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End of an era? Lahaina fire delivers big blow to already declining commercial fishing industry
The Lahaina Small Boat Harbor was like a second home for Donnell “Andy” Tate, who for decades served as its weighmaster. But those good old days memories of the harbor for Tate, now 73, are clouded by the fire of Aug. 8, 2023, when he fled his Lahaina Shores home with only his camera gear and could only watch from a distance through a black wall of smoke as the town, the harbor, most of the boats and his life as he knew it went up in flames. The commercial fisherman and sportfishing charter operations at the harbor had suffered during COVID-19, when Lahaina became a ghost town for more than six months, forcing some fishermen out of business or to move to bluer waters. But the fire — which badly damaged the 99-slip harbor, destroyed all but 13 boats and left the nearshore waters a mess, filled with oil and debris — has been an even bigger, and perhaps more permanent blow. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:02
Fishermen Fight for Their Livelihoods Against Wind Farm Project in New England
In a recent interview with Fox Business, Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, expressed his deep concerns about the impact of a wind farm project off the coast of Nantucket on the livelihoods of local fishermen. The discussion, hosted by Dagen McDowell and Sean Duffy on “The Bottom Line,” highlighted the growing tension between environmental initiatives and the preservation of traditional industries like fishing. Leeman opened the conversation by addressing what he described as “greenwashing,” a term used to suggest that the wind farm project is being marketed as environmentally friendly while ignoring the negative consequences. “We have been greenwashed into thinking this is a good idea,” Leeman stated. He explained that the construction and operation of wind turbines are displacing vital fish stocks and creating dangerous debris fields that could threaten the safety of fishermen. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:50
‘Wicked Tuna’ to End With Season 13 on National Geographic
“Wicked Tuna” has been canceled by National Geographic following the conclusion of its Season 13 run. “After thirteen seasons on the high seas and more than 200 incredible episodes, the long-running series ‘Wicked Tuna’ has concluded its run on National Geographic,” the cable channel said in a statement Friday. “The series celebrated one of America’s oldest industries since first premiering on National Geographic in 2012 and made internationally recognizable stars out of the intrepid commercial fishermen who brave the unrelenting North Atlantic waters to catch the elusive bluefin tuna. The cancellation of “Wicked Tuna” comes amid major cost cutting at National Geographic parent company Disney, which is consolidating operations among its linear TV networks. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:01
The quintessentially British fish and chips is endangered. Why?
Ever since she was old enough to walk, Terrilea Coglan was climbing aboard fishing boats that set sail each morning from the rocky beachfront of Hastings to harvest the key ingredient in Britain’s most iconic dish: fish and chips. The day’s catch travels just a short way from the boats up to the seaside fish and chips shops, or “chippies,” that pride themselves as much in the freshness of the fish as in the secret recipes for their gooey batter. Coglan’s parents and grandparents were in the fish trade, and now her sons are, too. But these days Coglan fears they may be the last. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:54
Net Zero Ambitions: Sinking in a Sea of Reality?
Political voices across the globe are expressing skepticism and concern regarding the feasibility and impact of net zero policies. Australian Nationals Senator Matt Canavan, for instance, has described net zero as a “soundbite” and “totally insane,” emphasizing the extensive reliance of various sectors on fossil fuels. ““Almost everything we grow, we make, we do in our society relies on the use of fossil fuels,” he said.” Various countries seem to be subtly shifting away from aggressive net zero targets, reflecting a more pragmatic approach to energy policies. For instance, the UK has delayed the banning of new petrol and diesel cars and residential gas heating, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stating, “We’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people.” >>click to read<< 14:26
How foreign private equity hooked New England’s fishing industry
The 85-foot trawler, deep green and speckled with rust, was returning from a grueling fishing trip deep into the Atlantic swells. As sunrise broke over New Bedford harbor, the fish were offloaded in plastic crates onto the asphalt dock of Blue Harvest Fisheries, one of the largest fishing companies on the East Coast. About 390 million pounds of seafood move each year through New Bedford’s waterfront, the top-earning commercial fishing port in the nation. Leeman and his crew are barely sharing in the bounty. On deck, Leeman held a one-page “settlement sheet,” the fishing industry’s version of a pay stub. Blue Harvest charges Leeman and his crew for fuel, gear, leasing of fishing rights, and maintenance on the company-owned vessel. Across six trips in the past 14 months, Leeman netted about 14 cents a pound, and the crew, about 7 cents each — a small fraction of the $2.28 per pound that a species like haddock typically fetches at auction. Photos, >click to read< 12:04
Coddock? How a new cod-haddock-like fish caught the attention of scientists
A strange thing occurred during the winter of 2022-23 and into this spring. An odd-looking fish has cropped up off and on mixed in with the haddock brought into Gulf of Maine ports. This was recently brought to my attention by Linda Hunt, who is a fish dealer for Coastline Seafood. Recently while filleting a load of haddock for the market, she found five fish that she couldn’t quite identify. She had seen a few during the winter and one the day before but finding five in 200 pounds of fish all at once seemed odd. She contacted us with a photo. Wow, what is this fish? It has the head of a haddock, the lateral line of a cod, the pectoral fin of a cod, and the meat flaked in large pieces like cod. The body shape is that of a haddock and all the other fins look like haddock fins. But it was missing the “thumbprint of God,”,,, >click to read< 07:40
Linda Greenlaw to be featured on upcoming season of ‘Deadliest Catch’
The state’s most famous living fishing boat captain will be featured on the upcoming season of the popular reality television series, “Deadliest Catch.” Greenlaw said Friday that she went to Alaska last fall with “a positive attitude, strong work ethic and the good sense to know what I didn’t know” about the particular challenges of fishing for Bering Sea crab. She said she learned a lot from ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski, the notoriously grumpy captain and owner of F/V Summer Bay who has appeared on the show for 13 seasons. “I wanted to learn from the best — and I did,” Greenlaw became well known 30 years ago after being written about in “The Perfect Storm,” a nonfiction book by Sebastian Junger about a powerful Nor’easter storm that sank the sword fishing boat F/V Andrea Gail in 1991. >click to read< 07:15
Republicans Want to Defend Maine Sovereignty Over Lobstering Waters, Punish Lobster Boycotters
Republican leaders in the Maine House and Senate are taking aim at those who target the state’s iconic lobster industry by introducing legislation to repeal tax exemptions on equipment for companies that “red-list,” or otherwise boycott the products of Maine industry, they said in a joint press conference at the state capitol Tuesday. Together with this bill, another legislative initiative calls on the state to restore Maine’s sovereignty out to the 12-mile mark offshore. Currently waters beyond three miles are considered federal domain. >click to read< 08:46
Republicans take aim at Whole Foods’ tax incentives after chain pulls Maine lobster off shelves – >click to read<
How two islands could shape Florida’s post-Ian recovery
Tanned bare feet sticking out from a pair of loose-fitting blue Dickies, Joey Burnsed looks every bit the islander. The past few months, however, have shown another side of the lifestyle. His usually packed charter fishing schedule blew away with Hurricane Ian. But like a true islander, he’s taken it in stride, coping with whatever challenges the day throws his way. Recently, that’s meant a new gig: steering his skiff to remote mangrove thickets on Pine Island, Florida, so cleanup crews can clear storm debris. You could call that the Pine Island way – independent, resourceful, and a little stubborn. To some, the island is a modern-day link to “Old Florida,” a retreat for raconteurs, crabbers, artists, the funky and the frivolous. >click to read< 12:47
The Religion of Wokeism. A Fisherman by Any Other Name: Terminology in New Law Sparks Debate
A new law regarding ships’ crews that went into effect at the beginning of the month is sparking considerable debate throughout Iceland, but not because of the content of the law. Rather, critics have taken issue with the choice of wording in it, namely the use of the word fiskari, most easily translatable as ‘fisher,’ in lieu of the term fiskimaður, which literally means ‘fisher+man.’Critics, including some in the industry and current or former politicians, have called the word choice an example of the sterilization of Icelandic, or even an example of the language’s slide into nýlenska, or Orwellian Newspeak. >click to read< 14:41
They rode out Hurricane Ian on shrimp boats. Now they fear their livelihood is destroyed
By the time these shrimpers knew Hurricane Ian was headed to Fort Myers Beach, it was too late to leave. Shrimp Boat Lane is a crook in the middle of San Carlos Island. Inside pulses the heart of a storied fishery. But with little warning and punishing winds, Hurricane Ian shredded it. Jesse Clapham walked through what was left Friday morning, sweat soaking the back of his black T-shirt. “My dad was a fisherman. His was a fisherman,” said Clapham, fleet manager for Erickson and Jensen, a seafood and marine supplies company. Just three of the company’s 12 boats are still in the water, he said, and one has a hole in the side. Normally, Clapham said, the fleet would be in Texas around this time, but gas was too expensive to make the run this year. Photos, >click to read< 13:04
How warming ocean temperatures wiped out Maine’s shrimp industry
Since 2014 fishing for northern shrimp has been banned in the United States. The stock in our area has decreased to the point where they are not reproducing. This is not due to overfishing; it is directly due to the temperature of the water. They have simply moved north to colder Canadian waters. Back in 2007, when there was a robust northern shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Maine, scientists were looking for net modifications that would catch shrimp but not have any bycatch of finfish. Since shrimp fisheries throughout the world have some of the highest bycatch of any fishery, this was a priority worldwide. At that time the Northeast Consortium at the University of New Hampshire helped fund research by Dr. Pingguo. He and David Goethel developed a trawl net, named “The Topless Trawl,” that drastically reduced bycatch in the northern shrimp fishery. >click to read< 10:21
The Lost Japanese Fishing Community from San Pedro
Beginning in the early 1940s, 3,000 first and second-generation Japanese made their homes in an area of Terminal Island known as East San Pedro. The Japanese Fishing Village was next to Fish Harbor, and many of the locals worked in the fishing industry. When a dozen Japanese fishermen settled on Terminal Island at the turn of the twentieth century, it was still a rural stretch of land with around 200 homes. Originally known as Rattlesnake Island due to the snakes that would gather after torrential storms, it had recently been renamed after its new owner, the Los Angeles Terminal Railway. Approximately 250 fishing boats were owned and operated by the residents. Most of the local people, not working on the boats, worked in the many fish canneries clustered together on Terminal Island. >click to read < 17:26
Massachusetts state regulators reject plan to use ropeless lobster traps
The proposal, submitted by a group of lobstermen organized under the name “Pioneers for a Thoughtful Coexistence,” asked regulators to allow them to set as many as 200 ropeless traps in areas along the South Shore, where lobster fishing is closed three months a year. DMF Director Daniel McKiernan denied the plan and laid out three reasons for his decision, the first being that the proposal “lacks a study design that will contribute meaningfully to further understanding the efficacy of ropeless fishing.” >click to read< 08:02
Maine: Local legislators focused on the commercial fishing industry, float several fisheries bills
The 130th Maine Legislature has released a list of bills proposed in the House and Senate,,, The lobster fishery, in particular, is grappling with the prospect of offshore wind energy development and conservation measures, both of which could affect lobstermen and their livelihood.,, Fisherman and state Rep. William “Billy Bob” Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) is sponsoring “An Act to Prohibit Offshore Wind Energy Development” (LD 101).,, Rep. Genevieve McDonald (D-Stonington), who also is a fisherman, is sponsoring three fishing-related bills. >click to read< 13:36
In 2020, Climate Science Needs To Hit The Reset Button, Part I
In a remarkable essay last week titled, “We’re Getting a Clearer Picture of the Climate Future — and It’s Not as Bad as It Once Looked,” David Wallace-Wells of New York Magazine wrote, “the climate news might be better than you thought. It’s certainly better than I’ve thought.” The essay was remarkable because Wells, a self-described “alarmist,” is also the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, which describes an apocalyptic vision of the future, dominated by “elements of climate chaos.” >click to read< 13:59
Interior Department Considers Cable Plan to Wire Ocean Floor for Wind Farms Off NJ-NY Coast
As New Jersey and New York governors press for energy from giant wind turbines along the Atlantic coast and in the New York Bight, the question of how to best get the power to the shore has resulted in a call for public comment. Anbaric Development Partners LLC has applied to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a right-of-way to construct a New York and New Jersey Ocean Grid. According to the application, Ocean Grid is a proposed submarine system of cables approximately 185 nautical miles (213 statute miles) in length and including the construction of up to nine “offshore collector platforms,” or OCP. >click to read< 09:23
West Coast fishermen have few options against sea lions
With the lights of Moss Landing, California, twinkling in the distance, Captain Porter McHenry stood on the top deck of the Merva W, a large Commercial fishing boat. Ocean water sprayed his face and dampened his thick brown beard. A third-generation fisherman, McHenry employs a crew of three. In the dead of the night, his yellow rain jacket was briefly illuminated as he ignited the long wick of an orange firecracker and chucked it over the side of the boat into the waves. Seconds later, a bright flash and boom broke the sea of darkness. >Click to read< 09:10
Walk scheduled to remember Lowcountry crabber
Friends and family of a Lowcountry crabber who drowned last week in Charleston Harbor will gather Friday night to remember him. Terrance Singleton, 30, went missing on July 24 from his pro-crabbing vessel. His disappearance was discovered when the Coast Guard Cutter Cormorant was headed out to conduct a training exercise and spotted his 20-foot crabbing boat off of Fort Johnson,,, Singleton operated T and J Seafood with other members of his family and was one of three crabbers in the family, his aunt, Marsha Singleton said. She said all that mattered to him was his two sons, ages 5 and 9, and crabbing. >click to read< 12:07
‘It was like somebody pulled the plug on the drain’
Earlier this year, the San Francisco Port Commission commended a boat captain for safely delivering 23 passengers from danger during a “tidal event,” an honor so rare it hasn’t been bestowed in at least 20 years. Even more unusual is that many questions surrounding the event, which broke chains, nearly sunk a moored boat and endangered lives, remain unanswered. Commendations from the commission have been so infrequent that Port staff were unable to find records detailing when and why the last one was issued. Captain David Crumpler has become the first in recent memory. >click to read<09:15
At Humboldt County Board of Supervisors – Blindsided Crabbers Congregate
As the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting got underway at its normal 9 a.m. start time, there was still a line of people extending out the front door,,, local crab fishermen who had shown up in force to support a resolution aimed at saving the local fishery from “devastating economic harm,” The threat comes in the form of a recent CBD – PCFFA settlement,,, “We were blindsided by this ruling,” said crab fisherman Zach Rotwein of Trinidad.,,, Pacific Choice Seafoods General Manager Rick Harris said his company recently made a $1.2 million investment,,, “This is a travesty and a disaster for the community,” said crab fisherman Patrick Davis, who owns two fishing boats and employs “eight or nine guys.” >click to read<22:49
California shifts water from farms, cities to fish.
Despite an epic last-minute compromise brokered by Gov. Jerry Brown, state water regulators voted Wednesday to reallocate billions of gallons of San Joaquin River water from farms and cities to revive struggling fish populations. After hours of testimony, the State Water Resources Control board voted to deliver hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water from the San Joaquin watershed to salmon, steelhead and other species that ply the fragile Delta. The vote will eventually take water from Valley farmers, who have blasted the plan as a “water grab,” as well as cities such as Modesto and San Francisco. >click to read<09:52
Pro and anti whaling nations brace for battle in Brazil
Pro- and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organization mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions. But Japan’s package of proposals, entitled “The Way Forward,” has left conservationists seething even before delegates have taken their seats at the 67th IWC meeting in the Brazilian surfing resort of Florianapolis. >click to read<17:59
Maine Men Sentenced for Illegally Trafficking American Eels
Today, William Sheldon was sentenced in federal district court in Portland, Maine, to six months in prison followed by three years supervised release for trafficking juvenile American eels, also called “elvers” or “glass eels,” in violation of the Lacey Act,, Sheldon was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000, forfeit $33,200 in lieu of a truck he used during the crime, and may not possess a license to purchase or export elvers as a special condition of his supervised release. Also sentenced today for elver trafficking offenses was Timothy Lewis, who received a sentence of six months in prison followed by three years supervised release, with the special condition that he too may not possess a license to purchase or export elvers. Lewis was also ordered to pay a $2500 fine. Thomas Reno was also sentenced today to one year probation. >click to read<08:57
Massachusetts: Herring run in full swing along South Shore
Herring are filling local streams and rivers during their annual migration from the sea. Like salmon, herring live in salt water but travel to fresh water to spawn. In Pembroke, Herring Brook is full of fish fighting their way upstream to the top of a fish ladder that allows them to get around a dam at Glover Mill Pond. During the peak of the migration, it can see as many as 40,000 fish in one day. Video, photo’s >click to read<17:38
River herring return to Weymouth en masse – Thousands of herring were visible making their way towards the fish ladders in Jackson Square today. >click to read<22:51
Maine: Promising scallop aquaculture initiative gets $600K boost
The Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research awarded a $300,000 grant to CEI to investigate the economic viability of a Japanese scallop production technique that has been shown to grow scallops faster as well as produce larger yields of meat. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, announced Monday that FFAR, a nonprofit corporation established by the 2014 Farm Bill, awarded the $300,000 research grant to Hugh Cowperthwait of CEI, which is matching the award to double its impact. >click to read<13:10
Forum in Mystic focuses on the plight of local fishermen
Local third-generation fishermen are on the brink of losing their businesses because of over-regulation by the federal government, but the public can help by writing to their legislators and buying locally caught seafood. That was the message of a public forum and panel discussion organized by Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, held Wednesday at the Mystic Luxury Cinemas. The forum began with a presentation from Meghan Lapp, an expert on the commercial fishing industry and its regulations. “Fishermen are not anti-regulation, but when the regulatory burdens >click to read<08:35
Ocean perch stock rebuilt, could lead to more commercial fishing opportunities in 2019
Federal restrictions designed to protect Pacific ocean perch from overfishing have worked well enough for the Pacific Fishery Management Council to consider the fishery “rebuilt,” meaning it will relax restrictions. Once the new rules take effect in 2019 it should have significant economic value to the coast, experts say. “It’s a big deal for fisheries along the coast,” said Phil Anderson, who works with Ocean Gold Seafood in Westport and serves as chairman of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. click here to read the story 09:47
A fishing schooner called the Bluenose and Nova Scotian identity
A fishing and racing schooner is the most instantly recognizable public symbol of Nova Scotia. The Bluenose, it seems, is almost everywhere — from the Canadian dime to our licence plates and from beer label to tourist souvenirs. It remains as ubiquitous in Nova Scotia as the lighthouses on our shores and Sobeys and Tim Hortons in our towns and cities. Dubbed by admirers as “Queen of the North Atlantic,” she served as a working vessel, achieved fame as the fastest fishing schooner, and was wrecked at sea in 1946. She lived on as a symbol on the Canadian 10-cent piece and was commemorated by a replica, Bluenose II, built in 1963, and then reconstructed, through an arduous process, 40 years later. click here to read the story 11:20
