Daily Archives: March 20, 2024
Maritime elver fishery closure penalizes legal fishers, committee hears
The committee heard from the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the RCMP, the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, and a legal elver fisherman with Shelburne Elver. “I lost my partner to cancer a few months ago,” Zachary Townsend, the elver fisherman, told the committee. “It’s been hard and unbearable at times. But to now be unemployed and facing an uncertain financial future is simply a challenge I didn’t need. “And I don’t share such sad news to vote your pity, but instead to remind you that each of us 1,100 [Maritime elver fishers] has a story and a unique set of circumstances now made worse by the minister.” The elver fishing season was cancelled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after Fisheries and Oceans Canada admitted it couldn’t control poaching or the export of baby eels, which sell for thousands of dollars a kilogram. more. >>click to read<< 16:42
Scallop wallop – Japanese imports are taking a bite out of New Bedford’s lucrative seafood industry at a time when the region’s shellfish are in shorter supply.
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, landed a deal to supply U.S. military bases in Japan with scallops and other Japanese seafood products. Japan is an ally, he said, and it is important to support one of their major industries in a challenging moment. “In America we have a saying about being a good neighbor,” Emanuel said, according to the military news service Stars and Stripes. “This is being a good neighbor.” The recent spike in Japanese scallop imports is a complex political tangle. But in the U.S. seafood trade, distributors aren’t buying Japanese scallops to be neighborly, as Emanuel put it. “It’s business,” said Drew Minkiewicz, a D.C. attorney who represents commercial fishing and shipping interests. “Japan’s government is making a targeted effort to push as many scallops as they can into the U.S. That competes directly with our scallops here.” more, >>click to read<< 12:36
N.L. government seeks injunction against fishermen amid tense protest at Confederation Building
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has gone to the Supreme Court to seek an injunction against fish harvesters who swarmed Confederation Building on Wednesday as part of an ongoing protest over fishery regulations that has led to the postponement of the provincial budget. The government announced the postponement after protesters blocked entrances to the building, refused to let government workers inside and had physical confrontations with police officers and horses. A protester complaining of leg pain and a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer have been taken from the scene in an ambulance. Protest organizer John Efford Jr. called the budget cancellation historic.”And I have a feeling it may be cancelled again tomorrow, the next business day and the next business day until we get what ? Free enterprise,” he said. Video’s, Photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:53
A Day on the Bay with Métis Commercial Fisherman Bernie LePage
A day in the life of Métis commercial fisherman Bernie LePage starts like any other; with a coffee, a long drive to work and a short walk into the office. For Bernie, his office is the bridge of his fishing tug, and his workplace is the deep blue waters of Georgian Bay. A citizen of the Historic Georgian Bay Métis Community, MNO Region 7, Bernie has been fishing off the coast of Lafontaine since he was a young boy. The LePage family have been fishing out of Penetanguishene Harbour for four generations, dating back to 1861. His ancestors were both blacksmiths and commercial fishermen who used wooden rowboats. “It was tough work just to catch a few fish back then,” says Bernie. Times have certainly changed and the vessel Bernie now uses, which was also used by his father, the ‘Laurie E’, is a 1955 Great Lakes “tug”. The boat was built to handle turbulent waters in Georgian Bay while also hauling tons of fish and fishing gear. more, >>click to read<< 10:00
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 2022 36′ Wayne Beal Lobster Boat, 500 HP C90
To review specifications, information, and 10 photos’,>click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 08:40
‘A lot of people are upset.’ Vineyard Wind compensation offer for fishermen stirs worries
Commercial fishers who are sharing part of their customary fishing waters with Vineyard Wind may be eligible for compensation through the developers Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program. Eric Hesse, chairman of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance board, said most of the fishing in the lease area is by dragging. The sandy bottom there is a habitat for fluke, or summer flounder, one of the most important commercial and recreational flatfishes, according to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. It’s also habitat for longfin squid, skates and monkfish, as well as a fishing area for scallops, sea clams and ocean quahog. But pelagic fish, like tuna — which he fishes for — also migrate through the area. “Who knows how that fishery may be affected,” he said. “It’s a sticky thing and a lot of people are upset.” more, >>click to read<< 07:06
Owner of sunken historic fishing boat leaking fuel off Maine’s coast has been charged
The owner of a sunken 80-foot-long fishing boat that’s sitting at the bottom of New Meadows River in Harpswell and leaking oil is now facing charges. The boat, the sardine carrier Jacob Pike, sank in Harpswell during January’s twin storms and record-high tides. The harbormaster hasn’t received a plan yet for raising and disposing of the sunken boat. The town is summonsing the boat’s owner, Cyrus Cleary, for the crime of abandonment of a watercraft, according to the harbormaster. more, >>click to read<< 06:12
