Monthly Archives: May 2024
The seafood industry is in trouble. Processors and policy makers blame Russia.
Alaska waters produce the most seafood in the country, and many of the state’s coastal communities depend on commercial fisheries to sustain their economy. But Alaska’s fisheries are facing a massive economic slump right now and policymakers are increasingly blaming flooded global markets. The private sector and federal policymakers are teaming up to try to stop the bleeding. Last year was brutal on the seafood industry. Processing companies and fishermen alike suffered amid cratering prices, and they blamed Russia for flooding markets. Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, from Alaska, pointed his finger at the country at a news conference on May 23. “Russians have essentially admitted they’re not just at war in Ukraine, they’re at war with the American fishing industry,” he said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:03
DFO issues warnings about lobster trap tampering in Nova Scotia
The federal Fisheries Department is investigating reports of gear tampering in lobster fishing areas in eastern Nova Scotia. The department issued a statement late Thursday saying Indigenous fishers taking part in officially sanctioned moderate livelihood fisheries have reported tampering in two fishing areas, as have non-Indigenous commercial fishers. The lobster fishing areas in question are 26A, which includes the eastern half of the Northumberland Strait, and area 27, which extends from the tip of Cape Breton near Meat Cove to an area on the east side of the island near Garbarus. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:55
Fleetwood Lifeboat Station are welcoming former Coxswain Tony Cowell as the new Lifeboat Operations Manager
The station’s previous Lifeboat Operations Manager (LOM), Captain David Eccles, served as a lifeboat crew member for Fleetwood RNLI from 1989 to 2009. After retiring from crew David became LOM and then moved on the become Chairman of the Lifeboat Management Group (LMG), before returning as LOM in 2023. With the new LOM Tony Cowell now in post at Fleetwood RNLI, David he has resumed his position as Chairman of the LMG full time. Tony has had an experienced and extensive past involved in both fishing and saving lives at sea. As an ex trawlerman, he started fishing at the age of 15, with his first trip being to Iceland in 1972. In 1975, he joined the family fishing firm, Northfleet Fishing Co, and became skipper of the trawler Constant Hope. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:00‘You can’t be a fisherman if you’re not an optimist’-Ken Coleman, longtime advocate for the east side setnet fishery, dead at 72
Ken Coleman, the vice president of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen’s Association and longtime advocate for the east side setnet fishery, died recently at the age of 72. His friends remember him as a hardworking man who was resolute in his convictions and who worked to make Alaska better through his final days. Gary Hollier, a longtime commercial fisher in the ESSN, said last week that he met Coleman in high school and counted him as a friend for more than 50 years. The two entered the setnet fishery at the same time and raised their families on their fishing sites. Hollier described Coleman as the “ultimate professional” — whether the fishing was good or not, he always was geared up and ready. Coleman passed those values to his children. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:38
Louisiana’s fishermen are aging, but 1 New Orleans chef has a solution
A New Orleans chef has partnered with a Chalmette community college to create a new program to train the next generation of deckhands. Louisiana is the country’s second largest seafood producer, but its commercial fishermen are, on average, among the oldest in the country, and too few people are following in their footsteps to keep the industry going. Many of those jobs are part of long-time, family-owned businesses that have worked in the state’s coastal communities for generations. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:20
Catches up as LFA 33/34 season ends
Catches are up as lobster season comes to a close. Fishers will haul up their traps Friday for the last time until late November. Dan Fleck is the executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association. He says prices have fallen to over eight dollars a pound. “The past several weeks, catch rates have increased. It’s believed this is due to the water warming up. We believe the lobsters were there in the fall, but they weren’t crawling because the water was so cold,” said Fleck. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:01
Storm Brewing over French Halibut Fishery in Atlantic Canada
The Canadian halibut industry is accusing France of seeking an exorbitant share of the fishery in negotiations with Canada on quotas for the valuable groundfish that migrate across the jurisdictions of both countries. Canadian fishermen from Nova Scotia to Nunavut would be the losers if France prevails, said Bruce Chapman, executive director of the Atlantic Halibut Council, representing both inshore and offshore Canadian harvesters. French territorial waters extend into the Atlantic from the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, 25 kilometres from the southern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:41
Seacoast fishermen say they don’t support wind turbines in Gulf of Maine
A federal group wants to put wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, but some Seacoast fishermen said they don’t want them. On Wednesday night, several fishermen said they can’t get on board with the idea of wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said they’re trying to be as safe as possible with this potential project. The proposal would allow the state of Maine to build 12 floating turbines about 30 miles off the coast, which some fishermen said would cut them off from where they fish. The project, hoping to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale while supporting the Biden administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, is on track to be the first floating offshore wind farm in the United States, but more approvals are still needed. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:38
2024 Northeast Spring Bottom Trawl Survey Summary
The 2024 Spring Bottom Trawl Survey began on March 6 and completed operations on May 13 aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. The survey operates on the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf, sampling at stations from Cape Lookout, North Carolina to Canada’s Scotian Shelf. We planned 377 trawl survey stations and completed 367, for a high completion rate of 97 percent. We sampled plankton at a subset of stations. We took 111 bongo samples of 116 planned, or 96 percent. Data collected include fish age, length, weight, sex, maturity and food habits. All are critical data used in regional fish stock assessments. These assessments help inform fishery management decisions by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, as well as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Charts, photo gallery, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:20
Positive signals for Stornoway fishing fleet
With the Stornoway fleet expanding and good earnings available, the industry is again seen as an attractive option while vessel owners need to recruit locally as the supply of migrant labour dries up. The three-week courses will offer a grounding in the industry leading to potential careers. The training includes four mandatory one-day courses which are legally required to enable working on a fishing vessel. These are about sea survival, health and safety, first aid and firefighting. “There are now 12 trawlers working out of Stornoway and landing to Goat Island. That includes four which are completely new to the fleet within the past couple of years”. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:11
A Master Fisherman with a Big Heart, Peter Cabral Dies at 70
Described as “saltier than a Scully Joe” by his daughter, Ashley, master fisherman Peter Cabral, who earned his first full share on a commercial fishing boat when he was eight years old, died on May 13, 2024. The son of Anna (Corea) Cabral and Louis Cabral, his adoptive father, Peter was born on July 17, 1953 in Gloucester. He grew up on Pearl Street in Provincetown, surrounded by the extended Corea family: his grandparents, Joseph and Virginia Corea; cousins Frank Domingos, Bruce, Joey, and Donna; his aunt Florence; and especially his uncle Joseph Corea, who was like a father to him. When he was a boy, fishing was as natural to Peter as riding a bike. He started commercial fishing at eight. “He earned his full share of the catch, the same as the men on the boat,” Ashley said. “He worked on Papa Joe and on Miss Sandy with Louis Rivers. He was a fishing prodigy.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:19
Crisis in Irish Inshore Fishing Sector Calls for Urgent State Support
Fishermen have been denied the ability to fish for pollack, and the prices of crab, lobster, and other shellfish have either halved or collapsed entirely since the start of 2024. The ongoing crisis with shrimp prices since last year exacerbates the situation, leaving the sector in urgent need of support from the State. Despite multiple meetings with Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, the sector has not received the necessary support. “What is happening around the coast is quite heartbreaking,” Mac Lochlainn stated, highlighting the plight of coastal and island communities with generations of fishing experience now struggling to survive. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:47
2024 Shrimp Season kicks off on the Mississippi Sound
Quality, not quantity. That’s the theme for day one of the 2024 Shrimp Season on the Mississippi Sound. As the 2024 season kicked off at 6 a.m. this morning, a total of 46 boats made their way out on the water. While there weren’t many boats, those who did drop their nets found some decent-sized shrimp to sell back at the docks. “We saw about 46 boats from the preliminary estimates,” Mississippi DMR Shrimp & Crab Bureau Director Jason Saucier said. “We did see the largest group of boats inside of Horn Island.” Video ,more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:49
Lobstermen and Scientists See a Fishery in Flux
While overall the fishery seems stable, some lobstermen are seeing changes that have them worried about its future. Scientists are looking into what role the changing climate may be playing in those changes, but they don’t have definitive answers. “It’s horrible,” said Mike Rego, a lobsterman and owner of the F/V Miss Lilly who operates out of Provincetown. “Last year was the worst year I ever had.” Dana Pazolt, another Provincetown lobsterman who owns the F/V Black Sheep, said that the last four years have been slim for lobsters around the Outer Cape. “You’ve got to hunt for them,” he said. “I can’t tell you why that is.” The surface waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming at a rate of about one degree per decade, faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Meanwhile, in other areas, warming has already had an effect — it played a major role in causing the collapse of the lobster fishery in Long Island Sound in 1999. more, >>CICK TO READ<< 21:20
Would offshore wind turbines save or ruin the Jersey Shore? Debaters rumble in Berkeley
Police officers filled Central Regional High School on Tuesday night, where tensions ran high as critics and proponents of electricity generated by offshore wind faced off with impassioned speeches during a hearing held by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Capt. Ed Baxter, a scalloper who docks at Point Pleasant Beach, said dredging to bury the power cables outside of important fishing areas, such as the Manasquan Inlet and Shark River, would have serious impacts on commercial fishermen. Rose Willis, a member of the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative of Point Pleasant Beach, said that not only would local commercial fishing companies be affected by the offshore wind project, but also many small businesses that service or buy from their industry. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:14
ICCAT North Atlantic Swordfish Stakeholder Engagement Session
The Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to ICCAT is holding a public meeting via webinar session to receive an update and provide input on the development of a management strategy evaluation (MSE) for North Atlantic swordfish. The meeting is open to all interested stakeholders. The virtual meeting will be held by webinar session on June 13, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT. Please register to attend, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:51
A Very Dire Situation: Downward spiral for Atlantic cod continues in Gulf of St. Lawrence
The latest assessment of Atlantic cod fish stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence continues to paint a bleak picture for the future of the species. Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a warning five years ago saying extinction of the species in the gulf was not just possible, but probable. The first assessment since then has been released. “We are not seeing any recovery of the spawning stock biomass of that stock. It is still experiencing really high levels of natural mortality, especially at the adult stage of life,” said federal Fisheries and Oceans biologist Daniel Ricard. Between 60 and 70 per cent of cod in the southern gulf do not survive beyond age five and are likely being eaten by the huge herds of grey seals in the region, Ricard said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:17
United States Navy testing wind-turbine powered aircraft carriers
The United States Navy is currently testing aircraft carriers powered solely by wind turbines announced Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during a recent appearance at the US Naval Academy. The Secretary proudly spoke to the Midshipmen about the historic change. “We are embarking in a bold green direction, transitioning from the aging nuclear reactors of yesterday to the efficient use of sustainable wind energy, something we’ve never done before!” “The USS Al Gore will be complete with testing in late 2024. Initial testing has revealed a substantial decrease in speed which has only made the already dangerous take-off and landing exponentially more so. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:53
The crab kings
Near the end of 1991, the residents of Bugøynes, then a village of about 300 people in Norway’s Arctic north, ran an ad in the national newspaper Dagbladet, begging somebody to relocate them en masse. Cod and other whitefish, once Bugøynes’ bread and butter, were disappearing, and no one was quite sure why. One cold afternoon this past February, Leif Ingilæ rolls a cigarette and laughs hoarsely as he recalls the results. “We got offers from French vineyards to move all the residents there to pick grapes,” he says. “But we figured if everyone goes, we would all become alcoholics.” Mostly, the younger generation moved south in search of work, while the lifers survived on unemployment benefits. Ingilæ, whose family goes back generations in Bugøynes, first went to sea in 1967, when he was 15 years old. When the newspaper ad ran, it seemed his time in the area was up; his boat was one of just three anchored in Bugøynes’ harbor. Still, he stayed. photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:55
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 45′ Novi Clammer/Scalloper/Lobster Boat, Cat 3408
To review specifications, information, and 9 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 06:18
Commercial Fisherman Jimmie “John” Goodwin Jr., 60, of Cedar Island, North Carolina has passed away
Jimmie “John” Goodwin Jr., 60, of Cedar Island, North Carolina, passed away on Sunday, May 26, 2024, at his home. A funeral service to honor John’s life will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 30th, at Pilgrims Rest Free Will Baptist Church on Cedar Island, officiated by Rev. Kevin Stott. Interment will follow at Cedar Island Community Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 29th, at Pilgrims Rest Free Will Baptist Church. John was born on October 16, 1963, in Sea Level, North Carolina, to the late Jimmie and Ellen Goodwin. John had a deep connection to Pilgrims Rest Free Will Baptist Church and cherished his involvement there throughout his life. Known for his love of the salt life, John spent his life on the water as a seasoned commercial fisherman and graduate of Core Sound. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 20:32
Copper River salmon aficionados hail arrival of first fish
In Cordova the first 12-hour opener of the Copper River commercial salmon fishery, with 376 deliveries, yielded a catch of nearly 43,000 sockeye salmon, 1,108 Chinook, 247 chum, and two cohos to processors. The second opener, with 400 deliveries, brought in another 51,994 sockeye, 1,284 Chinook, 2,182 chum, and 62 coho salmon. As of May 21, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Cordova office said that the overall catch stood at 93,851 sockeye, 2,392 Chinook, 2,433 chum, and 64 coho salmon. Processors were offering $7 a pound for sockeyes and $16 a pound for kings. Meanwhile, a chance to sample the first Copper River sockeye salmon drew some 400 seafood fans to Anchorage ski slopes on Saturday, May 18, where they dined on appetizers prepared by top chefs and bid in an auction that raised $8,350 for the Make A Wish Foundation. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:17
Lobsters prices fall. Crates of crustaceans pile up on Cape Breton
There are so many lobsters ready for processing or live sale in some eastern Cape Breton harbours that they’re being stored temporarily in large flotillas of plastic crates. Some seafood buyers have stopped buying altogether and others are implementing daily limits on the amount of lobster they will buy. Fishermen worry the oversupply is driving down the price and while some in the industry say it could be a sign of longer term problems, one buyer says the backlog is evidence that lobster conservation efforts are working, and it will ease off in a couple of weeks. “Our processing facility is maximized daily, seven days a week and our holding facility is pretty darn full as of Saturday night,” said Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries in New Haven, northern Cape Breton. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:41
From Minnesota to Bristol Bay: Father and sons prepare for another season of wild Alaskan salmon fishing
School is winding down, but for Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop teacher Roger Rogotzke, summer brings another gig, commercial fishing. Rogotzke has been making the trip to Bristol Bay to catch wild Alaskan salmon since 1982. “That’s a couple of years ago already,” he said during a recent conversation with sons Tom and Jay. Together, the three make up Rogotzke Fish Company. Roger first became interested in commercial fishing when he was attending Gustavus Adolphus College. He picked up a magazine in the college’s library and happened to read an article on the topic. He wondered if he could find a way to get to Bristol Bay and eventually, he said, he was able to make it happen. He crewed for a guy from Idaho for a couple of years, and his brother Dave also joined him. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:17
First Nations advocates resolve to put traditional fishing rights under international spotlight
First Nations delegates from Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Alaska, and Australia have met on the lands of Walbunga Yuin people on the NSW far south coast for the International Indigenous Fishing Symposium. Indigenous fishing rights activists in NSW are working with First Nations groups around the world to put a global spotlight on the battle to protect traditional fishing rights and cultural practices. The groups plan to work together to lobby the United Nations. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:56
New cod migration data: Study co-author George Rose says northern cod have returned to historical migration patterns
The co-author of a new study in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences says Newfoundland and Labrador’s northern cod have returned to their historical migration patterns with potentially major implications for the provincial fishery. George Rose, co-author of the study with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, says the new data suggests a return to the commercial cod fishery one day is possible. The study followed 90 large northern cod equipped with tags that transmitted data to satellites for over a year. Researchers found northern cod have re-established historical migration patterns and confirmed capelin can influence their timing and duration in inshore waters. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:42
Fisheries commission wants to take ‘broad’ look at fishing impacts on SAV
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted unanimously last week to request that the state fisheries division work with the commission’s Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee and the Department of Environmental Quality to develop more comprehensive options for protecting Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV). The direction is to consider all activities under the commission’s authority, rather than just shrimp trawl area closures. The commission, policy-making arm of the division, acted during its quarterly business meeting Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the Beaufort Hotel. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 20:16
Inuit inshore harvesters of northern Labrador have scheduled a protest for Tuesday morning, May 28th, at 8 a.m.
Inuit inshore harvesters of northern Labrador have scheduled a protest for Tuesday morning, May 28th, at 8 a.m. (8:30 a.m. in Newfoundland) outside all Nunatsiavut Government buildings in the province. “We encourage all Inuit harvesters, their families, and non-harvesters alike to support us against this grave injustice,” says organizer and Inuit harvester Lisa Blandford. In past years the Nunatsiavut government has distributed its annual federal allocation of shrimp off northern Labrador to more than 20 inshore harvesters or designates. This year, however, seven Inuit harvesters say the Nunatsiavut government has denied them a 2024 share of northern shrimp quota in favour of an Inuit designate with a factory-freezer trawler, displacing as many as 40 inshore harvesters along the north Labrador coast. The inshore harvesters have also raised questions of conflict of interest involving current and past members of the Nunatsiavut government and have DFO documentation from 2003 that dictates shrimp quota to be assigned specifically to the inshore. DFO is expected to open the shrimp fishery off northern Labrador in fishing zones 4 and 5 any day. Contact Lisa Blandford: 709 897 7531 – 13:20
FFAW President Greg Pretty not seeking re-election, will retire
Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union president Greg Pretty is retiring after more than 40 years with Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest private sector union. Pretty presided over the fisheries’ union during a tumultuous term that included two contentious tie-ups in back-to-back snow crab seasons. When asked on Friday if he would do anything differently, Pretty said no. “We had to have tie-ups to move this agenda. It was contrary to regulations and legislation, but it had to be done and it paid off,” he said. “We’re in a much better situation right now in 12 short months. So no, I don’t have any regrets.” Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:38
Andrew Montford: Politicians must drop their ‘Comical Ali’ approach to offshore wind costs
According to officials at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), offshore wind power is around half the cost of electricity from gas turbines. But in Parliament recently, David Frost exposed the problem with this claim. If what DESNZ says is true, he observed, it is hard to understand why we still have to subsidise windfarms. And harder still to understand why we have just had to give them a 70 per cent increase in the guaranteed price they receive. It was striking that the energy minister Martin Callanan, responding for the Government, failed to answer the question, merely reiterating the claim that wind is cheaper than gas. His evasion tells a story and highlights the great deception at the heart of the Net Zero policy. For years, governments have told us of a revolution in windfarms costs. Developers may even have believed it themselves, submitting extraordinarily low bids into the renewables auctions. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:18
