Monthly Archives: December 2018
Trump signs Coast Guard bill into law, includes Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest
When Dakota Creek Industries took America’s Finest out for its first sea trial on Tuesday 4 December, it looked like the 264-foot vessel was taking a victory lap. The Anacortes, Washington-based shipbuilder held an event that day to celebrate the Jones Act waiver elected officials were able to get for the processor-trawler. Later in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which contained the labor provision, into law. The process itself is not quite finished. The Coast Guard will get 30 days to review information >click to read<12:56
Always Top Quality! Your Seafreeze Ltd. Price Sheet for December 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!10:46
GLOUCESTER S-K GRANT MEETING WITH NOAA WAS CANCELED
Dear readers, I was very disappointed yesterday to find out that NOAA cancelled a meeting in Gloucester to do with SKG money. I had fishermen, and even invited my political delegation members, ready to attend and I wanted to ask NOAA these questions, only to find out that they did not have enough replicants to attend. To me something stinks. I would like a response from them with these three questions. Sam Parisi >click to read<10:30
NOAA’s treatment of wind industry called into question after closure of clamming areas
Offshore wind development appeared on Tuesday’s agenda at a New England Fishery Management Council meeting, however, it wasn’t expected to pop up during discussion on closures affecting the clamming industry. Peter Hughes, a liaison for the Atlantic Council, couldn’t digest the fact that an offshore wind leasing area identified in a similar region extends upwards of 1,400 square miles, while the clamming industry, which sought less than 300 square miles off of Nantucket Shoals, couldn’t receive approval. >click to read<09:34
‘Carp cowboys’ round up invasive Asian carp as Illinois, federal officials debate costly measures to protect Lake Michigan
In Illinois, current strategies have successfully reduced the leading edge of the Asian carp population by 93 percent since 2012, according to sonar scans. By removing more than 1 million pounds of carp annually in the past several years, the state has contained the adult population to the Dresden Island Pool, 47 miles away from Lake Michigan, near Minooka, Ill. But computer modeling suggests it’s not enough. To repel Asian carp, about four times that amount needs to be removed from downstream.,, On Tuesday, near the banks of Sheehan Island where Asian carp like to take refuge, state-contracted fisherman Shawn Price gunned the engine of his boat while his father hit a wooden stick on the side. Minutes later, Shawn Price began pulling in nets chock-full of Asian carp. >click to read<09:01
Survey again shows drop in halibut stocks in Gulf of Alaska
The 2018 stock status report presented to the International Pacific Halibut Commission at its interim meeting on Nov. 27 shows yet another drop in the biomass of Pacific halibut in the North Pacific — about 7 percent down from the 2017 fishery-independent setline survey. That doesn’t mean every single region dropped, as it’s an average, but Alaska’s three main areas of effort — 2C, the entirety of Region 3, and Region 4 excluding the western Aleutian Islands — all dropped. The most significant drop was in Area 2, which stretches from northern California to Southeast, falling 15 percent. Region 3, which stretches across the Gulf of Alaska out to the Alaska Peninsula, fell 7 percent. >click to read<20:19
California man convicted in violent offshore stabbing incident
When the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kingfisher pulled up to the commercial fishing vessel Billy B 46 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico on the night of Aug. 20, 2017, the crew found Captain Noah Gibson and deckhand A.J. Love floating in the dark water, clinging to a life raft and each bleeding from multiple stab wounds. What had started as a routine fishing trip out of Bon Secour ended in a nightmare for the men after Christopher Shane Dreiling stabbed them in a delusional attack and forced them bleeding into the Gulf waters. Last week, Dreiling was convicted in federal court on two counts of assault with intent to commit murder within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. >click to read<18:38
Where did all the lobsters and stone crabs go? How the fishing industry is bouncing back
The red tide algae bloom plaguing Southwest Florida hasn’t hit the Florida Keys. And Hurricane Irma happened more than a year ago. But they’re both affecting the island chain’s commercial fishing industry. That’s a crucial impact because the industry is the second-largest stand-alone economic generator in the Keys next to tourism. Fishing is estimated by the Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association to bring in about $900 million a year to the Monroe County economy. That includes transactions such as fuel sales, dockage fees, and boat and engine repairs. >click to read<18:13
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 65′ Fiberglass Longliner, Cummins 855TA, 40 KW Genset, Fed Permits available
Specifications, information and 35 photo’s >click here< Swordfish Directed, Shark Directed, Atlantic Tuna Longline available for an additional cost. To see all the boats in this series, >click here<12:06
CETA and Atlantic Canada’s fishery: From international trade to the outport stage
As trade grows between Canada and the European Union (EU), the results of this international partnership are washing ashore in fishing outports across the province. The fishery, which was historically the economic foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, is today an industry continuously beset by cuts, declines and uncertainties. But in recent years, words of hope and rebound are growing in the public discourse. With tariffs declining and opportunities arising, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU has the potential to play a key role in the livelihoods of harvesters and processors. >click to read<11:12
Maine: Scallop season opens to positive early reports
The Downeast scallop season got underway this weekend and early reports are that the fleet was active, the fishing good and the price satisfactory. Divers got the first crack at scallops in Blue Hill Bay as their season opened on Saturday. Draggers had to wait until Monday to get out on the water. According to Marine Patrol Sgt. Colin MacDonald, plenty of them did despite less than ideal conditions. Saturday was a good day for diving. Though the temperature was chilly, scallop buyer Joshua Buxton said divers selling to him at the South Blue Hill pier all reported that there was no wind on the bay and that the water wasn’t rough. Monday was a different story,,, >click to read<10:20
A “culture of acceptance”? Fishing fatalities prompt warning amid revelation working on boats more dangerous than mining
The owner of the largest fleet in Australia’s most valuable prawn fishery has called on industry to tackle its safety problems amid revelations fishing is about 25 times more dangerous to work in than mining and construction. Arthur Raptis said a “culture of acceptance” had led many to believe a series of fatal and other serious accidents in recent years was “just part of fishing”. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said five people are killed on fishing boats every year. Mr Raptis said his industry’s track record was “less than average” and unless attitudes changed, unnecessary deaths and serious injuries would continue to happen. >click to read<09:37
Feds planning 2019 protections for North Atlantic right whales
How the federal government will confirm, modify or adapt protective measures for North Atlantic right whales in 2019 remains to be seen, but officials are sharing the initial findings of 2018’s scientific surveys and studies. After a catastrophic loss of 12 right whales in Canadian waters in 2017, no right whales died here this year, but at a technical briefing Tuesday, officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Transport Canada didn’t say whether protections put in place this year were enough — or too much. ,,, Instead they shared key results of a recent peer review of new science by researchers, industry representatives, government officials — as well as scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. — who gathered in Montreal in an effort to reach evidence-based conclusions.>click to read<08:48
Vital surf clam harvesting grounds closed by New England Fisheries Management Council
Clamming captains, business-owners and attorneys huddled in the lobby of the Viking Hotel on Tuesday sharing disbelief and despair over a decision by the New England Fisheries Management Council that will close vital harvesting grounds. “A lot of these guys are going to go out of business,” owner and president of Nantucket Sound Seafood LLC Al Rencurrel said. “Obviously the economic impact, they didn’t view that, did they?” Heading into the meeting, the surf clam industry hoped for the approval of “Alternative 2,” which would continue an exemption in its fishing areas but would modify boundaries including seasonal areas. ,,“It’s sad to say but they’re putting a lot of people out of business right now,” Rencurrel said. “The Conservation Law Foundation drives the bus with these people, obviously. It’s plain as day. It’s too bad they couldn’t help the fishery out.” >click to read<20:34
Fleet of 5 Maine scallop and fishing trawlers sold to New York-based equity firm
A New York-based private equity firm will purchase a Portland scallop and groundfish supply company that manages five of the largest fishing vessels operating in Maine. Blue Harvest Fisheries, a U.S. scallop and whitefish supplier owned by equity firm Bregal Partners, will purchase Atlantic Trawlers Fishing, Undercurrent News reported. Bregal Partners is a private investment firm with $600 million of committed capital funded by a six-generation German-Dutch family. Its board of directors includes the CEO of Bumble Bee Foods, and the chief investment and strategy officer of the Central Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association, who is also on the board of American Seafoods. Atlantic Trawlers Fishing, owned by James Odlin, operates from the Portland Fish Pier and includes the fishing vessels Nobska, Morue, Harmony, Teresa Marie III and Teresa Marie IV. >click to read>16:57
NEFMC votes against limiting access to whiting fishery
New England Fishery Management Council members have shown little collective enthusiasm for limiting access to the Northeast small-mesh whiting fishery and the great majority followed through on that sentiment Tuesday. Convening in Newport, Rhode Island, in the first of its three days of meetings, the council took final action on the measure known as Amendment 22 by voting 13-1 with one abstention to sustain the small-mesh fishery’s status quo as an open fishery. The vote defeated a proposal to establish requirements for limiting the access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery that has grown in popularity among local groundfishermen as other stocks have become less abundant or been subject to stricter management policies. >click to read<16:10
Cooke Aquaculture looks to expand operations – Opponents denounce expansion of fish farm in Liverpool Bay
As Cooke Aquaculture looks to expand its fish farming in Liverpool Bay, residents who oppose the project say the company is ignoring their concerns. In September, the Nova Scotia government granted Kelly Cove Salmon, a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture, permission to look at new sites in the bay. The company has operated one site in the area since 2011, which employs 10 people. Those opposed to the expansion have a number of concerns, including fish-waste pollution, the possibility of cage failures, the use of pesticides to control sea lice and potential negative impacts on sea creatures, like lobster. “It’s all bad. It’s an environmental and fisheries disaster, wherever they go,” >click to read<14:13
On the waterfront: Portland zoning fight takes shape
Is it a restoration of guidelines to preserve the city’s marine traditions and industry? Or is it a Commercial Street catastrophe waiting to be unleashed? That’s how opposing sides are painting a proposed referendum question that would essentially restore the original language and restrictions of waterfront zoning passed by voters in May 1987. If approved, the amendments would be retroactive to Oct. 30, 2018. “They have been chipping away protections, it is a loose, fluid, insecure situation,” fisherman Keith Lane said Nov. 30 about the need to stop waterfront development. >clip to read<13:36
Precautionary approach a step towards stronger fisheries management: DFO – Fishermen concerned
After attending a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) consultation with harvesters in Gander Nov. 21 about the proposed application of a precautionary approach for the species, Neil Stuckless feels his quota could be at risk. According to DFO, a precautionary approach principle would establish the overall health for snow crab in Newfoundland and Labrador. The proposal has three levels of classification – critical, cautious, and, healthy. Based on an area’s health classification, a percentage based total allowable catch (TAC) would be applied. While DFO says it has been working on this approach for some time, it’s the first area harvesters have heard of it.>click tp read<10:49
New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Newport, RI., December 4 thru 6 2018
The New England Fishery Management Council will be meeting at Hotel Viking, Newport, RI, December 4, 2018 –
December 6, 2018. To read the final agenda, >click here< Register for webinar >click here< to listen live. 08:16
Notorious Menhaden Slayer Reb Raymer Released from Prison
Following two years of incarceration for perpetrating a series of fish kills on the East End, prolific mehaden killer Reb Raymer is back on the streets this week. The Hampton Bays resident, who holds a longstanding grudge against the baitfish, also known as bunker, is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of menhaden between June 2015 and November 2016 when he was finally arrested for his crimes. Raymer was convicted of ecoterrorism and cruelty to animals in Hamptons Superior Court early last year,,, >click to read<07:28
Fishermen backing surf clammers in fight over harvest area
Groundfish stakeholders are supporting the surf clam industry’s efforts to retain fishing rights in pockets of the Great South Channel of the Nantucket Shoals as long as the approved management policy does not prompt “mitigations or further habitat restrictions on the groundfish fishery.”,,, On Tuesday, the New England Fishery Management Council, meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, is expected to decide whether one of the more lucrative fishing grounds for the surf clam fishery — 10 to 20 miles east and southeast of Nantucket — will remain open to surf clamming or restricted or closed as part of a protectionist effort to designate the full area as an essential fish habitat that would be off limits to surf clamming dredging gear. >click to read<06:55
A Fundraiser for Injured Crab Fisherman Sean Harvell’s Recovery Fund
On November 26th 2018 while working on a commercial fishing boat, Sean suffered a blow to the head by a crab pot (large crabbing cage). He was rendered unconscious and suffered seizures while en route to the coast guard and then the hospital. He immediately underwent emergency brain surgery to remove pieces of his skull from his brain. Fortunately his surgery went well and he is on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, he has been left with a hole in his skull, needs more surgery ,, Sean had been working on a commercial fishing boat to support his fiancé and two young children. Due to doctors restrictions, he can not travel home before the second surgery. They need some help, >click to read, and please donate if you can.<20:10
Whale conservationist tackles fishing industry
A whale conservationist with a radical style says he intends to move forward with a “whale safety” initiative petition for 2020 in Massachusetts to ban vertical buoy ropes used in commercial fishing, among other efforts to protect whales and sea turtles. “We have to have a paradigm shift,” Richard Maximus Strahan, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, said of his advocacy efforts to stop the death and injury of whales and sea turtles from entanglement in rope used in commercial lobstering, crabbing and gillnetting. >click to read<19:29
North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in in Anchorage, December 3-11, 2018
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet December 3-11, 2018 at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The Agenda and Schedule are available, as well as a list of review documents and their associated posting dates. Listen online while the meeting is in session. www.npfmc.org13:23
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Kitty Hawk, December 3-7, 2018
The public is invited to attend the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to be held at the Hilton Garden Inn/Outer Banks, 5353 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949. Complete Agenda >click here< for details Webinar Registration: >Listen Live, Click here< To visit the SAFMC >click here<12:53
Lobsterman’s wife
My husband gets up around 4 a.m. to go lobstering on days that the weather allows. By 5 o’clock, he’s down at the boat and headed out of the cove, well before I’m getting out of bed and getting the kids ready for school. Once the kids are off, I head to work myself. I don’t worry about my husband constantly, but I do so sporadically throughout the day. A long time ago he told me that I didn’t need to worry about him on the bad weather days, it was the good days that I should think about him more, because those are the days that he might not notice things that are out of place; that he’s comfortable on the boat, not complacent, but secure. continues, >click to read<12:05
‘Dead zone’ worsens troubles for Louisiana shrimpers
Tommy Olander Jr. took his first baby steps on the deck of a 42-by-16-foot Lafitte skiff shrimp trawler. His dad, Thomas Olander, named the boat Tommy Boy after his son, now 25.
“I’d rather be broke and shrimping than get out of it,”,, But Olander did leave the business,,, The Louisiana shrimp industry is facing major economic and environmental challenges including low prices for shrimp, natural disasters, laws to protect endangered turtles and a Delaware-size dead zone with too little oxygen for aquatic life. “The main focus has been about prices,” said Acy Cooper, 58, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. “But there’s also (turtle excluder devices), the dead zone and freshwater diversion.” >click to read<10:09
South Carolina: Local organization speaks out against seismic testing
Friday, seismic testing was given the go-ahead by the National Marine Fisheries Services, which is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year, the U.S. Department of Interior denied the seismic permits. They said the damage caused to marine animals and the fishing industry was not worth it.It is now a go, and Lowcountry organizations are upset because seismic testing is the first step to potentially allowing offshore drilling. “We are extremely against seismic air gun blasts,” Peg Howell, spokesperson for Stop Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic, said. >click to read<20:50
Crew safe after boat sinks on 1st day of lobster fishing season
The Charlene A. began taking on water about 1.5 kilometres off Hacketts Cove, N.S., shortly after leaving the wharf at 7 a.m. The crew turned around and started heading back to port, but the vessel sank 300 to 400 metres offshore. Michael Fralick, uncle of the boat’s captain, said the crew members are shaken up, but otherwise OK. They were in the 5 C water for 10 to 15 minutes before they were picked up, he said. “It was long enough,” Fralick said. “You wouldn’t want to be in it very long. It’s pretty numbing, very cold.” Fralick said the Charlene A. had a complete overhaul this summer, “so we’re thinking something went wrong.” >click to read<19:56
