Daily Archives: March 13, 2025
A Fundraiser for Merv Wiseman – Advocate Merv Wiseman has lent a hand all his life, now he needs one
A Go-Fund-Me campaign has been launched to raise money for Merv Wiseman, a retired Canadian Coast Guard employee best known as a tireless advocate for a variety causes from wild commercial fisheries and the fur industry to search and rescue services and agriculture. “Merv has lent his hand to good causes his entire life, and it’s only right we lend him a hand now in his hour of need,” says Peter Leonard, spokesman for the fundraiser. Merv suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, but has been approved for the waiting list for a life-saving, double-lung transplant at the Toronto General Hospital. He and his wife, Eileen, must relocate from their home in North Harbour, Placentia Bay, to a residence within 10-minutes of the hospital to be ready for an operation at any time.more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 19:06
Thousands of fired federal workers must be offered reinstatement, a judge rules
Thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration must be offered job reinstatement within the next week, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco has ruled, because he said they were terminated unlawfully. “It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie,” Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said before issuing his ruling from the bench. The Thursday decision marks a significant stand against President Trump’s sweeping efforts to remake the federal government. The White House pledged to appeal. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:52
Western Flyer from Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez returns to Gulf of California after 85 years
A fishing vessel that was built during the Monterey Bay’s sardine boom and made famous by a Nobel Prize-winning author will return to the site of its former glory after 85 years. The Western Flyer, a state-of-the-art purse seiner when it was built in 1937, was chartered by John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed “Doc” Ricketts, for a six-week expedition that would be immortalized in the “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.” Fully renovated to its original specifications and updated with cutting-edge technology, including a hybrid diesel-electric engine and science lab, the Western Flyer will return to the Gulf of California and retrace Steinbeck’s and Ricketts’ groundbreaking journey of discovery. 18 photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:45
Humane, sustainable Canadian seal harvests an environmental necessity, says USIANL
The United Seal Industry Association of Newfoundland & Labrador (USIANL) has created a fact-based campaign explaining the environmental necessity for Canada to carry out sustainable seal harvests. The campaign is being piloted in N.L., Halifax, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. USIANL was created to help Canadians understand that humane, sustainable seal harvests are an environmental necessity. The harp seal population off N.L. is the largest in the world – numbering in the millions. Not only are harp seals depleting important fish species and everything those species feed on, but fierce competition for food is putting their own well-being at risk. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:39
Fuming fishermen hit out at John Swinney’s ‘disrespect’ as calls grow for urgent Holyrood debate
The SNP Government has been urged to hold its first fishing debate in almost three years before Easter amid fears over offshore wind developments. It comes after John Swinney was advised by officials not to use the term ‘spatial squeeze’ during talks with fishing industry leaders in Shetland last year. The term was first put forward by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) to describe the loss of fishing ground to other uses such as offshore wind farms and marine protected areas. Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the SFF, said: “It’s disgraceful, when it plans systematically and permanently to exclude fishermen from traditional fishing grounds to build colossal offshore wind farms, that a Scottish Government official briefed the First Minister not to recognise their deeply held concerns for their future livelihoods. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:49
Fishing industry asks Supreme Court to hear case against Vineyard Wind
A national fishing industry group and conservation think tank have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their lawsuits challenging the approval of the Vineyard Wind project, which has been under construction since 2023. The lobbying group, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), sued the lead government regulator of offshore wind in early 2022, alleging the agency violated several acts, including those to protect existing ocean users and endangered species. At the crux of RODA’s appeal to the Supreme Court is the language of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and particularly, how the federal government interpreted it. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:52
