Tag Archives: Humboldt Bay

“A massive enterprise’: California’s offshore wind farms are on a fast track

The tantalizing possibility of capturing wind energy from giant floating ocean platforms is considered essential to achieving California’s ambitious goal of electrifying its grid with 100% zero-carbon energy. The state’s blueprint envisions offshore wind farms producing 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2045, powering 25 million homes and providing about 13% of the power supply. The projects will be a giant experiment: No other floating wind operations are in such deep waters. From China to Rhode Island, about 250 offshore wind farms are operating around the world, mostly in shallow waters close to shore and secured to the ocean floor. But the areas off California with the strongest winds are far from shore and too deep for traditional platforms, so developers are planning clusters of floating platforms about 20 miles off the coast, in waters more than a half-mile deep and tethered by cables. Photos, >>click to read<< 10:49

Humboldt Bay – Port of Entry

Big changes are afoot on the Samoa Peninsula. The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District is planning to construct a large manufacturing center to craft and assemble giant wind turbines suitable for the deep offshore waters of the Pacific Coast. Officially known as the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal Project, the port development is a crucial step to bring plans to build a first-of-its kind wind farm off the Pacific Coast to fruition. It would also position Humboldt’s as the only port on the West Coast built to manufacture and repair the turbines — a potential economic boon for the area as the industry enters a period of unprecedented growth.  In an effort to address the climate crisis, the Biden administration issued an executive order about a year ago requiring 30 gigawatts of energy to be produced by offshore winds by 2030. >click to read< 10:04

Crab Fisherman Zip-Ties a GoPro Camera Inside a Crab Pot – a Feeding Frenzy Ensues

Have you ever wondered what happens inside crab pots when they’re underwater?  Fortuna resident Robert Wall decided to find out.  “My friend John said we should put a GoPro in one of the pots. Honestly, I was just curious and wanted to see what goes on down there.” So they zip-tied the little camera to the inside of the cage, loaded some herring and chicken in there for bait and pressed record. Before the silt has settled, the shadows of hungry Dungeness descend, their claws and legs clattering against the bars of the metal grate. “I didn’t expect the crab to be at the pot in under 30 seconds,” Wall said. “It gets pretty crazy down there.” Video, >click to watch< 07:54

He was the best of us. Kenneth Dale Burns,1954-2021 has passed away

On September 6, four days after his 67th birthday, Kenneth Dale Burns passed in the night. He was the best of us. Whether donned in neoprene in the crashing waves, or atop of his fishing boat off Humboldt Bay, he was the best of us. He loved his wife with a sincerity and devotion that only a man with his capacity for love could achieve. He was the best of us. He had a quiet soul and a stoic presence that made us all feel safe. He was the best of us. His boys adored him and his grandchildren loved him because he was the best of us. He was a captain, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. >click to read<  14:09

Coronavirus: Humboldt Bay crab fishing season ‘devastated’

“We could use one word: it’s devastating,” said Harrison Ibach, president of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association. “Everything has come to a screaming halt. And it’s not just the crab industry, it’s the entire seafood industry.”,, Recent crabbing seasons have ended in hardship, including a state settlement in 2019 that prematurely closed crab fisheries over a series of whale entanglements off the California coast (one of them near Eureka). Before this year’s season even started, crabbers like Scott Creps of Eureka were worried about whether it would go the distance. >click to read< 10:37

Coast Guard seeks public comment regarding bar entrances in central, northern California

The Coast Guard initiated a public comment period Thursday pertaining to proposed safety requirements at several bar entrances in central and northern California. Regulated Navigation Areas are being proposed for the harbor bar entrances to Crescent City Harbor, Humboldt Bay, Noyo River and Morro Bay. The proposed regulation would create additional safety requirements for recreational and small commercial vessels operating in these areas during periods of hazardous conditions,,, >click to read<  17:36

Let’s Take a Closer Look at This Big Fish Farm Proposal for the Samoa Peninsula

There have been lots of ideas in recent years for how to maximize the economic potential of Humboldt Bay. “More cruise ships!” some suggested. “More oysters!” “Less-restrictive zoning!” “How about a new railroad or two?” But as far as we can tell, no one even dreamed of suggesting that the Samoa peninsula could host one of the world’s largest indoor fish farms. No one imagined that Redwood Marine Terminal II, a contaminated brownfield site still littered with the rubble of an abandoned pulp mill, could be chosen to house a 600,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art aquaculture facility capable of supplying the West Coast with nearly 60 million tons pounds of fish per year. That concept, and the Norwegian company that plans to bring it to fruition, found us. >click to read<20:20

Coast Seafoods Company gone by August?

After farming shellfish in Humboldt Bay since the 1950s, the largest shellfish producer in the state Coast Seafoods Company could be gone by next month following a consequential California Coastal Commission decision in June, according to Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Executive Director Jack Crider. “Conceivably, if something doesn’t change, Coast could be out of business by the middle of August,” Crider said. “It is a really serious situation. More than anything, it’s just this signal to the aquaculture industry that California is just not the place to be, which is sad. Really sad.”,,, Attempts to contact Coast Seafood Company’s Southwest Operations Manager Greg Dale since June have not been returned. Attempts to contact Coast Seafood Company’s Oregon-based parent company Pacific Seafood Group were not returned by Saturday afternoon. click here to read the story 13:17