Daily Archives: December 11, 2023
Jonesport Shipyard sold to president of Maine Lobster Boat Races Penobscot Marine Museum Board president
An established boatyard is in new but experienced hands after the Jonesport Shipyard changed hands mid-November. Jon Johansen is known up and down the coast as president of Maine Lobster Boat Racing, but he also publishes the monthly newspaper Maine Coastal News and is president of Maine Built Boats, Penobscot Marine Museum Board president and director of the International Maritime Library. The man knows his boats, so why not buy a boatyard? But the response to his decision, Johansen shared, was, “Are you crazy?” Johansen was concerned about losing working waterfront, he said. Recently, he’d learned of Osmond Beal’s boat shop on Beals Island being sold to a Florida resident — who closed it off with a locked gate. Johansen said he didn’t want to see the Jonesport Shipyard, fronting Moosabec Reach and on the market, also lost. more, >>click to read<< 19:33
Maine DMR Receives $17 Million to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry, Improve Flawed Right Whale Data
Governor Janet Mills and Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher today announced that Maine has received $17,252,551 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help improve data on endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARW). The money was the result of The Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congress in December of 2022 which established a $26 million fund for states with lobster fisheries. This fund is administered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission which divided the money among states based on active lobster harvesters. “The goal of this research is to collect data that tells us what is happening in the Gulf of Maine, so we can be protective of whales in a way that also doesn’t devastate Maine’s critically important lobster industry,” said DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher. more,>>Click to read<< 16:52
Greenlaw joins NEFSA board of directors
Maine fisherman Linda Greenlaw has joined the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association’s board, “the only fishing organization I have been involved with,” she said Dec. 8 on Facebook while fishing off Isle au Haut. I … was so impressed with [CEO and founder Jerry Leeman’s] knowledge and logic and articulation of the issues and fisheries in general, with his experience as a fisherman who knows the industry being the leader and voice,” she added. more, >>click to read<< `12:53
NJ’s lucrative clam fishing industry is threatened by climate change – and the wind farms meant to fight it
The Atlantic surfclam fleet fishes year-round from Virginia to Massachusetts and out to the edge of the continental shelf. The fleet sold $27 million worth of surfclams to processors last year, federal data shows, and the sector is largely based out of New Jersey — three-fifths of last year’s haul was brought ashore in the Garden State. Surfclam meat is used for chowders, clam strips and other products, including tinned products. Muscles that the clams use to pull themselves around the seafloor, which are called tongues or feet, are the most highly valued parts. The product unloaded in Point Pleasant Beach was destined to be shucked at the processing plant and delivered to manufacturers like Campbell’s, Bumble Bee Foods and LaMonica Fine Foods. more, >>click to read<< 10″57
Coast Guard Veteran, Retired Commercial Fisherman Vito J. Calomo has passed away
Vito J. Calomo, 79, of Gloucester husband of the late Josephine R. (Curcuru) Calomo passed away peacefully on Friday, December 8, 2023, at Care One at Essex Park Nursing Home in Beverly. He was born in Gloucester on April 19, 1944, son of the late Joseph “Sandy” and Rose M. (Loiacano) Calomo. Vito was a graduate of Gloucester High School, Class of 1962 and later attended North Shore Community College, receiving his associate degree in business. He proudly served in the United States Coast Guard. He had several jobs throughout his life but being on the water as a fishing captain was his greatest passion. He enjoyed flying fish spotting planes, was an avid Red Sox and Patriots fan but most of all was spending time with his grandson and namesake, Vito. more, >>click to read<< 09:35
UK secures £970million fishing stock with EU in deal ‘better than if we were in the bloc’
A new set of agreements between Norway and the UK opens up an estimated €1billion in fishing opportunities for the EU country, the European Commission has said. The UK meanwhile has secured an estimated £970million in the deal. It comes after years of haggling over post-Brexit fishing arrangements which have left hundreds of UK fishermen “betrayed” – but the Government says the new deal for 2024 provides more for UK fishermen than it would have done were we still in the bloc. Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said: “These significant deals give UK fishermen access to important fish stocks worth £970million and take advantage of our position outside the EU to independently negotiate in our fishing fleets best interest. more, >>click to read<< 08:32
California Dungeness crab season on hold again, fishermen losing out big
“Absolutely criminal”.
Crabber Matthew Paul,
Dungeness crab season is on hold again. There are a lot fewer fishing boats at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay these days. A high number of migrating humpback whales and a recently confirmed leatherback sea turtle, the largest turtle in the world, being caught in Dungeness crab fishing gear, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, has caused the state to prevent crab traps from being used once again. “Absolutely criminal ’cause they’re not solving the problem by keeping us tied to the dock,” Matthew Paul, who has been crabbing along the California coast for four decades.”That’s about six bucks to the public,” Rick Hauschel explained the price of a crab held in his hands, after lifting one out of a tank on his boat, the Polaris. Video, photos, >>click to read<< 06:59
