Monthly Archives: September 2020
Nuclear Power’s New Dawn: Small Modular Reactors Offer Ever-Reliable CO2-Free Power
STT promotes nuclear power because it works: safe, affordable and reliable it’s the perfect foil for those obsessed about carbon dioxide gas because it doesn’t generate any, while generating power on demand, unlike unreliable wind and solar. One of the feeble ‘arguments’ against it, is that nuclear power plants are of such vast scale that they take longer to build than the pyramids of Giza, and cost twice as much. That argument has been given short shrift in the US, where NuScale has just won approval for one its small modular reactor’s designs, with big implications for power generation in the future. The small reactors can produce about 60 megawatts of energy, or enough to power more than 50,000 homes. >click to read< 13:18
Ontario’s Green-Energy Disaster Doubled Power Prices, Fueled Backlash – A transition to renewables sent energy prices soaring, pushed thousands into poverty, and fueled a populist backlash. In February 2009, Ontario passed its Green Energy Act (GEA). It was signed a week after Obama’s Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the US, following several months of slow and arduous negotiations. >click to read<
Have a burning question about lobstering? Ask Leroy!
My neighbor, a long-time lobsterman, told me the other day: “There’s this guy you gotta check out, named Leroy. Friend told me about him. On YouTube, old guy like me whose been in the business all his life. He’s answering people’s questions and I hear he’s pretty funny.” He was talking about Leroy Weed, 79, a Deer Isle lobsterman who is getting some statewide and national attention as a spokesman for the lobstering life in an online video series by the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, where he answers any and all questions about fishing and commercial fisheries in Maine. The big part of Leroy’s appeal is his dry and cheeky humor. >click to read< 11:01
Fishing company and skipper on trial for alleged unlawful trawling in Tasman Sea
Fishing company Amaltal and a skipper of its vessel the Apollo are on trial for allegedly trawling in an unauthorised area of the Tasman Sea. Amaltal, the deepwater division of Talley’s Group, has denied that its vessel deliberately fished in an unauthorised area during a May 2018 trip and has maintained it was a technical error based on out-of-date information given by the fisheries observer on board. Judge David Ruth is presiding over the judge-alone trial which began in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday. >click to read< 09:57
Coast Guard Seeks Information Regarding Sinking Of The F/V Scandies Rose
Coast Guard investigators would appreciate anyone with information about the vessel or conditions around the time the ship was lost to come forward, according to Petty Officer Janessa Warschkow. “Whether that is former sailing experience on board the Scandies Rose, experience with the crew of the Scandies Rose, if you know the weather between Chiniak and Kodiak on December 31 of 2019,” she said. “Any information is helpful for the ongoing investigation.” >click to read< 09:05
Sipekne’katik First Nation issuing own lobster licences
After a blessing of its fleet on Thursday morning, the Sipekne’katik First Nation will issue lobster fishing licences at the Saulnierville wharf. On Tuesday, the Potlotek First Nation in Cape Breton sent its plan to begin a rights-based moderate livelihood lobster fishery on Oct. 1 to federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan. They weren’t asking her permission, but rather for her to consult them on what they intend to do. “We’re tired of waiting and we’re tired of being poor,” Potlotek chief Wilbert Marshall said on Wednesday. >click to read< 08:26
Fishermen accused of poaching in a Marine Reserve using gear stolen from fellow crabbers
Two North Coast fishermen face criminal charges after allegedly poaching crab in the protected Cape Falcon Marine Reserve using gear stolen from fellow crabbers. Scott Edward Giles, 39, most recently of Ilwaco, Washington, and deckhand Travis Richard Westerlund, 34, of Astoria, face multiple criminal charges, including theft, criminal mischief, unlawful take and fishing in a prohibited area, following an indictment in August. Given the amount of stolen gear found in his possession, Giles, the captain of the commercial fishing vessel The Baranof, faces felony theft charges. The pots were marked with a variety of paint colors, leading investigators to conclude they had been stolen from other fishermen. The pots were later tracked back to seven different commercial crabbers between Astoria and Newport.,, >click to read< 17:10
Wayne Magwood remembered as mentor by fishing community
Wayne Magwood was on his way to the Shem Creek dock to meet Lockwood Freeman when he was struck by a truck on Coleman Boulevard near the docks his family helped build nearly 50 years ago. “It still feels like a dream — I had just talked to him that morning,” Freeman said. “We were meeting at my boat and he wasn’t there, and I knew something had happened. I sat on my boat for 15 minutes and then I went up to an officer and he said Wayne was involved in the accident.” The incident involving the 67-year-old shrimper occurred Friday around 10 a.m. near the intersection of Coleman Boulevard and Mill Street when a truck turned at the intersection and struck Magwood, according to a report by the Mount Pleasant Police Department. >click to read< 16:15
Police: Truck driver ‘distraught,’ didn’t realize he’d hit local shrimper – Police have released new details on the tragic circumstances surrounding an accident that left Lowcountry shrimper Capt. Wayne Magwood dead. >click to read<
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 70′ Steel Shrimper/Scalloper, Cat-3408, 2 Isuzu Gensets
To review specifications, information and 1 photo, >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 14:25
Hurricane Laura dealt a serious blow to the seafood industry in Cameron Parish
On a typical day in Cameron, you might see boats returning to shore with a catch of shrimp or fish. But Hurricane Laura has taken a severe toll on those who depend on seafood for their livelihood. Cameron Port Director Clair Marceaux says some have lost their boats. “Our fisheries folks have taken a really hard blow,” she said. “About a third of our fleet, estimated, has vessels that have sunk, so we’re working to get those out of the water. At safe harbor, they sunk, so it wasn’t as if they were left here and sank.” Plus she says some are also dealing with losing their homes. video, >click to read< 13:22
Ronald Sparrow, defendant in major Indigenous rights case, has died
Ronald (Bud) Sparrow, a major figure for B.C. First Nations who was a defendant in a Supreme Court case that defined Indigenous fishing rights in Canada, has died. The Musqueam Nation said in a written statement that Sparrow passed away on Sept. 14, and described him as “a quiet, determined and proud member of Musqueam.” “As a skilled and accomplished commercial fisher, he travelled up and down the west coast of B.C. to provide for his family and community,” the statement read in part. Sparrow was the defendant in the renowned “Sparrow Case,” which was decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1990. >click to read< 11:17
Happy 105th Birthday, Esther ‘Essie’ Lindeman
Born Sept. 15, 1915, Esther “Essie” Lindeman of Grants Pass experienced WWI as an infant, the Spanish flu pandemic when she was 3, reached adolescence during the Roaring ’20s and adulthood during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Most innovations that touch every aspect of our daily lives didn’t exist when Essie was growing up on a dairy farm in upstate New York. Radio was in its infancy, television was in the future, and the Internet and social media were unimaginable. Another interest crept into Essie’s life in the ’30s. A neighboring farm boy she “sorta liked” had left home for a commercial fishing adventure on Bristol Bay in Alaska.,, Happy Birthday, Essie! >click to read< 10:21
FV Jubilee tragedy: Canterbury trawler operators prosecuted under health and safety laws
The operators of a trawler that sank off the Canterbury coast with the loss of all three fishermen aboard have today have been ordered to pay surviving family members more than $700,000. The 90-tonne, 16m fishing vessel Jubilee sank after sending a distress signal in the early hours of October 18, 2015. All three vastly experienced fishermen on board – Jared Reese Husband, 47, of Timaru, skipper Paul Russell Bennett, 35, of Motueka, and 55-year-old Terry Donald Booth, also from the Nelson region were lost at sea. >click to read< 08:36
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
Hurricane Sally Public Advisory
At 700 PM CDT (0000 UTC), the center of Hurricane Sally was located near latitude 28.8 North, longitude 87.5 West. Sally is moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (8 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue through Tuesday morning. A northward turn is likely by Tuesday afternoon, and a slow north-northeastward to northeastward motion is expected Tuesday night through Wednesday night. On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move near the coast of southeastern Louisiana tonight and Tuesday, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area Tuesday night or Wednesday. >click to read< 20:18
Calls from Sipekne’katik First Nation for government and RCMP to uphold rule of law
A letter from the Sipekne’katik First Nation addressed to Bernadette Jordan, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Premier Stephen McNeil and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is calling on all three parties to uphold the rule of law amidst ongoing violence, threats, human rights discrimination and what they say is an ongoing failure to uphold a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision recognizing the Mi’kmaq right to fish and trade. “The Supreme Court of Canada, the treaties and the Royal Proclamation, Canadian laws recognize the right of the Mi’kmaq to fish and trade,” said Cheryl Maloney, consultation director for the Sipekne’katik First Nation. >click to read< 18:29
Martin Olsen, a Commercial Fisherman
Martin O. Olsen, 82, of Fairhaven passed away Thursday, September 10, 2020 at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford after a brief illness. He was the husband of 58 years to Mary T. (Best) Olsen. Born in Wildwood, NJ, son of the late Andrew and Mary A. (Brunner) Olsen, he was a lifelong resident of Fairhaven and communicant of St. Joseph’s Church. Martin served in the Army towards the end of the Korean War and then worked as a commercial fisherman for 32 years most prominently on the Valkyrie and the Narragansett. He is survived by his loving wife, a son, two daughters, and four grand children,,,>click to read< 15:51
This Man Is Still Incarcerated! – Trial delayed for Stafford fisherman jailed in British Virgin Islands
The trial for Ocean County longline fisherman Michael Foy, jailed since June 8 in the British Virgin Islands, has been delayed nearly a month by officials there. His family and attorneys said they were not given any explanation for the delay. Foy’s family said he was dressed and taken to court from prison on Sept. 9, the day his trial was set to begin. His lawyers were also in attendance. It was at that point that they were informed the trial had been postponed until Oct 5. >click to read< – Read other reports posted >click here< 12:11
Real Climate Science from David Legates Seems to Scare the Media. Will it Scare NOAA?
It’s not often that I read a MSM report and think that every single paragraph is full of sh!t. But this NPR story about Heartland friend and esteemed climate scientist David Legates has falsehoods in every single paragraph that doesn’t simply identify him. Well done, NPR — which reached out to Heartland for comment on a Saturday two hours before they published this story “on a tight deadline” for a story they were obviously working on for days. Your tax dollars subsidize this fake news, by the way. Legates has, indeed, been “questioning basic tenets of climate science,” if you substitute the word “science” for “dogma.”,, “He’s not just in left field, he’s not even near the ballpark,” says (lol) Jane Lubchenco, The chances that Jane Lubchenco has read anything David Legates has written or listened to anything he’s said about the climate is zero. If she did, she wouldn’t say anything she said. It’s embarrassing, really. By Jim Lakely >click to read< 10:08
Tropical Storm Sally Public Advisory
At 700 AM, the center of Tropical Storm Sally was located near latitude 28.4 North, longitude 87.4 West. Sally is moving toward the west-northwest near 8 mph (13 km/h). This general motion is expected today, followed by a decrease in forward speed and a turn to the northwest tonight and a northward turn sometime on Tuesday. On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, approach southeastern Louisiana this afternoon, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area on Tuesday. Afterward, Sally is expected to move slowly north-northeastward near the northern Gulf Coast through Wednesday. >click to read< 08:45
Lincolnville lobstermen rescue distressed sailor
Quick action by Lincolnville lobsterman Nick Heal and his crew, Alex Bryant and Jared Gilbert, brought a lone sailor attempting to right his capsized catamaran back to safe harbor Sunday afternoon, Sept. 13. Back at the Lincolnville dock, Martha Flint, of Rockport, was fishing with family and friends on the float. They saw the boat capsize and watched as Browne tried to right the boat, to no avail. Flint noticed Heal on the dock, getting ready to load lobster bait onto the Kristin Marie. She ran up the ramp to get his attention. lots of photos, Great job! >click to read< 07:34
A Stunning Transformation: More Than a New Shell
Like many fishermen, Justin Yager has a strong interest in responsible harvesting. Similarly, he saw the common sense of rebuilding the Gulf shrimper BJ Thomas after the boat had a serious fire at Newport, Oregon. Built in 1976 at Marine Builders in Mobile, Alabama the boat found its way to the west coast where Justin’s wife, Sara’s grandfather, owned it for some time before selling it on to the next generation. Justin fished the boat for a few years with the crab and shrimp permits that the couple also purchased from Sara’s grandfather. The fire was the impetus for the rebuild that the owners had planned for the boat. ‘We cut off the bow, part of the stern, and the house. We took it right down to the engine room and the fish holds he explained. photos, >click to read< 12:05
The Green New Deal??? How About The High Cost Of The Green-Energy Delusion!
The march of ‘green energy’ continues, but it is not green at all. Solar energy is very dilute, so solar collectors cover huge areas of flat arable land, stealing farmland, starving wild herbs and grasses of sunlight, and creating ‘solar deserts’. Wind turbines steal energy from winds which often bring moisture from the ocean. These walls of turbines create rain shadows, producing more rain near the turbines and more droughts down-wind. Turbines work best along ridgelines where soaring birds such as eagles seek thermals. The birds are chopped up by the whirling scythes, and so are bats. Turbines annoy neighbors with noise and they increase bushfire risk. If they are offshore, less moisture-bearing wind and less rain reach the land. >click to read< 10:55
Port Fourchon is moving Storm Phase 3, Recommended Evacuation
As Tropical Storm Sally rapidly develops, Port Fourchon is moving Storm Phase 3, which is Recommended Evacuation. This means that tropical force winds are expected to be in Port Fourchon within 50 hours or less. We ask that port tenants and users continue to be alert for updates and prepared for things to change or progress quickly. Tropical Storm Sally has shifted westward and is now forecast to make landfall somewhere near Plaquemines on Tuesday as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, although there is still uncertainty in forecast track and intensity. Coastal flooding, heavy rain, and strong/damaging wind chances have all increased considerably overnight. >click to read< 10:10
