Monthly Archives: November 2022
A Vision for My Polis
My “Vision for My Polis” is still fresh. Indeed, subsequent studies have revealed that my “Vision for My Polis,” with minor adaptations, would serve many other communities very well. That vision includes recommendations for physical developments that are (mostly) specific to Gloucester. The core of that vision, however, is concerned with social and economic relations that are of widespread interest. The core of that vision is concerned with the rejuvenation of the fishing industry in Gloucester. As current Mayor Greg Verga is fond of pointing out: The fishing industry is not dead, it is changing. This transformation would become more evident if we were to create a corporation to be named perhaps Gloucester Fish Inc. in accordance with principles of functional integration enunciated in “Fisheries Renewal: A Renewal of the Soul of Business.” >click to read< By Carmine Gorga, PhD 15:35
Sunk Trawler Brought Back to Life
Red Chamber Argentina (RCA) has just completed an important stage of its fleet renewal program and relaunched freezer trawler Promarsa I, which was entirely rebuilt after lying idle for more than ten years. That is one of seven vessels previously owned by Alpesca, once a major fishing company in Argentina that ended up going bankrupt. Since 2015, RCA has been investing in the assets of that company and presented a plan to the local authorities that included the complete renovation of such vessels, many of them partially sunk and almost beyond recovery. Photos, Video, >click to read< 13:05
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 40′ Fiberglass Webbers Cove Stern Trawler
To review specifications, information, and 41 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:14
Washington: State won’t renew leases for Puget Sound fish farms
No more Cooke Aquaculture fish farms in Puget Sound. That’s the message the state Department of Natural Resources delivered Monday morning when the agency decided not to renew the last of the fish-farming company’s leases on net pens here. The company’s last net pens in Puget Sound are located in Rich Passage near Bainbridge Island and Hope Island in Skagit Bay. Cooke has until Dec. 14 to wrap up steelhead farming and begin deconstructing their equipment, according to DNR officials. According to letters sent from DNR to the company Monday, Cooke had a history of failing to comply with the provisions outlined in agreements. >click to read< 10:07
Déjà vu for NL Fish Harvesters: DFO Science Falls Short on Surveys, Again
Fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador are expressing their concern and dismay after DFO Science communicated yesterday evening that the Fall multi-species survey will once again be incomplete this year. Underfunding coupled with dilapidated survey vessels means the multi-species surveys conducted by DFO falling short of capturing meaningful, up-to-date data on key commercial species such as Atlantic cod and snow crab. “When there is limited up-to-date data available, DFO is unable to make informed decisions about resource management. This has profound implications for fish harvesters and their livelihoods when decisions are being made to delay fisheries development,” says FFAW-Unifor President Keith Sullivan. >click to read< 09:26
Jerry Leeman – A supply line disruption
Allow me to explain what is about to happen. We are fishing on false assumptions that there are no white hake. If you are a fisherman, I’m sure you can tell that is untrue. Regardless of the price of fuel rising and this hake quota brought to us by NOAA and NMFS. It’s become a supply line disruption. The infrastructure needs a steady supply of fish to keep steady markets open. Here lies the problem. Fishermen are going out of their way to avoid a specie that live in the same habitat as other species. So, for the sake of the hake restriction, they are avoiding those areas. So that means the supply line is cut for the other species. Which means cutting houses and fish markets are paying for folks to sit idle. No supply no product no income. So, they have to lay off folks. Please read the rest. >click to read< By Jerry Leeman 08:40
Panel to investigate crab and lobster deaths on north-east coast of England
The UK government is to set up an independent expert panel to investigate the cause of the mass die-offs of crabs and lobsters on the north-east coast of England, it has announced. The panel will consider the impact of dredging around a freeport development in Teesside and the presence of pyridine, a chemical pollutant, among other potential causes, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said. Mark Spencer, the fisheries minister, said on Tuesday: “I recognise fishing communities in the north-east want as thorough an assessment as possible into the crab and lobster deaths last year. >click to read< 07:35
The Great Lakes-Iceland connection through the 100% Whitefish effort
While Great Lakes fish populations are constantly in a state of flux, one species has declined precipitously in the last decade: lake whitefish. But Great Lakes leaders and fisheries managers are looking ahead in planning to do more with less. And in the case of whitefish, a lot more. The search for a way to preserve an industry with a shrinking natural resource brought the Iceland Ocean Cluster (IOC) into focus. IOC was founded by Thor Sigfusson in 2012 with a dozen companies on-site. There are now 70. So, what is it? And could it work as a model for the Great Lakes’ new whitefish initiative? >click to read< 17:09
Fisheries commission to decide controversial amendments for striped bass, striped mullet plans
With the N.C. Marine Fisheries set to decide on two hotly debated fisheries management plan amendments – striped bass and striped mullet – later this week, the N.C. Fisheries Association has been urging its members to show up for the Emerald Isle meeting and weigh in. The estuarine striped bass amendment is set to be voted on during a session Thursday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m., while the striped mullet vote is scheduled during a session that begins at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18. Glenn Skinner, N.C. Fisheries Association urged the organization’s members to contact marine fisheries commissioners and attend the meeting to comment. >click to read< 15:08
Louisiana fisherfolk fear Air Products’ Lake Maurepas carbon capture scheme
In October 2021, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) announced that Air Products, a Fortune 500 chemical company based in Pennsylvania, would develop a so-called “clean” energy complex in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, by 2026. The $4.5 billion project calls for construction of a plant to convert natural gas to hydrogen and capture the resulting carbon dioxide. I recently spent time with commercial fishermen working on Lake Maurepas, individuals with generations-deep connections to the water. To understand their concerns, I asked them this question: “What are your fears about the proposed blue hydrogen facility that would attempt to sequester carbon more than a mile below Lake Maurepas?” This is what they told me. >click to read< 09:46
Wind Farm Public Hearing Draws Passionate Statements
Residents of Ocean City overwhelmingly opposed an offshore wind energy farm during a virtual public hearing Monday night that also included strong support for the project from environmental and labor groups. “I speak for Protect Our Coast NJ,” Ocean City resident Suzanne Hornick said in public comments at Monday’s virtual hearing. “We don’t want this in any way, shape or form. This should be a question and answer. We should be able to ask questions.” The original format for the hearing was to be a question-and-answer session, but Orsted did not respond to comments or questions posed by the public Monday. Instead, Orsted representatives said the company will respond in writing after the end of the public comment period for the project on Nov. 28. Critics angrily accused Orsted of running a “sham” hearing. >click to read< 09:02
Maine House Republicans choose lobsterman as next minority leader
Republican lawmakers chose a Winter Harbor lobsterman and a New Gloucester business owner as their new leaders in the Maine House of Representatives during a caucus at the State House Monday. Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, known as an outspoken advocate for the lobster industry, was chosen as minority leader. Rep. Amy Arata, who serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee, was chosen as assistant minority leader. The pair will assume leadership after a disappointing election for Maine Republicans. While the party was expected to pick up seats in the Legislature, Democrats held their majority in the Senate and actually added to it in the House. >click to read< 07:45
Susan West, 73, remembered as longtime voice of NC fishers has passed away
Susan West, a longtime advocate for the Hatteras Island fishing community and a writer who helped foster improved communications and respect between regulators and fishermen, died last week at age 73. “She made sure that Hatteras and those small fishing communities were never left out of the conversation,”, As a young transplant to the Outer Banks from Baltimore, the course of West’s life was set after meeting Rob West, a surfer from Long Island, when they worked together at a Hatteras restaurant in the 1970s. After they married, Rob became a commercial fisherman. In the early 1990s, as tensions started rising around commercial fishing, Susan decided to organize a local women’s auxiliary group to the North Carolina Fisheries Association. >click to read< 07:00
Cohassett Commercial Fishing Fleet: ‘The Cornerstone of Cohassett Harbor and the Cohassett Community’
Since the days of the Algonquin people living on the shores of Quonahassit, Cohasset Harbor has been the center of commerce, culture, and recreation for the entire community. Fishing and ship building were the primary industry in the 18th century when eight vessels moored in the harbor. In 1851, there were 44 vessels and 561 men and boys employed in the mackerel business. It was during this period that a new nation of people became introduced into this New England community. It was the Portuguese from the Azores, or Western Isles. >click to read< By Timothy Davis 17:51
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for November 14, 2022
November 2022 NC Marine Fisheries Commision Meeting – The MFC meeting is being held in Emerald Isle, NC November 16th-18th at the Islander Hotel (102 Islander Dr, Emerald Isle, NC 28594). The 2022 election is now history and it’s time to begin updating the contact information for the US Senate & House and the North Carolina General Assembly. >click to read the meeting agenda, and the update< 14:44
Menhaden Harvest Increase Approved as Anglers Petition to Close Bay Fishery
East Coast fishery managers have approved increasing commercial harvests of Atlantic menhaden from Maine to Florida. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which regulates near-shore harvests of migratory fish, voted Wednesday to set a new ceiling on the coastwide menhaden catch of 233,550 metric tons, a 20 percent increase over the current quota. The longstanding cap on harvest in the Chesapeake Bay remains unchanged, at 51,000 metric tons. But conservationists and sports anglers continue to worry about the impact to the Bay from large-scale fishing of menhaden near its mouth. >click to read< 13:54
Small Modular Reaction: Europe’s Wind & Solar Disaster Paves Way For New Nuclear Age
Europe’s energy disaster proves, beyond doubt, that wind and solar are an abject failure, leaving the way clear for nuclear power and any other power generation source that can dish it up, on demand. With numerous operators seeking or obtaining licences to build Small Modular Reactors, and numerous countries signing up to have them, SMRs are here to stay. Nuclear power is safe, affordable, reliable and the perfect antidote to arguments about human-generated carbon dioxide gas posing a threat to life on Earth – because it doesn’t generate any, while generating power on demand, irrespective of the weather, unlike inherently unreliable wind and solar. >click to read< 11:58
Belgian fishing industry flounders
Between May and June this year, the Belgian fishing industry saw a drop in seasonal catches. In June, just 675 tonnes of fish was landed by Belgian vessels and sold in Belgian ports, according to data published by Statbel, the Belgian statistics agency. This fall has been partially blamed on the rising cost of fuel and expenses. According to forecasts from the National Bank of Belgium, the fishing industry is set to be one of the biggest losers of the year. With fuel prices accounting for around 38% of inputs for the industry, the sector could finish with big losses. >click to read< 10:11
Podcast: The mystery of Teesside’s dead crabs
In the autumn of 2021, the beaches of Teesside, in north-east England, were transformed. Along the sands lay hundreds of thousands of dead and dying crabs and lobsters. It was, in the words of a parliamentary committee, a “disaster” that had had a “profound effect”. Fishers who had relied on the catches in the cold North Sea waters suddenly saw their livelihoods drop off a cliff. Many could not believe what they were seeing. They wanted answers. Podcast, >click to listen/read< 09:14
A Tribute to the Coast Guard
The F/V Atlantic Destiny, a 143-foot offshore scallop trawler, was 130 nautical miles south of Nova Scotia in March of 2021 when fire broke out on board. As a Mayday call went out just after 7 p.m., 30-knot winds and freezing spray made conditions unforgiving. Even after the fire was out, the vessel was in grave danger. It had lost power while adrift in 15-foot seas and was taking on water. The 31 crew members on the ship were at the mercy of the violent ocean. In Halifax, the Joint Rescue Coordination Center immediately sent help. Fortunately, Canadian forces had some back up: the U.S. Coast Guard. >click to read< 08:31
Each summer, this couple fishes in Alaska and they bring thousands of pounds of salmon back with them to Colorado
In 2020, Hayden Linscheid and Jaymi Bethea founded their company, Savor the Wild, after working on commercial fishing boats around Alaska for years. Both Bethea and Linscheid grew up on Kodiak Island in Alaska before moving to Colorado. Linscheid grew up fishing with his family and Bethea worked on crabbing boats to pay off student loans. Together, they have decades of fishing experience. Bethea said starting the business made sense after they heard raving reviews from friends and family about the salmon they brought back to Colorado each year. “After sharing our fish every year, talking about our fish … we figured, ‘I think we can make a business out of this,’” Photos, >click to read< 07:34
Coast Guard medevacs man from commercial fishing vessel offshore Buras, Louisiana
The Coast Guard medevaced a 55 year-old-male crewmember from a commercial fishing vessel 11 miles south of Buras, Louisiana, Saturday. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a call at 8:35 p.m. from the commercial fishing vessel F/V Fatima Rose that a crewman was having trouble breathing. Sector New Orleans watchstanders coordinated the launch of Coast Guard Station Venice boatcrew to medevac the boater. >click to read< 18:04
Is Juneau running out of diesel?
Juneau, Alaska is one of two capitals that is only accessible by water or air (the other is Honolulu, Hawaii. Like New England, almost every home in Juneau is heated by diesel oil. This small city of 30,000 souls has two rather large tank farms that store millions of gallons of fuel barged up from Seattle. Diesel is the lifeblood of Juneau. It has three harbors packed with fishing vessels that run on diesel. Two mines outside the city use diesel. The city’s backup power generators run on diesel. If this town ran out of diesel, it would be an economic catastrophe if not a humanitarian crisis. Some buildings only use diesel heat. If heat was shut down, the water supply would also have to be shut down (frozen lines). It would mean the closure of schools and, possibly, health facilities. So, the first step is to see if there is data on Alaska’s inventory. Video, >click to read< 10:56
Fishing vessel sinks off Lizard Point
A fishing vessel sank off the coast of Lizard Point yesterday (Saturday, October 12) – and two people had to be rescued. On social media, the Lizard Lifeboat reported the request to launch was called-in at 12:33PM after hearing distress calls from the “Crig A Tana” fishing boat. At the scene, there was no sign of the stricken “Crig A Tana” vessel, but the crew were safe, despite having been forced to abandon the vessel after it started to suddenly sink. The two people who were rescued are also members of the lifeboat crew themselves. >click to read< 08:45
Crayfisherman looks back on life and death at sea on Tasmania’s rugged west coast
Sitting on the deck of the Erin K in peaceful Mill Bay, David “Charlie” Kiely remembers that his mum didn’t want him to be a fisherman on the west coast of Tasmania. Forty years after he began, Mr Kiely is now retiring from crayfishing on one of the wildest and most dangerous coastlines in the world. He has lost friends and fellow fishermen to the ferocious mood swings of the Southern Ocean. But he has also experienced raw, powerful nature and wildly beautiful coastlines that few others ever see. On balance, he wouldn’t change a thing. Photos, Video, >click to read< 07:21
Turning a Profit During Tough Times
Despite very high fuel prices, it’s possible to trawl for shrimp and make a profit, according to Agnar Langtveit. 2022 has been an exceptionally tough year, but he’s managed to run the 42-year-old Astrid Ann at a modest profit. ‘The problem for many trawlers is the combination of high fuel costs and heavy debts. I am fortunate in not having any big debts. I could choose to build a new vessel, but then I’d have to buy more quota. So as long as Astrid Ann is profitable, I don’t see any reason to buy a new boat,’ he said. On the other hand, older trawlers come with higher maintenance costs and older engines bur more fuel. Fishing between 200 and 500 metres, Astrid Ann needs reliable towing power, so last year a new 1044hp CAT 3508C main engine was fitted, along with a Mekanord 500 HS gear and a CAT C44 harbour set. Photos, >click to read< 12:47
Draft North Atlantic Right Whale and Offshore Wind Strategy Announced
As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has ramped up offshore wind development to meet the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, the question of how the expansion of offshore wind energy could affect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW) has come under close review. To help address this question and support the recovery of endangered NARW and the responsible development of offshore wind energy, BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) developed a joint Draft North Atlantic Right Whale and Offshore Wind Strategy (the Draft Strategy). >click to read< 11:29
Louisiana shrimper wants more to be done for the dying industry
Congressman Clay Higgins recently announced a $25 million purchase of gulf shrimp to help the struggling Louisiana shrimping industry. Thomas Schouest Jr., has been in the shrimping industry for decades. He said that he thinks this move is a step in the right direction, but, “That is just a drop in the bucket compared to the situation that is going on with the shrimpers. There is a lot more to be done.” Schouest said. Schouest also said that the biggest issue shrimpers are facing are imports from other countries, an issue that he said has been ongoing for years. Video, >click to read< 09:15
Repeated Failures: DFO ship woes hampering East Coast science surveys
DFO has missed multiple surveys as it struggles to bring new offshore fishery science vessels into service, and aging ships near retirement. Sailing restrictions imposed early in the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the problem, but so too have breakdowns on older ships and part replacements needed on the two new ships stationed on the East Coast. The science surveys are used to assess the health of major fish stocks and are critical in determining quotas for commercial fisheries worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Atlantic Canada. “There’s huge consequences. We want to know what’s going on. We need the data,” said Carey Bonnell, vice-president of sustainability and engagement at St. John’s-based Ocean Choice International, which is a seafood company. >click to read< 08:13
The Massachusetts Christmas Celebration Where You Can Visit with a Lobster Boat Santa
If you think that Santa only travels by a sleigh pulled by reindeer, you may be surprised that he travels a bit differently when he comes to the small seaside town of Marblehead. This year, you can have a unique Santa experience in Massachusetts when you visit the town of Marblehead for its annual Christmas walk. In addition to Santa’s arrival, there will also be a parade, music, tree lightings, and a gingerbread festival, among other festivities. Photos, >click to read< 07:30
