Monthly Archives: May 2022
Collins Blocks Expedited Confirmation of NOAA Nominee
In a continuation of her advocacy on behalf of Maine’s lobster industry that has been unfairly targeted by NOAA’s burdensome right whale rule, U.S. Senator Susan Collins rejected a unanimous consent request to confirm a top NOAA official. Senator Collins’ decision to block Jainey Kumar Bavishi to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere comes in response to the agency’s refusal to modify its unworkable Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) that has harmed Maine’s hardworking lobstermen and women. >click to read the press release< 08:49
Georgia: For first time in 20 years, Thunderbolt revives Blessing of the Fleet
It’s been decades since the Town of Thunderbolt hosted its Blessing of the Fleet festival, a three-day affair that paid homage to the city’s shrimping history. Shrimping and fishing boats would fill the marsh-lined river, waiting to be blessed by the Catholic bishop before heading out to sea. For more than 20 years, the town, including Thomas who served as mayor in the early 2000s, had tried to bring some semblance of the ritual back, but it never quite gathered enough momentum. This year, after a two-month sprint of preparation and planning, Thunderbolt is reviving the Blessing of the Fleet. >click to read< 08:24
Coast Guard Medevacs 67-year-old fishing vessel Captain from Matagorda Bay, Texas
The Coast Guard medevaced an injured man from Matagorda Bay, Texas, Thursday. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received notification at 4:17 p.m. from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office that the 67-year-old captain of the commercial fishing vessel F/V Master Ricky had reportedly been struck in the head by rigging block while working gear and was intermittently unconscious. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medevac. >click to read < 21:40
Mass DMF Conch Stock Assess Used by Wilcox Thesis Questioned
After a close review of three separate research papers on Channeled Conch in MA waters, conducted over two years, it has been determined by former SMAST faculty that the methods to determine conch are overfished are not reliable and could not conclusively be used to make such a scientific determination. According to the official stock assessment survey document “only 2 conch per one million were captured in the survey” using a fish net with three inch cookies in the bottom rope. >click to read< 14:18
Nova Scotia shrimp trawler returning to port after ice encounter in Labrador Sea
A Mersey Seafoods shrimp trawler headed back toward its Nova Scotia base Thursday after suffering ice damage while fishing off the coast of Labrador earlier this week. The bow of the 70-metre Mersey Phoenix struck ice. It caused a small crack that led to a small amount of water leaking into the ship. Mersey Seafoods CEO Greg Simpson said the vessel, with a crew of 30 on board, is not in any danger. >click to read< 13:21
America’s biggest scallopers want changes to regulations preventing consolidation
“The bottom line is this proposal is about global control, from the switch to the fish to the dish,” said Alan Cass, a former New Bedford scalloper who began his career as a deckhand and retired as a boat owner. “The resource will be at the mercy of a consolidated effort by these corporations to control ocean-to-table and economically injure the small entities in this industry.” For nearly 30 years, scallopers like Cass and his son, who followed him into the industry, have gone to sea under a set of regulations that limit both the amount of scallops that can be harvested each year and the share of that harvest that belongs to the industry’s biggest players. Roy Enoksen, the president of Eastern Fisheries and a co-owner of the nation’s largest scallop fleet, said leasing would allow him to stack scallop allocations onto more efficient vessels and save on maintenance costs. >click to read< 13:10
Safetytech Accelerator collaborates with FISH Safety Foundation to explore safety technology in fishing
Safetytech Accelerator has collaborated with FISH Safety Foundation to explore how technologies can improve the safety of the fishing industry. Fishing is one of the world’s most dangerous professions. New research by the FISH Safety Foundation suggests fisher mortality rates are significantly higher than the earlier estimates of 24,000 per year, on top of which we can assume a far higher rate of injuries. FISH Safety Foundation is focused on helping countries and organisations with training and advisory services, as well as assistance with the practical application of systems, legislative requirements and guidelines. >click to read< 10:57
New Zealand: Rollout of camera monitoring on commercial fishing vessels confirmed
Up to 300 inshore fishing vessels will be fitted with the technology by the end of 2024, providing independent, accurate information about fishing activity and better evidence for decision-making,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker said. “It will be supported by cutting-edge artificial intelligence software that will help put New Zealand at the forefront of camera monitoring technology. The introduction of on-board cameras is a key component of the Government’s fisheries reforms. It follows the 2019 roll out of cameras on vessels operating in core Māui dolphin habitat, and builds on work initiated in 2017 by the then-Minister, Nathan Guy. >click to read< 10:25
Fishing Vessel Capsized off Race Point; Four Crew Members Rescued
Noah Santos and Malcolm Hunter were working on the docks at Flyer’s Boat Rentals on Tuesday, May 17 when the mayday call dropped around 10:10 a.m. A lobster boat had capsized off Race Point, and a crew of four needed help. The Coast Guard plane circled overhead, and the pair of tow boats zeroed in on the four crewmen: Capt. Glenn Rorro, Chris Gibson, Giacomo Luke, and Braden Wilson. That day, as the F/V Angela & Mary III took on water, the life raft refused to cooperate, said Rorro. It had failed to inflate automatically, and, to make matters worse, it wasn’t tied on properly. Untethered, the raft drifted away from the boat. But Luke jumped into the 49-degree water — without his survival suit. >click to read< 09:34
The U.S. Has Spent More Than $2 Billion on a Plan to Save Salmon – The Fish Are Vanishing Anyway.
The Carson National Fish Hatchery was among the first hatcheries funded by Congress over 80 years ago to be part of the salvation of salmon, facilities created specifically to replace the vast numbers of wild salmon killed by the building of dozens of hydroelectric dams along the Northwest’s mightiest river, the Columbia. Tucked beside a river in the woods about 60 miles northeast of Portland, Carson has 50 tanks and ponds surrounded by chain-link fencing. They sit among wood-frame fish nursery buildings and a half-dozen cottages built for hatchery workers in the 1930s. Today, there are hundreds of hatcheries in the Northwest run by federal, state and tribal governments, employing thousands and welcoming the community with visitor centers and gift shops. The fish they send to the Pacific Ocean have allowed restaurants and grocery seafood counters to offer “wild-caught” Chinook salmon even as the fish became endangered. photos, >click to read< 16:58
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 76′ Seiner/RSW Carrier
To review specifications, information, and 45 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 09:55
Mitchell warns of ‘potentially consequential’ impacts if leasing is approved
Mayor Jon Mitchell is “deeply concerned”,,, “There is no denying that there will be costs and impacts associated with the leasing program,” Mitchell wrote. “The playing field will be tilted on day one, perhaps irrevocably so, and the transformation of the scallop fishery from a ‘community fishery’ to a ‘corporate fishery’ may become all but inevitable.” The Scallopers Campaign, the lobbying effort behind the leasing proposal, commissioned a study in 2021 by Alaska-based consulting firm Northern Economics, which concluded leasing could collectively reduce annual costs for vessel owners by about $12 million. Listen to the video. >Click to read< 08:55
Troubled waters: the forces behind the death of the Tees
The Tees Estuary is dying. Its demise the result of widespread contamination on the one hand, and a wilful mishandling of information on the other. There was mass crustacean die-off in September/October 2021, and there has been a resurgence of this in recent weeks. We have also received numerous reports of deaths of seal pups as well as porpoise. Those seal pups that have survived are seriously underweight. Dead crab and lobster have been washing up on beaches again. Razor clams that inhabit the shallow waters of estuary beaches are also reported to be affected. And the official response to these sobering facts currently appears to be a mixture of indifference, belligerence and denial. >click to read< 08:11
Commercial Fisherman Michael Alan Doyle of Wakefield, R.I. has passed away
Michael Alan Doyle, 64, of Wakefield, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, May 22, 2022 surrounded by his adoring family. Mike loved and respected the ocean with a deep passion. He started lobstering as an early teenager and began fishing commercially soon after. Mike was the proud owner of the F/V Seafarer and the F/V Charlie’s Pride for over 30 years, leaving behind his friend and Captain Scott Smith. His family knows he is happy to be reunited with his best friend and Captain Charlie Niles. Mike Doyle was the salt of the Earth. He was a kindhearted, loyal, and selfless man. He built a longer table instead of a higher fence. There was always room for everyone at Mike’s table and in his enormous heart. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mike’s name to the Point Judith Fisherman’s Scholarship Fund: PO Box 386, Narragansett, RI, 02882. >click to read< 07:30
Commercial fishing deaths in Canada hit 20-year high
Despite improvements in safety training and awareness, commercial fishing remains one of the most dangerous professions in Canada. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports that 45 workers died between 2018 and 2020, the highest three-year total in 20 years. And fishing safety has been on the board’s watchlist of important safety matters since 2010. But fishing fatalities are preventable. The Transportation Safety Board also reports that 29 workers died between 2015 and 2021 after their boats capsized or sank without personal floatation devices or distress-alerting devices. “You’ve got to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, and that’s where we see that they’re not prepared,” said Glenn Budden. >click to read< 19:03
NOAA Announces Closure of the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area
NOAA Fisheries is closing the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to all federally permitted limited access general category scallop vessels effective 0001, on May 26, 2022. As of May 26, 2022, no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area. The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100 percent of the 2022 default total allowable catch for this area will be taken. The closure will be in effect until the end of the fishing year, March 31, 2023. To continue, >click to read< 17:52
Local trawler has given his life to seafood industry, says it’s vital to protect our heritage
Next year will mark 50 years that David Dardar has been in the seafood industry, dating back to when he got his first boat as a teenager. The number of captains on the water may be fewer now than when Dardar got his start, but he said it’s vital that we do whatever it takes to keep our Cajun heritage alive. Dardar is captain of the F/V Risky Business, the boat he uses to harvest seafood from the Gulf each trawling season. Dardar said the industry is shrinking, but that it’s vital that it stays alive to protect the Cajun heritage that we all know and love. photos, >click to read< 16:38 Louisiana
After boatyard plan falls through, assembly to reconsider haulout options
Sitka is without a working boat haulout, following the closure of the facility that served most of the fishing fleet at Halibut Point Marine. Last summer, the Sitka Assembly began working with the Sitka Community Boat Yard to develop a haulout at the Park. The group secured a lease with the city in July of 2021, but the plan has since fallen through. At an assembly meeting in early May (5-10-22), Linda Behnken, who was leading the boat yard project with a coalition of local fishermen said they’d been ready for liftoff when the cost of construction jumped. “We did, before we responded to the RFP, have sufficient funds to build a boatyard at GPIP,” Behnken said. “Then cost increased, almost doubled, on us. >click to read < 16:00
Search net widens for owner of San Rosa as boat’s history emerges
Authorities are struggling to contact the owners of a shipwrecked boat almost six weeks after the vessel got into difficulty in rough seas off the East Coast. On April 9, the crew of ex-fishing trawler San Rosa sent out a mayday about 10 nautical miles off Tokomaru Bay, after encountering four-metre swells en route to Marlborough. The boat’s three crew members, plus a dog, were winched to safety by helicopter. San Rosa then drifted unattended 
for six days before beaching on April 15 at a remote section of beach near Tikitiki, two hours north of Gisborne. Thirty-five days later, Gisborne District Council harbourmaster Peter Buell says he still hasn’t been able to reach the owners, despite numerous attempts. “We’re trying every way we can to get in touch with this guy. But no response so far, and I doubt we’ll get any,” Buell said. >click to read< 15:23
Minister Fails to Address Lack of Competition in Seafood Processing
St. JOHN’S, NL – Minister of Fisheries Derrick Bragg announced his decision on important recommendations from the Fish Processing Licensing Board this morning, rejecting numerous recommendations to issue new crab processing licenses and compounding frustrations felt by fish harvesters and communities who have lost out on millions of dollars in potential income this fishing season. A Minister rejecting the Board’s recommendations is both unprecedented and unjustified, as the purpose of the Board is to make unbiased recommendations to protect and benefit the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador. A new crab processing license in St. Mary’s Bay is welcomed news to the region and is an important first step in addressing issues in the province’s snow crab industry. However,,, >click to read< 12:48
SEA-NL on increase in snow crab processing capacity
“More competition in the processing sector should mean more opportunity for inshore boats to land crab quotas faster, with less expense, and safer for all hands,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. The province’s Fish Processing Licensing Board today approved two of four applications for fish processing licenses — including a new primary processing license for groundfish, whelk, and snow crab (2.5 million/lbs) for St. Mary’s Bay Fisheries Ltd., and doubling the amount of crab Dandy Dan’s Fish Market of Argentia can purchase to two million pounds per year. >click to read< 11:29
‘The spot is beautiful’: Chief William Saulis crew remembered with memorial
Lori Phillips was at a loss. She didn’t want to go to just any random cemetery and place a headstone with her son Aaron’s name on it. She would have no relationship to that spot, she says. It would just be a stone on a piece of land. Her son, Aaron Cogswell, was one of six fishermen who lost their lives in the Dec. 15, 2020, sinking of the Chief William Saulis scallop dragger. The others were Charles Roberts, Daniel Forbes, Michael Drake, Eugene Francis, and Leonard Gabriel. Phillips needed a place for her and others to remember the crew. >click to read< 09:01
Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office continues search for fuel theft suspects
The Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Department thinks high fuel costs may have motivated someone to siphon gas from a commercial fishing operation last week. On Thursday, a gas spill occurred on the eastern shore of Lac La Belle. Deputies from the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene. “When we got there we discovered approximately 20 to 30 gallons of fuel had spilled into Lac La Belle,” Keweenaw County Sheriff Curt Pennala said. Pennala said suspects snipped the fuel lines of a mostly empty 275-gallon fuel tank attached to a parked commercial fishing boat. According to Pennala, they managed to escape from the scene with some fuel, while the rest leaked into the lake. Pennala said he suspects a potential motive may be related to continued high gas prices. >click to read< 21:41 stolen fuel
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 23, 2022
Fisheries commission meeting set for Thursday, Friday in Beaufort – >click to read<
Fishing leader fires challenge to Extinction Rebellion – learn about what we do
Protest spokesman Edward Funnell said: “No-one’s ever protested against industrial fishing before in Brixham. In fact, it might be the first time this long-overdue discussion about the damage from industrial fishing has ever been held in a UK fishing port. If the effects of beam trawling, bottom trawling and dredging were visible on land they would have been banned years ago.” But the boss of the Brixham Fish Market says the protesters have got the wrong end of the stick, and he invited them to a meeting to debate the issues. Managing director Barry Young said: “It would be great if they would come and sit with us and learn about what we do. Wild photos! > click to read < 15:37
EPIRBs: Emergency radio beacons coming for small fishing vessels in southern Labrador
The Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company is outfitting dozens of vessels between Cartwright and L’Anse au Clair that are under 40 feet and harvesting for them. The move comes less than a year after two fishermen died near Mary’s Harbour and shortly following a Transportation Safety Board report into the loss of the FV Sarah Anne in Placentia Bay. The devices transmit signals to a satellite, which alerts search and rescue services in case of an emergency at sea and allows them to pinpoint the beacon’s location. Linstead said the company’s board brought the idea forward after the fishermen were concerned about recent accidents. > click to read < 13:48
Ocean City not relenting in battle against offshore wind farm
Ocean City is not giving up its fight against a proposed offshore wind energy farm seeking state permission to run an underground transmission line through town to connect with the land-based power grid, Mayor Jay Gillian told local residents Saturday. “We still have a long way to go with this,” City Council President Bob Barr said he is beginning to sense that the project’s developer, the Danish energy company Orsted, may be growing concerned about the money it will ultimately have to spend to build the wind farm. “Right now, they’re burning through money like it’s nobody’s business,” Barr said of Orsted. “Eventually, they’re going to have to fish or cut bait on this.” Barr also said that Orsted does not want to have to spend a lot of time bringing the project online. He suggested that the longer Orsted has to wait, the more it may have second thoughts about developing the project. > click to read < 13:27
Gulf commercial fishermen file lawsuit over new red grouper quotas
The federal government will soon impose new limits on the amount of red grouper that commercial fishers can catch in the Gulf of Mexico and local business owners say that will impact the industry and their customers. “It will definitely cost you more today. And will probably cost you more tomorrow because there’ll be less allocation,” said Frank Chivas. Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fishing Company in Cortez agrees that the price for grouper is likely to rise. Bell has signed on to a federal lawsuit challenging the reallocation of the red grouper harvest. > click to read < 09:49
Alewives show strong start to season
Jim Wotton and his crew of 10 prepare the day of fishing by ziplining hundreds of crates from the cliffside onto the jagged rocks below the Sebasticook River Dam in Benton, Maine. “We come up here every day at 9 or 10 in the morning, we get ready for the day, make our orders. The amount we catch is based on what we need for the day,” Sunday is range of orders, according to Wotton. He said some of the fish they catch today will go to Canada, while others head to Maine’s many coastal communities. He is talking about alewives. > click to read < 08:37
The Lost Japanese Fishing Community from San Pedro
Beginning in the early 1940s, 3,000 first and second-generation Japanese made their homes in an area of Terminal Island known as East San Pedro. The Japanese Fishing Village was next to Fish Harbor, and many of the locals worked in the fishing industry. When a dozen Japanese fishermen settled on Terminal Island at the turn of the twentieth century, it was still a rural stretch of land with around 200 homes. Originally known as Rattlesnake Island due to the snakes that would gather after torrential storms, it had recently been renamed after its new owner, the Los Angeles Terminal Railway. Approximately 250 fishing boats were owned and operated by the residents. Most of the local people, not working on the boats, worked in the many fish canneries clustered together on Terminal Island. >click to read < 17:26
