Monthly Archives: February 2021
Trident reopens Akutan processing plant after month-long Coronavirus closure
An outbreak at the plant forced the fishing giant to close the facility in late January just as the lucrative winter season was set to kick off. In the course of the outbreak, 45% of Trident’s 700-person workforce ultimately tested positive for the virus, company officials said Monday. Multiple rounds of comprehensive testing brought welcome news last week that COVID-19 cases had been isolated on site, Trident said in a statement. Surveillance testing, symptom screenings and the use of PPE and distancing protocols will remain throughout the season. >click to read< 17:40
Who are the Freshwater Five and what did they do? Two of the men will have their convictions considered
In 2011, five men were given a combined 104-year prison sentence for masterminding a £53m drug smuggling operation. On May 29, 2010, a small fishing boat, the Galwad-Y-Mor, left the Isle of Wight on what the crew claimed was a routine trip to catch lobster and crab in the Channel. That night, a large drug operation led by the Serious Organised Crime Agency was taking place,,, Two of the men, Jonathan Beere and Daniel Payne, will have their convictions considered by the Court of Appeal this week. >click to read<
Freshwater Five: Radar evidence suggests surveillance plane and a suspect vessel – The Court of Appeal hearing begins tomorrow for two of the Freshwater Five, where new information will be put before the judge. All five men protest their innocence – following the trial they were sentenced for a total of 104 years; >Click to read<15:10
‘We are rolling over’ – The inquiry into the Bering Sea sinking of the F/V Scandies Rose crab boat opened with a mayday call
Through the buzz of airwave static, a voice can be heard giving coordinates in the Gulf of Alaska. Then four chilling words: “We are rolling over.” This nighttime Dec. 31, 2019, mayday transmission from the Scandies Rose, a Washington-managed crab boat, was played Monday morning as the Coast Guard launched two weeks of public hearings to investigate the sinking that took the lives of five of the seven crew. The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of inquiry into accidents, and the schedule includes testimony from the vessel’s co-owner, two survivors, former crew, naval architects and people involved in repairs. >click to read< 13:08
Maine Gov. Janet Mills expresses ‘grave concern’ over plans to protect North Atlantic right whales
“The survival of Maine’s iconic lobster fishery, and in fact, our heritage, through the future of Maine’s independent lobstermen and women, depend on your willingness to act,” Mills wrote in a letter filed with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration on Feb. 19. Mills called on NOAA to develop “practical solutions” that protect right whales but allow fishing to continue.,,, Two public hearings to consider amendments to NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. Those virtual hearings will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for southern Maine and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. for northern Maine. Both will last about two hours and require pre registration https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4167147282087010060. Anyone unable to participate in the virtual hearings can submit comments to NOAA by March 1. >click to read< 09:54
Commercial fishermen seek intervenor status in First Nation’s lawsuit
A group representing commercial fishermen in Atlantic Canada wants to be part of the lawsuit the Sipekne’katik First Nation has launched against the provincial government. The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance has applied for intervenor status. In a news release announcing its intention to try to join the court action, the alliance said it supports the Indigenous right to fish and sell their catch. However, spokesperson Colin Sproule said, “We are opposed to anyone, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, selling fish caught outside federal or provincial regulations related to size, season and quota.”>click to read< 09:18
A Fundraiser for Commercial Fisherman Todd Chase – Supporting Chase Family
Please support my sister and her boys after the tragic loss of Todd Chase, beloved husband, father, and friend to so many. Todd Chase was among the four local fishermen on the Coastal Reign that capsized 2/20 in Garibaldi, OR. His body was recovered on the jetty rocks. One of the best men in this world was lost too soon yesterday evening. He is survived by his wife Angie Chase, his four boys, Zach, Cord, Bowen, and Brayden Chase. He also had so many family and friends in Oregon. He will be deeply missed. Jacque Jacobsen is organizing this fundraiser >click to read, and please donate if you can< 08:04
2 dead after fishing boat capsizes at Tillamook Bay
Two fishermen from Warrenton died after a 38-foot commercial fishing boat capsized Saturday at the Tillamook Bay bar entrance. The boat capsized at about 4:40 p.m. All four people on board entered the water and were recovered by 6 p.m. and taken to hospital. Family members said Todd Chase, a 51-year-old Warrenton man, died after he was recovered by jetty rocks. A GoFundMe page was set up to support Chase’s wife and children. The family of Zach Zappone, 41, of Warrenton, said he died after being taken to a Portland hospital in critical condition. Zappone’s family also set up a GoFundMe page. >click to read< 07:21
Cost of Coast Guard ship nears $1B as questions mount over federal shipbuilding plan
The federal government has quietly revealed that it plans to pay nearly $1 billion to build a new ocean research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard whose original cost was supposed to be one-tenth that amount. The new cost estimate for the offshore oceanographic science vessel represents the latest blow to Ottawa’s multibillion-dollar plan to build new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Coast Guard, first revealed more than a decade ago and beset by problems ever since. >click to read< 06:50
Forfeited: Seafood firm loses $20m vessel after trawling in protected area
Seafood company Sanford Limited has lost a $20 million fishing vessel after it admitted trawling in a protected fishing area off the coast of Stewart Island. The Christchurch District Court has ordered the company to forfeit the San Waitaki, a 64m deep water stern trawler with a processing factory and freezer facilities on board, to the Crown. The company has also been fined $36,000. In February, Sanford pleaded guilty to trawling in a lower buffer zone of a benthic protected area (BPA). >click to read< 21:39
Norwegian Crab Fisherman Renat Besolov
“I like the sea and my job as “deck manager” on board the Northeastern. It is great to be outside, even if it is both stormy and snowy,” says Renat Besolov. For the past five years, he has worked onboard four different vessels. Onboard the Northeastern, the crew varies slightly according to the season, but normally there are 23 people on board. “We go eight hours to work and eight hours off. This is how we go the whole trip, which is normally four to five weeks. And as we usually say when we are at sea – crabs on the tank make money in the bank,” >click to read< 20:35
New research suggests 70% decline in diversity of B.C. sockeye salmon stock in past century
There are at least 13 genetically different sockeye salmon that spawn in the rivers or tributaries of the Skeena River watershed and that has not changed in 100 years, the study found. However Price and co-author John Reynolds show that the vast majority of sockeye salmon now returning to the Skeena River to spawn, some 90 per cent, are of one type that originates in the Babine River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Price says the 
predominant strain of sockeye in the Skeena River is wild, meaning fish that were not born in a hatchery or in a human controlled spawning channel, which could affect the fish’s ability to thrive as climate change and other pressures on the fish progress. >Click to read< Loss of Sockeye Diversity Threatens Skeena Salmon, Study Finds – A century ago, the Babine accounted for 68 per cent of all wild sockeye returning to the Skeena, according to the study. At the time, gillnetting on the coast favored larger fish,,, photos, >click to read< 16:24
A Fundraiser to Support Zach & Darby
It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know about our dear friend Zach. We lost the most amazing man yesterday doing what he loved the absolute most. He took his last trip on the F/V Coastal Reign and now he is fishing with God. We lost an amazing soul just 5 days before his 42nd birthday. He loved what he did,,, Zachs other half Darby is with close family and friends at this time. Zach was the main financial support in their home. Jasmine Sleutel is organizing this fundraiser. >click to read, and please, donate if you can<. 13:55
Strait of Georgia: DFO sets herring fishing quota at 20 per cent, cons call for ban
Herring fishermen Quincy Sample in Comox look forward to being back on the water after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced a 20 per cent harvest rate for this year’s return in the Strait of Georgia. For Sample and many others, it’s an important part of their livelihoods. “It’s a very important part of our year,” said Sample. “It supplies a good income for us, our families, and our deckhand’s families. It probably accounts for 35-40 per cent of my overall year.” >click to read< 09:15
From boat to table: Family starts direct-to-consumer scallop business
At the beginning of the pandemic and over 1,000 miles from New Bedford, Britt St. George and Madison Lees quarantined in Florida with their father, John Lees, founder of Mar-Lees Seafood and current president of New England Marine; their mother; and their significant others, Zack St. George and Edward Smith. It was a time in which scallops were a part of nearly every conversation, Madison Lees said, and not just because their father is in the business. It was because the family business was growing. They also figured it would be the perfect time to sell scallops directly to consumers online as restaurants were either closed or running at limited capacity, he said. “Now or never, now is the time to do it,” >click to read< 07:57
F/V Coastal Reign: At least one has been declared dead after fishing boat capsized along Oregon Coast
At least one of four crew members pulled from a capsized fishing boat on Saturday has died, according to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). A 38-foot fishing boat capsized at about 4:40 p.m. at the Tillamook Bay bar entrance, just a few miles south of Rockaway Beach. A representative for the Coast Guard said within about half an hour, rescue crews were able to retrieve all four people who were on board. Two of the four people were unresponsive,,, The USCG confirmed Sunday one had been declared dead soon after the rescue. Another was flown to a hospital in Portland for more care. >click to read< 15:03
U.S. lobster exports to China rebounded in 2020
While the coronavirus pandemic tanked U.S. lobster exports overall in 2020, international trade data suggests the industry’s once-thriving U.S. to China trade pipeline may be making a comeback. International sales of U.S. lobster fell by 22 percent last year, from $548.4 million in 2019 to $426.9 million in 2020. The market saw declines in sales to each of the country’s top 10 international buyers, with the notable exception of China, which bought more than $127 million of U.S. lobster, or a roughly 49 percent increase over 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. >click to read< 10:34
“What if the dams came out?” – Snake River dams proposal draws accolades, criticism – It will take an Act of Congress
It’s a “pinch me, this is real” moment, said Amy Grondin. So when she heard Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho announce a proposal to breach all four Lower Snake River dams, infamous for blocking salmon passage, she saw a ray of hope. Titled the Columbia Basin Fund, the plan calls for replacing the dams’ hydroelectric energy production with other sources. The fund also would ensure that flood control, farm irrigation and grain transportation are addressed, all to the tune of $33 billion. >click to read< 09:24
Interior of Tacoma commercial fishing boat still burning – Photos
A fierce fire on a moored commercial fishing boat at the Port of Tacoma that took three fireboats to battle is still burning in the interior of the vessel, officials reported Saturday. The fire started near the 400 block of East Alexander off Marine View Drive around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. A crew on Tacoma fireboat Destiny was the first to arrive and found heavy flames coming from the pilothouse of the boat Aleutian Falcon, owned by Trident Seafoods. >click to read< Photos: Tacoma fishing boat fire burns for hours – >click to view< 08:36
Fishing boat capsizes near Tillamook coast – 2 of the 4 rescued were unresponsive
A 38-foot fishing boat capsized near the mouth of the Tillamook bay at around 4:40 p.m. Saturday,,, All four people aboard the vessel were rescued but two were unresponsive. They were all transported to local hospitals. The boat is still overturned on the south jetty at the Tillamook bar entrance. Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office deputies are assisting the Coast Guard with the incident. photo’s, >click to read< 4 rescued after boat capsizes 
near Tillamook bar – Four people were on board. Coast Guard crews initially only pulled three people from the water and put out an alert that a fourth was missing. Within the hour, the last crewmember was found. >click to read<,and >click here< 10:26, Four recovered after fishing boat capsizes at Tillamook Bay bar entrance – The U.S. Coast Guard recovered four people, two who were unresponsive, on Saturday after a 38-foot commercial fishing boat capsized at the Tillamook Bay bar entrance. The Coast Guard was watching the F/V Coastal Reign as the Warrenton-based vessel crossed the bar. >click to read<
Is politics getting in the way of rebuilding a sustainable fishery in Newfoundland?
The sentinel program, created after the cod moratorium in 1992 to monitor fish populations, is run exclusively by the Fish Food & Allied Workers, the powerful union that represents around 15,000 fishermen, fish plant employees and other workers in the province. DFO relies on data from the sentinel fishery to help assess fish stocks, and has paid the union millions to run the program. “The FFAW and the DFO are cheating the fishermen out of a resource that belongs to the people of Newfoundland,” said Jason Bateman, a former enforcement officer with DFO. Ryan Cleary, a former member of Parliament for St. John’s-Mount Pearl and an outspoken critic of the FFAW, said the union has found a way to prosper since the collapse of cod by integrating itself into fisheries management, acting almost as a regulator, while becoming a vocal industry voice that contradicts science. >click to read< 17:55
Pescado fishing boat which sank off Cornwall ‘was hit by submarine in cover-up’
Thirty years ago, a Plymouth-registered beam trawler left port for what was supposed to be a routine fishing trip. After having heard nothing from the Pescado since it departed, on February 25, 1991, a search began for the ship on March 5. The wreck of the Pescado was eventually found 13 miles off Dodman Point on the south coast of Cornwall. The official line remains from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) in 1998: the boat tilted, flooded and sank as a result of inexperienced crew and faulty equipment. But the ship’s owner, Alan Ayres, who passed away on June 22, 2020, aged 81, had for decades insisted that a collision with a British Navy submarine caused it to sink, and that there has been a cover-up. photos, >click to read< 13:30
N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is reopening the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee appointment process
The commission seeks a cross-section of applicants representing the various commercial and recreational shrimp fisheries, scientists with expertise in the areas of habitat or bycatch and gear innovation, especially with trawls and bycatch reduction devices, as well as individuals interested in shrimp fishing issues. Certain fisheries stakeholder groups were found to be underrepresented in the original applicant pool, specifically those who fish with large trawlers and those who fish in the Pamlico Sound. Adviser applications >available online here< or at Division of Marine Fisheries’ offices or by calling 252-808-8022 or 800-682-2632. >click to read< 11:28
P.E.I. lobster fishermen want exemption from new gear rule aimed at protecting whales
Island lobster fishermen should be be exempt from using gear designed to break free in the event of a whale entanglement, according to the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA). The PEIFA wrote a letter to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to request lobster fishermen be exempt from new rules, which are expected to become mandatory by the end of 2022. The group says sighting data shows the endangered North Atlantic right whale is rarely in P.E.I. lobster fishing grounds. >click to read< 10:46
Fishermen call on Macron to halt Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, threaten “unprecedented confrontations”
French fishermen have called on President Emmanuel Macron to cancel the 496MW Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, threatening “unprecedented confrontations” if their demands are not met. The fishermen oppose the project as they say it will damage the marine environment, especially scallops, 
and the fishing industry. “The State must have the ambition to cancel this project,” Alain Coudray, president of the Côtes-d’Armor departmental fisheries committee, said in an open letter to the president,,, “It is not yet too late to prevent unprecedented confrontations from emerging in the bay of Saint-Brieuc,” >click to read< 09:26
America’s largest scallop company sues New Bedford over waterfront expansion
Roy Enoksen and his business partner own the largest scallop fleet in the world. Their 27 fishing vessels bring more than 80,000 pounds of seafood into New Bedford each day, employing more than 400 captains, fishermen and support staff. But a construction project planned by the city’s port authority would cut off water access at one of Enoksen’s boat maintenance facilities. A lawsuit filed by Enoksen last month has blown the lid off a simmering conflict between New Bedford and one of the largest employers along its waterfront. >click to read< 08:40
U.S. Coast Guard Inquiry of F/V Scandies Rose sinking begins in Seattle on Monday
A two-week federal inquiry into the fatal sinking of the F/V Scandies Rose, lost on New Year’s Eve 2019 west of Kodiak Island, will open on Monday in Seattle. The U.S. Coast Guard and partner agencies will hold a virtual formal hearing to consider evidence related to the sinking of the Dutch Harbor-based fishing vessel until March 5. The 130-foot crab boat sank near Sutwik Island, Alaska around 10 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2019 with seven crew members aboard. Two fishermen were rescued wearing gumby survival suits in a life raft, but five others were never found. >click to read< 07:50 To ensure public access and participation, the hearing will be streamed live each day at click> https://livestream.com/uscginvestigations,
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 19, 2021
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<The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of NC has filed a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina that could severely restrict the rights of fishermen and consumers to access local wild caught North Carolina seafood! See Documents at the bottom of this update for detailed information about the lawsuit. 20:10
New Protected Species Regulations Finalized for Fixed Gear Fisheries
New Protected Species Regulations Finalized for Fixed Gear Fisheries and Industry Outreach on Required Gear Modifications. This advisory serves to provide you with information regarding new protected species regulations. More details on each new regulatory provision are provided in the bullets below. Seasonal Commercial Trap Closure, Gillnet Closure, Weak Rope Requirements for Comm. Trap Gear, DMF’s ongoing efforts to protect the North Atlantic right whale.,, >Click to read< 18:55
Its Deadline for Comments Day on South Fork Wind Farm Environmental Report
BOEM, which recently finished its draft environmental review of the South Fork Wind Farm, gave the public a chance to weigh in on the document at three virtual public hearings in mid-February, and is accepting further written public comment through midnight tonight… Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze Ltd. in Narragansett, Rhode Island, “Our vessels will have to fish in the area, which will be impossible if this goes through as planned,” she said, adding that the DEIS “does not contain any cumulative impact analysis” of how the offshore wind industry will affect the fishing industry. Bonnie Brady of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, based in Montauk, agreed with Ms. Lapp, adding,,, >click to read< 12:05
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