Monthly Archives: April 2022
Canada ignored warnings of virus infecting farmed and wild salmon
Canada was warned in 2012 by its own scientists that a virus was infecting both farmed and wild salmon, but successive governments ignored the expert advice, saying for years that risks to salmon were low. Justin Trudeau’s government has said it will phase out open-pen industrial fish farms off the coast of British Columbia by 2025. But both his government and the previous Conservative government were in possession of a newly released report that linked large-scale farms and wild salmon to the highly contagious Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). In 2012, biologists with the department of fisheries and oceans investigated the presence of the virus, which has been found in both farmed and wild salmon. but successive governments ignored the expert advice, saying for years that risks to salmon were low. >click to read< 11:48
Whale entanglements, crab gear, and what can be done
Whale populations are recovering, and whales are on the move early this year. That’s led to five humpback whale entanglements in crab gear, prompting the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to close the commercial Dungeness crab season two months early. With a population that is “definitely recovering” and five entanglements over a month and a half, Bartling conceded, “We’re in uncharted territory.” Three of the entanglements were confirmed with commercial California Dungeness crab gear, while the other two were “not identifiable, but the gear is consistent with what could be commercial Dungeness crab gear.” >click to read< 10:15
French fisherman won’t pay for British Brexit failure
Since the beginning of the year, Britain and France have been at odds about post-Brexit fishing licences for UK seas. The talks are still ongoing, but both parties have threatened to take action, and mistranslations haven’t helped matters. If they obtain a discretionary permit issued by Britain, French fishermen may continue to fish between six and 12 miles off the UK shore and off Guernsey and Jersey until 2026 under the Brexit trade and cooperation agreement (TCA). >click to read< 08:44
Project Fisheye Successfully Accelerates Development of New Underwater Camera
Before looking at Project Fisheye let’s go back to the latest in fishing gear technology from the 1990s in Cornwall. Plymouth based fishing gear and net designer Winston Phillips who commissioned Phil Lockley, fisherman, diver and Fishing News journalist to record his work designing flip-over ropes, not to be confused with the John Day designed flip-up rope designed for beam trawls, and stone traps for trawls as well as Net-Tec doors. Remote, underwater cameras were prohibitively expensive in those days so there was only one thing for Phil and Winston to do, don the diving gear 
go over the side and hang on to the headline of the trawl while it was being towed, then slowly pull yourself out to the starboard wing and film the new doors with wheels on (designed in Hull) as they were being towed. How times have changed! Wind the clock forward to 2022 and technology, and ideas about health and safety have moved on somewhat! Photos, Video’s, >click to read< 20:55
Despite war ban, Russian seafood could enter the US anyway
Fishing is big business in Russia, one closely linked to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin’s projection of power at sea. The country is one of the world’s top seafood producers and was the eighth-largest exporter to the United States last year, with more than $1.2bn worth of sales, the bulk of it king crab. But it is unknown exactly how much manages to land in the US by way of China, which sent another $1.7bn in fish to the US last year. Nor does the Biden administration’s ban require companies importing from China to find out. But the same species is also harvested in Russia in similar amounts, and once processed and imported from China, fills an important gap in the US market. In lieu of tracing the country of origin, US producers rely on the name recognition of Alaska pollock to signal where the fish was caught. >click to read< 17:31
Shipyards Face Impacts of Inflation and War
With rising inflation and devaluation of the Argentine peso against the US dollar, Argentinian shipyards are beginning to feel the impact of their country’s disturbed economic situation, in addition to the far-reaching effects of the war in Ukraine. Rising food prices have a direct impact on labour costs, something that most employers in Argentina, including shipyards, have been feeling over the past years. But those companies are also having 
to deal with the increasing prices of raw materials, especially steel and aluminium. According to Domingo Contessi, owner of Astillero Contessi, one of the traditional shipyards specialising in fishing boats, steel prices have gone up significantly since last year. ‘It’s a very complex situation. We have faced difficult times like this in the past, but never with such abruptness,‘ he reflected. Photos, Video, >click to read< 14:41
NPFMC wants more information on decline in king crab stocks
Two decades into the decline of Bristol Bay red king crab, with stocks now too low for a commercial fishery, the fight continues at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council over what protections to take for the crab in danger and how soon to do it. Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers had hoped that federal fisheries managers might put restrictions on groundfish fishing in the Red King Crab Savings Area, as well as other measures, during the NPFMC’s April meeting in Anchorage. Instead, the council voted to have staff prepare an expanded discussion paper for its October meeting that includes analysis of the impacts on annual or seasonal closures to pelagic trawl, groundfish, pot and longline gear in the BBRKA, including impacts on target catch, fishing timing relative to crab mating and molting, crab avoidance and other prohibited species catch and non-target species. >click to read< 11:27
Fisherman found guilty of illegal dredging off Scotland’s north west coast
Skipper Alex Murray was convicted yesterday following a three-day trial at Stornoway Sheriff Court. The 56-year-old of Lewis was in charge of the F/V Star of Annan while it was operating within the Wester Ross Marine Protection Area. Sheriff Gordon Lamont deferred sentence for two weeks at the same court. Murray had denied a charge of dredging for scallops in the banned area on 18th July 2019. During the trial he maintained the fishing equipment was stuck underneath the vessel and could not be properly hauled back in due to engine and hydraulic machinery problems. >click to read< 09:03
P.E.I. fishermen ‘optimistic’ about spring lobster season amid record prices
Island fishermen are anticipating the start of the spring lobster season in a few weeks with a heightened sense of optimism. In areas where the season has already begun, the catch is fetching record prices. Some fishermen in the Maritimes are reporting getting as much as $20 a pound for their lobster. “It makes us feel really good. The fishermen are optimistic,” said Charlie McGeoghegan, chair of the Lobster Fishers of P.E.I. marketing board. Last spring, lobster prices in P.E.I. hit record prices, starting the season at the highest they’ve been in 15 years. But expenses have climbed,,, >click to read< 08:09
Seven crew members rescued after Faroese trawler Eysturbúgvin sinks
Seven crew members have been rescued after their fishing vessel sank following a collision with another vessel off the Western Isles in Scotland this morning. The Faroese trawler, Eysturbúgvin, sank after colliding with its sister vessel Vesturbúgvin, and Faroese authorities have confirmed the vessel sank within a few minutes of the collision. The 36.4-metre Eysturbúgvin had departed from the port of Torshavn on the Faroe islands yesterday, Wednesday 13 April. >click to read< 21:14
NEFMC Honors Lou Goodreau for 45-Year Career on Staff
The New England Fishery Management Council opened the first day of its April 12-14, 2022 hybrid meeting in Mystic, CT by paying tribute to Lou Goodreau, an economist and information technology specialist who is retiring in May following a dedicated 45-year career on the Council’s staff. Lou joined the staff on March 28, 1977, the year the Council was formed by the 1976 passage of what’s now called the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). He is the third longest serving staff member among the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils. >click to read< 17:55
DFO enacts new regulations aimed at depleted fish stocks
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has enacted new regulations that bind its minister to rebuilding Canada’s depleted fish stocks and ensuring healthy ones stay that way, a move that comes weeks after it closed down two East Coast fisheries in the name of sustainability. The regulations are the teeth behind amendments to the Fisheries Act passed in 2019 and have been closely watched by the commercial fishing industry and environmentalists. The changes were posted Wednesday in the Canada Gazette. It identified 30 major fish stocks that will require a rebuilding plan,,, The minister for the department will have up to three years to produce a rebuilding plan once the stock has hit the limit reference point. >click to read< 16:32
Maine lawmakers approve bill to limit number of pogie fishing licenses
Under a bill passed by the Maine Legislature on Wednesday, the state’s pogie fishery will be closed to all fishermen in 2023 except current license holders who meet certain criteria. To be eligible, fishermen must have held a license to fish for pogies in at least two of three years from 2019-21 and have landed 25,000 pounds in at least one of those years. Those who have the required license history but have not yet met the landings requirement have until the end of 2022 to harvest 25,000 pounds. >click to read< 15:43
Confined Space: Dangerous Gas Buildup in Fish Holds
Four crewmembers onboard a commercial fishing vessel noticed an unusual odor coming from the fish hold while conducting shrimping operations. While under the assumption that the odor was due to a leaking refrigerant line, the crew hauled in their nets and began transiting back to port to have their system inspected by a service technician. As they were packing the last haul of catch into bags, one of the crewmembers went down into the fish hold to retrieve more bags. The crewmember subsequently fell back into the hold as he was trying to exit the space. A second crewmember failed to recognize the potential hazard and rushed into the space to provide assistance; however, he was immediately overcome by the gas and also fell into the hold. >click to read< 13:14
Record commercial herring harvest wraps up in Sitka Sound
The commercial herring fishery in Sitka Sound wrapped up Sunday, April 10, with its largest harvest on record. The sac roe fishery had daily openings last week, with the last one on Sunday. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates the catch totaled over 26,350 tons, more than half of this year’s guideline harvest level of 45,164 tons. That beats the previous record for the fishery from 2011, when the fleet caught 19,419 tons. Fishing started on March 26. >click to read< 11:37
Ocean City Fishermen Say US Wind is to Blame For Their Damaged Gear
One fisherman is claiming more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of lost equipment. Jimmy Hahn has been in the business for 30 years. He said multiple pots have been damaged and towed by US Wind, who denies those allegations. “Ever since I’ve set my gear, they’ve been in my pots every single day,” he said. “They were in it on Friday, they were in it a little bit on Sunday, and then we had the whole incident on Monday.” US Wind is Maryland’s offshore developer. >click to read< 10:30
Fishers struggle as lobster ‘nearly as cheap as chocolate’
A dramatic collapse in export markets has flooded Australia with large quantities of cheap lobsters selling for as little as $35 a kilogram. At that price, fishers struggle to break even and processors are not getting enough orders to chew through the oversupply of fish, with one describing the price as “nearly as cheap as chocolate”. “I’m hearing fishermen struggling to maintain deckhands because they’re not earning enough money, fishermen talking about having to get a second job,” Mr Blake said. “It’s been very challenging.” Fishers used to sell lobsters into China for around $100 per kilogram but the industry has been locked out of that market since the outbreak of covid. >click to read< 08:04
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
Caspian and Magdalen Islands | Crabs are getting impatient
Although ice crab fishing has been open on the estuary of the St. Lawrence River since March 25, it is long overdue for the grief of crabs in the main fishing area, the Magdalen Islands and the Caspian. The latter wanted to sail on Saturday, at dawn, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not grant its approval. The fishing season will finally begin in Zone 12 on Wednesday morning. Why? “For two reasons,” replies Paul Powder, a representative of the traditional crab fishermen of the Magdalen Islands, who has not lost his temper. The first is the presence of ice in some of the New Brunswick ports, which are included in Zone 12, Mr. According to Poutro, “it’s not ice to bother.” But the main reason is that “Coast Guard boats are not ready to monitor the fishery.” >click to read< 20:50
Sadie Samuels is the subject of the documentary ‘The Captain’
The documentary is part of more than 20 films that will be screening at the Mountainfilm On Tour festival, which started in Telluride, Colorado, and is on a national tour. At 30 years old, Samuels is the youngest and only female lobster boat captain in Rockport Harbor. In 2018, she readied her boat F/V Must Be Nice to be put into the water in Rockport, where her dad fished as well on the F/V Mimosa. “The wisest thing I’ve ever heard is: the more I fish, the less I know,” she said in Chris Wolf’s story in 2018. “Every year is totally different, but this year the ocean is cold, so I’m hoping it will be a little more normal.” photos, >click to read< 19:19
B.C. Ferries crew rescue fishermen from burning boat near Prince Rupert
Two men were rescued early Sunday morning by a passing B.C. Ferries vessel after their fishing boat caught fire in Arthur Passage near Prince Rupert. Arnie Nagy, a passenger on the ferry sailing from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, was fast asleep when he was awoken by the vessel suddenly coming to a stop around 5 a.m. “A crew member come up to me and he says ‘come take a look at this … There’s a fire out there,'” said Nagy. In the distance, something was glowing orange. As a lifelong fisherman, Nagy says he could tell it was a small fishing boat. The people on board the fishing boat — two men — launched a flare. >click to read< 18:05
Sanctions threaten to spoil Japan-Russia fishing rights talks
Japan has kicked off annual negotiations with Russia on commercial fishing quotas off the coast of Hokkaido, the Fisheries Agency said Monday, with the talks clouded by Tokyo’s plans to strengthen sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. The two countries routinely set limits for salmon and sea trout catches in each other’s exclusive economic zones. Fishing season normally begins April 10, but the talks had been delayed by the war. Fishing cannot start until a deal is reached. Closed-door virtual discussions began Monday, according to the Fisheries Agency, with no set end date. >click to read< 16:08
Everett ‘Sonny’ Traynor, 94, of Portland has passed away
In his early years, Everett “Sonny” Traynor would paddle his rowboat out on Casco Bay and haul lobster traps to help provide for his family. He worked as a sternman on a lobster boat and helped process fish for distribution. “He was a wharf rat,” said his nephew Bob Niles. “He did whatever was needed.” Traynor, a fixture on Portland’s waterfront, died on April 5 from heart failure. He was 94. He was a successful businessman and part owner of the former Willard-Daggett Co., once the largest distributor of fish and lobster in New England. He was a salesman, who bought directly from fishermen and sold to local restaurants and grocery stores for three decades. Niles said he was highly respected by fishermen. >click to read< 09:58
