Daily Archives: April 20, 2020
UPDATED: Gloucester Fisherman dies after falling overboard
Gloucester lost one of its fishing sons on Monday afternoon when 49-year-old Nicolo Vitale, a crewman aboard the Miss Sandy, went overboard as the vessel returned from fishing and later died at Addison Gilbert Hospital. The Coast Guard received a distress call from the Miss Sandy’s captain, Vince Taormina, that a crew member had gone into the water off the boat’s deck and could not be located. “He said he turned around and his crew member wasn’t there,” Gloucester fishing vessels Santo Pio, owned and captained by Joe Orlando, and the Angela + Rose, which is owned and captained by Paul Vitale, Nicolo Vitale’s cousin, joined the search. >click to read< 20:09
BREAKING: Fisherman goes overboard on way home
A local fisherman went overboard as his ship was coming into port this evening. Nicolo Vitale, 49, was on the Miss Sandy as it returned to Gloucester Harbor, and went overboard about one mile from the breakwater. He was pulled from the water by a crew from Coast Guard Station Gloucester. He was brought to shore, where medical personnel treated him before he was taken to Addison Gilbert Hospital. The story will be updated at GDT >click to read< 19:04
Feds fund new work tent for local shipwright
Astoria based WCT Marine & Construction, one of the few remaining shipwrights in the region, has secured a $573,000 federal grant to build a self-contained outside work area at North Tongue Point. The U.S. Maritime Administration provided the grant through its Small Shipyard Grant Program. WCT will match $191,000. WCT requested a 200-foot-long, 60-foot-wide tent where employees can work on tugs, barges and commercial fishing boats out of the wind and rain, speeding up the turnaround on projects. Under the tent will be a filtered drainage to catch byproducts from welding, painting and other vessel work. >click to read< 18:16
Scallops: NEFMC Approves Amendment 21 Range of Alternatives; Requests Emergency Action on Coronavirus
The New England Fishery Management Council covered several important scallop-related issues during its April 14-15, 2020 meeting, which was held by webinar. Current COVID-19 restrictions on travel and public gatherings prevented the Council from meeting in person. Here’s a recap of the scallop highlights. The Council agreed that the COVID-19 situation qualified as “unforeseen.” Over the course of its discussion, the Council did weigh the possibility of immediately initiating a framework adjustment to address the pandemic’s impacts on the scallop fishery, but the move did not garner enough support. >click to read< 14:18
2J3KL Cod Scientific Update was recently released. Important information was not included
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans released an update of the scientific assessment for 2J3KL Cod on Friday, April 17, 2020. While the Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council appreciates the effort by DFO-Science in completing this update in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears that some important information was not included in the scientific deliberations. There is an internationally-accepted scientific model that has been used for this stock since 2016. This model provides information on overall stock biomass, fishing mortality, natural mortality and recruitment. All the data required to complete this analysis was available to scientists, but they chose not to run the model for this update. Contact: Jim Baird >click to read< 12:06
Foes of Pebble Mine lose a round in court
Opponents of the Pebble Mine lost one of their lawsuits Friday, when a federal court judge ruled against them. The case is about the so-called “pre-emptive veto” the Environmental Protection Agency issued during the Obama administration, before the Pebble Partnership filed its application for a proposed gold and copper mine in Southwest Alaska.,, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled Friday that the EPA could withdraw its proposed determination from 2014. Her decision was based on how much latitude government agencies have and what is subject to legal review, rather than the merits or dangers of the Pebble Mine. >click to read< 11:12
Maine elver fisherman dealing with lower eel prices during the coronavirus crisis
Elvers were often worth less than $200 per pound until 2011, when international sources of the eels dried up and the Maine price jumped to nearly $900 per pound. They’ve been worth more than $800 every year since, and hit a high price of more than $2,360 in 2018. Some fishermen call the elvers “wriggling gold,” but this year, the catch is only selling for about $500 per pound. Industry members are blaming concerns about the coronavirus for the plummeting prices. “We’re just going to the river and we’re going straight home,” said Julie Keene, an elver fisherman from the Lubec area. “Price is a lot less than normal. I think we’ve been greatly affected.” >click to read< 10:25
Family, friends remember fallen Stonington scallop fisherman Charles J. Lathrop
A memorial at the Stonington Town Dock built over the weekend paid tribute to Charles J. Lathrop, a Westerly man who died Thursday as a result of injuries suffered when he fell overboard last week while working on a commercial scallop boat. Surrounded with flowers, the memorial included a picture of the 50-year-old local fisherman who spent 35 years working on the water, docking in ports from Stonington to Hawaii. Next to the memorial, a sign read “Good men never leave us, they become legends we never forget.” photo’s >click to read< 09:53
Ireland: Dingle fishermen hold early morning protest to block Spanish trawler landing amid coronavirus fear
The local community mounted a blockade by sitting or lying on the ground at the pier, preventing an agent from driving across the pier in a truck which would have loaded the fish caught on the trawler. The fishermen had announced their intentions to block the arrival, and Gardaí were present when the Spanish-owned trawler arrived at the pier at approximately 4.30am this morning, Monday 20 April. Gardaí attempted to negotiate with the protesters in order to let the truck through, but were unsuccessful, and the trawler departed from Dingle Harbour at 5.30am without having transferred the caught fish to the truck. >click to read< 08:25
