Tag Archives: Richie Canastra
Drag Net – New Bedford shocked by NOAA’s latest move in Carlos Rafael case
Jim Kendall sees fingerprints on NOAA’s most recent allegations that go beyond Carlos Rafael and loop 22 of his captains into the agency’s non-criminal civil action. “I’ll tell you right now, you can print it or not, but I think John Bullard still has his thumb on the scale,” the former fishing captain and executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting said. Kendall backed up his claims by saying, “because I know John. He’s a vindictive SOB.” Bullard is the former mayor of New Bedford, but in this case more importantly acted as the regional administrator for NOAA when Rafael was criminally indicted, pled guilty and was sentenced. Bullard also imposed a groundfishing ban on Rafael-owned vessels. “A comment like that is insulting to all the people who do very important and hard work in the enforcement arena,” Bullard said. >click to read<20:12
BASE Seafood Auction set to unveil revolutionary software to buoy groundfish industry
In his dimly lit second floor office surrounded by artifacts of the past, from antique license plates to model fishing vessels to family photos, Richie Canastra resurrected memories of the fish auction. “You know many people said I was crazy? I was young,” Canastra, the co-owner of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE). Canastra and his brother Ray, started the Whaling City Auction in 1994 when the city-owned auction ended. The display style auction crafted by the brothers caused friction within the industry. It promoted a buyer beware attitude, which forced buyers to pay what they bid, unlike the old system, when buyers often altered their bid after they won by questioning the quality of the landing. >click to read<09:01
New Bedford: Industry on the Brink
Two computer screens lit Richie Canastra’s windowless office. The co-owner of BASE (Buyers and Sellers Seafood Exchange) seafood auction scrolled through scores of financial data associated with commercial fishing landings at 62 Hassey St. The numbers that starred back since NOAA implemented a groundfishing ban last November tell a dark story in an industry already struggling to survive. “With the ban, if we’re not up and fishing by May 1, you might as well just call (groundfishing in New Bedford) over,” Canastra said. >click to read<22:52
Don Cuddy: Sector closure angers and worries groundfish industry
It was on Monday, November 20, two days before his retirement party as NOAA regional administrator, that John Bullard abruptly ordered the shutdown of Sector IX’s groundfish operations. The boats out fishing had to return to port forthwith.,,, Bullard’s move was praised by some but it engendered some harsh criticism in the city. Click here to read the story. 23:11
Fishermen voice concerns over fallout from Rafaels crimes
A century’s worth of fishing industry experience traveled from New Bedford to the Viking Hotel on Wednesday to describe the impact on NOAA’s groundfish ban on Carlos Rafael’s vessels. Richie Canastra, an owner of the New Bedford fish auction BASE, sat in front of the New England Fisheries Management Council during a public comment portion of it’s meeting and warned of “many layoffs” that will occur because of the ban. click here to read the story 21:02
Friend Don Cuddy joins WBSM’s Phil Paleologos at 10am to discuss AS Monitor law suit and bad science
Don and John Haran will join Phil in the studio. David Goethel, and Richie Canastra, will join in over the phone. As Phil writes in Government Using Bad Science, “On Wednesday, the spotlight is on the fishermen paying for monitors that could likely put the fishermen out of business. There is a lawsuit challenging the government’s authority to impose that requirement. On January 13, at 10 am, four experts will join me to discuss topics that apply to the fishing industry in 2016. This program promises to shed sunlight on problems that are drowning the fishing industry”. Call-in number for listeners is 508-996-0500. Click here@ 10:00 and click Listen Live 18:46
Carlos Rafael , the “Don” of the New England Groundfishery, says he was cheated
Between endless phone calls and Winston cigarettes, Carlos Rafael fumed as he recounted the call early in October: The fisheries disaster relief headed his way would be just half the amount he was originally told was his. For the don of the North Atlantic groundfishing industry, it was the second time in six years he said he was cheated out of federal funds. Read the rest here 09:47
That Peter Shelley. He’s got all the answers! – Why can’t the US be more like the Canadians?
You don’t usually hear much Canada envy from New England’s fishing industry. But last week, commercial fishermen Vito Giacalone, Richie Canastra, and Jimmy Odlin wrote to the Boston Globe to praise Canada’s haddock regulations, which they say have allowed Canadian fishermen to catch a far larger portion of their haddock quota—93 percent between 2004 and 2011, compared to United States fishermen’s 11 percent over the same period. These fishermen say United States haddock fishery regulations,, Read more here talkingfish 17:19
