Daily Archives: May 4, 2023
Snow crab harvesters prepared to stay on land as fisheries minister justifies secret ballot letter
Snow crab harvesters in Newfoundland say they’re still holding out on this year’s season in search of a better price, even after the province’s fisheries minister urged the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union to ask fishermen if they want to be on the water. “We’re at a standstill now. We can’t go fishing because right now the price, I mean it’s just too low at $2.20 a pound. It’s just not feasible to catch right now,” Jamie Stack, a snow crab fisherman in Petty Harbour. Stack and other harvesters spoke in response to a letter sent by Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg to the FFAW on Wednesday, asking the union to hold a secret ballot vote to see if snow crab harvesters are ready to fish at $2.20 per pound as other provinces fish at similar prices. >click to read< 18:55
Body formally identified as L’Ecume II skipper
Police in Jersey have confirmed the body recovered from the wreck of a sunken fishing boat has been formally identified as Michael Michieli. Mr Michieli, 62, was the skipper of the L’Ecume II fishing trawler that sank after colliding with a freight ferry on 8 December. The bodies of the two other crew, Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat, were recovered later that month. The Michieli family has been informed, police said. They added: “Our deepest sympathies are with the Michieli family, and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.” >click to read< 15:34
Democrats’ Green Agenda Will Gut America’s Oldest Industry And Turn Coastal Towns Into The New Appalachia
Biden’s regulators are driving fishermen of all kinds off the water in droves, while offshore wind development his administration backs is threatening access to productive fishing grounds. Coastal towns keyed to commercial fishing—like Stonington, Maine or Grand Isle, Louisiana—are facing social and economic oblivion. Fishermen are not a powerful political constituency. They do not give lavishly to politicians or command a powerful lobby in Washington. Of late, fishermen in the north Atlantic formed a grassroots organization, the New England Fishermen Stewardship Association (NEFSA), to advocate for jobs, coastal communities, and sustainable management of our oceans. >click to read< 13:35
Banff and Buchan MP criticises Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP for ‘disowning fishing industry’
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid has criticised Karen Adam for “disowning the fishing industry” and putting “political games ahead of constituents” after she voted against reconsidering proposals on Highly Protected Marine Areas despite widespread concern from the sector. Mr Duguid said the SNP Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP was “happy to see the fishing sector sink” as she opted against changing “catastrophic” plans for a partial squeeze in Scottish waters. Just three SNP MSPs, Kate Forbes, Fergus Ewing and Alasdair Allan, did not vote with the rest of their party while three others Annabelle Ewing, Christine Grahame and Ash Regan abstained. >click to read< 12:45
Commercial Fisherman Lloyd D. Whaley of Brookings, Oregon has passed away
Lloyd D. Whaley was born April 30th, 1943, and passed away peacefully on Saturday morning April 29th, 2023. He juggled working nights at the lumber mill while pursuing his eventual career during the daytime: commercial fishing. The long hours and lack of sleep eventually paid off when he was able to buy his first salmon trawler, the Marilyn A. Some years later, he sold the Marilyn A and bought a slightly larger trawler, the Kristy. Unfortunately, the risk of fishing caught up with him and the Kristy sank. Instead of becoming discouraged, he remained devoted to commercial fishing and built a boat that could handle harsher weather conditions and diversify into other fisheries such as crab, shrimp, and bottom trawl, the Cape Sebastian. From there he grew to a second vessel, a 90-foot gulf shrimper the BJ Thomas (later sold to his granddaughter Sarah and husband Justin). Finally, in 1987 in a partnership with his son, they built a combination trawler crabber in Alabama and named it the Miss Sarah after his granddaughter. Additionally, Lloyd gave 20 years of service to the Port of Brookings Harbor as a commissioner. >click to read< 11:54
N.L. fisheries minister urges union to hold secret ballot vote on snow crab harvest
Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg has urged the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union to hold a secret ballot vote asking snow crab harvesters if they are ready to fish at $2.20 per pound. Harvesters have stayed off the water three weeks into the province’s most lucrative fishery, as they protest what they consider a catastrophic price of $2.20 per pound. The topic came to a head earlier this week, when the Association of Seafood Producers called out intimidation and harassment levelled at fish harvesters who have expressed a willingness to fish for $2.20 a pound. >click to read< 10:51
Seattle judge’s ruling might cancel Alaska commercial king salmon season
A ruling from a U.S. judge in Seattle could effectively shut down commercial king salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska, a valuable industry that supports some 1,500 fishermen, after a conservation group challenged the harvest as a threat to endangered killer whales that eat the fish. Wild Fish Conservancy, the organization that brought the lawsuit, heralded the decision as the most significant government action in decades to provide more food for starving orcas. But fishing organizations condemned the ruling, saying it threatens the region with economic disaster and would do little or nothing to benefit orcas. The state of Alaska quickly announced an appeal. >click to read< 10:12
Massive study examines offshore wind’s impact on fishing, fisheries
A just released “first of its kind” report that federal regulators and the fishing industry spent three years working on is making the rounds, exploring the impacts of offshore wind on fisheries and commercial fishermen, and identifying the questions that remain unanswered. They just released their results in a nearly 400-page “Synthesis of Science” report — a collaborative effort between the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the lead regulator of offshore wind; NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center; and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a membership-based coalition of the fishing industry. >click to read< 09:31
P.E.I. fishers call spring lobster prices ‘a slap in the face’
Harvesters say they’re getting between $6.50 and $7 per pound from processors — less than last year, and about half what they were getting a few years ago. “That price we got in 2006, and you could buy a fishing fleet in 2006 for $200,000 and now they’re $1.5 million to $2 million. Everything has gone up … bait, fuel, engines, pickup trucks, rope, traps, buoys, everything,” McGeoghegan said. “So to expect us to go fishing for a price that’s 18 years old is a slap in the face. And we know for a fact … that the demand is high, higher than it’s been in the last 10 years, and supply is the lowest it’s been in 10 years.” Photos, >click to read< 07:52
