Daily Archives: April 13, 2022
Washington: Commercial Fisherman Kenneth Elliott Layfield has passed away
Ken was born April 7, 1959, in Oak Harbor, Washington to Mary Ann and Clarence Elliott Layfield, preceded in death by his mother, father, sister Anita, daughter Chelsea, and nephew Allen. He peacefully passed away at the age of 62, surrounded by his loved ones, on March 16, 2022, in Spokane, Washington. Soon after graduating, he got into commercial fishing and bought his own commercial fishing boat (The Midnight Charger) in 1987 at the age of 28. His legendary and well-respected career of commercial fishing spanned from San Francisco all the way to Togiak, Alaska, ultimately spending 34 years of his career in Kodiak, Alaska. Ken’s love of fishing grew even more when his two sons started going up to Alaska to fish with him. He took much pride and joy in teaching Elliott, Caleb, and Jillian the ins and outs of fishing, combining his love of his children with his passion of fishing. >click to read< 20:35
Hawaii fishermen on the hook for high costs as seafood prices continue to rise
You may be seeing trouble when you pull out your wallet to pay for fish and seafood, but it’s the fishing industry that’s threatened right now. As fisherman Paul Dodder prepares to once again head out to sea. Expenses are on his mind. “Fuel prices are always the number one expense,” said Dodder. Diesel fuel we’re told is up 50%. But there are other costs as well. “Baits and supplies for your crew, all of that has increased 40%-50%,” said Hawaii Longline Association Executive Director Eric Kingma. Those costs on top of increasing demand are driving prices up. Video, >click to read< 19:34
Federal government to increase at-sea monitoring to 100%.
At-sea monitors are workers who collect data on board commercial fishing boats to help inform regulations and management of species. The government approved the new, higher percentage of trip cover on Tuesday, said Michael Pentony, regional administrator with NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester. The rules apply to valuable species that are harvested in the Northeast such as cod, haddock and flounder. Pentony said the new rules will replace the old process of calculating a target for the level of monitoring coverage every year. The coverage target will instead be 100% for four years as long as federal funding can support agency and industry costs, he wrote in a letter to fishery managers. >click to read< 16:24
Dealers scramble to supply lobstermen ahead of gear-change deadline
May 1 is the deadline for commercial lobstermen in Maine to trawl up, use weaker rope or insert weak links, and mark gear with the state color purple. But will they be ready? “Everyone’s hoping for a good year, hoping for a good price,” said Virginia Olsen, a Maine Lobstering Union Local 207 member who fishes out of Stonington. “We’re just going to do what we do. We’re gonna go to work.” But first, enough rope and weak links must come into local fishing gear stores to supply the approximately 4,500 commercial lobstermen in Maine, each of whom can haul up to 800 traps. >click to read< 13:26
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 95′ Ocean Marine Scalloper/Shrimper, 3412 Cat
To review specifications, information, and 47 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:34
The value of Canadian lobster exports has skyrocketed driving the wharf price toward a record high
Two weeks ago, at wharfs in Nova Scotia, the price of lobster was the highest it has ever been. Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster Company, a live lobster exporter in Nova Scotia, said the shore price for lobster, the amount fishermen get from buyers, was $18 a pound. That’s more than double the regular pre-pandemic price. It has since gone down due to a drop in exports and higher supply. Lamont said this week lobster was around $12 to $12.50 a pound. While high prices mean more money for lobster exporters and fishermen, Lamont said he is scared that if lobster becomes too expensive, people and businesses will simply stop buying it. >click to read< 10:52
British Fishermen Feared Pro-Brexit Campaigners Would Betray Them—and They Did
Few communities in the United Kingdom were as supportive of Brexit as fishermen. Politicians pushing for the country to leave the European Union capitalized on the widespread perception that EU regulators favored fishermen from the continent over those from the United Kingdom when allocating fishing quotas. They promised that post-Brexit, UK fishermen would have unfettered access to domestic waters. Perhaps unsurprisingly, an estimated 92 percent of the UK fishing community intended to vote for Brexit in 2016. >click to read< 09:32
Two commercial fishermen sue federal government to block ban on fishing near Gulf of Maine
David T. Malley of Massachusetts and Patrick Fehily of New Jersey are commercial fisherman who work near the Gulf of Maine, within the roughly 5,000 square miles that President Biden designated in October as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, according to court documents. Malley, a fisherman for more than 50 years, and Fehily, a fisherman for more than a decade, name Biden, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland as defendants in the suit, filed in US District Court in New Jersey, according to court documents. >click to read< 08:12
