Daily Archives: April 22, 2024
Reason why RNLI declined to give stricken trawler a tow to port except as last resort
A disabled scallop trawler was forced to jettison its fishing gear as it drifted towards shipping lanes off Anglesey. An all-weather lifeboat (ALB) from Moelfre put to sea for eight hours after answering an emergency call for from the trawler. The 14-metre vessel found itself at the mercy of the currents after suffering a mechanical failure around 12 miles north of Puffin Island. Concerned about posing a risk to ships, its crew issued a Pan Pan call – a request for urgent help while not being in immediate danger. The RNLI crew discovered the vessel’s derricks (lifting gear) were stuck down and its scallop dredges were hanging some five meters beneath the surface. These are heavy-duty metal framed nets that are pulled over the seabed to harvest scallops. Photos, more, >>CLICK TP READ<< 19:18
Warming Waters Heat Summer’s Feast Well Before It Gets to the Kitchen
An ever-warming planet is playing havoc with the intricately interconnected web of marine life. Just as climate has long stressed human populations and driven migration, marine populations are stressed and in search of survivable climates too. In New England, scientists and lobstermen alike are studying and living the impacts. Tim Alley has been lobstering in Maine’s coastal waters for 40 years. “There’s been a trend in recent years related to temperatures,” he says. Alley is steeped in the traditions of his home state’s biggest industry and recently dusted off a short film from 1972 in which he starred at age 12, “Alone in My Lobster Boat,” filmed in South Bristol and New Harbor, Maine. Like most lobstermen, he would call himself an environmentalist: they live on the water, they live from the water, they thrive on the water. But they reject the notion that a species – the right whale – is failing because of them. Over 40 years, he says, he has seen exactly one right whale. Photos, Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:50
How the death of a mega-turbine rattled US offshore wind
When GE Vernova confirmed that it was canceling one of the largest wind turbines ever designed, it signaled a pause in an arms race that for years had led manufacturers to go higher, longer and wider when building towers, blades and other components. Now, that decision is reverberating across U.S. efforts to build wind projects in the Atlantic. New York canceled power contracts for three offshore wind projects last week, citing GE Vernova’s decision to abandon its largest turbine model, a massive 18-megawatt machine. The timing could hardly be worse. Offshore wind is the keystone of New York’s plan to generate 70 percent of its power with renewable energy by the end of the decade.“Using the lower-capacity turbines means that each developer would need to buy 12 to 13 additional turbines to build a project of the same capacity,” Jain said. “That also means more foundations, cables, days hiring expensive installation vessels and so on, significantly raising total project cost assumptions.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:24
France and its fishermen speak out against the United Kingdom and its marine protected areas
Taking the objectives set by the Kunming-Montreal Agreement at face value, the United Kingdom has strengthened the protection of its marine protected areas. An ecological decision that French fishermen and the Government took for them. France and its fishermen speak out against the United Kingdom and its marine protected areas or “trolling” fishing activities would be prohibited. If this new diplomatic conflict between France and the United Kingdom is far from being the first in the history of these two countries, its cause, the protection of biodiversity, differs from previous ones. On March 22, after a public consultation initiated in 2022, an order (1) published on February 1 by the British government’s Maritime Management Agency (MMO) strengthened the protection of thirteen pre-existing marine protected areas (MPAs). more, links, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:27
Two people dead, four others make it to shore after vessel capsizes in Newfoundland
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says two people were found dead and four others survived after a boat capsized off the west coast of Newfoundland. The department says the Canadian Coast Guard received a report of people in the water near the fishing town of Lark Harbour at around 11 a.m. Sunday after a seven-metre fishing vessel called Miss Jenny capsized with six people aboard. The coast guard issued a mayday relay to vessels in the area and its team, equipped with a fast rescue craft, along with a Cormorant helicopter based in Gander, N.L., were dispatched to help the people. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:41
