Daily Archives: October 9, 2020
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 09, 2020
Legislative updates, Bill updates, Calendar, >Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 22:56
Video: Four adults, two infants, and three dogs rescued from three grounded shrimp boats near Rollover Pass in Gilchrist, Texas
The Coast Guard rescued six people after their vessels became aground in the Intracoastal Waterway north of Rollover Pass in Gilchrist, Texas, Friday. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a report of three fishing vessels aground in the Intracoastal Waterway north of Rollover Pass. The fishing vessels identified in this rescue mission are F/V Golden Eagle, F/V Bossy Page, and F/V Family Tradition The vessel’s occupants, four adults, two infants and three dogs, did not have lifejackets and were concerned about possible rollovers occurring due to weather conditions. >photos, video, click to read< 21:47
Trudeau government rejects lobster quota system for commercial inshore fleet
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan issued a statement Friday after meeting with commercial fishermen the day before. “As confirmed in that meeting, there is no plan to move to a quota system for the commercial lobster fishery and it is not being considered,” Jordan said. For decades, conservation in the billion-dollar commercial lobster fishery has been maintained by limiting the number of licence holders and traps. Stocks throughout Nova Scotia lobster fishing areas are healthy. Three Mikmaw parliamentarians have proposed the creation of an optional Atlantic First Nations fisheries authority to administer an Indigenous fishery. >click to read< 19:13
Commercial Fisherman Captain Michael Foy still jailed in British Virgin Islands after two charges dismissed
The Magistrates Court in the British Virgin Islands dismissed the illegal fishing charges against Stafford fisherman Michael Foy, according to his family and attorneys. The court did not dismiss the illegal entry charge and he’s scheduled to stand trial on that charge Oct. 27.,, “It’s definitely a small win on the charges and a big win on the monetary fines. The illegal entry carries a small fine and up to a year in prison, so we definitely want to win that one,” said Kimberly Kelly, Foy’s sister. “I’m just really praying they release him on bail. It will be a lot easier for all of us to prepare during the next 18 days if he were out of prison.” >click to read< 17:16
Coronavirus Pandemic’s ‘second wave’ sending P.E.I. tuna prices down
Tuna fishers out of North Lake, P.E.I., are seeing the impact of rising Coronavirus case numbers in central Canada. Tuna buyer and processor Jason Tompkins said the season got off to a good and early start this year. “We had more fish go in July this year than any year in the last 20,” Tompkins told Island Morning host Laura Chapin. “A lot of guys did see the writing on the wall. They took our advice as buyers and went early, and the prices we saw in July and August were some of the highest we’ve seen in years.” But those prices have plummeted as COVID-19 cases rise. Tuna is almost exclusively exported off the Island, with restaurants the main market. >click to read< 13:16
District Court judge denies injunction that would shut down lobster and gillnet fishing in Massachusetts
In a hearing Thursday in United States District Court, Judge Indira Talwani denied an injunction that would have shut down lobster and gillnet fishing in Massachusetts to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales until a trial seeking that closure takes place. Richard “Max” Strahan, who identifies himself in court documents as a lobster fishermen, whale watcher and “protector of endangered wildlife species,” sued the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs last April under the federal Endangered Species Act. >click to read< 11:41
Gloucester: Lobstermen push against whale rules – ‘We’ve borne the brunt’ – >click to read<
It’s the 100th anniversary! Let’s raise a glass to Prohibition
On a foggy evening on April 23, 1927, the fishing schooner Etta M. Burns was sailing back to New Bedford when the helmsman fell asleep and the boat washed up on the rocks off Squibnocket Beach in Chilmark. As the surf battered the ship, bottles of liquor were released from the ruptured hull and washed up on shore.,, the bottles that washed ashore were marked Old Mac Scotch Whisky, but they had come not from Scotland but from a 
rusty steamer anchored 30 miles off Montauk. They were all totally rotgut. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 18th Amendment, a constitutional ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages that can be seen as the very definition of unintended consequences. Rather than eliminating liquor, this act did more to instill a culture of drinking in a thirsty nation than 100,000 happy hours. >click to read< 10:43
After months in jail, United States Commercial Fisherman Michael Foy goes to trial
On June 9, Michael Foy, a United States fisherman who had been detained aboard his commercial fishing vessel the previous morning, sat in an interview room in the Road Town Police Station, trying to explain what he was doing in Virgin Islands waters. In his telling, Mr. Foy wasn’t aware that the territory’s borders were closed and that he could be breaking the law by waiting near Norman Island for documentation that he said would allow him to re-enter the US. “That’s what all this is about: … I had nowhere to go,” Mr. Foy said during the recorded interview. Nearly four months later and after attracting the attention of two US congressman and one senator,,, Mr. Foy’s trial began Monday in Magistrates’ Court. >click to read< 09:41
Hurricane Delta Public Advisory Notice
At 0700, Hurricane Delta is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue today followed by a north-northeastward motion by tonight. On the forecast track, the center of Delta will move inland within the hurricane warning area this evening. Delta is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Slow weakening is expected to begin as Delta approaches the northern Gulf coast later today, with rapid weakening expected after the center moves inland. >click to read< 08:15
