Daily Archives: November 14, 2023
Coast Guard helicopter crash in Southeast Alaska injures 4 crew members
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crashed late Monday on an island in Southeast Alaska, and all four people aboard survived, officials said. The Sitka-based MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crashed on Read Island during a search and rescue mission, U.S. Coast Guard Alaska wrote in a statement Tuesday. The crew members were being treated for serious injuries, the statement said. A crashed on Read Islandfishing vessel reported the crash around 11:05 p.m., according to the statement. The boat had been flooding and was receiving help from the Coast Guard. Two Coast Guard cutters responded to the area to help the flooding fishing vessel and established a security zone around the helicopter crash, the statement said. This is a developing story. >>click to read<< 15:59
Three Indigenous-owned businesses given leg up into NSW fishing industry in attempt to close the gap
Yuin man Wally Stewart says he has been fighting for 40 years to get his people a seat at the table of the commercial fishing industry on the New South Wales south coast. Today he is a step closer. Mr Stewart is a director of Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation, one of three Aboriginal community-owned businesses selected by the NSW government to receive support to break into the commercial fishing sector. Mr Stewart is part of a group seeking native title rights over more than 450 kilometres of coastline along the south coast. He hopes to let the Yuin people carry out their cultural fishing practices. “South coast people are coastal people,” he said. “For thousands of years, we’ve relied on our ocean and estuaries for food; our mob were taught to fish and to live and look after our oceans. >>click to read<< 14:45
Opening of season proves bay scallops are hard to find
While the rest of us admire fall foliage, North Fork baymen look to nature for signs that predict the health of adult bay scallops. They watch the docks and parking lots to see if they are littered with broken scallop shells dropped and picked over by gulls; a good sign. They scan the beaches after a strong wind to see if scallops have washed up, another good sign. This year, once again, the signs were not encouraging. The bay scallop season, which started Monday in New York and runs through March, looks to be just as bad this year as it has been for the past four, which means the most reliable way to get a bay scallop dinner is to know a fisherman — and the most reliable way for a fisherman to make a living is to fish for something else. >>click to read<< 13:03
Grundéns Unveils Innovative New Offerings for Commercial Fisherman
Grundéns is proud to introduce its latest range of innovative new products designed with the extreme demands of commercial fishermen squarely in mind. With nearly 100 years of hard earned know how protecting commercial fisherman from the harshest conditions imaginable, Grundéns relentless pursuit to create the worlds most trusted gear can be seen throughout these new products. Leading their new offerings is the Crewman Tall boot, engineered in partnership with Michelin® who helped develop the outsole of the new Crewman Tall boot. >>click to read<< 11:25
Lawmakers form Seafood Caucus to help Louisiana fishermen
Consumers likely don’t think twice about where the shrimp or seafood bought at grocery store comes from, but Louisiana fisherman—and now federal lawmakers—are asking people to pay attention. “We’re losing an industry and a culture and a way of life in Louisiana and across the country,” said Acy Cooper, who comes from a long line of shrimpers. He says what was once a reliable profession has now become heartache. It’s not just a problem in Louisiana—which is why lawmakers from all four of the country’s coasts are joining together to find a solution. Video, >>click to read<< 10:28
Northern cod numbers may have moved out of critical zone, says federal scientist
Captain Alex Saunders has more experience fishing northern cod than most fishermen. At 81 years old, the fishing captain has fished for cod off the Labrador coast for six decades. This year, he says, was a banner year for that fishery. “There were no codfish in northern Labrador for about 60 years, but this summer the cod were all along the Labrador coast from Blanc Sablan in the south to north of Nain,” Mr. Saunders says. A good catch rate this season meant Mr. Saunders’s crew hauled in 
gillnets every day for weeks, returning to communities such as Pinsent’s Arm, a fishing town of about 50 people along the Labrador coast, to land cod at the wharf. But the season’s quick success also meant its early closing. “On a Friday afternoon they said, ‘Get your gear out of the water Sunday by six o’clock,’” Mr. Saunders says of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) decision to shut down the fall northern cod stewardship fishery weeks earlier than planned – a measure to ensure fishing did not exceed season limits. Photos, >>click to read<< 08:33
Canada, Nova Scotia move to improve fishing vessel safety
On the eve of the most lucrative fishery in Canada, federal and provincial authorities are ramping up fishing vessel inspections in Nova Scotia seeking proof of safety procedures and annual inspections of hoists and other lifting devices. Lobster season in southwest Nova Scotia opens in two weeks. Some of the increased scrutiny is being attributed to the sinking of the Chief William Saulis, a scallop dragger that went down in heavy seas near Digby in December 2020. All six men on board died. Transport Canada has served notice that its marine inspectors want to see written safety procedures on board and proof crew members are familiar with them. “Failure will result in a deficiency notice or detention of the vessel,” says spokesperson Sau Sau Liu. Video,>>click to read<< 07:08
