Saving Seafood

People from Maine to Alaska raise thousands for families of fishermen lost at sea

December 4, 2020 — More than $100,000 has been raised to support the families of four Maine fishermen who were lost at sea last week.

The Coast Guard suspended its search off the coast of Provincetown, Mass. last Tuesday night.

Jeff Matthews, Ethan Ward, Mikey Porper, and Bobby Blethen were all on board, according to officials.

A GoFundMe page set up by the family that owned the vessel has raised upwards of $110,000.

“We have set up this page to support the families of the F/V EmmyRose and to ease their financial burden,” Rosalee Varian, whose father owns the boat, wrote on the page. “These four families lost a husband, a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, and a nephew right before the holidays. These families need all the love and support that our community can give.”

Read the full story at News Center Maine

New regional shark research consortium established

December 2, 2020 — The fatal great white shark attack on swimmer Julie Dimperio Holowach in July in Harpswell, Maine, caught many in the shark research community by surprise.

While it was known that some great whites do travel north into Canadian waters in the summer, there was little in the way of sightings, and just a smattering of attacks on seals.

Holowach was the only confirmed fatality from a shark attack in Maine history, according to Patrick Keliher, state Division of Marine Resources director. Cape Cod, with hundreds of great whites patrolling beaches and daily sightings in the summer months, has had two major attacks on swimmers and a fatal attack on a bodyboarder.

“The incident really did rattle the state of Maine, and justifiably,” said Gregory Skomal, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries shark expert. “A lot of us doing work on white sharks reached out to assist.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

EU agrees to eliminate tariffs on US lobster

December 1, 2020 — The European Union parliament has officially passed a mini trade deal with the U.S. that will see all tariffs on U.S. lobsters dropped for the next five years.

In a vote with 638 affirmative, 45 against, and 11 abstentions, the parliament confirmed that all U.S. lobster imports to the E.U. will no longer be subject to an 8 percent tariff, retroactive to 1 August. The tariffs will be removed for the next five years, and the E.U. will work to make the removal permanent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Supporting Maine fishermen in tragedy and triumph

November 30, 2020 — “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”

Those words are from the Bible’s Psalm 107. Some of them are also engraved on the Fisherman’s Memorial in Gloucester, Massachusetts, honoring lives lost at sea.

Tragically, it seems that four more Maine fishermen have been lost. The Coast Guard suspended its search on Nov. 24 for the missing crew of the Emmy Rose, a Portland-based commercial fishing vessel that was en route to Gloucester when it sank in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 23.

All four of those crewmembers are from Maine: skipper Robert Blethen, Jeffrey Matthews, Michael Porper and Ethan Ward.

“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” said Capt. Wesley Hester, search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard’s First District. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.

A candlelit vigil was held in Portland Wednesday night. Thousands of dollars have already been raised to support their families. Public officials have spoken out.

Read the full opinion piece at the Bangor Daily News

GoFundMe raises over $83K for fishermen presumed lost at sea

November 30, 2020 — Four fishermen lost at sea last week when their fishing vessel, the Emmy Rose, sank off the Massachusetts coast, were “honorable men” who loved their families and the sea, according to a GoFundMe page organized for their grieving families.

“These four men were the best out there. They will be deeply missed, but they will never be forgotten,” the organizer of the page wrote.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday night suspended the search for the four men whose boat sank in eight-foot waves off Provincetown. Crews searched more than 2,000 square miles for 38 hours.

The page, created Wednesday, had raised nearly $83,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Saturday morning. The money funds will go to the families of the Emmy Rose crew who held a candlelight vigil Wednesday night that included about 100 people.

Read the full story at the New York Post

MAINE: Portland fishing community mourns the crew of the Emmy Rose

November 27, 2020 — Members of Portland’s fishing community gathered on the city’s waterfront Wednesday night to remember and honor the four Maine men who were lost at sea when the Emmy Rose sank off Cape Cod early Monday.

Candlelight vigils were held on the Maine State Pier and on the Portland Fish Pier, with roughly 100 people between both sites talking about the men, their lives and their devotion to fishing.

At the Maine State Pier, family and friends placed candles around a makeshift memorial that said, “Family is the anchor that holds us through life’s storms.” At the Portland Fish Pier, candles were placed in front of the fishermen’s memorial that says, “In memory of those lost at sea.”

The 82-foot Emmy Rose, which was based in Portland, sank early Monday roughly 22 miles northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 30-knot winds were whipping up 6- to 8-foot waves.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the boat Tuesday evening.

Read the full story at Central Maine

Maine’s lobstermen and women hope Biden can boost fortunes

November 27, 2020 — Donald Trump positioned himself as a friend of New England’s lobster industry, campaigning hard in Maine, and even had lobsterman Jason Joyce speak at the Republican national convention.

But the president’s prolonged trade war with China resulted in a rocky few years for the industry.

Following Biden’s win in the presidential election, which saw him take three out of four electoral votes in Maine, which, along with Nebraska, has a split system, members of the industry now say they are looking forward to some much-needed stability.

Stephanie Nadeau, owner of the Lobster Company, a dealer in Arundel, Maine, said the industry needs assurance that it will be able to sell lobsters to other countries without punitive tariffs and is hopeful that such comfort will come in January following the inauguration of the Democratic president-elect.

She said of life under the Trump administration: “You can’t plan. You can’t live in chaos. The trade war, was it going to last a week, was it going to last a month, was it going to last four years? How do you operate around that?”

Read the full story from The Guardian at MSN

EAGLE-TRIBUNE: Another tragedy underscores fishing’s dangers

November 25, 2020 — It was almost exactly a year ago that a scalloper out of New Bedford sank, taking the lives of three men on board and adding to the long roll call of people who die each year to put flounder, scallops and haddock on the table.

Tragically, that toll continued to go up this week with word the Emmy Rose, a Portland-based fishing boat, sank in high winds and rough seas off the coast of Provincetown. Although the U.S. Coast Guard was continuing to search for the four crew members, the empty life raft and debris found Monday morning near the last known location of the vessel left little reason for hope.

Fishing has always been a dangerous job. Even with improvements in technology, emergency location devices, life rafts and survival suits, the quest for seafood has pushed fishermen and some women farther out to sea in often treacherous and unpredictable weather. The Emmy Rose disappeared at a time when the wind was gusting to 30 mph or more, and seas were reportedly 6 to 8 feet – conditions severe enough to force a rescue helicopter to return to base.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health regularly documents the dangers of working conditions in many industries. Working on a commercial fishing boat means working in a hazardous environment. It’s strenuous work with long hours and in all kinds of weather – often on a slippery, rolling work surface with heavy equipment and many moving parts.

Read the full opinion piece at The Eagle-Tribune

Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishing vessel crew

November 25, 2020 — The Coast Guard said Tuesday it called off the search for the four-member crew of a Maine fishing boat that sank off Massachusetts.

The Coast Guard searched an area of approximately 2,066 square miles for more than 38 hours, Capt. Wesley Hester said in a release.

“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” Hester said. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.”

The 82-foot (25-meter) Emmy Rose, based in Portland, Maine, went down about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, around 1:30 a.m. Monday. It was heading for Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Read the full story at ABC News

Maine Fishing Community Mourns Loss of 4 Fishermen at Sea

November 25, 2020 — Maine‘s commercial fishing community is mourning the loss of four fishermen who went missing when an 82-foot (25-meter) fishing vessel sank off Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The Coast Guard said Tuesday it called off the search for the crew of the Portland-based Emmy Rose that sank early Monday morning while en route to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The four men aboard were all Maine fishermen, authorities said.

The Sustainable Harvest Sector, a group of 100 fishing vessel owners and operators, identified the crew members as Robert Blethen; Jeff Matthews; Michael Porper and Ethan Ward. Members of the fishing community contributed to a GoFundMe for the men’s families that had attracted dozen of donations by Wednesday afternoon.

The fishermen were harvesting groundfish such as haddock. The cause of the vessel’s sinking remains undetermined.

“My heart goes out to the family and community of the fishermen aboard the F/V Emmy Rose,” said Maine Rep. Genevieve McDonald, who is a lobster boat captain.

The Sustainable Harvest Sector said in a statement that it would release information about memorial services for the fishermen when they are available.

Read the full story at U.S. News