Daily Archives: April 5, 2021
Some question if early crab season is to blame for FV Tyhawk tragedy
Concerns are being raised about what an early snow crab fishing season could mean for smaller vessels after a boat capsized on Saturday off the coast of Cape Breton, N.S. The Tyhawk belongs to the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick. Four of its crew members were rescued from the water but one, identified by community members as Seth Monahan, died. Captain Craig Sock is still missing after bad weather halted the search on Sunday, he is also presumed dead. “The government decided in their infinite wisdom that in order to save the whales and interaction with them with the fishing gear and that, that they would go early,” said Jody Pratt, harbour master with the Richibucto port authority. >click to read< 19:19
Scientists, First Nations team up in fresh attempt to revive struggling B.C. herring stocks
For decades, the fish were viewed as a virtually inexhaustible resource. They were canned, frozen, used as fertilizer, and even rendered into slippery goo to grease logs being skidded out of the forest. But the once coastal-wide bonanza is fizzling out. This year, most of the waters off B.C. were closed to commercial herring boats, with the only quota being allowed in the Strait of Georgia, along Canada’s southwest coast. The first collapse of the stocks happened in the 1960s, due to overfishing. They were allowed to recover but have had ups and downs in recent decades. The herring fishery in Eastern Canada has also been facing tough times. >click to read< 13:48
NOAA Report: Pacific waters off the West Coast show improved productivity – Cooler temps created a robust environment
Ocean waters off the West Coast showed signs of improved productivity in 2020 after several years of warm water and poor fisheries conditions, The higher productivity seen in 2020 comes after a period of poorer conditions in the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast. “The previous five years, starting in early 2014, were very warm. We were seeing conditions that were not good for the fisheries,” said Toby Garfield, a researcher with NOAA and co-editor of the report. “We’ve had some tough times in the last few years,” said Tracy. “For a lot of species, the cold water regime is favorable, so that’s encouraging.” >click to read< 11:27
Stewart Pearson, The Lobster Man
With the weight of over 300 years of family history heaped on his shoulders, things looked grim last year at the start of lockdown, but Stewart was determined not to see his family fishing business fold on his watch. Stewart recalled that his grandfather was still fishing right up to the year before he died.,, He learned his craft working alongside his father on their boat, called Windward. He said, “when lockdown happened we couldn’t sell our lobsters to the usual merchants so I decided to start my business, The Lobster Man. “I’m sure my dad and granddad would be very happy with what we are doing now. >click to read< 09:50
California Fishermen are worried about the commercial salmon season
The commercial salmon season typically starts on May 1, but the season’s start for the coastal area of California is expected to be delayed due to low salmon numbers. Instead of having a wide-open season from May to September, there will likely be only one to two weeks each month for fishing, with expectations for a late June start for the Bay Area, according to Kandice Morgenstern, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Ocean Salmon Project. “It’s very personal, and it hits home. Don’t put your eggs all in that basket,” Half Moon Bay fisherman Don Marshall said. >click to read< 08:54
Search suspended for missing fisherman off coast of Nova Scotia
The search for a missing fisher who had been aboard a boat that capsized and sank off the west coast of Cape Breton was suspended indefinitely on Sunday night, hours after a First Nation reported that two of the vessel’s crew members had died. The decision to suspend the operation was made “based on the results of the search over the last 25 hours,” a tweet from the Halifax Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre reads. >click to read< 07:50
