Daily Archives: January 21, 2024
Inside the frigid effort to salvage a wrecked Maine fishing boat
With an environmental remediation and salvage plan in place and OK’d by several governmental agencies, landowners and the Coast Guard, workers toiled in sub-freezing temperatures, on icy rocks, trying to remove any reusable fishing equipment from the vessel before breaking it up and hauling away the pieces in dump trucks. The Tara Lynne II’s owner, David Osier, stood and watched, impassive, as his boat was shredded. “It wasn’t making money, anyway,” Osier said, shaking his head a little bit. “We were insured, but not enough.” Besides, the Bristol-based fisherman and business owner has other things to worry about. Osier has two more boats at sea right now, trying to catch enough fish to make a living. more, >>click to read<<12:21
Recreational, commercial shrimp season closes in state waters
Georgia’s commercial and recreational food shrimp season closed on Thursday, Jan. 18, and will open again in May. This season saw 184 licensed shrimp trawlers in Georgia’s water, 117 of which were Georgia residents. On average, these shrimpers harvested 16.788 pounds of shrimp tails per hour spent trawling, the highest catch per unit effort on record. The closure affects Georgia’s territorial waters three nautical miles out to sea. This year’s is the highest CPUE CRD has recorded. Diesel fuel prices continue to challenge Georgia’s shrimping industry, with the national average price of No. 2 diesel fuel sitting at $4.214, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. more, >>lick to read<< 19:20
Provincial Fisheries Minister “Not on the Ball” Ahead of 2024 Snow Crab Fishery: Cleary
A long-time advocate for inshore enterprise owners is accusing the provincial fisheries minister of not being on the ball ahead of the 2024 snow crab fishery, which is only two-and-a-half months away. Ryan Cleary, who recently stepped down as the Executive Director of SEA-NL, is now focusing his efforts on the creation of a fisheries co-op for local enterprise owners. He expected a decision from Minister Elvis Loveless on new fish processing licences, and the possible lifting of a cap on independent local processors, before Christmas but there’s been no word to-date. more, >>click to read<< 09:50
Read the final Coast Guard report on the 2019 sinking of F/V Scandies Rose in Gulf of Alaska
The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has issued its final report on the sinking of the 130-foot crab vessel Scandies Rose on New Year’s Eve, 2019, a tragedy that took the lives of five men on board, including the captain. Two crew members, Dean Gribble Jr., of Edmonds, Wash., and Jon Lawler, of Anchorage, survived by reaching a life raft in the roiling the Gulf of Alaska; they were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard near Sutwick Island off the Alaska Peninsula. Captain Gary Cobban, Jr. and his son David, Seth Rousseau-Gano, Arthur Ganacias, and Brock Rainey died. Lawler died in a motorcycle accident on Oct. 31, 2021, leaving Gribble as the sole survivor of the disaster. The Marine Board of Investigations found a major factor in the sinking was the captain’s judgment. An earlier report by the National Transportation Safety Board was more guarded in assigning blame. more, >>click to read<< 08:19
Collins vows to help rebuild Harpswell waterfront during visit
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vowed to help secure funding to rebuild Harpswell’s storm-damaged working waterfront during a visit to the town on Saturday, Jan. 20. Collins, who visited Henry Allen’s Seafood on Lookout Point and two other heavily damaged sites on Bailey Island, called the destruction “heartbreaking.” “I want to do everything that I can to try to secure assistance, working with the governor, with the local community, with the rest of the (congressional) delegation, in order to assist these families in their time of need,” Collins said before a group of lobstermen and other waterfront workers and advocates during her visit. “The devastation is incredible.” phootos, more, >>click to read<< 07:15
