Daily Archives: November 21, 2020
French, British fishermen on frontline in post-Brexit endgame
The UK officially quit the EU last January 31, but an 11-month transition period to allow for agreement on a new relationship ends on December 31. Both sides are still at loggerheads and need a trade deal to govern ties, or risk economic chaos. Fishing has been one of the most politically explosive issues blocking agreement. ‘It’s very difficult to look forward,’ Dussaud said. While Europe is eager to keep UK territorial waters open, London wants that access rethought to satisfy Britain’s coastal communities, which voted strongly for Brexit. >click to read< 19:59
Evermore competition
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Salmon farming is now well into that next 10, and if you’re an Alaska commercial fishermen or resident of an Alaska community still dependent on commercial fishing, you ought to be worried. Why? Because stories like this have become an almost weekly occurrence: “Norwegian company secures financing for industrial-scale salmon farm in rural Nevada.”, or in (Belfast, Me, Humboldt County, Ca., Maryland’s Eastern Shore,,, >click to read< 14:25
North Pacific Seafoods faces class action lawsuit for workers’ alleged rodent-infested, moldy lodging and wage theft
The seafood processing industry in Alaska attracts thousands of seasonal workers, many of whom are from out of state. North Pacific Seafoods Inc., responsible for roughly 10% of Alaska’s fisheries market and 800 seasonal employees annually, is facing a class-action lawsuit that claims its seasonal workers were provided unsafe, unsanitary working conditions, experienced wage theft and had their complaints to supervisors ignored. >click to read< 12:39
Delay in Dungeness crab season the latest in long string of delayed seasons
The Oregon Dungeness crab season has been delayed two weeks with a start date now set for December 16. It’s the latest in a long string of delayed seasons. The season start date is supposed to be December 1, but for six consecutive seasons it’s been delayed. “It’s a moving goalpost all the time with the Dungeness crab fishery and yeah, I guess were used to waiting here because the state makes the decision when we get to open the season,” says Nick Edwards, owner of F/V Carter Jon. >video, lick to read< 10:36
Catching and selling conchs a way of life for Shawn Moore
Channel whelks are the smooth and more valuable variety. A Chinese buyer in New York City pays $5 a pound for the smooths. The weight includes the shell. The buyer travels to Moore’s Gravel Hill home to buy that day’s conchs and then returns to the city to sell them live the next day to Asian markets in Chinatown where they fetch $10 a pound. The knobbed whelks bring $1 a pound. The harvesting process is nothing short of slick: a well-oiled and productive system that requires a shipshape deck, steady focus by captain and crew, quick but without hurry. Once the fishing begins, there’s little break in the action.,, His crew on this day is 24-year-old Zandar Planches, who picked up the system quickly, knows what has to be done, and does it. Video, >photos, click to read< 08:32
EPIRB Alert: One fisherman rescued as frantic search for two fishermen is underway after boat sinks off Newhaven
Fishing boat Joanna C sank at about 6am this morning off Newhaven in East Sussex with three crew members on board. One man was rescued from the water by Newhaven lifeboat after he was found clinging to a lifebuoy. He has been transferred to hospital for treatment. However the search continues across the south coast for the two other missing fishermen. The search began at 6am this morning, when HM Coastguard received an EPIRB alert located three nautical miles off the coast at Seaford near Newhaven, from the vessel’s emergency beacon. The>fishing vessel Joanna C is a 45 foot scalloping vessel< registered in Brixham and three people were on board at the time of the sinking. >click to read< 07:08
