Monthly Archives: August 2019
Lobster boat captain says he saw no sign of Carman’s boat or life raft
For 10 hours on Sept. 18, 2016, Alex Aucoin testified Friday, his lobster boat trawled back and forth through Block Canyon off the coast of Long Island and not once did he see the familiar silver captain’s perch of Nathan Carman’s boat, or any life rafts. “I knew his boat personally because I thought it was an attractive boat,” Aucoin said. “I would have remembered a life raft because I would have gone to assist it.” Aucoin took the stand on the fourth day of Carman’s federal civil trial,,, >click to read< 09:46
Opposition Grows Against Vineyard Wind Ocean Wind Project
Local residential groups between Centerville, Marthas’ Vineyard and Nantucket meeting Monday 8/19 to discuss Environmental oversight of the ocean wind project. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his underling/hacks tried to railroad the Vineyard Wind ocean wind project through past the local people, past the fishermen, past the other fauna and flora, without a proper Environmental Impact Study by the federal government. >click to read< 08:40
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman suffering severe abdominal issues in Pamlico Sound
The Coast Guard medevaced a man who was reportedly suffering from severe abdominal issues on a fishing vessel in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, Wednesday morning. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet were notified by a crewmember on the fishing vessel Capt Phillips, via VHF FM radio channel 16, that a 57-year-old crewmember was having abdominal pains and needed medical attention. >click to read< 20:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for Aug 16 , 2019
Legislative updates, Bill updates, Calendar, >Click here to read the Weekly Update< From Glenn Skinner, It is very important that anyone involved in the NC Shrimp or Southern Flounder fisheries attend next week’s NC Marine Fisheries Commission meeting. The Commission will be voting on the NC Wildlife Federation’s petition for rulemaking on Thursday, August 22 and on Amendment 2 to the Southern Flounder FMP on Friday, August 23. Public comment will be allowed at 6 pm on Wednesday, August 21 and at 9:30 am on Thursday, August 22. >click to read< 16:18
Castle Wind signs MoU for 1GW California floater
Floating wind power developer Castle Wind has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Californian utility to enter into a power purchase agreement for output from a 1GW offshore wind farm in the US Pacific Ocean.,,, EnBW North America and Trident Winds joint venture Castle Wind is in the early stages of developing the 1000MW project, located about 30 miles off the coast from the city of Morro Bay.,,, Last year the Morro Bay Commercial Fisherman’s Organisation and the Port San Luis Commercial Fishermen Association, entered into a mutual benefits agreement >click to read< 12:30
Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races draw huge fleet
Last Saturday at the Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races, everyone who signed up for the event qualified for a chance in the annual post-race prize drawing organized by the event’s sponsors to win something to build — the bare hull for a brand new Mitchell Cove 35 lobster boat — and come they did. According to Jon Johansen, president of the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association, 167 boats signed up to race at Winter Harbor and earn the right to participate in the drawing. “They came out of the woodwork,” Johansen said Monday morning. >click to read< 11:40
Nathan Carman trial: Lobsterman who was fishing in Block Canyon expected to testify Friday
The first three days of Nathan Carman’s federal civil trial have focused on changes he made to his boat, but starting today lawyers for his insurance company hope to call witnesses who will challenge Carman’s version of how the Chicken Pox actually sank with his mother on board. Among the witnesses slated to testify Friday is lobsterman Alex Aucoin, captain of the 82-foot Prudence, who is expected to say that he and his crew were fishing in the Block Canyon area off Long Island on the same day and within a few miles of where Carman reported going down. >click to read< 10:20
Striped bass are underfed, not overfished
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, has determined (again!) that the number of spawning Atlantic striped bass is below the required threshold to maintain proper “recruitment” (newborns), and therefore, sustainable population abundance.,, Certainly, there is a lot of blame to go around, but the ASMFC seems to have only one conclusion: overfishing.,,, What about food?,,, This may be a shocking finding, but foreign-owned Cooke Inc., the owner of Omega Protein, “purse seins” hundreds of millions of pounds of menhaden a year,,, by Bev Landstreet >click to read< 09:36
Single union can’t represent all sides of fishery
Is it a coincidence that the FFAW-Unifor gave out free codfish on the St. John’s waterfront Monday morning (Aug. 12) at the same time that FISH-NL held a news conference to announce a second membership drive? Any trouble swallowing the idea that the foolish fish giveaway forced Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne’s hand into opening the door a crack to outside buyers, where six months before he had slammed the door at the suggestion? >click to read< 08:34
Once Robust, Bluefin Tuna Fishery Is In Economic Freefall
Carl Coppenrath can remember the days when it seemed bluefin tuna fishermen could walk on water. In the heyday of the 1980s, the market was so flush in Menemsha that fishermen could literally walk across a harbor packed with a fleet of commercial vessels lined up at the end of the day to sell their catch for top dollar. The mystique and allure of catching the torpedo-shaped fish that can weigh over 1,400 pounds brought glory and the prospects of such wealth that it awoke the romantic reimagination of the old whaling days of the Island. So much so that it spawned the popular cable TV series Wicked Tuna and lit up social media with photos and boastful tales of the trophy fish. “It’s like an addiction . . . >click to read< 21:29
Lobstermen, environmentalists weigh in on right whale rules
Some of the largest and most powerful animal and environmental groups – including the Pew Charitable Trust, the U.S. Humane Society, the Conservation Law Foundation and Oceana – sent representatives to the hearing. They urged National Marine Fisheries Service to take immediate action to protect the whale, including proposals that even the team tasked by the fisheries service to come up with its whale protection plan had dismissed, such as offshore closures and ropeless lobster fishing. >click to read< 20:58
Fishing License Changes?
A review and potential changes to the New York State marine fisheries licensing system will be the subject of a meeting at East Hampton Town Hall on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Last month, the State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a draft report on a review of fisheries licensing, following meetings held last year,,, The draft report stresses the decline of fish stocks beginning in the 1980s and the federal and state regulations that followed, including quotas, allocations, seasonal restrictions, and trip limits. It says that “there are too many fishermen and too much >click to read< 18:12
Vineyard Wind, welcome to our world…
Headline – Trump admin throws wrench into offshore wind plans – The Trump administration is ordering a sweeping environmental review of the burgeoning offshore wind industry, a move that threatens to derail the nation’s first major project and raises a host of questions for future developments. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of the Interior Department, is ordering a study of the cumulative impact of a string of projects along the East Coast. The review comes in response to concerns from fishermen about the impact of offshore wind development on East Coast fisheries. Must watch video! >click to read< 17:15
Lower Columbia River mainstem commercial gillnet fishing ; Non-treaty gillnetters get 45 hours through Aug. 29
With less than half of the 10-year average of fall Chinook salmon expected to return to the Columbia River this year, the two-state Columbia River Compact opened commercial gillnetting in the lower river and in pools upstream of Bonneville Dam for treaty commercial gillnetting.,,, The Compact met this week, Monday, Aug. 12, at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s regional office in Ridgefield to consider early fall Chinook mainstem gillnetting, deciding on 5 nine-hour overnight periods, for a 45-hour total for commercial non-treaty gillnetters beginning Aug. 14 and ending Aug. 29. >click to read< 16:34
Wheat farmers fear extinction if Snake River dams are removed to help orcas
In the southeastern corner of Washington state, wheat goes down the river, while salmon are trucked up around dams on the road. “And taxpayers pay for all of it,” said Sam Mace, with Save Our Wild Salmon. “Isn’t there some option of switching this around,” Mace asked, >(Salmon Cannon?)< “the fish on the river and the wheat off the river?” In Western Washington, it could seem like a no-brainer: The orcas of the Salish Sea are hungry, because there are fewer and fewer of the salmon they depend on. Removing the four dams on eastern Washington’s Snake River would help the salmon that use the river to spawn–and thus the whales that eat the salmon. But the view from eastern Washington is different. There, the dams are important to the state’s wheat growers, fourth- and fifth-generation farmers who are worried about their future. >click to read< 13:33
New lobster boat Alyssa Noreen launched in Stonington
No one can spend a lifetime as a lobsterman without a deeply imbedded kernel of optimism. While that characteristic might not be obvious in everyone, Stonington lobsterman Clayton Joyce would seem to have it in abundance. Until just recently, lobster fishing has been slow. So slow in fact that the much anticipated shortage of lobster bait, primarily herring, hasn’t had much impact. >click to read< 12:24
Lobstermen threatened with the extinction of their way of life
The word “extinction” has been thrown around a lot lately by environmental groups,,, Large, well-funded, out-of-state environmental groups would have you believe that these whales are going extinct and that Maine fishing gear entanglement is a major reason why. These groups have proposed things like ropeless fishing and refuse to believe that ideas like this are not practical in Maine. Can you imagine how a fisherman could set his 20- to 30-trap trawl into water 300 to 400 feet deep, not knowing where any of his competitors’ trawls might have been set days before? >click to read< 11:37
Google Pitchman Bill Nye: Fighting Climate Change Will Make You ‘Filthy F-cking Rich’
Inventing climate change solutions or technology could you make you a fortune, according to liberal media favorite: Bill Nye “The Science Guy.” Nye shared an F-bomb dropping video on Instagram on Aug. 13. He said that if his typical warning that the “oceans are rising” wasn’t enough to make people care, he had another reason for them to take action on climate change. “I’m gonna level with you. The real reason you should do your part to combat climate change is — It’ll make you filthy f—king rich” Nye shouted. Video >click to read< 11:12
NC seafood company owner pleads guilty to selling foreign crab meat as a ‘product of the USA’
The owner of North Carolina seafood company Capt. Neill’s Seafood of Columbia, Phillip Carawan, pleaded guilty Tuesday to selling close to 200,000 pounds of crab meat from Asia and South America while marketing it as Atlantic blue crab. The U.S. attorney said the untrue label gave Carawan an advantage, raking in more than $4 million thanks to the mislabeled crab from 2012 to 2015. >click to read< 10:31
Sockeye harvests wind down; pinks and chums slow going
As Alaska’s salmon fisheries transition away from sockeye and kings to pinks and chums, the harvest results so far look mixed. May, June and July are the main harvest months for sockeye salmon across Alaska, beginning in Prince William Sound and reaching a crescendo in Bristol Bay throughout July. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasted a total sockeye harvest of 41.7 million sockeye salmon for the 2019 season. Some sockeye are still being harvested, but as of Aug. 11, the count stood at 53.7 million sockeye, more than 43.1 million of which came from Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay’s harvest blows away even the large harvest from 2018 of 41.7 million,,, >click to read< 10:07
Governmental Hypocricy? N.L. fish plant owner ‘completely floored’ over gov’t cod market decision
The owner of a fish plant near Lewisporte is taken aback by the news that processors from outside Newfoundland and Labrador are going to be allowed to buy locally caught cod, when she says her operation has been denied that same ability. “I was completely floored. I couldn’t believe it,” said Alisha Hodder, who runs Hodder’s Shellfish in Stoneville with her husband. The Stoneville plant processes sea urchin,,, >click to read< 09:21
UK Fisheries Administrations call on fishermen with vessels 12 metres and longer, register with International Maritime Organization
Access for UK boats to fish in EU, Norwegian or Faroese waters after the UK leaves the EU will be a matter for negotiation. Should access to fishing be agreed, fishermen in the over 12m fleet will have to ensure their vessel has an IMO number to be licensed to fish outside UK waters when we leave the EU. The UKFAs are urging fishermen to apply to the IMO now to make certain they have registered in good time for the UK’s departure. >click to read< 08:29
Investment in a boatyard. Port of Toledo offers strategic lessons for Astoria
Marine workers, business leaders and politicians gathered earlier this month to watch the trawler Pegasus get lowered into the Yaquina River from the former Sturgeon Bend Boat Works, a shuttered boatyard acquired from Fred Wahl Marine Construction in 2010 by the Port of Toledo. Widening and modernizing the vessel took more than 10 months, $3 million and tens of contractors. Purchasing and developing the boatyard has cost Toledo more than $10 million, largely from state grants and loans.Toledo’s vision to turn the boatyard into a thriving economic generator offers lessons to the Port of Astoria. >click to read< 22:55
Boom or bust in Adak? Politics will decide
Adak is 1,200 miles west of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands in the center of some of Alaska’s last “derby style” fisheries. Now, a great political struggle between some large Seattle-based corporate fishing companies and this Aleut community will determine whether Adak and it’s value-added approach to seafood development survives or if these valuable Alaska fisheries resources are simply added to the portfolios of the consolidated fishing companies. These large fishing companies already have exclusive Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fishing privileges with an aggregate value in excess of $2 billion. In contrast, if Adak and Alaska lose this struggle, the community is not likely to survive. >click to read< 18:58
Repeat offender poses as worker, tries to steal fishing vessel from Ballard shipyard
Doug Dixon, general manager of Pacific Fishermen Shipyard and PFI Marine Electric just off Shilshole Avenue, said the crime was carefully-planned. He said that a woman who appears to be homeless and spends time around the shipyard took a hardhat from a construction site next door and used it to gain access to the shipyard. “She looked like a worker coming into the yard, so nobody questioned her,” Dixon said. With the hardhat disguise, she climbed aboard Pacific Fishermen’s $12 million North Sea,,, >click to read< 17:24
Government of Canada establishes Atlantic Seal Task Team
The sustainable management of Canadian fisheries is important to fish harvesters whose livelihoods are supported by the ocean. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) ensures that the best available science is considered when making management decisions for seals. However, DFO has continuously heard concerns by fish harvesters about the relationship between seals and fish populations. Listening to these concerns, DFO is taking action to address a concern that encompasses not only Newfoundland and Labrador, but all Atlantic Canada and Quebec coasts. >click to read<16:18
Boris Johnson’s Looming Wind Disaster. Its coming here, and is being sold by huckster politicians
Boris Johnson’s government is shuffling towards a gigantic cliff edge which has nothing to do with Brexit. The looming disaster can be summed up in one word: renewables. The clue came in the form of the widespread power cuts that Britain experienced at the end of last week. Britain’s National Grid — and by extension the nation’s electricity supply — has been horribly compromised by the dash for renewable energy. >click to read< Meanwhile on Cape Cod, John Kerry, Gina McCarthy, and Dylan Fernandes hold forum as Kerry announces World War Zero. Tackling the issue of climate change – Lots of photo’s, and no John Kerry, Jane Lubchenco was no friend of the fishermen. It was another lie. Read the comments @MTV! >click to read< 15:18
‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Jake Harris Sentenced To Prison After Police Chase
Jacob “Jake” Harris, who headlined the show until 2012, was convicted of driving under the influence and possession with intent to manufacture or distribute heroin. He pleaded guilty to the felony charges and was sentenced on Aug. 1. Harris, 33, is the younger brother of Josh Harris, who currently captains the multi-million dollar fishing vessel, the Cornelia Marie, on “Deadliest Catch.” He’s being transferred to a Washington state penitentiary today, according to the Skagit County District Attorney’s Office. >click to read< 13:25
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 52′ Steel Dragger, Cat 3406, with State and Federal Permits
Specifications, information and 13 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here<11:24
In Nova Scotia, an economic boom brings all the boats to the yard
A newly finished lobster fishing boat waits on a trailer in a yard at Wedgeport Boats, like a displaced sea creature ready to return. The Porsche-red hull gleams in the Nova Scotia sun. Standing on the ground in its shadow, the vessel’s owner, Mark Rogers, watches with satisfaction as the vinyl sticker – the kind used for race cars – is applied to the bow, revealing a muscled, smiling cartoon lobster. It’s the afternoon before the official launch of the Katie Anne – named, according to custom, for Mr. Rogers’s now-grown daughter. The launch has been planned for a Friday, which, as grizzled fishermen will say, is traditionally a day best avoided for a new voyage. Photo’s >click to read< 09:24
