Monthly Archives: June 2021
Why summer shrimp price should be set at $1.22/lb (which even then may be too low)
The 2021 summer price of shrimp paid to inshore fishermen — either the FFAW’s proposed $1.22/lb or the $1.10/lb offered by processors — is now in the hands of the province’s price setting panel, which, by law, must choose one or the other. That’s even if the “right price” is somewhere in the middle, just as the panel wrote in late April when it set the spring price of shrimp at $1/lb (processors’ price) over the FFAW’s $1.50/lb. The panel system of fish pricing doesn’t work in terms of best possible price to harvesters, but that’s another story. >click to read< 16:00
Leaked document reveals Govt’s proposals to reform New Zealand fishing industry
Proposals to vastly increase marine protections in the ailing Hauraki Gulf and ban trawling in all but “carefully selected” corridors have been revealed in a leaked document. The document also outlines Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker’s proposals to reform the New Zealand commercial fishing industry, including progress on the rollout of cameras on commercial vessels. The document, produced for the Labour Party’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee, outlines a suite of papers to be taken to Cabinet that will “underpin the Government’s work on Oceans and Fisheries”. It was reportedly leaked to the Act Party and published online. >click to read13:15
Brixham fisherman stars in new Devon and Cornwall TV series
Brixham fisherman Tristan Northway, who kept his business buoyant during lockdown by bringing his boat right up to the quayside to sell direct from the deck to his customers, will be one of the stars of a new TV series. A new season of Channel Four’s Devon and Cornwall starts on Monday June 21 at 8pm, and Tristan’s story featured in the opening episode. Tristan, described by Channel Four as a ‘maverick skipper’, was filmed on board his boat Adela, the smallest of the fleet in busy Brixham harbour. >click to read< 11:19
Teen commercial fisherman hooked on a career on the water
That’s right, lobster boat racing fans! Rev up your engines, lobster boat racing season is here!
There’s going be a whole lot of wake on the water this Saturday, June 19 when lobster boats up and down the coast arrive, revved up and ready to race, in the 2021 Charles Begin Memorial Lobster Boat Races. That’s right, lobster boat racing fans, Maine’s races are on and the kickoff is right here in Boothbay Harbor! Boat captains will sign up at Brown’s Wharf on Atlantic Avenue between 8 and 10 a.m.; the races start at 10. All signup fees will go to Maine Lobsterman’s Association. photos, video, >click to read< 2019’s Fastest Working Lobster Boat, Boothbay, was Andrew Taylor’s Blue-Eyed Girl. 09:07
Leave Our Ocean Alone – Pursue Energy Technologies on Land
Onshore alternatives exist that can make use of existing infrastructure and not impact our ocean resources. I urge readers to look into these alternatives. While moving the turbines farther offshore will reduce visibility impacts, it does not resolve the issues associated with industrializing the ocean’s resources. There will be environmental issues to be considered. The Atlantic Shores project proposed off Long Beach Island could include some 200 massive wind turbines, standing 850 feet above sea level and only 9 to 10 miles off our beach, presenting a “wall” of turbines obstructing our view to the horizon. The impact on the environment, including that on the endangered right whale,,, >click to read< by Jim Binder 08:22
Where do you even begin to respond to the answer given this question in Parliament?
This is not, “taking back control”. The level of understanding displayed in this response is telling. Just how seriously is the threat of these hugely powerful and game-changing fishing vessels being taken by the MMO and the Government on behalf of off and inshore UK fishermen? Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is aware of the fishing method of fly shooting in UK waters, whether his Department has made an assessment of the environmental impacts of fly shooting; and if his Department will make an assessment of the compatibility of fly shooting with the Government’s ambition to protect 30 percent of UK waters by 2030. >click to read< 22;30
Irish Fishing fleet could be ‘slashed’ because of Brexit,
Ireland’s fishing fleet is likely to be slashed because of Brexit, an interim Government report on the impact of Brexit on the fishing industry has concluded. The cuts will, the Government hopes, ensure those left in the industry can survive on a “sustainable” footing. While measures being discussed include a temporary voluntary cessation scheme for fishers, other measures include cutting the number of vessels in the fleet altogether. >click to read< 18:55
Jasmine. The First New Beamer for Belgium in 20 Years
The new beamer’s skipper is Diego Vandierendock who, like the owner and other crew members, comes from Knokke-Heist. After the christening, he took Jasmine to the Bristol Channel to go fish for sole, and after a twelve day-day trip the first catch was trucked back to the Oostende auction on 11th June. Built for owner Dany Vlietinck, whose son Jens sails as engineer, Jasmine Z-483 has been built at the Padmos yard in Stellendam to a new design with relatively high bulwarks to maintain the ship’s line and to maintain crew safety. >photos, click to read< 15:23
‘Deadliest Catch’ Pays Tribute to Late Crew Member Nick McGlashan
Crab fisherman Nick McGlashan died last December of a drug overdose at just 33 years old. McGlashan had been a regular part of the Discovery Channel reality series since joining in 2013 and news of his passing sent shockwaves throughout the crew. Cameras captured the moment when McGlashan’s crewmates learned of the tragic news.,, After digesting the news, Wichrowski organized a special tribute to his late friend on the water, with every boat from the show in attendance, as well as McGlashan’s family. >video, click to read< 13:15
Herring Fishermen lose challenge to rule requiring at-sea monitors
A federal judge in Washington D.C. on Tuesday denied the bid of New Jersey-based herring fishermen who sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) last year to block a new regulation that will require them to pay for third-party “at-sea monitors” who will survey by-catch. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the agency had not acted in violation of the MSA,,, About half-a-dozen small fishing vessel operators, including the Loper Bright Enterprise, brought the lawsuit last year. >click to read< 11:57
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 65′ Gladding Hearn Offshore Lobster Boat, 385HP Cummins, Fed Lobster Permit-Area 3
To review specifications, information, and 37 photos, >click here< , To see all the boats in this series >click here<11:21
The smart New Jersey residents fighting the state’s irresponsible wind farm plan
Tricia Conte, the founder of Save Our Shoreline, is dead set against the wind farm. “I was initially concerned about the view,” she said. “And then the more research I did I realized there were greater issues than the view.” She said, “In other areas where there has been green energy installed, California, Germany and Denmark, there was significant increases in the cost of electricity.” Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, said initially there will be a cost increase but “we have to take the long view on offshore wind, and it’s a huge opportunity for our state’s economy and it’s the only way we’re going to be able to fight climate change.” >click to read< 09:40
Fisheries and Oceans Canada held Lobster Science Partnership Roundtable
On June 15, Fisheries and Oceans Canada held a Lobster Science Partnership Roundtable to discuss important lobster science questions and research priorities. Thank you to the more than 40 participants, including Indigenous partners, commercial fishing representatives, other key researchers and Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists, for their invaluable contribution to the conversation on the work that needs to be done to chart a common course for lobster science. For further information, >click to read< 08:53
Fighting Cancer, Belgium’s newest fishing boat donates first catch to charity
Belgium’s newest addition to the fishing fleet, the Z483 Jasmine, has made its maiden voyage, bringing in a catch of 40kg of sole, which fetched a price of €10,516.30 ($12,740.50). The takings from the first voyage of a new fishing boat for 20 years was donated by owner by owner Dany Vlietinck to the anti-cancer charity Kom op tegen Kanker. Vlietinck’s announcement that the first catch would go to the charity provoked the interest of a lot of buyers, said Emiel Bouckaert, president of the fishers’ federation. >click to read< 07:34
First Nations, commercial, and recreational fishers join forces to save Fraser River fish.
The Lower Fraser Collaborative Table , with membership from 23 First Nations of the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance, recreational fishing groups, and commercial reps from the Area E Harvest Commercial, united to help both Fraser salmon runs, as well as non-salmon species. Working together to set up the collaborative table for the past three years, the members say top priorities include: conservation, sustainable access for harvesting, and better communication. Darrel McEachern, a life-long commercial fisherman, said he is “optimistic and enthused” by the creation of LFCT and “honoured” to represent commercial fishermen on the Fraser. >click to read< 17:55
Opinion: As seafarers, we’ve been thrown overboard by the NZ Government
Your shift starts at midnight. It finishes at midday. You’ve done this before. This is the 68th day straight, or is it the 69th day? Who knows? They all begin to blur together at this point. You try calling home to your loved ones, get about five minutes into the chat you’ve so desperately needed, before the connection is lost mid-sentence. You’re on a container ship, or a fishing trawler, or a support vessel for oil and gas platforms. Working alongside the same people, eating the same food, day in day out. You stay focused, you have to – one mistake can spell disaster. Lives can be lost. You don’t complain, because you’re needed. It’s your job. If you don’t do the work, who will? >click to read< By Nathan Schumacher
Offshore Wind Farms: Who determines energy policy in North Carolina?
Are offshore wind farms a job creating investment that makes North Carolina’s energy portfolio more environmentally friendly? That is debatable, but, more important, who gets to make the call one way or another? Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson doesn’t think it should be the left up to one partisan politician, and so, when >Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order last week< committing the state to pursuing such a strategy, Robinson wasted no time in clapping back that the policy – and the process – were suspect. “With this Executive Order, Governor Cooper attempts to commit North 
Carolina to a future dependent upon unreliable, outrageously expensive, environmentally suspect, and socially irresponsible offshore wind power. This idea is not the economic gold-mine the Cooper administration would have us believe. >click to read< 13:05
Maine: Pogie fishing season gets underway
Russell Libby turned to his crew at CBS Lobster and Bait on Union Wharf on Monday afternoon, telling them another boat was due in five minutes. Libby also told them it was close to sinking. That turned out to be an exaggeration but not by much. Before long, a small fishing boat came chugging around the corner. The Deja Vu II was so loaded with pogies, the open transom was several inches underwater. The crew was jubilant. “That’s the most I’ve had on there in 20 years,” said Capt. Dan Harriman of Cape Elizabeth. Dozens of plastic barrels stood stacked on the vessel’s deck. What little open space remained was awash in fish. The crew stood ankle-deep in them. Even the engine compartment was full of pogies.”We’ve got some down forward — we really do,” crewman Corey Doughty shouted up to the dockworkers. >click to read< , or here! 11:21
Deteriorating pastures?
A significant drop in Pacific Ocean salmon harvests last year is driving new questions as to whether the ocean has reached its salmon carrying capacity. The discussion comes at a time when sockeye returns to Alaska’s nationally recognized Copper River are again struggling. The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) at the end of May reported that 2020 commercial salmon harvests hit a low not seen in almost four decades. Respected Canadian fisheries scientist Dick Beamish, one of the world’s top authorities on Pacific salmon, “There is no doubt that declining trends in the commercial catch result from decreasing coastal ocean carrying capacity,” he wrote. He also attached a copy of a presentation he was invited to deliver to the Canadian Federal Committee on Fisheries. >click to read< 10:22
The Maine Lobster boat races are back on this year
After Coronavirus cut about half of the races out the Maine Lobster Boat Racing schedule last year, the annual tradition is back in full swing for 2021. The races kicked off this weekend in Boothbay and will arrive in Bass Harbor on June 27. “It’s really a classic Maine tradition,” said Colyn Rich, a Tremont lobsterman who organized the local race. “If you haven’t had the chance to see it, you have to come see it.” Rich, who’s been racing since he was a child, said fishermen love to compete and see who can earn the bragging rights for the fastest boats. >click to read< 09:29
Disaster in Sri Lanka: Fishing community affected by MV X-Press Pearl shipwreck to receive Rs. 5000 allowance
Gampaha District Secretary Sunil Jayalath stated that an allowance of Rs. 5000 will be given to 9883 fishing families who lost their livelihood due to the incident of the MV X-Press Pearl from June 15 onward. As a consequence of the shipwreck, 7753 fishing families have directly lost their income and 2130 families who were engaged in occupations such as drying fish and fish netting have lost their income. The numbers of people affected, are staggering. >click to read< 08:29
Defense argues accused lobster boat captain had right of way in boat fatality
The defence lawyer for lobster boat captain Clarence Barry White argued his client had the right of way the day two boats collided, killing two people. “Captain White had the right of way,” Casey told Justice Gregory Cann, in connection with the incident June 9, 2018 in water off Beach Point, P.E.I. “The events were tragic, but you should find they were not criminal.” Casey recounted what the defence contends are key facts from the incident, in which White’s boat, Forever Chasin’ Tail, collided with Joel ’98, killling two of the five people on that vessel: Justin MacKay and Chris Melanson. White’s boat approached the other from starboard. According to the rules of boating, he had the right of way, Casey told court. Court has heard White’s boat was on autopilot,,, >click to read< Marine Transportation Safety Investigation M18A0185 – Collision and Sinking, Forever Chasin’ Tail , and Joel ’98 The following is a summary of a Category 5 occurrence for which the TSB dispatched a team of investigators. The investigation is now complete. >click to read< 20:05
Maine’s having a lobster boom. A bust may be coming.
The waters off Maine’s coast are warming, and no one knows what that’s going to mean for the state’s half-billion-dollar-a-year lobster industry, the largest single-species fishery in North America. Some fear that continued warming could cause the lobster population to collapse. The Gulf of Maine, an ocean body brimming with marine life, is cradled by Cape Cod in the south and the Bay of Fundy in the north, and bounded in the east by two underwater shoals, George’s Bank and Brown’s Bank. In 2015, climate scientist Andy Pershing, formerly of the Portland-based nonprofit Gulf of Maine Research Institute, published a paper in Science concluding that the gulf was warming faster than “99% of the global ocean.” That eye-popping revelation was enough to keep fisheries managers and a whole lot of Mainers awake at night. >click to read< 16:27
Research concludes after years of studying the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its effects in the Gulf
The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, a consortium of 17 institutions in six countries, was funded through a $500 million grant from BP. The money was spent on a variety of studies, looking at both the Deepwater Horizon incident itself, and also the long-term ecological impacts.,, Steve Murawski is with the University of South Florida College of Marine Science, which was a leader in the multinational project. The biggest takeaway, he said, is that we weren’t ready for this event. They didn’t have the technology to cap a runaway well, a mile deep, and the government wasn’t prepared,” >click to read< 14:01
Fishermen to stage protest in Dublin to highlight threat to income from Brexit and EU fish quota cuts
The protest will take place on Wednesday, June 23 and will include boats from Dublin, Louth, Donegal, Wexford, Waterford, Kerry, Cork and other counties.,, Irish fishing groups warned their livelihoods are now at stake because of quota cutbacks and the impact of the Brexit deal. “We want a renegotiation of EU Common Fisheries Policy so that Ireland is allocated a fair share of fish quotas that reflect the contribution of our fishing grounds to the EU,” a spokesperson said. Irish fishermen have also demanded that traditional access to fishing grounds around Rockall be reinstated immediately. >click to read< 10:50
Retired Lobsterman Dennis Winthrop Norton of Martha’s Vineyard has passed away
Dennis was born on Oct. 16, 1945, in Vineyard Haven, and grew up in a bygone era of simple Island life. He was the son of Mildred Harriett Legg and Winthrop Mayhew Norton, A typical Island guy, Dennis was drawn to the water. He was a lobsterman, first out of a Novi skiff, then upgraded to the lobster boat Sea Foam out of Menemsha. In 1995, he purchased a new lobster boat, the Linda D. Normally not seeking the limelight, both he and Linda had a grand christening that summer during a spectacular Menemsha sunset, which was enjoyed by all attendees. The term “gentle giant” comes to mind for many islanders. He was just a soft-spoken, kindhearted man. >click to read< 09:10
Father and son keep their family fishing tradition alive
Like a lot of things on the old boat, the starter was beat up and broken. To get underway, Nick Nieuwkerk connected the electrical terminals with the metal end of a screwdriver. Then, with a zap and spark, the ancient Detroit Diesel engine roared to life. But then the throttle wouldn’t stay put, so Nick’s father, Knoep Nieuwkerk, rigged it open with a spoon and piece of string. Eventually, the pair were steaming out of Woods Harbor, Nova Scotia, on their way to Portland on April 7, aboard a 44-foot fishing boat that had seen better days since it first hit the water, 42 years earlier. There was no guarantee they’d make it, but they had to try. >video, photos, click to read< 07:38
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency to carry out unannounced inspections of fishing vessels across the UK.
The agency said that inspections are being carried out as part of ongoing work to improve fishing vessel safety in an industry recognized to be one of the most dangerous in the world. Since November 2020 there have been eight deaths in the industry including one in Shetland when a fisherman fell overboard from a local trawler in February. Between 2011and 2020 the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) reported 60 fatalities from UK fishing vessels. >click to read< 21:50
Coast Guard, CDC: We’ll change mask rule, but for now won’t enforce masks on fishing boats, commercial vessels, ferries
The Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Coast Guard, reversing their position from less than a month ago, said the federal agencies will no longer enforce its rule for wearing a mask in “outdoor areas of transportation conveyances or while outdoors at transportation hubs.” That means commercial vessels like cruise ships, ferries, fishing boats, and charters won’t require passengers to mask up for those who are outdoors. And people don’t have to wear masks at “transportation conveyances,” such as train stations. To be clear, the rule still exists, but the agencies will not enforce it. Earlier this year at a fishing conference, Sen. Dan Sullivan called the fishing crew mask rule “stupid.” >click to read< 20: 14
