Daily Archives: September 15, 2020
Restored 34-foot gillnet fishing boat on permanent display in Sointula
Sointula has a long history of fishing and boat building, and the Museum and Historical Society’s latest permanent exhibit shows them both off. With hundreds of hours of volunteer support, contributions from local organizations, they’ve refurbished an old boat and constructed a display pavilion near the waterfront. The Sturgeon I is a double-ended 34-foot wooden gillnet fishing boat built in 1948 by Toivo Aro and Albert Tarkanen in Sointula. It took Sointula volunteers nearly 10 years to restore the boat and find it a permanent home, but late this summer the last coat of paint dried and the interpretive signs were hung up. photos, >click to read< 18:55
CARES Act: Lobstermen may get up to $50 million in pandemic relief funds
Whatever the relationship between China and the United States — particularly the lobster industry — may be, Maine lobstermen are certainly living in interesting times. Last week, a scant two months before the upcoming presidential election, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it 
would soon release some $530 million appropriated by Congress last March under the CARES Act to assist the U.S. seafood industry and fishermen damaged by retaliatory tariffs. Those tariffs have been imposed primarily by China and the European Union on imports of U.S. live and processed seafood. >click to read< 16:58
Offshore Wind Will Deliver Few U.S. Jobs; Lack of Oversight Means Most Jobs Will Be Overseas
New developments have raised serious questions regarding the economic and job benefits from offshore wind energy projects in U.S. waters. Unsubstantiated claims of significant economic growth and investment have exaggerated the benefits of offshore wind energy, and diminished the economic and cultural importance of sustainable American wild-caught fisheries. A new study, conducted by Georgetown Economic Services (GES), finds that “[t]he claim that the huge investments in offshore wind would provide significant job and economic benefits in the U.S. has been grossly inflated.” The study also reaches an important conclusion: many of the jobs and benefits would actually go to the foreign-owned companies currently dominating the wind energy landscape, instead of creating local opportunities. >click to read< 15:45
Two new vessels launched for Sea Trial by boat builder Parkol Marine Engineering
Twin rig trawler Reliance III was launched in Whitby Harbour, with the 80 strong team watching. The 200-ton vessel is destined for Banffshire where she will catch prawns and white fish. The 260-ton Havara was launched at the Middlesbrough yard, opened three years ago as the business diversified. It will serve as a salmon feed support vessel in the Shetland Islands. Parkol, closing in on 50 years of operations, is one of the few remaining builders, having completed first new boat in 1997. photos, >click to read< 12:49
Hurricane Sally Public Advisory
At 1000 AM, the center of Hurricane Sally was located near latitude 29.1 North, longitude 88.2 West. Sally is moving toward the northwest near 2 mph (4 km/h). A slow north- northwestward to northward motion is expected this afternoon, followed by a slow northward to north-northeastward motion tonight through Wednesday night. On the forecast track, the center of Sally will pass near the coast of southeastern Louisiana today, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area late tonight or Wednesday. >click to read< 12:03
Investigation underway: French vessel boarded, inspected, and brought to Plymouth Harbour
Britain’s fishing watchdog has confirmed its staff boarded a French fishing vessel a few miles off the Devon and Cornwall coast before bringing it into Plymouth’s harbour for an investigation. As tension rises over the forthcoming Fisheries Bill, the first major fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years which aims to “end current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in British waters”, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has confirmed it confronted a French fishing vessel a few miles south of the Eddystone lighthouse. >click to read< 11:16
A peaceful protest by commercial fishermen turned confrontational in Nova Scotia
There was yelling and cursing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen, but there were no injuries. The commercial fishermen are protesting what they claim is an illegal lobster fishery in St. Marys Bay in southwestern Nova Scotia. They say a communal First Nations lobster fishery, where the sale of the catch is prohibited, is being used as a cloak for a large-scale commercial fishery. The Mi’kmaq reject that claim, arguing their right to fish for a moderate livelihood was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999. >click to read< 09:37
A longtime shrimper says he plans to ride out Hurricane Sally
A longtime shrimper says he plans to ride out Hurricane Sally on his boat, just like he has with storms for the past 40 years. “I’m joined now by Ronald Fran who is a longtime shrimper, and you’ve ridden out hurricanes for the last forty years right here on this shrimp boat. WDSU Reporter Jennifer Crockett has his story. >click to watch the video< 08:32
