Daily Archives: April 7, 2023
Fat fishermen face ban from working at sea unless they get their BMI below 35 due to ‘ludicrous’ new medical rules
Fishermen with a body mass index of 35 could be banned from working at sea in new ‘ludicrous’ medical rules. From November onwards fishermen will need a doctor-approved medical certificate to work displaying their BMI. The Government has argued these changes will ensure fishermen do not risk an accident at sea. But skippers have argued that no evidence has been provided by officials to suggest their weight puts their safety at risk. The rules from the International Labour Organisation’s Work in Fishing Convention were adopted by the UK in 2018 but the Government allowed a five-year window for workers to get the required medical certificates. >click to read< 17:09
Deadliest Catch’s newest star: A Q&A with Maine’s Linda Greenlaw
The newest season of Deadliest Catch will feature a Maine connection, with popular fisherman, author and reality TV star Linda Greenlaw joining the cast. Q: You’re known to most Mainers and wider audiences as a fisherman of swordfish and lobster. Did you find transitioning to crab fishing difficult for “Deadliest Catch?” A: Transitioning to the crab fishery was not too difficult for me – I have been involved in the offshore red cred fishery here in New England and have been fishing fixed gear on and off since I was a kid. The difference was primarily hauling single, massive pots as opposed to trawls of smaller traps. Finding crab was the biggest challenge. This was my first experience with Bairdi crab and also my first trip on the Bering Sea. >click to read< 16:21
Ignoring dead whales, NOAA proposes another site survey off New Jersey
“Damn the whales, full speed ahead” seems to be the offshore wind policy of Biden’s NOAA. They now propose to approve yet another site survey, just 10 miles off Atlantic City. These surveys are the top suspect for the recent wave of dead whales, centered on New Jersey. The site is a big one because the offshore wind project is huge. Phase 1 is a whopping 1,500 MW, which means over 100 monster turbine towers. The survey area is around 1,500,000 acres or an incredible 2,300 square miles. Ironically the project is called Atlantic Shores, which is where all the dead whales are washing up. More deeply, the Atlantic Shores Wind Project has yet to be approved and may never be. Hugely disruptive site surveys should not be authorized until the Project is approved. >click to read< 13:57
‘This catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium’: Newfoundland crab fleets won’t fish for $2.20 a pound, FFAW is considering ‘political actions’
They’re not going to fish. That’s the promise from crab fleets in Newfoundland and Labrador Thursday, April 6, after the Fish Price Setting panel announced its decision on snow crab prices to start the season. The panel chose the offer of $2.20 a pound submitted by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), a 10 cent increase from their initial offer. The Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) negotiating committee had suggested $3.10, lowering their original offer of $3.48. In a news release Thursday afternoon, FFAW president Greg Pretty said the decision by the panel, “has put our industry in the most precarious position it’s ever been in.” “When it comes to dollars and cents, this catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium,” he said, repeating words first spoken by inshore fish harvester Jason Sullivan during protests over quotas for the inshore fleet earlier this month in St. John’s. >click to read< 11:38
New bill would expand state waters in attempt to protect Maine lobstermen from federal regulations
State Sen. Eric Brakey, the bill’s sponsor, said the proposal is intended to protect Maine lobstermen from what he says are overly burdensome federal regulations, particularly those aimed at protecting endangered right whales. “LD 563 would throw the yolk of these federal regulators off our Maine lobstermen by extending Maine’s claim to the sovereignty of our oceans from three miles to 12 miles, subjecting our lobstermen to the rules of Maine regulators, accountable to Maine people, rather than Washington, DC regulators who seem accountable to no one,” he told the Legislature’s marine resources committee Thursday. >click to read< 10:39
California could have avoided salmon season shutdown. Did we learn nothing last time? by Sarah Bates
I fish salmon commercially from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge from my boat, where Chinook have passed for millions of years on their journey from the ocean, through the bay and Delta, up the Sacramento River. There is communal anticipation before the first trip of the summer, checking anchor winches and hydraulic hoses, safety equipment, leaders, weather reports. Boats are freshly painted and deck tanks for holding fish are installed. Not this year – this year feels like a funeral. >click to read< by Sarah Bates 09:52
Pacific Fishery Management Council approves salmon fishing ban for much of West Coast
A federal regulatory group voted Thursday to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish, also known as chinook, returned to California’s rivers last year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the closure of the 2023 season for all commercial and most recreational chinook fishing along the coast from Cape Falcon in northern Oregon to the California-Mexico border. Limited recreational salmon fishing will be allowed off southern Oregon in the fall. Biologists say the chinook salmon population has declined dramatically after years of drought. Though the closure will affect tens of thousands of jobs, few are opposed to it. Many fishers say they want to take action now to guarantee healthy stocks in the future. >click to read< 09:03
Greek immigrant and pioneering fisherman Kon Paleologoudias’s legacy in Venus Bay and Port Kenny
When Konstantinos Paleologoudias left Greece as a fresh-faced 18-year-old fitter and turner in the 1950s he began an adventure that would help shape two small towns 14,000 kilometres away on South Australia’s west coast. Konstantinos, also known as Kon Paul, established a fish processing factory at Port Kenny and while the size of the prawn boat fleet in Venus Bay has fluctuated, the three remaining licensed boats are all owned by the Paleologoudias family. More than 70 years since Kon emigrated, his feats have been recognised in Venus Bay, with the naming of a large sculpture of a pelican, Pauly. Photos, >click to read< 07:45
