Tag Archives: Crew members
Anxiety, depression are top issues faced by people who make their living on the sea
The number of people working in fisheries and aquaculture who are calling a dedicated industry counselling service on Prince Edward Island has more than doubled over the last fiscal year. From May 2022 to May 2023, the service counselled 24 people. That jumped to 64 people in the 2023-24 fiscal year. “The stigma for reaching out [about] mental health, I think that’s decreasing in our society generally. So it becomes more socially acceptable and people give themselves permission to reach out,” said social worker Frank Bulger. The program has been offered since 2019 by Frank Bulger Personal and Family Counselling, on behalf of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association and the P.E.I. Aquaculture Alliance. Bulger administers the program, along with a counsellor in Summerside and one who works remotely from Alberta. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:29
Salmon disaster relief applications for permit-holders due August 24
Federal disaster aid is on the way for some commercial fishing permit-holders in Haines and throughout the state, though many may be too wrapped up in the current season to apply for it right away. Applications for crew and subsistence users are currently available online. Unique applications for permit-holders and processors from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission were mailed out on June 26 and are due August 24. Once completed the application can be mailed back to the commission or uploaded online. There’s also aid for vessel crew, and those applications are not due until September 28, but they may be harder to find. They’ll also need an affidavit from the permit holder or vessel owner they worked with to apply. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:10
F/V L’Ecume II: Sections of sunken trawler to be taken to La Collette
The land-based operation to transport recovered sections of the L’Ecume II fishing trawler to a secure site at La Collette is due to begin. And further tributes to one of Jersey’s ‘most-respected’ fishermen, Michael ‘Mick’ Michieli, have poured in after a body was recovered from the wreck on Wednesday. The trawler sank on Thursday 8 December following a collision with the Commodore Goodwill freight ship off Jersey’s west coast, triggering an immediate search-and-rescue operation spanning 36 hours. On Wednesday evening, the States police said that a body had been brought ashore and that the family of Mr Michieli had been informed. A formal identification process is due to take place. >click to read< 08:11
Body recovered from wreckage of sunken Jersey fishing vessel, L’Ecume II
A body has been recovered from the wreckage of the L’Ecume II, a fishing boat which sank after a collision with a freight ship off Jersey’s west coast in December 2022. Three fishermen were on board when the vessel collided with Condor Ferries’ freight ship, the Commodore Goodwill. The bodies of crew members Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat were found, while the L’Ecume II’s skipper, Michael ‘Mick’ Michieli, remained missing. Officials have confirmed that the crew working to raise the sunken trawler recovered a body on Wednesday evening (26 April). The body was brought to shore in a coffin and is yet to be formally identified. >click to read< 15:03
F/V Emmy Rose: Side Scan Sonar locates sunken fishing vessel off the Massachusetts Coast
It was a tragedy that claimed the lives of all the fishermen aboard the Portland, Maine-based boat: crew members Robert Blethen Jr., Jeff Matthews, Ethan Ward and Mike Porper. The four men were presumed dead and mourned by their loved ones at a candlelight vigil held two days after the 82-foot-long steel ship sank on Nov. 23, 2020. Now, roughly half a year after the Emmy Rose’s sinking, authorities announced they found the sunken fishing vessel following a search of around 5.5 square miles of the seafloor with side-scan sonar, a device used to detect objects on the bottom of the ocean. >click to read< , or >here<, 20:25
‘I say his name every day’: Captain’s mother of F/V Miss Ally, seven years later
A mother who lost her son to the North Atlantic seven years ago when the Miss Ally capsized wants the vessel’s crew to always be remembered. “To me, it’s like it happened yesterday,” says Della Sears, whose son was the captain. The last time Sears saw her son, Katlin Nickerson, and his friends, was on Feb. 12, 2013, when she drove them to the wharf on Cape Sable Island, N.S. Tragedy struck five days later, on Feb. 17, when a storm capsized the boat. The bodies of the five fishermen were never found. >click to read< 07:14
New DFO orders ‘hard pill to swallow’ for N.B. lobster fishermen
Lobster fishermen off the coast of Miscou Island, N.B., will spend Sunday morning hauling gear from the waters in order to comply with the latest fishing zone closures imposed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. On Friday afternoon, the DFO re-opened four areas previously closed to fishing due to the presence of right whales. But with more closures being imposed on Sunday, frustrations continue to mount. Carl Allen, president of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, organized the most recent protest and met with LeBlanc on Friday.,,”I have a lot of respect for Minister LeBlanc, but we just don’t agree with the basis of the whole plan — it’s a hard pill to swallow,” he said.,, LeBlanc did offer the fishermen an alternative, however. He offered a paid training program for crew members and plant workers affected by these closures. >click to read<18:20
One in four crew members injured on fishing boats
A Neilsen survey commissioned by Maritime New Zealand and WorkSafe found 28 percent of crew members – or more than one in four workers – have suffered a significant injury while a further 26 percent have experienced a near-miss. Most of the injuries were to hands, lower back and the spine, but the outcome of a mishap at sea could be much worse. Since 2010, 25 crew members have died and the families of nine of those lost at sea did not have the comfort of bringing a body home. The Accident Compensation Corporation has had an average 966 active commercial fishing claims over the past five years and in 2016 it received 633 new claims, which have grown on average 3 percent a year since 2009. Last year ACC paid out $5.1 million in the wider commercial fishing bracket, slightly down on the average over the last six years of $5.7 million. click here to read the article 11:01
Crew of lost crabbing vessel declared legally dead
The six men lost when their crabbing boat sank on a cold morning in the Bering Sea last month were declared legally dead at an unusual court proceeding Monday, allowing heartbroken families to take a first step toward closure and settling their loved ones’ affairs. The proceeding, known as a presumptive death hearing, is a kind of mini-trial held to determine whether a missing person can be declared dead. They are often held in the cases of people who have disappeared in such extreme terrain as to have exhausted the chances of survival or recovery. The fishing vessel Destination sank 3 miles north of St. George Island on the morning of Feb. 11, just before starting the winter snow crab season. The bodies of the men aboard — captain Jeff Hathaway and crew members Kai Hamik, Darrik Seibold, Larry O’Grady, Raymond Vincler and Charles G. Jones — have not been found. continue reading the story here 23:34
Deadliest Catch Captain Keith Colburn pays tribute to six fisherman lost in the Bering Sea
A Deadliest Catch star is paying tribute to six veteran fishermen lost in the icy Bering Sea after the U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for the men. The fishing vessel Destination went missing early Saturday after an emergency signal from a radio beacon registered to the ship originated from 2 miles off St. George, an island about 650 miles west of Kodiak Island. Castmember Capt. Keith Colburn said he knows their chances of surviving are slim and paid tribute to Hathaway and O’Grady, who he was close friends with for over 25 years. Family members of those missing identified the crew members as: Jeff Hathaway, Larry O’Grady, Charles Glenn Jones, Raymond Vincler, Darrik Seibold, and Kai Hamik. The news about the vessel going missing has stunned the tight-knit community that spawned the hit Discovery channel show ‘Deadliest Catch’. Colburn said he heard about the missing boat, which was not featured on the show, from colleague Sig Hansen, who is the captain on The Northwestern on reality television show which is about crab and fishing boat crews working on the Bering Sea. Photo’s, Read the story here 18:43
On this day in 2007, The Search begins for Lady of Grace
On this day in 2007, the Coast Guard launched a massive search for the Fishing Vessel Lady of Grace after the 75-foot dragger failed to return as scheduled to New Bedford. The four-man crew of the boat was last heard from the night before, struggling to cross Nantucket Sound in a winter gale with 6- to 9-foot seas buffeting the Sound. Using side scan sonar, Coast Guard personnel located the sunken vessel 12 miles south of Hyannis one day after the search began. The bodies of Lady of Grace captain Antonio Barroqueiro and crew member Mario Farinhas were recovered, but two other crew members, Rogerio Ventura and Joao Silva – were never found. Read the stories about this tragedy starting with previous problem with the boat click here 11:39 May they all Rest in Peace.
Drug tests for fishing boat crew members
Some fishing boat crew members will have to be drug and alcohol tested under proposed law changes. Transport Minister Simon Bridges has introduced the bill and says it means commercial maritime operators must have drug and alcohol management plans that include random testing for crew members carrying out “sensitive activities”. Maritime New Zealand will oversee the management plans and will have the power to do its own testing if it needs to. “Many commercial maritime operators already have a drug and alcohol management plan,” Mr Bridges said on Thursday. “Making this a legal requirement will help ensure crews are consistently well protected.” link 13:24
Crew of damaged Arctic fishing vessel F/V Saputi arrive in Iqaluit
Crew members from the F/V Saputi shared a moment in prayer as they arrived in Iqaluit after a harrowing ordeal at sea that ended when their vessel limped ashore in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday. The F/V Saputi was fishing for turbot in the Davis Strait when it ran into ice Sunday night and began taking on water. “We’re still shaking,” said Duane Taylor, who was on board the Saputi, in the Iqaluit Airport Friday. Other crew members, including Todd Rumbole and Darren Hawkes, were at a loss for words. Read the rest, five photo’s here 11:05
