The plan would launch the defense fund to help the lobster industry navigate the new rules, laws and regulations that are designed to protect a declining species of whale. Some members of the committee and the lobster industry balked at the idea, in part because it would redirect fees and surcharges the state currently uses to manage the lobster fishing industry. But Republican Rep. William Faulkingham, a commercial lobsterman himself and the sponsor of the bill to create the legal fund, said the industry will need money to win court challenges against new fishing restrictions. >click to read< 16:53
Daily Archives: February 15, 2022
UPDATED: Spanish fishing boat sinks off Canada; 7 dead, 14 missing
A Spanish fishing boat sank early Tuesday in rough seas off Newfoundland,,, The 50-meter (164-feet) long fishing boat named F/V Villa de Pitanxo, which operates out of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, sank in the dark (around 0600 GMT, 1 a.m. EST), Survivors include vessel’s 53-year-old skipper and his 42-year-old nephew, according to La Voz de Galicia newspaper. The two men contacted their families by phone, A rescue center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, operated by Canada’s air force and coast guard, dispatched a helicopter, a Hercules-type aircraft and a rescue vessel to the area, which is 450 kilometers (280 miles) off the island of Newfoundland. >click to read< 14:49
While Chignik fishermen wait on 2018 relief funds, some look beyond the fishery to survive
Aloys Kopun sat in the small harbormaster’s office in Chignik Bay last July as a few boats gently bobbed in the harbor’s turquoise water. “When we were fishing like we normally fished here, the whole harbor was always plump full,” he said. “As you can see, now, we had hardly nobody in here. And everybody’s gone tendering or went to other areas to fish, or some of them went broke.” Kopun fished in Chignik, on the Alaska Peninsula, for decades before becoming the summer harbormaster. Significantly fewer boats have returned since the Chignik sockeye run failed in 2018. Fishermen who depend on the salmon closed out that season without making a paycheck. photos, >click to read< 12:02
East Hampton Trustees Will Embark On New Legal Fight For ‘Truck Beach’ Access
The Trustees on Monday night authorized one of their consulting attorneys, Daniel Spitzer, to work with an attorney representing commercial and recreational fishermen in preparing a new challenge to an injunction that has since June prohibited any vehicles from crossing onto the beach east of Napeague Lane in Amagansett. “There are 25,000 residents of your town and every one of them has the right to use that access,” Spitzer said during Monday night’s Trustees meeting, via Zoom. “If you look at it in a smaller class, there are 1,802 people with fishing licenses who are being deprived of the right to use those fishing licenses on property that was expressly reserved for fishing.” >click to read< 10:40
Search Underway for Crew of Spanish Fishing Trawler That Sank Off Newfoundland
International reports indicate a Spanish fishing trawler sank approximately 450 km off the east coast of Newfoundland in the early morning hours and a search is underway for the vessel’s crew. Spanish and American media are reporting that life rafts have been located and at least four people are dead. The Voice of Galicia is reporting that the Villa de Pitanxo, which sank shortly after midnight Newfoundland time, has a crew of 24, and while three survivors have been located, there are a number of fatalities. >click to read<
Several Dead As Spanish Fishing Boat Sinks Off Canada: Coastguard – Rescuers saved three crew members and were continuing to search for survivors after the Spanish fishing sank off Canada’s east coast. >click to read< 09:16
$4.2 million federal grant seeks to help Louisiana seafood processors recoup COVID losses
Louisiana will receive a $4.2 million federal grant to help seafood processors recover losses sustained during the ongoing COVID pandemic. It’s part of a $50 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to about two dozen coastal states announced Monday. The aid comes from a $2.3 trillion bipartisan bill approved by Congress and then President Donald Trump in December 2020. It combined $900 million in COVID stimulus money with $1.4 trillion to fund various federal agencies. The USDA has not detailed specifics about how the latest aid will be distributed to seafood processors. >click to read< 08:32
A Record Breaker!
The record for the value of fish landed in a single trip at one of England’s busiest fishing ports has been broken. The Enterprise caught the £87,353 haul during an eight-day trip out of Newlyn, Cornwall, last month. Skipper Nathan Marshall said “the stars were aligned” as they broke the previous port record by £11,000. The 43m (141ft) ship is the largest beam trawler in the port, and the newest having arrived in 2021. “Some hauls are better than others but on this trip they were just all good hauls, every single one of them.” >click to read<, More photos of the trip, Boom! Star ship Enterprise lands a record-breaking £87,353 trip. >click to read< 07:32
