Daily Archives: February 20, 2023
Fisherman finds huge megalodon tooth in oysters pulled from Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay
Another ancient shark tooth has been found along Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, only this time it’s even bigger. The 5.5-inch megalodon tooth came out of the bay Feb. 10 hidden in a load of oysters, according to Stephen Rollins, captain of the fishing boat Undertaker. That makes the tooth about a half-inch longer than the one found Christmas Day by a 9-year-old girl at Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs State Park. >click to read< 21: 52
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 20, 2023
The following public comments were sent to several members of the NC Marine Fisheries Commission by Glenn Skinner, Executive Director of the NCFA, also, The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) is meeting this week to vote on a supplement to the current Striped Mullet Fisheries Management Plan,,, >click to read the weekly update< 17:55
Canada Shuts Down 15 Fish Farms in B.C., Citing Risks to Wild Salmon
After years of concerns over the impact of aquaculture on wild sockeye salmon, Canada’s fisheries department has decided not to renew the operating permits of 15 Atlantic salmon farms in an environmentally sensitive area of British Columbia. In a news release, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray noted that B.C.’s salmon runs are in “serious, long-term decline,” and some are at risk of collapse if action is not taken. Ten years have passed since the Cohen commission’s report, and more recent research indicates that the diseases associated with salmon-farming may have an impact on wild salmon in general and on Fraser River salmon smolts in particular. >click to read< 16:00
Opinion: Mad Max, where are you now that we need you? By Joel Hovanesian
For decades, Richard Max Strahan has fought for and succeeded many times and was front and center in his quest to save the severely endangered right whales. He was a very outspoken critic of the commercial fisherman and the fishing industry in general, claiming that they were responsible for the dwindling number of whales along the Atlantic seaboard. Your actions and ideas have helped pave the way for many regulations that possibly helped this iconic animal, the jury’s still out on that. Regulations that cost millions of dollars to implement. Today, the right whales and all marine life for that matter are under assault from a much more sinister threat. Ocean wind farms. >click to read< 13:34
Maine’s oldest town, Kittery, rallying around state’s lobster industry
As Maine’s iconic lobster industry faces challenges to its very survival, the state’s oldest town is rallying behind the men and women fighting for their livelihood. Recent efforts by the state’s small but formidable congressional delegation and Gov. Janet Mills resulted in a six-year hold on new rules to allow time for new research to be considered. “This is one of the most perilous moments ever faced by Maine’s lobster industry,” Kevin Kelley of the Maine Lobsterman’s Association said recently, “but the six-year regulatory pause gives the industry a little bit of time and some hope that whatever rules are implemented by the federal government make sense.” >click to read< 12:19
Risking it all in the Blizzard of ’78
In early February 1978, the Joseph & Lucia III had been fishing for about a week. Despite storm warnings, Capt. Gaetano “Tom” Brancaleone decided to continue fishing. His crew of seven included his brother and engineer, Antonio “The Chief” Brancaleone; first mate Frank D’Amico; cook Gil Roderick; fish hold man Gaspar Palazola; and deckhands Joe Charlie Brancaleone and Santo Aloi. At the tail end of the blizzard, after days of worry — “we could just look out the window to see the wind whipping up snow drifts 7 or 8 feet high,” recalled Tom — the family finally received a call on the radio. The Joseph & Lucia III had made it! But Tom now needed to get to the Boston Fish Pier to help lump (unload) the boat. >click to read< 10:58
Dungeness crab at $5.99/lb. Nice! But crab fishers get $2/lb. Tough deal.
Remember a year ago, and the $18.99 up to $24.50 a pound prices? When you hear about a “market correction,” here it is in a dramatic display: a plunge of two-thirds or more. There are plenty of reasons why. For the Dungeness crab fishers, a number of them small operators, it’s tough days. They’re getting $2 a pound, maybe $2.25 a pound wholesale for the crabs. In last winter’s boom times they were getting $5.50 a pound from processors. “I haven’t seen this low a price in over a decade. It’d probably be cheaper not to fish. But we can’t not fish, if that makes sense. We have to keep making our payments or we’ll end up in a loss,” says Jennifer Custer, who does the bookkeeping while her husband, Chuck Custer, runs their 46-foot fishing boat, the Miss Kathleen, out of Westport. >click to read< 09:43
“Save Our Whales” Rally on “World Whale Day” in Point Plesant Over Concerns of Recent Whale Deaths
Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) called for immediate answers from the Biden Administration and Governor Murphy to the growing questions raised by him, county and local officials, environmental leaders, and concerned Jersey Shore residents over the massive offshore wind projects along the New Jersey-New York coastline in light of the recent unprecedented surge in whale deaths. The rally comes less than a week after a dead whale washed ashore in Manasquan and just two days after another dead whale washed ashore in New York, marking the ninth and tenth whale deaths in the area since early December. Photos, >click to read< 08:54
Benefit to support Orr’s Island lobsterman
Orr’s Island lobsterman Mark Wilson suffered a stroke recently while at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He received immediate care but remains hospitalized at Mass General. Wilson is well known in the Harpswell fishing community and a regular supplier of lobster to a variety of businesses, including Cook’s Lobster and Ale House on Bailey Island. To support Wilson and his family in their time of need, Cook’s, in partnership with the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department, will hold a benefit dinner on Tuesday, March 7. >click to read< for details with access to the gofundme page. 07:37
