Daily Archives: January 2, 2023
Commercial Fisherman Thurlow Carl “Butch” Brewer of East Boothbay, has passed away
Thurlow Carl “Butch” Brewer of Murray Hill Road, East Boothbay died Dec. 29, 2022 after a short battle with cancer. He was born March 11, 1943 in Damariscotta, son of Carl “Bo” and Carrie Thompson Brewer. He was educated in the local school system, served in the U.S. Navy and spent nearly all of his life as a commercial fisherman. He served as captain on several sardine company purse seiners, including Homes Packing Company’s Ocean Delight, P. Borealis and Wave Guide. In 1978 he had a 56-foot boat built named the Sarah B which was used mostly as a dragger/purse seiner, he later captained the purse seiner Eva Grace. He traveled the coast stop seining for sardines and also spent many winter months based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the more recent years, he was captaining lobster boats Sea Horse and Why Bother. His favorite job was his last to date which was filling in as sternman on his grandson’s boat Papa’s Pride. He had a lifelong passion for tuna fishing and took home trophies in the Boothbay Harbor Tuna Club’s annual competition. >click to read< 18:35
Final Landing by Farnella Ahead of Vessel Sale
Farnella H 135 ended her 22-year career on 11 December, making her final landing into Hanstholm, after which a thank-you breakfast was held for the crew, reports Gaby Bartai. Owner UK Fisheries announced in November that the vessel would cease fishing at the end of the year, as a consequence of the loss of distant-water quota opportunity in successive end-of-year negotiations with Norway. On 13 December Farnella sailed for Cuxhaven, where she will be sold. This will leave Kirkella as the only remaining vessel in UK Fisheries’ Hull- based fleet. >click to read< 15:38
Brexit, offshore wind farms and high fuel costs scupper Dutch fishing industry
The end of the Dutch trawler fishing industry is in sight now a large part of the Dutch fleet has signed up for the government’s buy-out ruling, according to NOS. In total, about 40 of the 120 trawlers which fish for plaice and sole in the North Sea will be left and that will have a knock-on impact on the rest of the industry, the broadcaster said. For example, the fish auction in Den Helder is now closing its doors and trawlers will now have to head for Den Oever and IJmuiden to unload their catches, NOS said. >click to read< 13:37
California crab season finally opens but storm keeps fisherman in port
Commercial crab season opened in California on Saturday, but in Monterey, fishermen were keeping their vessels in port because of the storm. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” said Gaspar Catanzaro with Monterey Fish Co. The commercial season opener has been delayed three times this year but officially opened at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The opening coincided with a winter storm bringing rain and high winds to the coast. To meet the holiday demand for crab, Monterey Fish Co. has been bringing in crab from Alaska, Washington and Oregon. Video, >click to read< 10:04
Untangling catch shares with Lee van der Voo – Catch shares have changed fisheries and fishing communities across the U.S.
I recently saw some great reporting by the New Bedford Light and ProPublica about how the billionaire Dutch family that owns Blue Harvest Fisheries has emerged as a force in groundfish fishing off the coast of Massachusetts. These are very wealthy, powerful equity groups and corporations that are acquiring access to the fisheries and passing the cost of owning them and fishing them onto fishermen. There’s been profound disenfranchisement of people who used to have a more personal stake in fishing and seafood. Everyone from indigenous communities in Southwest Alaska whose history with halibut goes back to the beginning of time to small-boat, family operations around the United States everywhere have been losing access. Whole communities have fallen apart over that. >click to read< 08:15
