Monthly Archives: November 2018
Upcoming vote could be ‘devasting’ for New England clams
While New Bedford gains its notoriety as the scallop capital of the world, Massachusetts is known for its clam chowder. A New England Fisheries Management Council meeting in Newport scheduled for Tuesday could affect the latter. An afternoon agenda item will discuss the possibility of closing an area in Nantucket Shoals, that the clam industry calls vital to its survival… To prevent the action, the surf clam industry has rallied together and sought the legal services of former New Bedford mayor and attorney Scott Lang. The coalition consists of Atlantic Capes, Seawatch International, Nantucket Sound Seafood, and Intershell Seafood International. Together, the group consists of only about 15 vessels harvesting clams in the area southeast of Chatham and east of Nantucket. >click to read<22:05
Don Mathews – Reflections of a life on the water
The Newport waterfront is less rich today for the passing of a man who’s determined spirit exemplified the fishing life. A Springfield native who helped pioneer and innovate the Alaska fisheries in the 1970s, Don Mathews was best known on the central coast for piloting crab boats through winter seas and for launching Marine Discovery Tours to help share his knowledge and love of the ocean. Don died at age 69 on Nov. 9 after a battle with cancer. His determination to carve a niche in a brutal world, the struggle to balance family with his own craving for the next fishing season, and his sense of humor and willingness to lend his neighbor a hand are stories that go to the very bone of this harbor. As the surf pounded restlessly in the view from the Mathews home this week, his wife Fran remembered a shared life stretching back three and half decades — to the Alaska port of Kodiak where it all started. >click to read<18:09
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for November 30, 2018
>Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here<15:50
Breaking: Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Shakes Alaska, Damaging Roads, Buildings
In Anchorage, Alaska, people took refuge under tables and fled outdoors on Friday morning, as a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck just north of the city. Some roads, bridges and buildings have been damaged, and schools and some businesses are shuttered for the day. Gov. Bill Walker has issued a declaration of disaster. Anchorage police report “major infrastructure damage” across the city. “Many homes and buildings are damaged,” the police department says. “Many roads and bridges are closed.” A tsunami warning was temporarily issued for coastal regions of Cook Inlet and the Southern Kenai Peninsula, but it has since been canceled. >click to read<14:54
Trump administration readies to lease Atlantic offshore for oil exploration
The Trump administration Friday authorized five companies to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas off the East Coast from Delaware to central Florida, prompting protests from environmental groups. Opponents argued sound waves from seismic blasts not only would harm ocean species, including a declining right whale population, but would represent a first step toward offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in 30 years.,, The governors of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia have taken stands against testing and drilling. In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal has expressed concerns but hasn’t taken a formal position. >click to read<
FISH-NL: Ottawa’s delay of harp seal count unacceptable
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says a delay by Fisheries and Oceans in carrying out a count of the harp seal population is unacceptable.
Further, Ottawa’s failure to adopt an ecosystem approach to fisheries management — which would include the massive impact of harp seals — undermines its commitment to rebuilding East Coast fish stocks. “The federal government seems to be purposely downplaying the impact of harp seals at the continued peril of Newfoundland and Labrador’s commercial fisheries,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. >click to read<12:52
We’ll take your lobsters, eh? Canadian imports from US soar
Trade hostility from across the ocean was supposed to take a snip out of the U.S. lobster business, but the industry is getting a lifeline from its northern neighbor. Heavy demand from Canada is buoying American lobster as both countries head into the busy holiday export season, according to federal statistics and members of the industry. It’s a positive sign for U.S. seafood dealers and fishermen, even as the industry struggles with Chinese tariffs.,, >click to read<12:05
Florida Shrimp Boat Deck-Hand Arrested For Undersized Lobster Tails
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, officers boarded the commercial shrimp boat Three Princess off Key West on November 28. While onboard, the officers found three large sacks of spiny lobster hidden beneath sacks of shrimp in the below-deck freezer. In total, there were 101 spiny lobster, and 33 of them were undersized. A deck-hand admitted to harvesting all of the lobster, without the other deck-hands knowledge. The crewmember was arrested and booked into the Monroe County Detention facility on numerous misdemeanor charges. >click to read<09:29
Wasteful Regulation: British fisherman throw two TONS of sea bass worth £20,000 back into the sea due to strict EU fishing quotas
This is the extraordinary moment a fisherman was forced to throw two tons of sea bass worth £20,000 back into the sea due to strict European Union fishing quotas. Joel Dunn, 32, recorded one of his crew plucking sea bass from the huge catch and hurling them one by one back into the waters after accidentally catching the fish as part of their haul. EU rules designed to protect sea bass from over-fishing mean catches with more than three per cent sea bass must be put back. >click to read<08:16
Get fresh herring and help kids battling cancer this Saturday
Come get your fresh herring! For the 8th year in a row the Finest at Sea and ‘Fishermen Helping Kids with Cancer’ are hosting a fundraiser for kids battling cancer. But this isn’t just any fundraiser, it’s a fresh herring sale, and it’s put together purely by the passion of volunteers who know that 100% of the proceeds go directly to kids with cancer. Last year’s sale raised $106,598! The annual fundraiser was inspired by the 17-year-old daughter of a commercial BC fisherman who was battling cancer. >click to read, buy some herring!<07:36
Fishermen to NOAA: ‘We spend more time getting away from the fish than we do catching the fish’
The fishing industry pleaded with NOAA on Thursday afternoon for the one thing the agency couldn’t promise: urgency. “Unfortunately with the management process that we have, to abide by the law, which obviously we have to do as a federal agency, we have to abide by the law,” NOAA’s Northeast Regional Administrator Mike Pentony said. “We are subject to constraints. It is very difficult for us to react, to change quickly.” A roundtable discussion,,, The roundtable looked at what vision the fishermen and NOAA have for the groundfish industry and then touched on quota. A common theme emerged from the fishing industry as it pelted Pentony with grave concerns regarding the future of the groundfish fishery. “This is the very bottom and the most discouraged mount of fishermen that I’ve seen since I’ve been involved in fisheries and that goes back to the mid-70s,” fisherman Ed Barrett said. “I can’t tell you how bad it is. You can ask any fishermen,” fisherman Ron Borjeson said. “We spend more time getting away from the fish than we do catching the fish.”>click to read<19:03
Yarmouth and Shelburne County fishermen rally to help one of their own
Fishermen in Yarmouth and Shelburne counties have rallied together to help one of their own after the vessel The Extreme One sunk at the Lower East Pubnico wharf late Wednesday afternoon, just days before the lobster season is set to begin. Fishing boat captain Brandon Surette and his crew had just finished loading all their lobster pots and gear when the incident happened on Nov. 28.,,, Hundreds of fishermen and community members filled the wharf helping with the recovery effort, including the East Pubnico Volunteer Fire Department.“It’s a big community effort,” said Malone. Lots of photo’s of lots of wonderful people. >click to read<16:54
Canada considers mandatory EPIRB’s on all fishing vessels, shift Coast Guard from DFO to Transport Canada
An emergency distress beacon should be made mandatory on all commercial fishing vessels in Canada within two years, according to a Senate study released Thursday that looks at Canada’s search and rescue system at sea. “We believe the time has come. They are mandatory in other countries. It should be mandatory here,” said Sen. Jim Munson, a member of the Senate fisheries committee, which issued the report.,, The Senate report recommends a pilot program to test using commercial helicopter search and rescue in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the North. The report suggests a private company could offer round-the-clock service. >click to read<15:58
Following weather delay lobster fishery will get underway on Saturday, Dec. 1
The lobster fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia and along the province’s south shore will open on Saturday. Under ideal weather conditions the season would have begun on Monday, Nov. 26, but winds this week pushed the start of the season back to Dec. 1. In LFA 34 (which takes in all of Yarmouth County and parts of Shelburne and Digby counties) boats will leave their wharfs at 6 a.m. on Saturday. In LFA 33, which extends from Shelburne County to Halifax County, boats will depart at 7 a.m. >click to read<12:40
Pricetag of Asian Carp Defense Project Climbs to $778 Million
The forecasted pricetag of a planned Asian carp defense system near Joliet, Illinois that would hopefully prevent the invasive species from infiltrating the Great Lakes has now climbed to $778 million, up from an initial estimate of $275 million, according to an update last week from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As reported by the Detroit News, the project, which would be finished sometime between 2025 and 2027, will now be reviewed by state and federal agencies. If Congress funds the initiative, an electric barrier would be installed as well as underground speakers to essentially blast noise at fish to stop them in their tracks northbound. >click to read<12:12
McGuire tackles crabbing, whale entanglement issues at committee hearing
“Domoic acid levels in the Pacific this year have been trending upwards, especially in Northern California,” McGuire said at the start of the hearing, held at Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco. “Humboldt, Del Norte and southern Oregon have appeared as hot spots along the West Coast.” And while the 2015 crabbing season and spike in entanglements was one of the more talked-about issues during the hearing, McGuire added, “We do not expect another statewide closure like we saw in 2015.” This year alone, there have been 27 confirmed whale entanglements. That’s down from the 71 reported in 2016, but it is still more than double the state average.>click to read<10:31
Clam controversy – There is much at stake, like a lot of jobs.
In June, at the Intershell dock on Commercial Street, owners Monte and Yibing Gao Rome launched their new 55-foot surf clam boat, F/V Bing Bing, amid the hoopla and happiness associated with a new Gloucester boat going into the water. But on Tuesday, Intershell and the other major surf clammers along the Northeast will find out if they still have a surf clam fishery to call home in the lucrative and historically rich Great South Channel of the Nantucket Shoals. The New England Fishery Management Council, in a trailing action to its Omnibus 2 Essential Fish Habitat Amendment, will decide if a large swath of the current surf clam fishery, 10 to 20 miles east and southeast of Nantucket, will remain open to surf clamming or possibly be closed as part of a protectionist move to designate the full area as an essential fish habitat. >click to read<22:45
New Bedford Fishing Boat Captain Sentenced
The former captain of a New Bedford fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael, a/k/a “The Codfather,” was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for interfering with a U.S Coast Guard (USCG) inspection of a fishing boat off the Massachusetts coast. Thomas D. Simpson, 57, of South Portland, Maine, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years of probation, with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring, and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In August 2018, Simpson pleaded guilty to one count of destruction or removal of property subject to seizure and inspection. Simpson was the captain of the fishing vessel Bulldog,,, >click to read<18:04
Lobster season off southwest Nova Scotia postponed again due to bad weather
The federal Fisheries Department confirmed today that industry representatives from Lobster Fishing Area 33, which extends from Halifax to the southwestern tip of the province, have decided to open their season on Saturday at 7 a.m. About 700 fishing boats are expected to dump their traps that day, unless the weather again turns foul. In Lobster Fishing Area 34, which includes 970 boats that work the waters off the province’s western edge, fishermen and federal officials decided today to put off their final decision until a conference call is held Thursday morning. >click to read<17:31
Hatchery salmon help Alaska avert fishery disaster
Around mid-August this year, the fishing season in Southeast Alaska looked grim. Some areas had posted the lowest pink salmon landings since the 1970s, and the total pink catch would end up at just around 70 percent of the paltry 23 million fish forecast. For comparison, the 18 million pinks caught in 2016 prompted a disaster declaration from the federal government. But at the end of August, something unexpected happen. Hatchery chum salmon from the National Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (NSRAA) remote release site at Crawfish Inlet, 40 miles south of Sitka, returned in unprecedented numbers, providing a massive shot in the arm for the industry. >click to read<16:38
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 79′ Master Marine Steel Stern Trawler, CAT 3508, Federal and State permits
Specifications, information and 12 photos >click here< John Deere – 65 KW Genset, Detriot 2-71 – 20 K Genset, This vessel has good towing power as the 59 1/2″ x 63″ propeller turns 400 RPM inside the 60″ nozzle. To see all the boats in this series, >click here<14:25
Friendship Lobsterman Pleads No Contest to Arson
The Friendship lobsterman whose feud with another fisherman led him and his sternmen to torch the other man’s Waldoboro boathouse has pleaded no contest to arson more than six years after the fire. James R. Simmons, 43, entered the plea at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Wiscasset on Tuesday, Nov. 27. A second charge of arson was dismissed. He will be sentenced in January. >click to read<12:56
California seeks plan to protect whales and Dungeness crab fishery
Whales are a big deal, literally, as the most majestic, largest animals swimming off our shore. What the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has done in the past several years with our partners to prevent whale entanglements in fishing gear is a big deal, too.,, That is why our department is taking actions to protect the whales and our prized crab fishery. The department is working to create a conservation plan that will analyze the effects of crab fishing on whales, identify steps to minimize the risk of whale entanglements in the crab fishing gear, secure funding to implement the plan, and submit it to the federal government for needed approval. >click to read<12:14
America’s Finest – Waiver for fishing vessel makes it through Congress
A waiver for the $75 million ship America’s Finest is headed to the president for a signature following approval from both chambers of Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a waiver Tuesday that will allow the fishing vessel to be used in U.S. waters when it approved the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen’s office. The ship was built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes. >click to read<10:49
Money Talks – Vineyard Wind given more time to meet fishermen’s concerns
At the request of Vineyard Wind, the Coastal Resources Management Council agreed to postpone a decision until the end of January on whether to grant what’s known as a “consistency certification” to the 800-megawatt offshore wind farm proposed in 118 square miles between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. The delay will give the company more time to discuss a compensation package with fishermen and potential tweaks to the wind farm’s layout, said CEO Lars Pedersen. “It requires more time to find the right solutions,” he said. “We recognize that it is a challenging situation.” But representatives of the fishing industry argued against the stay. “We’ve tried — 14 months, countless hours, countless days not at sea — and it just seems like they’re stalling,” said Newport fisherman Todd Sutton. >click to read<10:19
Letter: Fishermen need federal help
It is time to wake up. I read in Fishery Nation about protesters and fishermen opposed to a hotel on the waterfront in Portland, Maine. It seems their city fathers are having a difficult time turning those developers down due to less commercial fishing in their town. I can understand it is hard for them to turn down hotels and other businesses. We in Gloucester face the same. Our fisherman can be displaced and new developments can perhaps provide more tax dollars to the city, but at our fisherman’s expense. >click to read<09:23
Salmon surge: Habitat improvements paying off on one California river
Near record numbers of chinook salmon are surging up the Mokelumne River, marking the second large spawning year in a row and signaling to fisheries biologists that habitat improvements in recent years are paying off for fish and the people who eat the pinkish delicacies.,,,It is expected to be the best two-year run on the river since records started being kept in 1940, a significant accomplishment given how dismal salmon returns have been over the past three years in virtually every other waterway in California, including the Sacramento River, which last year saw its lowest returns in eight years. >click to read<08:58
ICCAT Meeting Ends After ‘Spectacular Failure’ to Protect Bigeye Tuna
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) concluded its annual plenary meeting on November 19 after a spectacular failure to arrive to a comprehensive agreement on badly needed management measures to address the present poor state of Atlantic bigeye tuna stock. Bigeye tuna is highly coveted by sashimi markets worldwide, similar to bluefin tuna. ICCAT’s eight-day meeting, held this year in Dubrovnik, Croatia, was attended by over 700 people representing 52 countries. The U.S., Canada, South Africa and a handful of other nations strongly advocated for the adoption of measures that would end overfishing immediately and rebuild the stock within 10 years. However, >click to read<20:21
Montauk lobsterman cuts two tangled bucks free stuck in mating season battle
Anthony Sosinski, 50, a Montauk lobsterman, didn’t hesitate when he saw two bucks tangled in more than a mating season battle last week. Logan Erb, 25, of Montauk, said her pit bull first noticed the two bucks tumbling around her neighbor’s yard Nov. 20. The animals were joined by a piece of deer fencing that only seemed to tighten as they struggled to break free, so Erb ran to Sosinski for help. “He grabbed a knife and just went after them,” said Erb, who was recording the encounter. Sosinski, co-author of the book, “A Speck in the Sea: A Story of Survival and Rescue,” pursued the two male deer as they wildly twisted. >Video, click to read<19:40
Northern Pulp – Senators want full assessment of plan to dump mill effluent off Nova Scotia coast
A group of Independent senators is calling on the Trudeau government to do a full environmental assessment of a “dangerous” plan in Nova Scotia to take effluent from a pulp mill, pipe it 10 kilometres out into the Northumberland Strait, and dump it. In the Red Chamber on Monday, Sen. Mike Duffy called it “a looming environmental crisis in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.”,, Last week, along with Sen. Diane Griffin, a conservationist from P.E.I., they met with representatives of fisheries groups from all three Maritime provinces. “If this scheme is allowed to proceed, it could damage the fishery in the three Maritime provinces, Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, and beyond,” >click to read<18:25
