Daily Archives: September 11, 2021
Aim High! Turning an elderly trawler into a purse seiner
After an eight-month rebuild, working to plans developed by Coprexma, former trawler Commodore, has become a purse seiner launched at the end of July in Le Guilvinec. Now SanTiago is about to join the fleet in Saint-Guénolé, where it will land sardines and anchovies caught in the Bay of Audierne and off Douarnenez. Work began on the 15.87 metre 5.56 metre beam boat at the end of 2020 at the Hénaff shipyard, which had just completed Les Antilles II. Most of the work to transform the old wooden trawler consisted of modernising the working deck and gunwales to improve crew comfort and adapt to the requirements of its new role. Photos, >click to read< 18:53
For the first time in over 25 years, Bristol Bay red king crab harvest halted for 2021-22
The announcement came as a surprise to many in the crab industry, even those aware of the downward trend in female red king crab since 2012, and a downward trend in Bering Sea snow crab abundance. According to a NOAA survey report the total mature male biomass of commercial crab stocks in the eastern Bering Sea in 2021 was the lowest on record and 2021 biomass estimates continued a declining trend that began in 2015. The decline in crab biomass and abundance was most notable for snow crab, with abundance estimates for mature male and female snow crab down 55% and 70% respectively, the report said.,, In April, PEER filed a complaint on behalf of former NOAA Fisheries biologist Braxton Dew, charging the federal fisheries agency with paving the way for collapse,,, NOAA Fisheries had attributed the sudden loss of millions of crabs to “a drastic increase in natural mortality” and “massive die-offs,” claims for which no evidence has materialized, >click to read< 14:24
Politics: Lobster dispute, frustration with Ottawa could turn the tide on the Liberals in Nova Scotia
“Trudeau had the support of the First Nations in the last election. Not anymore. We’re voting NDP,” In rural Nova Scotia ridings such as South Shore-St. Margarets, where the fishery is a major employer, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan is now fighting to keep her job,,, It’s just past the lunch break inside the main assembly shop at Yarmouth Boat Works, These $1.2-million state-of-the-art vessels, with kitchens, sleeping quarters, flat-screen TVs and showers, are meant to venture far out into the ocean and carry thousands of pounds of lobster back to land. Owner Steve Gee says while demand for new boats has slowed, finding skilled workers is hard, despite a good fibreglass technician getting $28 an hour, a decent wage in Yarmouth County. “I need 23 workers, but three showed up today,” he said. “Our latest job posting had 300 applicants, and not one of them was in Canada.” >click to read< 11:31
Port captains recall heroic mission to evacuate New Yorkers from Ground Zero on 9/11
New York Waterway Port Capt. Michael McPhillips had been standing in the wheelhouse of a ferryboat halfway across the river, when he noticed the South Tower begin to buckle. He’d already made eight round-trip runs ferrying passengers to New Jersey since the first plane hit, while also manning the radio and fielding questions. At 9:45 a.m., when another captain offered to take the helm of the Frank Sinatra so that McPhillips could focus on operations, the overwhelmed port captain had gladly given up the wheel. He soon wound up conducting operations in the wheelhouse of a different ferry, the George Washington. Now, seeing the cloud exploding up and out from the shrinking South Tower, he barked out a warning to a captain who had been lining up for his approach to the World Financial Center terminal: “Get the f–k out of there!” >click to read< 09:01
