Daily Archives: June 5, 2024
Climate change forces 3rd gen fisherman to rethink this year
Every June, fisherman Scott Hawkins and his small crew set sail from a marina in San Diego and travel hundreds of miles, scouring the water, hoping for a good catch of albacore tuna. It can take hours or days to stumble upon a school of them. But when they do, everyone springs into action at once. The men grab fishing poles taller than they are, stand in a row on the edge of the boat and cast their lines into the water. Every few seconds, one of them pulls up a fat, two-foot-long albacore tuna and hoists it over his shoulder onto the pile. Every thud is another one landing atop the dozens already flapping on deck. They do this 17 hour per day for five months. “It’s the exact same that my grandfather did in the 50s,” Hawkins says. But this June, the boat isn’t leaving the marina. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:16
Fisherman remembered as ‘hero’ for saving deckhand after shrimp boat capsizes in Mobile Bay
Boat captain and shrimper, Mike Bishop, was killed when a waterspout Saturday flipped over his boat, trapping him inside. His deckhand Mark Henderson survived the horror after floating in the water for seven hours. Bishop tried to save Henderson before several others pulled together. Now, he’s being called a hero…and he’s not the only one. Mike’s son Brandon Bishop says this was a team effort from many heroes. “The shrimping community is tight and everybody comes together,” Brandon said. “Especially in these hard times like this. And shrimping is not a job. It’s a way of life and my dad loved it.” “When I went and spoke to Mark his deckhand this morning in the hospital he was still pretty shaken up,” Brandon said. “But he said that my dad gave him a lifejacket and told him to go out back. They were hit by the waterspout, and my dad’s a hero, he saved someone’s life….” Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:27
GCIFA calls for seal population controls
The head of the Guysborough County Inshore Fisherman’s Association (GCIFA) is calling on the federal government to bring in aggressive, new “controls” on millions of hungry grey and harp seals whose sheer numbers, she says, are weakening the east coast fishery. GCIFA Executive Director Ginny Boudreau made the comment to The Journal in an interview after the release last week of the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ report, Sealing the Future, which criticized federal authorities for mismanaging the rising numbers of the animals over the years and called for an increase in their annual harvest. “It’s huge that scientists are now considering the impact of [the more than] seven million seals in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the [nearly] 500,000 here in the Scotia-Fundy region,” Boudreau said. “It’s only ever been about the impact of the harvesters. As more accurate data comes in, I think we’re going to see the seals as the main predator.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:42
Gov. DeSantis awards $7.5M to Lee County for shrimp dock rebuild
Nearly two years after Hurricane Ian bashed into Southwest Florida, the area is continuing to recover. Gov. Ron DeSantis is pitching in with $7.5 million to rebuild and refurbish the shrimp dock at San Carlos Maritime Park in Fort Myers. The structure is important not just for commercial fishing but to help in emergency situations after a storm, DeSantis said. “This dual-purpose facility serves as emergency operations site to launch barges and provide a place for shrimp barges to dock,” DeSantis said during a press event at a Home Depot in Fort Myers. “If it’s needed for disaster response it’s going to be able to serve that purpose as well.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:50
Northline Seafoods barge embarks on maiden trip to Bristol Bay
A new state-of-the-art seafood barge is enroute to Bristol Bay, with a freezer capacity to hold over one-million pounds of frozen salmon. The vessel is on its way to Clarks Point in the Nushagak District and will be buying fish from throughout the Bay during the fishery. The 400-by-100-foot barge, a vertically integrated vessel more than three years in the making including 15 months of construction, is designed for purchase, freezing, shipping, storing and distributing wild Alaska salmon. The innovative supply chain platform will improve quality, increase efficiency and preserve the value of wild salmon at the source, company officials said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:02
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 40′ X 16′ Novi Lobster/Gillnetter
To review specifications, information, and 28 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 07:32
Meet one of the young faces of Steveston’s spot prawn industry
The best part of spot prawn season, according to Reid Thornton, is the “tight-knit” community. Now in his fifth season, the 21-year-old Steveston resident started working in the industry fresh out of high school. Thornton is the sales manager and a deckhand at Steveston Spot Prawns & Seafood. With the exception of Thornton himself, most employees in the company are third-generation Japanese-Canadian fishermen. He had heard of spot prawns prior to starting his job, but he had no idea about the extent of its popularity. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:38
