Tag Archives: Halifax

Idea for more sustainable fishers catches prize for Halifax company

Marc d’Entremont has millions of dollars in Ocean Supercluster funding to bring his idea to fruition, but another 50 grand is always welcome. His company, Katchi Technologies, headquartered in Halifax, is one of the winners of the sixth annual Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge. Katchi has designed a replacement fish net system that eliminates contact with the ocean floor and reduces greenhouse emissions, allowing for more sustainable harvesting. “We’re basically removing the bottom trawling from the seabed,,, “We’ve invented a new method to open the net up, and we’re reducing drag and saving fuel by 30 per cent. The other piece is we’re controlling the net to ensure it stays off the seabed, using an algorithm that takes input from a whole bunch of sensors on the vessel. >click to read< 15:54

Trial begins for fisherman and fish buyer accused of illegal halibut landings

A trial is underway in Halifax for a Sambro fisherman, a fish buyer and two related companies accused of illegal halibut landings The case is centred on seven trips made by the fishing vessel F/V Ivy Lew between May 2019 and June 2020. Captain Casey Henneberry is accused of failing to follow licence conditions in several instances, including on three trips when halibut catches were unloaded without a dockside monitor present. Buyer Samir Zakhour is accused of being at the wharf to buy halibut during the last “illegal offload” in June 2020 and “was a party to the events of offloading without a monitor,” Conrod said. He is also charged with misleading a fishery officer the night of his arrest. ALS Fisheries, which owns the boat, and Law Fisheries are also charged in the case. >click to read< 13:20

Proposed Halifax infill threatens the loss of lucrative lobstering grounds

An Eastern Passage lobster fisherman says some of his best catches come from a spot slated for infilling in Halifax’s Northwest Arm. Justin Stewart said Andrew Metlege’s plan to infill (make land) 45 metres out into the Arm in front of a home the developer,,, Stewart doesn’t want to lose the lucrative lobstering area to landfill. “It just sucks because when something like that is lost, then I’ve got to go in and split another place with somebody else. There’s lots of boats around.” He was a tad reluctant to talk about how good the lobster fishing is on the Arm for fear of attracting more competition. “There’s me and one other person and I think most people think we’re kind of crazy up there. But it works pretty good. photos, >click to read< 14:40

USCG and RCAF helicopter crews rescued over two dozen fishermen from a sinking vessel on a stormy night.

An offshore fishing trawler named Atlantic Destiny was in distress and her crew of 31 was battling a fire while the vessel was without power or steerage and shipping water. There initially was no direct line of communication with the stricken vessel, which may have experienced an engine room explosion and was running on emergency backup power. Information relayed from other fishing vessels in the vicinity suggested the situation was dire, but the crew had not yet given up hope they could save her. “As soon as we hear something like that, we start acting swiftly,”,,, But with 31 people to extract, this would be especially challenging. “It was a very large number of people to rescue in a very difficult location.” >video, click to read< 19:38

Canada launches new aircraft to improve conservation and ocean protection

Fishery officers require state of the art aerial surveillance equipment to continue the important work they conduct protecting Canada’s marine resources, ensuring compliance with fisheries management measures and enforcing the Fisheries Act from coast to coast to coast. In 2019, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced a five-year, $128 million contract with PAL Aerospace-located in St. John’s, to deliver a new fleet of four aerial surveillance aircrafts, including two long-range maritime patrol aircrafts. When operational, the planes will fly out of three bases of operation: St. John’s, Newfoundland and LabradorHalifax, Nova Scotia; and a brand new facility in Campbell River, British Columbia. >click to read< 15:22