Daily Archives: April 25, 2025
New Bedford: Dock collapses on waterfront, the third failure in two years
For the third time in less than two years, a hunk of dock fell into New Bedford Harbor on Wednesday afternoon, again raising red flags about neglected port maintenance. The collapse injured no one but dropped a metal shed into the water. The asphalt-surface dock and the shed dropped into about 20 feet of water late Wednesday afternoon outside the Sea Watch International processing plant along Antonio Costa Avenue, said Gordon Carr, executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority. He said it happened when no one was around, at about 3:30 p.m. The sunken storage shed had stood in an area that had been blocked by Jersey barriers since a neighboring section of the dock collapsed a year ago. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:44
Can the Texas Shrimp Diva Save a Dying Industry?
Decked out in her pink accessories, Galveston’s Nikki Johnson-Kunz isn’t afraid of stingrays, wild weather, or the physically grueling work that she does side by side with her 92-year-old father-in-law. But she does worry about the future of shrimping in Texas. Since 2018, Nikki, who is 56 years old, has been building a platform as the Texas Shrimp Diva, trying to raise awareness about a Gulf Coast industry, and a way of life, that’s in rapid decline. She grew up in Virginia and lived in El Paso and Houston before settling in League City, halfway between Houston and the coast. She spent most of her career in property management and was never exposed to shrimping until she met and married Jason twenty years ago. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:16
ASP says union’s allegations of undercutting NL crab prices unfounded
While he considers it an anomaly worth inquiring about, Jeff Loder warned against reading too much into the early discrepancy in market prices between snow crab caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence fishery versus what’s been landed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Loder is executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), the entity that represents fish processing companies in Newfoundland and Labrador and was responding to accusations that companies are deliberately undercutting the price they’re asking for snow crab in the early going of the season. That allegation was levelled by FFAW-Unifor, the union that represents fish harvesters and plant workers, in a Wednesday, April 23, news release. Photos, links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:09
NOAA Fisheries Announces Closure of the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area
NOAA Fisheries is closing the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to all federally permitted limited access general category scallop vessels effective 0001 hr, on April 28, 2025. As of April 28, 2025, no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area. The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100 percent of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken. The closure will be in effect until the end of the fishing year (March 31, 2026).If you have declared a trip into the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area using the correct Vessel Monitoring System,,, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:28
Trump pulls plug on Maine’s offshore wind project
The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a $12.6 million federal grant for the University of Maine to build the nation’s first offshore wind turbine research project. The U.S. Department of Energy recently informed the university that it must stop work on the floating research array — which is partially completed — alleging that Maine failed to comply with the terms of the award for a quarter-scale demonstration of offshore turbines it is developing. The department said it is “suspending all activity under this award” for 90 days while it conducts a financial review of the project. The letter didn’t specify any violation by the university. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:27
Northern California rock crab fishery reopens after nearly ten year closure for domoic acid outbreak
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has reopened the commercial rock crab fishery along the northern coast from the California/Oregon border to the Humboldt Bay entrance. This comes after a nearly decade-long closure on the fishery due to a domoic acid outbreak. The fishery was originally closed in 2015 as a precautionary measure during the largest recorded domoic acid outbreak on the west coast. Testing has now confirmed that domoic acid levels in rock crabs are below federal action levels, which allows for the reopening of the fishery. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:17
