Daily Archives: January 15, 2023
Fisherman seeking to challenge FFAW-Unifor’s election surpasses fundraising goal
Bay Bulls fisherman Jason Sullivan passed his fundraising goal of $25,000 for a legal challenge to the process that led to the FFAW-Unifor’s election of a new president on Jan. 5th. Sullivan was disqualified from running in the FFAW election two days before the vote. He added that the fisherman had a target of $25,000 but is at $50,000 and counting in terms of committed e-transfers. “If we don’t fight this out and make sure, at the very least, we have a fair election, it’s no good complaining when the fishery is in the toilet come April.” >click to read< 15:01
Governor Murphy has a whale of a problem with his offshore energy plan
“Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon … Things have changed a lot since 1851, when Herman Melville wrote those words. But the Atlantic Ocean hasn’t. People still wander to its shores to gaze at an ocean devoid of man-made objects. But not for long, not if Phil Murphy gets his way. In his State of the State address, Gov. Phil Murphy boasted of his plan to have hundreds of wind turbines built offshore, some more than 900 feet tall. The governor also mentioned his commitment to “environmental justice.” We are used to looking at the ocean as public, but the Murphy administration wants to award large chunks of it to multinational corporations such as Royal Dutch Shell. We’re seeing that with groups like the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society. >click to read< 11:39
Maine’s scallop industry is offering fishermen new opportunities at sea
Marsden Brewer is a fourth-generation fisherman who still fishes for lobster. However, reduced stocks and an increase in commercial fishing regulations have led to a decrease in fishing opportunities. Marsden’s son, Bob, wanted a career working on the ocean; Marsden looked for other opportunities and saw the potential in sea scallop farming. Marsden said, “in order for a waterfront to stay alive, you gotta be having something to sell. You gotta be landing in product. You gotta bring new money into your community. And this does it, same as lobsters.” Together, Marsden and Bob created their company and have reached the point of making weekly deliveries throughout Maine coastal communities. They have plans to expand production to further meet existing demand. >click to read< 10:11
Sea lions, seals might be hampering WA salmon recovery. What can be done?
State officials are now exploring whether to kill sea lions and seals in the Salish Sea and outer coast in a desperate effort to save salmon species from extinction. A new report commissioned by the state Legislature and completed by the Washington Academy of the Sciences says seals and sea lions are likely impeding salmon recovery, and the full impacts of predation on salmon may not be fully understood without lethal intervention. Three mammals specifically have skyrocketed. From 1975 to 2015, the harbor seal population in the Salish Sea exploded from about 6,000 to around 50,000. And California sea lions rose from 50,000 to somewhere around 300,000 on the West Coast of the U.S., according to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Populations of Steller’s sea lions living around Washington, Oregon and California steadily rose from an estimated 15,000 in 1982 to more than 43,000 in 2019. >click to read< 09:14
The hungover fisherman who narrowly escaped Triple Trawler Tragedy
As the 55th anniversary of the Triple Trawler Tragedy comes around this year, the 58 men who perished during the series of three disasters are remembered. Seafarers on the St Romanus, Kingston Peridot, and Ross Cleveland sadly died in the winter of 1968 between January 11 and February 5, when each of the three trawlers sank. Only one survivor- Harry Eddom – made it out of the Ross Cleveland shipwreck in the freezing Icelandic conditions and was miraculously found and saved. However, there was also another fisherman that was meant to be on that trawler, but a bad hangover prevented him from getting up on time. Walter Longden, known as Walla, visited the memorial to pay respect to his lost friends and shared how it could have also been his name on the plaque. >click to read< 08:08
