Safety

April 11, 2014 — A Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies research vessel accidentally collided with a North Atlantic right whale Wednesday, prompting the organization to issue a warning Friday to area boaters of a great concentration of the marine mammals in Cape Cod Bay.

The rare species of whale has been flocking to the western shore of Cape Cod Bay and the area around the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal because of large blooms of plankton, said Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo, who was on the vessel, the R/V Shearwater.

On Wednesday at 1:49 p.m., the Shearwater collided with the whale, which surfaced directly beneath the boat. The boat was traveling at 9 knots at the time of the collision, Mayo said.

Read the full story from Cape Cod Online

MANASQUAN, New Jersey — April 10 2014 — The Coast Guard has suspended its search off the New Jersey shore for a commercial fisherman from Virginia who apparently fell overboard.

Thirty-year-old Renee Lopez of Newport News, Virginia, was reported missing from the fishing vessel Yvonne Michelle approximately 45 miles east of the Manasquan Inlet around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The search ended at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press here

April 9, 2014 — The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that a skin infection is spreading through raw fish contaminated with Mycobacterium marinum in Chinatowns across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Thirty cases of the infection were reported in March. Since April 2, that number has risen to 66.

The health department warned that the bacterium enters through wounds in the skin and that those who handle fish in Chinatown should wear gloves to prevent infection. However, no risk is associated with eating the fish.

“Symptoms of M. marinum include red, tender swelling under the skin of the hands and arms, hand or arm pain and difficulty moving fingers,” the press release said.

If left untreated, the infection can require surgery to be cured.

Environmental studies professor Jennifer Jacquet, who researches fisheries and marine conservation, said she suspects irresponsible fish farming is the cause.

Read the full story at the Washington Square News

 

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — March 23, 2014 — Authorities say two people have been rescued after falling through the ice while ice fishing in Foxborough.

NECN reports that a 41-year-old man and 60-year-old man fell through the ice around 3:50 p.m. Sunday. A female friend on shore called 911 and then fell in herself while trying to help the men. She was able to get out on her own.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

NEW YORK — March 5, 2014 — A rare skin infection has been traced to raw seafood purchased at fish markets in New York City’s three large Chinese neighborhoods, city health officials said Wednesday.

There have been 30 reported cases of infection caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium marinum, according to the city Health Department.

Symptoms include red, tender lumps and swelling under the skin of the hands or arms. Those infected sometimes also develop swelling or pain in their hands or arms and have difficulty moving their fingers. Anyone who is infected should be treated with antibiotics, the department said.

Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe 

 

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — February 18, 2014 — The Salvadoran fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year left a hospital Tuesday after treatment for the psychological and physical effects of his ordeal, and told reporters he survived because of his faith in God.

Jose Salvador Alvarenga, 37, appeared strong and walked without help, but also seemed disoriented and had trouble speaking.

Alvarenga said he didn’t plan to tell his story and didn’t want to remember the ordeal.

‘‘I always had faith that I was going to survive, asking (God) every day and every night,’’ he said. ‘‘I never lost faith that one day I would be found.’’

Asked about the fate of his fishing companion, Ezequiel Cordova, 22, Alvarenga said Cordova lived four months in the boat before succumbing to starvation and exposure. Alvarenga has said that he lived on fish, turtles and birds and that Cordova had difficulty eating raw food.

Reporters asked if Alvarenga had eaten Cordova to survive, and he answered with an emphatic ‘‘No.’’

‘‘He died of starvation and the sun,’’ Alvarenga added.

He said Cordova’s parents shouldn’t worry for their son because he died praying to God: ‘‘The whole time he was asking for forgiveness.’’

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

February 13, 2014 — Lobstermen say a young man who was pulled overboard and down into the dangerously cold ocean Wednesday when his foot got caught in a lobster trap line is lucky that his crew mates reacted quickly and knew exactly what to do.

And they said it’s not uncommon to fall overboard on the job.

“It’s a lot more common than people know,” said David Cousens of Spruce Island, president of the 1,200-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “I’ve almost gone over twice in 40 years. I had the rope around my feet both times, and luckily had a sternman who acted quickly and got me undone.”

Cousens began lobstering when he was 10. Now 55, he has heard stories of other close calls, though most lobstermen are reluctant to share them.

“They don’t want to admit it. They’re embarrassed about it,” he said. “The safest thing you can do is make sure you don’t go alone.”

Devin Pesce, 19, of Lisbon Falls remained hospitalized Thursday at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford, where his condition had improved from serious to fair.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

February 12, 2014 — A fisherman who was pulled overboard and down into the frigid Atlantic by a sinking string of lobster traps Wednesday morning off York County was pulled back on board and successfully given CPR by his crew.

Devin Pesce, 19, of Lisbon Falls was in serious condition at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford on Wednesday night, a spokeswoman said.

After being on the verge of death, Pesce walked off the boat on his own, said Lucky Oppedisano, who was on the boat along with Pesce’s father, Dan, the owner and captain. Oppedisano called it a blessing.

“When you bring somebody back to life, it makes you think about all the other stuff that’s really not important,” he said.

Dan Pesce could not be reached Wednesday.

Devin Pesce was working on his father’s 42-foot boat, the Kylie Brooke out of Harpswell, pulling and rebaiting traps 15 miles east of Cape Porpoise.

The long line of connected traps, called strings or trawls, was in water 200 to 300 feet deep, where lobsters go in cold weather.

The swells were just 1.3 feet, but it was cold. The water temperature was 38.7 degrees and the air temperature was 14.5 degrees, the Coast Guard said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

 

SAN SALVADOR — February 13, 2014 — A fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year, surviving on raw fish, turtles, and birds, is in stunningly good health but psychologically fragile, medical experts said Wednesday as the man recuperated in a hospital in his native El Salvador.

Jose Salvador Alvarenga underwent a battery of tests after returning home from the Marshall Islands, where he showed up after what he has described as 6,500-mile journey from Mexico across the Pacific that began when his small fishing boat was thrown off course by bad weather.

The medical team that examined him at the San Rafael hospital in the Salvadoran capital said he was in remarkably good physical health: with no skin lesions from overexposure to the sun, and no cardiovascular or kidney issues. His only physical problem, doctors, was a case of anemia.

‘‘All of the exams have been basically close to normal. It’s incredible,’’ said El Salvador’s minister of public health, Maria Isabel Rodriguez.

She and other Salvadoran experts who looked at Alvarenga’s results said they had no doubt about the veracity of his tale, so incredible that it left many skeptical even in the absence of an alternate explanation for his appearance on the Pacific Island atoll.

Read the full story from The Boston Globe