Families of missing boaters continue search without Coast Guard’s help
A group of friends has now been missing at sea for nearly two weeks, and despite the U.S. Coast Guard calling off its search for them, the fishermen’s families are still holding out hope the group will be found. Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow left the port city of Brunswick, Georgia, on a 31-foot fishing vessel named Carol Ann Oct. 14. They planned to travel 80 miles into the open sea to a popular fishing spot before heading back Oct. 18, but they have yet to turn up. Chris Barlow, the father of missing boater Tyler Barlow, told Scripps News an initial possible sighting of the boat turned out to be a different vessel. He also said the Coast Guard’s assumption that the boat would self-deploy an emergency signal if submerged was false; the signal would instead need to be manually deployed. >>click to read<< 07:28
California commercial Dungeness crab season delayed
California’s commercial Dungeness crab seasons will be delayed this year, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife announced Friday. The delays are being enacted in order to protect whales from becoming entangled in crab traps. The opening of the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season will be delayed in Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5, and 6, an area of the state’s coastline that stretches from the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the U.S.A.-Mexico border. The delay is due to a large number of humpback whales in the area. >>click to read<< 17:33
Fishing crew speaks after finding missing American off B.C. coast
A B.C. fishing crew has found an American fisherman who had been missing off the Pacific coast for weeks. John Planes and his Ucluelet fishing crew spotted an emergency lift raft off the coast of Vancouver Island, Thursday morning. What they found was shocking when they arrived at the life raft — an American fisherman who had been lost at sea for 13 days. The American, who is unnamed at this point, departed from Washington State on Oct. 12. “We were getting near the end of our fishing set and (a crew member) spotted the life raft,” Planes said. “He hugged me right away as soon as he got on board. He was crying, he was just so glad somebody had actually picked him up. Video, >>click to read<< 13:55
Scottish firm fined £20,000 for illegally fishing for King Scallops without a license in Isle of Man
A Scottish firm has been fined £20,000 after its vessel was found fishing illegally in the Isle of Man’s territorial waters last year. The owner of the Star Fishing Company Limited pleaded guilty to fishing for King Scallops without a licence on 3 December 2022 at Douglas Courthouse on Tuesday. Prosecutor Rachel Cubbon told the court the Star of Jura entered Manx waters twice in the early hours on Saturday 3 December, which was confirmed when DEFA and Marine Scotland examined the boat’s on-board monitoring and tracking systems. Further investigation of the Master’s daybook and electronic logbook revealed 12 bags of King Scallops had been landed in Manx waters, which was not declared. >>click to read<< 10:24
Whalsay scallop fisherman scoops ‘Hero of the Year’ award
A scallop fisherman from Whalsay has been named Hero of the Year at a UK fishing awards ceremony. George Andrew Williamson scooped the award on Thursday night for his work in championing the importance of sustainable seafood. The award, which recognises an outstanding individual who has driven forward further sustainability efforts, was given to Mr Williamson at a ceremony in London. Accepting the award via video link, he said: “It’s a great honour and I was really not expecting this.>>click to read<<,–>and here< 09:04
Boatyard Offers Assistance to Commercial Fishermen Hampered by Regulations
KKMI Boatyard Offers Assistance to Commercial Fishermen Reeling in the bad taste of lost revenue. KKMI announced today they will be offering free haulouts to commercial fishing vessels, giving this hard-hit industry some much needed financial relief after a cancelled salmon season made it quite difficult to eke out a living. This offer is good at both KKMI locations on the San Franciso Bay – Richmond and Sausalito. We are in a position to help out and we are honored to be able to do so,” said KKMI Founder, Paul Kaplan. >>click to read<< 08:16
Survivor From Lost Fishing Boat Saved After Coast Guard Ended Search
This week, the U.S. Coast Guard ended searches for two commercial fishing vessels that each disappeared without a trace, one in Washington and another in Georgia. The Washington case ended in a miracle: a crewmember was found alive after formal search efforts had ended. On Tuesday, Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor announced that it had launched a search for a 43-foot commercial fishing vessel, the Evening, which was nine days overdue. Miraculously, one crewmember of the Evening survived and was found by a good Samaritan vessel on Thursday morning – a day after the formal search ended. He was floating in a life raft off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino. The whereabouts of the other crewmember are not known. On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search for a commercial fishing vessel F/V Carol Ann that had gone missing with three crewmembers off the coast of Brunswick, Georgia. >>click to read<< 07:15
Coast Guard suspends search for F/V Carol Ann, 80 miles off Brunswick, Georgia
The Coast Guard suspended its search, Thursday, for three people aboard an overdue 31-foot fishing vessel offshore Brunswick, Georgia, pending new information. Missing are Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow. Crews searched more than 94,000 square miles, an area larger in size than the states of Georgia and South Carolina combined, over the span of seven days. Coast Guard Sector Charleston watchstanders received a report from the owner of the fishing vessel Carol Ann 
stating he hired a crew of three people that failed to return on Wednesday, Oct. 18, as scheduled. The crew left on Saturday, Oct. 14, from Brunswick, Georgia, to fish approximately 80 miles offshore and last communicated with the owner of the vessel as they headed offshore. >>click to read the press release<< 20:50
Experts: Americans are eating fish processed by slaves
North Korean and Uyghur slaves are processing seafood for Chinese companies that export to the United States, experts and lawmakers told Congress on Tuesday, with customs officials struggling to identify and keep the tainted fish off Americans’ plates. The experts told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that even U.S. military caterers were buying fish caught or processed by laborers trapped in jobs from which they cannot escape and who are seldom paid a living wage. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and the chair of the committee, said there was ample evidence China-based companies are “exploiting the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans” to undercut international competitors, including in the United States. “From fish sticks to calamari, these products infiltrate the supply chains of major restaurants, wholesalers, and even find their way into the meals served in American schools and military bases,” he said, adding that it violated laws like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. >>click to read<< 16:03
Changing to batten lobster pots found to improve catch efficiency, meaning less days at sea
South Australia’s southern rock lobster fishers have not been using the best pots, according to the results of a five-year study testing different designs, with the West Australian batten pot coming out on top. When directly compared to the beehive pot, which is legislated for use in South Australia, batten pots improved catch efficiency rates by 38 per cent. Some fishers in SA’s northern zone have already decided to switch to batten pots. Emily Rowe is the shore manager for a lobster fishing 
business based in Port Lincoln who took part in the trial and then decided to make the permanent switch to batten pots this year. South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster Association executive officer Kyri Toumazos said it would not be long before most professional fishers made the switch. Photos>>click to read<< 13:54
Coast Guard suspends search for missing Westport vessel
The Coast Guard suspended the search for the fishing boat F/V Evening and her two crew, homeported out of Westport, on Wednesday morning after several days of searching. The search began Sunday for the fishing boat when a family member reported them overdue returning, according to Coast Guard public affairs specialist Petty Officer 2nd Class Steve Strohmaier. “Coast Guard members at Station Grays Harbor in Westport received a call from the daughter of one the men stating their father was already supposed to have returned home from the fishing trip,” Strohmaier said in an email. “She was not sure of their intended destination, so the Coast Guard had a wide search area.” >>click to read<< 09:33
American Shrimp Processors Association Launches Trade Petitions Addressing Unfair Dumping and Illegal Subsidies
Today, the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) filed trade petitions seeking antidumping duties on imported frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia and countervailing duties on imported shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The U.S. shrimp market has been overwhelmed by massive quantities of underpriced shrimp imports, resulting in unsustainably low dockside prices, falling domestic market share, significantly lower profit margins, and historically high inventory levels. >>click to read<< 07:56
F/V Carol Ann: Coast Guard will continue its search for missing Brunswick fishermen Thursday morning
The Coast Guard planned to end the search at sunset Wednesday, but family members of the men are begging for the Coast Guard to search further north. The Coast Guard says it hasn’t found any sign of the boat or a debris field so far. Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow left for a fishing trip aboard a 31-foot boat named the ‘Carol Ann’ on October 14th from Brunswick. The Coast Guard says the EPIRB it has not yet been activated. “We are focused on the search and rescue efforts of this case but, we do have investigators that will be looking at all aspects of of why this EPIRB is not going off,” Hide said. Video, >>click to read<< 06:55
New DFO northern cod assessment model shows stock out of critical zone
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has implemented a new assessment model for the 2J3KL northern cod stock, which reveals the stock has likely been out of the critical zone since 2016. The new model assesses the long-term productivity using tagging and landing data from the last 70 years. The old model used data beginning in 1983, but research scientist Paul Regular says the model has been expanded to pull on data from as far back as 1954. “A bunch of changes were accepted, and they helped us improve the understanding of the past trends in the stock, and also the relationship between adult cod and young cod,” Regular said Wednesday. >>click to read<< 19:11
An Opportunity for Neighbors in Ocean City to Voice Opinions on Offshore Wind?
On Tuesday night, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public meeting at Ocean City Elementary. However, many thought it was a public hearing, which caused some confusion and frustration. By 5:00 p.m., hundreds of people had funneled into Ocean City Elementary, eager to voice any complaints or compliments. Ocean City’s Mayor, Rick Meehan, said the lack of opportunity to speak out loud did not allow the meeting to start off on the right foot. “They were mad and a lot of people left,” said Meehan. “They were very discouraged by the opportunity that was presented to them to speak on something that is very important to this area.” Commercial fishermen like Jimmy Hahn are worried about the future. “I’m scared to death that the windmills are going to kill our fishing industry,” said Hahn. Hahn said the lease area is the primary fishing spot out of Ocean City and is also used by fisherman from Delaware and New Jersey. >>click to read<< 15:54
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 42′ 2005 Wayne Beal Lobster Boat, John Deere 750 Diesel
To review specifications, information, and 10 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 10:15
Delano: Biden administration won’t leave lobstermen alone
Lawmakers and a federal appeals court last year defeated a federal plan to save endangered whales by eradicating New England’s lobster industry. With those plans undone, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is crafting a workaround scheme to regulate lobstermen out of the fishery. Recent years have been brutal going for lobstermen, such that the survival of our trade is highly uncertain. Lobstermen are at once negotiating higher fuel costs, higher bait costs, higher shipping costs, and an agitation campaign from dark money nonprofits trained on major buyers of Maine lobster products. NOAA’s new regulatory plan is poised to decimate our inventory. >>click to read<< 09:18
Killybegs Looking for Alternatives to Diesel for Fishing Boats
On-going efforts by fishermen to reduce their environmental impact, increase their efficiency and contribute to scientific data collection are continuing to enhance the sustainability credentials of seafood, Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has claimed. The major Donegal-based fishing group is also looking for “ways and means of weaning the vessels off diesel.” “While the fishing industry sometimes struggles to get the recognition it deserves for its importance to the Irish economy or as producers of highly nutritious low impact food, this is proof positive of the sustained work which KFO members are investing into long-term sustainability,” the Organisation’s Chief Scientific and Sustainability Officer, Dr Edward Farrell, has said. >>click to read<< 08:26
After felony conviction and 5-year fishing ban, the Caviar King returns to the Ohio River
David Cox is 69 years old. Emphysema makes every breath a challenge. Doctors have put so many stents in his heart that he’s lost count. And he hobbles on a bum leg overdue for surgery. None of that, though, keeps him from fishing. But Cox isn’t a run-of-the-mill angler. A long-time commercial fisherman, Cox was — and, at least in his mind, still is — Indiana’s de facto Caviar King. He’s backed up the self-proclaimed title with more than three decades of hard work, a deep knowledge of the Ohio River, and a big mouth. Since 1999, Cox and his family have caught and processed more than 15 tons of caviar worth millions of dollars. The black gold was pulled from the cold, unforgiving river one large American paddlefish at a time. Video, photos, >>click to read<< 07:25
BOEM Announces Gulf of Maine Draft Wind Energy Area Meetings for Fishing Community
This notice is being sent as a courtesy to help raise awareness of a comment opportunity and public meetings being held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regarding a Draft Wind Energy Area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine. It is critically important that members of the fishing industry comment on this proposal.nDMR also encourages fishing industry members to click on this link to read the statement from Governor Mills and Maine’s Congressional Delegation, expressing opposition to inclusion of draft WEAs in LMA1. On October 19, 2023, BOEM announced a Draft Wind Energy Area (Draft WEA) in the Gulf of Maine and an accompanying 30-day public comment period. The Draft WEA covers around 3.5 million acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, ranging from 23-120 miles off the coast. BOEM invites you to attend virtual public meetings where BOEM will outline the data and the information used to inform the Draft WEA and provide opportunity for feedback from the fishing community and public-at-large. Lots of links and info, >>click te read<< 15:31
Spiny lobsters staying home with local buyers and restaurants
“Prior to 2008, 99% of the lobsters caught in Southern California were sent to Los Angeles before being shipped to China,” said Mitch Conniff, owner of Mitch’s Seafood in Point Loma, who has been involved in San Diego fishing for decades with stints working as a deckhand on commercial lobster boats. “For a lot of years there was a van that drove down from LA every day and bought our lobsters and shipped them to China,” concurred Point Loma lobster fisherman Cameron Cribben (above), an angler since age 14, about recent changes in marketing his lobster take. “Ten years ago, every lobster I caught went to China. Now after COVID, and since some of my business partners opened up TunaVille Market, a lot of my lobsters are being sold locally to the community.” >>click to read<< 11:18
‘It lives’: The story of Gaultois, a rural Newfoundland community in limbo
When Atlantic Canada’s cod fishery collapsed, it took a number of small towns with it. Gaultois, an isolated community on Newfoundland’s rugged south coast, hung on for decades after the fish vanished and the town’s fish plant closed in 1990. But with fish no longer to be had, the town’s population plummeted from 600 in the late 1980s to fewer than 100. With numbers that low, residents were faced with the question of whether the town was still viable and in July 2022, opted to hold a resettlement vote. Resettlement votes happen often in Newfoundland and Labrador. Small outport communities vote on whether to stay in their rural homes or if they should move to bigger towns with financial assistance from the provincial government. >>click to read<< 10:35
“How can we work together?” Longtime fisherman Dan Barr reflects on his career in Bristol Bay
Dan Barr is eighty-one and a half years old. He fished Bristol Bay for just about half his life. “It’s been just such a great part of my life,” he said. “Every year I came home, it was like [I got] to live out something new that got loose in me.” Barr spent much of his career finding ways to connect different people with each other. For over two decades, he was president of the Bristol Bay Driftnetters Association – an organization formed in the 1980s that aimed to unify the fleet. There, he helped publish newsletters about issues around the fishery, like practices in the Pacific Ocean that affected Bristol Bay. In 1992, he formed a coalition that helped pass the High Seas Driftnet Act, which aimed to restrict large-scale driftnet fishing in international waters. >>click to read<< 09:19
Biden admin’s new rule could put pinch on lobster fishermen while letting others off the hook: critics say
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is planning to enact a new federal rule under the Marine Mammal Protection Act – which would expand an existing restricted area off the coast of Maine where lobster fishing is already banned for three months each year. The move would cut the lobstermen’s’ business by at least 25% of the already declining industry, critics say. The plans come as an attempt to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, but a group of fishermen say the agency have no data to support the tightening restrictions. They also claim the federal agency is playing favorites by greenlighting offshore wind developments even though recent studies show can be harmful to marine life. “The federal government treats foreign offshore wind developers much better than lobstermen. The corporations have official authorization to disturb and displace marine life. Working lobstermen aren’t as lucky as our friends,” Video, >>click to read<< 07:55
F/V Carol Ann: Families praying for best in search for missing fishermen
Dalton Conway is no stranger to the waters offshore of Brunswick. As the Brunswick-based captain of a commercial fishing vessel and the son of a commercial fishing captain, he has made hundreds of trips in search of fish to sell to merchants and local restaurants. That is why it was alarming when he and his crew of two – Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow, both of Kingsland – didn’t return home as expected last Wednesday aboard the Carol Ann, said Stevie Conway, Dalton’s sister and Wilkinson’s girlfriend. Wednesday arrivals from fishing trips are normal, Conway said, because the bounty of the catch can be sold to vendors and merchants on Thursday. “My brother goes anytime the weather is good,” Stevie Conway said. “This is his career. He does this for a living.” Hordes of search and rescue crews from multiple area U.S. Coast Guard stations, Coast Guard cutters and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources continued searching Monday for the boat and the men after they were reported missing on Friday by the owner of the Carol Ann, Josh Morgan of Brunswick. >>click to read<< 20:05
Lobster dealers hope for a fall surge
This year, boat prices are high, but the catch is down, dealers say. Supply is meeting demand, but the demand is lower than last year. While at least one local seafood retailer had a great summer, wholesale dealers’ reports are unenthusiastic. Both lobstermen and dealers are keeping fingers crossed for a big fall surge in catch. With the state’s commercial fishery granted a six-year reprieve in December from new federal regulations that many industry voices said would decimate the fishery, the 2023 season has focused on traditional concerns, such as supply, demand, prices and bait. “The price is up but the catch is down, and we’ve had horrible weather,” said Susan Soper, general manager of Winter Harbor Lobster Co-op. “Our retail sales were almost 60 percent down.”>>click to read<< 13:03
Struggling salmon fishermen getting federal help, but it may be too late
Earlier this month, two years after a request by Oregon’s governor, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a Chinook fishery disaster for 2018, 2019 and 2020, years when local salmon populations plummeted. Fishing regulators blame the drop on poor habitat conditions and climate change near the California-Oregon border, where thousands of Chinook migrate from the ocean up rivers and streams to spawn. The disaster declaration releases financial assistance for fishermen and possibly for other businesses, along with funding to help restore the fishery and protect future Chinook runs, members of Oregon’s congressional delegation said in a statement. “The powers that be move pretty slowly when it comes to this stuff,” said Ray Monroe, a Pacific City dory fisherman. >>click to read<< 12:00
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update: October 23, 2023: The ASMFC
Last week I had a reader who was interested in understanding more about what the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is and how they fit in with North Carolina fisheries management. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) held their 81st Annual Meeting in Beaufort, NC last week. Although no hot button issues were on the agenda last week, a lot of other necessary fisheries management issues were discussed and voted on. In fact, many of the rules and regulations on how North Carolina manages our inshore species comes directly from ASMFC decisions. The ASMFC began in 1942 when the Atlantic Coast States realized that their shared migratory fish stocks would be more sustainable and better managed as coast-wide stocks rather than being managed solely at the state level. This is expressed in the ASMFC vision statement, “Sustainable and Cooperative Management of Atlantic Coastal Fisheries”. >>click to read<<,10: 50
North Atlantic right whale population has steadied, scientists say
The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales appears to have levelled off after a decade of steep decline, according to updated data released this morning by Canadian and American scientists. Every fall, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium releases its best population estimate of the world’s most threatened large whale. Scientists in the consortium said Monday that the 2021 estimate of 340 North Atlantic right whales in existence has been recalculated to 365 primarily because of the number of calves born that year. The estimate for 2022 is 356. >>click to read<< 09:52
Door County fish companies pledge for more sustainability
Three Door County fishing companies are working to make sure no fish they catch goes to waste. Henriksen Fisheries, Baileys Harbor Fish Company, and J & M Fisheries have all signed the “100% Great Lakes Fish Pledge.” The pledge is part of an initiative created by the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers. It aims to productively use 100% of each fish caught on the Great Lakes by 2025. According to the initiative, in most cases, less than half of a fish is actually used. Henriksen says they already use their fish for more than just filets. Photos. >>click to read<< 08:48
