Monthly Archives: March 2022
Coast Guard medevacs man from fish processing vessel near Cold Bay, Alaska
The Coast Guard medevaced a man from a fish processing vessel approximately 50 miles north of Cold Bay Monday. A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew deployed aboard Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley hoisted the 62-year-old man from the 254-foot fish processor, Phoenix, at 3:10 p.m. The patient was flown to Cold Bay and placed in the care of an air ambulance crew. “It’s been a busy few days for the Alex Haley crew and their embarked aircrew,” >click to read< 15:29
B.C. groups call on Alaska to halt interception of Canadian salmon
In a letter addressed to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, four salmon conservation groups presented data indicating that in 2021 more than 650,000 Canadian-origin sockeye salmon were caught in the waters of southeast Alaska. That is six times the 110,000 sockeye B.C. commercial fishers caught last year. “We’re just talking about the fish we know that are getting killed up there,” said Greg Taylor, a longtime consultant with commercial and First Nations fisheries. B.C. salmon populations have plummeted to record lows in recent years. In response, the federal government closed 60 per cent of B.C.’s commercial salmon harvest in June 2021 and announced a fishing licence buy-back program under its $647-million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative. The result for B.C., says Taylor: “It makes us a spawning ground for Alaska.” >click to read< 13:12
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 42’x16′ Novi Lobster Boat with Traps and Permits
To review specifications, information, and 35 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:38
Left and Right oppose an offshore wind farm – People are asking questions.
Developers are selling us impossible promises about offshore wind farms. “This reliable renewable energy resource is a game-changer for the New England grid,” says an advocacy group called New England for Offshore Wind. “It is our best chance to address the climate crisis, meet our future energy needs, and grow our economy simultaneously.” But people are asking questions, and it’s not just about the questions, but also about who is asking them. When the liberal environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, a coalition of U.S. senators led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and a conservative Texas institute like mine come together to question an ocean-based wind farm project, something must be fishy. >click to read< 10:20
Brady hits out at Ministers for ‘passing buck’ as Arklow fisherman flounders in debt
The criticism by the Wicklow TD addresses the failure of both Ministers to take leadership with “neither prepared to do the decent thing and deal with the issue” that has seen Mr Gaffney lose his fishing boat and license and wrack up debts of more than €1million. “What we have witnessed is a case of ‘passing the buck’ between government departments, as they work to avoid taking responsibility for the matter,” said Mr Brady. Explaining his current situation, Mr Gaffney said: “I have no life anymore. Every week there is costs, and every week is like a knife cut. >click to read< 08:50
Whales entangled in fishing gear could prompt early end to Dungeness crab season
On Tuesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that one of the entangled whales had been spotted near Moss Beach, just north of Half Moon Bay, on March 11. The other was spotted on March 19 in Monterey Bay. Both were alive at the time. “In anticipation of increasing risk due to migrating humpback and blue whales, a closure will help minimize additional entanglement risk,” read a report from the department,,, However, the Dungeness crab fishing fleet in the affected areas may already be shutting itself down preemptively, said Sonoma County fisherman Dick Ogg, who is on a working group organized by the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess risk to whales and make recommendations on when it’s time to close the season. >click to read< 07:35
Fisherman from N.S. witnesses heavy damage as he delivers aid in Ukraine
A Nova Scotia fisherman has arrived in Ukraine to help deliver aid to his homeland during the Russian assault on the country. Lex Brukovskiy has a family and lobster-fishing business in Meteghan, N.S., but comes from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where his mother still lives. He raised money in Nova Scotia earlier this month and is now volunteering to deliver aid to people. “Last trip, for example, we delivered medications to Kharkiv and picked up one wounded soldier and a couple of women and children. They also wanted us to load some dogs and cats, but we ran out of room,” >click to read< and listen to the audio report. 19: 15
Crack Pot Alert! MSC HQ sprayed blood red a year after Seaspiracy documentary
Nearly a year after the landmark ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary sparked debate around eating fish, demonstrators from Animal Rebellion spray painted the central London headquarters of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) They held placards that read ‘MSC – Stop Certifying Destruction’ and ‘Protect the Seas – End Fishing’. The group, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, are calling for all fishing to be stopped in a bid to end ‘ocean destruction’. >click to read< 14:17
Rule change calls for monitoring of all groundfish trips – Not everyone is on board.
The most significant proposed change is a monitoring coverage target of 100% aboard eligible trips, which is higher than present monitoring levels. The change is meant to remove uncertainty surrounding catch. This and other changes, known as Amendment 23, to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan were developed by the New England Fishery Management Council. According to a NOAA Fisheries fact sheet, the changes, if approved by NOAA Fisheries, would give groundfish vessels the choice of a human observer or using one of two types of electronic monitoring to meet the increased monitoring requirements, provided the sector has a corresponding approved monitoring plan and a contract with an approved service provider. >click to read< 12:37
Long-Awaited Cordova South Harbor Project Is Finally Underway
“We’ve been needing it for a long time; the harbor that is being replaced was being built in 1981 when I first came here and was expected to have about a thirty-year lifespan,” says fisherman Jeff Bailey of the FV Odyssey and FV Miss Margeaux. “Now, it’s on year forty.” Bailey adds, “Every year, more floats become waterlogged and roll over, and the cleats on the dock have broken loose with a number of larger vessels… It’s not uncommon for floats to break loose with boats attached, and we have to go corral them.” Though the state originally built Cordova’s South Harbor, it later turned it over to the community, which became responsible for maintenance and repairs. “As fishermen, we invest in our equipment every year, building new boats and new fishing nets and making modifications and improvements, but the harbor didn’t evolve in this same way,” >click to read< 11:55
‘Eat on the Wild Side’: The nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing
It’s called “Eat on the Wild Side.” It started as an idea by leaders of the Deep Sea Fisherman’s Union to recruit, train and retain a skilled and more diversified workforce. In July 2021, they contacted the Workforce Development Department of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO for help in setting up this new training program. And by December, they had created the nation’s first registered apprenticeship program for commercial fishing. The program, also known as the DSFU Inbreaker Program, began accepting applications in January and almost immediately had more applicants that they had boats/employers to handle the demand. >click to read< 09:21
The Texas oyster industry is struggling as the state’s reefs close for harvesting
At Johny Jurisich’s family dock in Texas City, more than a dozen empty oyster boats with names like Sunshine and Captain Fox lazily float in the marina on a recent Monday morning, an odd sight for what is normally peak oyster harvesting season. Currently, 21 of the state’s 27 harvesting areas are closed, with three more areas set to close Tuesday. Alex Gutierrez, who owns a few oyster boats and has worked as an oyster fisherman for 35 years, said he usually hires between 10-15 people to work with him each season. But recently he’s been dipping into his savings and doesn’t think he’ll be able to afford the annual maintenance on his boats. >click to read< 08:31
Michael L. Linquata of Gloucester, Massachusetts, has passed away
Michael L. Linquata, 96, of Magnolia, passed away peacefully on Sunday, March 6, 2022, at home surrounded by his loving family. He was the husband of the late Lillian Rose (Ciulla) Linquata who passed away just recently. Michael was born in Gloucester on July 5, 1925, son of the late Leonard and Anne (Favaloro) Linquata. Michael was an early graduate of Gloucester High School class of 1944 and was inducted into the army at Fort Devens on January 12, 1944. He was a combat medic and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. When Michael finished college, he worked with his father and managed Progressive Fish Company. >click to read< 22:08
Lawsuit filed over bridge repairs
On December 28, 2021, a dump truck pulling an excavator on a flatbed truck struck the overhead portion of the Mispillion drawbridge, as a result, the bridge cannot be lifted to allow larger boats to travel under the bridge. This has led to a lawsuit filed by Joan and Sudler Lofland, Russell Brown, Kevin Beam and Jason Watson requesting that the bridge be opened. The Lofland’s own the Vinyard Shipyard, Brown, Beam and Watson are commercial fishermen who docked their boat at the shipyard during the winter for repairs and maintenance. >click to read< 19:50
Louisiana: Violet man found guilty of commercial crab pot theft
A Violet man was found guilty of commercial crab trap theft in the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse in Chalmette on March 17, 2022. The Honorable Judge William McGoey for the 34th Judicial District of St. Bernard Parish found Paul Emile Metzler IV, 40, guilty of theft of crab traps and sentenced him to a fine of $400 plus court costs. Metzler also had his crab trap gear licenses revoked for one year. Additionally, during the period of his license revocation Metzler cannot be on any boat harvesting crabs, possessing crabs,,, >click to read< 16:19
Trawlers and Milford Haven’s history
As promised, in TRM Trawler Corner this week is Shielburn M15, a steel sided trawler built in Aberdeen in 1911, which landed at Milford from May 1915 to January 1919, and from February 1945 to April 1956. Her previous names were Ann Ford Melville and Star of Freedom but became Shielburn in 1933. Here’s an incident reported in a WW Guardian in June 1946. “Fifty miles with death sounds like the title of a thriller, but it was more than a thrill for the crew of the steam trawler Shielburn which steamed throughout Tuesday night with a live mine on the deck on top of a pile of fish. >click to read< 14:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 21, 2022
Last week, on March 15,16, and 17th, the Northern Regional, Southern Regional, and Finfish Advisory Committees met to make recommendations, for the Marine Fisheries Commission to consider, on Amendment 2 to the Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan! There was very little public comment, about a half dozen each night, with the NCFA being the only fisheries group offering comments. We focused on a single issue, allowing the use of gillnets above the ferry lines in the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, which the MFC chose to remove from the draft Amendment before allowing public or AC input. >click to read the update< 13:24
Man arrested after K-9 used to subdue him
32-year-old William Stringham of Brookings was arrested in the Port of Brookings Harbor following an altercation with Port of Brookings Harbor employees, where one of the employees was head butted by Stringham. When deputies arrived on scene, Stringham ran onto the commercial docks and boarded a commercial fishing vessel. Stringham refused to obey orders to exit from the vessel. During the standoff, deputies learned that there was a firearm on the vessel. Ultimately, K-9 Axel was deployed by his handler, Deputy Jacob Stout. Stringham was taken to the deck of the boat by K-9 Axel. >click to read< 10:55
Fisherman pulls boat out of water by crane to fuel it at a BP station!
Chris Attenborough, a seventh-generation fisherman from Whitstable, Kent, says after reclaiming road duty and VAT it is now cheaper to buy normal diesel than using red diesel. He said: ‘It’s cheaper for me to get my boat craned out of the water, cut the mast down, put it on a lorry and bring it to the petrol station and fill it up with white diesel. ‘It is going to put the price of fish up, which people can’t afford to buy already in this country, and it is going to have a major impact on our businesses. >click to read< 09:55
Fishermen turning back to port early as fuel costs rise
Jersey’s fishing fleet is struggling amid huge increases in fuel costs and is unable to compete on a level playing field with its French counterparts, who are receiving emergency government subsidies, according to an industry representative. ‘The rises over the last two weeks have been the biggest seen in history. The price of fuel is getting close to treble what it was at the start of the year,’ he said. This week the French government announced it would be providing fuel subsidies as various sectors and the population struggle to cope with rising costs brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. >click to read< 09:07
Stop importing £200m worth of cod and haddock from Russia
£200m worth of Russian cod and haddock imports should be stopped and efforts redoubled to open up fishing grounds off Norway and Greenland to the UK’s last distant water trawler Kirkella. Sir Barney White-Spunner, retired British Army officer and chairman of the advisory board of UK Fisheries, which operates the trawler said money currently going to Russia “should be kept here at home, benefiting jobs and investment in the North East and not Putin’s Tsarist ambitions”. The Hull trawler has had to cut crew numbers in the past two years, reflecting her plummeting quotas, a result of unfavourable deals struck by the UK Government, operating as independent coastal state. >click to read< 08:03
Marine Biologist Spencer Apollonio of Boothbay Harbor, has passed away
Spencer Apollonio passed away unexpectedly on March 8, 2022 at his Boothbay Harbor home at age 88. He was born in Camden to parents Dr. Howard L. and Helen T. (Martin) Apollonio. A marine biologist and Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America (AINA), Spencer made 14 trips to the Arctic. Spencer served as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), chairperson of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and executive director of the New England Regional Fisheries Management Council. He started his career researching shrimp (Pandalus borealis) and other marine life, and later focused on fisheries management in the Gulf of Maine. A graduate of Bowdoin College, he received a master’s degree from Yale University. >click to read< 21:23
Gruff, warm, combustible, shrewd: For 49 years, Don Young’s ideology was ‘Alaska’
Rep. Young, at 88 the oldest and longest-serving member of the current Congress, died Friday. A Republican from Fort Yukon, he fashioned a career as Alaska’s winningest politician ever, gradually building the kind of seniority in Congress that became its own compelling argument for his reelection. Don Young, the irascible riverboat captain who did not so much represent Alaska as personify it for half a century in Congress, died Friday as he was flying home to Alaska for yet another political campaign. He showed up in committee hearings wearing cowboy boots and cleaned his fingernails with a Bowie knife. Photos, >click to read< 14:36
British Columbia: Hooked on halibut: For many commercial fishers, it’s a family affair
The commercial halibut season is underway along the coast of British Columbia and boats are already starting to deliver the flat fish to dinner plates. From now until early December, the B.C. halibut fleet will haul in an estimated 5.7 million pounds of halibut. The Americans will take the lion’s share of this year’s 41-million-pound total allowable catch, nearly 80%, because their territory stretches over California, Oregon, Washington and all of Alaska to the tip of the Aleutian Islands and covers nine of the 10 designated halibut-fishing areas along the Pacific Coast. Tiare Boyes and Cheri Hansen weigh in on what it’s like to work on the water during the halibut fishing season. Photos, >click to read< 11:14
Alabama OKs tax cut bill for Gulf Coast commercial fishing operations
The Alabama Senate awarded final passage to a bill by State Rep. Chip Brown, R – Hollinger’s Island, that provides historic and much-needed tax cuts and exemptions to commercial fishing businesses operating throughout Alabama’s Gulf Coast region. The measure now travels to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for signature. “Alabama law currently provides the agricultural industry with tax exemptions and other benefits that are not currently extended to commercial fishing operations, which also harvest food,” Brown said. “Passage of this new law corrects a lingering injustice by extending the same taxation benefits to farmers and fishermen alike.” >click to read< 10:33
Fuel: Entire Spanish fishing fleet to stay in port until next Wednesday 23
Basilio Otero, the president of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds, announced this Friday, March 18, that the Spanish fishing fleet will remain in port until next Wednesday 23. This action comes as a result of the “very serious moment” that the fishing sector is suffering after the rise in fuel prices. “The sustainability of the fishing sector right now is in your hands”, he warned the minister, from whom he has also demanded, “firm, forceful, and immediate proposals, or the fishing sector is going to sink”. >click to read< 08:42
Maine lobster industry fights lawsuit that aims to shut down fishery
While Maine’s lobster industry has been fighting an offensive legal battle against impending rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, it also is playing defense in a case brought by environmentalists that seeks to shut down the lobster fishery entirely. Lobster industry groups are intervening in a case brought in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court by the Center for Biological Diversity and other plaintiffs that argues the new federal restrictions aren’t adequate, and that the fishery’s continued operation poses an existential threat to the whales. >click to read< 19:15
Newfoundland fisherman says DFO disregarded his 60-year fishing career
The small longliner June and Judy sits at the wharf in the sheltered inlet, awaiting the start of cod fishing season. Her owner, Winston Boutcher, can keep an eye on her from the window of his living room across the harbour. He knows this boat well. It’s a family legacy. The 28-foot fishing boat has been taking him to the cod grounds in Placentia Bay for many years. He and his brothers used to own her, equal partners in their inshore fishing enterprise. The Boutcher brothers remained equal in all things, until 1995. That year DFO adopted a policy that created two classes of fishing licences: core and non-core. >click to read< 14:59
Federal Funding for Killing Sea Lions Might Help Cowlitz River Salmon
Though the actions taken to secure $892,000 in federal funding for the protection of Columbia River system salmon took place thousands of miles from Lewis County, the process could have positive impacts for fishermen of the Upper Cowlitz River and the Columbia basin as a whole. As a result of a joint effort between U.S. Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and Kurt Schrader, a Democrat from Oregon, the appropriations bill passed by congress will include funds to continue the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) efforts to kill sea lions on the Columbia River, protecting salmon and steelhead. Sea lion extermination has been shown to be effective in protecting fish. >click to read< 11:35
The Maine lobster fishery is coming off a record year, faces challenges ahead
Maine’s lobster fishery scored a record-breaking value in 2021, with a 75% increase over 2020 and a 10% increase in landed weight. But fishermen face increasing pressures, including difficulty finding and keeping crew, rising operational costs, competition for fishing grounds from other industries, new regulations affecting fishing gear and methods and coastal development pressure that’s squeezing waterfront access and opportunities to live they work. >click to read< 09:25
