Monthly Archives: March 2022
Alaska’s Don Young, longest serving congressman, dies at 88
Don Young, a blunt-speaking Republican and longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, has died. He was 88. His office announced Young’s death in a statement Friday night. “It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved. His beloved wife Anne was by his side,” >click to read< 07:44
“I guess they’re too weak.” Weak lobstering gear recalled as new whale regs approach
The weak link made by Plante’s Buoy Sticks was pulled off shelves by the company this week, taking away one of the handful of gear options at lobstermen’s disposal to meet new federal rules that go into effect May 1. One retailer said their shop was told the links were believed to be breaking too easily. Plante’s links are one of three models approved by NOAA,,, Virginia Olsen, Maine Lobstering Union, said she sent a notice to her members about the issue and hoped the recall would prompt NOAA to review allowing fishermen the easier option of putting knots in their ropes to make them weaker. “It truly would be a great assistance to us if those knots were acceptable,” she said. >click to read< 14:21
Video: Coast Guard medevacs injured man from F/V America’s Finest near Dutch Harbor, Alaska
The Coast Guard medevaced a man from a fish processing vessel approximately 92 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor Thursday. A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew deployed aboard Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley hoisted the injured man from 262-foot fish processor America’s Finest at 12:52 p.m. The patient was flown to Dutch Harbor and placed in the care of LifeMed personnel. Watchstanders in the 17th Coast Guard District command center in Juneau received the initial medevac request from America’s Finest at 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Video, >click to read< 12:57
How many more #FishyFridays if fuel rockets in price?
In Lorient, with the fishermen on strike: “If we close it now, the profession will die” Overwhelmed by the soaring price of “fishing diesel”, shipowners have stopped Breton boats from Keroman, the country’s second largest fishing port. Usually, at this time, the boats are offshore. Wednesday morning, they are almost all moored along the quays of the port of Keroman in Lorient (Morbihan). The first fishing port in Brittany, second in the country, is almost at a standstill. La P’tite Mila explains why on a banner painted red, stretched on her deck: “Sailor ashore, diesel too expensive!!!”Another ship sports a hangman in yellow oilskin. Over the past ten days, most shipowners have paused their activity, overwhelmed by the soaring price of “fishing diesel”, tax-free professional fuel: 1.05 euros per liter on average Wednesday,,, >click to read< 11:19
Maryland reps exploring shrimp fishery
A new shrimp fishery could be coming to Maryland, which would have direct benefits along the lower Eastern Shore. Last year, the state’s General Assembly approved legislation that allows the Department of Natural Resources to establish parameters for a shrimp fishery “pilot program” for certain commercial licenses. During the ensuing year, there has been some confusion about just how DNR could and should extend such authority, leading to twin bills in the Senate and House this year intending to clarify DNR’s roles and powers to adopt regulations. “A lot of people don’t realize there’s even a shrimp industry in Maryland,” >click to read< 10:36
Fisherman Yarn Garrick Ward accused of making deckhand swim across crocodile-inhabited river walks free
A professional fisherman accused of torturing his deckhand, including making him swim across a crocodile-inhabited river, has been found not guilty in a Far North Queensland court. Yarn Garrick Ward, from the small fishing community of Karumba, was on trial at the District Court in Cairns this week over the torture of Cairns man George Jelef in 2019. It took the jury less than half a day on Friday to find Mr Ward not guilty. Mr Ward denied assaulting Mr Jelef and suggested his deckhand was under the influence of drugs, which he said would describe his “erratic” behaviour. >click to read< 09:23
Goodbye F/V Santiego, Hello F/V Diamond Lil
It’s always sad when an old lady of the sea is shipped off to far away waters especially when they’ve been a permanent sight in Port Douglas for decades. Such is the case with the FV Santiego, built in Brisbane and owned by her skipper Laurie Moull. The fishing trawler has been in operation for 21 years and to see her sail off into the sunset is tinged with sadness. The old girl is now in Innisfail with her new owners and their gain is certainly our loss, however skipper Laurie is like a kid in a candy shop because he has a new gal in his life. He’s bought a new vessel named ‘Diamond Lil’ and she’s a ‘BIG UN’. Laurie and the crew will be proudly showing off Diamond Lil this weekend at the Port Douglas public jetty when they sell their new season prawns tomorrow and Sunday. Photos, >click to read< 08:14
Wallop Breaux funding: the rest of the story!
Folks – I’ve been yammering on and on about the Wallop-Breaux program, an excise tax on boating and fishing gear and non-commercial marine use fuel sales. At the same time I’ve been focusing on a potential conflict of interest because 1/3 of the votes on the eight regional fishery management councils and 1/3 of the total votes on the three marine fisheries commissions (Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific) are cast by each of the states’ senior marine fisheries administrator. Why a potential conflict? Because, as the attached table demonstrates, the various state fisheries programs receive a major part of their funding each year from Wallop-Breaux. >click to read< By Nils Stolpe, FishnetUSA 19:12
3 people rescued from shrimp boat fire off Ft. Myers Beach
The Coast Guard rescued three people, Thursday, after a 63-foot shrimping boat caught fire in San Carlos Bay near Ft. Myers Beach. A Coast Guard Station Ft. Myers Beach 29-foot Response Boat-small boat crew arrived on scene, transferred the survivors without injuries, and established a safety zone around the vessel. >click to read< 16:27
Higher Snow Crab Quota in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2022
Due to Canada’s robust science and sustainable fishery management practices, the snow crab stock in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence is healthy and is showing signs of continued health. For these reasons, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Joyce Murray, is pleased to announce that this year’s total allowable catch (TAC) for the Snow crab fishery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence will be 32,519 tonnes, up from 24,261 tonnes in 2021. >click to read< 15:01
Northern NSW floods trigger mass fish kill with hundreds of thousands lining riverbanks, beaches
Fishermen have lost homes to the floods, nets and traps have been swept away, and now their livelihood is washing up dead on riverbanks and beaches along the New South Wales North Coast. Day by day the industry is counting the cost, financial and emotional, as the flooding disaster turns into an ecological one. “We’ve got juvenile fish, we’ve got big fish, we’ve got all the major species. So we’ve got sea mullet, bream, flathead, whiting, and then all the small fish, we’ve got toadfish, all sorts of things,” The majority of suppliers to the Ballina Fishermen’s Co-operative rely on the river, whether they fish out of it or at sea. >click to read< 13:30
Cody Umentum of Denmark went from a Mexican beach to the F/V Wizard
Little did Cody Umentum know that, in the four years after he graduated from college, he would visit over a dozen countries on multiple continents and have one of the most demanding, rewarding and incredibly dangerous experiences of his life. He went from sipping cocktails on a little island in Mexico to fishing for crab as part of the crew under captain Keith Colburn of the FV Wizard, a 156-foot boat featured on the Discovery Channel series “Deadliest Catch.” In all, he took two trips aboard the Wizard, but the second one truly tested his limits. With terrible storms, in the middle of the northern reaches of the Packifc ocean, and working over 80 hours a week, he often thought he had made a mistake. >click to read< 09:45
Douglas Whitten Allan III of Wakefield R.I. has passed away
Douglas Whitten Allan, III (51) of Wakefield passed away on March 14th, 2022 after a short and difficult illness. He was the son of the late Douglas W Allan, Jr and Barbara F Allan (Wakefield). He leaves his daughters Caitlyn Marie (Exeter), Meagan Lynn (Wakefield), and Sara Skye (Florida), his sister Catherine Allan Robinson (Wakefield) & family, his life partner and best friend Stacey Hannaford (Stafford Springs, CT) and his beloved cat Pearl. Douglas was born in Westerly, RI and a graduate of South Kingstown High School. He was a “lumper”, aka Commercial Fishing Vessel Off-Loading Technician in Point Judith for 34 years. >click to read< 08:02
Commercial fishing out of Wheatley Harbour is like ‘farming on the water’
On a foggy March 9, I followed the 15-mile-long County Rd. 1, the Wheatley Road, due south from Tilbury. Except for two bends, that skinny ribbon of two-lane asphalt shoots arrow-straight and pancake-flat across the see-forever farmlands connecting Tilbury to Lake Erie’s north shore and to Wheatley, the world’s largest commercial, freshwater fishing port. So it was with Lady Anna II. I heard the low purr of a slow-turning diesel engine before I saw her. When I first spotted her, she looked like a small, grey box suspended over Lake Erie. And, before I knew it, her bow slicing the glassy-smooth water at a cruising speed of nine knots, Lady Anna II was at the mouth of Wheatley Harbour. >click to read< 22:00
An Update on Canadian Lobsterman Lex Brukovskiy in Ukraine
Though the air raid sirens shatter his rest, Canadian fisherman Lex Brukovskiy says he’s feeling a sense of calm being back in Ukraine to help his war-ravaged homeland. “Sitting back home and watching it, it was hard,” he said in an interview on Monday. And on Tuesday, he said in a followup telephone interview he’s been assigned a van to drive in a convoy that will make its way to besieged cities in eastern Ukraine with humanitarian supplies before bringing refugees back to safety. “I feel a lot more useful here.” “I’m just doing my part, helping out. He estimates that he’s currently working with about US$20,000 in donations that has come in from friends, fishers and acquaintances, many of them from Meteghan. >click to read the article< 17:55
Brighter Hope for fishermen as they take ownership of boat
Two young brothers and their friend have taken ownership of the Copious and renamed her Brighter Hope (LK98). Tom Robertson, 33, and Ross Robertson, 30, along with George Jamieson, 36, have acquired the 19m vessel. Brighter Hope is named after Mr Jamieson’s grandfather John James Fullerton’s 45ft boat Brighter Hope (LK 502), which was bought in the early 1950s. New skipper Tom Robertson said: “We hope to start fishing within the next two weeks after doing some upgrades and sorting the paperwork. >click to read< 14:43
Aging fleet, broken parts force DFO to cancel northern cod stock assessment
As the 30th anniversary of the cod moratorium approaches, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it can’t complete research on northern cod stocks because of broken parts on an aging vessel. Mechanical issues on a Coast Guard survey ship has forced DFO to cancel the assessment of Newfoundland and Labrador’s northern cod stock for this year. The department said it had to make changes to data collection in 2021 due to offshore weather and the condition of its research vessels. The situation is also affecting research on the province’s capelin stock, which will see an update this year rather than a full assessment. >click to read< 14:23
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 78′ Steel Longliner, 400HP Twin Cat 3406 Diesels
To review specifications, information, and 40 photos’, >click here<, A turn key vessel in excellent condition. To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:30
Fisherman forced deckhand to swim across crocodile-inhabited Queensland river
A Far North Queensland fisherman has denied claims he forced a deckhand to swim across a river known for crocodiles, starved him and locked him in a freezer. Yarn Garrick Ward is on trial at the District Court in Cairns, accused of torturing his former worker, George Jelef, in a remote river system near Karumba in June 2019. Mr Ward has pleaded not guilty. “He said he was going to break my legs … I thought he was going to bash the shit out of me,” Mr Jelef told the court. >click to read< 11:25
Changes to Sitka commercial herring fishery don’t get board support
Several proposals to make changes to the commercial sac roe herring fishery in Sitka Sound failed to win support from Alaska’s Board of Fisheries over the weekend. Two of those would have made a permanent move away from a competitive fishery. Another would have allowed permit holders to opt for an alternative way to harvest herring eggs for market. Two proposals sought to end the competitive purse seine fishery in Sitka Sound for sac roe and replace it with an equal share fishery. >click to read< 10:51
Lobster prices on the rise
If you want lobster for dinner tonight, you’re going to pay dearly for it. The prices for lobster are right through the roof. “A year and a half ago fuel was about $1.60 a gallon. Now we’re paying almost 5 dollars.” Mike Theiler’s been lobster fishing these waters for 33 years. “No matter what we do with our fish and lobsters its predicated-on Diesel fuel,” Theiler said. A lobster fisherman’s daily cost includes fuel at 20 gallons per hour or $100 an hour, then add the cost of bait for the pots, and crew. Video, >click to read< 10:05
Galway Hooker Lit in Ukrainian Colours
One of Galway’s fleet of traditional craft has been lit in Ukrainian national colours in support of the people of Ukraine The Naomh Cronán is decked out in yellow and blue on Galway’s Claddagh basin each evening after sunset. The 40 foot Naomh Cronán was built to the design of the traditional craft once used for fishing and turf-carrying along the Atlantic coast. “We were preparing lights for our fleet for St Patrick’s day on March 17th, and decided to light one of the vessels for Ukraine,” Peter Connolly of Bádóirí an Chladaigh, the Claddagh Boatbuilders, said. >click to read< 08:52
F/V Mucktown Girl: TSB weighing what steps they will take next, including opening an investigation
The F/V Mucktown Girl halibut boat went down off the coast of Canso, N.S., on Sunday. Four of its five crew members were rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard, but the fifth man fell off a life raft as the crew was being transferred to a coast guard vessel around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. The fisherman, Jeremy Hart of Windsor Junction, N.S., was eventually pulled out after spending five hours in the ocean but died in a hospital on Sunday. Board spokesperson Chris Krepski said Tuesday the TSB has been notified of the situation and is assessing what the next steps will be. >click to read< 22:17
Safety kit saves the life of a fisherman
What had started out as an ordinary working day for commercial fisherman Paul Reed turned into his worst nightmare when he went overboard from the >F/V Sidney Rose<, miles from land. But his decision to put on a lifejacket that morning, equipped with a locator beacon, likely saved his life. He’s been fishing for 38-years and has had just the one man overboard experience. But once is all it takes to never return to shore again. Paul activated his PLB,,, His skipper then raised the alarm with a Mayday, confirming to authorities that the alert they were searching for was, in fact, a man overboard. >click to read< 17:51
Eastern Canada: Engineers say ditching length limits would mean safer, ‘greener’ fishing boats
Engineers Canada, a national organization that represents professional engineers and engineering associations in each province has declared federal regulations of fishing vessel design an issue of importance. The Fisheries and Oceans rules that were built on the logic of limiting catch capacity have had “unintended consequences”, Vessel proportions have become extreme, with some boats more than half as wide as they are long. McDonald said if Canada is sincere about the goal of fighting climate change and is interested in enabling the fishing industry to adopt fuel-reduction strategies, the vessel length rule needs to be changed. Then there’s the safety issue. photos, >click to read< 14:51
Captain: Monster waves wrecked ideal fishing trip and boat
When Captain James Kirwan, 59, and his crew set sail from Chaguaramas aboard Crystal Eye on Thursday for a week of fishing in Tobago waters, the only thing on their minds was the number of shark and tuna they intended to catch. However, just a few days into the trip, Kirwan and four fishermen had to abandon ship and jump into the Caribbean Sea on Saturday night, after huge waves crashed into the 55-foot trawler causing it to sink. “Everything was all right. The weather wasn’t bad. We already had 3,400 pounds of shark and some other big fish. I decided to let the crew pack up the gears and take a rest.” Moments later the sea turned rough,,, >click to read< 12:37
Marshfield Selectmen Recognize Resident after 911 Call Led to Rescue of Three Fishermen
Pam Harght was working from her Marshfield home in February, when she saw smoke coming from a boat, about a mile away. The boat disappeared from view, and she called 9-1-1. Police Chief Phil Tavares says if it was not for that phone call, three people would have been dead. First responders from Scituate and Marshfield rushed to the area and rescued three men from the 55-foot fishing vessel, the “Bing Bing” out of Gloucester. Audio, >click to read< 12:05
Tributes to Dorset’s sustainable fisherman David Sales who was honoured by the Queen
Tributes have been paid to a West Bay fisherman who was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to commercial fishing and the environment. David Sales spent 63 years in the fishing industry and worked to promote more sustainable practices, including policy to increase the minimum size of lobsters caught so that they could breed before capture. “Not long after introducing the regulation, we started catching berried female lobsters, a wonderful sight. At last, the lobster stock was being given a chance to recover.” Video, >click to read< 10:37