Tag Archives: politics
N.S. Liberals promise to establish inquiry into illegal fishing
Nova Scotia’s Liberal Party is promising to establish a public inquiry into illegal fishing if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26. Liberal Leader Zach Churchill issued a statement Friday saying the party would also introduce a minimum-fine policy for those caught buying illegally caught lobster. There is already a maximum fine of $1 million for illegal fishing, but Churchill said more needs to be done. “We will establish a minimum fine to ensure that everybody who is buying illegal lobsters pays for putting the industry at risk,” he said. Churchill, whose Liberals are trying to unseat the Progressive Conservatives led by Tim Houston, also committed to creating a dedicated fisheries enforcement unit and a separate commercial fisheries office. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:56
Labour needs to fix British fishing – will it stand by its principles now it is in power?
The question now is whether Labour will use its landslide majority to fix the extraordinary neglect of our marine environment that it previously lacked the votes for. Back in 2020, when the fisheries bill was making its way through parliament, Labour’s fisheries spokesperson, Luke Pollard, made the case that the prime objective of the bill should be sustainability: there should be a duty on ministers to take the advice of scientists when allocating fishing opportunities so as to avoid overfishing. He also argued that as the right to fish was a public asset, which ministers conceded during the course of the bill, preference should be given to the part of the fleet which had the highest levels of employment and the lowest environmental impact: the smaller boats, whose activities are limited naturally by the weather. more, >>CLICK TO READ 08:24
Keir Starmer warned ‘act now’ to stop EU fishermen plundering cod in UK waters
Politicians in Brussels have started rattling their sabres as the European Union seeks to lay down its markers and roll-over the Brexit fisheries deal which saw the UK ‘give up everything’, an industry expert says. Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to act and stop fishers from the European Union plundering fish stocks in UK territorial waters. The EU has extensive access to Britain’s waters in a reciprocal arrangement which in practice is more advantageous to European countries. EU members did “very well” under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) deal signed by Boris Johnson’s government and the bloc, with French fishers taking over 80 percent of cod stocks on the UK side of the English Channel and Belgian counterparts catching some 70 percent of Dover sole in Welsh waters, according to Mike Cohen, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO). more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:01
Alaska delusions – The great takeover of federal waters
Oh if only the facts were as a trio of Alaska House legislators would like their colleagues to believe. They’ve drafted a resolution calling on Congress to extend state waters to 15 miles off the coast of Alaska because this would serve the state’s interest in supporting a “seafood industry generat(ing) over $163,000,000 in revenue for state and local governments.” All those zeros make that look like a great deal of money, but in terms of state revenue, $163 million is chicken feed. The state’s now fading oil industry is forecast to produce $3 billion in fiscal year 2024 or almost 20 times more, according to state projections. Worse though, the claim to $163 million in state revenue from the fishing industry comes from a report compiled for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) that is badly outdated, and the resolution now based on that report lacks the context which even the seafood sales promotion organization felt compelled to add. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:56
The fight to protect right whale, lobsters roils Maine politics
In a state where few things matter more than lobster, it’s no surprise that Mainers are getting a hefty portion of crustacean politics as part of the campaigning for the 2022 midterm elections. What is surprising, however, is the high level of anger and frustration pointed squarely at Washington regulators, with many arguing that NOAA’s new rules are unfair and will hit the prized lobster industry far too hard. Rule backers say they’ll help protect a dwindling population of whales that’s at grave risk from fishing gear. “The men and women who make up Maine’s iconic lobster fishery are facing a terrible crisis, a crisis not of their making, a crisis that is due to this administration’s onerous regulations,” photos, >click to read< 12:11
Businessman Simmons Wants to Fight Regulations, Protect Commercial Fisheries
Abden Simmons, R-Waldoboro, is running for Maine Senate District 13 and hopes to fight regulations, protect commercial fisheries, and encourage a shift to technical education in the state. Simmons was born and raised in Waldoboro and has been clamming since he was about 10 years old. If elected, he will work to fight regulations in order to protect the commercial fisheries in the state. He noted that fishermen should be able to catch more elvers, or baby eels, and the limits on catches need to be raised. Simmons bemoaned the threat posed by new regulations on the lobster industry handed down from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that are designed to protect the North Atlantic right whale. >click to read< 08:55
‘It’s all about the people’ Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante said about her run
She’s a Gloucester native. Her parents came from immigrant families. She’s the only child of her father, Joseph, who worked as a fisherman until an injury forced him out of the job, and her mother, Frances, who worked in the schools’ libraries. She has her supporters. Helene Nicholson, “I think she brings the things to Gloucester like the waterfront and she works well with other candidates even though Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr is a Republican, you know, she works well across the aisles, which I like, and she’s a fair player. She’s honest.” Her father’s injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In 1994, a few months after his accident, the fishing vessel F/V Italian Gold sank. “That’s the boat my father would have been on. All four men were lost at sea,” Ferrante said. Her father asked her to promise him she would help those crew members’ families. >click to read< 12:14
Charlie Pierce: Poorly managed bycatch is an Alaska tragedy
During my visits with communities throughout Alaska a number of concerns are discussed. One major concern, common to many communities is the effect of lax and dismissed enforcement of commercial fishing “Bycatch” rules by our current administration. Before going further, let me tell you the truth about that cute term “Bycatch.” Around the world it is called “discarded and killed fish.” “Bycatch” is a NOAA-created, feel-good phrase embraced by the Alaska Administration to make it sound like it’s no big deal. Politicians playing games with words. >click to read< 09:52
Lobsterman Jason Joyce announces candidacy for House District 15
Jason Joyce, an eighth generation Swan’s Island lobsterman, has announced he is running for District 15 in the Maine House of Representatives. “I am passionate about defending our sustainable coastal fisheries and the marine ecosystem for our grandchildren and their children,” he said. “Standing against international offshore windfarm developments as they attempt to industrialize the Gulf of Maine is a big part of that fight. While defending Maine’s commercial fishermen is an issue of priority in our district, there are many other issues facing all of our communities that continue to threaten our way of life and traditions.” >click to read< 07:41 politics
Maine: Abden Simmons running for Senate District 13
Abden Simmons will be seeking the Maine Senate District 13 seat. Simmons has been a shellfish harvester for three decades and has operated A&A Shellfish, a buying station for clams, for twenty-five years. He is also an elver fisherman and spent more than 20 years inshore fishing and working as a sternman. In 2016, his community elected Simmons to serve the people of Friendship, Waldoboro, Washington, and part of Union in the Maine House of Representatives. While in the House he served as a member of the Marine Resources Committee. >click to read< 18:37
Preserve The Heritage Of Maryland’s Seafood Industry
A newspaper article published last month reported that Maryland comptroller and announced candidate for governor Peter Franchot promised, if elected governor, to phase out the centuries-old wild commercial oystering industry, likely starting with a moratorium. The article also quoted Franchot saying he would rather “properly compensate” watermen for losing their jobs than find a bipartisan solution. I can guarantee that if this happens, you will eventually destroy the entire seafood industry as we know it. I find this to be a knee-jerk reaction by someone who has spent little time trying to help the industry over his many years in politics but has obviously spent a great deal of time counting votes promised by environmental groups. >click to read< By Ron H. Fithian 08:52
Federal Liberals continue to destroy BC fisheries… it’s starting to look like the NFLD fishing moratorium
There are about 2,000 licensed commercial fishing licenses held by BC fishermen (pc governments now call them harvesters). Using that figure and adding in 2 crewmen (many fishing boats have more) means over 2,500 harvesters will lose their jobs… The sad part is that reducing the wild salmon fishery has its precedence on the east coast. Some might remember back in 1992, the federal government of the day established the Newfoundland 
cod fishery moratorium. It was a cruel and duplicitous statement to call it a moratorium as 30 years later, and the commercial cod fishery remains closed. Cod have considerably recovered but are being caught by fisherman from Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, and a swarm of foreign-flagged fish factory trawlers just outside the 200-mile nautical limit. Codfish are also being consumed by a 5 million strong seal herd, which has quadrupled in size since the collapse of the seal fishery. >click to read< 18:38
SEA-NL questions federal candidate Mary Shortall’s commitment to inshore fish harvesters
“As a labour leader Mary Shortall turned her back on the fishermen and women of Newfoundland and Labrador in favour of the union executive,” says Ryan Cleary. “The question must be asked, who will Mary Shortall stand for if she’s elected to Parliament: workers or the union and party executive?” Cleary points out that as President of the Federation of Labour, Shortall failed to react to a 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court decision, later upheld on appeal in favour of inshore scallop harvesters who took their union to court over a compensation fund for lost fishing grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. In the court case, it was revealed the FFAW-Unifor had negotiated a compensation package with Nalcor without permission of scallop harvesters. >click to read< 09:41
Politics: Lobster dispute, frustration with Ottawa could turn the tide on the Liberals in Nova Scotia
“Trudeau had the support of the First Nations in the last election. Not anymore. We’re voting NDP,” In rural Nova Scotia ridings such as South Shore-St. Margarets, where the fishery is a major employer, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan is now fighting to keep her job,,, It’s just past the lunch break inside the main assembly shop at Yarmouth Boat Works, These $1.2-million state-of-the-art vessels, with kitchens, sleeping quarters, flat-screen TVs and showers, are meant to venture far out into the ocean and carry thousands of pounds of lobster back to land. Owner Steve Gee says while demand for new boats has slowed, finding skilled workers is hard, despite a good fibreglass technician getting $28 an hour, a decent wage in Yarmouth County. “I need 23 workers, but three showed up today,” he said. “Our latest job posting had 300 applicants, and not one of them was in Canada.” >click to read< 11:31
Political parties differ dramatically on moderate livelihood response
The major parties vying to replace the Liberals at Canada’s helm both promise a dramatic course change on the moderate livelihood fishery file. But it would be in very different directions. With the Liberal share of the popular vote,31.4 per cent as of Thursday, compared to the Conservatives with 33.7 per cent, and the NDP, with 20.2 per cent, there is a potential for a sea change on the most high profile issue to come out of this province in recent years. An NDP government would allow moderate livelihood and treaty based fisheries to continue or be launched,,, A Conservative government would take a harder line with First Nations, according to incumbent West Nova MP Chris D’Entremont. >click to read< 17:50
Former Senator Scott Brown to return to the political arena
New Hampshire Primary Source has confirmed that Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts US Senator who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate from New Hampshire in 2014, has reactivated his political action committee and intends to help Republican candidates from New Hampshire and elsewhere who share his desire to end partisan gridlock in Washington. That’s according to a letter of resignation Brown sent Wednesday to New England Law-Boston, where Brown had served as president since 2019, when he returned from New Zealand and Samoa, where he served the Trump administration as ambassador. “In the months ahead, I look forward to re-engaging in the political arena in support of candidates and causes who share my vision of rebuilding the Republican Party,” Interested in your position on offshore wind farms, Scott! >click to read< 13:59
New Jersey: Legislators Propose Bill To Limit Local Say Over Offshore Wind Farm Projects
The bill comes at a time when Ørsted’s proposed offshore wind project has been gaining opposition from several coastal communities concerned about the cables running underneath New Jersey beaches, including Ocean City and Long Beach Island. Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a southern New Jersey Democrat who sponsored the bill,,, “I can assure you, having been at ground zero of these discussions, we will allow nothing to happen that will disrupt Ocean City and the true gem that it is,” Burzichelli said at the state Assembly hearing during which the bill was advanced. >click to read< 08:45
Offshore Wind Farms: Who determines energy policy in North Carolina?
Are offshore wind farms a job creating investment that makes North Carolina’s energy portfolio more environmentally friendly? That is debatable, but, more important, who gets to make the call one way or another? Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson doesn’t think it should be the left up to one partisan politician, and so, when >Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order last week< committing the state to pursuing such a strategy, Robinson wasted no time in clapping back that the policy – and the process – were suspect. “With this Executive Order, Governor Cooper attempts to commit North 
Carolina to a future dependent upon unreliable, outrageously expensive, environmentally suspect, and socially irresponsible offshore wind power. This idea is not the economic gold-mine the Cooper administration would have us believe. >click to read< 13:05
Is politics getting in the way of rebuilding a sustainable fishery in Newfoundland?
The sentinel program, created after the cod moratorium in 1992 to monitor fish populations, is run exclusively by the Fish Food & Allied Workers, the powerful union that represents around 15,000 fishermen, fish plant employees and other workers in the province. DFO relies on data from the sentinel fishery to help assess fish stocks, and has paid the union millions to run the program. “The FFAW and the DFO are cheating the fishermen out of a resource that belongs to the people of Newfoundland,” said Jason Bateman, a former enforcement officer with DFO. Ryan Cleary, a former member of Parliament for St. John’s-Mount Pearl and an outspoken critic of the FFAW, said the union has found a way to prosper since the collapse of cod by integrating itself into fisheries management, acting almost as a regulator, while becoming a vocal industry voice that contradicts science. >click to read< 17:55
The World’s Supply of Mackerel Is on the Move
The Northeast Atlantic mackerel is a small fish with grey or greenish-blue scales and tigerlike black stripes from mouth to tail. Lacking a swim bladder, the gas-filled organ that helps most fish move up and down in the water, the mackerel would sink and die if it ever stopped. So it is always on the move, looking for plankton, crustaceans, and other small fish. In recent years, the mackerel’s unceasing motion and radically increased abundance have taken it farther north, to Greenland or Svalbard, which lies between Norway and the North Pole, and northwest, to Icelandic waters. And when the fish turned up, the Icelanders took advantage. By tradition, their nation had no claim to this fish, but starting in the mid-2000s, when the lucrative fish arrived in great numbers, they struck. >click to read< 11:09
We need Stephanie Hawke – Mark Jones
Dear Editor: Being a lobsterman for the last 45 years, I would ask you to support Stephanie Hawke for House Seat 89 in the Maine legislature. In my opinion, never during those years, has the Maine lobster business been in such jeopardy as it is now. The proof is found in several arenas. One is the new rules coming into effect to protect whales at the federal level. Another involves politicians, including our governor, and her green new deal coalition, who are advocating to industrialize the Gulf of Maine with offshore wind power by foreign energy corporations who will be competing for the same area that many lobstermen are currently fishing. >click to read< 11:11
Power Companies Fight For Legislation, With Customers Paying The Price
Across the country, electric utilities have worked the levers of power to win favorable treatment from state policymakers. This week, a Richmond Times-Dispatch and ProPublica investigation found that Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest public utility, successfully lobbied to reshape a major climate bill to cover its massive offshore wind project. The move shifted risk from the company’s shareholders to its ratepayers. As a result of the legislation, a typical residential customer’s bill is projected to increase by nearly $30 per month over the next decade. Dominion says its wind project is necessary to meet the state’s new renewable energy goals. >click to read< 12:37
Not Promoting Nuclear Power is hypocrisy. Wind and solar promotors lie about the problems. Lots of problems
Whatever your views on climate change, the idea that trying to run modern, civil societies on sunshine and breezes might somehow prevent it is, of course, a complete nonsense. Nuclear to Replace Wind and Solar – In the words of James Hansen, the scientist most responsible for promoting global warming, wind and solar are “grotesque” solutions for reducing CO2 emissions. Michael Shellenberger, a prominent activist, has the same opinion. Hansen and Shellenberger, as well as many other global warming activists, have come to the conclusion that nuclear energy is the only viable method of reducing CO2 emissions from the generation of electricity. >click to read< 09:14
Stop treating fishing like a second class industry
It is true that fishing represents only a small part of our total economy, but the Government should not undervalue the thousands of jobs fishing creates not just on boats large and small, but in processing, logistics and food service. They are also at risk of ignoring the cultural and historical importance of fishing as part of our maritime heritage and our communities. The creation of this Trade and Agriculture Commission is to be welcomed and the NFU and its supporters congratulated for their successful campaign. >click to read< 10:53
United Fishermen of Alaska dismiss Al Gross, endorse Senator Dan Sullivan
The announcement comes as a bit of a body blow to the campaign of his opponent, Al Gross, who presents himself as a commercial fisherman from Petersburg. This is an endorsement that should have come easily for someone with an Alaska gill net permit. Many in the fishing industry are independent voters, and Gross also presents himself as an independent, although he is running on the Democrats’ ticket and with the Democrats’ resources and endorsement. Sen. Sullivan has demonstrated leadership and effectiveness in advancing the interests of Alaska’s fisheries and fishermen across the state, said UFA President Matt Alward. by Suzanne Downing, >click to read< 11:51
Want To Cripple America? Have the Democrats Got A New ‘Green’ Deal For You!
The Democrats have been doing the bidding of America’s cabal of crony capitalists who designed the wind and solar scam for years; characters who’ve made obscene profits from massive taxpayer subsidies to renewable energy and who are obviously very keen for more of the same.,, Paul Driessen takes a look at what might happen in the US in the event that these lunatics ever get anywhere near the controls., How many wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, biofuel plants and miles of transmission lines will be required under various GND plans? Where will they go? Whose scenic and wildlife areas will be impacted? How will rural and coastal communities react to being made energy colonies for major cities? >click to read< 09:03
Rep. Genevieve McDonald wins primary for House seat representing islands
Rep. Genevieve McDonald is all but assured a second term in the Maine House. The Stonington Democrat won Tuesday, July 14, the Democratic primary for Maine House District 134 that represents Vinalhaven, North Haven, Isle-au-Haut, Deer Isle, Stonington, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Swan’s Island, Frenchboro, The Cranberry Isles and Marshall Island Township. The winner of the primary is likely to be the winner in November. She defeated primary challenger Julie Eaton of Deer Isle. >click to read< 11:15
Island Democrats to help pick House nominee – Both women are lobster boat captains
There are few contested primaries on the ballot this year but one is the Democratic nomination to represent the House district that includes Vinalhaven and North Haven. Incumbent State Rep. Genevieve McDonald of Stonington is being challenged in the July 14 primary election by Julie Eaton of Deer Isle. Both women are lobster boat captains. McDonald is serving her first two-year term in the House, being elected in 2018.,, Eaton was born in Ellsworth, grew up in Surry, is a lobster boat captain starting her 35th season working on the water. >click to read< 08:20
New Zealand: There’s something fishy about the government’s relationship with seafood
The government’s decision to delay the installation of monitoring cameras on fishing boats is being condemned by critics (of course) A pattern of delay and scuttling has emerged over the three years of the current government when it has faced a decision that could impose strict The National Party and Greenpeace have suggested that the government’s moves reflect NZ First undermining Labour and the Greens at the cabinet table, however NZ First MP Shane Jones dismissed the allegation in an interview with The Spinoff. His ardent vocal support for fisheries in parliament and reports that he’s received financial backing from the industry isn’t reflected in the government’s decisions, he said. >click to read< 14:41
Senate Democrats, Greens Seek Climate Mandates In Federal Stimulus Bills
Senate Democrats and environmentalists want to tack climate change mandates onto proposed federal aid to major airlines and cruise lines reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the House and Senate leadership, eight Senate Democrats said last week that any financial assistance to the travel industry “should be paired with requirements that companies act in a more responsible fashion” by reducing their carbon footprint. “Climate change damages will wreak havoc on a scale even greater than the coronavirus,” said the Friday letter headed by the Center for Biological Diversity. Democrats who signed the letter were Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Jeffrey Merkley of Oregon, Cory A. Booker of New Jersey, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. >click to read< 10:12
