Daily Archives: June 11, 2019
Exhibition to showcase Selsey’s 1,000-year-old fishing industry
“The Selsey Fishery is the heart of the town and I hope that people will be inspired to support the fishermen and women to help make sure that this important industry continues to thrive. We’d like to thank the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support of this important project.” Sea’s the Day: The Story of the Selsey Fishery showcases the important role the Selsey Fishery plays, and highlights the need to make sure this vital industry thrives in the future. Video, >click to read<19:40
For Fishermen, Wind Farm Debate Contains A Dose Of Inevitability
Discussions of the wind farm among its most dead-set opponents, commercial fishermen, has turned decidedly in recent months, from stopping the project entirely to, instead, identifying ways to limit the negative impacts it wind farm could have—and that was even before the official public input phase of the construction and operations plan had begun. Fishermen from Rhode Island recently inked a compensation agreement with Vineyard Wind,,, The developers of the South Fork Wind Farm have yet to offer any sort of a similar package to fishermen locally, “The only place that doesn’t have any say in the project is New York,” said Bonnie Brady of the Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “You tell me—what’s wrong with this picture?” >click to read<17:54
Atlantic Herring: Council Approves Framework 6, 2019-2021 Specs included, Revised Overfishing Definition
The New England Fishery Management Council has approved Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which contains 2019-2021 specifications for the fishery and a new overfishing definition for herring that is more consistent with the 2018 benchmark stock assessment. The Council took several stepsduring its April meeting that helped guide the development of Framework 6. Here at its June meeting in So. Portland, ME, the Council made three additional decisions to complete the package: >click to read<15:34
Letter: More awareness needed of fish farms
To the editor: I went to the screening of “Lobster Wars” that occurred at the Cape Ann Museum on June 4. In the panel discussion after the movie, Larry Stepenuck was the only one who brought up the devastating effects and disturbances on the lobstermen and fishermen by the fish farms. These polluting enterprises and associated infrastructure take out huge chunks of the ocean that the fishermen and lobsermen could otherwise fish in (both vertically and horizontally). What’s left is getting slimmer all the time. Here, NOAA wants the lobstermen to develop ropeless lobster traps in order to protect the right whales. Meanwhile, NOAA and the Army Corps of Engineers turned around last year and awarded one of the Saltonstall-Kennedy grants to the development of a fish farm in the Critical Zone. A must read by Sue Waller, Rockport. >click to read<14:13
60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue NOAA under the Endangered Species Act Regarding Sea Grant’s Funding of Offshore Aquaculture Projects – >click to read<
60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue NOAA under the Endangered Species Act Regarding Sea Grant’s Funding of Offshore Aquaculture Projects
Dear Secretary Ross, et al.: Friends of the Earth (“FOE”) and Center for Food Safety (“CFS”) hereby notify you of violations of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544, in connection with Project 107-NH-Chapman (“Project”), an offshore aquaculture project proposed by the University of New Hampshire and funded by a grant from the National Sea Grant College Program’s (“Sea Grant”) 2018 Ocean, Coastal, and Great Lakes National Aquaculture Initiative. The Project calls for the construction and deployment of an Aquafort system approximately 12 kilometers offshore in a depth of 52 meters of water. The Aquafort system consists of a floating >click to read<13:39
Coast Guard to Conduct Dockside Fishing Vessel Exams for Bristol Bay
The Coast Guard will offer courtesy dockside examinations of commercial fishing vessels in Bristol Bay in anticipation of the 2019 Bristol Bay salmon fishery season. The Coast Guard anticipates sending examiners to the following locations for public outreach and to encourage dockside exam participation: King Salmon: June 6-21, Dillingham: June 10-20, Egegik: June 13-18.,,, In 2018, several fishermen died after falling overboard. None of them were wearing life jackets. The Coast Guard continues to strongly recommend that all fishermen wear life jackets when on the deck of any vessel.
Vessel operators are reminded,,, >click to read<12:25
Perfect port an elusive goal for East Coast offshore wind
“Developers have studied all the ports up and down the East Coast several times now. What we’re really looking for is large areas, good capacities, no bridges and deep drafts. And if someone has that, please come forward,” said Christer af Geijerstam, president of Equinor Wind US, which holds leases for offshore wind development off the coasts of Massachusetts and New York. “The problem is that it’s hard to find places that tick all of those boxes.”,,, At least part of the East Coast supply chain will meet the water in Massachusetts, where public dollars financed a port facility in New Bedford tucked away in a walled-in harbor that is already crowded with a scallop fleet that has made it the wealthiest fishing port in the country. >click to read< 11:44
Troon fishing boat crashes into giant crude oil tanker near Ayr bay
A fishing boat smashed into a giant crude oil tanker 16 times its size. The incident happened less than an hour before dawn. For days the 899-foot tanker Decathlon has been at anchor in Ayr Bay. It is so big it can be seen from miles inland. But Troon-based fishing boat Progress smashed right into it. The damage was so extensive that the trawler had to tie up at Troon awaiting work at a boatyard.,,, Progress is skippered by Keith Wilson, who lives in Barassie. He failed to comment when approached by the Ayrshire Post to explain how it could happen. His wife Carolyn, a director of the family fishing firm, said: “He is still dealing with things at the moment. “I think I had better leave any comment to him, >click to read<11:01
The Jubilee: Mobile Bay’s Summer Seafood Phenomenon
He can try to tell it to you, tell how Mobile Bay goes calm and slick just before dawn, how the tide pushes in beneath a gentle easterly breeze that just smells different—like salt. He can tell how the mixing salt water from the Gulf of Mexico and fresh water from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to the north just fracture somehow in that great, warm, stagnant pool and a heavier, saltier layer, low in oxygen, sinks to the bottom of the bay.,,, “I grew up with an old man—we called him ‘The Duke’—and he taught me a lot of what I know about the brackish water and the nature of fish,,, >click to read<10:10
Concern in Chignik, as escapement gets off to a slow start
Staff with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game began counting sockeye salmon on June 1. So far, the numbers haven’t been promising – as of today the department had counted a total of 3,374 fish. “That’s a little slow for here. There have been years when we get off to a slow start and have a decent year. But following a year like 2018, everyone’s concerned,” said Dawn Wilburn, an area management biologist with ADF&G. She says Chignik’s run failed to develop as predicted in 2018. Only 539,825 reds returned, and there were no commercial fishing openers. >click to read<09:12
Westerly councilors united in opposition to kelp farm, citing location, hazards
United in a belief that an area in the waters just off Napatree Point is the wrong location for a proposed kelp farm, the Town Council voted unanimously Monday to communicate their opposition to the project to state regulators. Opponents said the farm would foul the view, pose navigational hazards, threaten wildlife and make the area less productive for commercial fishermen. >click to read<08:10
Used and Abused: How Much Can the Oceans Take? – Joseph MacAndrew wants a kelp farm. His plan, however, is facing ample opposition, from academic, business, Napatree Point, and Watch Hill interests. This article showcases the nitrogen and phosphorous pollution, Plastic pollution, dumping metal inyo the oceans, oil drilling, but, not a word on wind farms. >click to read<
