Monthly Archives: October 2020
A terrible deal for the fishery
Sometime in the past few weeks, the minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture signed off on the transfer of the processing licenses owned by Quinlan Brothers to Royal Greenland. Royal Greenland is now the largest, most dominant fish processing company in this province. The purchase of Quinlan Brothers by Royal Greenland and its subsequent approval by the provincial government was completed with little debate and almost no context. The inshore fishery in this province is extremely valuable. In 2019, the total value was approximately $1 billion, with about half going to the inshore fish harvesters. This is new money into our economy, largely into rural communities, and created with little to no provincial government support. The total value of the fishery is approximately $1 billion per year. Royal Greenland is one of the largest seafood companies in the world. But it has just one shareholder — the Government of Greenland. >click to read< 17:01
Man charged with arson after vehicle fire outside one lobster pound, man charged with assault at another location
A Yarmouth County man has been charged with arson after a vehicle was torched outside a lobster facility in New Edinburgh, N.S. Meteghan RCMP were called to a disturbance outside the lobster pound Tuesday evening, just one of two locations where several hundred commercial fishermen and their supporters raided facilities where Mi’kmaw fishermen were storing their catches. Michael Burton Nickerson, 31, has been charged with arson causing damage to property. A Digby County man was also charged in the midst of the ongoing dispute over the lobster fishery. Chris Gerald Melanson, 46, has been >charged with assault< after allegedly grabbing and shoving Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Mike Sack on Wednesday during an altercation at the lobster pound in New Edinburgh. >click to read< 14:38
Russia, Norway to increase cod quota
Norway and Russia share the marine resources in the Barents Sea and quotes for the different spices are negotiated annually. “I’m very pleased that we also for the next year have managed to reach an agreement that both safeguards the interests of the fishing industry and is biologically sustainable. This is a bright spot in a situation where the corona pandemic naturally also affects the fishing industry,” said Norway’s Minister of Fisheries, Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, in a statement as the 2021 agreement was signed. As part of the agreement, Norway and Russia will jointly establish a research program studying how big impact the harp seal (Greenland seal) has on the fish stocks in the Barents Sea. The parties in the commission state that the harp seal in the West Ice (the Greenland Sea) and the East Ice (eastern part of the Barents Sea and the White Sea) has “a significant impact on the commercial fish stocks.” >click to read< 12:28
R.I., feds spending $5.2 million to rebuild 3 sagging piers at Port of Galilee
The Port of Galilee is an economic engine for Rhode Island, bringing in $66 million in seafood last year and supporting 200 commercial fishermen and other businesses in the fishing industry. But Rhode Island’s largest fishing port has been looking the worse for wear for a long time now. Bulkheads are rotting, piers are sagging and asphalt is crumbling. In the latest effort to address the problems, the state is set to begin work on a $5.2-million project to rebuild three 40-year-old piers,, No matter how much is invested in dockside facilities to process and package seafood, if the piers aren’t up to par, it makes it difficult to offload the catch, said Meghan Lapp, general manager of Seafreeze Shoreside,,, “The docks are the lifeblood of the port,” she said. >click to read< 10:41
Podcast: FV-Tuna.com Capt. Dave Carraro previews Wicked Tuna Outer Banks season finale
Capt. Dave Carraro has been a mainstay and a fan favorite on National Geographic’s hit series, Wicked Tuna, which chronicles the lives of commercial bluefin tuna fishermen in America’s oldest seaport – Gloucester, Massachusettes. He is the legendary captain of the FV-Tuna.com, and has an unprecedented five wins on Wicked Tuna. Carraro’s repeated success and highly competitive nature sometimes put him at odds with the rest of the fleet, but he is notoriously more interested in catching fish than making friends. Listen to the podcast! >click to read< 10:03
French fishermen could pay to fish British waters after Brexit
According to an expert, French fishermen could be forced to pay to fish in British waters after Brexit. Prime Minister Boris Johnson could bill the French President Emmanuel Macron millions each year for fishermen who want access to our waters. A deal over fisheries could be struck between Johnson and Macron, but only if the French President backs down on his demands. “When I’ve talked to fishermen and the British fishing industry, they said they don’t want it all. The truth is, they can’t catch it all, the fleet isn’t big enough. >click to read< 08:49
Nova Scotia lobster pound fire called suspicious – man in hospital with life-threatening injuries
A fire that police are calling suspicious destroyed a lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico, N.S., early Saturday. The blaze broke out at one of two facilities raided and vandalized by commercial fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia earlier this week protesting the “moderate livelihood” fishery launched by Sipekne’katik First Nation last month. Mi’kmaw fishers were storing their catches at the facilities. Tensions have been simmering for weeks in the province’s southwest, sparked by the launch of a moderate livelihood lobster fishery by the Sipekne’katik band outside the federally mandated commercial season — 21 years after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case of Donald Marshall Jr. >click to read< 18:36
Japan is planning to release millions of gallons of treated radioactive water from Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean
The release likely won’t occur for another two years and could take decades to complete,,, Dumping the water into the ocean threatens to hurt Japan’s relationship with South Korea, and comes despite opposition from environmental groups and the local fishing industry, which is still struggling to recover from the disaster. The release of the water “could deal a fatal blow to the future of Japanese fishery,” said Hiroshi Kishi, the chairman of the Federation of Japan Fisheries Cooperatives. “We absolutely oppose to the release of the water.” >click to read< 16:13
Catches, quotas and communities: the key fisheries issues at stake
Only a few hours after accession talks had begun on 30 June 1970, the UK government was told that a common fisheries policy had been agreed by the original six members of the community. It was a fait accompli. The UK had to hand over equal access to its waters and the catch quotas for each country were fixed on the basis of the recorded catches of the various national fleets between 1973 and 1978. It led to some very unpalatable outcomes, including those in the Channel, where the UK’s share of the cod quota stands at 9%, whereas France’s share is 84%. Today, EU fishing fleets catch 675,000 tonnes of fish in UK waters – 60% of the total caught in the UK sector. British fishermen catch just 88,000 tonnes, or 16% of the fish taken in EU waters. >click to read< 13:39
Lobster crisis. Is anyone at the helm?
Clearly, Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan doesn’t suffer from NIMBY syndrome (Not In My Backyard). How do we know? Because she’s allowed fisheries tensions to escalate,,, To be fair, the issue has simmered for decades. A 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision reaffirmed the treaty rights of Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw communities to a moderate livelihood fishery. Tempers have flared occasionally over the years, and none of Jordan’s predecessors had the courage to create an industry where the moderate livelihood fishery happened without opposition from commercial fishers. The minister needs to show leadership before someone gets seriously hurt, or worse. >click to read< 12:19
The CARES Act: Lengthy Process, Little to Show for Connecticut Fisheries
Nearly seven months after the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law, eligible fisheries and related businesses can apply for $1.8 million in economic aid through the CARES Assistance to Fishery Participants (CAAFP) program. Connecticut is part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which also includes Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. From the $300 million, 31 entities received funding. Connecticut’s allocation was $1.8 million, the 9th lowest on the list. Rhode Island received $3.3 million,,, >click to read< 09:58
A fire destroyed a lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico, N.S., early Saturday
The blaze follows two raids by commercial fishermen on lobster pounds in southwest Nova Scotia earlier this week protesting the “moderate livelihood” fishery launched by Sipekne’katik First Nation last month. Eel Brook Fire Chief Jonathan LeBlanc told CBC News that fire crews responded to a fire at a “large commercial structure” at 1065 Highway 335 at around midnight. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Joyce confirmed that police were also at the scene. He said if the fire is deemed suspicious, police will investigate it alongside the fire marshal’s office. >click to read< 09:08
He had hoped to help end Nova Scotia fishery tensions, but now this union leader feels he just has to step down
It’s an ebb tide; in the afternoon sun in the Acadian fishing village of Meteghan, the Salt Shaker hangs low on the wharf. It seems appropriate. Comeau’s resignation has scuttled one of the few potential bright spots in a tumultuous week in southwestern Nova Scotia’s lobster fishery conflict; the hope that talks between him and Sipekne’katik chief, Mike Sack, might be the first steps towards a solution to the battle between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers.“ Now, the planned talks are dead, and the conflict that has torn the fishing community apart has no end in sight. >click to read< 08:18
N.S. fishermen’s union head quits, says lobster dispute is ‘too much of a toll’ on his family – Joel Comeau says it’s no longer safe for him to be the president of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union Local 9 in Nova Scotia. Comeau stepped down Friday ahead of a planned meeting with Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Mike Sack to discuss the increasingly tense dispute between commercial and Mi’kmaw lobster fishermen in the province. >click to read< 10:44
Documents Reveal ‘Catastrophic Impact’ Right Whale Protections Could Have On Lobster Industry
Newly released documents by Maine’s Department of Resources are providing a glimpse of what federal action to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales could look like — including the closure of extensive areas of offshore ocean to lobstering. In an August letter to the head of the agency that reviews proposed federal regulations, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher asked for a meeting to go over options for reducing the risk of right whales becoming dangerously entangled in lobster trap gear and rope. That was after conversations with the federal Northeast Fisheries Science Center that brought to light a proposal that could put big swaths of ocean off-limits to lobstering in federal waters known as Lobster Conservation Management Areas, or LCMAs. >click to read< 18:46
A day in the life of a hoki fishing trawler crew
Johnny Thompson was an accountant in Auckland until a snowboarding accident changed his life. “I had it real bad for a start – those first few days were the worst – eventually I came right but everyone takes different amounts of time to get over it.” Thompson is now part of the crew aboard Sealord’s wetfish trawler Otakou , which Stuff joined for a 15-hour expedition for hoki in the Cook Canyon. The day begins at Picton’s Waitohi Wharf at 9am with a five-hour steam to the fishing grounds at the south eastern end of Cook Strait. However, once the vessel hits the open sea it is literally all hands on deck for all 14 crew members. video, >click to read< 17:50
Trudeau defends federal response as threats escalate over Mi’kmaw fishery in Nova Scotia
“We are expecting the RCMP and police services to do their jobs and keep people safe,” Trudeau said. On Thursday, the chief of the Sipekne’katik First Nation urged Trudeau to step in and make sure those involved in the violence are prosecuted. The vice-president of a fishermen’s union in Nova Scotia has stepped down, citing fears for his family’s safety as threats from some non-Indigenous fishermen opposed to a self-regulated Mi’kmaw lobster fishery continue to escalate. Joel Comeau, a former member of the Local 9 of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, was supposed to meet with Sack on Friday morning but abruptly cancelled the meeting. Comeau said he’s received “a lot of flak from my people and a lot of intimidation” over his willingness to work with Sack to find a way forward. “This community is out of hand. This community feels unsafe,” said Comeau. >click to read< 16:00
Fisherman medevac’d from shrimp boat 15 miles off Baffin Bay, Texas
The Coast Guard medevac’d a 58-year-old male from a fishing vessel 15 miles off Baffin Bay, Texas, Thursday evening. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi watchstanders received a report at 8:30 p.m. Thursday from the crew of the Los Nietos, a 77-foot fishing vessel, stating a crewmember suffered a head injury. >video, click to read< 13:51
“Kicking Lightly” Arthur Jones celebrates 101st birthday
Longtime Queen Anne’s County resident Arthur “Kicking Lightly” Jones of Grasonville celebrated his 101st birthday,, Arthur would also begin working in the seafood industry, mostly at the Kent Narrows — where he was employed for at least 53 years — serving as a foreman at several packing houses that once existed there, managing oyster and clam harvests from the Chesapeake Bay. He met many waterman, and other people, who always asked, “How are you doing?” He’d respond, “Just kickin’, lightly.” From that expression, he earned the nickname “Kickin’ Lightly,” which he is still known by today. He also has been known as Captain Arthur, although he was not a waterman.>click to read< 12:11
Damen Maaskant Shipyards lays keel for two vessels
Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam held a keel-laying ceremony in Poland for two new beam trawlers for Rederij Devan and Rederij Long Ships. While the new beam trawler for Rederij Devan will be christened as the Z21 Avanti, its sister-ship for Rederij Long Ships will be called Z91 Franson. >click to read< 10:09
Damen Maaskant Shipyards Lays Keels for Belgian Fishing Fleet – The vessels are based on Maaskant’s BT3808 design. The BT3808, with specifications that include the maximum permitted length and gross tonnage set by the Belgian Maritime Inspectorate, is a perfect fit for these experienced operators. The basic design has been modified in cooperation with SIP Marine to reduce fuel consumption and increase bollard pull. >click to read<
It’s Important! N.J. cleared to provide $11M in relief for sinking fishing industry
Months after the pandemic rocked New Jersey’s fishing industry, millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief is set to finally flow to the anglers that need it. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved New Jersey’s plan to spend $11.3 million in federal fisheries relief, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6th Dist., announced Tuesday. The approval allows state authorities to begin distributing the money, which was allocated to the state as part of the $2 trillion CARES Act that became law in March. >click to read< 09:25
Coronavirus Quarantine Period Shapes Unique Season For Deadliest Catch Fishermen
Today marks the opener for the 2020 red king crab fishing season. The beginning of the king crab season is always a busy time in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor,,, Despite the influx of fishermen and television crews, this season was a little quieter than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic and local mitigation protocol that required most fishermen to quarantine for two weeks. Blake Smithmeyer, the greenhorn on the Summer Bay,, Smithmeyer said he was working as a chef at a restaurant in Tacoma, Washington, before his friend, Landon Cheney, the engineer on the Summer Bay, received the call that ended up bringing Smithmeyer to Dutch Harbor. >click to read< 07:52
Canada’s courts and governments have themselves to blame for the lobster fishery dispute
Imagine the reaction you’d have if you, a Canadian worker, in any field, were told by the courts and the government that you could earn only a “moderate livelihood.” Imagine that on top of this, you’re told that there is no definition of “moderate livelihood”, that it’ll be worked out over time. Your howls of protest would be loud and intense, and rightly so. Yet this is precisely what happened for the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet in Eastern Canada when the Supreme Court of Canada made its 1999 decision in the case of R. v. Marshall, ruling that the First Nations had a treaty right to fish for commercial purposes, but with a “moderate livelihood” restriction on that right. The Marshall ruling,,, >click to read< 16:12
Brexit: Thank-you note from 1666 could save Flemish fisheries
The United Kingdom is due to leave the EU at the end of this year, and unless a deal can be agreed before then, all of the existing rules governing trade relations between the two sides fall away. Among the issues forming a barrier to agreement is fisheries. The UK is unwilling to give way on fisheries policy, and wants to exclude all foreign boats from British waters. That would be the death-blow for the Belgian fishing industry,,, But help could be at hand, in the form of a document signed and sealed by Charles II in 1666. >click to read< 15:18
Portland Fish Exchange seeks a bailout – If it closes, it could be the death knell for the groundfish industry in the state
The Portland Fish Exchange, the city-operated fish auction, is losing about $30,000 a month and is asking another city agency to help bail it out through the middle of next year. The daily auction, where fishermen sell their catch to buyers from seafood wholesalers and processors, has cut losses somewhat over the past few years and has made slight adjustments to cut expenses, said Tom Valleau, chairman of the Fish Exchange board. But fish landings plummeted this summer, mostly likely the because of disruptions caused by the pandemic, and the losses accelerated, Valleau said. >click to read< 10:59
Large Scale Fin-Fish and Aquatic Farms Could Hamper Maine Aquaculture Industry
As proposed, the Nordic Aquafarms project would raise more than 72 million pounds of salmon annually on its 56–acre campus in Belfast, Maine. The site would utilize about 5,200 gallons of water per minute, a combination of both saltwater taken from the nearby Gulf of Maine and freshwater obtained from groundwater wells, city-owned aquifers and reservoirs. The permit application indicates the facility would discharge more than 7 million gallons of filtered wastewater into the Belfast Bay each day. It’s that last figure that concerns many local residents. Marsden Brewer is a commercial fisherman and scallop farmer who also serves as president of the Maine Aquaculture Co-op. Brewer was one of more than a dozen fishermen and fish farmers who spoke out against the Nordic project at a statewide hearing this spring. “After years of misuse, we’re finally starting to see a lot of good things happening in this bay,” Brewer says. >click to read< 09:56
Russians jet in to save New Zealand’s beleaguered deep-sea fishing industry
Hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian seamen will fly into Christchurch in the coming weeks to save the country’s beleaguered deep-sea fishing industry, which has been haemorrhaging cash and is on the brink of mass layoffs. About 440 fishermen will arrive on two flights chartered by fishing companies – the first of which touches down from Moscow via Singapore on Friday. New Zealand’s deep-sea fishing industry, largely reliant on overseas workers, has been crippled by Covid travel restrictions that have left operators unable to crew their boats, costing tens of millions of dollars.>click to read< 09:21
Bering Sea Crab harvests set: Kings still in decline, snow and Tanner see bump
Commercial fishermen will be allowed to harvest a total of 45 million pounds of snow crab from the Bering Sea waters this year, with 4.5 million of that set aside for Community Development Quota groups and the rest for individual fishing quota, or IFQ, holders. That’s about 34 percent larger than the limit last season, which was also an increase over the previous year. Bering Sea Crabbers Association Executive Director Jamie Goen said that’s good news for the fleet. However, members of the fleet also think that TAC could have been a lot higher had the National Marine Fisheries Service been able to conduct its regular surveys. >click to read< 08:29
Fisherman charged in 2018 scallop boat slaying ruled mentally incompetent
A Newport News man charged with killing a fellow fisherman two years ago on a scallop boat off the coast of Massachusetts has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Franklin Meave faces life in prison on a federal charge of killing Javier Rangel Sosa, 54, a well-liked fisherman,, On Sept. 18, 2018, the Captain Billy Haver, an 83-foot fishing boat, left its York County dock with a crew of seven to dredge scallops off the Massachusetts coast. Sosa was the boat’s chief mate; Meave was a hired hand. Five days later,,, “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the boat’s captain said,, “We have a man gone crazy here on the boat, man,” he said when the Coast Guard responded. “One man, I don’t know if he’s dead or what. But one of the crew members went crazy, and he started hitting people in the head with a hammer. >click to read< 14:50, Six articles, starting in September 24, 2018, >click to read<
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 82′ Raised Foc’sle Steel Stern Trawler with Federal, State Permits
To review specifications, and information, >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 12:04
Moment French fishermen fire flares and throw frying pans at Brit trawler in new Scallop War
Scallop wars have once again broken out in the English Channel as French trawlers confronted British counterparts, firing flares and throwing frying pans. Two British boats, the Girl Macey, skippered by Scott Glover, and the Golden Promise, by Brian Whittington, were involved in the deep-sea skirmish. They were surrounded by around 20 French vessels and were pelted by objects including frying pans and rocks off the Normandy coast at around 1.30am on Monday morning. The hostile French crews even threw oil at the Gal Macey before firing a flare at the boat before apparently escorting them out of the Baie de la Seine. >click to read< 11:08
