Monthly Archives: November 2020
Extended Closure of CA Dungeness Crab Fishing Season Will Hurt Working Families, Eliminate Holiday Crab Traditions
“Since mid-November, fishermen have had to sit idle at the dock and accept delays in the opening of their crab season due to the new, highly restrictive and unfair RAMP rules. “And now the season is being postponed for a full month,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association (CCCA). Called the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP), the new CDFW rules are more restrictive than even the strictest fishery laws in the nation,,, Our fishery is having zero impact on the species,,, “This is a huge success story, and in light of it, the new regulations constitute a solution in the absence of any real problem,” >click to read< 11:29
Whole Foods Recalls Popcorn Chicken That May Contain Shellfish
On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a company announcement from Whole Foods Market recalling its “Popcorn chicken with sweet chili sauce” because it may contain undeclared shellfish, specifically shrimp. According to the announcement, the problem was discovered because of a customer complaint and one illness has since been reported. Since shellfish is one of the most common food allergens, it is one of the eight allergens that the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 requires to be presented, in clear language, on the labels of products that contain it. Anyone with questions about the recall may contact Whole Foods Market at 1-844-936-8255. >click to read< 09:28
Coast Guard confirms identities of missing F/V Emmy Rose Captain and Crew
The Coast Guard has confirmed the identities of the four missing fishermen from Maine whose vessel sank off the coast of Massachusetts early Monday. The four men aboard the Portland-based Emmy Rose were first identified by WCSH/WLBZ on Tuesday evening as Jeff Matthews, Ethan Ward, Michael Porper and Robert Blethen. Petty Officer Amanda Myrick confirmed their identities late Tuesday and said that Blethen was the captain of the vessel owned by Rink Varian. The 82-foot Emmy Rose and its crew were on a multiday trip to catch groundfish such as haddock, pollock and flounder. They left Portland late last week and were believed to be heading to Gloucester, Massachusetts, to unload their catch when they ran into trouble early Monday. >click to read< 07:15
Candlelight vigil held for missing Maine fishermen – There was a candlelight vigil held Wednesday night for four Maine fishermen lost at sea, as the Coast Guard announced it had suspended the search. >video. click to read< 18:49
F/V Emmy Rose: U.S. Coast Guard suspends search for four missing fishermen off the coast of Massachusetts
BOSTON — The Coast Guard suspended the active search for four missing fishermen off the coast of Massachusetts, 5:22 p.m., Tuesday. “The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one. Our crews conducted searches continuously for over 38 hours covering an area of approximately 2066 square miles,” said Capt. Wesley Hester, Search and Rescue mission coordination, Coast Guard’s First District. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.” >click to read the press release< 19:04
A young black man and a white commercial boat owner made a deal to go fishin’ for tuition. It shouldn’t have worked.
First day of a new job rarely is easy. First day of a job on a commercial fishing boat in southwest Alaska is soul-scorching. “I can handle cleaning,” Jawanza Brown said. “I can handle heavy lifting. I can handle the hard work, you constantly get slapped in the face by a fish because it’s still alive and wants to swim away. But in the nitty gritty, I don’t know what it is, when I have to bleed a fish and put it (in the refrigerated saltwater hold) 2,000 times day, then the slime builds up and eventually, you slip, and you’re on your knees. Every June, the young Black man leaves his Flint MI., home to keep his bargain with an old white boat captain from Bellingham: Six weeks of what Brown calls “pretty crude work” in exchange for the income to pay for four years of college and a chance to have a piece of the world. photos, >click to read< , From June 5, 2017, From Flint to Alaska, Fishing for Hope – >click here< 15:08
Opposition mounts to proposal to close part of Cook Inlet to salmon fishing
The southern half of Cook Inlet will have a new fishery management plan in under a month. Commercial fishermen are organizing with the help of their city councils to make sure that plan is not the proposed “Alternative 4,” which would close off federal waters south of Kalgin Island to commercial salmon fishing. “I hate to be overdramatic in a lot of cases, but you could almost call it a deathknell for drift fishing in Cook Inlet,” he said. The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is taking public comment on the matter until 5 p.m. Friday. As of Monday, over 80 commenters had voiced opposition to Alternative 4,,, >click to read< 11:32
Breaking: Body of missing commercial fisherman Adam Harper has been found, and recovered
The body of a fisherman has been recovered after a trawler capsized off the Sussex coast. Police said divers brought the body of 26-year-old Adam Harper, from Brixham, Devon, up from the wreck of the Joanna C on Monday night. Another fisherman, Robert Morley, 38, of Pembrokeshire is still missing after the boat sank on Saturday. A spokesman for the Sussex Police said: “Our thoughts are with their families at this time.” >click to read< 09:35
Flagship Fisheries Bill, The Fisheries Act 2020, becomes law
Yesterday the UK’s first major domestic fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years passed into law. The Fisheries Act 2020 gives the UK full control of its fishing waters for the first time since 1973. The Fisheries Act will enable the UK to control who fishes in our waters through a new foreign vessel licencing regime and ends the current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters. Underpinning everything in the Act is a commitment to sustainability, ensuring healthy seas for future generations of fishermen. >click to read< 08:24
Canada orders temporary fishery closure in the Roseway Basin after detecting North Atlantic right whales
The latest order, issued Monday, closes several fisheries until further notice and could affect the lucrative commercial lobster fishery when the season opens next week.,, Since Nov. 9, acoustic sensors on board a marine glider cruising the area made 11 separate right whale detections.,,, Whales behavior is not understood. Because of a forecast for bad weather, fishermen have been given until Thursday to remove gear from parts of the Roseway Basin where the whales were most recently detected. The implications for the lobster fishery are potentially dramatic. Lobster Fishing Areas 33 and 34 from Halifax to Digby are the most valuable in Canada. >click to read< 07:24
Coast Guard continues search for crew of Maine based fishing boat that sank off Massachusetts
The Coast Guard said it is looking for four people in the water after the 82-foot vessel sank at about 1 a.m. Officials said a helicopter crew and Coast Guard cutter were sent to the vessel’s last known location and found debris and an empty life raft. “They found the debris field and an empty life raft. As of now, there’s no signs of the vessel or the people who were on board,” The Coast Guard said at least one of its ships will remain in the area through the night to continue searching. >click to read<
Video, Search for 4 Maine Fishermen Off Mass. Coast Continues – The United States Coast Guard spent Monday searching for four Maine fishermen off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts. “He’s the best fisherman that’s out there”, “a very determined man, he’s been lost in the water before”,,, >click to watch<19:23
How DFO implementation of Marshall dealt a blow to both Indigenous self-governance and community-based fishing
It’s been two months since Sipekne’katik First Nation launched its own self-regulated lobster fishery off the Saulnierville wharf in Southwest Nova Scotia 21 years after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Marshall decision, affirming the 1760-61 Treaty Rights of the Mi’kmaq to fish for a “moderate livelihood.” For their part, some non-Indigenous commercial fishers say they’re angry that conservation measures that have been adopted by the fishery, are not being followed by Indigenous fishers or enforced by DFO.,,, For the sake of the Mi’kmaq, the small inshore fishing communities, and the lobster stocks, let’s just hope that this time around the real Marshall decision finally gets implemented. >click here for this Big Read!< 12:42
UPDATED: EPIRB Alert begins Coast Guard search for 4 fishermen northeast of Provincetown
The Coast Guard is searching for four fishermen approximately 20 miles northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Monday. Watchstanders at First District Coast Guard Command Center, in Boston, received notification at 1 a.m., Monday, from the 82-foot fishing vessel F/V Emmy Rose’s emergency position indicating radio beacon. The vessel owner reported there were four people aboard, and there were no answers on the vessel’s satellite phone. >click to read< 09:11, Coast Guard searching for 4 people after commercial fishing boat, the ‘Emmy Rose,’ sank – >click to read<10:26 Maine fishermen missing off Mass. coast are ‘very experienced,’ – “I hope to God they find them,” said Rink Varian, the boat’s owner. Varian of Westbrook said Monday morning that the Coast Guard had located an empty life raft, an oil slick and debris field, but no sign of the crew. “This is a horrific accident,” he said. >click to read< 14:19
Monterey Bay Fishermen hit with new wave of Dungeness crab season delays
You couldn’t blame crab fishermen Tim and Dan Obert for feeling like they’re passing through the perfect storm. First there was the pandemic, which shut down restaurants and, in turn, much of the demand for Dungeness crab. Then a new regulation took effect on Nov. 1 that heavily restricts the Dungeness fishery’s operations when whales and sea turtles are around. Then the state delayed the opening of the Dungeness crab season until after Thanksgiving. “If you take all three of those things, you will destroy this fishery,” said Tim Obert, 35, of Scotts Valley. “There will be no crabbers left.” >click to read< 08:47
F/V Joanna C: Search for two missing Brixham fishermen is called off
HM Coastguard has confirmed that the search operation was called off this afternoon, November 22, at 2.30pm. The search began at 6am on November 21, when HM Coastguard received an EPIRB alert located three nautical miles off the coast at Seaford near Newhaven, from the EPIRB (emergency beacon) from the vessel. No further official information has been provided about the missing men who were on a 45 foot scalloping vessel, Joanna C sank when it sank off Newhaven in East Sussex yesterday. >click to read< 07:27 Former fisherman Tony Rowe, 40, of Brixham, was shocked to not only hear of the news but to discover the boat was one has previously owned, and has started a gofundme page, >click to donate< Prayers and wishes pour in for Brixham fishermen – >click to read<, Two day search for two fisherman missing at sea is called off after their ‘scallop wars’ boat sank off the Sussex coast – >click to read<
Distraught mum of missing ‘scallop wars’ fisherman desperate ‘for sea to give him back’ after ‘freak wave’ sank boat
HM Coastguard vessels, helicopters and RNLI lifeboats were scrambled around 6am after the F/V Joanna C sent an EPIRB alert,,, Huge searches have launched again today in a bid to find Mr. Morley and Adam Harper, 26. It’s claimed that Mr. Harper stayed with the stricken boat because he can’t swim. A third man, skipper Dave Bickerstaff, 34, was rescued from the water off East Sussex after the 45ft scallop vessel overturned. He was found holding onto a lifebuoy almost four hours after the tragedy off the coast of Seaford, near Newhaven. Mr Morley’s devastated mum Jackie Woolford says her son is believed to have lost hold of a safety ring he’d been clinging to with his friend.,,, The Joanna C was previously involved in the scallop wars, a long-standing dispute between Brit and French fishermen. >photos, video, Click to read< 15:45
Fishermen want to uplift Mullet Run Season
Steve Johnston and his wife bought a fish house from the original owners in 2019 and are hoping to keep the history alive at Jug Creek. “We share the same passion as them, they were generational fisherman that developed Cayo Costa and this end of the island. So, it was real important for them to keep it the way it is,” said Johnston. Mullet fish are their specialty. “Last year we moved 300,000 this year we’re hoping 1 million or more this year and we didn’t have enough fishermen,” Johnston said. >video, click to read< 14:37
‘15 minutes out mama’: The tragic story of Port Dover fisherman Michael Smith who drowned in Lake Erie
Frigid water shushing against the hull, spray peppering windows, as the fish tug bores through Lake Erie, clouds breaking to reveal the pale, fleeting blue of a mercurial March sky. On board, Michael Smith sent his wife a text like he always did to start the day: “Good morning beautiful, I love you.” They headed southwest around Long Point, the 40-kilometre sand spit that stretches nearly halfway across the lake. Smith recorded video: the wheelhouse, engine rumbling, tote boxes awaiting some of the first smelt of the commercial fishing season. He pulled open a steel door through which the trawling net is pulled, to show the water rolling by. He made it a ritual to kiss the net before releasing it to the lake. >click to read< 10:41
Canada, Britain strike new trade, beating Brexit, incorporating expiring EU pact
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, announced the deal during a live video news conference on Saturday morning.,, Britain’s decision to leave the EU after its Brexit referendum means that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, will no longer apply to the country at the end of the year. The new deal preserves CETA’s key provision until a more comprehensive agreement can be reached later: the elimination of tariffs on 98 per cent of Canadian exports to Britain, which is Canada’s fifth largest trading partner with $29 billion in two-way merchandise trade in 2019. >click to read< 09:35
Seafood industry seeks protection from Russian military exercises in U.S. waters
U.S. Coast Guard capability to safeguard national interests and promote economic security in the Arctic will be the subject of a congressional hearing on Dec. 8, one in which Alaska’s commercial fishing entities have a special concern. “From our vantage point, on the front lines of a changing Arctic, a robust U.S. military presence to protect U.S. interests in the region is simply non-negotiable,” said Stephanie Madsen, executive director of At-Sea Processors. The trade association, based in Seattle, represents six member companies who own and operate 15 U.S. flag catcher/processor vessels who harvest Alaska Pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and Pacific whiting in Pacific Northwest coastal waters. >click to read< 08:26
Search for missing fishermen off Sussex coast resumes
A major rescue effort began off Seaford, near Newhaven, on Saturday when the coastguard received an emergency alert at about 06:00 GMT. One crew member was found clinging to a buoy and taken to hospital. Two crew members from the boat, the Joanna C, remain missing. The search for them was suspended at 23:00 and resumed at first light this morning. The emergency signal put the 45ft scalloping vessel, registered in Brixham, about three nautical miles off the coast. Throughout Saturday a number of vessels, including local fishing boats, took part in the search. >click to read< 06:45
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
Maine Governor Janet Mills plans to create 1st floating offshore wind research farm in US
Gov. Janet Mills said Friday that she plans to create the nation’s first floating offshore wind research farm in the Gulf of Maine,,, The site of the array, which is expected to contain up to a dozen floating wind turbines, is undetermined but will be 20 to 40 miles offshore in an area that would allow a connection to the mainland electric grid for the southern half of the state.,, Mills has directed the Governor’s Energy Office to collaborate with the commercial fishing industry and other state agencies,,, >click to read< 18:10
Whitby’s trawlermen urge the government to stand firm in the ongoing Brexit fishing rights negotiations
Richard Brewer has fished out of Whitby for decades. In the last 22 years he has had his son by his side, also called Richard. During those years both say they have seen the destruction of the British fishing industry, which they now want back. Indeed Richard Jr. said “when I was at school this harbour had more than 20 trawlers, now there’s only one… ours. That can’t be right.” His father has always felt that the fishing industry was “sold down the river” when Britain first entered the EU and he blames the European quota system for ruining the sector. Video, >click to read< 14:52
Shipwrecked in storm, retired fisherman gets unexpected rescue in Southeast Alaska
When a retired Southeast Alaska fisherman found himself adrift after his boat suddenly sank in a storm, he didn’t expect to be rescued. But a gadget on board alerted the Coast Guard, saving the 70-year-old man’s life. The man was 70-year-old retired fisherman Kurt Brodersen. “It never occurred to me anybody was gonna come and get me,” “The hatch cover was floating off, and I got on the hatch cover,” But when I got about halfway across Union Bay, I saw this red light in the sky,,, Although Brodersen says he hadn’t checked the batteries in the rescue beacon in a few years, his EPIRB was still working. >click to read< 11:51
Florida: One month into stone crab season, and there’s good news from the docks and markets
Fishermen are reporting a strong supply while markets and restaurants are saying customer demand is just as promising. “It’s been an outstanding season so far,” said Kelly Kirk, owner of Kirk Fish Company. For customers, that means good news: Prices have held steady compared to last year. And large claws, usually more elusive, have been especially abundant, Kirk said. The strong landings come despite new restrictions imposed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aimed at protecting the stone crab population after years of declining harvests. Kirk said those declines aren’t being seen this season. “We’re seeing the opposite of that, actually,” Kirk said. “Had COVID not hit and the whole market turned upside down (last year), we probably would have broken records as far as production. >click to read< 10:34
