Daily Archives: February 7, 2025

2 crew members dead after fishing boat capsizes near Halifax, 2 others released from hospital
Two crew members are dead after their fishing boat capsized late Thursday off Halifax amid four-metre waves and strong winds. Two others who were pulled from the frigid waters after the 18-metre Fortune Pride foundered have been released from hospital. Jose Teixeira, whose company owns the vessel, confirmed in a brief interview that Capt. John Allen Baker was one of the deceased. He said the vessel’s deckhand also died. Three crew members were pulled from the water on Thursday night and one at 11:30 a.m. AT Friday, according to Kelsey Marshall of the Canadian Coast Guard.Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 19:23
UPDATE: Fourth crew member rescued off N.S. coast after fishing vessel capsizes
The fourth and final missing crew member has been recovered and is being flown to hospital in Halifax after an 18-metre fishing vessel capsized off the coast of Nova Scotia Thursday night. In a Friday morning update, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Halifax said the crew member was found in a life raft by search and rescue technicians and was unresponsive when taken onboard a Cormorant helicopter. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:45
US taxpayer funds went to foreign competition for domestic shrimpers
Fishermen and shrimpers in the United States have been in a decades-long battle with the very institutions meant to protect them, specifically the U.S. Treasury Department and its World Bank delegation. U.S. trade law bars the support of competing industries in which there is excess supply. Despite such laws, U.S. taxpayers spent two decades funding “aquaculture” projects in Vietnam, India, Ecuador and Indonesia, countries that now supply the overwhelming majority of shrimp to U.S. consumers. “There’s a law on the books that requires the United States, their directors that are at these international financial institutions, to use their voice and vote to oppose any project that where there’s a commodity that’s produced in surplus and where export to the United States would seriously injure a domestic industry,” Nathan Rickard, a trade lawyer who represents the Southern Shrimp Alliance,,, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:45
1 person missing, 3 others brought to shore after fishing boat capsizes near Halifax
One person is missing and three have been brought to shore after a fishing vessel capsized near Halifax Thursday night. The vessel in question is the 18-metre Fortune Pride. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax said Friday that it responded to an emergency beacon at around 10 p.m. The location of the beacon was approximately 18 kilometres southeast of Sambro, N.S. Two coast guard vessels, the CCGS Hare Bay and the CCGS Sir William Alexander, were involved in the rescue efforts, in addition to a Cormorant helicopter and a Hercules fixed-wing aircraft, said the JRCC. The JRCC said the CCGS Hare Bay “recovered” three people, two conscious and the third unconscious. They were all taken to hospital. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:08
Low stock numbers usher in a ‘devastating’ Dungeness crab season
One month after the Dungeness crab season opened on the Central Coast, Santa Cruz fishers are grappling with an extremely low number of crabs. “It’s devastating,” said fisher Valerie Phillips, who splits her time fishing out of Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay harbors. She said she and her crew, which includes her husband, father and a crew member, have caught only about a third of what they would normally catch in a season. “We’re talking about pulling the pots already. We’re probably going to switch to our next fishery.” “It’s a down year up and down the coast, even in Oregon,” said Tim Obert, a Santa Cruz-based fisher with more than 25 years of experience. “In the Santa Cruz area and Monterey Bay, there’s almost nothing.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:02
Fish harvester says possible tariffs leave N.L.’s fishery with a lot of uncertainty
A pause in the tariff dispute with the United States is not bringing any comfort to Lee Melindy. “We’ve got to have fishing, we’ve got to have processors, and we got a company to send it into the States,” he said. “Those are all a circle. And if one of those pieces of the circle falls apart, it is detrimental on the rest of it.” Melindy is a fish harvester based in Lumsden, N.L. He’s a full-time crew member, deck boss and helps his father — the enterprise owner — in the wheelhouse. It’s been almost 30 years since he first entered the fishery, and he’s seen a lot of changes. “Over the years, I mean, we’ve had uphill battles and we’ve been good and whatnot, but when you’re looking at a possible four years, it could be very serious into the operating of an enterprise,” he said. This week, U.S. president Donald Trump said he would put a hold on his proposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods for 30 days. With that, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paused Canada’s counter-tariffs. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<<07:30