Gloucester Archives - Page 3 of 45

Stakeholder Engagement Meeting for American Plaice Stock Assessment

August 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Improving Assessments for American Plaice

The American Plaice Working Group will be hosting a stakeholder engagement meeting in Gloucester, MA, on Friday, September 24th, from 10 AM – 1 PM. You can also participate through Webex. This meeting link will be sent to your email upon registration.

The meeting will begin with a presentation on the American plaice Research Track Assessment process with a focus on fishery data, survey data, and a review of previous stock assessments. An open discussion will follow with time for questions and comments on the fishery and survey data, research track process including methods and timeline, or any other input or questions. The working group is specifically interested in getting on the water experience from stakeholders.

If you would like to register for the stakeholder meeting (either virtual or in-person) please RSVP here no later than Thursday, September 23rd.

SEAN HORGAN: On Henri, a Bell, and sharks

August 23, 2021 — Sharks were back in the news last week, which should make our pal Bob Masjoan at the Crow’s Nest happy. He is all sharks, all of the time.

One time, during Shark Week, a misguided Irish soul, we’ll call him Cormac, asked Bob to turn the bar’s largest television to a European Cup soccer match instead of the shark fest. His request was rebuffed with extreme pelagic prejudice.

Anyway, no shortage of sharks last week. One viral video showed a herd of sharks — whites, blues et al — feasting on the carcass of a dead humpback whale out on Stellwagen Bank while an intrepid shark researcher on a tagging project lingered in his sea kayak mere feet away.

Us? We would have requisitioned a Los Angeles-class submarine.

Then came a fisherman’s photo — we spied it on the website of radio station WOKQ 97.5 — of a huge hammerhead shark swimming somewhere off the coast of Maine, looking for all the world like the most evil creature on the planet.

The accompanying story said hammerhead attacks on humans are rare — only 16 documented throughout the world, none fatal.

The piece also said the hammerheads are more afraid of us than we are of them. We here at FishOn are here to tell you that is not even remotely true.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times

Cod study could lead to better management

August 12, 2021 — When the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute opened its doors in 2013, the first major project undertaken by its researchers focused on the gene sequencing of the region’s iconic species of Atlantic cod.

It was fitting. The species was the very lifeblood of the regional groundfish fishery through centuries and the economic engine that drove the commercial fishing industry through its halcyon era.

The cod project led to GMGI’s first published paper in 2017. Four years later, GMGI researchers have built on that first study by publishing a second manuscript detailing the development of a new genetic tool to help distinguish between spring-spawning and winter-spawning cod, as well as males and females, in the western Gulf of Maine.

The study, published in the August edition of the journal “Ecology and Evolution” could prove a boon to marine researchers and fishery biologists by bringing sharper resolution to stock assessments and applying the best science to understand the complex fishery, said Tim O’Donnell, a senior research associate at GMGI and lead author on the study.

“The original work at GMGI was pretty similar to this, but they used a slightly different technique and way fewer individuals (cod),” O’Donnell said.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial Celebrates 20th Anniversary

August 6, 2021 — Near the far end of Gloucester’s boulevard, a stretch of waterfront road that wraps around the city’s western harbor, stands a bronze statue. A woman, her feet braced against the wind, hoists a baby in her left arm and rests her right hand on the back of a young boy. She gazes seaward, watching, it seems, for the return of a fishing boat carrying her husband, her father, her brother.

The statue, the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial, does not draw the same attention as the iconic Man at the Wheel a few minutes’ walk to the east. But for Lyn Burke, the statue is at least as important as its more famous counterpart.

“These are strong women who have been holding up the community for hundreds of years,” says Burke, the founder of LuminArtz, a Gloucester-based nonprofit the produces light-based art installations.

So Burke decided her organization should do something to highlight the memorial—and everything it stands for—as the piece celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The result of this inspiration was an immersive light and audio installation that takes place on August 5, the date the statue was first unveiled.

The installation bathed the memorial in a marine blue light and illuminated the granite paving stones around the statue, which are inscribed with names and messages from the donors who helped fund the project. The voices of local women telling their stories or struggle and success were broadcast intermixed with an original soundtrack composed by percussion artist Maria Finkelmeier.

Burke recalls the vision she had: “It will be immersive. Visitors will want to sit and listen to the voices.”

Read the full story at North Shore Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: Light shows to honor fishermen’s wives

August 3, 2021 — Twenty years ago on the morning of Aug. 5, Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, was attending to the final details of the public dedication celebration of the 12-foot Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial on Stacy Boulevard along Gloucester’s historic harbor.

Her joy would soon turn to utter despair.

“We had a wonderful event planned but it was very painful because we lost a boat that day,” she recalled. Early that morning, the Gloucester fishing vessel Starbound was struck by a freighter; one crewman survived and three died at sea.

But the women of the fishermen’s wives association carried on with the event which attracted an estimated 5,000 people.

“It wasn’t easy that day but we carried on and we wanted to acknowledge the pain of the widows. As women in the fishing industry, we carry on to help with the needs of fishermen, their families and the community. That comes with the title of being a fisherman’s wife,” said Sanfilippo.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Station Gloucester says first-all female boat crew sent out

July 20, 2021 — The station, which blasted out the news via its Facebook page, said it is believed to be the maiden voyage at Station Gloucester of the all-maiden voyage.

The pictures show six beaming Coasties who happen to be female. There’s also a dog in one of the photos, but its gender is unknown. Our investigative desk is on it.

There are always going to be firsts. There’s always going to be an event, an achievement or a performance that’s never been viewed, recorded, streamed or experienced before.

Should they all be celebrated? That’s up to the beholder. We here at FishOn, who actually love space travel, couldn’t give two farthings for a space race between two billionaires. Let us know when CATA’s offering it, with the senior discount.

But this? With the importance of this job, with the dangers inherent in the selflessness of military service? This is to be celebrated.

What makes it so special is not only that it was an all-female crew. Probably no one who watched the boat slice through Gloucester Harbor that day could chart their gender.

What makes it special is that it was a full crew of young women serving their country and their community; women, like their male colleagues, who accept the responsibilities of the gig and are up to the task.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Haddock chowder a winner for small boat fishermen — and the hungry

July 7, 2021 — When the pandemic hit last winter, restaurants and fish markets were among the first businesses to shut down.

The combination hit the region’s fishing fleet really hard, said Seth Rolbein, director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. May starts the new fishing year and summer is by far the industry’s busiest season.

“It took the legs out from under the fleet,” said Rolbein.

Additionally, fish processors in ports like New Bedford and Gloucester had the same issues as meat packing plants in the Midwest, Rolbein said. With employees working in close proximity, the fish processing plants weren’t built to contain the spread of the virus, said Rolbein, and they shut down too.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: 40 rescued when charter fishing vessel catches fire in Gloucester Harbor

July 7, 2021 — Forty people had to be rescued from a charter fishing boat that caught fire in Gloucester Harbor on Wednesday morning, but there were no reported injuries, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard as well as local harbormasters responded to the fire aboard the Yankee Patriot II, the Coast Guard posted on its official Twitter feed.

The vessel returned to its home berth under its own power using its port engine due to a fire in the starboard engine, the Coast Guard said.

No other information, including the cause of the fire, was immediately available.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Count of locally spawned alewives on the rise

June 16, 2021 — The annual spring river herring census at the city’s West Gloucester fishway is in the books, with 2021 continuing to show low — if slightly improving — numbers of returning fish observed near the end of their spawning journey.

Rebecca Visnick, the Harbormaster’s Office staffer who shepherded the 2021 count, said her cadre of 40 fish counters officially observed 12 river herring, also known as alewives, from April 1 until Memorial Day.

While that pales in comparison to years such as 2017, when counters tabulated 3,300 of the fish making their way up the fishway, it is markedly better than 2020 (five alewives counted) and incrementally better than 2019 (11 alewives counted).

Visnick said the final number also might not reflect the actual number of alewives returning from the Atlantic Ocean — by way of the Little River — to spawn in Lily Pond at the top of the fishway.

“There were other observations (of the alewives) that weren’t part of the official count,” she said. “They were observed below the steep pass ladder and up around the Lily Pond.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES: Money and focus on endangered whales

June 3, 2021 — Money and focus on endangered whales

A move to earmark more money for Massachusetts Environmental Police to conduct more patrols to monitor the endangered right whales in state waters is the right step but must be part of a comprehensive plan to save this species.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, filed an amendment to the $47 billion state budget to add just $250,000 for more of these patrols, which many people say could sharpen the lookout for whales and spot lost or abandoned fishing gear, which often entangles and kills right whales.

Although some advocates for North Atlantic right whales, which scientists say number about 360, urge a ban on lobstering and fishing in state waters, that extreme measure is impractical and would doom a vital Massachusetts industry.

Fisheries officials do impose temporary closures of some areas when whales are migrating, one of many measures meant to protect the species. The most recent example was earlier this year, when the state’s lobster fishery was closed for more than a month following whale sightings.

Statehouse reporter Christian Wade reported last week that fishing groups support more funding for marine patrols, because more surveillance could help reduce collisions with non-fishing vessels and likely pinpoint more “ghost nets” which have been broken off or abandoned by fishing boats.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times