Daily Archives: June 19, 2024

Lobster dealer sentenced to 5 years in prison for large fraud

Terry Banks, a Brooklyn, N.S., man with a prior record for large-scale fraud, was sentenced Wednesday by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Pierre Muise, in a case that reverberated in the lucrative lobster industry when charges were first laid in 2017. Crown prosecutor Rick Miller said outside the Halifax courtroom that lobster is a top Nova Scotia export and the industry deals in multimillion dollar transactions, but much of it still relies on trust, honesty and handshake deals to do business. “When you allow someone like Terry Banks to get into this industry and take advantage of that, then there’s a real detriment, because people go out of business, people lose their property, people lose their homes, their boats and everything,” he said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:34

Littleproud predicts rough seas ahead for Illawarra wind zone under Coalition government

A future Coalition government would not allow a wind energy zone to be developed off the Illawarra coast, Nationals Leader David Littleproud said in Wollongong on Monday (17 June). To the cheers of a group of anti-wind zone protesters at Belmore Basin, Mr Littleproud said the Coalition would stop wind farms from going ahead. “There will be no wind zone, there is a better way to do this. Make no mistake, we’re going to live up to our international commitments, but we’re not going to tear away your economy, your environment and tear up the social cohesion of this great community,” he said. Mr Littleproud and NSW Nationals Senator Ross Cadell visited the region following the weekend declaration by Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen of a 1022 square km wind zone area, 20 km off the coast. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:53

North Carolina: Debates over ending inshore trawling to protect marine life

For commercial fishermen like Thomas Smith, who works in the Pamlico Sound, shrimp trawling is essential for their livelihood. “Most of our income comes between July and November while working on inshore waters,” says Smith. He said that keeping shrimp trawling operations only in the ocean would only be viable for about two months each year, potentially devastating his business. “It would put me out of business,” he adds. Tim Gestwicki, CEO of the NCWF, supports ocean shrimp trawling but insists that inshore trawling must be stopped to protect juvenile fish species, such as the Southern flounder. “It’s time for us to catch up with the times and quit squandering our resources unnecessarily,” said Gestwicki. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:37

Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 34′ South Shore Lobster/Tuna Boat, John Deere 6081

To review specifications, information, and 7 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 07:45

Floating Wind Madness in Maine

The Government of Maine has really big plans for floating wind, a floating net zero fantasy, in fact. Since floating wind power is the next big green thing, it is worth taking a close look at this ruinous vision. Floating wind is a fad, not an established technology. It has yet to be built at utility scale or tested in a hurricane. The world’s biggest grid-connected system is a tiny 50 MW and just came online off Scotland. The cost of floating wind is necessarily much greater than fixed wind. A fixed wind tower sits on a simple monopile, while a floating tower sits on a huge complex structure called a floater. We are talking about massive 500-foot towers with 500-ton turbines on top and 300-foot blades catching the wind. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:17