Monthly Archives: October 2020
Mi’kmaw fisherman intends to fight illegal fishing charges
Ashton Bernard, 30, of Eskasoni First Nation, said in a telephone interview Monday he will rely on the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Donald Marshall Jr. case., A subsequent clarification of the court’s decision, however, also affirmed Ottawa’s right to regulate the fishery to ensure conservation of the resource. Bernard said he believes the first portion of the Supreme Court decision will prevail. “I wasn’t going to wait around for the government to tell us when to fish or not.”I told the boys, ‘Let’s go out and see how it goes,’ and now we’re into court.” >click to read< 17:10
Gondan Delivers Stern Trawler to Prestfjord
Spanish shipbuilder Gondan said it delivered the factory freezing stern trawler Sunderøy. It is one of the most advanced vessels of its kind, which will be operated by Prestfjord AS, one of Norway’s largest fishing and fish farm owners. Built in steel with aluminum superstructure, the stern trawler will operate in Arctic areas, in the Barents Sea and Svalbard waters. >click to read< 15:24
OXE Diesel Outboards
No company has more diesel outboards than OXE Marine from Sweden, with five horsepower ratings, including 125, 150, 175, 200 and 300 hp. Each features a horizontally mounted engine, versus the vertically oriented powerheads specially designed for most outboards (Seven Marine being a notable exception). “A horizontally mounted engine offers inherently better lubrication and, as a result, a longer operating life,” says Pim Pelosi, chief marketing officer for OXE. Though the outboards are available to recreational boaters through a network of US dealers, the company is focusing on commercial fishing, law enforcement, rescue, military and towing, which demand long-term durability and are less price-sensitive. >click to read< 13:38
Has fish business become media fish politics?
While it is somewhat unusual for an Alaska mayor to write an opinion piece, I have been consistent in sharing my views on fisheries, Cordova’s single largest economic driver. I’m always striving to represent the opinions and needs of my community, even in rare cases where they may diverge somewhat from my own.,, What I have not shared is my deep concerns over the existential threats to our oceans and way of life, but perhaps a few reminders are in order this week, and my opinions regarding these are my own based upon my observations. While Alaska is famous for fish politics, I have trusted Laine Welch,, Laine’s column does a disservice to her readership,,, Respectfully, Clay Koplin, Citizen, Cordova >click to read< 12:02
Port Fourchon moves to Storm Phase 3, Recommended Evacuation as Zeta heads into the Gulf
The Port Fourchon area is anticipating more or less a direct hit from Zeta’s center of circulation sometime Wednesday evening. Fortunately, Tropical Storm Zeta is forecast to move quickly, lessening the length of time we receive severe impacts from wind and rain, but be prepared for significant storm surge outside of the levee system. >click to read< 10:58 Tropical Storm Zeta was entering the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday morning on its path toward landfall in Louisiana, forecasters said. It weakened after making landfall overnight in the Yucatan, but Zeta is expected to strengthen and regain its hurricane status Tuesday. It’s forecast to make landfall Wednesday in southeast Louisiana as a tropical storm or a Category 1 hurricane. >click to read< 11:04
Canada, U.S. researchers gathering virtually to report on right whales
Researchers from Canada and the U.S. are gathering virtually this week for an annual conference that focuses on an endangered whale species. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, which brings together academic researchers, government agencies, shipping and fishing industries and conservation organizations, is expected to release part of a yearly report card on how the whales are faring. ,, So far this year, one right whale has been found dead in U.S. with wounds that suggested a vessel strike. There have been no reported deaths in Canadian waters so far in 2020. >click to read< 09:40
Bryan Bruce – Deal or no deal?
“Jobs, investment and new technology will flow from Nissui’s investment in seafood enterprise Sealord and Sealord’s quota will be 100% owned by Te Ohu Kai Moana “ Shane Jones press release 4/12 /2000 Twenty years later “Sealord is using Russian crew for their deep water vessels over New Zealanders because of a lack of “trained and qualified fishers in New Zealand”. CEO Sealord Doug Paulin 1 News 22 Oct 2020 So.. why haven’t young New Zealanders been trained to do this work over the last 20 years? >click to read< 08:38
B.C.’s commercial halibut season extended three weeks due to pandemic caused market disruptions
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said the closure, normally scheduled for Nov. 15, will now fall on Dec. 7 for the 2020 season. All groundfish hook-and-line harvesters wanting to participate in the extended halibut season will need to have the conditions of their licence amended prior to fishing past the original November closure. Additional sector-specific instructions on how to request the amendment will be forthcoming,, Meanwhile, costs to harvest, process and ship products have escalated as the sector tries to meet COVID-19 safety protocols. >click to read< 20:53
Ronnie Max Andrews, 52, enjoyed a career as a commercial fisherman, has passed away
Ronnie was the son of Eyela Merrill Stouffer of Pensacola, Florida, and the late Ronald Clinton Andrews. Ronnie spent his adult life on the water as a commercial fisherman along the East Coast and spent much of that time in the Brunswick County area. He was a great fisherman and shrimper and will be missed by all who called him a friend. At the time of his death, Ronnie was a valued friend and crewman aboard the Capt. C.L. Holden out of Shallotte Point. >click to read< 17:44
Zone C lobster council OK’s trawl limit plan for new whale protection rules
Zone C Lobster Management Council held a special meeting on the internet in late September to get an update on the situation from Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher and consider a zone-specific plan for gear modifications that will likely be required by NMFS. On Aug. 19, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg gave NMFS nine months to craft new rules to protect endangered right whales from entanglement,,, DMR asked the state’s seven Lobster Zone Management Councils to come up with zone-specific proposals,,, Last week, the Zone C council met to consider the recommendations of its working group. >click to read< 16:07
“No one knew about this COVID thing,” says CEO that kept sick fishermen at sea
The CEO of a seafood company that kept COVID-infected fishermen at sea for three weeks has responded to public criticism with a statement and interview that leaves more questions than answers. Twenty-two of 25 crew members on one of the company’s ships contracted COVID-19 shortly after setting out to sea. The company has been under fire,,, Einar Valur’s statements in an interview with Vísir also seemed contradictory. Though he admitted the company “underestimated the conditions on board,” he also stated that “This is new. No one knew about this COVID thing. >click to read< 13:40
Stolen memorial plaque honouring Hull’s 6,000 lost fishermen is returned
There was outrage among Hull’s fishing community after mindless thieves stole the plaque from the Bullnose on St Andrew’s Quay. The area is the last point families could stand to say farewell as fishermen sailed out to the dangerous grounds around Iceland, Greenland and Russia. “The Bullnose means so much to so many people. It is an iconic and sacred place. It is where people saw their fathers, brothers or sons for the last time.” >click to read< 11:28
Ropeless fishing gear won’t save whales
If you live in one of California’s historic fishing communities like Bodega Bay, (or Coastal New England) you’ve probably heard the term “ropeless” crab fishing gear. That’s the new buzzword for equipment being promoted by environmental groups to solve the perceived problem of whale interactions with fishing gear. These groups have convinced the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to adopt onerous new regulations that will force crab fishermen to adopt expensive, impractical and unproven fishing gear that will put most of us out of business. The truth, however, is something different. How do we know this? Both the East Coast lobster fishery and the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, each of which are made up of thousands of independent fishermen, have tested the pop-up ropeless gear and found it to be faulty. >click to read< 09:54
‘Deplorable Circumstances’ for Coronavirus Infected Freezer Trawler Crew
They’re out at sea and unable to go anywhere, watch men falling ill, but the processing of the fish continues, and they keep fishing; it is windy,” Finnbogi Sveinbjörnsson, head of the Union of the Residents of the West Fjords, “As our vice chairman so appropriately phrased it, ‘Fishermen work as long as they’re able to stand,’ but this is no joking matter,” he adds. He is referring to an issue widely discussed in Iceland over the weekend, where one after another, the crew members of the freezer trawler Júlíus Geirmundsson, owned by the fishing company Hraðfrystihúsið Gunnvör, fell ill while the trawler was out fishing and were denied the opportunity to return to harbor to be tested for COVID-19 until three weeks had gone by. >click to read< 08:53
BilloTheWisp – The Obscene Profitability of Wind Power
Due to the pandemic and the virtual shutdown of the national economy the day-ahead wholesale price of electricity has plummeted. But one group of producers has no worries. The subsidy payments received by generators classed as “renewable” dwarf these market prices. Here I’ll just deal with the most outrageous and costly i.e. windfarms. Today almost all wind-farms are subsidised by the now defunct Renewable Obligation scheme (RO). This was replaced in 2017 with Contracts for Difference(CfD) which is arguably even more costly and inflexible than its predecessor. ,, The companies running these wind-farms are over-joyed at their profitability. Truly when comes to acting as money making machines all other unsubsidized generation capacity pales by comparison. >click to read< >Wrecking the Seabed with Offshore Wind, Part1-5<19:56
“Mixed Feelings”: Sipekne’katik chief says discussions with commercial fishers in Nova Scotia can wait
Responding to Ottawa’s decision to name Allister Surette as a facilitator in the dispute, Sipekne’katik Chief Mike Sack said he had “mixed feelings.” He said that while he was not fundamentally opposed to participating in the process, “right now, we’re not worried about that.” Surette, president and vice-chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne who has experience as a facilitator in fishery disputes, was named to the role on Friday. Surette said his work might lead to a resolution in the fishery dispute,,, Sack, however, maintained that the resolution lies in his band’s talks with the federal government, not with commercial fishers. >click to read< 16:00
Lawyer appealing for release of fishermen: radar casts doubt on guilty verdict for £53m cocaine haul
It began like most other fishing trips for the crew of the Galwad. The sea was choppier than they’d have liked but the four men on board were hopeful of rich pickings in the spring tides off the Isle of Wight. They had no idea that the same stretch of the English Channel was that night the focus of a sophisticated policing operation centred on a container ship from Brazil. Around midnight on 30 May 2010 the Galwad came to the attention of the police surveillance teams. When its crew arrived on shore hours later, lugging baskets of lobster, they were arrested. >click to read< 12:06
Mi’kmaw lobster fisherman in Nova Scotia says he plans to fight several fishery charges
Ashton Bernard, 30, says he was exercising his treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood when officers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans seized approximately 3,200 pounds of his lobster at the wharf in Pickney’s Point near Yarmouth, N.S. in Sept. 2019. “They took all of our lobsters. I don’t even know what they did with it,” Bernard explained. Bernard and his younger brother, Arden, were charged. Two other fishermen, Zachary Nicholas and Rayen Francis from Pictou Landing First Nation, were also charged. >click to read< 10:02
Lorne Gunter: Here’s the real back-story to the Maritimes lobster dispute
A 1999 Supreme Court decision, the Marshall decision, affirmed a supposed ancient treaty right to hunt and fish out of season. The only limitation the court placed on this apparently pre-existing right was that First Nations could earn only a “moderate livelihood” with their out-of-season activities. The problem now, we are told over and over, is the failure of the federal government over the intervening 20 years to negotiate a fisheries management framework that defines, limits and regulates “moderate livelihood.” Twenty-one years ago, I covered the Marshall case,,, The Marshall decision was an example of judicial bias and pre-conceived judgement. >click to read< 07:55
Charlotte Goes To Sea
Martial Olivier admits it, and they both laugh, recalling when he saw her on the quay in Camaret, at the end of August. ‘When I saw her arrive, a featherweight in a rapper’s cap and her tank top, I said to myself, what are we going to do with this one?’ At 52, with 30 years of crabbing behind him, the skipper – and co-owner with Beganton – of crabber Bag Kevell, has seen plenty of crew. The last time female engineer was on his old crabber Intron Varia, she ended up being airlifted off after just a day at sea. So it’s understandable that he was concerned when Charlotte Sau arrived with her sea bag. But his fears turned out to be groundless, and his praise for the 22-year old engineer is almost enough to make her blush. photos, >click to read< 17:57
Report raises concerns over crabbing in Cromer – ‘Fishermen are seriously worried’
The Cromer Shoal Chalk Bed, located off the coast between Weybourne and Happisborough was designated a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) in 2016. Since the MCZ was created, Natural England has been investigating the health of the chalk bed and effect of potting -the method of using pots to fishing for crabs and lobsters- on it. John Davies, head of the North Norfolk Fisherman’s society,, “Right from the beginning of the MCZ project, they have said potting does no damage to the chalk and how important it is and we were happy doing what we were doing. “[The advice] has come as a bit of a shock and there’s an awful lot of fishermen seriously worried about where we go from here.” >click to read< 16:13
Big white shrimp return to Lake Pontchartrain in big numbers
People who like big shrimp are rejoicing. That’s because some of the biggest white shrimp many have seen are now showing up in Lake Pontchartrain. Old-timers say it’s like the good all days. Shrimp like they’ve never seen before in Lake Pontchartrain instead of offshore, and they credit a number of factors. “These shrimp are primo the best we’ve seen around here since 2010,” said shrimper Paul Newton, >Video, click to read< 11:42
Ottawa appoints special mediator in N.S. Indigenous lobster fisheries dispute
In a statement released late Friday, the government said former Nova Scotia MLA and cabinet minister Allister Surette will “communicate with and rebuild trust” between both sides in the weeks-long dispute that has turned violent in recent days. Surette was appointed by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, who have both voiced Ottawa’s support for the Mi’kmaq fishers and the 1999 Marshal decision that their fishery is based on. “A peaceful resolution is achievable, and (Surette’s appointment) will strengthen our fisheries and our communities,” she added. >click to read< 09:41 From: Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Biograghy, Allister Surette, >click to read<
Man charged in fishing vessel slaying was accused of domestic abuse, immigration violation
It wasn’t clear what spurred the Sept. 23 attack. One crew member later told investigators he heard yelling, rounded a corner, was struck three times in the back of the head and fell. He looked up from the deck, he said, and saw a fellow crew member, Franklin “Freddy” Meave Vazquez Jr., 27, of Newport News, holding a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other. The boat’s chief mate, Javier Rangel Sosa, 54, of Newport News, lay on the deck nearby, blood rushing from his mouth. “He already cut the antenna or something off,” the captain relayed over the radio.,, A nearby German cruise ship, the Mein Schiff 6, got to the scallop boat first. >click to read< 09:02
Coronavirus: Maine Fishermen’s Forum board of directors has canceled the 2021 event
“There is no possible way that we can protect our forum participants in such a tight environment, due to COVID-19 and required safety restrictions,” Steve Train, a lobster fisherman on Casco Bay’s Long Island and president of the forum’s board of directors, wrote in an Oct. 21 letter to commercial fishermen and posted to the forum’s website. The letter added, “The board intends to continue serving the commercial fishing industry throughout 2021. We will be meeting soon to discuss options, and will share more details as they become available.” >click to read< >mainefishermensforum.org< 08:02
Coast Guard drops dewatering pump to disabled fishing vessel taking on water near Icy Bay, Alaska
The Coast Guard assisted a fishing vessel taking on water and disabled, six miles south of Icy Bay, Alaska, Wednesday. A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew delivered a dewatering pump at about 9 p.m. to the 55-foot fishing vessel Elise Marie that was taking on water. The Elise Marie crew was able to use the pump to keep up with the flooding while they waited for further Coast Guard assistance. Watchstanders in the Sector Juneau Command Center received initial notification requesting assistance from Elise Marie via InReach device at approximately 7 p.m. Watchstanders directed the launch of multiple assets to assist, including a plane, a helicopter, and Coast Guard Cutter John McCormick. >Video, photos, click to read< 18:33
Fishing Company under Fire for Keeping Coronavirus Infected Crew at Sea for Three Weeks
Despite crew members developing flu-like symptoms one by one, Júlíus Geirmundsson didn’t return to harbour until it needed to refuel last Sunday, after three weeks at sea. During refuelling, the crew was tested for COVID-19 but left again for the fishing grounds before the results were in. They returned as soon as it was discovered that the majority of the crew had contracted COVID-19.,, Hákon Blöndal, the ship’s first engineer, called out the fishing company’s explanation,, “This isn’t the whole story, and people have to grow a pair and admit their mistakes,” >click to read< 15:38
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 23, 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< 14:29 – My view: I have not read the 300+ page bill yet, but others involved in commercial fishing have. In short, this would be a nightmare for the domestic commercial fishing industry. Elections have consequences! God bless, Jerry
For Acadian fisherman, early Mi’kmaq fishery in N.S. bay can ‘never’ be respected
As he stands calmly splicing anchor rope, Roger LeBlanc describes the anxiety, anger and suspicion over a Mi’kmaq lobster fishery that is coursing through his small Acadian community. The threat perceived by LeBlanc, 61, is the launch of a lobster fishery by Sipekne’katik First Nation in September,,, In the weeks that followed, Indigenous traps were cut, a boat burned, vehicles were destroyed, and one lobster pound that handles Indigenous catch was damaged while another was burned down. The actions by groups of up to 200 people have drawn condemnation from across party lines in Parliament. >click to read< 13:40
Elected Officials Hear Concerns From Watermen
Elected officials assured commercial watermen they heard their concerns at a meeting last week. On Oct. 16, Congressman Andy Harris joined Sen. Mary Beth Carozza and Delegate Wayne Hartman to meet with commercial fishermen at the West Ocean City Commercial Harbor. Harris offered support as they pursue changes to ensure local watermen can continue to earn a living. “You just tell us when and to whom we have to make the case,” Harris said. Harris joined Carozza and Hartman at Sea Born Seafood last Friday to talk about issues facing local fishermen. Sonny Gwin, who operates the Skilligallee, stressed the importance of maintaining local boats’ ability to fish for black sea bass. Watermen also asked Harris to work toward increasing limits on red crabs. >click to read< 12:20
