Monthly Archives: November 2019
This Is The Outcome Of A Ship That Was Stranded This Morning In Castro Baroña Spain
A man has died as a result of the accident that a ship has suffered this morning in the Castro Baroña area, in Porto do Son (A Coruña). According to the first data, the Divina del Mar boat, based in Portosín, landed on the rocks and the deceased launched himself into the sea, but crashed into the stones. The body has already been located by Civil Protection and was transferred to Portosín in the Helimer 402 Marine Rescue helicopter. Sources from the fishermen’s association of Portosín explain to Cope Santiago that the deceased is José Manuel Castelo, 48, a 48-year-old man, a native of Noia who had been working at sea for a lifetime. Photo’s, >click to read< 15:09
The impacts of seals and cormorants experienced by Baltic Sea commercial fishers
The growth of seal and cormorant populations has challenged the viability of coastal fisheries in the Baltic Sea. In 2017 widely spread frustration among local and regional fishery stakeholders generated a transnational cooperation project operated by the Fisheries Local Action Groups. The Baltic Sea Seal and Cormorant project aimed at producing new knowledge of the seal and cormorant induced problems, and at raising public awareness about the troubled situation in the Baltic Sea area. >click to read the study< 14:02
Herring in Missouri? Hell Ya! Angler ties state record with 3-pound fish
Bryant Rackers is in the Missouri fish record book — again. Rackers, of Bonnots Mill, caught a 3-pound skipjack herring on the Osage River on Oct. 27, a fish that tied the current Missouri record for skipjack herring. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, people do eat skipjack herring, “but they are generally considered a ‘rough fish’ because they are difficult to debone.’ “These fish are caught by commercial fisherman,,, >click to read< 13:06
NO SUCH THING AS FREE LOBSTER
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström last week rejected a request from her U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer for a mini trade deal. The agreement, which was to be struck ahead of a deadline for U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on European cars this Wednesday, would have cut duty on American lobsters and chemicals, according to a letter from Malmström to Lighthizer obtained by POLITICO’s Jakob Hanke. >click to read< 09:32
Solutions sought to ease conflicts over Southeast Alaska’s rising sea otter populations
A hundred years ago, the fur trade wiped out sea otters in Southeast Alaska. They were reintroduced in the 1960s with 412 animals brought from Amchitka Island and Prince William Sound. Since then, they’ve done really well. The last official estimate in 2012 shows that there are more than 25,000 of them. But their success has changed their environment as they’re a keystone species. “Many of those effects are really disruptive to the existing, you know, commercial activities like shell fisheries that have developed.” >click to read< 07:57
Fort Bragg fishing community mourning loss of missing fisherman presumed dead
The Fort Bragg fishing community grieved Monday that one of their own remained lost at sea after a fishing boat overturned Saturday in rough waters off the Sonoma Coast, sending the man still missing and three others into the ocean. The four fishermen were hired crew working on the Miss Hailee trawling Saturday afternoon for cod and other fish. >click to read< 07:12
A reminder from Sam Parisi to those interested in creating and implementing a U.S. Fish Bill
Greetings to all commercial fishermen, fish processors, equipment suppliers, politicians, and citizens, that are interested and supportive of creation of the U.S. Fish Bill. It is important that we create an atmosphere of unity and inclusion for all to reach out to their political representation, and inform them of need for a major Bill supporting all segments of the U.S. Fishing industry, and ask that they get involved. I am asking Senator Bruce Tarr, and Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante to attend. The meeting will be held at the Gloucester City Hall November 21 at 7 pm. For developing info, and input of idea’s, please call me! Thank you, and best regards! Sam Parisi, Gloucester Mass. at 978 491 7722 06:45
Meet the salmon scientist at the center of the Pebble fight
Beneath the steady static of rain on a tin roof, University of Washington aquatic ecologist Daniel Schindler made some soup. On a clear day, he’d be wading through thousands of hump-backed, hooked-jawed sockeye that turn the pristine waters of southwestern Alaska red every year. Schindler has put himself in the middle of the two-decade fight over the Pebble mine, a proposal to build one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines roughly 100 miles east of Lake Nerka. >click to read< 20:01
Dungeness crab fishing season delayed due to whale and sea turtle entanglement risk
Charlton Bonham, director of the Fish and Wildlife department, issued a decision to postpone the start date for California Dungeness crab fishermen south of the Mendocino/Sonoma County line for one week — from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22. The decision was based on data indicating the prevalence of whales in the area. Bonham’s decision to minimize entanglement risk follows a court-approved agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, a Phoenix-based environmental nonprofit that in 2017 sued the wildlife agency,,, >click to read< 16:52
Thiele Calls For Overhaul Of Commercial Fishing Licensing
New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele wants environmental regulators to reform the commercial fishing licensing system in the state. Approximately one-third of all licenses in the state are inactive. Thiele says that commercial fishermen on Long Island have suffered from unfair and inequitable quotas set by the federal government based on faulty data. >click to read< 12:37
Midwestern Farm Runoff Creates Headache For Louisiana Shrimpers
“We’re not catching no large shrimp,” said Olander, who largely blames worsening environmental conditions. “There’s no explaining this here other than it’s something’s wrong with our water.” Olander grabs his phone to elaborate. He pulls up a picture of the Gulf water his cousin Douglas, also a fisherman, took from the deck of his boat earlier this summer. “That’s that green slime,” he said, pointing. “ Audio, >click to read< 11:43
New York: State blows smoke to hide offshore wind costs
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s energy agency issued a stern correction to an October 24 blog post in this space that said subsidies for offshore wind developers could cost ratepayers more than $6 billion. NYSERDA, the state Energy Research and Development Authority, said my calculations (which were based on NYSERDA’s own data) were “incorrect and misleading.” So I went back and double-checked. In one respect, I did make a mistake, explained below—but not in reaching the $6 billion estimate. In fact, the final price tag could climb even higher. First, some basics: By Ken Girardin >click to read< 10:09
Coast Guard suspends search for missing man after boat capsizes near Bodega Bay
The Coast Guard suspended their search Sunday morning for a man who was missing after Coast Guard crews rescued three people Saturday evening from a capsized commercial fishing boat approximately 30 miles northwest of Bodega Bay.,, An emergency position-indicating radio beacon from the 54-foot Miss Hailee notified Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders of a distress at approximately 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Video, >click to read< 08:23
Fishermen unite to resist vast windfarm
A licence application to survey the Waterford coastline for the world’s largest offshore windfarm has caused fears among fishing and tourism sectors, writes Ellie O’Byrne. Foreshore survey licence applications for three windfarms, including the largest offshore windfarm in the world, are ruffling feathers in Co Waterford. Trudy McIntyre, from Dunmore East, is married to Shane McIntyre, who fishes from Dunmore on his boat, the Jueast. She’s chair of the South East Regional Inshore Forum, representing inshore fishermen on the south coast. Ms McIntyre said the fishing community was “blindsided” by the licence application, only finding out about it by chance. >click to read< 07:01
Asian carp: Turning a nuisance into a commodity for the Great Lakes
One of the great myths about Asian carp is that the war against them will be won if the Great Lakes region succeeds in keeping them out of Lake Michigan. Indeed the stakes are high in that part of the Midwest, including in communities that wrap around the fertile fishing waters of Lake Erie’s western basin, and the rivers that feed into the lake.,, But the Great Lakes are the site of only one battle in the Asian carp war, and environmental experts contend there is no apparent end in sight to what has evolved over several decades into a slow-moving biological disaster cutting across the heart of North America, Video, photo’s, >click to read< 17:20
Capsized commercial fishing boat off Bodega Bay coast identified as Fort Bragg-based Miss Hailey
Coast Guard resources are still engaged in a search for one man after rescuing three other people Saturday night, but that search may soon be paused due to weather conditions, Coast Guard Sector San Francisco Lt. Jg. Chris Greenwood said in a phone interview Sunday morning. “Typically off Bodega Bay, weather is extremely rough out there,” Greenwood said. “It limits how long we can stay on scene.”,,, Greenwood said officials don’t know if the man lost at sea was wearing a wet suit or a dry suit, saying only that he was wearing a life jacket. >click to read< 15:25
Bay Scallop Season Begins With Bumper Crop in Lagoon Pond
Bay scallop season has arrived, and while most of the Island is reporting an average or down year on the ponds, there is cautious excitement in Tisbury, where fishermen are pulling up a bumper crop of scallops in the Lagoon Pond. Last year, Tisbury harvested just 14 bushels of scallops before shellfish constable Danielle Ewart closed the Lagoon. One year later, when the Lagoon opened to recreational fishermen on a beautiful morning this past Saturday, scallopers brought in approximately three times that amount in a single day. Photo’s, >click to read< 11:28
Salmon harvesting jobs lost in 2018 fisheries
A new report on seafood jobs in Alaska notes that fishery harvest employment declined by 4.9 percent in 2018, erasing most of the gains seen a year earlier. That total decline of about 407 average annual jobs brought the state’s overall employment in harvesting down to 7,924 posts, wrote state labor economist Joshua Warren in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends,,, Salmon fisheries statewide lost 7.2 percent, or 328 jobs, >click to read< 10:47
Vinalhaven lobsterman turns smoking lobster into side business
Smoking lobster is popular among Vinalhaven lobstermen, according to Robert Young, a lobsterman who started doing it 15 years ago and now has a business called Vinalhaven Smoked Lobster.,, Young and his family (his wife and daughters work in the business, too) steam the lobsters, pick out the meat, and then soak it in a molasses-honey-salt brine overnight before smoking it. >click to read< 09:52
Sitka man arrested after shooting on fishing boat
Sitka police arrested a 35-year-old man accused of shooting a man on a fishing boat Saturday. Police in the Southeast Alaska city were called to a commercial fishing boat in Eliason Harbor at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday on a report that a man had been shot, the Sitka Police Department said in a statement. On the boat, officers found a man with a gunshot wound to the thigh and “blunt force trauma” to his head. The extent of the man‘s injuries was not clear Sunday. >click to read<08:56
Coast Guard rescues 3, continues search for 1 after boat capsizes off Bodega Bay
The Coast Guard rescued three people Saturday evening after a commercial fishing boat capsized approximately 30 miles north of Bodega Bay, while a search continues for the last man aboard the boat. An emergency position-indicating radio beacon from the 54-foot Miss Hailee notified Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders of a distress at approximately 5:30 p.m. >click to read< 06:57
Three rescued, one still missing in ocean search off Bodega Bay coast – >click to read<
Tensions rise ahead of net fishing ban on the Gippsland Lakes
Last month, with a stroke of a legislative pen, Gary Leonard lost his livelihood. The Victorian Government enacted its election promise of banning commercial fishing of the Gippsland Lakes in eastern Victoria. Mr Leonard is one of 10 licensees who by law must pull up their nets by April 1, 2021.,, Fish scientist Ross Winstanley, is angry about the commercial fishing ban and accuses the State Government of double standards. “If you were concerned about fishing’s impact on the ability of a stock to recover, why would you shut down 10 operators who are taking 15 tonnes [per annum], while you know there is a recreational take of 200 tonnes?” he said. >click to read< 16:11
Scientists breathe easier as west coast ocean heat wave weakens
Nate Mantua of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the “good news” is that the area of exceptionally warm water is substantially smaller now than it was earlier this year. And while the area about 1,500 kilometres offshore between Hawaii and Alaska is still seeing high temperatures by historical standards, it is “simply not nearly as large as it was and it is no longer strong in areas near the west coast,” he said. Scientists have been watching a marine heat wave that developed around June this year,,, >click to read< 15:01
Scallop die-off in Peconic Bay takes toll on local economy. Experts Search For Answers
Just one week after the opening of the Peconic Bay scallop season, the harsh reality is setting in: Most of the adult scallops in Peconic Bay are dead. “The scallop season, it’s nonexistent,” commercial fisherman Bob Hamilton said. “I didn’t even bother putting the dredges on my boat.” Video, >click to read< 10:59
Experts Search For Answers To Peconic Bay Scallop Disaster – Facing the worst devastation to the Peconic Bay scallop season in more than a decade, experts are searching desperately for answers. >click to read<
Lobstermen Question State Whale Plan at Waldoboro Meeting
Lobstermen expressed a mix of frustration and acceptance upon hearing the state’s new plan to protect North American right whales during a meeting in Waldoboro on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher presented the state’s proposed gear rules and fielded questions in the Medomak Middle School gymnasium. Photo’s >click to read< 09:55
Town of Mount Pleasant accepting proposals for leasing of Wando Dock
The Town of Mount Pleasant opened a bidding process to accept proposals for the leasing of the town’s dock facilities on Shem Creek, also known as the Wando Dock. The intent of the bidding process, as stated in the town’s Request for Proposals (RFP), is for an experienced single end user to utilize the premises to provide shrimp/seafood processing operations at the docks, while keeping an appropriate fit in the neighborhood, and other requirements as specified within this solicitation. On Friday, Nov. 8 the town confirmed that no bids have to been submitted. >click to read< 09:17
‘Find some good solutions’: governments, experts, fishermen prepare for 2020 right whale regulations
An annual roundtable meeting held by officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has wrapped up after discussing how to deal with the declining North Atlantic right whale population. The subject has become controversial after at least nine confirmed deaths in 2019, with several preliminary findings indicating vessel strikes were the cause. Some of the deaths came despite the Canadian government cracking down tighter on fisheries closures and speed restrictions, but the impact on the fishing industry is part of what makes regulations such a controversial topic. >click to read< 08:43
Increase in observer fees has people in the fishing industry questioning how their dollars are being spent
In Kodiak’s Dog Bay harbor Jake Everich is puttering around the galley of his trawler, the Alaskan. He bought his boat in March to fish for rockfish and pollock around the Gulf of Alaska. It’s just under 75 feet — a relatively small operation. Everich is among the fishermen affected by a recent decision from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to increase observer fees from 1.25 to 1.65 percent of their catch value.,,, For Everich, the bigger issue is how that money is going to be used. He says the data observers collect, and sometimes observers themselves, can be unreliable. >click to read< 07:10
Second Maine lobstering group rejects state’s plan for protecting whales
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association staked out its position on the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ proposal with a board vote Thursday night. Director Patrice McCarron would not disclose the vote breakdown, calling that a private matter. The group did, however, release a statement about why it couldn’t support the plan. “It seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery,” >click to read< 06:16
CEO of company that recorded 2.6 million dead salmon apologizes to N.L. government
The CEO of Mowi, (Alf-Helge Aarskog), has apologized to the provincial fisheries minister and promised to do better, after 2.6 million salmon were killed on Newfoundland’s south coast, followed by criticism that the company should have been more transparent in disclosing information about the incident. “We did not live up to both your, and our own expectations,” he wrote in a letter to Premier Dwight Ball and Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne. >click to read< 19:17
