Daily Archives: September 15, 2021
B.C. fish harvesters protest salmon fisheries closures
The Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters’ Association addressed the media near Vancouver’s Granville Island on Sep. 15. The organization is upset over DFO’s salmon closures at the end of June. According to Bernadette Jordan, the move was made as “an initial step towards longer term reductions in fishing pressure on stocks of conservation concern.” DFO’s Salmon Integrated Fisheries Management Plan will likely reduce B.C.’s commercial harvest by 60 per cent this year. Commercial fisher James Lawson says “I started behind almost $70,000 and at the last second I found out I’m not going to be able to fish; so that’s not a great position to be in and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.” Video, >click to read< 19:14
Why Offshore Wind Farms Face Lawsuits – The American Coalition for Ocean Protection
Nantucket residents have filed a landmark lawsuit over federal approval of Vineyard Wind, the first industrial scale offshore wind project in the U.S. Federal law protects existing ocean uses: commercial fishing, vessel traffic, the viewshed, and endangered species from new energy projects. Since federal approvals of all offshore wind projects will likely use the same flawed process, a court win for this lawsuit may stop all the projects. Specifically, Ackrats is the group filing the complaint and is concerned about Vineyard Wind’s negative impact on the North Atlantic right whale, “one of the most critically endangered species on the entire planet.” Those Nantucket residents are not alone. Beach communities from North Carolina to Maine and the Great Lakes joined together to form the American Coalition for Ocean Protection. >click to read< 16:13
Normandy and Brittany Fishermen to protest Saturday
Fishermen from Normandy and Brittany are due to stage a protest at the French end of one of the undersea cables that supplies Jersey with electricity on Saturday. The demonstration is due to take place on the beach at Pirou, a few miles south of Portbail, ahead of the 30 September deadline for fishermen to submit data required to operate in Jersey waters beyond the end of this month. Earlier this year, French Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin, threatened that France could cut off Jersey’s connection with the French grid over the row on fishing rights. >click to read< 13:53
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 91′ Steel Shrimper, 625 HP Cat, Federal Permits
To review specifications, information, and 12 photo’s >click here< , To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:16
SEA-NL questions federal candidate Mary Shortall’s commitment to inshore fish harvesters
“As a labour leader Mary Shortall turned her back on the fishermen and women of Newfoundland and Labrador in favour of the union executive,” says Ryan Cleary. “The question must be asked, who will Mary Shortall stand for if she’s elected to Parliament: workers or the union and party executive?” Cleary points out that as President of the Federation of Labour, Shortall failed to react to a 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court decision, later upheld on appeal in favour of inshore scallop harvesters who took their union to court over a compensation fund for lost fishing grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. In the court case, it was revealed the FFAW-Unifor had negotiated a compensation package with Nalcor without permission of scallop harvesters. >click to read< 09:41
Bering Sea crab fleet braces for another blow
The commercial fishery has been around since 1966. In the 55 years since then, there have been just two other closures: once in the 1980s and again in the 1990s. The species is world-renowned and was largely made famous by the popular reality tv show “Deadliest Catch.” “It’s big news, and it’s hitting our industry really hard,” said Jamie Goen, executive director for Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers,,, “We’re disappointed and deeply concerned.” But, she said, it’s not only the fishermen who will be impacted. This hit affects everyone in the industry, roughly 70 vessels and over 400 fishermen and their families, along with the processors and fishing communities that rely on crab revenues. “We could kind of see a closure was coming, we just didn’t quite know when,” she said. >click to read< 08:36
F/V Clo-Anne hauls up a rare orange lobster off Nauset
Paul Davis has been a commercial lobsterman for 12 years, and the orange lobster he pulled out of a trap just east of Nauset Beach Sept. 7 was the first time he’d seen one of that color. “I’ve never seen anyone else catch one,” he added. Davis, an Orleans resident who fishes on the F/V Clo-Anne that he launches from Town Cove, was pulling his traps off Nauset Beach last Tuesday. “We weren’t having the best day in the world, when all of a sudden my steering stern man said, ‘Look, we’ve got an orange lobster!’” Daniel Hohner held up the creature, and sure enough, it was bright orange, almost pumpkin colored, rather than the typical dark greenish blue or brown. >click to read< 07:57
