Monthly Archives: August 2020
Getting a jump start on a lobstering career with the Maine student apprenticeship program, getting started as young as 8!
Zac has always been attracted to the open water and salty air and last year he started apprenticing under commercial lobsterman Eddie Foye, who is a distant cousin Zac had never met. Eddie has been lobstering for three decades at the Isle of Shoals and has mentored his three children including his 17-year-old daughter Raegan Foye. This past summer Zac completed the 1,000 hours of lobstering with a mentor, a requirement under the student apprenticeship program in the state of Maine that guarantees kids can get a commercial lobster license when they turn 18 if all the requirements are met. >video, click to read< 21:06
Nils E. Stolpe/FishnetUSA – NOAA Fisheries Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
Well, first we have this reassuring (at least if you’re not that familiar with the capacity of NOAA Fisheries to get it really, really wrong!) statement that “NOAA Fisheries is actively monitoring and adjusting to the COVID-19 national health crisis”. Nothing to worry about, right? Well, not quite nothing. While I’ve seen nothing official, word on (at least some of the New Jersey) docks is that, in spite of the ongoing and very possibly worsening national Covid-19 health crisis, the mandatory on-board observers are back in force and demanding rides.,, It seems like just about anything that might involve NOAA/NMFS employee exposure to Covid-19 has either been cancelled or public participation has been severely restricted or eliminated. >Click to read<17:12
Opening a can of worms: Offshore fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico: Who benefits?
Velella Epsilon – the first fish farm in federal waters off the contiguous United States – would operate in the Gulf of Mexico, about 40 miles from Florida’s coast. Globe-shaped pens would hold fingerling almaco jack, a member of the amberjack genus, that would grow into 4-pound market fish within a year. The White House appears eager to open federal waters to aquaculture. With Executive Order 13921, President Donald Trump on May 7 ordered NOAA to winnow down regulations for both aquaculture and wild-caught fish.,, Ocean aquaculture is not without its environmental costs, such as escaped fish, parasites, and “fish sewage.” To James Bois, a commercial fisherman based here in Cortez, it’s unclear how a massive fish farm operation off the coast of Cortez will change his life. >click to read< 14:52
British Columbia – Crew Safety Training – Prepare And Protect your Crew from Coronavirus
WorkSafeBC and Transport Canada regulations set a high standard for training where emphasis is placed upon ensuring that both operational and emergency training occurs before work begins. In addition to this, COVID-19 has created new requirements for vessel owners and masters as they are now responsible for training crew on the vessel-specific protocols that are designed to protect the health of crew and the communities they interact with while fishing. >click to read< 13:45
Japanese Canadian fishermen and their families are part of Richmond’s enduring and rich maritime history.
Growing up next to Brittania shipyards in an enclave of cannery homes owned by B.C. Packers was a “Huck Finn-ish existence,” said Higo, 71, who offered Postmedia a little storytelling of his own in support of the event on Sunday. Higo, the son of a fisherman, grew up riding his bike along a boardwalk that ran from No. 2 road all the way to Steveston, and cutting through the shipyards, playing on the wharfs, clambering over seiner nets laid out to dry and watching fish being unloaded. “This was before WorkSafeBC regulations,” said Higo. “The area was one big playground for children.” Higo’s father Frank was a fisherman, who trolled for Coho and spring salmon in Ucluelet and the San Juan Straits.“It was tradition for the sons to fishing with their fathers, but my father wanted a different life for my brother and I,”,, >click to read< 11:05
New penalty points system – Fishermen say there is no right to challenge the points for breaches of rules
The chief executive of Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, Séan O’Donoghue has said that fishermen are not being afforded the same rights as other citizens under the new penalty points system introduced at the weekend. Mr O’Donoghue said that the fishing industry was not opposed to the system of penalty points to target breaches of fisheries rules but they were concerned that there was no right to challenge the points.,, The reaction from the fishing industry all around the country had been huge, said Mr Donoghue. “We can’t understand how the Taoiseach signed this statutory instrument.” >click to read< 10:21
Good Morning! We celebrate our eighth birthday today.
Good Morning! It’s our birthday today. We’ve calculated some statistics from the back side of the website, to give a little insight Into the past eight years. In the past eight years, we’ve had 8,186, 234 visits. Our best day ever, 72, 221! We’ve posted 27, 725 posts, which are trails to articles collected daily, inventoried, categorized, and shared around the globe. We have tried to provide an accurate snapshot of the industry, continuously updated, daily, for eight years, which is ninety six months, and an average of 289 posts per month, which comes up to 9.6 posts per day, as an average day. We have posted 839 pages, (example), this, and this, and this, submitted from fishermen, former fishermen and industry representatives from around the world. This is the page with our first four posts on our first day. We have so many people to thank, including one gentleman that never forgets us, and Cousin Patty. We will pay you back someday! Thank you! Carol, and Bore-head 007. Time to set out for our first tow of the day! 08:15
Everything you’ve heard about ‘ropeless’ fishing gear is false.
Is so-called “ropeless” fishing gear the magic bullet for the perceived problem of marine mammal interactions in California’s crab fisheries? (what about the New England lobster fishery?) Several profit-driven environmental groups, including Oceana, would like the public and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to believe it is.,,, In truth, there have only been four mortalities attributed to CA commercial Dungeness crab gear since 2013, and none during the last two seasons.,,, Maine’s lobster fishery has never had a documented serious injury or mortality for any Right whale, and no entanglement since 2002, which makes this a non-problem. One of the problems with “ropeless” gear is that it’s a misleading term used by the profit-driven environmental groups to make it seem harmless. >click to read< 15:06
Alarm in Irish lobster sector over Hogan’s new US trade deal
The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine says Ireland is “still considering” the full implications of the “mini-deal”, which was welcomed as “mutually beneficial” by Mr Hogan and US President Donald Trump’s trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer. The two men concluded the deal on August 21, two days after Mr Hogan attended the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden, Co Galway, which led to his resignation last week. The EU has agreed to eliminate tariffs on imports of US live and frozen lobster for five years, in return for halving of tariffs imposed by the US on certain EU products, including ready meals and crystal glassware. The US exported more than $111m-worth of lobster to the EU in 2017. >click to read< 10:13
“We’re not sure what it means,” – Trump turns an eye on Canadian lobster, launches Trade Investigation
On Aug. 24, the United States International Trade Commission announced it will investigate the possible negative effects of the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA) on American lobster exports. The investigation was requested by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The investigation will also examine tariff treatment of Canadian lobster in the United Kingdom, China and other countries. “We’re not sure what it means,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada. “We’re studying it. The government of Canada is studying it. Now we’re talking to our colleagues in the U.S. and we’re trying to figure out how best to manage it from the Canadian side.” >click to read< 08:36
The Judge has ruled! NMFS must list the North Atlantic Right Whale entanglement facts on paper. Case Closed!
Judge Boasberg has ruled! A new accurate ESA analysis has been ordered by next June. The National Marine Fisheries Service just needs to put the lobster entanglement facts on paper and it’s “Case Closed” Not only was there an unusual mortality event in the Gulf of St Lawrence. The Right Whales stopped reproducing. Basically the whales moved up into the South West Gulf of Saint Lawrence in 2015 and took the crab fishermen by surprise and also they set up feeding on copious copepods at the mouth of the St Lawrence River where the Spring flood of nutrients kicks off phytoplankton blooms. Unfortunately this is directly under a shipping lane used solely by cruise ships who traveled at night starting at the end of April.,, by Jim O’Connell, >click to read< 20:26
Coast Guard corrects aids to navigation after Hurricane Laura near Lake Charles and Port Arthur
The Coast Guard is continuing their response operations following the aftermath of Hurricane Laura near Lake Charles, Louisiana and Port Arthur, Texas. Multiple Coast Guard units are conducting channel assessments, identifying and correcting aids to navigation outages, and reviewing channel surveys to fully reconstitute all waterways. Approximately 2,108 aids to navigation assets were potentially impacted, damaged or moved off station due to Hurricane Laura. District Eight oversees over 23,000 aids. “Mariners should use extreme caution transiting through waterways in Lake Charles and Port Arthur due to aids to navigation outages and floating debris,” >click to read< 19:33
Hurricane Laura: Shrimpers rescue each other from sinking boats while riding it out
Phillip “Rooster” Dyson Jr., held onto an industrial icebox on the back deck of his 50-foot shrimping trawler and prayed for daylight. He thought of his four children and the rest of his family and realized he might not live to see them again. “It was that point when you know you messed up but it’s too late to turn back,” Dyson, 36, recalled. “It was a living nightmare.” But the shrimpers of Cameron did what they do each time a storm approaches: They motored their trawlers 30 miles inland, tied them to a pier at the Port of Lake Charles and hunkered down in their cabins to ride out the storm. Fifteen shrimping boats tied up to wait out Laura. Only five survived, the rest sinking to the bottom of Bayou Contraband,, >Video, photos, Click to read< 17:25
Seafish inviting Bridlington’s fishermen, vessel owners across UK to take to share impacts of Covid-19 in Fleet Survey
The UK fleet survey is asking questions about the financial and operational performance of fishing businesses. Questions on the impact of Covid-19 are also a major part of the survey this year. There will also be an opportunity for vessel owners to say how effective Government support measures have been for their businesses. Seafish is hoping vessel owners in Bridlington will fill in the form so it gets a better idea of the current situation. >click to read< , Fishing vessel owners asked to share impacts of Covid-19 in annual fleet survey – The fleet survey is usually undertaken by a team of researchers visiting hundreds of ports and harbours across the UK. Due to Covid-19 and challenges with travel and physical distancing, a different approach is being taken this year. >click to read< from Seafish, 15:43
Three Shrimpers seeking shelter from Hurricane Laura, succumb to possible carbon monoxide poisoning
Three people are dead and three others are in a Southeast Texas hospital following carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a generator in Port Arthur. Port Arthur Police responded to the Bida Vinh game room in the 700 block of Ninth Avenue Friday morning, August 28, Jefferson County Precinct 7 Justice of the Peace Brad Burnett said. Three shrimpers who were seeking shelter from Hurricane Laura were confirmed to have died, according to Burnett. A generator was being used inside the building, he said. >click to read< 11:03
Despite Coronavirus pandemic, work continues on Western Flyer
Charged with leading the restoration efforts of the Western Flyer are of the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op. Between the two are some 56 years of hands-on experience repairing, constructing, renovating and maintaining wooden boats. “This time last year, we were framing. There had been some structural work, some of the deck beams were put in, some of the longitudinal stringers, and some of the prep work for what was going to happen when we reframed, had been already done,” Lee said. Progress on the Western Flyer was chugging right along, Lee said, with consistent crews of eight to 10 staff working at any given time, now the project has been forced to drop down to about half its previous staffing. “With coronavirus we’re down to a crew of four, >click to read< 09:08
Blue Harvest Refitted Codfather Trawlers going into service
Blue Harvest Fisheries this week launched the Carrabassett, the second of three refitted groundfish vessels the company is putting into service this year. The 78-foot trawler was once painted “Carlos Rafael green” and emblazoned with the “CR” logo. Now it’s refurbished, repaired, upgraded, painted deep blue, and decorated with Blue Harvest’s distinctive scallop logo. Blue Harvest purchased 12 vessels and 27 fishing permits from Rafael’s family in February. Rafael, who made millions by gaming the system before he was busted by federal agents, was ordered last year by a judge to get out of the fishing business forever and divest his holdings. >click to read< 19:08
Coast Guard removes fishing vessel from St. Mary’s inlet, GA
The vessel posed a hazard to the marine environment and was an imminent threat to obstruct passage of the navigation channel. As the Federal On-Scene Coordinator, Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville federalized the response using the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Over 500 gallons of oily water was pumped from the vessel, and contractors successfully removed the vessel and debris from the water. The Coast Guard completed pollution mitigation and removal efforts for the fishing vessel F/V Phuong Mai in St. Mary’s Inlet Georgia, Friday. >click to read< 15:42
The Coast Guard rescued two men after their fishing vessel ran aground in St Mary’s Inlet, Thursday., more, >click here<
Maine: Lobster boat sinks after hitting a ledge in Naskeag Harbor, Captain taken to hospital
A 36-foot lobster boat, Turn the Page, sank off Naskeag Point on the sunny, breezy afternoon of August 26, according to a Department of Marine Resources statement. The vessel, captained by 45-year-old Carl Gray of Sedgwick, hit a ledge in Naskeag Harbor, according to the statement. The boat continued on until it eventually ran aground near the boat launch around 1:30 p.m., DMR said. That was two hours after low tide,,, One fisherman took Gray to the hospital, while other fishermen managed to tie the Turn the Page to the public pier at Naskeag Point. >photo gallery, click to read< 12:42
USITC to launch lobster investigation – “Lobsters: Effects of the CETA Agreement on the U.S. Industry”
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on Monday announced an investigation into possible negative effects of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on the U.S. lobster industry and the volume of U.S. exports of lobster. The investigation, “Lobsters: Effects of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement on the U.S. Industry,” was requested by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a letter on July 29. The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, said it will: Provide an overview of the U.S. and Canadian lobster industries,,, >click to read< 10:33
Search Results for CETA going back to 2012 – >click here<
The History of the Fish Stick, the Oceans Hot Dog
How were fish sticks invented? As is so often true when looking at any innovation in detail, a mixture of false starts, new technology, marketing, and broader social developments is at play. The postwar years witnessed a rapid increase in the size of merchant marines in many countries, with these merchant fleets adopting new, almost rapacious catching methods and simultaneously installing massive refrigeration and processing trawlers.,, But it wasn’t all easy sailing. Various government policies also gave fish sticks a boost. One was the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act, passed by Congress in 1956, that both supported fisheries research and provided $45 million to promote the virtues of new products in supermarkets, including the fish stick. >click to read< 09:52
Discontent arrives at federal fisheries minister’s doorstep
Roger LeBlanc, on Thursday sporting a Maritime Fisherman’s Union cap and a jacket bearing the name of Beausoleil the Third, his 50-foot lobster boat ,is used to rising early. So, it was nothing for him to leave Meteghan at 6:30 a.m. to make the two-hour drive to Bridgewater. He didn’t want to miss the big rally in front of the office of Bernadette Jordan,,, . There was a time when LeBlanc hoped his grandson, Joseph, who is eight, could follow in the family business. Now he’s not so sure. “I’m here today,” he told me, “because I don’t see a future in our fishery.” >click to read< 08:11
Peaceful Protest: Hundreds of fishermen protest outside Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jordan’s office – Several hundred fishermen protested Thursday in Bridgewater, N.S., outside the constituency office of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, demanding her department stop out-of-season commercial lobster harvesting and sales commercial lobster harvesting and sales by First Nations in Nova Scotia. >click to read<
Commercial Tuna Fisherman Pete Battaglia and dozens of others working in the tuna industry are stuck in American Samoa
Battaglia is a long-time navigator in the tuna industry and runs U.S. boats out of American Samoa, which along with being a U.S. territory is also one of our country’s tuna hubs. While Battaglia and his crew were out at sea at the beginning of March, the COVID-19 pandemic led to new travel restrictions across the world. The fishermen returned to port to find customs agents in hazmat gear and commercial travel suspended to and from the island. Weeks have now turned into months and their family members fear their return could be well past Christmas. >click to read< 07:20
Peaceful Protest: Hundreds of fishermen protest outside Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jordan’s office
Several hundred fishermen protested Thursday in Bridgewater, N.S., outside the constituency office of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, demanding her department stop out-of-season commercial lobster harvesting and sales commercial lobster harvesting and sales by First Nations in Nova Scotia. “We are tired of being ignored over and over again,” organizer Colin Sproul of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association told the crowd through a bullhorn from the back of a pickup truck. The protest is over what fishermen say is a blatant abuse of a First Nations communal lobster fishery underway in St. Marys Bay. >click to read< 17:06
Discontent arrives at federal fisheries minister’s doorstep – Roger LeBlanc, on Thursday sporting a Maritime Fisherman’s Union cap and a jacket bearing the name of Beausoleil the Third, his 50-foot lobster boat ,is used to rising early. He didn’t want to miss the big rally in front of the office of Bernadette Jordan,,, >click to read<
“It looks like 1,000 tornadoes went through”,,, Hurricane Laura blasts Louisiana coast with wind and wall of seawater
One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. pounded the Gulf Coast with wind and rain Thursday as Laura roared ashore in Louisiana near the Texas border, unleashing a fearsome wall of seawater and killing at least two people. Louisiana took the brunt of the damage when the Category 4 system barreled over Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people. Laura’s powerful gusts blew out windows in tall buildings and tossed around glass and debris. Police spotted a floating casino that came unmoored and hit a bridge. >photos, click to read< 15:59
Russian war ships cause stir for US fishing fleet off Alaska
“We were notified by multiple fishing vessels that were operating out the Bering Sea that they had come across these vessels and were concerned, so they contacted us,” Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said. The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a pre-planned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials, Wadlow said. >click to read< 14:25
A Russian submarine surfaced near Alaska on Thursday during a Russian war game exercise, U.S. military officials said. It was unclear why it surfaced. >click to read<
Sheng Ren Zheng and company convicted in Digby provincial court of selling lobster illegally
The Chinese owner of a lobster pound in Nova Scotia has been found guilty of illegally selling lobster caught by Indigenous fishermen who were not allowed to sell their catch under the licences they held. Sheng Ren Zheng and his company, Guang Da International, were convicted Wednesday in Digby provincial court by Judge Tim Landry. The illegal sale of lobster caught outside of the commercial season by Indigenous fishermen in St. Marys Bay each summer has been an ongoing source of tension in the lucrative Nova Scotia fishery. >click to read< 11:46
The mystery of the ‘£1’ boat which is stranded on the River Foyle in Derry
Foyle Search and Rescue (FSR), the police and other relevant agencies responded to reports of the boat being stuck on Sunday when they offered the crew assistance. The vessel, ‘Day Dawn N1 82,’ was last known to be engaged in fishing. according to the Marine Traffic website. Another site, Vessel Finder, also states that it received the latest position of the boat at 11.57pm on August 22. Pat Carlin, of FSR, said the boat was likely to be there until mid-September when the tide would be high enough for it to re-float. “She’s stuck solid,” >click to read< 11:16
New England Fishery Management Council chooses 100% monitoring option on all groundfish trips
The council, which expects to take final action on the amendment at its meeting in late September and early October, has selected putting monitors on 100% of all groundfish trips as its preferred alternative for accomplishing the goal of the amendment — improving catch accountability, maximizing the value of collected data and minimizing costs. 0% monitoring levels and flatly proclaiming that forcing the industry to pay for 100% monitoring would bring an end to the historic commercial fishery. “The numbers you have up there make no sense to me,” said David Leveille,, “This will accelerate the expiration date of the fishery,” said Al Cottone, longtime Gloucester fisherman and the city’s fisheries director. “Once the federal money (which currently pays for at-sea monitoring) runs out, it’s over.” >click to read< 09:59
Falklands’ company expects its state of the art trawler F/V Falcon ready for the Loligo February 2021 season
F/V Falcon, the latest trawler from the Falkland Islands Fortuna fishing company was launched on Wednesday at the Nodosa Shipyard in Vigo, Spain. The vessel will now undergo further completion works, leading to sea trials later in the year, and ready to join the Falklands’ fleet for the first Loligo season, commencing February 2021. F/V Falcon will be registered in the Falkland Islands and construction of the vessel commenced in late February 2019 at the Nodosa Shipyard. In parallel to the vessel construction works, the companies HR team are busy recruiting people to crew this new vessel. >click to read< 09:12
