Monthly Archives: April 2020
Ruling in whale case signals turmoil for lobster industry
It is too early to know exactly how the ruling in a lawsuit brought by a group of environmental organizations will affect the lobster industry. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg asked those groups and NOAA to file briefs suggesting an appropriate “injunctive remedy” against further violations of the Endangered Species Act. Whatever that remedy may be, it is likely to come soon and have a significant impact on Maine lobstermen. During the past several months, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher hosted a series of meetings along the coast with members of the lobster industry,, Throughout the process, Keliher warned that the pending federal lawsuit against NOAA was a “wild card” that could affect the regulatory process in undetermined ways. Last week, Keliher said that with the release of the court’s decision the wild card had been played. >click to read< 17:51
“If lobster people fish, then processors are going to process,” – Processors working on assumed May 1 season start
It is unlikely P.E.I.’s seafood processors will have all the temporary foreign workers they normally have to operate in time for a regular start to the lobster season.,, Jerry Gavin, executive director of the processors’ association, said there will be challenges for his members but they will get the job done if called upon., Gavin recognizes there will be some significant hurdles.”,, Probably one-third of the workforce is temporary foreign workers. Those workers are probably not going to come in here on time. So processors are looking at trying to expand the local labour.” To be ready to start May 1, temporary foreign workers would have to arrive on P.E.I. next week — because they will need to quarantine for 14 days before they can go to the plants. >click to read< 15:51
New England Fishery Management Council Webinar Meeting, April 14th-15th, 2020
Due to federal and state travel restrictions and updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the new coronavirus, COVID-19, the April Council meeting will be conducted by webinar. Please continue to monitor this webpage for additional information. >click here< The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a two-day meeting by webinar on Tuesday, April 14 and Wednesday, April 15, 2020. The public is invited to listen live and provide input during designated opportunities for public comment. IMPORTANT: This notice contains more information than usual. Please read carefully and especially take note for details, >click to read< 13:11
Fish Local: Leigh fisherman backs industry campaign
Following the closure of export markets in France and Belgium, the campaign, called Fish Local, asks residents to cook more locally caught fish and seafood. A website has been set up, called www.fishlocal.org, which states on its home page: “During normal times, 80% of a catch for fishermen in Kent and Essex goes to foreign markets. Due to the current covid-19 crisis, all major international and national markets for fish and shellfish have closed or are limited. “By connecting you, the local community with the local fish supply, we hope we can keep the Kent and Essex fishing industry afloat and the shops full. We are working hard with the local fishing community to bring you closer to quality, fresh fish in and around your area.” >click to read< 11:48
Interview: “Deadliest Catch” Captain Keith Colburn
As the phenomenally popular and enduring reality TV series, Deadliest Catch, enters its 16th season on the Discovery Channel, one of the most colorful and hard-driving skippers, Captain Keith Colburn, owner of the F/V Wizard, took some time out to share with Boating readers his thoughts on boats, safety, crew morale and more. Colburn’s Alaskan fishing career spans 35 years, and unlike many skippers, he is a first-generation fisherman, starting from scratch as a greenhorn at age 22 in 1985. By 1992 he had worked his way up to captain and purchased the 152-foot Wizard in 2005. interview, photo’s, >click to read< 09:56
Northern Pulp: Next step in possible restart expected to come today
On Thursday, Northern Pulp’s parent company, Paper Excellence, put out a news release stating that it intended to continue with the environmental assessment process with the hope of eventually restarting the mill. That will be unpopular with the broad coalition of fishermen, First Nations and concerned citizens who oppose the plan to pump treated effluent into the Northumberland Strait near Caribou. Those groups have warned repeatedly that the effluent could damage the Northumberland Strait ecosystem and harm the commercial fishery on which both aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in the area largely rely. >click to read< 07:52
57.7 tons of Boston lobsters from Canada arrive in East China city
A total of 57.7 tons of Boston lobsters from Canada has arrived at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in East China’s Zhejiang province on a charter flight Thursday, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Saturday. This is the first lobster import cargo charter flight at the airport, one of the designated ports for imports of edible aquatic animals, since the COVID-19 outbreak this year, the GAC said. >click to read< 07:02
Looking Back with FishNetUSA: The case for Bureaucratic Monitoring Systems (BMSs)
A good friend of mine is a New Jersey gillnetter. An acknowledged highliner, he’s served and continues to serve on several state and regional advisory committees, has always participated in the management process, and has never received a NOVA or been convicted of violating any federal or state fisheries regulations. One requires that he have a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.,, This got me thinking, and one of the things it got me thinking about was all of those bureaucrats paid from the U.S. Treasury.,, So why isn’t the wearing, or perhaps implantation if that is a practical alternative, of Bureaucrat Monitoring Systems (BMSs), required as a condition of public employment? >click to read< 13:19
CARES Act – Paycheck Protection Program: Small businesses in Provincetown, on Cape Cod report mixed emergency loan success
After the program received more than 220,000 applications for $66 billion in loans since it opened last Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal, lawmakers are working on adding money with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking for $250 billion more.,, “I think the delay is the sheer volume of people applying,” said Chatham commercial fisherman Shannon Eldredge, who works as a navigator for the Massachusetts Fishing Partnership, which assists fishermen and their families with health care and financial help. “I’m hearing it’s going to take longer than anticipated.” Still, she said her organization and clients were pleased that the SBA was answering phones and questions and providing updates on the status of individual applications. >click to read< 11:06
Coronavirus: Cordova faces big decisions over how to run its famous early-season salmon fishery
The famous Copper River drift gillnet season, known for prized fish that fetch high prices and high demand across America, is the earliest salmon fishery to start in the state, usually kicking off the first or second week of May. Thousands of fishermen and processing and support workers are expected to enter Cordova, a community with about 2,500 year-round residents and a hospital without any ICU beds. Some residents have called on officials to restrict travel into town, seeing it as the best way to keep the new coronavirus from spreading. >click to read< 09:18
West Coast salmon season taking shape – Feds Look at Protections for Oregon Spring-Run Chinook Salmon
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted ocean salmon season recommendations that provide recreational and commercial opportunities for most of the Pacific coast and achieve conservation goals for the numerous individual salmon stocks on the West Coast. >click to read< 17:25
Feds Look at Protections for Oregon Spring-Run Chinook Salmon -A petition seeking to extend federal wildlife protections to spring-run Chinook salmon found along Oregon’s coast has merit and could warrant listing the fish under the Endangered Species Act, Conservation groups Native Fish Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Umpqua Watersheds submitted a new petition in September 2019 specifically for spring-run salmon. >click you< 17:33
Harry Graham Goes Fishing
Harry Graham was a local surfer and fisherman. I only briefly got to know him near the end of his life. We did a page together about surfing and his friend Tom Linker, but he also gave me a bunch of photos of his commercial fishing days. Unfortunately, he passed away before I got much info on these. So I asked a few friends, a got a little info, and found some info in my notes. I think these are mostly from the early 80s. So here are some historic photos of some legendary characters doing their thing in an earlier time. By Tom Modugno >click to read< 16:02
What it’s really like to join the ‘Deadliest Catch’ crew at sea for a day
“Bait!” Capt. Sig Hansen’s voice booms at me from the wheelhouse of his crab fishing boat, the Northwestern,,I’ve joined his five-person crew for a day as the ship’s newbie, or “greenhorn,” to help set gear. It feels just like I’m on the unscripted Discovery hit Deadliest Catch…except I’m not on camera. My assignment: hooking bait bags inside the 875-pound steel-framed crab pots that are dropped one at a time into the churning sea. I climb awkwardly into the 8-foot-tall, 7-foot-wide pot that sits perched on the boat railing, secured by a cable. As I try to attach the bag, my two layers of gloves cause me to fumble, although another reason might be hearing Sig shout, “Turn and burn!” and “Time is money! by Kate Hahn >click to read< 13:51
Northern N.S. lobster fishermen fear impact of Coronavirus on communities
Leonard LeBlanc says his phone has been ringing off the hook. The retired fisherman now the president of the Gulf Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Coalition, “Last night I had a call from a fisherman’s wife who was crying on the phone,” LeBlanc said. “She said ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do this spring. My husband is going to have to be separated from me for the entire fishing season. We have two young kids and he doesn’t want to take the chance to infect the kids with the virus.’” Fish harvesters and processors have been deemed an essential service by the federal government, but some are concerned going ahead with the season would be a recipe for disaster for their families and communities. >click to read< 11:43
New Orkney state-of-the-art whitefish trawler arrives home
Orkney’s brand new state-of-the-art whitefish trawler, Aalskere, arrived in Kirkwall for the first time this morning. The partners in the new Aalskere are Iain Harcus, his wife Elizabeth, John Harcus (Iain’s father) and the Don Fishing Company Peterhead. The new Aalskere was designed by Ove Kristensen from Vestvaerftet in Denmark, who oversaw the hull-building at the Stal-Rem S.A. yard in Poland. >click to read< 10:42
Coronavirus undercuts Port of Astoria’s progress
Will Isom, the Port’s executive director, has focused on low-cost projects that benefit the agency and keep staff busy during a massive drop-off in business caused by the coronavirus.,, Bornstein and Da Yang seafood companies, which employ hundreds of people processing, freezing and shipping catch on Pier 2, have so far kept operating while checking workers’ temperatures, increasing sanitation and enacting more social distancing. “It is a constant concern and effort,” said Andrew Bornstein, co-owner of Bornstein Seafoods with his family. “We have installed partitions, spaced out lines, broken up lunch and dinner breaks to have less people in the lunchroom at a time.” Commercial Dungeness crab prices were already hurt by China’s travel restrictions and ban of live-animal imports during the coronavirus outbreak. >click to read< 09:31
Nfld. & Labrador: Can you fish safely in a pandemic? Seafood industry facing hard Coronavirus questions
All commercial inshore fisheries are delayed until at least May 1,, as the department (DFO) and industry players work out protocols for safer operation of vessels and processing plants. According to Keith Sullivan, the president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, plant workers and fish harvesters have many questions about how they are supposed to keep themselves and their families safe. “The vast majority of the input and the feedback and everything we’re hearing from members is that right now, with all of the advice that we have, they certainly don’t feel safe,”,,, Brenda Greenslade, physical distancing, “A harvester told me the other day, their accommodations when they sleep, their heads are so close together, they share the same dream,” she said. She’s hearing some suggestions that harvesters should be told to bring less crew out to sea, where possible. >click to read< 08:43
Herring spawn setting new records near Craig
Herring are spawning in a big way near Craig on Prince of Wales Island in southern Southeast Alaska. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported 30 nautical miles of active spawn observed near Craig on Friday, April 10. That’s the largest single-day active spawning event on record for the area. And it beats the record set the day before, Thursday, a day that saw over 25 nautical miles. The area has a spawn on kelp commercial fishery underway. Fisherman catch herring and release them in floating net pens, called pounds. Those fish then lay eggs on kelp suspended in those pounds. The herring eggs and kelp are harvested together and sold. >click to read< 07:23
Feds delay Snow Crab season in Gulf of St. Lawrence
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the decision on Thursday to pause the season will let everyone involved in the fishery to put necessary health and safety measures in place. Seafood processors in the Maritimes had called on Ottawa to delay the crab and lobster season, warning that moving ahead with fishing risks workers’ health — and the bottom line — amid the COVID-19 pandemic.,, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said Thursday the province hopes Fisheries and Oceans Canada will delay the spring season for a few weeks, with the possibility of federal compensation. The Maritime Fishermen’s Union, which represents 1,200 harvesters in New Brunswick, said Friday they support a delay of the lobster season until May 15 >click to read< 16:28
Wooden fishing vessels are becoming gradually rarer – and what’s even more rare is to see a new fishing vessel built in wood
Le Croisic fisherman Jérôme Debec made the choice to go for a wooden fishing vessel, opting for a 12.98 metre boat with a 6.20 metre beam to replace his previous 15 metre boat. Built for netting and potting, Kab David IV was launched at Saint-Quay Portrieux and will soon be on its way to join the fleet at Le Croisic. While the hull is built in wood, the superstructure is moulded in GRP for ease of maintenance. Kab David IV has accommodation on board for a crew of up to five, a pair of 3.48m3 vivier tanks. Tank capacities are for 6.40m3 of fuel and a tonne of fresh water. The main engine is a Scania DI13, driving a Masson W1950 gearbox to turn a four-bladed propeller. photos, >click to read< 13:59
Nova Scotia’s lobster industry faces massive setbacks due to Coronavirus impacts
It was shaping up to be one the best seasons ever, but then COVID-19 struck. Geoff Irvine says “it was probably the best time in the lobster industry ever.” As executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, things were looking up as the new decade began. The shore price was good, catches were consistent and filled the demands of the markets for live and processed lobster. Then, along came COVID-19. Irvine says the Chinese market, the Atlantic industry’s biggest for live lobster, started to collapse on January 25th as they began closing restaurants in China. Europe and the United States would soon follow. Why can’t fishers just wait it out until demand rises again? It’s not that simple. >click to read< 11:28
Floating Offshore Wind Farm to Power Offshore Oil Platforms Gains Approval
Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Industry has approved the plans for development and operation of the Hywind Tampen wind farm which will mean the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms will be the first platforms in the world to receive power from a floating offshore wind farm. The wind farm will consist of 11 wind turbines based on the Hywind wind farm concept developed by Equinor. The 8MW turbines will have a total capacity of 88MW and meet about 35 percent of the annual power demand of the five platforms Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B and C. The wind farm will be located around 140 kilometers from shore, between the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms, at a water depth of 260 to 300 meters. >click to read< 10:45
Port of Newport workers still providing services during coronavirus outbreak
With both agricultural and transportation implications, the Port of Newport is considered part of the country’s critical infrastructure as defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Although the port is considered an essential public service provider, just like everyone, we had to adjust to the pandemic,” said Paula Miranda, port general manager. That decision-making led to keeping the commercial marina and international terminal operating while closing or significantly limiting some of the recreational facilities. The result is an “all hands on deck” call, to which the staff has responded favorably. “I can’t praise our staff enough,” the general manager said. >click to read< 09:59
Federal Judge Finds Lobster Fishery Threatens Endangered Whales, Orders NMFS To Comply
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia said in a 20-page order Thursday a 2014 finding by the National Marine Fisheries Service the American lobster fishery would not jeopardize the North Atlantic right whale population – of which there are 400 left in the world – violated the Endangered Species Act, granting summary judgment in favor of several conservation groups. The 2014 Biological Opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to include an “incidental take statement,” rendering the opinion illegal under the Endangered Species Act, Boasberg found. >click to read< 07:49
“I just thought Tignish looked so docile,,,Tignish lobster-trap tree to be lit for Easter in recognition of essential workers, local fishermen
In 2018, the town made the tree using lobster traps as a way to honour the Island’s fishermen, but particularly Moe Getson and Glen DesRoches, two local fishermen who died when their boat capsized the same year. Tina Richard, the town’s recreation director who came up with the idea, said she was inspired while delivering groceries to her father who has been self-isolating. “I just thought Tignish looked so docile. Everything was dark, gloomy, nothing’s open … it just looked like a ghost town,” Richard said.,, As the town continues to try to navigate the pandemic, Richard said people have “really come together” to help each other out. Richard also noted that fishermen in the community are currently getting ready for setting day while not knowing if it will actually take place. >click to read< 22:48
With Coronavirus pandemic ravaging our country, temporary relaxation of fishery regulations is urged to help fishing industry
Thanks to our Senators and Congressmen who worked to get specific aid to the fishing industry, that has been hit particularly hard by the closure of restaurants, where 70 per cent of seafood in this country is consumed. Fishermen and wholesalers have had to adapt on the fly and find other ways to market their product to various degrees of success. The closure of so many vital aspects of our domestic economy will have effects that will still be felt a long time after the Virus is tamed.,, I am requesting that NMFS immediately contact the various management councils and commissions to request that special meetings [webinars] of fishery advisory panels be held to discuss the pro’s and cons of this idea, and what fisheries could benefit.,,, By Jim Lovgren. >click to read< 20:48
Wartsila to provide latest engine and power generation technology for new Scottish fishing trawler
The technology group Wärtsilä will supply a propulsion and power package for a new 75 metres long fishing trawler. The ship is being built at the Karstensen shipyard in Denmark for Scottish owners and operators Wiseman Fishing Co and Northbay Fishing Co. Both the yard and Wiseman Fishing are longstanding customers of Wärtsilä. This latest order with Wärtsilä was placed in March.The vessel will feature a Wärtsilä 31 main engine, two Wärtsilä 14 power generating sets, a gearbox and a controllable pitch propeller (CPP), the combination of which represents the latest engine and power generation technology. In designing the trawler, the aim has been to achieve the best power density, the most efficient performance, and the lowest possible emission levels in order to achieve minimal environmental impact. >click to read< 18:45
Commercial fishing industry in free fall as restaurants close, consumers hunker down and vessels tie up
The novel coronavirus pandemic has destroyed demand for seafood across a complicated U.S. supply chain, from luxury items such as lobster and crab, generally consumed at restaurants, to grocery staples sourced from the world’s fish farms. Now, with restaurants closed, many of the nation’s fisheries — across geography, species, gear types and management — have reported sales slumps as high as 95 percent. Boats from Honolulu to Buzzards Bay, Mass., are tied up dockside, with fisheries in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska affected, throwing thousands of fishermen out of work and devastating coastal communities. >click to read< 16:52
Coronavirus: San Diego’s Fishing Community Pivots to Stay Afloat
The COVID-19 shutdown of many of the city’s restaurants has left much of San Diego’s commercial fishing fleet reeling, and right now they’re doing everything they can to stay afloat including shifting the way they’re selling fish at the weekly Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, which has remained open as an essential business. “The commercial fishing fleet has always provided food for people and we’re still here,” says commercial fisherman Kelly Fukushima. “We want them to know they can rely on us to put food on people’s tables.” The crisis has been hard on local fishers. Commercial fishermen David Haworth and his son, Nick, had to scramble when wholesalers started calling them to say they could no longer sell their catch amid widespread restaurant closures. Home deliveries helped move the load of fish,,, >click to read< 15:31
