A federal judge has moved the Makah Tribe a big step forward in its 16-year-quest to resume hunting gray whales. U.S. Coast Guard administrative law judge George Jordan largely rejected animal welfare groups’ complaints that the hunt sought by the Makahs would endanger the whales of the eastern North Pacific. He recommended that the Makah Tribe be allowed to conduct a hunt largely as the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration has proposed, though he proposed new restrictions on hunting in the winter and spring to protect a small subpopulation of whales that occasionally wander from the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean into waters off Washington state. >click to read< 10:36
Monthly Archives: September 2021
Tastes better
Every day it seems to become just a little more obvious that the future of the commercial salmon business is on land no matter what Alaskans might think about where the tastiest fish are to be found. This week the news is from northern Spain where a company named Norcantabric,,,On its website, the company boasts that its farm will produce salmon that are “fresh, reduces transport time up to 5 days; 100 percent natural, without antibiotics, free of toxins, heavy metals and other artificial materials, without hormones, without sea lice and free of parasites. There are long term implications here for an Alaska commercial fishing industry once the economic mainstay of the territory, and for decades after Statehood, the 49th state’s largest employer. >click to read< 16:50
Offshore wind won’t fish – There is no compatible mixing of wind turbines and fishing!
The endangered species of the Maine fishing family is already dancing around the newly announced National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) restrictions to protect the right whales from gear entanglement. Add several 10,000-ton floating wind turbines, and even more whale restrictions on the NOAA docket (98 percent gear reduction in 10 years), and you have a severely impacted Maine fishing industry.,, I fear NOAA is more a friend to the Green New Deal than to our fishermen, or even our whales. By Rep. Sherman H. Hutchins, >click to read< 14:21
Maine Legislature threatens legal action while Maine Lobstering Union moves ahead – Files Federal Lawsuit
The Maine Legislature is threatening to fight the federal government in court over a set of controversial new seasonal restrictions on lobster harvesting in the Gulf of Maine. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a new set of rules for New England’s lobster fishery aimed at reducing the risk to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and other whale species. >click to read< The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) has filed a civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, seeking emergency relief related to the impending closure by agencies of the federal government of productive lobster grounds utilized by Maine’s lobster fishermen and women. >click to read< 11:04
Maine Man Sentenced for Making Hoax Distress Call
A Rockland man was sentenced today in federal court for making a hoax distress call, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced. U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Nathan Libby, 32, to time served and three years of supervised release. Libby was also ordered to pay $17,500 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard. He pleaded guilty on June 3, 2021. According to court records, on December 3, 2020, while at the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-op, Libby communicated a false distress call for a vessel and crew reportedly taking on water in the vicinity of Spruce Head. In response, the Coast Guard initiated a search,,, >click to read< 09:43
Four rescued from grounded fishing boat off Point Gammon in Yarmouth
The Coast Guard reports that the Woods Hole station’s 45-foot RB-M boat crew successfully rescued 4 people aboard the grounded F/V Tom Slaughter III that began taking on water last night 1/2 mile south of Yarmouth. No injuries or pollution reported. The vessel owner working with a commercial salvage company. >click to read< 08:56
Commercial Lobster Industry to be heard at Potlotek First Nation challenge to the Fisheries Act
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia granted the United Fisheries Conservation Alliance application for intervenor status in the court case brought by the small Cape Breton first nation against the Attorney General of Canada. Potlotek is seeking to have the court prevent Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) from enforcing Fisheries Act regulations on its members, which it claims are an infringement on its treaty right to make a moderate livelihood off marine resources.,, Potlotek opposed allowing representatives of the commercial industry to intervene,,, The Supreme Court found that the group representing commercial fishermen should be allowed to be heard. >click to read< 07:50
Biggest trawler to date built at Parkol Marine is launched in Whitby
Onlookers assembled aloing the riverside in the autumn sunshine to see the 27m twin rig trawler Valhalla being launched into the water. The vessel, made at Parkol, will be fishing out of Fraserburgh, Scotland, with a crew.of eight. Michael Smith commented on Parkol’s Facebook page: “Some boat her, well done Parkol and good fishing to the skipper and crew.” >photo’s, click here< 22:31
Federal Liberals continue to destroy BC fisheries… it’s starting to look like the NFLD fishing moratorium
There are about 2,000 licensed commercial fishing licenses held by BC fishermen (pc governments now call them harvesters). Using that figure and adding in 2 crewmen (many fishing boats have more) means over 2,500 harvesters will lose their jobs… The sad part is that reducing the wild salmon fishery has its precedence on the east coast. Some might remember back in 1992, the federal government of the day established the Newfoundland 
cod fishery moratorium. It was a cruel and duplicitous statement to call it a moratorium as 30 years later, and the commercial cod fishery remains closed. Cod have considerably recovered but are being caught by fisherman from Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, and a swarm of foreign-flagged fish factory trawlers just outside the 200-mile nautical limit. Codfish are also being consumed by a 5 million strong seal herd, which has quadrupled in size since the collapse of the seal fishery. >click to read< 18:38
Judge rejects Bering Sea seafood companies’ request to block penalties for alleged Jones Act violation
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason issued her 25-page decision Tuesday rejecting the request by a subsidiary of Bering Sea pollock harvesting giant American Seafoods, and a related company, Kloosterboer. The seafood companies had turned to an array of lawyers to make their case,,, They said U.S. Customs and Border Protection had threatened them and other businesses in their supply chain with penalties exceeding $300 million.,, The penalties were for using a miniature Canadian railway to satisfy a provision in a federal law called the Jones Act. It allows goods to be shipped between American ports on foreign-flagged vessels only if their route includes Canadian rail lines. >click to read< 14:39
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 76′ Steel Scalloper, Cat 3412, Limited Access-PT Small Dredge, Longfin Squid Permit-Tier1, Additional Permits
To review specifications, and information, >click here< , To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:46
Scotland’s ‘Green’ Jobs Myth Implodes: Wind Turbine Manufacturer Sacks Hundreds
A job that depends on subsidies, isn’t really a job, at all, it’s a make-work scheme cooked up by closet socialists. And, so it is, with the so-called “green jobs” that self-evidently exist, and only exist, while the renewable energy subsidies keep flowing. So, it should come as no surprise that the jobs “created” in association with those industries are an easy come, easy go, kind of affair.,, The South Korean-owned company running Britain’s only UK facility for manufacturing onshore and offshore wind towers based in Scotland has gone into administration. CS Wind (UK) had been seen as a key part of the green jobs revolution in Scotland. But its factory in Machrihanish, Argyllshire was down to just one full-time member of staff for nearly a year after a slump in orders. The announcement was met with anger from Unite Scotland who slammed the green jobs “myth”. >cluck to read< 11:19
Calamitous West Coast commercial albacore tuna season nears end
With only weeks remaining in the commercial season, some fishermen have already declared it one of the worst in decades. It’s simply been a ‘bad’ tuna season, according to Western Fishboat Owners Association Executive Director Wayne Heikkila, who monitors the tuna fishing season coastwide from California to Washington as part of the nonprofit group representing 400 albacore fishermen on the West Coast.,, “Effort was down this season as most fish were farther offshore. There are still some larger vessels 200 miles out catching some,,, >click to read< 10:02
Exploiting Irish Fishermen – Documentary ‘lifts the lid on decades of unfairness’
Irish fishing communities have commissioned their own documentary to highlight the crisis in coastal communities which they say has been caused by decades of unfair EU fishing policy. They have invited politicians to its screening in Dublin today as a follow-on to their high-profile protest flotillas staged in Cork and Dublin ports earlier this year. Amidst a growing crisis in the fishing industry, Irish fishermen enlisted the help of Sean Moroney,, It has led to the creation of a 26-minute documentary that fishermen say finally “lifts the lid on decades of unfairness” caused by the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy’s (CFP) allocation of the lion’s share, some 85%, of the total allowable catch, or quota, to the mainland European countries, despite the majority of this fishing taking place in Irish waters. Exploiting Irish Fishermen – the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy >click to read< 09:16
“It’s like anything in life. Anything can happen” Massive tuna benefits Belfast Soup Kitchen
Many fishermen have a story about “the one that got away.” Recently, one Maine crew had the opposite experience with an accidental catch of a lifetime. Tuesday, their roughly 600-pound tuna made for a special afternoon at the Belfast Soup Kitchen. “It’s like anything in life. Anything can happen,” said Ross Alex, captain of the Kathryn Ann.,, ”It couldn’t be revived. It was too entangled in the net. They realized the fish was going to be a 
loss,” said Doug Shartzer, who’s a friend of Steeves. Steeves called one of his contacts at Maine Marine Patrol. After getting the okay from the state, Shartzer made a call to the Belfast Soup Kitchen, which agreed to take the tuna. On Tuesday, about 350 servings were prepared to feed the community. Video, >click to read< 08:16
Listuguj Mi’kmaq can legally sell fall lobster catch for the 1st time – Not everyone is happy
“Everyone’s excited,” said Denny Isaac, associate director of fisheries for the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government. “Monday was the first harvest, the first haul of the traps. Everyone’s excited ’cause…it’s also the first day the community gets a feed of lobster.” In April, Listuguj signed a five-year rights reconciliation agreement with Canada’s Minister of Fisheries Bernadette Jordan and in August, the two sides came to terms on a licensed fall commercial lobster fishery.,, “Not everyone in the region is happy about the new commercial harvest. “Commercial fishermen who have always been at the forefront of conservation deplore DFO’s decision to transform what was previously supposed to be a small fall lobster fishery into a full-blown, unchecked commercial fishery,” >click to read< 19:15
Search called off for missing Mary’s Harbour fishermen
The RCMP is calling off search efforts for two missing fishermen in Mary’s Harbour after 10 days and 9,460 square nautical miles of area covered.,, “All known areas of interest or abnormality have been explored with the use of trained spotters in the air, a side-scan sonar device, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and other specialized underwater equipment,” the RCMP said. “The two men and their vessel remain missing.” The missing men are Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins, who were on board their vessel, the Island Lady. They were last heard from around 4 p.m. on Sept. 17. >click to read< 13:31
Pandemic economy brings record Southeast Dungeness crab prices
Southeast’s summer Dungeness crab season ended up being worth $13 million. That’s about double the $7.52 million average over the last decade. The summer fishery brought in just over 3.09 million pounds of Dungeness crab.,, the average price paid for Dungeness crab this summer was a record breaker at $4.21 per pound. “That’s a record high price for the fishery, said Joe Stratman,“This summer, in terms of total value and average price, it vastly exceeds the recent 10-year average,” >click to read< 12: 48
Reducing Ship Strikes: House of Representatives Important New Protections for Whales
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted in support of a slew of new protections for whales and marine mammals. These protections include measures to reduce vessel collisions with large whales and new programs aimed at reducing chronic underwater noise from vessels. If enacted, they would amount to the most substantial new legislative measures for marine mammals in years. >click to read< 10:59
Ex-lobbyist enlists former Fish & Game official to fight charges of illegal seining
The 12-hour purse seining opener began at 7 a.m. on September 2, 2021 in Silver Bay. Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited five people on four vessels for allegedly fishing in closed water. Robert Thorstenson Jr., who goes by Bobby, was among a group of seiners cited on September 2 during a 12-hour opener in Sitka’s Silver Bay Terminal Harvest Area. “The last thing I wanted was a ticket,” the Juneau-based fisherman said. “So I call the trooper to me and I asked him where I could legally fish, and he told me where I could legally fish. So I went over there and set there, and then he came over and wrote me a ticket.” >click to read< 09:16
A day in the life of a Georgia shrimper
Capt. Eddie Poppell, 61, arrives with his crew, sons Bubba, 40, and Jake, 24, to start outfitting the F/V Sea Fox for a day of shrimping in the shallow coastal waters of Georgia. Ice is shoveled into bins that are dragged from the fish house to the Sea Fox in anticipation of the boat’s refrigerator-sized coolers being filled with shrimp by day’s end. They throw some provisions for the day onto the boat — snacks, water, sodas and cigarettes — and do a routine systems check. The three men go about their tasks quietly, but with the sureness only countless trips can hone. photos, >click to read< 08:03 Additional COVID financial relief is available to members of Georgia’s marine fishing-industry – >click to read<
Mills Administration Granted Intervenor Status to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry in Lawsuit
Governor Janet Mills announced today that a federal judge has granted her Administration’s motion to intervene in the pending litigation Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross in the U.S. District Court in the D.C. Circuit. “Intervening in this case is a critically important step in the state’s efforts to support Maine’s vital lobster industry,” said Governor Mills. “A court decision in the plaintiff’s favor could close Maine’s lobster fishery altogether – a completely unacceptable outcome that would be devastating to our lobstermen and their families and devastating to our coastal communities and our economy. We will fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening.” >click to read< 07:09
Many Questions Unanswered Following DEP Statement on Fish Die Off at Black Island
A Maine Department of Environmental Protection statement on the massive of die-off of nearly 116,000 salmon at pen sites off Black Island in mid-August raises more questions than it answers, according to groups concerned about industrial-scale aquaculture in Maine waters. The die-offs were discovered at the Cooke aquaculture pen sites on August 16 and weren’t reported to the DEP for almost two weeks. In a news release today, the DEP said that it had found no permit violations associated with death of the fish. Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Executive Director Crystal Canney said, “So the obvious question is – what killed the fish? You won’t find answers in the statement issued today, and we are still waiting to hear from the Department of Marine Resources, the primary regulating agency on net pen salmon. DMR was very quick to say that it was a dissolved oxygen issue, but the DEP has already ruled that out in its statement today.” >click to read< 16:48
Valuable crab populations are in a ‘very scary’ decline in warming Bering Sea
The forecast for the 2022 winter snow crab season is bleak. At best, it is expected to be considerably less than 12 million pounds. That would be down from a 2021 harvest of 45 million pounds,,, The iconic Bering Sea red king crab, which can grow up to 24 pounds with a leg-span up to 5 feet, also are in trouble. In a big blow to the commercial crabbers, many of whom are based in Washington, the October harvest for these crab has been canceled, something that has only happened three times before. Overall conservation measures are expected to wipe out most of the value of the annual Bering Sea crab harvest, worth more than $160 million during the past year, according to Jamie Goen, executive director of the Seattle-based Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. >click to read< 13:54
Lobster Fishing Association Files Lawsuit Against NOAA Whale Plan
A lobster fishing group based in Maine filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Monday charging new rules designed to protect whales are not based on the best available science. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the rules, designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, in August.,, The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has pushed back against the rules,,, >click to read< 11:27
US Lobster Market Price Trends 2021: Industry Overview, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast Till 2026
The United States lobster market is currently witnessing moderate growth and expects the market to continue its moderate growth during the forecast period (2020-2025). We are regularly tracking the direct effect of COVID-19 on the market, along with the indirect influence of associated industries. These observations will be integrated into the report.,, The increasing consumer inclination towards a protein-rich diet, including seafood variants, is currently driving the demand for lobsters in the United States. Furthermore, the rising availability of canned, frozen, and processed product,,, >click to read< 08:55
Hurricane Ida: Hard-hit fisheries deserve a helping hand from Washington
Hurricane Ida was among the most powerful storms ever to make landfall in Louisiana, and certainly the most destructive to take direct aim at one of the state’s key resources: its fisheries. Some fishers spent harrowing hours riding out the storm on their boats, but the nightmare didn’t end when the winds died finally down. Ida obliterated property, including boats that fishers couldn’t afford to insure, and it decimated the habitat and the infrastructure that supports the industry. >click to read< 07:46
GreenHorn
Come ride along with the Greenhorns on the F/V Chasina during their 2020 Southeast Alaskan salmon hunt. This edit is beautifully crafted and well worth the view. Via YouTube: I spent a summer commercial salmon fishing up in SE Alaska. It was an experience, to say the least. >click to watch< 17:26 JuneauTek
Locally sourced seafood attracting crowds to the fishing boats in Half Moon Bay
Commercial trawlers pan for bottom-feeders at least three miles from shore. Purse-seiners use nets closer to the surface, while traditionalists fish the way the Egyptians did with hooks and lines. Nothing causes a bigger commotion than Dungeness crab in late fall, when eager customers line the docks like going to the DMV. The crustacean has joined turkeys as a Bay Area staple of the holiday dinner table. “All the crab pots are like little money banks that you just pull up and dump out the money,” Hassan said. Weekend dock sales have become integral to survival for anglers like Hassan. Smaller boats don’t catch enough to supply wholesalers, so they bypass the supply chain for direct sales. >click to read< 13:31
Mr. Common Resources, Meet “Miss-Management”
The contradictions in redundant multi-agency management and layers of regulation of common resources have made management paralyzed. The need for management revision stretches across the entire spectrum of resource providers from agriculture in the heartland to fishing on the coast and energy production everywhere between. This problem is compounded by an onslaught of nonprofit and NGO lobby influence/infiltration. A narrative was created to indoctrinate the public. The narrative of resource providers being the problem of ecosystem failures is a deflection of accountability to manage. Common resource management or “conservation” was reinvented. The influence of NGO’s installed a term called “precautionary management.” The title is Marine Mammal “Protection” Act, it should be the Marine Mammal “Management” Act. By Jeff Crumley >click to read<,video, and a link to a short 10 question survey 11:39 #seaotter, #usfws, #seaurchin #ESA #MMPA
