Daily Archives: June 30, 2019
Crab boat damaged after crash at Red Point Rock
A crab boat has been damaged after it struck Red Point Rock, near Souris, P.E.I., Saturday afternoon. The rock formation is well-known to local fishermen and is considered dangerous. Jeffrey MacNeill, a volunteer firefighter, was one of the first to arrive at the accident scene. The boat had between four and five crew members and was towed back to shore, MacNeill said. The process took several hours. >click to read< 17:58
What’s behind Japan’s support of whaling?
Japan has for decades been steadfastly defiant about hunting whales despite widespread anger, including from key allies like the United States. After roughly 30 years of what it has called scientific research whaling, which saw several hundred minke whales taken annually in the Antarctic and North Pacific, Japan in December announced it would leave the International Whaling Commission(IWC) and resume commercial whaling on July 1. >click to read< 14:21
Black gill showing up early
Black gill showed up early this year in Georgia’s shrimp. The evidence came from the first trawl of a day-long research cruise out of Skidaway Institute of Oceanography on June 21. Researchers aboard the R/V Savannah lowered the net in the commercial fishing grounds just off of Wassaw Island and pulled up a catch so disappointingly small it could fit in a backpack. But among the dozen fish and handful of starfish were two brown shrimp. And one was inky black around its gills. “It’s really early,” said University of Georgia graduate student Megan Tomamichel, as she examined the shrimp. “But we’ve had a lot of warm weather.” >click to read< 12:09
Necropsy on third North Atlantic right whale shows evidence of blunt trauma
Preliminary findings from the third necropsy of a 33-year-old right whale — named Comet – show evidence which is highly compatible with death due to blunt force, consistent with vessel strikes. Canadian conservationists are calling the death of a sixth North Atlantic right whale that was found last week devastating. >click to read< 11:52
N.L. regulators watching closely as B.C. requires life jackets on fishing vessels
Fishers in British Columbia now have a clear directive when it comes to life jackets: they must be worn on decks of fishing vessels. That regulation change is getting attention in Newfoundland and Labrador.,,, The amended regulation in B.C. has safety advocates in Newfoundland and Labrador talking. >click to read< 10:37
“I’m not here for prizes. I’m here for glory.” Lobstermen Go Racing
When you ask a Maine lobster-boat racer what kind of horsepower he’s running, the first answer will always be a dutiful recitation of the factory specification, usually delivered with a smirk. Ask again, and the second answer might be more like the truth. Like if his 18.1-liter CAT diesel was rated for 700 horsepower before he made a few mods—free-flowing intake and exhaust, at the very least—maybe he’d acknowledge it’s more like 800 horsepower now. If the first answer is 1,000, the second might be more like 1,200. But the reality is that nobody knows. It’s not like you can dyno-test a commercial fishing boat. >click to read< 09:56
Connecticut: New dual landings law intended to benefit local fishermen
A bill introduced by state Sen. Heather Somers, aimed at easing regulations preventing local commercial fishermen from landing catches in multiple states on the same trip, has been signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont. The law currently in effect requires fishermen to designate their catch for a specific state and offload the catch in that state, even if the fishermen were licensed in multiple states and regardless of whether the catch was made in federal or state waters. Fishermen had to make multiple trips per week far offshore to make each catch designated for each state. >click to read< 08:55
