Daily Archives: January 29, 2024
Maine lobstermen save missing man’s life, officials say
A man was rescued by a local lobsterman off the coast of St. George Sunday evening in a case that fire officials say highlights the importance of telling people what your plans are and when you plan to return. St. George Fire and Rescue were called just before 5 p.m. Sunday to look for a man who had missed a check-in with his family while he was bringing in a skiff. While first responders were figuring out where to begin their search between Tenants Harbor and Rackliff Island, someone heard a person yelling from a nearby island and called it in. More, >>click to read<< 18:45
U.S. Department of Commerce allocates more than $42M in fishery disaster funding
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced today the allocation of more than $42 million to address fishery disasters that occurred in Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Yurok Tribe fisheries from 2017 to 2022. “Sustainable fisheries are essential to the health of our communities and support the nation’s economic well-being,” said Secretary Raimondo. “With these allocations, it is our hope that these funds help the affected communities and tribes recover from these disasters.” Today’s announcement applies to the following fishery disasters: Links, more, >>click to read<< 14:34
Maine Lobster Industry Faces off against Conservationists over Whale Protections
Maine lobster fishers recently won reprieve on new federal regulations to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales. According to the Maine’s Lobstermen Association, The regulations could dramatically change lobster fishing practices, impacting fishers and Maine’s island communities who depend upon this resource. In 2023, a federal court ruled in favor of the Center and other groups, finding that NOAA had violated the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, and was not doing enough to reduce the lobster industry’s threat to right whales. But Maine’s community of lobster fishers are encouraged by the decision. “It gives us time to take a breath,” Steve Train, a commercial lobster fisher from Long Island, Maine, tells Food Tank. “Some people think it might be the end of it all, but I think most people see a little light now that we can work under.” “In the last 25 years, there has been one documented entanglement of a North Atlantic right whale in Maine fishing gear,” Train says. more, >>click to read<< 13:16
Last haul? As Georgetown eyes redevelopment, shrimpers brace for end of working waterfront
Timmy Jordan has spent most of his 49 years on the water. No wife. No kids. Just days and nights of dragging coastal waterway bottoms for shrimp, hoping for a good haul. But over the last few months, he has grappled with the stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining and depression. He’s been preparing to moor his trawler alongside sailboats scattered in the Sampit River because he and this city’s other five shrimp boat owners were told the dock at the end of Cannon Street will close this month. The target date for the closure has been fluid since last year as the Tarbox family worked through selling Independent Seafood, the former wholesale market on the dock that originally opened in 1939. The shrimpers have tried to find open dock space from the North Carolina line toward Georgia but have been told no one has room. For them, an anchor is the only option. “This is my life ending,” Jordan said aboard his Miss Lue. “This is death for us that’s been in the business for so many years. We’re dying. It’s dying, and we’re dying with it.” 63 photos, more, >>click to read<< 11:55
Ilwaco community rallies to salvage crabbing season after fire
Deckhand Curtis McKenzie and his captain, Zeke Estrella, of the Sunset Charge pulled up to Ilwaco Landing last Monday to drop off crab pots. The landing, which serves as a hub for Dungeness crab harvests, was oddly quiet, and workers didn’t meet them as they pulled in. So they went down to see what was going on. They smelled smoke, then saw an inferno. Estrella pushed into the growing blaze with a fire extinguisher, but the flames were too intense. They would later overwhelm firefighters and level the wooden dock and fish-receiving facility owned by Bornstein Seafoods. Thousands of stacked crab pots, carefully prepared and waiting for the season beginning Thursday, were destroyed. For some, it was unclear whether fishers could recover in time. But just hours after the fire, as smoke rose from the remnants, the port was buzzing as the community pulled together to restore what was lost. lots of photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:25
Sens. Murphy and Blumenthal propose bill linking commercial fishing and climate change
Connecticut’s U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal have teamed with their Massachusetts colleague Elizabeth Warren on a new bill designed to update Atlantic Coast commercial fishing as it relates to climate change. The Supporting Healthy Interstate Fisheries in Transition (SHIFT) Act would require the Department of Commerce to consider the changing geographic ranges of fish populations as it oversees federal fishery management plans and quota allocations for Atlantic states. The senators stated restrictions on the species and number of fish that can be caught in Atlantic waters need to be updated because fish locations have changed in response to warming ocean temperatures and climate change. more, >>click to read<< 08:01
‘Working Waterfront Support Fund’ helping Maine fishermen impacted by recent storms
It could be a while before Maine’s commercial fishing industry really sees the extent of the damage caused by the recent storms and flooding. Restoration efforts are underway now along the coast. The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association is stepping in to help. They’ve established the “Working Waterfront Support Fund.” They’re encouraging Mainers to make a contribution to help in the reconstruction of the working waterfront. more, >>click to read<< 07:52
