known to entrap, injure and kill both humpback and right whales. They say it’s not fair for regulators, who are meeting next week, to seek rope reduction from lobstermen while issuing permits for other fisheries that use similar rope. >click to read<20:40

Cook Inlet fishermen blame rigid management for season losses

Cook Inlet’s commercial fishermen feel that mandated closures played a part in them missing the boat on many of the salmon they could have harvested this season. At a meeting in Kenai on Sept. 28, Upper Cook Inlet commercial fishermen grilled Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Sam Cotten and Gov. Bill Walker with questions about regulation of the fishery and policy changes to support it in the future. Some of the concern is about inflexible management. >click to read<18:36

US fishermen lose quota in new fishing pact with Canada

American fishermen are losing thousands of pounds of valuable fishing quota under a new catch share agreement with Canada. Fishermen from the U.S. and Canada seek haddock, cod and flounder on Georges Bank, which is a critical fishing ground east of New England, The two countries craft a catch share agreement every year. Under the latest agreement, the U.S.’s eastern Georges Bank cod quota is falling by more than 25 per cent to about 415,000 pounds and the eastern Georges Bank haddock quota is falling by about 4 per cent to about 33 million pounds. The loss in quota will present a hardship for New England fishermen, who are already coping with low cod quotas and the collapse of the cod stock, said Terry Alexander,,, >click to read<16:40

Mid-Atlantic Council Votes to Increase Illex Squid Quota

Today the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to increase the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) for Illex squid by 2,000 metric tons (mt) for 2019 and 2020 after reviewing recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). This is an increase of approximately 8% above the ABC originally approved by the Council. In 2017, the Council established a 24,000 mt ABC for 2018, 2019, and 2020. >click to read<15:42

Montauk Lobstermen Recall Their ‘Speck In The Sea’ Ordeal

John Aldridge was literally little more than a speck in the sea after being thrown off his lobster boat, the Anna Mary, on July 24, 2013. A crowd was all ears on Friday evening at the Montauk Library for an interactive lecture and book-signing of “A Speck in the Sea” headed by Debbie Tuma, a journalist and Montauk native, as Mr. Aldridge explained the ordeal of being lost at sea for 12 hours on what had started out as a routine lobster fishing trip. Then she asked for Mr. Sosinki’s take on the lost-at-sea misadventure.,,, When he realized Mr. Aldridge was missing, the boat was 62 miles from land—it had been 8 miles off the shore when they last saw Mr. Aldridge. >click to read<13:28

Always Top Quality! Your Seafreeze Ltd. Price Sheet for October 2018 Has Arrived!

Contact our sales team today @ 401 295 2585 or 800 732 273 For the complete price list from Seafreeze Ltd., >Click here< – We are Direct to the Source-We are Fishermen-We are Seafreeze Ltd! >Click here< to visit our website 12:53

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: H & H 40′ Lobster/Scalloper/Tuna, 470HP Lugger, 9 KW Generator

Specifications, information and 31 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< Vessel is very clean and well kept. Seller is not fishing with this vessel.12:22

Court rejects fishermen’s challenge to Equinor’s Empire Wind

A D.C. district court rejected an attempt by commercial fishing groups to block a wind project off the coast of New York on Sunday, siding with developer Equinor ASA and the Interior Department. The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which represents scallop fishermen who work off the Atlantic coast, claimed that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had violated two federal laws when it awarded Equinor, formerly Statoil, the $42 million rights to assess potential for wind turbines in a 127-square-mile block in 2016.,, The agency issued the lease without considering the interests of fishermen within that area, said the FSF, joined by several local seafood and fishing associations and three towns in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey. >click to read<11:40

NH delegation requests Hampton Harbor emergency dredging while Depoe Bay Mayor ready to do jail time for dredging

The congressional delegation from New Hampshire is requesting that emergency dredging of Hampton Harbor be included in the Army Corps of Engineers’ work plan for the 2019 fiscal year. The plan must be submitted to Congress no later than Nov. 20. Sand shoals in the harbor are causing serious issues for those who navigate the waters for work and recreation. The channel is currently only 20 to 30 feet wide in some places and at least two boats have gotten stuck on the shoals this season. >click to read< Declaring her intent to save the town’s harbor from an onslaught of muddy silt, Mayor Barbara Leff said she would do anything — including jail time — to dig the harbor out of trouble following a futile plea for help to federal officials. “We’ve done all the political things we can to get the harbor dredged,”, >click to read<10:49

A life at sea – A swordfishing pioneer remembered

Legendary swordfish and tuna boat captain Warren Cannon passed away recently after a body surfing accident in St. Augustine. On Saturday, Sept. 29, Cannon’s ashes were scattered in the water off Longboat Pass and his adventurous life was then celebrated at the Swordfish Grill in Cortez.,,, “My dad started when he was about 17 in Cortez with Walter Bell, who gave him his first break running the Rachel Belle. He met my mother when he was 29. They started their swordfish empire, and he quickly became, arguably, the best swordfish captain everPhoto’s,>click to read<08:51

Legendary swordfish captain remembered – “I needed to remind him all the time that we won the Civil War,” Tom Ring said. “But I’ve always said that if I was flat broke and needed to make a trip to earn some money, he’d be the guy. He just had the feel for it. He’d stick his nose out the window and sniff. A half mile later, he’d sniff again and maybe make a correction. It was like he could smell it.” >click to read< 10/4/2016 09:36