Monthly Archives: December 2019
The mullet are runnin’
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Cortez. Around this time of year, the mullet run in local waters and commercial fishers give chase. “The mullet run is a term used to describe the spawning migration,”,, Like other fish from rivers, estuaries and bays, mullet congregate and then run in schools to offshore environments to complete the spawning cycle. John Banyas, owner of Swordfish Grill & Tiki Bar, N.E. Taylor Boatworks, Killer Bait and the Cortez Bait and Seafood fish house on the waterfront in Cortez, says this year’s run is “better than last year.” >click to read< 13:40
Letter | Save the salmon through lethal means, if necessary
California sea lions, harbor seals and cormorants have never been in danger of going extinct, but 11 distinct populations of salmon and steelhead are. Common sense should tell us we need to control the number of predators through lethal means. A professed sense of helping undernourished countries tells us we should not waste the meat. Canneries for centuries have been processing all kinds of high protein meat. I am quite sure the canneries would be willing to employ additional help at a lot less than is now being spent for all of our ESA efforts. by Carlisle Harrison >click to read< 11:34
Captain anchors Extreme Gloucester Fishing school on Harbor Loop
It has been nearly a year since Capt. Joe Sanfilippo first applied his concept of a classroom forum to the task of teaching the intricacies of commercial fishing, including net mending, diesel mechanics, basic electronics, vessel handling and the regulations and history of commercial fishing. In that short time, much has changed. Initially, Sanfilippo and his volunteer lecturers — such as Capt. Tommy Testaverde, owner of the F/V Midnight Sun, John Randazzo, captain of Cruiseport Gloucester’s Beauport Princess and Justin Demetri of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum — held the classes in the basement of Ken Hecht’s building at 189 Main St. >click to read< 10:31
Pete Frates, who championed and inspired the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, passed away on Monday
“Pete was an inspiration to so many people around the world who drew strength from his courage and resiliency,” his loved ones wrote. “A natural born leader and the ultimate teammate, Pete was a role model for all, especially young athletes, who looked up to him for his bravery and unwavering positive spirit in the face of adversity. He was a noble fighter who inspired us all to use our talents and strengths in the service of others.” >click to read< 09:04
A Unique Catch! Lobsterman Charles Rossi hauled in a blue, calico and red lobster all in one day!
No, the red lobster pictured above is not already cooked. It’s rare. Dorr Lobster Company, Inc. fisherman Charles Rossi hauled in a blue, calico and red lobster all in one day while fishing in Milbridge, according to Dorr Lobster’s Facebook post, >click here<. Store owner Chad Dorr said he handles nearly a million pounds of lobster a year but is amazed by Rossi’s unique catch. >click to read< 07:31
Coast Guard hoists four fishermen from F/V Sea Angels, aground in Browns Inlet, North Carolina
The Coast Guard hoisted four fishermen from an 88-foot fishing vessel in Browns Inlet, North Carolina, Monday morning. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a radio distress call at approximately 8:12 a.m. from a crewmember aboard the fishing vessel Sea Angels. Photos, Video, >click to read< 20:08
Rafael’s misreported fish ‘disappeared’ at Whaling City auction
A NOAA official has charged that if federal officials were not watching when Carlos Rafael offloaded fish at the Whaling City Display Auction, the catch simply “disappeared.” “If there was no observer on the boat, no dockside monitor, no state environmental police, no NOAA law enforcement officer, the fish would just simply disappear,” NOAA Special Agent Troy Audyatis said, “Thousands upon thousands of fish would simply disappear.” >click to read< 18:23
International sea cucumber kingpin implicated in new smuggling case
When Wei Li walked across the southern US border into San Ysidro, California in September, he told US border officers—twice—that he had nothing to declare. He was lying. An x-ray of Li’s bag detected an “anomaly,” and the officers looked inside. According to a search warrant application filed in federal court, they found 46 sea cucumbers weighing about 2.5 pounds. It turns out the illegal sea cucumber trade is a serious problem. >click to read< 17:46
Two New York companies and owners plead guilty to seafood sales fraud
In a plea agreement with the government, Roy Tuccillo Sr, and his son, Roy Tuccillo Jr and two of their food processing and distribution companies, Anchor Frozen Foods Inc, and Advanced Frozen Foods Inc pleaded to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They admitted to importing giant squid from Peru, marketing it as octopus, and using email and wire transactions to sell it to grocery stores in interstate commerce. >click to read< 13:39
Commentary: Northwest must speak for trees, salmon in Alaska
Keeping the Roadless Rule in force for the Tongass protects resources and climate we enjoy at home.,, We rise before dawn, our 43-foot salmon troller, the Nerka, nestled among rocks in one of our favorite Southeast Alaskan bays. Pulling the anchor and puttering out to the fishing grounds, eyelids are still half-mast, minds precariously balanced between dreams and blurred reality from weeks of 18-hour days, hauling salmon aboard one fish at a time. >click to read< Search Results for: Tele Aadsen >click here< 12:10
F/V Leonardo found off Martha’s Vineyard
Fishing vessel Leonardo that capsized and sank with four fishermen aboard on Nov. 24 has been found, according to the Massachusetts Environmental Police. “We located and identified the sunken fishing vessel on Sunday morning,” Major Patrick Moran said Monday. The Leonardo is a 57-foot scalloper, based out of New Bedford. The vessel sank in choppy seas some 24 miles southwest off Martha’s Vineyard. Major Moran said the boat was found 140 feet down near where it was reported missing and was “sitting perfectly upright.” >click to read< 10:55
Skipper says cartel loaded drugs for his ill-fated voyage
B.C. skipper John Stirling, who has a long history of international drug smuggling, provided the details of the journey that landed him in a U.S. prison to investigators after his April 2019 arrest. Now he is trying to get the candid statements made to U.S. authorities thrown out of court. And he is also alleging in motions filed in U.S. District Court in Portland that the Americans had no right to arrest him as a Canadian sailing in international waters at the time.,,Stirling’s drug-trade history dates to 1990, In 2001, he was arrested on his boat, the Western Wind, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with 2.5 tonnes of cocaine aboard. American authorities turned him over to the RCMP but he was never charged. >click to read< 10:16
Facing a declining lobster industry, whale rules, Blue Hill lobsterman has a Plan B
For a 48-year-old lobsterman, Jeremy Tyler considers himself lucky. Aside from shoulder pain and arm numbness that awakens him five or six times a night, the beefy captain and owner of the All-In,,, “I’ve done progressively worse these last three years,” Tyler said. “I was there for the first thousand-pound day in the Blue Hill area. So he and his wife, Megan Tyler, are starting a new business in the first floor of a former floral shop off Route 172 that will combine his lobstering with her experience at restaurants. >click to read< 07:49
Its going to be up to people in the fishing industry to save our fishing industry by Sam Parisi
We ALL need to step up to the plate before this industry goes under because of absurd regulations, pandering politicians, and environmental groups. I have reached out to my Senators and Congressman, whom have actually responded after utilizing Fisherynation to get their attention, for which I am grateful, with little success from those elected officials regarding the issues I have continuously contacted them about. As usual, they disappoint with no action. Senator Markey did support an issue I asked him to, which was about supporting Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan’s S-K bill, which he did, and I thank him for that. >click to read< 16:50
Nearly 2 months after fatal crash, Unalaskans are struggling to get in the air
For some in this flight-dependent community of 4,000 known for foul weather and Americas’s top seafood hauls, the anxiety is mounting instead of easing with time. The busy travel season is compounded in Unalaska by the start of major fishing seasons that crowd planes with thousands of fishermen and processing plant workers headed to the community’s busy port of Dutch Harbor. >click to link< 11:11
Extremely low cod numbers lead feds to close the Gulf of Alaska fishery for the first time
A stock assessment this fall put Gulf cod populations at a historic low, with “next to no” new eggs, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research biologist Steve Barbeaux, who authored the report. At their current numbers, cod are below the federal threshold that protects them as a food source for endangered Steller sea lions. Once below that line, the total allowable catch goes to zero — in other words, the fishery shuts down. >click to read< 08:32
U.S. researcher teams up with Canadian fishermen for tagging project – Tracking the mysterious underwater migration of female lobsters
Heather Koopman, senior scientist at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, has enlisted the help of Grand Manan fishermen to tag any female lobsters they catch and to report when they recapture one that’s been tagged. “Some … have gone nine or 10 nautical miles in the space of a little over a week,” said Koopman. “That’s kind of a distance for an animal … that size.” More than 200 lobsters had been tagged for the project by Tuesday. Koopman said the project hopes to reach the 1,000 mark in the next few weeks. >click to read< 07:39
Cuomo requests federal disaster declaration, aid for scallop die-off
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday requested the U.S. Department of Commerce issue a disaster declaration for the Peconic Bay scallop fishery, following a catastrophic die-off of scallops in East End waterways. An immediate declaration of a disaster is needed, he said, to provide “direct economic relief for the New York fishing industry.” In a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Cuomo requested that the federal government formally declare a fishery failure in the bay scallop fishery in the Peconic Bay Estuary due to a “fishery resource disaster.” >click to read< 15:19
New rule allows NB and Southern NE fishermen to stop throwing away fish
The change, which is also expected to be made in Rhode Island and Connecticut, will allow fishermen to make one trip and then return to the three states and offload their catches without going back to sea after every offload,,The conditions are that they must have licenses to catch fluke in the states where they offload, and the states must be open for catching fluke. “We just want to go from state to state and not kill fish unnecessarily. Anyone who thinks fishermen don’t care about fish is wrong,” said Tony Borges, owner and captain of Sao Paulo, Photos, >click to read< 14:12
Instead of throwing their catch overboard, fishermen are feeding the hungry in N.J.
Despite its health benefits, fresh seafood has been a rarity at soup kitchens and food pantries up to now,, Though gleaning of meats and fresh vegetables has been happening for centuries — Hunters for the Hungry has provided 2 million pounds of venison in New Jersey — the aptly named Seafood Gleaning Program is the brainchild of longtime Jersey Shore fisherman Brick Wenzel,, It includes the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, the Trinity Seafood processing plant in Lakewood, and the nonprofit Fulfill food pantry,, A $50,000 grant from the Tyson Foods Protein Innovation Fund pays for boxing and labeling. >click to read< 11:56
CLF says nothing short of an end to directed fishing – Another cut in cod fishing not enough for environmentalists
Fishing regulators are proposing another cutback to the catch limits for Atlantic cod, but some environmentalists say the move isn’t significant enough to slow the loss of the species. Atlantic cod fishing was once one of the biggest marine industries in New England, but the fishery has deteriorated after years of overfishing and environmental changes. Fishermen caught less than 2 million pounds of the fish in 2017, decades after routinely catching more than 100 million pounds annually in the early 1980s. It was the worst year for the fishery in its history. >click to read< 10:31
Proposed land trade may turn the tide for Sitka’s maritime industry
A private business has proposed building a new marine haulout in Sitka, in exchange for 17 acres of city-owned waterfront just north of its private cruise ship terminal. The deal was well-received by the board of Sitka’s industrial park at its latest meeting on Wednesday (12-4-19), and by the large number of Sitka’s commercial fishing fleet who attended. >click to read< 08:25
After three years at the helm of FISH-NL, Ryan Cleary contemplates his future
The large FISH-NL banner that hung behind the head table at every membership meeting lies on the floor, half rolled up.“You can tell how many meetings we had,” Cleary said, pointing to the numerous pin holes in the corners of the vinyl sign. Cleary may be dismantling his office and walking away from FISH-NL, but he’s far from done fighting for what he believes in.,,, In 2016, when several fishermen, one by one, approached him for help to start a new union, apart from the FFAW-Unifor, Cleary was full steam ahead. >click to read< 07:46
On the 78th Anniversary, Pearl Harbor Veteran to Be Interred on Sunken Ship
It was an attack that shaped history, leaving more than 2,400 Americans dead and forcing the United States to enter a war it had been reluctant to join. On Saturday, the 78th anniversary of the 1941 sneak attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, the remains of one of the survivors of the assault will be interred on his sunken ship, the USS Arizona. Lauren Bruner, who was among the last sailors rescued from the Arizona as it exploded into flames and sank, died in September at age 98. >click to read< 07:06
Commercial crab season opening delayed until at least Dec. 31
With Dungeness crab in some management areas including Long Beach and Astoria still lacking enough meat, fishery managers on Dec. 6 decided to delay opening the commercial season until at least Dec. 31 from Point Arena, California to the U.S.-Canada border. > click to read<, Commercial Crab Season Delayed Again – >click to read< , Commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again along Oregon coast – >click to read< 18:49
Offshore Wind Awaits Federal Environmental Reports
The latest industry initiative is the expansion of a cable factory in Charleston, S.C., where Paris-based Nexans plans to make some 620 miles of high-voltage power lines for the five wind projects under development by the utility Eversource and Danish energy company Ørsted. The companies declined to say how the five-year contract was granted. Nexans is also building a new cable-laying vessel with a 10,000-ton capacity.,,, The report was quickly criticized by representatives from the squid and scallop industry who said the 1-mile spacing between the turbines doesn’t improve safety and the layout restricts fishing. “This is the biggest screwup to hit our oceans ever,” said Dellinger, who is chairman of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board. >click to read< 16:58
Appeal launched to bring back beauty of historic fishing boat as she returns to Fife
A classic Fife fishing boat which is the last of its type afloat is poised to make a historic return to the East Neuk to undergo a £200,000 restoration. Manx Beauty is due to arrive by road over the weekend, 82 years after leaving her Cellardyke birthplace as the last boat to have been built there. The 48ft wooden boat is the last still-floating 1930s ring net boat, built to help revive the Isle of Man fishing industry. >click to read< 16:02
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for December 06 , 2019
Legislative updates, Bill updates, Calendar, >Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA, >click to read< North Carolina Fisheries Association’s 3rd Annual Maritime Angels Fundraiser Kicked Off November 1, 2019 Clothing & Toy donations can be dropped off at any of the Following Locations: Gift cards are encouraged for older children 13:48
Hauling lobster traps for the season
TJ Faulkingham, David Black and Lucky Skidgell helped each other load up their lobster traps in Belfast Harbor Dec. 4 to be taken home and stored until spring. After a season of bait shortages, looming restrictions and decreased lobster take, it is impossible to know what next season will bring, they said. Their take was off by 40% this season compared to previous years. Photos, >click to read< 12:41
Sea-Level Rise? Obama Finalizes Purchase Of $11.75M Shoreline Mansion
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have purchased a nearly 7,000-square-foot home on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts for $11.75 million, according to a report.The purchase price was recorded Wednesday with the local Registry of Deeds, the Vineyard Gazette reported.The Obamas paid about half the original asking price for the property when it first became available in 2015, >click to read< 12:13
