Monthly Archives: April 2024
Alaska fishermen and processing plants are in limbo as a state-backed seafood company teeters
The fishing fleet in the Southwest Alaska town of King Cove would have been harvesting Pacific cod this winter. But they couldn’t: Skippers had nowhere to sell their catch. The enormous plant that usually buys and processes their fish never opened for the winter season. The company that runs the plant, Peter Pan Seafoods, is facing six-figure legal claims from fishermen who say they haven’t been paid for catches they delivered months ago. King Cove’s city administrator says the company is behind on its utility payments. And now, residents fear the plant may stay closed through the summer salmon season, which would leave the village with just half of the revenue that normally funds its yearly budget. “We should be fishing right now,” said Ken Mack, a longtime King Cove fisherman. more, >>click to read<< 09:36
East End fishermen uneasy over wind farm South Fork Wind
Late last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul called South Fork Wind, which is projected to eliminate hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions annually, a “major milestone” in the state’s “nation-leading effort to generate reliable, renewable clean energy. “But at least one East End community remains staunchly opposed to wind farms: commercial fishermen — who say that the massive, 50-story turbines could irreparably damage the local marine ecosystem and displace them from areas they’ve fished for decades or even generations. more, >>click to read<< 08:12
Fisherman missing in water off Hawke’s Bay coast, colleagues join search
The colleagues of a fishing vessel crew member missing off the coast of Hawke’s Bay were on the water aiding search efforts more than 17 hours in. The man was reported overboard from a boat around 11km offshore of Waimārama, around 8pm on Easter Monday. Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre was running the search, which included rescue helicopter services from Auckland, Gisborne and Hastings, Coastguard Hawke’s Bay and other vessels in the area. Coastguard Hawke’s Bay president Henry van Tuel said the vessel from which the man had gone missing was the Pacific Challenger. more, >>click to read<< 06:48
Panel Selects ASP Formula, Pulling Fair Market Share from Harvester Reach
Minutes ago, the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel announced their decision for the 2024 snow crab season, siding with the Association of Seafood Producers formula. FFAW’s offer was based on the Blackwood report and would have seen harvesters capture a fair market value based on historic shares. ASP’s formula is not based on historic data, nor was justification found within their submission document. Moreover, there is no mechanism for harvesters to benefit as the market increases. ASP caps harvester share at 37% once the market reaches $8.02CAD, contrary to historic pricing shares that increases the harvester share as market prices increase. more, including 2024 Crab Fishery Decision, >>click to read<< 19:50
Union and Province Come to Agreement on ‘Free Enterprise’
Today, the Provincial Government has released a letter detailing the provincial changes taking place to increase provincial processing capacity and give harvesters more opportunities to sell their catch. The agreement, which stemmed from protests held last month in St. John’s and around the province, responds to harvesters’ demands for free enterprise. “We are pleased with the amount of collaboration and consultation that has taken place to produce the letter from Minister Loveless today. The Minister took the concerns of harvesters seriously and has made tangible changes that will have positive impacts for fish harvesters all over the province,” says FFAW-Unifor President Greg Pretty. “Importantly, I want our plant worker members to know you are not forgotten about, and these changes are expected to have minimal-to-no impact on existing jobs,” Pretty says. more, >>click to read<< 16:19
Shrimp Season to Open in a Portion of State Outside Waters on April 4
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced that the portion of state outside waters between Calliou Boca and Mound Point on Marsh Island shall reopen to shrimping at 6:00 p.m. on April 4, 2024. Recent biological sampling conducted by the department has indicated that small white shrimp, which have over-wintered in these waters from January through the present, have reached marketable sizes, and the closure is no longer necessary. more, including a map of the area opening. >>click to read<< 14:32
Oregon seafood industry calls on Gov. Tina Kotek to halt offshore wind energy development
A coalition of independent fishing boat operators, seafood companies and industry groups is calling on Gov. Tina Kotek to ask the federal government to stop a planned auction for floating wind energy projects off the Oregon Coast. In a letter to Kotek on Tuesday, the more than 100 signatories said she should stop the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from moving forward with its plan to auction offshore wind site leases until the state has finalized its own roadmap for offshore wind development. “We’re saying no auction until the roadmap is complete,” said Heather Mann, executive director of the Newport-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, which signed the letter. more, >>click to read<< 12:43
Toxic Dust Threatens California Salmon Population, Lawmaker Seeks Solution
For the first time in more than three decades of fishing for salmon near Bodega Bay, Dick Ogg will motor his white and navy boat, Karen Jeanne, north this summer past his typical fisheries in hopes of finding the multicolored species along the Oregon coast. There aren’t enough salmon left off the California coast for Ogg to sell on Bodega Bay’s historic docks. “We, as fishermen, have nowhere to turn,” he said. Fishery managers are signaling they may cancel California’s commercial salmon season for the second year in a row, which means the 71-year-old has two options: temporarily traveling to Oregon to catch salmon or barely making ends meet luring in rockfish and sablefish. Ogg, often in a gray hoodie and wiry sunglasses, wishes there was a solution for boosting California’s salmon schools. He describes the species as “having one of the greatest spirits” an ocean-fairing creature can have. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 11:34
New Beamer Hits The Water
A year on from the launch of Interfish beam trawler Admiral Gordon at Parkol Marine Engineering’s facility in Middlesbrough, the yard has launched sister vessel Admiral Blake PH-440 for the same customer. The yard’s newbuild no 60, Admiral Blake was wheeled out of the fabrication shed and craned into the Tees. Sister vessel Admiral Gordon was delivered last year and was the first beam trawler over 20 metres in length to be delivered by a UK yard for more than thirty years. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:23
Gulf’s next wind auction puts focus on Louisiana after Texas shuns renewables
After the Gulf of Mexico’s first-ever offshore wind lease auction drew zero bids for sites in the waters off Texas last year, federal regulators plan to tilt the second auction toward Louisiana. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed two new lease areas, totaling about 200,000 acres, in federal waters south of the Texas-Louisiana line, an area that may strike a balance between the stronger winds near Texas and the more welcoming politics of Louisiana. “Texas leaders said some inflammatory things about offshore wind right before the last lease sale,” said Jenny Netherton, a program manager for the Southeastern Wind Coalition. “That strongly suggested to some investors that Texas wasn’t the best bet.” more, >>click to read<< 08:18
Maine isn’t prepared for a huge threat to its fishing industry
More than two months after her commercial fishing pier on Mount Desert Island took a serious beating in back-to-back storms, Sheryl Harper has only just begun planning a way forward. High winds and storm surge swamped the pier twice in January, sending waves crashing into it, ripping doors away and heaving it up and down until the tides subsided. The pounding left the deck unusable, weakening the connection between its planks and the posts underneath, and prying the shoreside edge roughly 18 inches higher than the driveway leading up to it. The latter damage has made it impossible to get a work vehicle onto the pier to help clear out the debris. photos, video, more, >>click to read<< 06:54
