Monthly Archives: June 2023
Offshore Wind Electrical Substations; The Secret, Silent Killers by Jim Lovgren
The marine mammal strandings that are taking place almost everyday along the US east coast are the most visible consequence of the Biden administration’s reckless disregard of all environmental safeguards that had been carefully crafted since the environmental movement started in the 1960’s. Embarrassingly, the cowards at the National Marine Fishery Service have stood by and watched as research vessels have been performing geologic surveys with high powered Sonar, and Seismic devises before they had their incidental take permits issued. They have also authorized over 100,000 level B takes of marine mammals, and that’s just for a few projects, as they fully expect the offshore wind factories to cause the extinction of the critically endangered Northern Right Whale. Just ask Sean Hayes, from the NMFS protected species department, whose observations were ignored by BOEM, hence an ESA violation. >click to read< 11:34
Court decision a major win for Maine’s lobster industry
In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the plaintiffs, Maine Lobstermen’s Association, and plaintiff-intervenors the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Maine Lobstering Union, and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, ruling that NMFS distorted the science driving the regulation, relying improperly on assumptions and worst-case scenarios when determining the risk posed by industry to right whales. The court noted that the lack of data led NMFS to conclude the lobster and Jonah crab federal fisheries kill 46 whale deaths per decade, a “staggering departure from the two documented deaths known to have originated in all U.S. fisheries over a period of nine years.” >click to read< 09:58
Rocket found off Irish coast shrouded in mystery as Virgin Orbit rules out ownership
Mystery surrounds the discovery of a rocket engine by fishermen from West Cork after Virgin Orbit has confirmed it does not belong to them. The debris which was discovered in February was thought to be an engine belonging to Virgin Orbit’s failed launch from Cornwall in January. A spokesperson for the company said the debris found by Union Hall fishermen was not the property of Virgin Orbit and was unrelated to the launch from Cornwall. A spokesperson for Cork County Council said: “Part of an engine recovered by an Irish fishing vessel during routine fishing operations has been brought into Keelbeg pier. >click to read< 09:08
‘99.7% efficient after over 400 hours of use’
Maryland is already famous for its crab, but researchers at the University of Maryland are looking to give that distinction an entirely different meaning. A team of scientists at the school’s Center for Materials Innovation found that crustaceans like crabs and lobsters contain a chemical in their shells called chitin, which can be used to power batteries when combined with zinc. Crustacean shells packed with this chemical are typically thrown out en masse by restaurants that have no other use for them. But researchers believe this waste could serve as a powerful resource in the search for more sustainable batteries. >click to read< 08:11
Southwest Florida’s shrimping industry struggles to stay afloat after hurricane devastation
Erickson & Jensen Seafood now have five of their shrimp boats back in the water, but their operations are far from normal since Hurricane Ian. “We had a nice ongoing business and we were very secure,” Grant Erickson said referring to his 75-year-old business. “Been doing this for a long, long time. And then all of a sudden in a 12-hour period, the storm just took us completely out of what we were doing.” Before Hurricane Ian, Erickson and Jensen had 11 ships bringing in tons of shrimp. From rebuilding the docks and their buildings, it’s been difficult to find the money. Video, >click to read< 13:27
UK government faces legal challenge over visa system for migrant fishers
Human rights lawyers have begun the process of bringing a judicial review against the Home Office, arguing that visa arrangements used to employ overseas crew are in breach of European human rights law. The so-called “transit visa” scheme was the subject of an FT investigation published on Thursday, which detailed the mistreatment of four Filipino fishermen who worked on British boats over the course of a year. Lawyers at law firm Leigh Day told the FT they had taken the first step 
towards legal action against the government, outlining their arguments in a letter to home secretary Suella Braverman. The government has two weeks to respond — although it can ask for an extension — after which Leigh Day will decide whether to issue proceedings in court. >click to read< 11:50
Learn all about Okanagan Lake’s shrimp boat fleet
You don’t have to be Forrest Gump to start your own career as a shrimp fisherman. In fact, Okanagan Lake has its own shrimp fleet. Piscine Energetics operates research vessels that harvest mysis shrimp from the lake. Harvesting has been ongoing each summer since 2000. It was started in response to falling kokanee numbers. The shrimp had been introduced in the 1960s and were seen as a food source for the fish. For a few years, record size kokanee were caught. But the plan soon backfired when it was realized the shrimp were competing for food with the kokanee fry. A recent ad recruiting shrimp boat deckhands explains Piscine’s “mission to restore fish populations to their natural levels through the management of invasive aquatic organisms.” Interesting video, >click to read< 10:08
Lobsterman catches 3rd rare orange lobster in a week
A lobsterman working out of Portland caught his third rare orange lobster in a week on Thursday. Capt. Peter Pray showed up at Harbor Fish Market with another orange lobster, after catching two last Friday, according to CBS 13. Pray reportedly used the same trap he used to catch the first two. Pray caught the lobster using the same trap that he used to catch the first two. Photos, video, >click to read< 09:05
Not So Fast, Orsted
Three groups have filed suit in Superior Court challenging New Jersey DEP’s approval of the Ocean Wind 1 project consisting of nearly 100 turbines to be located 15 miles off New Jersey’s busiest beach communities. In papers filed in New Jersey’s Appellate Division, Save LBI, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ said that the turbines, at least 906 feet in height (with their blades, nearly as tall as the Empire State Building), will be fully visible from New Jersey’s beaches and will crush and destroy the seabed, each tower weighing up to five million pounds. >click to read< 07:59
BREAKING NEWS: U.S. COURT OF APPEALS RULES IN FAVOR OF MAINE LOBSTERMEN
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) in its appeal of a lower court ruling in Maine Lobstermen’s Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service. Following is initial reaction from Patrice McCarron, policy director for the MLA: “When the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) made the decision to sue the federal government, we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we refused to go down without a fight. Today’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals is an overwhelming victory for lobstering families and the communities that rely on this industry, and it reaffirms what the MLA has been saying all along – the federal government does not have a blank check to use “worst case scenarios” and disregard actual data in its regulation of the Maine lobster fishery. >click to read and comment< 18:48
Federal appeals court sides with lobstermen in whale protection case anchored off New England
A federal appeals court has sided with commercial fishermen who say proposed restrictions aimed at saving a vanishing species of whale could put them out of business. The fishermen and the state of Maine appealed their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after losing in a lower court. The appeals court said Friday it disagreed with the lower court’s ruling. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and other Maine politicians have sided with the fishermen, who feel the new fishing restrictions are based on flawed data and are overly punitive. The U.S. lobster fishing industry, worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year, is based largely in the state. “We’re facing rules that are just nonsensical,” said Dave Cousens, a lobster fishermen and past president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “They don’t pass a straight-face test.” >click to read< 15:32
ADF&G discusses where to spend disaster funding for crabbing fisheries
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game hosted a second meeting to discuss how to distribute funds to fisheries that experienced disaster in recent years, with Thursday’s meeting focusing on Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries. Much of the discussion centered around the division of payments between the vessel and crew members, with several people calling for 60% to go to the vessel and 40% to the crew, rather than a 70/30 split. “The boat I’m on and have been on for many years, we’re the same on any crab fishery — it’s always 60 to the boat and 40 to the humans,” fisherman Mike Mathisen said. Video, >click to read< 13:40
Commercial Fisherman Michael R. Price of Newport, Oregon, has passed away
Michael “Mikey Who” (as he was known to many) was born on February 25, 1955, in Coos Bay, Oregon to Roy L. Price and Jeanette G. (Bunker) Price. He graduated as an Honor Student from Pacific High School in 1973. That fall he enrolled in SOC at Ashland, Oregon. He attended SOC for 2 years then left to become a full-time commercial fisherman and he never looked back. His first boat was named the Abiquay. He fished for salmon and bottom fish at that time. He and his faithful dog, Quila, became well known on the Oregon and Northern California coast as fine fishermen. They made friends everywhere they traveled. >click to read< 12:08
Tons of fish caught in Russia is sold in America, despite import ban
President Joe Biden signed an import ban on Russian seafood last year, but fish valued at several hundred millions of dollars are able to evade the ban by diverting to another another country before arriving on American shores. “There has been a huge loophole where the Russians have been now sending their fish – it’s pollock, it’s salmon, a little bit less crab – to other countries for reprocessing, primarily China,” U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan told reporters Thursday. The ban was intended to ensure Americans aren’t indirectly financing Russia’s war on Ukraine through their purchases. >click to read< 11:07
Ocean lifeline saved N.S. lobster pound cut off for 13 days by wildfires
The situation was bleak. The wildfire was moving closer and there were $5 million worth of live lobsters in tanks with no power, no refrigeration, no water circulation and no way to get fuel for the generators. “And the roads are closed. The roads were on fire. So it’s not like we could say, ‘wow, just let us bring a truck in.’ So we had to find a Plan B,” recalled Greg Sutcliffe, plant manager at the Fisherman’s Market lobster pound at Ingomar on the tip of southern Nova Scotia. It was one of two Fisherman’s Market operations on the coast inside the Shelburne County fire evacuation zone. At Ingomar, Plan B was to get there by boat. >click to read< 10:00
Global Wind Day, Environmental Nightmare
June 15 was Global Wind Day. Its European industry sponsors hope to promote the “power and possibilities” of wind turbines. But beware the Ides of June. Wind turbines have been sold to us as a means of reducing emissions, global warming and climate change. Although there are a lot of wind turbines installed around the world with many more seemingly to come, they have not reduced emissions, warming or climate change. And they offer no chance to do so, even if those things were desirable. Coming eight days short of the 35th anniversary of James Hansen’s Senate testimony that sent the world into global warming panic, it’s clear to anyone who cares to look that emissions have nothing to do with recent warming. >click to read< 08:55
Government Watchdog Agrees to Probe Effects of Offshore Wind Turbines
Following a request from a group of Republican congressmen, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent watchdog, has agreed to conduct an investigation into the environmental effects of offshore wind turbines, which the Biden administration has increasingly supported. The effort was spearheaded by Representative Chris Smith (R., N.J.), who sent a letter to the GAO’s comptroller requesting information about the effects in the North Atlantic Planning Area, which extends from Maine to New Jersey. Of particular interest is whether wind turbines will cause economic and marine-life problems affecting commercial fishing. >click to read< 07:38
The fishermen
Jose Quezon’s hands moved like the parts of a well-oiled machine. It was April 1 2021, and the Northern Osprey, a 20m fishing trawler that sails out of Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, was in UK waters near the Isle of Man. The boat and its crew, four Filipinos and one British captain, had been at sea since dawn two days before. But Quezon had been at sea for the majority of his adult life. He had worked as a deckhand in the Philippines for 14 years and, since 2009, on British-flagged boats fishing out of UK ports. Technically, Quezon lived in the Philippines. But each year, he boarded a plane in Manila and flew to Belfast in Northern Ireland or Aberdeen in Scotland. When he arrived, his visa gave him 48 hours to transit through the UK to join a ship, which he’d live on for the next eight to 12 months. >click to read< 20:56
NOAA says revised analysis could allow Southeast king salmon troll fishing, despite ruling
The National Marine Fisheries Service hasn’t ruled out the possibility of opening the summer troll season for king salmon in Southeast Alaska, despite a federal judge’s recent ruling to the contrary. The service’s Alaska regional administrator, Jon Kurland, told a roomful of trollers during a June 7 meeting in Sitka that the agency was working hard to correct the problems identified in the federal lawsuit. The Wild Fish Conservancy in Washington state sued to stop the Southeast Alaska troll season, seeking to protect endangered Southern Resident killer whales’ food sources. >click to read< 12:57
Conservation must trump profit; SEA-NL calls on DFO to close window on high-grading in crab fishery
Seaward Enterprises Associations of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) has called on the federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans to take immediate action to close a window that’s been opened by processors/buyers to allow for high-grading in the snow crab fishery. “Conservation must trump profit, which is obviously not the case with the processing sector that is out to scrape every last cent from the inshore fleet at the expense of the future health of the stock,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. For years there has been an industry-managed two-price system for snow crab in Newfoundland and Labrador — with a higher price paid for crab with a greater than four-inch carapace (currently $2.25/lb), and lower price for smaller, but still legal-sized crab ($1.90/lb). >click to read< 11:07
SNP and Greens face fight on HPMAs as salmon farmers and fishers join forces in ‘Seafood Coalition’
Scotland’s nationalist government is facing a huge fight on its proposal for Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), amid claims they are being used to appease the Scottish Green Party. The country’s salmon farmers and fishers have joined forces to launch a petition against the move at Holyrood. The ‘Seafood Coalition’ wants to see the plans, which could limit activities such as fishing and aquaculture in 10 per cent of Scottish waters, scrapped. The SNP and Greens claim the zones will “provide high levels of protection” for the marine environment. The coalition includes Salmon Scotland, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, Seafood Scotland, Scottish Association of Fish Producers’ Organisations, Community Fisheries Inshore Alliance and Scottish Seafood Association. >click to read< 10:28
Today is National Lobster Day
In colonial times and in the early years of the republic, lobster was most often eaten by the lower classes, servants, slaves, and apprentices—it was not until much later that it became a delicacy. This was largely because lobster was so plentiful and cheap. European settlers reported they found them washed ashore in piles two feet high. In these early years, they were known as the “cockroach of the ocean,” and prisoners were even known to refuse to eat them. Although Native Americans ate crustaceans, they also commonly used lobster as fertilizer and on fishing hooks. >click to read< 09:39
Cornwall fishing father and son illegally caught pregnant lobsters
Officials said Andrew, 30, and 54-year-old Leslie Burt may have even scrubbed the shellfish to remove their eggs so it was not apparent they had been carrying them. Pleading guilty to seven charges relating to catching lobsters and poor record keeping, the pair were sentenced at Truro Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday for also retaining and landing lobsters with mutilated tails in their boat Isabelle. On December 19, 2022, the fishing vessel Isabelle PW64 returned to the port of Padstow after a six-day fishing trip both inside and outside the Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) district. Cornwall IFCA officers conducted a routine inspection of the catch of crabs and lobsters and discovered 28 berried female lobsters and two lobsters with damage to their tails. >click to read< 08:40
New Zealand: Fishing industry boasts of lowest carbon emissions – with caveats
“In 25 years at sea, I’ve seen quite a lot of changes,” Epiha says. “For example, they’re not shy at upgrading boats. Now we’re starting to see results from our fuel usage, fuel savings, reduced carbon footprint.” The 64-metre San Discovery, which he captains, is a deep-sea trawler that can produce fillets, headed and gutted fish, squid tubes, fishmeal and fish oil – all processed, packaged and labelled to export standards. “What I can hand-on-heart say is, we do care a lot about the environment,” he says. “It’s engrained in the way we operate, adjusting gear to make sure that it’s less drag on the bottom, easier to tow, because all that adds up to less fuel usage.” >click to read< 07:49
Canadian Wildfire Season Is Upon Us (A Few Engineering Notes on the Season)
In case you haven’t noticed the smell of burnt flannel and soft wood in the air, it is definitely Canadian fire season. This French fried time of year is accompanied by acrid smoke, heavy fog like conditions, and a feeling of having smoked a pack of non-filtered camels without actually being a smoker. With the ocean looking like the backstage of a Snoop Dogg concert it is time to take stock of a few issues that may occur. By JJ Johnson, photos, >click to read< 18:44
Coast Guard rescues 3 from fishing vessel taking on water near Pascagoula, Miss.
The Coast Guard rescued three fishermen from a vessel taking on water 8 miles south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, Wednesday. Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received notification via VHF-FM channel 16 at approximately 1:30 a.m. from the crew of the 55-foot fishing vessel F/V Capt Quintinn stating they were taking on water. Photos, >click to read< 16:49
Nova Scotia judge rejects $170K compensation claim over seized lobster
The owner of a lobster pound has failed in his bid to be compensated for lobster that were seized by fisheries officers and dumped back into the ocean. A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled the lobster were not caught or sold by someone who possessed a commercial licence to sell the catch. Rockville Carriers Ltd. operates a pound in Town Point, Yarmouth County. The company sued the federal government for compensation. On Nov. 15, 2019, fisheries officers raided the Rockville compound and seized more than 5,200 kilograms of lobster that had been delivered that morning. The lobster came from Kylie and Boys Fisheries Ltd., which is owned by David Pictou. >click to read< 15:27
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 55’x19′ Wesmac Lobster/Tuna, 803HP Yanmar Diesel, Northern Lights -12 KW
To review specifications, information, and 35 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 12:04
Get your motor running: Lobster boat racing season is here!
The season opener of Maine lobster boat racing season 2023 shifts into high gear Saturday, June 17 in Boothbay Harbor with the Charlie Begin Memorial Lobster Boat Races. Boat captains can sign up at Brown’s Wharf on Atlantic Avenue between 9 and 10 a.m. There is an entry fee of $20, but that fee will be waived for boat captains 18 or under to encourage younger participation in the event. The races start at 10 a.m. All entry fees collected will go to Maine Lobstermen’s Association. Ashleeann Lowery has been organizing the Boothbay Harbor races for well over a decade and has been a member of the racing committee since 2007. “I heard, although you never know until these guys show up,” said Lowery, “but I heard David Taylor’s Misty was re-powered this year, and that just might give Blue Eyed Girl a little run for her money.” >click to read< 11:31
NC joins pact to cover offshore wind farm related fisheries losses
North Carolina has joined nearly a dozen other East Coast states to create a financial compensation program that would cover economic losses within the fisheries industry caused by Atlantic offshore wind development. The Fisheries Mitigation Project aims to establish a regional administrator to oversee the process of reviewing claims and making payouts collected through a fund paid for by wind developers to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries industries to mitigate financial loss associated with offshore wind farms. The goal first and foremost of the states is to ensure wind energy areas and the cable systems that will run from wind farms to land are developed in way that would result in minimal impacts to the fisheries industry. >click to read< 10:22
