Daily Archives: October 7, 2024
Blessing of the Fleet pays tribute to commercial fishing families
It was a picture-perfect day Sunday as the sun glistened on the rippling waters of Beaufort Inlet for the 27th annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony, held at Radio Island between Morehead City and Beaufort. Twenty-five commercial fishing vessels slowly made their way by Radio Island as wreaths were thrown into the water. Each wreath represented a commercial fisherman or family member who had died. The solemn procession was a segment of the NC Seafood Festival that honors area commercial fishing families and those who have died while harvesting food from the sea. As well as about 200 people lining the shore to watch the procession, private boaters filled the waterway to pay tribute. 15 Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:46
Louisiana lawmaker grills Shrimp & Petroleum Festival for selling imported shrimp
A state lawmaker has issued a scathing rebuke of what she characterized as an embarrassing and “misleading” response from the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival after the Illuminator reported that multiple vendors sold imported shrimp at this year’s event. State Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, wrote an open letter to festival organizers that she posted Thursday on Facebook. “Growing up in St. Mary Parish in a family of generations of commercial shrimpers, I was appalled to learn of the widespread selling of imported shrimp at the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival,” Domangue wrote. “I found the festival’s official response in an October 1 press release to be an embarrassment.” The testing was performed at the five-day festival over the Labor Day weekend by Sea D Consulting, a food safety technology company that recently developed a rapid seafood species identification test in collaboration with Florida State University microbiologist Prashant Singh. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:32
Hurricane Milton strengthens into Category 4 as Florida prepares for evacuations, storm surge
Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane Monday on a path toward Florida population centers including Tampa and Orlando, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay and setting the stage for potential mass evacuations less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline. The storm is expected to stay at about its current strength for the next couple of days, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Helene was also a Category 4 at landfall in northern Florida. Milton had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph) over the southern Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane center said. Its center could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:27
Save the Dates for the 2025 U.S. – Canada Lobster Town Meeting!
The Lobster Institute’s 20th annual U.S. – Canada Lobster Town Meeting will be held January 29-30 at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel in Bar Harbor, ME. Registration is open exclusively to commercial fishermen until October 20, after which registration will open to the public. A complete program will be shared next month, but preliminary agenda items include: Industry Sector Updates, Ecosystem change – What is going on in the ocean? Comparing assessment and management approaches in Canada and the US and how they relate to the US gauge increase. Market impacts of the gauge increase: short and long-term. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:32
Where is the Federal Government? Couple reunited after volunteer rescue pilot threatened with arrest in North Carolina
“I don’t think we ever ran out of hope. We had each other, and that was the main thing,” Mike Coffey said when asked if they started to believe help wouldn’t come by the third day after multiple helicopters had flown over without stopping. Not long after the sun rose Sunday morning, they heard the sweet sound of chopper blades ripping through the air. But it wasn’t a government worker coming to their aid, it was Jordan Seidhom, the owner of a scrap steel recycling business in Pageland, South Carolina. He’s also a pilot, former head of the Chesterfield County drug unit, reserve law enforcement officer, and volunteer firefighter — among other jobs. He decided the day after the storm to use his own helicopter on his own dime to answer the cries for help he read on social media within hours of the storm passing. Then on Sunday, the Seidhoms spotted Susan Coffey frantically waving for help. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:14
