Daily Archives: June 28, 2022
Panel Decision Opposite of Strong Market Indicators, Harvesters Outraged
Shrimp harvesters across the province are outraged by the result of the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel’s decision to set the minimum price for summer shrimp at just $0.90/lb. The decision to side with ASP’s final offer is entirely unsupported by market realities, which show distinct market improvements in recent months. “The Panel’s decision yesterday is incomprehensible. Taking into consideration the significant increase in operational costs, particularly for fuel, fish harvesters will not come close to breaking even at this insultingly low price,” says FFAW-Unifor Sullivan President Keith Sullivan. “The Panel has absolutely not justified themselves in selecting this price,” he says. >click to read press release< 19:06
Maryland to restrict crabbing, including first-ever limits on harvest of male blue crab
Regulations issued this week, to be in effect from July through December, will limit commercial watermen to at most 15 bushels a day of male crabs in August and September. And the regulations will tighten existing restrictions on how many female crabs watermen can catch. The changes come weeks after an annual survey of Chesapeake blue crabs,,, That state fishery managers moved to limit even the harvest of male crabs demonstrates the gravity of the situation. Limits are typically only imposed on female crabs as a means of ensuring enough of them to survive to spawn, but with a more than 60% decline in the overall estimated blue crab population since 2019, scientists and representatives from the seafood industry are signaling that more protections are needed to help boost crab reproduction. >click to read< 16:02
Retired Commercial Fisherman David A. Jincks of Newport has passed away
David A. Jincks, age 70, passed away on May 24, 2022, after suffering 10 months with Glioblastoma, an aggressive and fast growing form of brain cancer. David was born February 12, 1952 in Eugene, Oregon to Arthur and Flora Jincks. During high school, he spent summers commercial fishing for salmon and tuna. In 1972 he lost his pollywog tail and became a shellback when he crossed the equator aboard the Research Vessel Yaquina. After returning to Newport, David commercial fished from California to the Bering Sea. In 1986 he traveled to the Soviet Union with a delegation of west coast fisherman to continue negotiations for the whiting joint venture. He twice served as a Newport port commissioner, and also served as the president of the MidWater Trawl Cooperative. >click to read< 14:44
America’s scallop harvest projected to decline again in 2022
The decline in scallops is happening as prices for the shellfish, one of the most lucrative seafoods in America, has increased amid inflation and fluctuations in catch. Seafood counters that sold scallops for $20 per pound to customers two years ago often sell them for $25 per pound or more now. U.S. scallop fishers harvested more than 60 million pounds of scallops in 2019, but the catch has declined since, and fishers were projected to harvest about 40 million pounds of scallops in the 2021 fishing year. That number is projected to fall to 34 million pounds in the 2022 fishing year, which started this spring, according to the New England Fishery Management Council. >click to read< 13:48
Casco Bay Concert to Benefit Maine Lobstermen
Third annual event off Chebeague Island will support Maine Lobstermen’s Association #SaveMaineLobstermen campaign – Local lobstermen, fishing families, and supporters will join forces off the shores of Chebeague Island this weekend for the third annual “Concert on Casco Bay.” The event, to be held Sunday, July 3rd from 12:30-4:00 PM, will feature the music of the Chebeague Island-based band, Turd Pollack, a blues-based jam band comprised of fishermen. Jamie Juenemann, of the Old Dusty’s, will also perform. The free concert will be held near the Chebeague Island Boat Yard, and the public is invited to anchor near the southeast side of the island. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s #SaveMaineLobstermen campaign to protect the future of the state’s iconic lobster industry. >click to read the details!< 11:25
How warming ocean temperatures wiped out Maine’s shrimp industry
Since 2014 fishing for northern shrimp has been banned in the United States. The stock in our area has decreased to the point where they are not reproducing. This is not due to overfishing; it is directly due to the temperature of the water. They have simply moved north to colder Canadian waters. Back in 2007, when there was a robust northern shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Maine, scientists were looking for net modifications that would catch shrimp but not have any bycatch of finfish. Since shrimp fisheries throughout the world have some of the highest bycatch of any fishery, this was a priority worldwide. At that time the Northeast Consortium at the University of New Hampshire helped fund research by Dr. Pingguo. He and David Goethel developed a trawl net, named “The Topless Trawl,” that drastically reduced bycatch in the northern shrimp fishery. >click to read< 10:21
Young fishing crews call for urgent government help to tackle rising fuel costs
Fuel is at almost three times the price it was last year, and Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) has warned the whitefish sector is in particular danger of failing. F/V Defiant skipper Robbie Jamieson, 25, said the cost of fuel “has become crippling”. He bought the boat last year with the rest of his shareholder crew, all of whom are under the age of 30. Mr Jamieson said along with the rising cost of fuel, ongoing issues with cod quotas “adds to the problem”. F/V Comrades skipper Ben Irvine, 24, agreed – saying the cost of fuel “has become a real problem” for him and his crew. “As a young crew, we have debts to pay off from purchasing the vessel last year. >click to read< 08:19
Young skippers and crew take over two whitefish trawlers – Skipper Ben Irvine, Owen Dougan, Gordon Smith, Louis Polson, and LHD, have bought the F/V Sedulous from John Wishart. She has been renamed F/V Comrades. Meanwhile., skipper Robbie Jamieson, Richard Whelan, James Shearer, Ross Sutherland, Tom Jamieson, and Magnus Polson, have bought the F/V Defiant from Gordon Irvine. >click to read<
Port of New Bedford Applauds Appointment of Eric Hansen to New England Fishery Management Council
The Port of New Bedford applauds today’s appointment of Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scalloper and president of the Fisheries Survival Fund, to a seat on the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). Hansen’s appointment will help ensure the concerns of New Bedford’s vital fishing community are represented at the Council level. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, chairman of the New Bedford Port Authority, recommended Hansen for the seat in a February letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. >click to read< 07:25
