Daily Archives: September 21, 2024

Coast Guard halts voyage for illegal fishing off Key West

A Coast Guard Station Key West law enforcement boat crew boarded a commercial fishing vessel, Thursday, approximately 12 miles off the Marquesas Keys, for a routine commercial fishing vessel safety inspection and discovered the crew was fishing with an expired permit. Working with our National Marine Fisheries Service regional partners, the Coast Guard terminated the vessel’s voyage due to their possession of 45,000 pounds of pink shrimp on board without a valid commercial fishing permit. The vessel is returning to its homeport in Alabama where NMFS officers will meet with captain for further questioning. The name of the vessel is being withheld due to the open investigation.  more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:53

Original Peter Pan Seafood investor wins auction for troubled company’s assets

One of the original investors in a troubled Alaska seafood company has narrowly outbid competitor Silver Bay Seafoods in an auction for the firm’s assets — including a major processing plant in the Alaska Peninsula village of King Cove. Rodger May, an entrepreneur and fish trader, bid $37.3 million for the assets of Peter Pan Seafood, including two other processing plants — one in the Bristol Bay hub town of Dillingham and another in a remote part of the Alaska Peninsula called Port Moller. May’s bid was $257,000 higher than the bid offered by Silver Bay Seafoods, a major Alaska seafood company that’s expanded rapidly in recent years. The sale of Peter Pan, which operates primarily in Alaska with a business headquarters in Washington, isn’t final. A confirmation hearing in Peter Pan’s receivership case — a bankruptcy-like proceeding overseen by a Seattle court — is scheduled for Oct. 3. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:36

Filipino fisherman adrift at sea for 47 days, has been rescued

A 49-year-old Filipino fisherman who spent 47 days drifting aimlessly at sea has been rescued after surviving on rainwater, coconuts and fish, the Philippine Coast Guard said on Friday. Robin Dejillo, a native of Quezon province, southeast of Manila, has been reported missing since August 4 after his boat ran out of gas while conducting a fishing venture, Xinhua news agency reported. Dejillo survived for more than a month at sea by drinking rainwater and eating fish. He was also sustained by eating coconuts floating on water. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:32

The Deadliest Catch star Jack Bunnel’s ‘wake up moment’ that finally got him ‘clean’

During the November 1, 2023, episode of Season 19 Captain Jack Bunnell of the Barbara J shared with viewers a heartfelt story about his childhood. This highlighted the profound influence his father had on his life, along with the pivotal moment he decided to “get cleaned up” and become a fisherman. Jack’s high expectations of himself come from a lifelong ambition of wanting to be a captain, a dream he has held since he was a “little boy.” His crew aren’t the only ones Jack feels the need to prove himself to, as we see in this episode, the captain is receiving a special visitor: his father. Bunnell was born in Homer, Alaska, where he grew up with his father, who was a commercial fisherman and crabbed in the Bering Sea. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:22

Feds fund offshore wind study hoping to boost market in Atlantic Canada

Federal funding for a pioneering offshore wind power grid study in the Canadian Maritimes should help draw big-hitting developers to the region’s first project auction next year. But commercialization of the market remains on the far horizon, says a leading industry analyst. Ottawa earlier this week awarded $6 million to Net Zero Atlantic, a low-carbon research and development hub in Nova Scotia, for the Atlantic Canada Offshore Wind Integration and Transmission Study, which aims to show how future offshore wind farms could export power to the onshore electricity network. While $6 million of the funding to Net Zero Atlantic will go toward the grid study, a further $3.25 million will be dedicated to technologies associated with fishing vessels and ferry fleets, agriculture, carbon capture, hydrogen and energy storage. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:38

MPAs and windfarm proposals labelled an ‘absolute attack’ on the fishing industry

Fisherman have condemned plans to introduce MPAs (marine protected areas) and an offshore windfarm on the isles fishing grounds – with a lack of “evidence” at the forefront of concerns. A public exhibition of the Stoura Offshore Windfarm was held on Thursday at Shetland Museum followed by a drop-in consultation yesterday at Lerwick Town Hall to respond to the MPA proposals. Fears for the future of the fishing industry were heard at both events this week. Skerries whitefish fisherman James Anderson said the MPA proposals will “not do any good at all” and continuously closing off areas poses a significant threat to the sector. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:34