Daily Archives: August 5, 2023
Fishermen, activists protesting offshore wind projects on the East Coast
Critics are sounding the alarm on the ecological consequences of the Biden administration’s green energy agenda, specifically the increase marine wildlife deaths in conjunction with offshore wind farms. Activists along with local fishermen are particularly concerned about the rise in whale and dolphin beaching. “What we’re seeing is a failure to properly manage the situation,” Rhode Island fisherman Chris Brown said. “The whales have been migrating from their southern stations during the spring up through the mid-Atlantic region, and they didn’t even slow down the acoustic carpet bombing. And as a result, the Atlantic was littered with the dead whales and dolphins and sharks. There doesn’t seem to be any environmental concern. This is a manmade environmental disaster that’s unfolding. I expect that it will half a whale population in 10 years and probably the same for our fish.”Video, photos, >click to read< 19:17
Research groups sound alarm after three whales reportedly struck by ships off West Coast
Three whales were reportedly struck by vessels in northern B.C. waters over a 10-day period last month, raising West Coast humpback researchers’ concerns over the risk shipping poses to the marine mammals. The first report involved a BC Ferries vessel, the Northern Expedition, colliding with a whale in Wright Sound near Kitimat on July 20, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) confirmed. A second incident on July 21 involved a boat that transports workers to Alcan’s Rio Tinto power generation facility in Kitimat. And a cruise ship struck a whale in Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii and the B.C. mainland on July 29, DFO said. Shipping traffic and humpback whale populations are both on the rise, often in the same areas, escalating the risk of vessel strikes to humpbacks, the greatest threat to the species of special concern along with entanglements in fishing gear.>click to read< 17:46
Abbott’s Harbour wharf blocked off without notice to fishermen
For Pubnico-area lobster fisherman Jaron d’Entremont, the Abbott’s Harbour wharf has been his home port since he began his fishing career six years ago. “One day I was there checking my boat and I saw inspectors there looking around checking underneath the wharf. A month later without any notice they put the blocks there and deemed it unsafe, “Fishermen are permitted to walk down on the Yarmouth County wharf to check their vessels, said d’Entremont, but vehicular traffic is prohibited. Diggdon noted the Abbott’s Harbour wharf is under DFO’s Small Craft Harbour program and is classified as a core fishing harbour meaning “it is deemed critical to the commercial fishing industry.” >click to read< 12:28
Oregon imposes new limits on Dungeness crab fishermen to protect whales
After a lengthy debate, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission voted late on Friday to extend and add on new rules limiting how the state’s Dungeness crab fisherman are allowed to fish, in an effort to protect whales from getting caught in their traps for the next two years. The crustaceans are native to the Pacific Northwest and are one of Oregon’s most profitable products, raking in more than $91 million for the state’s fisherman in the 2021-2022 season. The commission, however, passed a number of regulations in 2020, in response to concerns that migrating whale populations off the coast of Oregon were getting caught in ropes and traps known as crab pots set up by crab fishers and becoming injured or exhausted to the point that they could drown. >click to read< 09:44
Devon fishermen’s names to be read in memorial roll call
A memorial service for fishermen lost at sea will see the names of those who have died read out for the first time. Among those remembered will be Lewis Mulhearn, who died after being injured when a World War Two bomb exploded underneath his boat. Sunday’s service has been organised by the Fishermen’s Mission. Family and friends of fishermen with a Devon connection who died are invited to add their loved one’s name. The names will be added to a memorial book to be kept at All Saints Church. Lewis Mulhearn died on 21 January, more than two years after the explosion of the wartime device while he was fishing off the Norfolk coast. >click to read< 08:49
Donalds introduces bill, The FISHES Act, to help fisheries recover faster from disasters like Hurricane Ian
Crabbers, shrimpers and net fishermen all took it on the chin after Hurricane Ian, with some completely out of business, and others struggling to rebuild storefronts, docks and boats. Painfully scarce: government aid dollars, despite a federal disaster declaration. Reviews, red tape and pending inspections make for a long, dragged-out process that takes years to work – if it does at all, says commercial fishing Captain Casey Streeter. The bipartisan legislation spearheaded by Naples Republican Congressman Byron Donalds would “improve the federal regulatory process associated with the allocation of fishery disaster relief (and) expedite the distribution of federal disaster relief following official fishery disasters.” This isn’t just a Florida problem. Nationwide, there are 27 such disaster declarations. “It could be salmon or cod … situations where fisheries are in trouble,” Streeter said, though he’s careful to add the legislation would be a hand-up – “just to get things stabilized – not a hand-out.” >click to read< 07:53
