Monthly Archives: February 2020
Coast Guard suspends search after radio beacon alert, debris found off NC coast
The Coast Guard suspended its search on Thursday after an unregistered emergency position indicating radio beacon alert lead responders to debris approximately 126 miles southeast off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. There were no additional signs of distress reported or vessels known to be overdue in the area. >click to read< 14:36
Coast Guard search underway after radio beacon alert and debris found off Wilmington, North Carolina -The Coast Guard is searching for a possible missing vessel after being alerted by an unregistered emergency position indicating radio beacon and finding debris approximately 126 miles southeast of Wilmington, Tuesday morning. >click to read<
Another wild night at Happy Jack’s! “Happy Jacks Saloon: The Last Morro Bay Fisherman’s Dive”
Bob “2-Beer” Bullnair refuses to listen to reason, especially if he’s into his third beer. 2-Beer works exclusively for Rafe Monk, captain of the Mary Anne. He is around my height of just under 6 feet, but at least 200 beans of non-defined farm-boy strength that is the awe of fellow fishermen, for 2-Beer will outwork, out-lift and outlast anybody on the waterfront. Editor’s Note: The following series of tales from behind the bar, “Happy Jacks Saloon: The Last Morro Bay Fisherman’s Dive,” >click to read< 13:10
Tom Sewid has applied for a commercial licence to hunt seals and sea lions!
While there is money to be made from selling seal meat and fur, Tom Sewid, a director for Pacific Balance Marine Management (PBMM), said the main reason for resurrecting the hunt in B.C. is to protect salmon stocks. “We’ve all identified that we’re losing our salmon due to overfishing, urban sprawl and many other compounding factors, but the biggest one being the overpopulation of seals and sea lions,”. For years, commercial fishermen have pointed to harbour seals as one of the culprits in declining salmon stocks in the Strait of Georgia and sea lions for declines in herring. A recent scientific study appears to back them up. >click to read< 10:28
The Conservation Law Foundation petition’s NOAA to prohibit Atlantic cod fishing
The petition, filed with NOAA regional offices in Gloucester and with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in Washington, invokes the first article of the Magnuson Stevens Act, the law governing federal fisheries, which stipulates that overfishing must end immediately and that the fish stock be rebuilt as quickly as possible. (MMPA has wrecked that!) “There’s a fairly damning record of the agency (NOAA Fisheries, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service) approving (New England Fishery Management) Council plans it should have known were not likely to end overfishing, and were not likely to put cod stocks on any rebuilding timeline,” said Peter Shelley, (who supports him) senior counsel for the foundation. >click to read< The image is cod, destroyed and wasted by seals, 08:35
DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher: NMFS didn’t give the state’s plan credit for all of its whale protections
The state Department of Marine Resources believes that its right whale plan, with its range of lobster fishing restrictions meant to avoid gear entanglements, clocks in right around the 60 percent risk reduction target sought by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Federal regulators – who determined that the state plan reduced risk by just 52 percent – failed to give Maine credit for all its proposed protection measures, as well as those enacted since the last federal right whale review in 2014, Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said Wednesday. >click to read< 07:15
Maine Lobstermen Dismayed By Fed’s Push For More Gear Changes To Protect Endangered Whale – >click to read<
F/V New Age Owner Desperately Trying to Save Sinking Boat
The owner of the New Age, a commercial fishing vessel from Montauk that took on water Wednesday morning, forcing its crew to evacuate the boat 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island, raced to his boat and is now aboard, heading for a New Jersey port in an effort to save it. Chris Winkler of Montauk, the boat’s owner, had just landed at J.F.K. Airport after a two-week vacation with his girlfriend, Tracy Stoloff, when he received a call from the Coast Guard that his crew had been forced overboard. “The first question out of Chris’s mouth when he was talking to the Coast Guard is ‘How is my crew? Where is my crew?’ ” >click to read< 06:03
Gloucester Police Department investigating apparent attempt to sink family’s fishing vessels
Officers responding to a report of vandalism at Captain Joe’s Marina at 95 East Main St. found three boats with holes drilled into their hulls, according to the Gloucester Police Department. Police say a vandal cut the padlock off of a cabin door on one vessel and sabotaged an array of pumps, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Mark Ring, chairman of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, says he is shocked and baffled by the incident because the boats belong to two well-respected brothers. Video, >click to read<19:36
Three rescued from sinking Montauk fishing vessel taking on water
Three crew members were rescued from a Montauk-based fishing vessel that took on water early Wednesday off Fire Island, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The spokesman, P.O. 3rd Class John Hightower, identified the vessel as the 45-foot New Age, based in Montauk, and said its crew sent a distress call at 4:35 a.m., saying they were taking on water about 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island Inlet.>click to read< 17:06
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 50′ Fibreglass Stern Trawler, 425HP Volvo, Northern Lights 12 kw Generator
Specifications, information and 7 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 13:57
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Sued Over Steelhead Farming in Puget Sound
Environmental and conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife over the agency’s recent decision to allow Cooke Aquaculture to rear farmed steelhead trout in Puget Sound. The suit, filed in the Superior Court of Washington, alleges that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a permit to allow steelhead fish feedlots, a type of fish-farming practice, to operate in the complex waterways of Puget Sound without any consideration of the consequences they would have on the environment. >click to read< 13:01
Sea Shepherd’s declaration of media war against BC seal hunt
In the middle of what is presently called “The 6th Extinction”, the DFO, our Ministry of Fisheries and a few westcoast First Nations individuals and Chinese Government officials are entertaining a massive west coast seal slaughter.,,, Commentary by Captain Paul Watson The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has physically opposed the slaughter of seals and sea lions around the world since 1977 – from Newfoundland and Labrador to Namibia, Norway, Russia, Finland and Scotland. We cannot ignore any seal killing program,,, >click to read< 10:07
Sea Shepherd says it was shot at by poachers in Mexico – >click to read<
NMFS: Maine’s proposal to keep right whales from getting entangled in lobstering gear doesn’t go far enough
The National Marine Fisheries Service has concluded that Maine’s plan to use a combination of weak rope and a 25 percent reduction in the number of buoy lines in state waters achieves, at best, a 52 percent risk reduction, while federal regulators are demanding a 60 percent reduction. “Because your proposal does not meet the 60 percent risk reduction target, we will be obligated to consider additional measures through our federal rulemaking,” said Michael Pentony, regional administrator of NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. includes letter, >click to read< 08:09
Job Opening: Executive Director, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
PCFFA and IFR seek an Executive Director to carry out their collective fisheries and environmental policy missions,, The PCFFA and IFR Executive Director is responsible for management of operations, development, budgeting, policy and legal strategy, government relations, human resources, communications, and member engagement.,,, A competitive salary and benefits package is offered. PCFFA provides a company vehicle to the Executive Director. Our beautiful office is located on the waterfront in San Francisco’s Presidio, and the freshest, most sustainable seafood on the planet is part of the compensation package. >click to read< 07:00
Vineyard Wind to Miss Startup Target Over Permit Delay
“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will mean for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,” Vineyard Wind Chief Executive Lars Pedersen said in a statement. Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Inc. >click to read< 06:12
Coast Guard search underway after radio beacon alert and debris found off Wilmington, North Carolina
The Coast Guard is searching for a possible missing vessel after being alerted by an unregistered emergency position indicating radio beacon and finding debris approximately 126 miles southeast of Wilmington, Tuesday morning. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard District Five command center in Portsmouth, Virginia received the distress alert at approximately 11 a.m. >click to read< 17:34
Feb. 14 deadline for bids on Tanner crab test fishery
State fisheries officials have set a Feb. 14 deadline for bids to participate in a Prince William Sound test fishery from Feb. 22 through April 7, to harvest up to 30,000 pounds of Tanner crab. Six lots of up to 5,000 pounds each are available in defined areas of the Northern and Hinchinbrook districts, Bids will be accepted for six individual lots for a maximum of 5,000 pounds each, at a minimum bid price of 35 cents a pound, with the contract to be awarded to the highest bidders for each lot. Vessel owners are welcome to bid on more than one lot. >click to read< 16:38
Dirty Wind, Dirty Politics. Pier remake could cost state three times $93 million estimate
Tuesday morning, Gov. Ned Lamont plans what I would have to call the most egregious overreach of executive power and assault on open public governing I’ve ever seen. And I’m old. It’s hard to know exactly what will unfold at a special meeting today of the board of Lamont’s stepchild, the corrupt and dysfunctional Connecticut Port Authority, because the governor, incredibly, won’t disclose the deals he plans for them to vote on. An agenda for the meeting posted late Friday afternoon suggests the board will vote on the still-secret deal to rebuild State Pier as a wind turbine assembly facility mostly closed to routine marine cargo, its historic purpose. >click to read< 15:31
Further protection measures coming to protect North Atlantic right whales
Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan says Ottawa will announce further measures in the coming weeks to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Speaking to a fishing gear innovation summit in Halifax today, Jordan didn’t release any details of the coming measures.,, The minister says testing also continues on new technology such as ropeless gear, which could help reduce the risk of entanglements for whales. More than 250 harvesters and fishing gear manufacturers from Canada, the United States, Iceland and Norway are attending the two-day summit. >click to read< 12:50
First month of Dungeness crabbing disappointing
Crabbing season is off to a slow start in Crescent City and Brookings, Ore. “We’ve had a lot of bad weather, not too many days out fishing,”,, Fishermen were anxious to begin crab fishing when the season opened on Dec. 31, after being delayed twice due to the crab quality. So far, the season has been disappointing, yielding a low overall poundage of crabs, according to Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Rick Shepherd and Burkman. It is not the worst year Crescent City and Brookings has seen, but it’s certainly not the best. >click to read< 11:55
Coronavirus: With China’s Borders Closed to Imported Live Seafood, Local Fishermen Feel the Pinch
As the number of the sick and the dead continue to rise alarmingly in China, the economic effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak were felt in the Santa Barbara Harbor.,,, “Santa Barbara brings in $4 million to $5 million a season,” said Chris Voss, president of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara. The prized crustacean had been stockpiled for China’s late January Lunar New Year festivities, he said, from New England to Australia. When China closed its borders to live-animal foodstuffs about 10 days ago, everyone was hit. >click to read< 10:21
West Coast fishery appeals for aid but federal fisheries minister is missing in action
Commercial fishermen in B.C. are sending out an SOS following last year’s disastrous salmon season that has already sunk some boat owners. The union representing commercial fishermen says years of Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) “mismanagement” pushed some commercial fishermen to the brink, and 2019 pushed them over. “Hundreds of fish harvesters are facing financial ruin after decades of fisheries regulation mismanagement,” said Joy Thorkelson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. >click to read< 09:19
Family’s fishing vessels vandalized in Gloucester
Police were called to Captain Joe’s Marina at 95 East Main St. for a report of vandalism on multiple lobster boats. Upon inspection, police found that someone had taken the padlock off the cabin of one vessel and drilled several holes through the hull of the boat with the intention of sinking it at the dock. A fellow fisherman had noticed the vessel sitting low in the water and called the owner. Besides the holes, the owner found the bilge pumps had been sabotaged and his emergency pump had been disabled. >click to read< 08:00
“If he wants war, we’ll give him war.” Company not rebuilding shrimp plant
Workers at the former shrimp plant in Black Duck Cove on the Great Northern Peninsula are ‘devastated’ by the news Gulf Shrimp Limited won’t be rebuilding, but they aren’t giving up. Eva Applin, a union representative for the workers, said workers won’t let this happen without a fight. Michelle Dredge,, It’s devastation here that they’re not going to come back with us,” she said. “They said they didn’t have enough work for 65 to 70 workers but have enough for 100 in St. Anthony.” The Black Duck Cove plant burned down in May, 2019. >click to read< 20:17
Dewey Hemilright: U.S.Fishermen in desperate need to level playing field in U.S. marketplace
The U.S.A is a member of ICCAT, which is the International body with 53 contracting party countries {CPC}with additional 6 countries having cooperating status that manages Highly Migratory species in the Atlantic Ocean,, ICCAT has a {SCRS}, which stands for {standing committee on research statistics},,, I attended as a member of U.S.A. delegation in November 15-25 ,2019 the 26th annual meeting of ICCAT in Mallorca, Spain. >click to read< 17:35
Coast Guard, responders prepare to move fishing vessel grounded in Hilo Bay
Responders are working to remove potential pollutants from the 63-foot fishing vessel, Midway Island, currently aground off Hilo. The Coast Guard is working with the Department of Land and Natural Resources and contractor personnel to mitigate the potential pollution threat from the vessel. Reportedly, a maximum potential of 1,800 gallons of diesel and two marine batteries are aboard. >click to read<14:50
The Daily Catch! What’s Your Story?
All hands on deck! We are looking for fisherman, fishermen’s spouses, loved ones, family members, people who work in and around the seas who have a story to tell. Join professional award-winning storytellers for a four week workshop which will end with a live performance of stories in front of a New Bedford audience. Share your experiences and wisdom! For more information, >click to read< 11:39
‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’ claims its latest victim off Outer Banks.
The infamous “Graveyard of the Atlantic” off North Carolina’s Outer Banks claimed its latest victim Friday on the shoals off Cape Lookout National Seashore. National Park Service officials posted photos Saturday of the fishing trawler Tamara Alane sitting “high and dry” on the beach after a dramatic rescue before dawn Friday. photos, >click to read< 09:11
Coast Guard hoists 4 fishermen after vessel runs aground near Shackelford Banks, North Carolina, February 7, 2020 – Video, >click to read<
Commercial fishermen fear seismic blasting in the Otway Basin will impact business and marine life
It’s understood Schlumberger Australia Pty Ltd have commenced a 100-day operation in a bid to find potential recoverable hydrocarbon – natural gas, oil and coal – in a 93,000 square kilometre area of the basin including off the entire south-west coast. It comes after the coronavirus outbreak halted crayfish exports across the country. Port Campbell cray fisherman Wayne Hanegraaf has thanked his lucky stars that he decided to sit this season out. >click to read< 06:30
Be ready! Electronics for Man Overboard Alert
Prudent seamanship and vigilance play vital roles in preventing and responding to man-overboard (MOB) situations. Today, there are also marine electronic products and systems from brands such as ACR Electronics, McMurdo and Ocean Signal that augment precautions, speed rescues, and help avoid tragic consequences.,, All of these systems include the use of compact, wearable devices. Many are designed to attach to a life jacket or article of clothing. Some are manual, and others have automatic triggers that include water immersion, increased boat distance, and inflatable-life-jacket activation. >click to read< 12:21
Video: New Hampshire fishing fleet seeking support from 2020 Democrats feel they’re being ignored!
Fishermen feel their concerns have been ignored by candidates. Video, >click to watch< 11:10
