Tag Archives: South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association
Massachusetts: Lawmakers want to pay lobstermen during right whale conservation closure
State senators next week will debate a plan by South Shore lawmakers to pay lobstermen during a months-long annual fishing closure advocates say cuts income of some fishermen by as much as half each year. State senators Patrick O’Connor and Bruce Tarr have filed a budget amendment that would allocate $12 million to pay lobstermen $1 per week per trap they are licensed for during time they are not allowed to fish. The state annually shuts down more than 9,000 square miles of water for at least three months in efforts to protect migrating right whales. > click to read < 08:28
Massachusetts: Lobster season opens on time today after right whales move out of Cape Cod bay
Lobster season for the South Shore will begin as planned after endangered right whales, spotted in Cape Cod Bay, moved out of the area. The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies previously estimated five whales, including two mother-and-calf pairs, were feeding in Cape Cod Bay, following an aerial survey on April 25. On Wednesday, the Center flew over the area again and found the whales has moved out of the bay and adjacent waters, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries said in an announcement Thursday afternoon. Although the season starts Friday, it is unlikely anyone will go out because of a forecast of high winds and bad weather. >click to read< 07:11
Right whale sighting pushes back start of South Shore lobster season
Lobster season in southern Massachusetts has been put off for an additional seven days after endangered right whales were spotted feeding in the southern Cape Cod Bay. The Division of Marine Fisheries announced Tuesday that most of Cape Cod Bay and the Outer Cape will remain closed to lobster fishing until May 8. The area is is closed annually from February to the end of April to protect right whales. It was initially set to open on Friday. The lobstering season on the South Shore is limited by the season and by the lobster’s life cycle. They shed their shells in June and are not active again until mid-July, John Haviland, president of the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association, said. The bay closures started six years ago and increased the length of time lobstermen are out of the water. Before the closures,,, >click to read< 18:18
Massachusetts Lobstermen to rally in Plymouth over Cape Cod Bay closures
After a period of bad weather, surveyors of North Atlantic right whales were able to fly on Tuesday over Cape Cod Bay, where the continuing presence of the animals has led state officials to extend seasonal bans on high boating speeds and lobstering through May 14. But commercial lobstermen are beginning to bristle at the closures, citing the impact on their livelihood. South Shore lobstermen are planning a rally Thursday morning in Plymouth to protest the extended ban. “There’s a lot of people that are suffering with this closure,” said rally organizer Sheryl Holmes, whose husband, Roscoe “Stoney” Holmes, is a commercial lobsterman who owns the F/V Haley’s Comet out of Plymouth. >click to read<21:59
Rep. Joan Meschino creates seat for local lobstermen on fishing closures task force
Rep. Joan Meschino, D-Hull, was able to obtain a seat for the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association on a Legislative working group that was created to examine the economic impact of the fishing grounds closure on local lobstermen. “I am grateful that the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association has been added to the working group,” said John Havilland, association president. “It seems highly appropriate that the lobster fishermen, who are directly impacted by the fishing closures, be able to participate in their evaluation.” >click to read<09:26
South Shore lobstermen finally put traps in water
South Shore lobstermen are back on the water this week after more than a three month ban on lobster fishing, aimed at protecting endangered whales. The ban was supposed to be from Feb. 1 to April 30, but an additional two weeks was added because whales were spotted close to the shore last month. In all, local lobstermen have gone 15 weeks without pulling a trap or making a sale. “We’re going into the season broke, let’s put it that way,” fisherman Dana Blackman said Wednesday morning, the day after lobster fishing resumed.,, The ban affects about 75 lobster boats in Marshfield and Scituate alone. >click to read<17:46
State regulators: Lobster season will have to wait – a sudden influx of right whales
Lobstermen already have to observe a three month closure from Feb. 1 to April 30 annually in an effort to reduce the number of whales that get entangled in fishing gear during their annual migration. Now, however, boats won’t be able to hit the water until May 6 at the earliest, and a second regulation imposes a 10 knot speed limit for vessels less than 65 feet long through May 15. Right whales feed close to the surface and are vulnerable to vessel strikes. “There are a number of challenges in this industry, and one of those is being able to fund your livelihood for 12 months when you can only fish for nine months,” John Haviland, president of the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association, said. >click to read<17:34
Can anyone save the North Atlantic right whale? A group of South Shore lobstermen say they know what the answer is
By the time Mike Lane shoves off the Cohasset docks, it’s past 8 a.m. — practically lunch time for a lobsterman. But it’s early spring, and the South Shore fisheries are mostly closed, so Lane is keeping a somewhat relaxed schedule. Lobsters tend to hole up for the season several miles farther offshore, and Lane would like to be there, fishing his 800 traps. That area also happens to be a feeding area for North Atlantic right whales — one of our planet’s most endangered species. And so, four years ago, the federal government closed these grounds for much of the winter and spring. That means all Lane can do right now is set a few traps in a small area just outside Cohasset Harbor. >click to read<11:37
GARFO AA Pentony taking on whale crisis – Lobstermen wary of more environmental regulations
South Shore Lobstermen wary – Traps dropped to the bottom of the ocean by lobstermen are currently connected to a buoy at the surface by a long, taut rope. Fishermen use the buoys to mark where traps are and use the rope to pull up them from the ocean floor, but researchers think the same thing could be achieved by ditching the ropes and using a GPS-like tracking technology and acoustic communication. >click to read< 16:20
Pentony taking on whale crisis – The number one issue right now is the right whale crisis,,, It will occupy our resources and energy for the next several years until we can reverse the trend. Thats going to be a significant challenge. >click to read<
Frozen lobstermen face additional winter challenges
With inches of ice covering the harbor and no end of severe winter weather in site, local lobstermen are struggling to keep their boats in the water during the last month of the legal lobstering season. Tuesday and Wednesday saw captains breaking up ice surrounding their boats and trying to move their vessels to safer locations before a storm pummels the region today.,, lobstermen are facing two predicaments: dealing with a cold snap the likes of which hasn’t been seen for the last 100 years, and having to get all traps out of the water by Feb. 1 before a three-month ban on lobstering begins. click here to read the story 16:15 
Whale scholars, lobstermen, conservationists and government officials converge in Halifax – Right whale deaths called ‘apocalyptic’
The focus of this year’s annual meeting of North Atlantic right whale researchers has been altered in light of 15 of the critically endangered marine mammals being found dead this year in waters off eastern Canada and the U.S. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium said the goal of this year’s meeting is to explain the science behind the “mortality crisis” to members of government who will be there. The consortium also said the purpose of this year’s meeting is to form an international working group to look at the big picture when it comes to right whales, instead of managing problems region by region. click here to read the story
Right whale deaths called ‘apocalyptic – Whale scholars, lobstermen, conservationists and government officials converge today in Nova Scotia to save right whales. Among the commercial lobstermen at the right whale symposium today is John Haviland, of the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association,,, click here to read the story 09:12
South Shore lobstermen dismayed by failed bid for longer season
Lobstermen are busy loading their boats with traps and buoys and getting their gear back in the water after a three-month closure lifted this week for most of the South Shore. But Marshfield lobsterman John Haviland said he is starting the season feeling more disenchanted than ever after federal regulators turned down a proposal to allow lobstermen to fish year-round with a new rope line designed to reduce the chance of entangling endangered whales. “I’m disappointed that we put three years worth of research and meetings into trying to do the right thing, and it was not successful,” Haviland, president of the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association, said. “It makes you question if you should keep doing the one thing you’ve always done.” Since 2015, federal regulations have banned the use of lobstering equipment from Feb. 1 to April 30 off Cape Cod Bay and beyond, shutting down the local industry for the winter. The goal is to reduce the chances of whales becoming entangled in the gear. click here to read the article 12:09
