Monthly Archives: March 2023
French protesters throw live crabs at police during bloody clashes at fishing rally
Hundreds of angry fishermen gathered in Rennes, France, to protest worrying recommendations made by the country’s Council of State in relation to the costly carbonisation of the sector. Olivier Le Nézet, head of the country’s National Fisheries Committee, went on to say the treatment of the industry has evoked “aggressions”, with French fleets being decreased by more than a quarter in 20 years. The ill-feeling came to a head earlier this week when the highest administrative court, the Council of State, gave the government six months to close some fishing areas in the Atlantic. >click to read< 12:46
On Demand Gear – Cape Cod Lobstermen Would Rather Wait Than Switch
21-year-old North Atlantic right whale known as Porcia was observed in Cape Cod Bay on March 18. The whale was seen swimming with her 2023 calf by her side. That means Cape Cod lobstermen are on land, waiting out the whales. Elsewhere in Massachusetts waters, however, the NOAA is running an experiment that gives lobster fishermen exempted fishing permits to work in areas that are otherwise restricted. What they are testing is something called on-demand fishing gear. “I think it’s a Star Wars idea that will not work,” said Dana Pazolt, a Truro-based lobsterman who sets his traps on the bay side in the fall and on the ocean side in the spring and summer. Pazolt’s 800 lobster traps have 50 miles of rope. >click to read< 11:10
‘We’re not going to stop fighting’: Families of F/V Chief William Saulis crew to keep pushing for safety in fishing industry
Michelle Nickerson-Forbes had worried that the longer it took for the Transportation Safety Board to come out with its report about the December 2020 fatal sinking of the Chief William Saulis scallop vessel, that people would forget about the six-member crew whose lives were lost. Initially, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) had said the investigation and report would take up to 450 days. Instead, it took over two years. Lori Cogswell Phillips, a resident of Cambridge in the Annapolis Valley, is also never going to give up. She’s been fighting for answers on behalf of her son Aaron Cogswell and the rest of the Chief William Saulis crew for the past two-plus years. She says the TSB report – which took too long to come out – still leaves more questions unanswered than answered. Photos, >click to read< 09:51
Faulkingham Pitches $1,000,000 State Contribution to Lobster Legal Defense Fund
A public hearing will be held Thursday to discuss a bill aimed at providing financial support to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), a group that represents Maine’s lobster industry. The bill, proposed by House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), would provide the MLA with a one-time contribution of $1,000,000 to offset large expenses the organization has incurred in recent years as it fights against burdensome federal regulations. Faulkingham expressed his concern for the Maine lobster industry, which he says is “under attack” and facing potentially devastating regulations and lawsuits. >click to read< 08:57
Locals Upset Over Dredging Issues at the Inlet in West Ocean City
On Wednesday morning, a 75-foot commercial vessel ran aground on its approach to the commercial dock in West Ocean City. The captain and crew say if the channel was dredged properly, this would not have happened. They also voiced their frustrations with the Army Corp of Engineers, and there is agreement locally that a more permanent solution is needed. “Maryland keeps wanting to put a band-aid on this, how many band-aids are you going to put on it before you fix the problem?” questioned Mike Coppa. Coppa is the owner of the Fishing Vessel Instigator, the boat stuck in the channel. Video, photos, >click to read< 07:55
Crab harvesters take protest inside St. John’s hotel as price-setting meetings continue
Newfoundland and Labrador’s crab fishermen resumed their protest Wednesday, calling for a quota increase and changes to the federal government’s fisheries management. Dozens of harvesters descended on a Fisheries and Oceans Canada office in the east end of St. John’s early Wednesday morning, with some using their vehicles to block traffic from coming in or out. Some used symbols of the fishery to protest, like a crab pot placed on the building’s flagpole. Fisherman Jason Sullivan said he and his colleagues are calling for changes to the precautionary approach framework that separates the inshore fishery of Zone 3L from the offshore fishery. >click to read< 16:44
TSB investigation into fatal sinking of F/V Chief William Saulis recommends improved safety procedure awareness
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada recommends inspections of commercial fishing vessels verify that required written safety procedures are available to crews and that they are knowledgeable of these procedures. The recommendation to the Department of Transport was issued Wednesday as part of the investigation into the fatal 2020 sinking of the scallop boat F/V Chief William Saulis near Digby, resulting in the death of one crew member. Five crew members are still classified as missing. On Dec. 15, 2020, shortly after midnight, the Chief William Saulis, with six crew members onboard, departed Chignecto Bay, N.B., to return to port in Digby. At about 5:50 a.m., the vessel’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon activated about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Digby. >click to read< 14:37
Herring fishery to go on two-hour notice Thursday
The Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery will go on two-hour notice on Thursday morning (3-23-23). That means at any time after that, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game can announce a fishery opening with two hours warning. Last year, the guideline harvest level for the fishery was 45,000 tons, but fishermen only caught around 25,000. That was still the highest harvest on record. The guideline harvest level for this year’s fishery is set at 30,000 tons. >click to read< 13:58
Congressman Clay Higgins reintroduces legislation to combat foreign seafood dumping
Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins is taking new steps to help the Louisiana Shrimping Industry’s fight against imported shrimp. For years, the Louisiana shrimping industry has been over run by cheaper imported products from different countries. In an effort to combat this, Congressman Higgins is looking to propose legislation that would make seafood being brought into the country meet all the legal standards of our country before being distributed. Congressman Higgins has reintroduced The Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act in order to tackle the issue of foreign dumping taking over the seafood market in our country. >click to read< 13:25
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 35′ Duffy Lobster Boat, 330HP John Deere, 4′ Aluminum Stern Extension
To review specifications, information, and 42 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 11:55
Edgartown Extends Cape Pogue Scallop Season
Following a banner year for Island bay scallops, the town of Edgartown has opted to extend commercial bay scallop season in Cape Pogue an extra two weeks until April 14. “We’re seeing the best bay scallop season we’ve seen in all my and the fishermen’s 25 years’ experience,” shellfish constable Rob Morrison told the select board on Monday. The commercial season for bay scallop fishing typically begins November 1 and ends March 31. Earlier this year, bay scallop fishermen struggled to take advantage of the plentiful yield as scallop prices plunged to almost half their normal rate. >click to read< 10:57
In Depth: Mississippi Has Invested Millions of Dollars to Save Its Oysters. They’re Disappearing Anyway.
By 2015, it was clear that Mississippi oysters were in crisis. Then-Gov. Phil Bryant convened an oyster council to come up with solutions. “This is the soybean of the sea,” Bryant said at a community gathering in 2015 at which he unveiled the council’s report. “We’re going to make sure everyone enjoys it.” The council set a goal of producing 1 million sacks of oysters a year by 2025. But almost a decade later, that goal is nowhere in sight: In a region that helped pioneer the oyster industry, only 457 sacks were harvested in 2022, none of them from the public reefs that the state had worked to restore. “They’re just wasting money,” said Keath Ladner, a former oyster fisherman whose family was in the seafood business for three generations. “And the fishermen know this.” Video, Photos, >click to read< 09:37
Boats likely stuck ‘in the middle of nowhere’ for several days after storm
A boat that broke free and ran aground during a storm that left thousands without power could take up to two weeks to salvage, a harbourmaster says. The storm that battered the South Island on Tuesday whipped boats from their moorings and caused some damage to the power networks managed by PowerNet in Southland, leaving hundreds of customers without power overnight. On Wednesday afternoon, a 14-metre-long private boat bearing the name Liane could be seen half-submerged in the mudflats of Pourakino River in the Jacobs River Estuary, in front of the Aparima Restaurant and Bar. He said it was one of two boats that sank as a result of the storm. Photos, >click to read< 08:52
P.E.I. company adding seal meat to produce ‘Cadillac’ of baits
Bait Masters started producing bait sausages in its $1.4-million facility in Nine Mile Creek in April 2021, using a mix of fish, fish oil and other organic matter in a biodegradable casing. Now the recipe is changing. “Part of that decision came from fishermen who requested it, and part of it came from the abundance of seal, and needing to find a use for… the product,” said co-owner Mark Prevost. “So far, I think seal would probably be one of the higher end as far as quality goes, with oil and fat. I would consider it the Cadillac of all the baits that we’ve tried to make. Photos, >click to read< 07:47
Obituary: Commercial Fisherman Ron Ellis
Our friend, fellow fisherman, brother Ron Ellis, was lost to the ocean on February 20th, while swordfishing off San Diego. His fishing vessel, Defiance, was found drifting at idle, by another fisherman, with no one on board. Ron has spent much of his commercial fishing career in Santa Barbara, initially as a deckhand, then as a top producing skipper in the crab industry. He pioneered the experimental Box Crab fishery, establishing a new fishery, while providing data and research, yet was then denied access to this important fishery by CA F&W. >click to read< 17:13
Solutions to the Bycatch Blame Game
The issue of bycatch has grown more important as some fisheries get smaller and those who depend on the fish for their livelihood or survival find that there are not enough fish to go around. This raises the question of whether bycatch is at the root of the problem or if other issues facing fisheries must be addressed. Bycatch is monitored in a combination of ways, through at-sea observers, electronic monitoring, seafood processing plant observers, logbooks, and fish tickets. “In the Bering Sea, approximately 94 percent of all catch is observed, including 99 percent of all trawl catch,” Bush explains. “In the Gulf of Alaska, 40 to 50 percent of all catch is observed across all gear types.” Photos, >click to read< 12:26
Dunbar: Call to report unlicensed fishermen selling stolen shellfish
Residents and businesses from throughout the county are being urged to report unlicensed fishermen who have been stealing from creels and selling stolen shellfish caught in and around Dunbar. The town’s harbour is home to nearly 30 fishing vessels ranging from six to 15 metres long. In recent years, it has experienced thefts from crab and lobster creels, as well as fishing equipment being stolen. The issue has been made worse by the poaching of undersized crabs and lobsters, as well as egg-laden queens, by unlicensed fishermen. >click to read< 10:49
Thanks for the support
On behalf of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those involved in the recent fundraiser held at Robinson’s Wharf to benefit the Save Maine Lobstermen’s Legal Defense Fund. A huge thank you to everyone at Robinson’s who made this event so successful, with a special thank you to Craig Slater and family for hosting the event at the “Wharf,” and for the generous donation of 100% of the proceeds to the cause. I would also like to thank all of the sponsors for their support. The MLA started the Legal Defense Fund in order to raise money to fight back and sue the National Marine Fisheries Service, who are not using the best available science to base new lobstering regulations to save the North Atlantic Right Whales. >click to read< 09:52
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 3/20/2023
Last Two Speckled Trout Scoping Meetings This Week, Legislative Update, 3/20/2023, Memorial for Susan West. On Sunday a memorial was held for Susan West in Hatteras who passed away last fall. NCFA Board member Dewey Hemilright, Thomas Newman and I attended. I will write more about the memorial and about Susan’s advocacy for commercial fishing families later. As is always the case for something like this, you get to see many folks that you haven’t seen for quite a while. It was good to see so many familiar faces at a very fitting tribute for Susan. Jerry. >click to read< 08:30
Crews refloat boat that capsized near Crescent Harbor on Saturday
A fishing vessel that overturned just outside of a Sitka harbor this weekend was refloated early Monday morning. Around 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Coast Guard responded to a vessel that had capsized at the entrance to Crescent Harbor in downtown Sitka. Coast Guard Marine Science Technician Allysia Helton was at the scene. She said all four passengers on the F/V Ocean Cape managed to quickly get off the boat. No injuries were reported. “There were quite a few members of the community that were there on scene immediately after it happened, and they helped the crew get off the vessel and make sure everything was okay,” >click to read< 07:25
Snow crab fishermen protest quota allocations on first day of price-setting
About 100 snow crab fishermen descended Monday on a St. John’s hotel, where officials had begun setting crab prices for the season, to protest a management system and quotas they say need an overhaul. The protest, at the Sheraton in downtown St. John’s, centred on a new precautionary approach designed to protect stocks, implemented in December by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which manages inshore and offshore crab stocks differently. Bay Bulls fisherman Jason Sullivan says the change leaves them with less to catch. “These guys are at 30 per cent of their original quotas, and they need an increase,” Sullivan said Monday. “They’re catching their quotas in one single day.… . >click to read< 21:42
When things don’t add up. By Jerry Leeman
Sitting here towing along thinking back 20 years ago fishing in the Gulf of Maine. We used to land a lot of white hake. An average trip was always around 15k to 30k of hake 5k of monk tails on average. These days you worry of catching too many and you try to stay within the realm of your allowable catch because fish cost money to catch. Yes, even as crazy as that sounds boat quotas have been restricted from bad data collection to be so low, we have to purchase quota from other permits to maintain fishing. Then with these restrictions it puts a damper on markets. Imagine, markets that used to take in 200-500k of one specie a week then no longer are capable of taking in those fish because markets are not strong due to poor biomass data and allowable catches which have altered markets. >click to continue reading< 16:28
Protesting Fish Harvesters Interrupt Crab Price Setting Negotiations
The protesters fish in 3L, the area from Cape Freels to the southern Avalon. Instead of being one biomass, DFO has created two biomasses which protesters say leaves the inshore sector with less and the larger offshore boats with more. They accuse the union, the FFAW, of weak representation on the issue. Harvester Keith Boland says they’re upset about the way crab quotas are split. He says they have issued with the precautionary approach being taken and the way in which the department is dividing the biomass into inshore and offshore. “Years ago, there was no ‘inside 25 mile’….the crab moved in and the crab moved out,” He laments. “We’re not getting much science now.” >click to read< 13:22
Biggest UK beamer launch, Admiral Gordon to join the South West fleet!
Parkol Marine were excited to announce the launch of New Build 058 at Middlesbrough on Friday. Many of their followers have been looking forward to seeing the completed vessel. So it’s congratulations to the vessel owners on the launch of F/V Admiral Gordon PH-330, a 27.3m LOA beam trawler. It has been a pleasure working with you all, best wishes from everyone at Parkol. F/V Admiral Gordon is the first over 20-metre beam trawler to be designed and built in the UK for 30 years, a massive achievement to all involved, British Manufacturing at its best! 8 Photos, >click to read< 11:24
Scottish fishing group asks government to ‘radically rethink’ marine protected area plan
SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald said the Scottish Government’s blue economy plans “have been hijacked by the Greens and will push the fishing industry into the red.” “On top of the existing spatial squeeze caused by the dash to build huge offshore windfarms with little consideration for their impact on fisheries, the (Scottish) government wants to close a further 10% of our waters to fishing vessels – with no evidence whatsoever that doing so will achieve ministers’ vague conservation aims, nor any attempt to understand the effect of displacing the fishing fleet,” she said. >click to read< 09:42
Dem congressman shreds Biden admin for green energy hypocrisy: ‘Pisses me off’
Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden blasted the Biden administration for targeting his state’s lobster industry with eco regulations while ignoring the environmental impacts of offshore wind projects. “The hypocrisy part is what pisses me off because we know that right whales, other whales, get struck by freight vessels all the time. Cruise ships that are out there carting people around hit them,” he said. “And yet they see a small business lobster fishery up in Maine that’s not politically important to them and they try to crush it just to try to prove to the environmental groups that they’re actively trying to protect the right whales,” Last week, Golden joined Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Andy Harris, R-Md., in writing a letter to federal officials demanding more information about the risks offshore wind projects pose to marine wildlife. >click to read< 07:49
Covid shutdowns and hurricanes rock Louisiana seafood industry
During the pandemic, the state’s seafood industry shut down. Once business resumed, a series of storms and hurricanes wiped out areas where those who rely on the state’s plentiful harvests of crawfish, shrimp, crabs, oysters and alligators make a living. The double-whammy took a devastating toll on Louisiana, the nation’s second-largest seafood supplier, and when it fully recovers remains to be seen. “There’s still boats stranded in certain areas,” said Samantha Carroll, executive director for Louisiana Seafood. While the 2022 season offered a reprieve with no hurricanes, “people were still trying to pick up the pieces,” struggling to find fuel, bait, and other essentials, she said. >click to read< 14:52
Crossing the perilous Willapa Bay bar holds a steep cost
To reach the ocean crabbing grounds from this Southwest Washington community, Mike Green must navigate his boat through the seas that churn across the mouth of Willapa Bay. Through the years, the 69-year-old Green has had some close calls. Waves once shattered the wheelhouse windows of his boat, the 52-foot Mi Lana. This winter, he suffered a far more grievous loss. His grandson, Bryson Fitch, 24, went missing Feb. 5 after the vessel he was working on, the Ethel May, capsized in an attempt to cross the mouth of the bay. Fitch’s loss was a sledgehammer blow to his family and a community of some 250 people with an economy long tied to shellfish. 11 photos, >click to read< 11:03
Nils Stolpe: How many statisticians does it take to….
Screw in a lightbulb? Trivialize the deaths of at least two dozen whales? Convince the world that the massive installation of wind power off our East Coast won’t irreparably damage our estuarine, inshore and offshore ecosystems? The folks at NOAA/NMFS (and with the convenient parroting of myriad so-called environmentalists, and BOEM, the other part of the federal cheerleading squad selling Ocean Wind as a major solution to our “energy crisis”) have declared that it hasn’t been proven that there aren’t any relationships between the extensive survey work being committed by Big Wind and the associated contractors and the two dozen deaths that have been visited upon several species of whales off New York and New Jersey. What is their proof? Inadequately enough, their “proof” boils down to the fact that they have seen no proof. To my way of thinking, that’s tantamount to convicting someone of murder because there is no proof that he or she isn’t a murderer. But it appears as if, as far as dead whales and President Biden’s and New Jersey’s Governor Murphy’s windmill fantasies are concerned, that’s good enough. At least for NOAA/NMFS, BOEM and a bunch of environmental organizations. Why? >click to read< 09:54
