“Everybody who has ever been a fisherman was drawn to it because of the freedom,” Erikson said. “The freedom to be your own boss, the freedom to be responsible to no one but yourself.” But money, freedom or even a viable living from the sea are in increasingly short supply on the B.C. coast, especially for young fishermen, said Jim McIsaac, vice-president of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters’ Federation. The number of people that can fish for a living is dropping because the cost of buying or leasing the Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs),, The problem, McIsaac said, is that on the West Coast of Canada, the ownership of fishing licences and ITQs are not limited to fishermen.,, The federal government’s response,,, >click to read< 08:40
Monthly Archives: July 2020
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
Gideon Makes Bremen Waterfront First Stop After Primary Win
Sara Gideon of Freeport is the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. She will challenge four-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, in the fall. On Wednesday, July 15, Gideon met with lobstermen at the Bremen Lobster Pound Co-Op and went out on the fishing vessel Four of a Kind with lobsterman Shannon Harvey and his family. Harvey told Gideon that restrictions on fishing gear related to right whales, as well as plans for offshore wind development, are just two of the challenges facing the Maine lobster industry. >lick to read< 17:21
Fraser River sockeye fishery to stay closed because of concerns about the stocks
The department said in a notice Tuesday that Fraser River sockeye forecasts are “highly uncertain” at this time. Fraser River sockeye returns from 2015 and 2016 were forecast at 941,000 in total. Last year, the returns of 485,900 were the lowest since record keeping began in 1893. The other major challenge for this year’s sockeye — along with chinook, coho, and steelhead — is that they have to get through the site of the November 2018 Big Bar landslide on the Fraser River upstream of Lillooet. Despite installing infrastructure to help salmon, that area will “continue to be an impediment,” >click to read< 14:56
Fishing industry leaders voice offshore wind farm concerns to Trump interior secretary
Industry representatives voiced a raft of concerns with offshore wind, including the safety of commercial and recreational boaters navigating the waters, issues towing fishing nets through the farms and the potential for disrupting marine life.,, “In the West, we do wind. You know where we don’t put a windmill? In the middle of a highway,” Bernhardt said. “I need a development program that is done in a way that is sustainable for everybody.” Members of New England’s commercial fishing industry who feel they’ve been cast aside in the rush toward offshore wind took their concerns straight to the top of the Trump administration Tuesday in a Seaport sit-down with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. >click to read< 12:57
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 72’x22′ Steel Longliner, 425HP Cat, Price Reduced
To review specifications, information and 15 photos, >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 12:00
Vineyard Wind sails forward!
Atlantic waters 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard are again poised to be the site of a milestone that potentially rivals Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek Valley in U.S. energy significance. The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), an advocacy group for fishing interests, along with other fishing organizations, has pushed for four-mile-wide transit lanes through the turbines for safe mobile gear fishing and safe general navigation. In general, fishermen have been the strongest critics of the project. “Vineyard Wind alone will generate at least 3,600 jobs, and reduce costs for ratepayers by an estimated $1.4 billion, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources,” the letter states. >click to read< 10:57
Newfoundland shrimp fishermen still in limbo as fish plants remain idle
Normally, the shrimp fishing season starts by June, with fishers in this area wrapping up their season in late August and hoping not to have to fish through the bad weather months of mid to late fall. But a wrangle over shrimp prices has lasted longer than usual, thanks in part to the uncertain markets caused by Coronavirus. In mid June the province’s Price Setting Panel decided on a price of $1.18 per pound, choosing the price suggested by the Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor) over the price of .70 cents per pound suggested by the Association of Seafood Processors (ASP). Meanwhile, according to the union, shrimp processors in New Brunswick and Quebec, including a Royal Greenland-owned plant, have been buying shrimp from harvesters in that province while refusing to purchase from Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters. >click to read< 07:37
Snow crabbing case over Latvia ends up in international court of arbitration
Peteris Pildegovics and his company North Start LTD, whose trawler was arrested by Norwegian authorities as it was crabbing around the Svalbard (Spitzbergen) archipelago, have filed a complaint with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The applicant argues that by detaining the vessel, Norway has violated Latvia-Norway agreement on the promotion and protection of mutual investment. As reported, a Latvian crab trawler, the Senator, was arrested on January 16, 2017, for fishing snow crab in Norwegian waters around the Svalbard (Spitzbergen) archipelago. The Norwegians insist that the Latvian vessel had been fishing there illegally >click to read< 21:15
Drilling fluid spill from Hibernia platform shuts down production
Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore regulatory board is reporting a spill of drilling and production fluid from the Hibernia platform during well operations on Sunday, leading to an immediate shutdown of production. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said the spill was reported Monday by the Hibernia Management and Development Company after water sampling indicated an “exceedance of produced water discharge.” Produced water is a mixture of seawater from the reservoir, used in injection, with drilling and production fluids for normal production operations, according to a press release from the C-NLOPB. >click to read< 16:49
Spanish F/V Pesorsa Dos detained in Irish waters and escorted to Killybegs
The F/V Pesorsa Dos was detained by the Irish Naval Service for alleged breaches to fishing regulations in Irish waters around 25 miles off Malin Head on Friday. She arrived at Killybegs on Tuesday morning after it had taken a few days to recover all of her gear. The Spanish owned gill-netter stands accused of attempting to foul the propeller of the local trawler F/V Alison Kay at the end of June during a confrontation 30 miles to the west of Shetland. At the time fishermen shared a number of video clips showing the incident,,, >click to read< 15:50
With demands for an investigation, Skipper describes how local boats are pushed out of fishing grounds – >click to read<
Offshore Wind Farms are new danger for Lake Erie through Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal
The proposal to install offshore wind turbines on the Eastern side of Lake Erie was brought to my attention during the annual Woodlawn Beach cleanup last September. Since then I have learned much about how negative this would be for Lake Erie and the people and wildlife that depend on it, the protests around the world against these types of projects and the media paywalls that are stifling our knowledge of them. Global developers have called the Great Lakes the “Saudi Arabia of Wind,” and surprisingly, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups that oppose Peace Bridge reconstruction and shoreline development endorse the turbines. Can you see the dollar signs? Can you trust a global industry with our fresh water? By Mary Henson, >click to read< 14:22
Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 20, 2020
At 52.6 million, the total bay-wide run is now almost four million above the preseason forecast. It’s also more than a million fish over where it was at this point last year! Almost half of the total run is in the Naknek-Kvichak — at 23 million fish, that district has seen the largest run in the bay, followed by Egegik, at 13.9 million fish. All rivers except Togiak have reached or exceeded their escapement goals. >click to read< 13:08
Stonington 67th Annual Blessing of the Fleet will go on despite Coronavirus pandemic
The 67th annual Blessing of the Fleet with not be a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike other traditional events across the region that have been canceled due to the virus, organizers of the Blessing will hold a scaled back event Sunday morning in the borough that is designed to preserve its most meaningful parts. “It will be short but we want to make sure we honor the fishermen especially since we lost one fishermen this year,” said Mike Crowley of the Blessing of the Fleet Committee. “This is why we do this.” The Blessing prays for the success and safety of local fishermen over the coming year and remembers Town Dock fleet members who have died at sea. Their names are listed on the memorial at the dock. This year’s event will be even more solemn than usual because it was just in April that fisherman Charles Lathrop, 50, of Westerly, died after falling overboard from the local scallop boat F/V Invictus off the coast of New Jersey. >click to read< 11:49
Coronavirus: Commercial Fishing During A Pandemic
My name’s Jake Bunch and I’m a commercial fisherman based out of Half Moon Bay, California. Jake started fishing in 2012. He fishes for king salmon, Dungeness crab, and sablefish, or black cod. Jake says he hasn’t been fishing anywhere near as much as he usually would this time of year. With shelter-in-place and other coronavirus related restrictions there just haven’t been enough buyers and reliable markets to make it worth it. Before COVID, about 75% of commercially fished salmon in California went to restaurants. Now, that market has mostly dried up. >click to read< 10:36
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak crew medevacs an injured fisherman north of Kodiak Island
At approximately 12:45p.m., Sector Anchorage command center personnel received notification from the wife of the fishing vessel’s master requesting a medevac for an injured crew member. District 17 command center personnel directed the launch of an Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew to respond. At approximately 1:42 p.m., the aircrew landed on a nearby beach and further transported the man to local EMS. “Good communications from the boat, excellent flexibility and the captain’s expert seamanship enabled a very quick pick-up and transfer of the injured fisherman to medical care.” >click to read< 08:02
Vancouver Island: Invasion of the green crab
The invasive European green crab is proliferating at an alarming rate on the west and southern coasts of Vancouver Island, devouring smaller Dungeness crab and bivalves as well as the eelgrass that is critical to young salmon. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has identified hotspots around Sooke and Barkley Sound, but environmental groups and First Nations say the green crab’s infestation extends to Haida Gwaii and likely most parts of the B.C. coast. They say “industrial trapping” of the green crab is essential before it wipes out local species and key habitats. >click to read< 19:19
DMR Needs Your Correct Address Information to Distribute CARES Act Relief Funds
In May, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) notified you that Maine has been allocated $20 million in CARES Act relief funding to support the recovery of Maine’s commercial fishing, seafood, aquaculture, and charter fishing industries from the financial impacts of COVID-19. Following additional guidance from NOAA provided in June, DMR has been working on developing the “spend plan” for these funds, which must be approved by NOAA. DMR anticipates that we will be reaching out to all potentially eligible parties in August 2020. In preparation for that, we want to ensure that we have the most up-to-date contact information for all of our license holders. links, more information, >click to read< 16:59
Fishing industry seeks emergency waiver from federal fishery observer requirement.
West Coast trawlers and fishing industry leaders looking to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus are asking for an emergency waiver from a requirement to carry human observers. The National Marine Fisheries Service provided a two-week waiver from observer coverage in the spring. Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, clarified in a message posted Thursday that waivers remain available on a vessel-by-vessel basis. According to a spokesman, the federal agency has issued some individual vessel waivers for trips in the past three months — all were for times when observers were not available, not for other reasons, such as a vessel operator’s concerns about the coronavirus. >click to read< 15:54
South Shore fishermen are finding demand for Atlantic bluefin tuna is way down
“It’s all about supply and demand and there’s no demand for them, so the dealers don’t want to keep buying them if they’re not able to keep selling them,” fisherman Greg Ares, based out of Green Harbor in Marshfield, said. “Maybe within the next week or two, restaurants will be opened up in the U.S., sushi restaurants, and they will purchase our bluefin tuna. Even if I get $6 a pound, that’s good enough to keep going.” American Bluefin Tuna Association President David Schalit said price has not really changed. “What has changed is the demand,” he said. “The demand is way, way off. Restaurants in the U.S. are barely open, some are maybe selling takeaway, some are still closed and in the Boston or New York areas, you see tables on the sidewalk.” >click to read< 15:14
Louisiana fisheries, coastal agencies working on initial oyster recovery strategy
Oysters are such a mainstay of Louisiana cuisine,, But over the past two decades, the state’s legendary bivalves have been getting battered. In hopes of reversing those trends, the agencies that oversee Louisiana’s fisheries and its coastal restoration efforts are developing a long-term strategy to revive the state’s once-legendary and recently beleaguered oyster fishery. The initial price tag is estimated at $132 million,, The plan was presented to the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries’ Louisiana Oyster Task Force for an initial review on July 7, and was endorsed by the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority eight days later. >click to read< 13:04
A factory fishing trawler is docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 Coronavirus cases. Now it’s headed for Seward.
More than two-thirds of the crew of a huge factory fishing vessel docked in the Aleutian fishing port of Dutch Harbor has tested positive for COVID-19, local authorities announced Sunday. The 85 cases are on board the American Triumph, owned by Seattle-based American Seafoods, one of the biggest players in the billion dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery. The American Triumph, and its crew members who tested positive, are scheduled to depart Unalaska late Sunday or early Monday with American Seafoods medical support personnel on board. They’re scheduled to sail to Seward and arrive by Wednesday,,, >click to read< 09:34
Want To Cripple America? Have the Democrats Got A New ‘Green’ Deal For You!
The Democrats have been doing the bidding of America’s cabal of crony capitalists who designed the wind and solar scam for years; characters who’ve made obscene profits from massive taxpayer subsidies to renewable energy and who are obviously very keen for more of the same.,, Paul Driessen takes a look at what might happen in the US in the event that these lunatics ever get anywhere near the controls., How many wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, biofuel plants and miles of transmission lines will be required under various GND plans? Where will they go? Whose scenic and wildlife areas will be impacted? How will rural and coastal communities react to being made energy colonies for major cities? >click to read< 09:03
Malpeque harbour users vote in favour of new wharf at Cabot Shores
On Wednesday, July 8, Malpeque harbour users gathered in Summerside to hear proposed plans for a new wharf. Around 50 people attended the presentation given by Harbourside Consulting and MRSB, which was hosted by the Malpeque Harbour Authority before its annual general meeting. Most there were commercial fishers; some were members of the public. The navigational channel into Malpeque harbour, also called Malpeque Cove, is shallow and has needed near-constant dredging for decades. The shallow channel is dangerous for boats and their crews who risk running aground, swamping full of water or capsizing. >click to read< 08:09
