Tag Archives: O’Hara Corporation
An ocean of ambition
One by one, a trustee listed the assets up for sale: eight commercial fishing vessels and 48 federal fishing permits. It was a fire-sale liquidation for bankrupt Blue Harvest Fisheries — one of New England’s largest seafood companies — and the largest bundle of groundfish permits in recent history to come available on the market. Bids, the trustee announced, would start at $10 million. Cassie Canastra was first to act: “$11 million,” she said, without skipping a beat. There was a brief pause, as a team representing O’Hara Corporation, part owner of New Bedford-based scallop giant Eastern Fisheries, huddled to discuss their options. They raised the bid to $11.25 million. “$12 million,” Canastra responded, showing no sign of relenting. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 11:03
‘Until the last fish is gone.’ Cape Cod fishers worry trawling is depleting sea herring.
A number of the Cape’s small boat fishermen, whale watch captains, and fishing charter operators blame midwater trawlers for depletion of herring stock. That depletion, they claim, has had a negative economic impact on their businesses. John Pappalardo, Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance has worked for decades to do just that. He believes midwater trawlers are a big reason for the herring’s population decline. Mary Beth Tooley, government affairs manager for the O’Hara Corporation, The company’s trawlers take a small portion of the fish that are assessed “because we want that population to rebuild,” she said. >>click to read<< 08:38
Fishing Industry Icon Francis J. O’Hara, Sr., of Camden, Maine, has passed away
Francis “Frank” Joseph O’Hara Sr., 91, died on August 3, 2023, at his home in Camden, Maine surrounded by his family. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 29, 1931, he was the son of Francis Joseph and Dorothy (MacCalduff) O’Hara. He married Donna “Jill” Hildreth in Portland, Maine, on January 11, 1953. Frank was a devoted family man and a devout Catholic. He supported many local organizations and causes and was a strong believer in public service. He flipped pancakes at the Camden Snow Bowl, sat on the Camden National Bank and Owls Head Transportation Museum boards, and served on the New England Fishery Management Council. Under his leadership, O’Hara Corporation, a 115-year-old, fifth-generation family-owned and operated commercial fishing company, expanded its influence from the coast of Maine to the Pacific NW, Alaska and China. >>click to read<< 13:57
Who is Captain Sewall Maddocks?
Sewall’s love for the ocean first began when he was in grade school lobstering with his uncle Earl Brewer Sr. In 1977 he made his first trip on a trawler fishing with Richard McLellan on the F/V Sea Bring. He later became captain at 19 on the 82-foot F/V Irene’s Way, which was built for Richard at Goudy and Stevens in East Boothbay. In the early 80s, Sewall started to captain for F. J. O’Hara and Son’s out of Rockland, Maine He worked on the 110-foot F/V Alliance and later on the 119-foot F/V Araho, both stern trawlers, while fishing ground fish in the Gulf of Maine and on the northern edge of George’s Bank. Sewall later fished outside the 200 mile limit from Newfoundland on the tail of the Grand Banks. These boats typically had a crew of 5-6 people and caught 30,000-100,000 pounds of fish per trip with the fish being layered in ice in the fish hold. Great story! >click to read the rest< 10:22
Crew Of O’Hara Corporation Trawler And Community Member Test Positive For Coronavirus
Unalaska reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. All but one is among the crew of the F/T Enterprise, a trawler. The infected crew members are in isolation in Unalaska’s quarantine facility and are being monitored by staff from Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, City Manager Erin Reinders said. Contact tracing is underway. “The O’Hara Corporation is greatly concerned by the recent positive COVID test results on board the F/T Enterprise,”,, “Our primary concern is the health of our crew and preventing impacts to the community of Unalaska.” The tenth case the city reported Monday is an Unalaska resident. >click to read< 17:57
Mashpee Selectmen Push To Move Herring Trawlers Off The Coast
The New England Fishery Management Council, a federal entity, will host several public hearings to solicit comments on possible alternatives under consideration in an amendment to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. More specifically, the council is seeking feedback from the public on which alternatives should be selected and why. One of those amendments includes forcing fishing vessels called midwater trawlers 12 miles off the Cape Cod shore.,,, But the operators of these midwater trawlers contest the proposed amendment,,, Mary Beth Tooley, a representative of O’Hara Corporation in Maine, says that about 80 percent of the Maine lobster fishery uses herring as bait. “That’s thousands of lobstermen that will be impacted,” >click to read<20:13
Best Workboats of 2017
Notwithstanding the lingering offshore energy downturn, there were plenty of bright spots for North American shipyards in 2017. If a hull was delivered in 2017, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For starters, it is always exciting when a domestic yard delivers a vessel – or multiple vessels, for that matter – to foreign buyers. We can compete in a foreign arena; on price, quality and on-time delivery. This year was no different. No less important is the environmental footprint of a vessel, and there was plenty to report on from that angle in the past 12 months. click here to read the story 11:08
Steaming toward Seattle, New US factory freezer/processor vessel Araho
The new Araho is a 59.13 metres factory stern trawler with a 14.94 metre beam, built to a Skipsteknisk ST-115 design. It has been built for demersal trawling and is capable of processing and freezing approximately 100 tonnes of H&G flatfish per day. It has an 1100 cubic metre refrigerated hold. This is the sixth new build from Eastern Shipbuilding for the O’Hara Corporation over the last twenty years and by far the largest and most sophisticated vessel, as the first US factory freezer/processor vessel to be built in the USA for 25 years. Video, read the story here 08:18
Fishing Company of Alaska is sold, ending a turbulent run in North Pacific harvests
Renton-based Fishing Company of Alaska has sold its three factory trawlers and catch quotas to two other seafood companies, a move that will end more than three decades of its sometimes turbulent operations in the North Pacific seafood industry. The sales agreement to Ocean Peace and O’Hara Corporation was announced Friday in an email by a Fishing Company of Alaska executive to other industry officials that was obtained by The Seattle Times. A sale price was not disclosed. Mike Faris, chief executive of Seattle-based Ocean Peace, confirmed that his company will acquire two Fishing Company of Alaska vessels. Frank O’Hara Jr., executive vice president of O’Hara Corporation, said his company will acquire the other vessel and half of the fishing quotas to harvests. He said these quotas will give his company a more diverse harvest that includes more higher-priced species. Fishing Company of Alaska, which once had a fleet of more than six vessels, was an important player in the trawl harvests that unfold in the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea and off the Aleutian Islands. But Fishing Company of Alaska’s fleet has shrunk over time, in part due to high-seas disasters. Those include the 2007 sinking of the Alaska Ranger that killed five crew and the 2016 demise of the Alaska Juris, which did not result in loss of life but is the focus of a Coast Guard investigation. Read the story here 19:21
The O’Hara Fishing Dynasty – Knowing when to fish or cut bait
On July 31, O’Hara Corporation launched the first American fishing vessel that will be able to chase fish through polar ice off the coast of Alaska. Now in its fifth generation, the O’Hara family business has shown the ability to adapt as fishing technology, two world wars, and changes in international fisheries laws upended the industry. “Every generation had its bad thing to deal with,” said Frank O’Hara Jr. Frank Jr.’s great-grandfather started the fishing family dynasty in 1904 when he launched a Gloucester sailing vessel, the Francis J. O’Hara, Jr., which fished for cod, haddock, and halibut off of Georges Bank until it was sunk by a German U-boat in 1918. Read the rest here 13:39
