Daily Archives: May 14, 2024
Coast Guard, other agencies respond to sunken vessel in Seattle
The Coast Guard, Washington Department of Ecology and other agencies are responding to a vessel that sank at a pier in Seattle, Tuesday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound received a report at approximately 7:30 a.m. that the 91-foot crabbing vessel F/V North American had sunk at a pier east of the Ballard Bridge on the south side of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. To view 5 images, >>CLICK HERE<< 17:55
Lennox Island First Nation hoping for more access to lobster fishery
The Lennox Island First Nation wharf is busy these days, in the band’s third year of treaty fishing for lobster, but Chief Darlene Bernard would like to see it busier. Though there has been a commercial fishery based in the community off P.E.I’s North Shore for decades, Bernard said the newly exercised right to harvest lobster under treaties signed long ago means about 10 young families are better able to pay their bills. With a waiting list of about the same number of people who would like to take part in the fishery, Bernard wants to see more commercial licences made available for Lennox Island through a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) purchase program. “We need to have an equitable share of the bounty of the resources in this province moving forward,” she said. Video, photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:20
Sunken fishing vessel raised, fuel offloaded at Henry island
The 48-foot commercial fishing boat, called Chief Joseph, went down on May 3 after taking on water west of Henry Island, just over the U.S. border about five kilometres from Sidney Island. A man and a dog were rescued from a life raft on shore by the U.S. Coast Guard at about 6 p.m. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter aircrew conducted a flight over the area and reported a 90-metre sheen on the water and a debris field from the sunken vessel. Absorbent booms were laid to capture most of the fuels. Salvage operations got underway last week with divers from Global Diving and Salvage using a pump truck on board a barge to retrieve about 1,900 litres of diesel fuel from the Chief Joseph’s tanks. 3 Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:53
Offshore Wind Cumulative Impact Issue Analysis
When the Feds finally do the cumulative environmental impact analysis for whales as mandated by the Endangered Species Act there are a number of basic issues to be resolved. Here is a quick look at some for the desperately endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW). Cumulative refers to the combined impact of multiple offshore projects. The first issue is which projects to combine for analysis. NARW are found along the entire Atlantic coastal waters which bounds the geography. Other endangered critters are found along the Gulf and West Coasts. Projects can be in very different stages of development. Here is a hierarchy of sorts that gives several obvious options, from relatively small to enormous. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:07
Maine to spend $25 million to rebuild waterfront after devastating winter storms and flooding
Maine’s government will spend tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the state’s working waterfront communities after a series of devastating winter storms pummeled the state’s docks, wharves and coastal businesses. The back-to-back storms hammered the Northeast in January and hit Maine and New Hampshire especially hard, bringing flooding and heavy damage to dozens of businesses. State officials in Maine said the storms, which were later declared a “major disaster” by President Joe Biden, caused about $70 million in damage in the state. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:06
Entangled North Atlantic right whale prompts fishing closure in Gulf of St. Lawrence
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has temporarily shut down part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to non-tended, fixed-gear fishing after an endangered North Atlantic right whale with gear entangled around its mouth was spotted northeast of New Brunswick Friday. The whale was seen northeast of the Acadian Peninsula and northwest of Quebec’s Magdalen Islands during routine aerial surveillance and was many nautical miles from land, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a news release Monday. It’s the first sighting of a North Atlantic right whale in Canadian waters this season, according to the release. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06: 56
UK fishing industry to benefit from cutting-edge technology to help manage fish stocks
The sustainability of UK fish stocks will be better safeguarded through the use of technology to monitor and manage fishing activity in English waters, the government has announced today (13 May). The technology – known as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) – involves using camera, gear sensors and GPS units to make sure that catches are accurately recorded and fish are not unlawfully thrown back into the sea. The data captured will support the fishing industry to manage stocks sustainably and give retailers and consumers greater confidence about the sustainability of our fish. Volunteers within five priority fisheries will begin to use REM systems from this summer, with their work helping to refine the UK’s monitoring objectives and ensure the technology works for fishers. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:02
