Monthly Archives: February 2019
Ottawa: Ruling that prevents corporate takeover of inshore fishery upheld
In a decision released Friday, the Federal Appeal Court sided with a 2017 Federal Court decision that upheld Ottawa’s right to prevent the corporate takeover of inshore fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. At issue are controlling agreements used by companies to get around longstanding policies that local fishermen control inshore licences and the profits that come from them. The ruling revolves around the case of Labrador fisherman Kirby Elson, who entered a controlling agreement in 2003 with Quinlan Brothers Ltd. and Labrador Sea Products Inc. that gave the companies total control over every aspect of a licence — even in death. >click to read<
Matt Becker: From Maverick’s to Commercial Fishing and Back
Matt Becker doesn’t remember his first wave. He grew up at the beach with a surfing family in Santa Barbara. Dad taught him to surf as soon as he could swim. Did Junior Lifeguards, water polo, competed in NSSA events — “a typical Southern California beach rat kid,” he laughs.,,, But even if you’re living in a truck, you still need money to eat. Enter commercial fishing. “I took a job up there on a 70-foot crab fishing boat out of Half Moon Bay for a couple years,” said Becker.” >click to read,<11:55
Harriet Didriksen remembered as an irreplaceable fishing industry ‘icon’
New Bedford — A procession of visitors entered a hospital room at St. Anne’s in Fall River last weekend to bid farewell to Harriet Didriksen. Her son, Dana, saw his mother. With each new person who entered the room, he began to see, in many ways, the matriarch of the waterfront. Didriksen died Sunday at age 76. Dana returned to his home in Manhattan on Thursday morning. With each day he spent in the SouthCoast, though, the bond between his mother and the fishing industry grew more and more visible. >click to read<21:00
Boat that sank off Eastern Passage raised as part of investigation
In a community where many make a living on the sea, the loss of a boat — and a life — means watching and waiting. On Thursday, people in Eastern Passage, N.S., watched as crews worked to recover the MV Captain Jim, which sank off Devil’s Island, near the mouth of Halifax Harbour on Jan. 29. The MV Captain Jim sank around 2 a.m. after the commercial boat began taking on water and lost power. After a massive search effort, two people were rescued from the icy water, but one crewman was missing. ?click to read<16:56
Please donate to the Max Hinch Memorial Fund – >click here<
On the waterfront, a special breed of Long Islanders toils in winter
Working on the water sounds like such a great idea. After all, you’ll have a bay or ocean for your daily view, a fresh sea breeze and plenty of sunshine throughout the year. Many watery jobs will also keep you in shape. Imagine lifting crates of oysters, hauling fishing nets, building bulkheads or working as a party-boat mate. For those who love to be outdoors, these jobs hold special allure. Then winter rolls around. And sunny skies, warm weather and inviting breezes morph into roiling waves, sleet, snow and ice, and bone-chilling winds that roar day after day. >click to read<16:10
FISH-NL calls for resurrection of arm’s-length body to bridge massive divide between science and inshore harvesters
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on Ottawa to resurrect the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) to bridge the enormous divide between fishermen and scientists over the state of fish stocks — northern cod in particular. “DFO scientists and inshore harvesters are once again complete strangers, just like in the early 1990s when the commercial fisheries failed,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. >click to read<13:38
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 8, 2019
>Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here<12:57
Lobstermen face more gear restrictions to protect whales
Nearly everywhere but up inside Maine’s many bays, fisheries regulators have forced lobstermen to use sinking rather than floating rope for the groundlines that connect traps on the sea bottom, to limit the number of traps set on a trawl to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water and to install “weak links” in those vertical lines so an entangled whale can break loose. All those mandates, which arose out of discussions at NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT), were hard-fought, expensive and largely unpopular. >click to read<11:22
Canada: Scientist, fishermen applaud loosening of whale-protection restrictions
The federal government is easing restrictions aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales based on data from last year, when no whales were found dead in Canadian waters. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Transport Minister Marc Garneau were in Shippagan on Thursday to announce the changes, which include reducing the area that is out of bounds to fishermen.,, Lobster and crab fishing will not be allowed in the static-closure zone, where 90 per cent of North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were sighted last year. >click to read<21:45
European Fishermen Brace for Brexit – British fishermen may end up having Europe’s richest waters all to themselves. But who’s going to eat all the fish?
The Jannetje Cornelis fishing trawler was built two years ago in Spain. It’s owned by a company in the Netherlands and its crew is largely Dutch. Its home port and registration are in the English city of Hull. And it frequently sells its catch in France, from where it’s typically trucked to Holland for processing before being shipped to supermarkets in Italy and Spain. “We go where the fish is, and this time of year it’s in the English Channel,” skipper Peter de Boor says as a light snow falls over the docks of the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer,,, >click to read<19:14
Fishermen push back on new approach to determine health of snow crab stocks
Fishermen are pushing back this week at a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) plan to bring in a precautionary approach principle to help determine the overall health of snow crab stocks around Newfoundland and Labrador. The approach is used to assess the health of other fishery stocks. The proposal has three levels or zones of classification — critical, cautious and healthy. >click to read<17:15
As the Bering Sea warms, this skipper is chasing pollock to new places
The pollock fishing in the Bering Sea was “about as good as it gets,” skipper Dan Martin said as he steered his 133-foot trawler, the Commodore, over a dense school of the fish last month. From the bridge, Martin watched as his sonar showed the fish streaming into his net – so thick that his instruments couldn’t distinguish the pollock from the ocean floor. After just a few hours of fishing, Martin had filled the Commodore with more than 200 tons of pollock. As the wind and waves picked up, he started the nine-hour run back to Dutch Harbor,,, >click to read<15:20
New drive to reduce lobster fishing gear to help rare whale
Interstate fishing managers are starting the process of trying to reduce the amount of lobster fishing gear off the East Coast in an attempt to help save a declining species of rare whale. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced on Wednesday that it would consider options designed to reduce vertical lobster fishing lines in the water by as much as 40 percent. >click to read<13:48
US, Canada agree on 2019 halibut harvest limits
American and Canadian halibut fishermen finally have an approved set of catch limits for the 2019 season. With the discord of its last annual meeting hanging in the air, the International Pacific Halibut Commission agreed on a set of total allowable catch limits for Pacific halibut in American and Canadian waters during its meeting from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1. The overall catch limit of 38.61 million pounds is slightly up from the 2018 quota — about 1.4 million pounds more. That’s up from 29.9 million pounds in 2016 and from 31.4 million pounds in 2017.,,, >click to read<20:45
North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet February 4-10, 2019 at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon
February 2019 Council Meets in Portland, Oregon, UPDATE on impacts of the Federal Shutdown on the Council meeting. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet February 4-10, 2019 at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon. The Agenda and Schedule (UPDATED 1/31) are available through the links, as well as a list of review documents and their associated posting dates. Listen online while the meeting is in session.20:06
RCMP looking for pair suspected of stealing $1K in lobster from boat in Lunenburg, N.S.
Nova Scotia RCMP are looking for two men suspected of stealing $1,000 worth of lobster from a boat in Lunenburg, N.S. According to police, two suspects entered a boat that was along the dock at a business on Jan. 26 between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. About 130 pounds of lobster was taken. >click to read<19:37
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Osmond Beal (H & H) Lobster, CAT 3306
Specifications, information and 13 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >Click here<15:35
Pressure mounts for a seal harvest in B.C.
Pressure is mounting for a commercial seal harvest in British Columbia after the United States announced it will allow the killing of up to 920 sea lions a year in the Pacific North West to protect endangered wild fish stocks. The American lethal removal program, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, for the first time allows American native tribes to kill sea lions that are threatening endangered salmon and steelhead runs to extinction. Government authorities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho are already allowed to lethally ,,, >click to read<
Atlantic Lobster Board Moves Toward Reducing Rope In Effort To Save Right Whales
A consortium of Atlantic states fisheries managers is calling for broad changes to the gear lobstermen use, in an effort to reduce risks posed to the endangered North Atlantic right whale and to ward off potential federal action that could be even more challenging for the industry. At a meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council in Virginia, its lobster board voted unanimously to set in motion the process that could lead to major changes in the East Coast’s lobster industry. >click to read<12:43
US Pelagic Trawler Picks TMC compressors
Shipbuilder Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors has awarded TMC Compressors of the Seas (TMC) a contract to deliver a complete marine compressed air system for the 100 m long Rolls-Royce designed pelagic trawler the yard is building for Seattle based Arctic Storm Management Group. According to a press release from the Louisiana-based Thoma-Sea, which designs, constructs, and delivers vessels, tugs, and ships for the commercial marine sector,,, >click to read<20:23
N.S. group seeks data on effluent leak from Northern Pulp pipeline
Friends of the Northumberland Strait issued a news release Tuesday saying its membership is frustrated that after more than three months, the province has released no information about the size or cause of the leak last year near Pictou, N.S. Jill Graham-Scanlan, president of the group, said the public should be told the composition of the effluent that leaked and why the pipe break went initially undetected by the pulp and paper firm owned by Paper Excellence. >click to read<19:21
Fisherman fined for fraudulent attempt to get disaster funds
A fishing boat captain, with a home port of Portsmouth, was fined $2,500 and placed on probation for falsifying fishing logs, filed with state Fish and Game officials, to fraudulently obtain fishery disaster-relief funds. David Bardzik, 56, of Ossipee, pleaded guilty in October and the U.S. Attorney’s office announced the sentence on Tuesday. “When the federal government spends money for disaster relief, the funds should only go to those who have been true victims of the disaster,” said U.S. Attorney Scott Murray in a press release. “Those who seek to cheat the system,,, >click to read<17:13
The Work We Do: Nate Phillips, Alice’s Fish Market
[I’m] Nate Phillips, Alice’s Fish Market. It’s a family-owned business for 26 years. I grew up in the fishing industry. I was actually brought home from the hospital straight to the boat. Before they even brought me home, it all kind of started there. You get to see stuff that a lot of people don’t. We do a lot of farmer’s markets. The people that come to those farmer’s markets, they want fresh seafood. >click to read<
Fishermen Want More Time to Negotiate Over Wind
Lanny Dellinger, a Newport, R.I.-based lobsterman and chairman of the Fishermen’s Advisory Board, said fishermen are being rushed to accept a compensation offer for the harm they say will be caused by the Vineyard Wind offshore project. “It’s like being pushed into the (real estate) closing without seeing the appraisal,” Dellinger said.
There’s no doubt that the project developer is in a hurry. Vineyard Wind needs approval from the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) soon so that construction can begin on the 84-turbine project and qualify for a federal tax credit. >click to read<10:38
Coast Guard investigates sunken vessel in New Bedford Harbor
The Coast Guard is investigating what caused a 45-foot fishing vessel to sink early Sunday morning by steamship pier. The Coast Guard received a call from the owner of the fishing vessel Moonraker at 8:17 a.m., according to the agency. The owner discovered the vessel was submerged about a half hour earlier. >click to read<20:45
Shrimp Boat Named ‘Big John’ Washes Ashore in OBX, 3-Man Crew Rescued
Three men were found alive after their shrimp boat named “Big John” washed ashore in the Outer Banks, the National Park Service said Monday. Just after 5 a.m., National Park Service Rangers were called out to assist the U.S. Coast Guard and Hatteras Island Rescue Squad in a search for an overturned vessel near Cape Point. >click to read<19:49
Brussels recommends legal action against Netherlands over pulse fishing permits
Civil servants in Brussels are recommending that legal action be taken against the Netherlands for breaking the rules on pulse fishing, campaign group Bloom said on Monday, quoting a letter from the European Commission. French marine lobby group Bloom made a complaint against the Dutch fishing industry last year. It claims 70 of the 84 Dutch pulse fishing permits were obtained illegally under the pretext of carrying out scientific research. >click to read<19:21
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 1, 2019
>Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here<16:16
Lobstermen in Maine ready for debate over license wait list
There are few things in Maine as coveted as a lobster fishing license, and a proposal to bring dozens of people off the state’s license waiting list has fishermen in the state ready for a debate. More than 200 people are waiting in the wings for a lobstering license, which has long been a ticket to the middle class for working coastal Mainers. But a proposal before a state legislative committee would bring new people into the fishery who have been waiting for 10 or more years. >click to read<12:40
Sablefish season to open with slight increase, along with uncertainty
Alaska’s sablefish fishermen will go into the 2019 season in March with no change to their overall catch limit but some debate about the state of the stock. Sablefish, also known as black cod, regularly opens to fishing in Alaska in March, at the same time as the halibut fishery. Commercial fishermen in the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska and Southeast Alaska catch them using trawls, longlines or, in some areas, pots. Fishermen landed about 13,956 metric tons of them last year between the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands fisheries. >click to read<19:55
