Daily Archives: October 12, 2022

Lobstermen to state: ‘Step up’ and sue feds over gear, fishing restrictions

Stonington lobsterman Dwight Staples’ 37-foot lobster boat provides the essentials for 10 people. “This year has been different for me and maybe it has for you as well,” he told a large crowd in Portland Wednesday. “This year it seems so much I have to get up and fight to go to work. With all these restrictions, regulations coming down the pike, it seems as though we’ve had to get up and fight each and every day.” Staples addressed hundreds at a rally organized by the Maine Lobstering Union to oppose federal regulations on lobster gear and restrictions on fishing areas designed to protect endangered right whales. Union Director Virginia Olsen and others who are fighting the new federal regulations called on Attorney General Aaron Frey Wednesday to file suit against the federal government, rather than serve as an intervenor. >click to read< 17:25

Feds tight-lipped on seal summit in Newfoundland

Five months after Canada’s Fisheries and Oceans minister Joyce Murray responded to the Atlantic Seal Science Task Team (ASSTT) report by saying she would hold a summit on seals there are few details about the event, other than the dates. The summit is being held in St. John’s, N.L., Nov. 8 and 9. So far there’s no word on the location of the summit, the lineup of speakers or panelists, or an agenda for the two days. A Sept. 23 release from the minister’s office offers very little information. That worries Bob Hardy, who was a member of the ASSTT. His main concern is that DFO appears to have organized the summit with little if any input from industry or stakeholders. >click to read< 15:53

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 50′ Duffy Stern Trawler, 350HP Detroit 8V92

To review specifications, information, and 16 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:53

Mills Directs DMR to Push for Expedited Appeal of Court Decision Hurting Maine’s Vital Lobster Industry

Governor Janet Mills directed the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to file a motion to expedite the appeal of a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Maine Lobstermen’s Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service. The Mills Administration has partnered with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association in Maine Lobstermen’s Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service to assert that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Biological Opinion, released in May 2021, is unlawful. The State and MLA argue that NMFS acted arbitrarily by failing to rely on the best available scientific information and by failing to account for the positive impact of costly conservation measures already adopted by the Maine lobster fishery. In its September 8, 2022 opinion, the U.S. District Court sided with NMFS against Maine lobstermen. >click to read< 11:06

Scrabster in top three in Scotland as fishing activity outperforms national average

Fishing activity at Scrabster outperformed the national average last year and the port is now in the top three in Scotland, newly released figures have shown. However, while the Caithness harbour has recovered well from the “turbulence and volatility” created by Covid-19, continued growth is likely to be hampered by fuel costs and other challenges. Marine Scotland’s Scottish Fisheries Statistics 2021 give details of fish landings at every port in the country. The harbour is the third most important port/district in Scotland, after Peterhead and Shetland.  >click to read< 09:55

Police chief rescues crew from grounded fishing vessel

Juneau Police Chief Ed Mercer on Friday was out on his boat when he saw something that didn’t look familiar within an area he had been to many times. Mercer happened upon a 60-foot fishing vessel with three people aboard that had run aground on Favorite Reef near Juneau. He said when he first approached the boat it appeared as though no one was still on board. Mercer confirmed there were three adults on board the boat, two men and one woman, all in good health under the circumstances,,, >click to read< 08:18