Daily Archives: May 26, 2023
N.L. group wants increase in northern cod catch from Minister Murray
We could use a bit more cod. That’s the message the Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NLGIDC) is sending to Joyce Murray, Canada’s minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Jim Baird is chair of the council, whose members include the Fish Food and Allied Workers union and inshore processors, including Barry Group, Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Co., Beothic Fish Processors and Fogo Island Co-operative Society. He told SaltWire members of the council want the minister to allow a harvest of 17,000 tonnes, or more, of northern cod from the stewardship fishery in zones 2J3KL, along the northeast coast of the province. >click to read < 19:06
Two Maine Lobstermen Have Licenses Suspended for Violating Marine Resource Laws
Two Maine lobstermen have had their licenses suspended by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) for violating laws intended to protect harvesters’ property and to sustain the lobster resource. As a result of an investigation led by Maine Marine Patrol Officer Kaelyn Kuni, Calvin Pinkham, 55 of Steuben, was charged in 2022 for stealing a total of 59 lobster traps belonging to seven other fishermen, a violation known as trap molesting. Rodney Genthner, 38 of Friendship, has had his license suspended for six-years after an investigation led by Maine Marine Patrol Officer Brandon Sperling in 2022 discovered that he was in possession of traps belonging to two other harvesters. >click to read the rest< 15:28
Canadian Coast Guard Plans to Order Up to 61 Small Vessels
Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, on Thursday announced $2.5 billion CAD (roughly $1.8 billion USD) for the construction of up to 61 new small vessels and the ongoing replacement of small craft, barges and workboats within the Canadian Coast guard fleet. “This is a critical investment that will help modernize the Canadian Coast Guard’s small vessel fleet,” Murray said. “We are making sure the Canadian Coast Guard has the equipment it needs to keep Canadians and Canada’s waterways safe, while also creating good-paying jobs across the country.” >click to read< 13:29
BC fishing industry’s ‘Christmas season’ – it’s time for spot prawns
It’s time to fire up the barbie: Spot prawn season has arrived. “It’s the Christmas of the fishing season,” says Jennifer Gidora, operations manager at Finest At Sea Ocean Products in James Bay. Prawns caught daily by the company’s vessel Nordic Spirit, under Capt. Alec Fraumeni, land at Fisherman’s Wharf and are delivered across the street to the store. Spot prawns, with a season that often runs four to six weeks, have a “cult-like following,” Gidora said of the excitement surrounding the fishery. Prices have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, Wednesday’s price was $34 per pound for live prawns and $60 per pound for fresh prawn tails. >click this to read< 11:36
First Lawsuit Over Whales and Wind Dismissed
A federal district judge in Massachusetts has rejected an effort to stop an offshore wind project near Nantucket Island on the basis of danger to whales, apparently the first court test of similar claims being raised against wind turbine proposals along the U.S. eastern seaboard, including here in Virginia. On May 17, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted a motion for summary judgement to the federal agency that approved the Vineyard Wind One project. With a planned 84 turbines, the project is about half the size of Dominion Energy Virginia’s planned project off Virginia Beach. Both are just the first phases of larger planned buildouts. The same judge is hearing the other cases, with the two from fishing interests now combined. >click to read< 09:47
Diversification – Rebuilding the inshore fishery and regaining control – Ryan Everard
It is too bad the young, educated people in the inshore have been forced out of the apprenticeship program for the last 30 years when the people on larger boats had a choice. The fishery would be in a much different state today if they had to have a choice. I’m going outside the box and throwing myself out there, but, when people say it’s impossible to represent three different groups, I beg to differ because I have seen it done since 2005, when the PFHCB involuntary forced me out of the program (not out of the boat) because I couldn’t survive on 10k during a hypothetical fishing season that was removed from the industry in 1997. (Besides for new entrants that they should have been trying to retain). >click to read< 08:53
Tuna buyer puts his faith and his base in Cundy’s Harbor
Seth Richards, tuna buyer, is back where he got his start, at Holbrook’s Wharf in Cundy’s Harbor. More than three decades ago, as a teenager, he got a job buying sea urchins for Maguro America. The urchins he acquired were processed at Holbrook’s Wharf. “There was a big urchin boom” at the time, Richards said. His work involved meeting boats in harbors such as Mackerel Cove and Cundy’s Harbor. He would help unload the urchin boats and then transport the catch to Holbrook’s. “Right here at Holbrook’s,” he recalled, while standing on the wharf that is now home to his new business. “We would bring them here for processing. This was the main place.” >click to read< 07:47
