Daily Archives: February 9, 2022
International Pacific Halibut commission raises most Alaska harvest limits for 2022
An uptick in halibut stocks along much of the Pacific coast means increases in total catch limits in every region of Alaska this year. The International Pacific Halibut Commission decided in its annual meeting last week to increase catch limits in every management region except for 2A, which covers the California, Oregon, and Washington coast, with an overall coastwide increase of nearly 6%. The increase comes after IPHC researchers informed the commission that halibut stocks were showing signs of rebounding from lows in the last five years, in part due to a large age class from 2012 becoming mature. The long-term trends of decline seemed to end in 2013, when the stocks began to climb again. >click to read< 14:37
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 72′ Steel RSW Lobster/Crabber, Cat 3406
To review specifications, information, with 56 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:30
Scottish fishermen launch survey of North Sea fish stocks to tackle government’s ‘poor science’
Scottish fishermen have revealed plans to fund additional surveys of North Sea white fish stocks in a bid to tackle the Scottish Government’s ‘poor science’. The Shetland Fishermen’s Association and the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association are organizing “rigorous, transparent studies of key fish stocks that are fit for purpose”. The groups, which account for more than 80% of the UK’s white fish catches, criticized the Scottish Government for following “poor science” in its recent decision to close the Clyde cod-box, which led to its plans to fund its own scientific research into the North Sea. >click to read< 11:37
Fatigue Led to Sinking of Fishing Vessel in Alaska
On July 24, 2021, the fishing vessel F/V Tenacious, which fished primarily for pink salmon, grounded at the entrance to Wells Passage while transiting to fishing grounds in Prince William Sound. The five crewmembers abandoned the vessel and were rescued. The Tenacious later sank. The Tenacious crew arrived in Whittier late on July 22 to resolve maintenance issues with their skiff ahead of the opening of the fishery on July 24. Three of the crew made a 4-hour round trip to Seward, Alaska to borrow another skiff. According to a deckhand, the whole crew was running off “not too much sleep.” About two hours after getting under way for the July 24 fishery, the Tenacious struck rocks. >click to read< 10:27
Yucatecan fisherman survives four days at sea clinging to a cooler
A cooler saved the life of Erick AEH, a fisherman from Celestún , who was shipwrecked on Monday, January 31, when the boat sank while returning from fishing. After two days of drifting in that fiberglass structure, a merchant ship en route to Florida rescued him on Wednesday. The fisherman was found about 50 or 60 miles from the coast, the currents and swells moved him away from the site of the shipwreck that occurred about 24 miles off the coast of Celestún. >click to read< 09:25
I’m facing a ‘life sentence’ of debt because I was sold a ‘defective’ trawler
A former fisherman has told how he’s been handed “a life sentence” after he was left €2 million in debt when he was sold a trawler, which he claims was defective. CJ Gaffney, from Arklow, Co Wicklow, bought the Mary Kate WD30 in Germany in 2009 and at the time the vessel was deemed safe by German authorities, who had stamped its EU papers. But when the boat almost capsized on two occasions with four crew on board, nearly 20 tonnes of steel was discovered when they carried out their own independent safety checks. He claims this extra weight made the 24m boat completely unstable and too dangerous for the water. >click to read< 08:18
