Daily Archives: March 30, 2021
#ShowUsTheRope – Blamed for Right Whale Entanglements, Lobstermen say Show us the rope!
Snow Cone has triggered an outcry of frustration from fishermen, who say they’re being unfairly blamed for the decline of the critically endangered species. On Wednesday, March 10, a team from Provincetown’s Center for Coastal Studies freed Snow Cone from 300 feet of rope. The center described the team’s success on its Facebook page, and used a photo from an aerial survey that shows the whale and the telltale rope from 1,000 feet in the air. “So, I remember seeing this,” said Nick Muto. The Facebook post said the retrieved rope likely came from a fishery, but there was no close-up picture. “So my hashtag, #ShowUsTheRope, is me trying to lay it right on the Center for Coastal Studies,” >click to read< 20:06
Sipekne’katik First Nation has filed a lawsuit against non-Indigenous fishers, the RCMP and the Feds
In a statement of claim filed Friday with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, the Sipekne’katik First Nation alleges that commercial fishermen stole and damaged hundreds of band members’ traps and engaged in a co-ordinated campaign of intimidation and harassment. The lawsuit alleges that between 75 and 100 boats operated by non-Indigenous fishers headed to St. Marys Bay near Saulnierville, N.S., where they were used in late September 2020 to “intimidate and harass one or more of the plaintiffs, and to steal or damage their lobster traps.” None of the allegations has been proven in court. A representative for the non-Indigenous fishers could not be reached for comment. >click to read< 19:01
F/V Nicola Faith: Body found confirmed as third missing crew member, Alan Minard
Police have confirmed that a body found on The Wirral in north-west England is one of the three fishing boat crew who went missing near Conwy earlier this year. North Wales Police said the body has been identified as 20-year-old Alan Minard, who was on board the Nicola Faith vessel when it failed to return to port on January 27. Earlier this month one of the vessel’s life rafts was found off the coast of south west Scotland. The bodies of the 
two other crew members, Ross Ballantine, 39, and Carl McGrath, 34, were also recovered from the coastline around The Wirral and Blackpool several weeks ago. >click to read< >click to read all posts< 16:58
Commercial fishing binds communities, is dangerous livelihood
The Port Clyde fishing community is a tight-knit group with families and friends connected by the sea. That sea, however, can be cruel as it was March 26, when Travis Thorbjornson became the latest in a long list of fishermen to die in its waters. Thorbjornson died Friday, March 26. His lifelong friends, Gerry Cushman, Raymie Upham and Justin ‘Buzza’ Libby, recovered him from the sea. He is the second member of his family to die on the waters. In July 2005, his brother and best friend 40-year-old Gary Thorbjornson, captain of the fishing vessel Sirius, was lost at sea when his 50-foot wooden trawler sank 30 miles southeast of Rockland. A shiny, black granite memorial bearing the name of 11 fishermen lost at sea stands on the grounds of the Marshall Point Lighthouse. Gary Thorbjornson’s image is depicted on the other side of the monument that was dedicated in May 2008. >click to read< 12:27
‘You can’t touch the union boat’- Part II – FFAW crab licence
When Fishery Officers Jason Bateman and Ryan Legge inspected the F/V Katrina Charlene in late June, 2011 at the wharf in St. Lawrence word spread immediately up the chain of command within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Newfoundland and Labrador. Managers themselves with the department’s Enforcement and Conservation division specifically referred to the fishing vessel as “operating under the FFAW crab licence. ”On June, 27th 2011, the day the skipper of the Katrina Charlene was charged with illegally fishing undersized snow crab, an email,,, It read: “Kevin, A heads up that we are in the process of an inspection in St. Lawrence on the F/V Katrina Charlene operated under the FFAW crab licence. >click to read< 10:33
Five Years After His Indictment, Carlos Rafael’s Fishing Vessels Are Part of a New Era in New Bedford
It’s been a little more than a year since this vessel was among the last big group of fishing boats sold off from the fleet of Carlos Rafael, the man known in the New Bedford fishing industry as “the Codfather.” Rafael went to prison in 2017 for dodging catch limits, smuggling profits overseas, and evading taxes. Some of his former vessels have become part of a new era on the New Bedford waterfront that started before he was indicted but has accelerated in the five years since, Blue Harvest Fisheries bought 12 of Rafael’s groundfish boats, including the Glaucus, last year. >click to read< 09:01
Obituary: Captain Travis L. Thorbjornson, beloved husband, father, grandfather and son
Travis Lee Thorbjornson, beloved husband, father, grandfather and son, perished at sea tragically Friday, March 26, 2021 in Port Clyde. Born in Rockland, August 12, 1966, he was the son of Edward and Jacqueline (Kaler) Thorbjornson. Once you met Travis, it did not take long to realize that he was just as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside. Travis met the love of his life, Renée Olsavick. They were married,,, Together, they would go on to raise three beautiful children in their Thomaston home. As a young man, Travis began his fishing career working with his brothers on the family owned fishing fleet. >click to read< Travis Thorbjornson Family Support Fund – The funds collected will be given to Renee for funeral and living expenses to support her and Travis’s family as they mourn the loss of such an amazing man. >click to read< and please give if you can. 07:49
