Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing community celebration and health fair set for Feb. 8 in New Bedford

January 31, 2020 — Fishing Partnership Support Services is planning a free, day-long special event to celebrate, support and serve New Bedford-area fishing families.

The nonprofit organization will host the New Bedford Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair on Saturday, Feb. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Kilburn Mill, 127 W. Rodney French Blvd.

The event features programs and activities on healthy living, pediatric nutrition, enrolling in health coverage plans, massage, mindfulness, the hands-on healing art of Reiki, vaccinations, substance abuse education, Narcan training, and more, a press release said.

For children, there will be costumed characters, a reading corner, games, dancing, a photo booth, coloring and other activities.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fishermen’s group offering safety training next week

April 19, 2019 — The water can be a dangerous place to make a living, but a fishermen’s group is a sponsoring a special free, three-day round of safety training next week in Gloucester and Newburyport that could make it less so for participants.

The nonprofit Fishing Partnership Support Services is offering the free hands-on sessions:

Wednesday, April 24: Safety and survival training, U.S. Coast Guard Station, 65 Water St., Newburyport, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thursday, April 25: Safety and survival training, U.S. Coast Guard Station, 17 Harbor Loop, Gloucester, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; drill conductor training, U.S. Coast Guard Station, Newburyport, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Friday, April 26: Drill conductor training, U.S. Coast Guard Station Gloucester, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As a prerequisite for drill conductor training, fishermen need to have taken the safety and survival training within the previous year.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Group offering lobstermen discounted lifejackets

April 17, 2019 — A nonprofit organization dedicated to the health, safety and economic security of commercial fishermen are offering discounted lifejackets to lobstermen this week.

Fishing Partnership Support Services has partnered with the Northeast Center for Occupational Health & Safety on its “Lifejackets for Lobstermen” Van Tour. The tour runs through November and is stopping at ports across Massachusetts and Maine. The van be will on Cape Ann and lobstermen may drop by:

Wednesday, April 17, at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Morss Pier in Masconomo State Park in Manchester.

Thursday, April 18, at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the lot near the Gloucester Harbormaster’s Office, 19 Harbor Loop.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Reality check for commercial fishermen

April 11, 2017 — Don’t put the injured on the raft first, they can slow down the evacuation.

Don’t stow survival suits below decks.

Don’t leave port without a Nerf football.

This was some of the wisdom imparted to a group of 35 commercial fishermen gathered at Coast Guard Station Menemsha on a gray, windy Thursday morning, where, appropriately, a storm front was bearing down on the Vineyard.

It was day one of two training days for commercial fishermen — along with sailors, harbormasters, and shellfish constables — provided by Burlington-based Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS).

The focus of the day one was safety and survival. Participants rotated among six training modules: man overboard procedure, firefighting and flares, survival suits, helicopter hoist operations, flooding and pump operations, first aid and CPR, and life raft equipment.

“Part of the success of this program is that it’s very hands-on,” Ed Dennehy, FPSS Director of Safety told The Times. “They will put out an actual fire. They will put on survival suits and get into the cold water. They control flooding and leaks in a simulator provided by the Coast Guard.”

FPSS has been providing this training all over New England, primarily in Massachusetts, for the past 11 years. The program has been so successful, it has spread beyond New England to New York.

Read the full story at the Martha’s Vineyard Times