Coast Guard officials say a salvage team is ready to lift the Aleutian Isle off the sea floor near San Juan Island on Saturday. The commercial fishing boat sank nearly five weeks ago while participating in a tribal fishery for sockeye salmon. It left a sheen of diesel fuel two miles long in prime habitat for the region’s endangered orcas. Emergency officials say divers have plugged up the boat’s fuel tanks, but they expect some pockets of diesel will escape as a floating crane hauls the boat more than 200 feet to the surface. >click to read< 07:30
Daily Archives: September 17, 2022
On the Puget Sound, the Women Whose Lives and Work Revolve Around Salmon
In the town of Bellingham, Washington, everyone knows when the salmon run come fall. Shimmery silvers and chum salmon break the chilly water’s surface with their heads, as they move through the Puget Sound and tributary rivers to their spawning grounds. Locals buzz, telling one another when they’ve seen them, admiring the fish on their journey. But for Ellie Kinley, this isn’t just a fall spectacle. She thinks about these fish 365 days a year. There’s a strong and sometimes overlooked community of fishing families here. The Lummi have the largest tribal fishing fleet in the nation, according to Kinley; the port is also home to fishing families, native and non-native alike, who use Bellingham as their home base between fishing trips to Alaska and California. Photos, >click to read< 17:44
Updates to the Lobster Industry from Commissioner Keliher
As I have promised before, I want to make sure you are as informed as possible as the situation around right whales evolves. There have been several developments in the last week, many of which speak to the seriousness of the situation. Maine Lobstermen’s Association V. National Marine Fisheries Service, As you know, DMR is a participant in the lawsuit filed by MLA which asserts that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) erred by failing to rely on the best scientific information,,, >click here to continue< 16:02
Something’s fishy: NOAA urges vigilance after catching fraudulent fishing permit site
NOAA fisheries issued a Notice of fraudulent alert Friday over a website that claimed to process both federal and state fishing permits. It calls itself the Commercial Fishing Permits Center and depending on the permit you want, charges different fees. However, NOAA said the site is in no way affiliated with NOAA or any State. They advise the public to not use the site when applying for a State of federal fishery permit. Links, >click to read< 12:09
Provincial Government Condemns Addition of Snow Crab and Lobster to Seafood Watch ‘Avoid’ List
The Provincial Government has said a decision by the organization Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch that adds snow crab and lobster harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador to the group’s “avoid’ list is unwarranted and irresponsible. The US-based organization recently released an updated seafood rating that placed North American lobster and Canadian snow crab in the ’avoid’ category. Some retailers and consumers in North America and worldwide use these rankings to help make seafood buying decisions. The listing is based on the potential impact for North Atlantic Right Whales to become entangled in fishing gear. >click to read< 10:01
Calls for change continue 1 year after fishermen die off Labrador coast
It’s been one year since fishermen Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins left the wharf in Mary’s Harbour to gather their nets for the last time. The two fishermen died off the southern coast of Labrador on Sept. 17 of last year. Their fishing vessel, the Island Lady, was last seen in the afternoon. No distress calls were received. “It can’t just be an anniversary, briefly. Something more needs to come out of it. No other family should have to grieve like this,” said Niki Greeley, a Lodge Bay resident and Jenkins’s common-law partner. The search on Sept. 17 last year started after Russell’s father noticed his son wasn’t on social media as usual that Friday night. His father called around and found out the boat wasn’t back at the wharf. >click to read< 08:24
