Daily Archives: February 27, 2023
N.L. snow crab population remains healthy, though market uncertainty persists
Newfoundland and Labrador’s most valuable fishery may be encountering rough market conditions, and the economic outlook for this year is bleak, but an assessment reveals that snow crab stocks remain strong, a few years after nearly collapsing. “We’ve seen an increase in the last few years in exploitable biomass,” Five years ago, alarm bells were sounding as the biomass shrank to historic lows, resulting in steep quota cuts for commercial harvesters and worries the industry would collapse. Landings hit a 25-year low in 2019. But now industry leaders sound much more upbeat about the health of the stocks. >click to read< 17:27
SEA-NL elects new President, first woman leader of fisheries organization in province’s history
Fortune-based inshore enterprise owner Pamela Patten has been elected President of Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL), believed to be the first woman to lead a fisheries organization in the province’s history. “As a woman I will obviously bring a slightly different perspective to the table, but my role will be to unite owner-operators around the province regardless of fleet or gender,” says Patten, who runs the Bradley Venture, a 39’11 longliner that primarily fishes snow crab and lobster. >click to read< 14:22
Gloucester webinar tackles concerns about wind farm projects
At the nascent stage of wind farm development in the Gulf of Maine, a webinar last week looked at the possible impacts to marine life, coastal communities and fisheries while acknowledging there are many unknowns to such projects. Capt. Al Cottone, a commercial fisherman and executive director of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, said the industry has “a ton of questions that haven’t been answered yet. And I don’t think these questions will be answered in the time frame that was shown earlier in the presentation and it’s very concerning to the industry.” “We are very concerned about the displacement of vessels,” Cottone said. “Once you start losing access to fishing grounds, it puts a lot of pressure on other fishing grounds.” >click to read< 12:28
Biden’s Offshore Wind Dreams Face Rising Controversy, Opposition
By now, most Americans are likely aware of the increasing number of whales that have been found grounded on Atlantic beaches, some of which lie adjacent to offshore wind projects already under development. In a May, 2022 letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) lead biologist, Brian Hooker, NOAA scientist Brian Hayes warned that “the development of offshore wind poses risks to these species,” and that the “risks occur at varying stages, including construction and development, and include increased noise, vessel traffic, habitat modifications, water withdrawals associated with certain substations and resultant impingement/entrainment of zooplankton, changes in fishing effort and related potential increased entanglement risk, and oceanographic changes that may disrupt the distribution, abundance, and availability of typical right whale food (e.g. Dorrell et al 2022).”But that warning seems to have had little impact. >click to read< 09:53
Fishermen at Pillar Point hold fast for better days
Captain Mike Burian, who fishes under the vessel, Prime Time out of Pillar Point Harbor, bought a boat last year when it sounded like a good deal; however, his dream of running a profitable crabbing and salmon boat quickly turned into a nightmare after multiple delays in the season and various obstacles made it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. “I always wanted to do this and someone was selling the vessel, pods and permits and I thought it was a good idea at the time,” Burian said. “If I did well, I was going to do it full time and fish for salmon as well; but, at this time, there is no way to make a living with this as far as I can see.” >click to read< 08:47
Trawlers scrapped over quotas ‘end a lifetime of fishing’
Work on scrapping a number of Irish fishing vessels is under way in an effort to rebalance fish quotas following post-Brexit agreements. The Catherine R is among the first vessels to be decommissioned. She was a steel trawler built in 2005 and fishing from the port of Greencastle in Co Donegal. Her owner Cara Rawdon has been fishing for 46 years. He said that he chose to accept to decommission his fishing boat,,, On seeing his ship being ripped apart for the scrap heap, he said: “It’s like seeing your home being torn apart. I saved the money to buy her and make her safe for the crew. It was a very difficult decision because not only had I to decide my own future I also had to think of my crew. It’s a very hard decision to make to end a lifetime of fishing.” >click to read< 07:51
