Daily Archives: July 23, 2020
Lobstering at 15: Brentwood girl spends summer working on family’s boat
When most of her friends are still asleep during summer vacation, 15 year old Ella Byrne is getting up before the sun. Her dad, Ward, wakes her about 3 a.m., and the two head to Portsmouth, from their home in Brentwood. They eat breakfast, then take a dinghy to their big boat, the F/V Sugar Daddy. They motor past the Portsmouth Fisherman’s Cooperative Pier, and out to the Atlantic Ocean while it’s still dark. When the sun begins to rise, it’s time to haul lobster traps. When asked how long she’s been going, she points she points to a photo on her phone when she was about 8 on the boat with her dad. With sales of lobster to restaurants down, and fish auctions happening less often, the Byrnes are like many other local fishermen who have pivoted to a direct to consumer model of sales. photo’s, >click to read< 23:19
This story has a Twist! F/V Jenny Lynn had been disabled since Monday.
A commercial fisherman was rescued Thursday by the Coast Guard after his vessel capsized in the Gulf of Mexico 18 miles west of the city. The Coast Guard received an emergency alert at 8:56 a.m. from the radio beacon of the Jenny Lynn,,, Robert Heart, 48, was clinging to a cooler near the sunken vessel in 3 to 4-foot seas and 15 mph winds. The Coast Guard Cutter Diamondback first made contact with the Jenny Lynn on Wednesday when it was sent to help a 15-year-old boy who had fallen ill onboard.,, >click to read< 19:02
Coast Guard rescues Commercial Fisherman from capsized vessel near St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Coast Guard rescued a man, Thursday, after his 36-foot commercial fishing vessel capsized 18 miles west of St. Petersburg. Rescued was Robert Heart, 48. Coast Guard Seventh District watchstanders received an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert at 8:56 a.m. for the commercial fishing vessel, F/V Jenny Lynn, homeported in Fort Myers. An Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was directed to launch, and they located the Jenny Lynn capsized. video, >click to read< 15:52
Prince Charles, sea lice, & why salmon farming sucks – Norwegian investors hope to delouse the salmon industry with new facility in Maryland
Business media worldwide have for weeks failed to mention that fact in amplifying a July 7, 2020 announcement that the Norwegian firm AquaCon plans to build a $300 million land-based salmon farm on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. Sea pen salmon farms have worn out their nets, welcome, and often their investment return ratios from Puget Sound to coastal Scotland and Scandinavia. Factory-farming salmon in land-based tanks promises to avoid some of the issues afflicting the aquaculture industry. Land-based salmon farms, for instance, may be better able than sea pen farms to control the disease outbreaks and pollution that have become hallmarks of the land-based salmon industry. >click to read< 13:01
CARES Act grants available for watermen in Chincoteague
Watermen in Chincoteague can now apply for CARES Act funding. “It hurts. It’s hurt the seafood industry big time,” said waterman Eddie Watson. Mayor Arthur Leonard says the town has set aside $30,000 for up to six watermen. Those receiving the grants could possibly get $5,000 apiece. “What we’re doing is a very small step. I wish there was more that we could do. I know the federal government gave a lot of money. But that trickles down, so we are doing with what we have,” said Mayor Leonard. Watson says the money would be a huge help. video, >click to read< 11:45
Bristol Bay salmon processors are starting to post base prices. They are extremely disappointing.
Fishermen have confirmed that Trident Seafoods, Red Salmon / North Pacific Seafoods, OBI Seafoods, and Peter Pan Seafoods have posted a base price of $0.70 per pound for sockeye. That’s just over half of last year’s base price of $1.35. “Well it’s — it’s ridiculous, because it’s not worth it at all. Because I’m putting all this money in,” says Alex, a captain from Wasilla who fishes for Peter Pan Seafoods. He declined to give his last name. Alex says that coming out of a tough season, he’s extremely disappointed with the prices. >click to read< 10:21
‘We have no market, but lots of lobsters’: a Maine lobsterwoman fights for her livelihood
“If I’m not fishing, I’m working on gear or my boat. Or meetings involving fishing. It’s what I eat, sleep and breathe,” lobsterwoman Julie Eaton tells me.,, I ask her what it’s like to start lobster season. “How do I even begin to tell you what it feels like?” she says, sighing. “It feels like I’ve held my breath all winter. Finally, when I turn the key to my boat and I’m going across the bay, my lungs fill with air for the first time in months. All of a sudden I feel alive.,,, “The pandemic is killing us,” Julie Eaton tells me. “It’s a terrible thing. We have no market, but lots of lobsters. We’re safe to fish on our boats. On my boat, it’s just me and my stern-woman. But I have no place to sell my catch! >click to read< 08:44
After Proposing A Five-Week Cut, Florida Cuts Stone Crab Season By Two Weeks
After originally threatening to shorten the stone crab season by five weeks, the commission conceded to complaints in a virtually held meeting on Wednesday and shortened the season by only two weeks, with a new end date of May 1. The new rules go into effect Oct. 1. The commission finalized its rules after hosting a series of virtual workshops since June with industry stakeholders, who widely criticized the agency’s original proposals. On Wednesday, commissioners acknowledged that the new rules, even with a May 1 end of season, would succeed in keeping more than 300,000 pounds of stone crabs from being harvested, which should surpass the agency’s goal of saving 1 million pounds of stone crabs from harvest over a five-year period. >click to read< 07:58
