Monthly Archives: October 2018
F/V AMG: ‘No safety issues’ found on shrimp boat beached in Ormond
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a 77-foot shrimping boat on Wednesday which remained grounded on Ormond Beach as curious people continued snapping pictures and selfies of the 150-ton vessel.,,, The Coast Guard boarded the boat on Wednesday to see if it could be safely pulled out to sea, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Dickinson on Wednesday morning. “They found no safety issues or water intrusion,” Dickinson said. >click to read<15:38
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 46′ x 18′ 4″ Novi Lobster/Gillnetter, 6 Cylinder Detroit, Northern Lights12 KW
Specifications, information and 15 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< Vessel is in good condition. Federal Permit with Lobster Area 4, Black Sea Bass, Monkfish A, Scup, Summer Flounder for additional $125,000. 13:42
Charges, defendants added to lobster wholesaler’s lawsuit alleging embezzlement
A lawsuit by a Saco lobster wholesaler that alleges a partner in the business embezzled more than $1.5 million has been moved to federal court and expanded with new defendants and RICO charges. The original lawsuit was filed in August in York County Superior Court. It was moved this month to U.S. District Court in Portland. The wholesaler, Sea Salt, which also operates a restaurant on Route 1 in Saco, alleges that the man overseeing the company’s shipping operation, Matthew Bellerose of Scarborough, set up a sham customer,,, >click to read<13:03
Snow crab up, king crab quota down in Bering Sea
It’s not much, but there is a red king crab season. And snow crab is up 45 percent, and Tanners are down slightly, but at least that one will go forward due to a revised harvest strategy.,, Nichols expects fewer boats fishing this year, with fishermen combining quotas onto one boat that otherwise would have been fished by two vessels, because of the harvest reduction leading to the efficiency move. At least there is a red king crab season, despite earlier fears of a complete cancelation, according to Unalaska Mayor Frank Kelty. >click to read<11:30
Harry Schiffman honored for decades of fighting for Dare’s watermen
On the cusp of a long-awaited breakthrough in securing the navigability of Oregon and Hatteras Inlets, Wanchese resident Harry Schiffman pondered the decades-long quest to achieve that goal. “People who aren’t on the water in our inlets don’t understand what a miraculous opportunity we have set before us,” he told the Sentinel. “It’s a gigantic step in the right direction, but we’re not done yet.” The breakthrough came in May when the state legislature earmarked $15 million for the purchase of a shallow draft hopper dredge that will be based and primarily used in Dare County. >click to read<10:43
Despite Hurricane Michael, Eastern Shipbuilding Keeps Working
In a display of resilience, Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Florida is already getting back to work after Hurricane Michael, despite the storm’s devastating impact on the Florida Panhandle. However, yard manager Justin Smith says that only 100 out of 800 workers have returned to their duties so far, and many of them have lost their homes. “We are a family at Eastern Shipbuilding,” Smith said in a statement. Eastern says that it is helping to feed and take care of its employees’ families in order to help workers return to the yard.,,, Unfortunately, one of Eastern’s commercial shipbuilding orders suffered damage due to the storm. The newly-launched trawler North Star partially capsized in St. Andrews Bay during the hurricane,>click to read<09:41
Belliveaus Cove lobster outfit goes belly up
A company charged with purchasing lobster caught out of season by Aboriginal fishermen has gone into receivership. Grant Thornton is acting as receiver for Guang Da International. The company was charged this spring by Fisheries and Oceans Canada with purchasing lobster caught under an aboriginal communal fishing licence that doesn’t allow for sale. >click to read<07:51
Cows Trample Dozens Of Lobsters To Death In Escalating Surf ’N’ Turf War
In what is being described as the most ruthless act of bovine–crustacean violence in years, local authorities confirmed Monday that a charging herd of cattle had trampled 49 lobsters to death on the southern coast of Maine, marking a bloody escalation in their surf ’n’ turf war. According to reports, the shoreline at Crescent Beach State Park was littered with crushed claws and carapaces, the deadliest hit yet in a week of intensifying conflict between lobsters and cows. The fragile 16-month truce between the rivals is said to have been shattered Sunday,,, >click to read<19:30
What Happens When Humans Fall In Love With An Invasive Species
Some people miss the glory days of Lester River fishing even when evidence suggests that Lake Superior and the people who rely on it are better off now. Facts, it turns out, can’t always sway emotion or reshape business plans. And these issues are not unique to smelt. All over the world, you’ll find invasive species that are beloved by humans — even as these foreign plants and animals alter or damage the environment. The fight against invasive species is often framed as a technological problem — how do you selectively eliminate a species once it’s made itself at home in an environment? But in reality, it’s also a question of human hearts and minds. And those might be the harder obstacle to clear. >click to read<19:00
Canada MPA’s – Ban oil, gas, bottom trawling in marine protected areas, urges panel
A panel that has spent the year studying marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canada says no oil and gas development, seabed mining, or bottom-trawling fishing should be allowed within their boundaries. In its final report released Tuesday, the National Advisory Panel on Marine Protected Area Standards, which was created earlier this year by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, recommended that the federal government adopt International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) standards and guidelines for all MPAs. That would also make dumping off-limits.>click to read<18:09
MPA’s – Report silent on whether lobster fishing should be allowed – >click to read<15:07
Shrimper runs aground on Ormond Beach
A 77-foot commercial shrimping boat out of Key West ran aground on Ormond Beach, giving beachgoers a close-up gaze at the 150-ton vessel Tuesday morning as the U.S. Coast Guard worked to get it pulled back out of the sand.
The boat named the AMG was reported taking on water and aground just north of the Cardinal Drive beach approach about 8:23 p.m. Monday, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. It was believed to be a shrimping boat. >click to read<12:49
United In Protest Fishery – “We’re going fishing for mackerel Wednesday evening,”
Inshore harvesters on Newfoundland’s northeast coast plan to hold a protest fishery for mackerel Wednesday evening over the decision by Fisheries and Oceans to shut down the Atlantic fishery, while leaving it open for harvesters from the Maritimes. “We’re going fishing for mackerel Wednesday evening,” says Brad Rideout, who fishes out of Robert’s Arm. “DFO can either shut down the entire Atlantic mackerel fishery or give quota to Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters. Fair is fair, and nothing about this is fair.” >click to read<
Herschel, the Very Hungry Sea Lion
On a December day, the view at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks looks like a scene from a film noir.,, The locks were also the stage for the antics of one of the best-known bandits in Seattle history. A sea lion named Herschel, along with his gang of other hungry pinnipeds, ambushed steelhead traveling through the locks to their spawning grounds in the Lake Washington basin in the 1980s and ’90s. When the run crashed, locals were quick to place blame—sea lions were the obvious culprits. >click to read<09:21
Third North Atlantic Right Whale Mortality of 2018 Confirmed
On Sunday, October 14, the NOAA vessel Henry B. Bigelow reported a sighting of a whale carcass floating about 100 miles east of Nantucket. After review of photographs by experts today, the carcass has been confirmed to be a North Atlantic right whale. The whale was at least 35 feet long, making it a sub-adult. This is the third known right whale mortality of 2018. The carcass is severely decomposed, but photographs show multiple wounds indicative of human interaction. The initial examination revealed marks consistent with entanglement. However, at this stage is it too early to speculate on the cause of the death. >click to read<08:16
Stone crab season off to promising start in Florida Keys
The state’s stone crab fishery should expect to take a hit this season from the red tide algae bloom that’s been plaguing Florida’s west coast for months, but the Keys, which accounts for 65 percent of the harvest of the sought-after claws, does not appear to be affected. The eight-month commercial season began Monday, with fishermen pulling traps that have been soaking for the past 10 days. Monday afternoon, boats were still coming back from the water, but Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association, said captains were reporting a promising first day. >click to read<20:58
Raising baby eels. “Why not keep that value at home?”
Sushi lovers will tell you that full-grown eels, called unagi, are pretty tasty. That’s why Sara Rademaker started raising baby eels a few years ago … in her basement near the coast of Maine. “It was like dingy stones, a dirt floor and a glorified large aquarium with a couple of tanks,” she says. “And also we had butchered a pig. So that was hanging. It was quite the scene … with like an exposed light bulb.” Each spring, Rademaker has watched as local fishers netted baby eels from Maine’s clean, cold rivers and sold them to unagi-loving Asian nations. Some years, those foreign importers pay thousands of dollars per pound, each one containing about 2,500 of the toothpick-thin, transparent wrigglers often referred to as “glass eels.” >click to read<18:52
Sam Parisi, The Headline – Lawmakers to Trump: Keep Marine Monument protections – My response
First, and foremost, I would like to thank, and publicly recognize the local politicians that didn’t sign onto this letter, and as they always do, support the remnants of the storied Gloucester fishing fleet, Bruce Tarr, and Anne Margaret Farrante, and Brad Hill. I applaud your courage. With that said, Just how much of our fishing grounds, and economic opportunity can we continue to lose? Do these lawmakers know anything about these grounds, other than the partisan talking points, and perceived conservation benefits presented by the supporters of the take over of, and creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument? >click to read<16:40
FISH-NL: Northern cod fall fishery a circus, breeding unrest and contempt between fishermen and fleets
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) calls FFAW/Unifor-orchestrated changes to this fall’s northern cod stewardship fishery a circus, and the most divisive to date.
“Make no mistake, the changes to the 2018 management plan came from the FFAW, and they’re breeding unrest and contempt between fishermen and fleets,” says Jason Sullivan, Captain of FISH-Nl’s under 40-foot fleet. The 2018 management plan for the northern cod stewardship fishery off eastern Newfoundland and Labrador (fishing zones 2J,3KL) set the quota at 9,500 tones, and gave inshore harvesters two options >click to read<13:07
Is Brexit about to rewrite the rules for fishing on the English Channel?
French fishermen are anxious to avoid a Brexit that could shut them out of British territorial waters, while in British ports, trawlermen hope such moves could reinvigorate their fishing industry. The “Scallop Wars” in August saw French boats attack British ones in the Seine Bay off the Normandy coast. Paris had banned French boats from scalloping in the area between May and October to preserve the stocks. So when British boats exercised their rights to go for them, a French flotilla mustered, hurling rocks and smoke bombs and ramming the UK trawlers. >click to read<10:52
Victorian trawl fishers cheer as massive seismic survey rejected
The trawl fishing industry is relieved the national offshore regulator has rejected plans for a massive seismic survey off the Victorian coast. French company CGG Services planned to map 16,850km square of the seabed, east of Melbourne, for oil and gas reserves. CGG Services applied to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for a permit to survey off the coast of Ninety Mile beach over a seven-month period. >click to read<09:21
Man accused of illegally fishing for baby eels headed back to court
A former Shinnecock Indian Nation tribal member charged last year with illegally fishing for baby eels was caught as part of a larger sting operation by state conservation police who were briefing the governor’s office but not tribal leaders, state records released during his trial show. The first phase of David Taobi Silva’s trial for harvesting so-called glass eels took place Aug. 30 in Southampton Town Justice Court before Judge Gary Weber without an immediate conclusion, he said. >click to read<08:55
Falmouth and New Bedford Battle Across Buzzards Bay for Northeast Fisheries Science Center
A dispute across Buzzards Bay may break out between Falmouth and the City of New Bedford. The Falmouth Board of Selectmen has been working to keep the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. Other elected officials in the area have also been lobbying for NOAA to keep the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole for weeks. >click to read<17:36
Habitat: River Herring, key to coastal health, slowly returning to rivers
A little fish on the East Coast that once provided vital protein for American colonists and bait for generations of New England lobstermen is slowly making a comeback after falling victim to lost habitat and environmental degradation. River herring once appeared headed to the endangered species list, but they’re now starting to turn up in rivers and streams at a rate that fishing regulators say is encouraging. The fish is a critical piece of the ecosystem in the eastern states, where it serves as food for birds and larger fish. >click to read<14:06
Wooden boat lover chief of volunteers keeping historic boat-building alive in Deltaville
One of the best things about the Deltaville Maritime Museum on the Middle Peninsula is the way it quite literally keeps the region’s boat-building history alive. John England is the main man doing that, building everything from crab skiffs to Chesapeake Bay deadrises in a shop dedicated to crafting boats the way it’s been done in the region since the 1800s. >click to read<11:32
Coast Guard Assists Hurricane Michael Response Effort
First responders have swung into action in the wake of Hurricane Michael, providing assistance to survivors and beginning the difficult task of searching for the missing. 17 deaths have been confirmed so far, and teams are still combing the debris left by the storm. As of Thursday night, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that it had assisted 232 people and rescued 40 across the breadth of the disaster zone. In Panama City, a Coast Guard shallow-water response team assisted more than 140 residents at a rehabilitation center, providing food, water, and oxygen for the patients and helping them board buses for relocation. >click to read<11:19
King crabbing set to begin with record low quota
Bering Sea commercial crabbing starts next week, with the smallest quota for Bristol Bay red king crab in over 30 years of 4.3 million pounds, a 35 percent decrease from last year’s 6.6 million pounds. The last time there was such a low number when a fishery was held was in 1985, at 4.1 million pounds, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Assistant Area Management Biologist Ethan Nichols, in Unalaska. >click to read<08:29
Confrontation: Far North locals blaming commercial fishing for dwindling fish stock
A group of Far North locals who blame commercial fishermen for their dwindling fish stock are taking matters into their own hands. Karikari Peninsula residents are petitioning the Government for a change in the rules but are also having confrontations on the water. Karikari Peninsula community leader Thomson Lawrence said, “We’ve lived here all our lives and we know the stock numbers have dropped off. Video, >click to read<07:56
A vessel for their dreams: Volunteers work to finish replica of oyster dredge
Out on Oyster Bay on a dreary, drizzly day, the 117-year-old Joseph B. Glancy was raking oysters from the bay floor. At the same time, in a blue-gray metal shed on the southern shore of the bay, volunteers were working with two professional shipwrights to bring to life a reproduction of the Ida May, a sister ship of the Glancy. To ensure that Oyster Bay’s rich maritime history remains living history and not something just learned in school or at a museum, a nonprofit organization has been working for seven years to build a new Ida May. The Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corp.’s initial intention was to restore the original Ida May, which plucked oysters and clams from Oyster Bay from 1925 to 2003. But it deteriorated beyond repair while the restoration effort was being organized and was demolished in late 2010. >click to read<16:23
Ropes are latest flashpoint in tug of war over right whales
The lobster industry is willing to consider switching to weaker rope to protect the endangered right whale from deadly entanglements, but whale defenders say that doesn’t go far enough to help a species that can’t bear even one more death. A team of scientists, regulators, animal rights groups and fishermen met this week in Providence to review proposals,,, The team is advising the National Marine Fisheries Service on how to prevent whales from getting entangled in fishing gear as they migrate, feed and mate as they travel back and forth along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. >click to read<11:54
“It’s always excitement”- Baby lobster numbers point to healthy future for P.E.I. fishery
A cage filled with rocks on the ocean floor seems like a strange place for a nursery, but for baby lobsters, it’s the ideal place to grow — and it’s how the Prince Edward Island Fisherman’s Association (PEIFA) works to study and predict the health of Island lobster stocks. For nine years now the PEIFA, with support from the province and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), has been putting 30 collectors — mesh-bottom cages filled with rocks — at seven sites around P.E.I., to attract baby lobsters and learn from them. Photo’s, >click to read<
