Daily Archives: November 18, 2022
New Bedford Fishermen Hand out 50 Turkeys to Families in Need
If you ask me what my favorite time of year is, I’ll gladly tell you it’s Thanksgiving without hesitation. Surprisingly it has nothing to do with the food and everything to do with paying it forward. That’s precisely what three local fishermen did. On the evening of Thursday, November 17th around 5:15 PM, a few crew members from the F/V E.S.S. Pursuit posted up by the docks with a truckbed full of frozen turkeys. They had just left the Kings Highway Stop & Shop in New Bedford with 50 frozen turkeys they had purchased with their hard-earned money. The plan was to give to any family in need of a turkey this year, the motif was the urge to pay it forward. Leading the charge was New Bedford native Ryun Coleman alongside his crew members Taylor Newton and Robert Pina. Together they pitched in so 50 families can have a Thanksgiving they’ll never forget. >click to read< 18:20
Conch is Big Business but Still a Mystery
On a blustery November day, in choppy waters somewhere off the western shore of the Island, Capt. Otto Osmers winched in his first conch pot of the day. It was a disappointing haul: only one conch was a keeper. “They’re such a weird animal,” said Mr. Osmers. “You’d think that, since they’re just a snail, they’d be easier to figure out.” At 22, Mr. Osmers is one of the youngest captains on Island, having saved up his teenage shellfishing earnings to purchase his uncle Tom Osmers’s old boat, A. D. Thor. When the weather is good during the active spring and fall conch season, he might spend all day on the water, pulling up conch pots, sorting out catches and refilling the mesh bait bags with chunks of horseshoe crab and herring. >click to read< 15:47
N.L. asks federal government for ‘immediate’ improvements to Labrador search and rescue
Labrador Affairs Minister Lisa Dempster said Friday the statement was about following up on the 17 recommendations made by the provincial public inquiry into ground search and rescue operations, in its report released in November 2021. “This statement is applying pressure for the federal government to come forward and address some of the gaps that were identified in the inquiry that was just finished,” Dempster said. “We have around 9,000 kilometres of coastline on the island, for example, and we have more than 17,000 kilometres of coastline around Labrador and we have no resources based in Labrador.” >click to read< 14:09
Maine Lobstermen’s Association Statement on Recent Court Decision
On November 17, Judge James Boasberg issued a remedy order in the lawsuit, Center for Biological Diversity v. Raimondo. Following is a statement from Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “While the Court’s decision offers lobstermen some hope, it by no means resolves the issues facing our industry. We appreciate that the Judge recognizes the need to avoid massive disruption of the fishery, but the simple truth is lobstermen are still mandated to achieve a 90% risk reduction in 2 years which cannot happen without causing significant harm to the fishery. Please >click here to read the press release< 10:12
Alaska, Washington senators team up to seek disaster declaration for closed crab harvests
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington sent the request to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The senators asked the secretary to act “as quickly as possible” to invoke the disaster declaration provision of the primary law governing marine fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. “Many of these fishermen and businesses hail from both Alaska and Washington, and the impacts of these fishery disasters extend far beyond our states to consumers across the United States and the world,” the senators’ letter said. The State of Alaska puts the estimated loss of ex-vessel value – the amount paid directly to fishers for their catches – at $287.7 million,,, >click to read< 09:16
Lobster industry leaders vow to continue fight to protect Maine’s iconic fishery
Maine lobster industry officials told business leaders Thursday that they will continue to fight what they see as unfair and unnecessary federal rules meant to protect endangered right whales. “We are well over a $2 billion industry to the state primarily operating in communities without other job prospects,” Patrice McCarron, head of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said. “It cannot be overstated.” Lobsterman Curt Brown, who is also a marine biologist, said the industry has been taking steps to protect the whales since the 1990s, including replacing floating ropes, using weak links so ropes break more easily and removing 30,000 miles of rope from the Gulf of Maine. >click to read< 07:34
Hull’s once mighty deep-sea fleet down to one, as MP says Tories have ‘betrayed’ fishing industry
One of the two remaining Hull-based deep-sea trawlers will retire before the end of the year, as a city MP said the Government had “betrayed” the fishing industry over distant-water quotas in the wake of Brexit. The Farnella is owned by UK Fisheries, which also operates the supertrawler Kirkella. The company said a dozen “skilled and loyal” crew members were set to lose their jobs and it was working to find them other roles in the industry. “This is a sad day for us,” said Jane Sandell, the company’s chief executive. “The UK’s failure to negotiate adequate quotas for us in our traditional grounds in the northern external waters has led to this difficult decision.” Video, >click to read< 06:46
