Monthly Archives: February 2022
Regulators hold off on requiring lobstermen to install electronic trackers on their boats
Regulators are holding off on a plan to require lobstermen to install electronic trackers on their boats. Members of the American Lobster Management Board Tuesday considered a raft of industry concerns about the technology’s purposes, its cost, and data-privacy, and then decided to take more time to evaluate the issues. “The lobster fishery is a difficult fishery to enforce rules in, because of the vast area we cover and the number of people,” said Steve Train, a lobsterman from Long Island, Maine, and a member of the regional board. >click to read< 17:05
‘These Waters Are Hot’: U.S. Auction Opens Up Offshore Wind Farm Rush
When the U.S. last auctioned big plots of ocean to companies that wanted to build offshore wind farms a few years ago, it raked in a then-record-setting haul of $405 million. That’s set to be obliterated Wednesday,,, “We expect high bids, potentially the highest on record.” While the Trump administration only held two lease sales for offshore wind areas in four years, President Joe Biden has said he wants enough offshore wind farms to power 10 million homes by 2030 and is planning six more auctions from California to the Carolinas. Not everyone is excited about the prospect of hundreds of new turbines,,, There’s also another potential problem with a record-setting sale: power prices. Since developers will eventually be passing on the costs of building the wind farms to the homeowners and businesses that buy the electricity they generate, bidding wars and high prices for the tracts of ocean could eventually boost the price of that power. >click to read< 13:58
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 40′ Novi Lobster/Scalloper, Cummins 60TA
To review specifications, information, with 13 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:50
Keys commercial fisherman takes off rather than face inspection
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers Daniel Jones and Alex Piekenbrock were conducting vessel inspections at the Vaca Key Marina in Marathon last Thursday. They were waiting at the dock when Roberto Cabrera was pulling in on his commercial lobster boat. Capt. David Dipre, head of the FWC in the Keys, said when Cabrera, 37, saw the officers, he began pulling away from the dock. Dipre said Jones and Piekenbrick told Carbrera several times to stop the boat. He responded to them that he was turning his vessel so he could pull into his slip bow first. “Once the vessel cleared the slip, Cabrera slammed the throttle down and left the marina on plane,” >click to read< 10:37
Maine lawmakers vote against lobstering defense fund idea
A Maine legislative committee has voted against a proposal to create a legal defense fund to help the state’s lobster fishing industry fight new restrictions. The Maine Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources voted against the idea on Tuesday. The fund would have been designed to help the industry challenge rules and regulations intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale. Republican Rep. William Faulkingham, a commercial lobsterman, proposed the idea. >click to read< 09:40
Government agrees to re-investigate dead crab and lobster after fishermen conduct their own probe
Earlier this month DEFRA announced that after extensive testing following the first reports of mass crab and lobster deaths around the Tees Estuary last autumn, they had traced the cause to toxic algae which had been dispersed naturally by a storm in October. A fishermen’s union called the North East Commercial Fishing Collective, which includes members of the Whitby Fishermen’s Association, had refused to accept the investigation’s outcome and crowdfunded a £5,000 fee to hire marine pollution consultant Tim Deere-Jones to independently analyse samples. >click to read< 08:46
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Manuel Navarro to his sister, “Don’t tell dad, this is hell, a very big storm”
“Don’t tell dad or mom, but this is hell, a very big storm,” José Manuel Navarro, the biologist at Villa de Pintaxo, told his sister Mónica last Saturday in what was his last communication before the shipwreck of the fishing boat, which occurred on Tuesday. Desperate for the lack of news, José Navarro, the father of the scientist on board, and Mónica, the sister, have asked the Government through Canarian Television to mobilize media to that area of the Atlantic, opposite Newfoundland, to search for the remains of the fishing boat and the missing crew members. >click to read< 07:57
Who is the real Saudi Arabia of Wind? By David Goethel
I read the February 16th article by Teddy Rosenbluth, “New Hampshire is blowing its chance at offshore wind”, from the Concord Monitor, with interest and wished to offer some comment, both to the media covering New Hampshire, and the readers. By way of introduction, I am a research biologist and 54-year fisherman, both recreational and commercial, in the Gulf of Maine. First, I want to publicly thank both Governor Sununu and his energy spokesman, Assistant Commissioner of NH Dept. of Environmental Services, Mark Sanborn for taking a wise stand on collecting biological, ecological, economic and social implications of offshore wind development before leasing vast tracts of the Gulf of Maine. This stand is in marked contrast to other coastal governors and the Biden Administration, as well as European states, which have adopted a stance of build first and study later. >click to read< 20:18
Repeating the agenda “talking points”: Advocates say NH is blowing its chance at offshore wind – The Gulf of Maine, an area with strong and reliably blowing winds, is what Sen. David Watters called the “Saudi Arabia of wind.” >click to read<
New crabber Valentia will add safety and comfort for fishing crew
Local skipper Richard Grains says he was pleased how his new crabber F/V ValentiaLK21 performed during her 800-mile journey from Valentia Island, in the southwest of Ireland, to Shetland last week. The new vessel arrived at the Vidlin marina for the naming ceremony at the weekend after successfully dodging Storm Dudley on her four-day journey home. The new vessel is a significant step up from Richard’s previous boat, also called Valentia and built at the same yard about 10 years ago. >click to read< 18:35
FFAW Launches Awareness Campaign on Seal Overpopulation
ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union is launching a nationwide campaign today to call attention to seal overpopulation in Atlantic Canada and the devastating effects on fish stocks. The Union representing fish harvesters is calling on the federal government to immediately undertake adequate scientific work to understand the true impact seals are having off our coasts, and to ensure appropriate action is taken to repair the ecosystem imbalance. Video, graphics, and a lot of information, >click to read< 16:08
Former Alaska Board of Fisheries appointee Roland Maw pleads guilty to PFD fraud
A former nominee to the Alaska Board of Fisheries and a prominent Cook Inlet commercial fisherman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unsworn falsification on Friday, ending a six-year legal struggle that saw him accused of multiple counts of Permanent Fund dividend fraud and improperly obtaining resident fishing licenses. Roland Maw, nominated by former Gov. Bill Walker to the Fish Board in 2015 but never appointed, will pay a $500 fine and pay restitution of $9,582. He had been facing 12 felonies and 5 misdemeanors; the remaining charges are dismissed. >click to read< 13:23
SEA-NL up and running as ‘distinct voice’ of skippers, licensed inshore owner-operators
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) elected its first executive during a founding convention earlier this month, and the Board’s first order of business was to hire an Executive Director. “Licensed inshore harvesters finally have an organization to serve as their distinct voice, and their voice alone,” says Jason Sullivan, a Bay Bulls fisherman who was elected SEA-NL President during the virtual convention. >click to read< 11:48
PFD’s: Fishermen get lesson in staying safe at South Shields Marine School
The maritime survival centre hosted three days of new-style instruction to emphasise to trawlermen the danger of setting sail without a life jacket. Experts highlighted how unsafe it is to set sail without wearing a life jacket. They entered the 4m-deep storm-configured pool in only their usual at-sea protective boots and waterproofs. Most of the participants lasted just under a minute before the weight of water began pulling them under, compelling them to grab life floats placed by safety lifeguards swimming close by. >click to read< 10:57
Overboard California Fisherman Swims Five Hours to Safety
After being thrown overboard, and as he watched his boat drift away from him, a fisherman knew that his only chance of survival was to swim his way out. “I looked up at the sky and I was like ‘Really?!’” he said. “Like really, this is how I’m going to die.” He began to think about his family: his wife their two little girls and their older son and motivated himself to keep swimming. “There was a lot of the drive,” said Thompson. “Just thinking ‘Oh my god, they’re going to grow up without me.” Video, >click to read< 10:05
Fisherman left heartbroken after fishing boat destroyed by Storm Eunice
A fisherman from Hampshire has said his business is on the edge, after his fishing boat was destroyed during Storm Eunice. Peter Williams’ boat was moored at Emsworth Harbour when tragedy struck as the strongest storm in 30 years ripped through the south coast on Friday (18 February). Supportive locals have now set up a crowdfunding page, appealing to others in the local community to Peter them rebuild, something which shocked him. Video, >click to read< 08:03
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Deadly sinking of trawler blamed on main engine failure
A Spanish fishing trawler sank in stormy waters off Canada last week, leaving 21 sailors dead or missing, because its engine failed, the owner of the vessel said Monday. There were 24 people onboard the Villa de Pitanxo when it went down off the eastern coast of Canada early on Tuesday in Spain’s worst fishing tragedy in nearly 40 years. Padin has said the accident happened when the ship attempted to turn, the Nores Marin group, the company based in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia which owns the ship, said in a statement. “The main engine suddenly stopped, leaving the boat without propulsion or direction, exposed to the wind and the waves, suffering blows from the sea that caused it to tilt and sink very quickly,” >click to read< 16:16
NPFMC ponders changes in the halibut catch sharing plan
When the North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted its halibut Catch Share Plan back 2014, charter operators were granted 125% of their historic catch at low levels of abundance, with that additional 25% coming out of quota for the commercial longline sector. Commercial longliners were assured that no further uncompensated reallocations would be considered, but now federal fisheries managers are doing just that. The Halibut Coalition is urging its membership of commercial harvesters to write to the governors of Alaska, Washington and Oregon expressing their views, as the representatives of those states on the NPFMC voted in favor of considering changes to halibut allocations. >click to read< 13:41
Repeating the agenda “talking points”: Advocates say NH is blowing its chance at offshore wind
New Hampshire is uniquely positioned to benefit from one of the most promising areas for offshore wind development. Environmental advocates fear the state is blowing its advantage. The Gulf of Maine, an area with strong and reliably blowing winds, is what Sen. David Watters called the “Saudi Arabia of wind.” The area presents an opportunity to create thousands of jobs and move away from fossil fuels, supporters said at a press conference Wednesday morning organized by New England for Offshore Wind. “Offshore wind really is the biggest lever we have to move climate change action,” said Rob Werner, state director for the League of Conservation Voters. >click to read< 11:14
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 21, 2022
If you’ve sat through as many Marine fisheries commission and Advisory Committee meetings as I have, then you’ve certainly heard “we’ve failed to rebuild the Southern Flounder stock.” But is it true? Continue reading at the update. >Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 09:26
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Survivors, bodies from sunken Spanish fishing vessel to be repatriated this week
Spanish officials arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday to begin the process of repatriating the survivors and the bodies recovered from the sinking of a Spanish fishing vessel. Deputy Premier Siobhan Coady greeted members of the flight crew after they arrived in the province. Meanwhile, Alfredo Martinez Serrano, the Spanish Ambassador to Canada, landed in St. John’s late Saturday afternoon. The Villa de Pitanxo fishing vessel sank in heavy seas off the coast of Newfoundland early Tuesday. >click to read< 08:11
Cortez Fishing Festival returns after pandemic cancellation last year
The Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival is back. The event was canceled last year due to the pandemic. This is a very important event for the commercial fishing industry. The festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It promotes the working fishing village that produces a lot of seafood people eat all over Florida. Organizers call this authentic Florida event a “party with a purpose.” photos, >click to read< 12:32
Sole survivor of Galway Bay fishing tragedy among those feared drowned off Newfoundland
One of the fisherman feared dead when a Spanish fishing vessel sank off the Newfoundland coast earlier this week was the sole survivor of another maritime tragedy in Galway Bay over two decades ago. In October 2000, Ricardo Arias Garcia, a native of Marin in Spain, was plucked from the Skerd Rocks in outer Galway Bay by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter operating from Shannon. Last Tuesday, he was one of 24 crew on board the trawler Villa de Pitanxo when it sank 280 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in rough seas. Named by Spanish media as one of the fatalities, Mr Arias Garcia lost all of his fellow crewmates when the F/V Arosa sank in a storm off Galway Bay on October 3, 2000. >click to read< 11:06
What is the payment for a life of sacrifice? Working at sea is not as profitable as before
In the instability of the ship, he sinks into longing. In the one that evokes family, friends… Maybe he won’t get back in time to see the birth of his son, or the wedding of his sister, who before leaving to the tide already had promised. The work to be done on board brings his thoughts back to the reality of the ship at a stroke. But only temporarily. Insomnia in his break time, caused by the need to be alert at all times, will bring those ideas back to his head, just thinking about being able to catch a good catch to bring his family as much money as possible, and that his sacrifice has meaning. >click to read< 09:20
California Fisherman Survives Harrowing 5-Hour Swim After Falling Overboard
Scott Thompson, a commercial fisherman, took his boat out on the Santa Barbara Channel around 5 p.m. on Jan. 26. Five hours of swimming later, he wound up on an oil platform with no boat. On his way back, he stood up on the side of the boat but rough waters took hold of the vessel. Thompson lost his balance and fell. That left him stranded in the water and watching his boat drift away. He attempted to swim and catch up to it but was unsuccessful. Eventually, around 10 p.m., Thompson found his way to oil Platform Gail. >click to read< 20:16
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Fishing vessel arrives in St. Johns with three survivors and seven deceased crewmen
The F/V Playa de Menduíña II, in which three survivors and seven of the deceased of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo were traveling, docked at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday in the port of San Juan de Terranova (St John’s). On F/V Playa de Menduíña II traveled the survivors of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo, the skipper of the ship, Juan Padín; his nephew, Eduardo Rial Padín; and the young Ghanaian Samuel Kwesi. After carrying out the appropriate procedures, the three left the Vigo fishing boat after five o’clock in the afternoon, six hours after the arrival at the port. After going down to port, the three were taken to an area hospital for a medical check-up. >click to read< 17:31
The crew of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo, one by one: from Raúl, only 24 years old, to Francisco, of retirement age – Little by little, the identities of those who were on board the ship that sank in Newfoundland and their stories are becoming known. Most have young children and some, like Samuel, had not yet been able to meet their last baby. >click to read<
Save the Gulf of Maine – The Maine Reset, Ep. 4: Never Forgotten
Derek Colbeth grew up lobstering, and then served for 5 years in the US Marine Corps. Now he’s a civilian again, but his heritage and livelihood is under attack on all fronts. Powerful interests are converging in a war against Maine Lobstermen. If Lobstermen lose this fight, Maine will never be the same. >Video, click to watch< 14:35
Save the Gulf of Maine – The Maine Reset, Ep.3: This is an Experiment
In this episode, interviews with two brilliant people that you won’t want to miss regarding offshore wind development in Maine. Carla Guenther PhD brings an oceanography perspective, and Long Island Commercial Fisherman Steve Train lays out some practical wisdom as only a fisherman can. Sandwiched in there are some of my own antics lampooning the empty suits from corporations who want to confiscate our ocean., >Video, click to watch< 13:15 ocean industrialization
Commercial Fisherman Ronnie Lee White has passed away in New Bedford
Ronnie Lee White, age 63, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, February 10, 2022 in New Bedford. He was born in Charleston, West Virginia to Cecil Ronald White and the late Shirley Estep on April 26, 1958. Ronnie’s love for the ocean started at the young age of 16. For almost 50 years he was a commercial fisherman who served on many fishing vessels in Newport, RI. For the past 15 years, he served on multiple vessels out of New Bedford, MA. He was truly one of the best at what he did and worked extremely hard throughout his life spending weeks at sea doing what he knew best and loved the most. >click to read< 10:57
More dead crabs and lobsters along North East coast
The government is investigating after new reports of dead crabs and lobsters along the North East coast. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is to “undertake additional sampling” after fishermen reported further deaths. It said it had now received reports of “further dead or dying lobsters and crabs found in a small number of pots along the North East coast” and that it would be taking samples in the area to investigate. Adrian Noble, a Whitby fisherman of more than 40 years, said he believed there was “not a chance in the world” the deaths were caused by a naturally-occurring algae, adding the industry has been “decimated”. >click to read< 10:14
Pope Francis Laments ‘Tragic’ Shipwreck of F/V Villa de Pitanxo
“The Holy Father expresses his heartfelt condolences, as well as his solidarity, in these moments of sorrow.” The pope “prays to God for the eternal repose of the victims and expresses his closeness to the families who mourn their loved ones,” The Galicia-based trawler Villa de Pitanxo sank early Tuesday some 250 miles off the coast of Newfoundland with just three known survivors out of a crew of 24, making the disaster Spain’s worst fishing tragedy in 38 years. Current theories suggest that the ship, which was loaded with a good catch of halibut, was weighed down at the stern and, complicated by waves reaching eight meters in height, was flooded and sank in a matter of minutes. >click to read< 09:01
