Daily Archives: May 9, 2023
Tornados Make Bering Sea Debut
Seattle trawler Storm Petrel has finished its first trips using a pair of Tornado pelagic trawl doors from Vónin, and skipper Acácio DoMar has been impressed with how the new doors have handled. ‘They tow well, square well and shoot away well. They’re a great fit to what we do,’ he said, as the A-season for Alaska pollock was coming to an end. This is the 37-metre Storm Petrel’s main fishery. ‘We fish pollock for most of the year. There’s some codfish, but it’s a small season.’ The company did its homework ahead of investing in new doors, with Acácio DoMar’s fellow captain and fleet manager Dan Martin travelling to Scotland and other places to check out the latest technology. Photos, >click to read< 18:01
Ocean City, Wind Farm Developer Clash in Legal Fight
The Danish energy company Orsted, which plans to build the Ocean Wind project, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court on May 4 demanding that Ocean City should grant the permits needed for the underground transmission line. In response to the lawsuit, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian issued a statement strongly criticizing Orsted. “The lawsuit continues a pattern that Ocean Wind presumes the offshore wind project is a done deal and they will resort to any means to maintain their desired schedule,” Gillian said. >click to read< 14:50
Captain Rick Shelford is as Experienced as They Come on ‘Deadliest Catch’
Rick is a dedicated fishing vessel captain on and off the show. Outside of Deadliest Catch, Rick has been working as a captain for more than a decade. But just because he comes from a long line of fishermen, it doesn’t mean Rick’s career was just handed to him by any means. In fact, he worked hard and moved through the ranks to get to where he is today. According to the official website for Shelford Fisheries, Rick started off in 1997 as a green horn, which is someone who works alongside a deckhand and is treated as though they have no fishing experience. He moved up to become an engineer and then captain who is ready and prepared for anything at sea, whether it involves actual fish and crab or the mechanics of a ship. >click to read< 12:20
SAR air base for Labrador
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) congratulates board member Merv Wiseman for spearheading a resolution approved this past weekend by the Liberal Party of Canada to designate a search and rescue (SAR) air base for Labrador. “Labrador is one step closer to having 5-Wing Goose Bay designated a SAR air base that will save lives,” says Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s executive, and outspoken advocate for stronger SAR services and fishing-vessel safety. Passed unanimously on May 6th during the Liberal Party of Canada’s national convention in Ottawa, the resolution urges the federal government to immediately designate 5-Wing Goose Bay as a SAR air base, which would include stationing one of the military’s Cormorant SAR helicopters there. >click to read< 11:31
Alaskans poaching Canadian salmon top concern for federal fisheries minister
American fishing boats catching threatened Canadian salmon was flagged as a top concern for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray before meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Canada in March. Over the past decade, and especially in 2021 — commercial fisheries in southeast Alaska have intercepted high numbers of Canadian salmon, particularly threatened sockeye stocks from the Nass, Skeena and Fraser rivers in B.C., the document said. The long-term rebuilding of threatened Pacific salmon stocks is a key objective for Canada, which is concerned about the potential impact a number of Alaskan fisheries are having on those stocks, the document said. >click to read< 10:47
After tentative crab deal falls apart, fishermen settle in to wait for a better price
St. John’s crab fisherman Keith Boland said he and his fellow harvesters won’t accept a deal that sticks to $2.20 per pound, as decided by the provincial price-setting panel. “The $2.20 is still the major issue, and it will be, time going forward,” he said. On Friday, Fish Food & Allied Workers president Greg Pretty said a tentative deal had been reached with the Association of Seafood Producers: the $2.20 price would be locked in for the season, rather than the association requesting a lower price if the market continues to decline. But to prevent a glut of crab arriving at plants for processing, the deal would also include trip limits, with monetary penalties for fisherman who catch more than the trip limit. Calling it a union “slush fund,” Boland said fishermen won’t accept that. >click to read< 09:45
FI School Students meet Point Judith Fishing Fleet
The students started their visit at the Superior Trawl net loft where they learned how large fishing nets are made and designed. Owner Jon Knight had a 1/3 scale model of a squid net to demonstrate and then discussed how all nets are specialized based on particular species of fish being sourced. All the students were shown how to tie a bowline knot, and then practiced throwing dock lines to a simulated dock piling. Thank you, John, Cindy, and Barry for this experience! One of the highlights of visiting the net loft was that students as a group were able to crawl through the length of a full-size trawl net just like fish! Lots of photos of happy people. >click to read< 08:47
Wind farms creating ‘death zone’ at sea says ex-Greenpeace boss
Drilling foundations for offshore wind turbines and sound pulses used to prepare for the 900-foot towers may be creating a “death zone” for whales, a former Greenpeace chief claims. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace and its ex-president in Canada, believes the acoustic systems used by vessels surveying the ocean floor harm the marine mammals’ sense of hearing, risking their crucial ability to navigate, and leading to more dead whales washing up onshore. At least 36 “large” whales have washed up along the East Coast since Dec. 1, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. photos, >click to read< 07:51
