Daily Archives: May 2, 2019

U.S. Shortfin Squid Fishery Achieves MSC Certification

The U.S. Northeast Northern Shortfin Squid (Illex illecebrosus) fishery in the Northwest Atlantic has been certified sustainable against the MSC fisheries standard. The assessment, executed by independent conformity assessment body SCS Global Services and requested by Lund’s Fisheries, Inc. and The Town Dock, was part of a scope expansion following the successful certification of the U.S. Northeast Longfin Inshore Squid (Loligo pealeii) bottom trawl fishery in 2018. Illex joins Loligo as the 2nd squid species in the world to be MSC certified. >click to read<22:37

Coast Guard medevacs fishing captain off Oahu

The Coast Guard successfully medevaced a fishing captain off his boat 55-miles northeast of Oahu, Thursday. An Air Station Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew hoisted the man from the 75-foot commercial fishing vessel, Lady Anna, and transported him to Queens Medical Center in Honolulu. He arrived in stable condition. >click to read<20:42

Big Green – The Handmaiden Of Big Oil

It is part of the green fairy tale that skepticism only exists because the oil companies are funding it.  So I did some digging and the reality turns out to be just the opposite.,,, The central vehicle for moving these green billion dollars goes by a perfectly descriptive name — the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative or OGCI., started in 2014, shortly after the famous Chesapeake Energy scandal. Chesapeake’s CEO was caught giving the Sierra Club millions,,,With a billion bucks in funding, it may well be the biggest outfit in Big Green (not counting the green governments).However, I also found that EDF is actively engaged with corporations, via its EDF+Business arm. >click to read<19:15

Please support our local commercial fishermen

If you don’t think commercial fishermen are an endangered species – think again. I have been very vocal over the years about my feelings on the commercial fishing industry being in jeopardy, and highlighting the importance of just what an integral part the industry plays in not only the economy, but the infrastructure as a whole, not only in our town and coastal towns across America. As someone with deep ties to our community and the fishing community in particular, I am in a unique position working as a mate on a commercial fishing vessel, and being a journalist. I see so much firsthand that I hope the general public will take into account when I write about it. So here I go again, with more food for thought on an issue that is near and dear to my heart. Thank you for reading, Shelley Wigglesworth >click to read<16:43

Commercial salmon season opens

The commercial salmon season opened early Wednesday from Pigeon Point (Half Moon Bay) to the U.S./Mexican border. Officials at the Santa Cruz Harbor reported that 26 boats headed out to sea in search of King Salmon on Wednesday. Scores of fishing vessels have been anchored the past few days near the Municipal Wharf in Santa Cruz, some from Northern California and others from as far away as Oregon.>click to read<16:14

Mass. commercial fishermen decry offshore wind projects’ pace

If fully built out, the offshore wind farms would cover a 1,400-square-mile area larger than the Ocean State and would negatively impact marine life and fishing grounds, the group said. “Commercial fishing families, as stewards of the ocean, are concerned that a new industry is developing at a rapid pace without adequate science and risk management,” the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership stated in a release Wednesday. The fishermen’s group said Vineyard Wind is rushing the project to ensure it receives federal tax credits before they expire.,,, Wednesday’s statement from Massachusetts fishermen came as they try to reach an agreement with Vineyard Wind on a compensation package,>click to read<15:37

Tributes to north-east trawlerman who died on board his vessel

A north-east trawler skipper who died on board his vessel is believed to have suffered a heart attack before falling down stairs. Emergency crews were called to the Fraserburgh-registered Artemis as it sat in Kilkeel harbour in Northern Ireland on Monday afternoon. But 56-year-old Andrew Hay, from St Fergus, could not be saved. He was a father-of-two and it is understood he was the skipper of the vessel. His wife, Sandra, was too upset to speak about the tragedy yesterday. A source said the boat was heading for the waters off Newlyn in Cornwall to fish for prawns when engine problems forced them to stop in Kilkeel. >click to read<13:42

House Resolution 1568 – SAVE Right Whales Act, committee backs right whale conservation bill

House Resolution 1568 — whose lead sponsor, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., is one of nearly two dozen people running for the Democratic nomination for president — provides $5 million per year from 2019 to 2029 that would go to relevant state and tribal agencies, research institutions and nonprofits with expertise required in right whale conservation.,,, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., presented the bill and said it’s been endorsed by the Massachusetts Lobster Association and the Cape Cod Fishermen’s Alliance. It’s also backed by Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Humane Society of the United States, among others. >click to read<11:43

Do YOU want to know where your seafood is from in a restaurant? – Please sign the petition.

Louisiana HB 335 Is about mandating restaurants to label country of origin on their menus, boards and signs with no exemptions. This a health concern for Louisiana citizens and tourists due to the many studies showing the widespread use of illegal substances, bacteria and antibiotics showing up in imported shrimp. WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF HB 335. Please take the time to contact your House of Representatives to tell them you’re in support of HB 335 through a phone call or email. Thank you! >Please sign the petition. >click here<

This! A Cajun protest for genuine Louisiana seafood- WATCH! – “What we have here is the restaurants are really committing fraud on their customers,” >click to read<11:02

Notice from Commissioner Keliher: Update on Federal Whale Rules

As many of you know, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) met last week and recommended broad measures that included a target to remove 50 percent of endlines from the Gulf of Maine. The remaining endlines will also need to be made safer so that, if a whale does come in contact with a line, the rope will break. The outcome for Maine’s lobster industry could have been far worse. Many TRT participants did push for a phase-in of ropeless fishing over five or ten years, large scale closed areas (including two in Maine), and weak rope across the entire fishery. In the end, Maine delegates were successful in pushing back on those proposals,,, Click to read<10:12

North Carolina – Senate Mulls Fisheries, Shellfish Overhauls

Bills to establish a new shellfish leasing program and extensive changes to the state’s marine fisheries oversight began moving through the Senate this week. Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, introduced both measures Wednesday morning in a review-only session of the Senate’s Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources Committee. Sanderson said Senate Bill 554, Marine Fisheries Reforms, represents the most significant set of changes to the way the state handles fisheries issues since the landmark 1997 legislation that created the current system. >click to read<09:48

Lobster fishermen hope to cut costs with shipping containers

If Joe Boudreau gets his way, the only hand that touches a lobster before it reaches a customer in Asia, Europe or United States will be that of the fishermen who takes it from a trap and puts it in one of his crates. Boudreau’s method of transporting lobster will get its first test run this year, courtesy of a fishermen’s co-op out of Ballantynes Cove, a longtime Sydney-based fish buyer, and the Eskasoni First Nation. Outside Boudreau’s modest Antigonish shop is a transport truck trailer and two shipping containers being outfitted with a custom system to mimic the ocean environment during transport for Live Ship. Owned by brothers Jim and Allison Gillis, Live Ship plans to send its first loads of lobster to Europe later this summer. >click to read<08:25