Saving Seafood

Hooked On Fishing Not On Drugs Coming To Mercer County, New Jersey

August 16, 2018 — A nationally recognized state outdoor education program is coming to Mercer County, officials announced this week. Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs (HOFNOD) will run on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Sept. 1 through Nov. 17.

It is a youth education program created by the Future Fisherman Foundation that works in partnership with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. It is open to youth ages 10 to 14. Those interested in the program must register to participate by Aug. 17.

“Today’s kids need an avenue into the outdoors,” Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes said in an announcement for the event. “This program provides a safe environment where kids can learn beneficial new skills.”

The goal of this program is to encourage school-age children to avoid tobacco, drug and alcohol usage by providing alternative activities while having fun. Participants can learn to fish, discover aquatic and environmental resources and develop positive life skills.

Read the full story at The Princeton Patch

Fishing derby continues anti-drug message

August 6, 2018 –Summer is the season for fishing derbies, and a perennial favorite is the Knights of Columbus-sponsored “Get hooked on fishing, not on drugs,” held at secluded Mello’s Pond about a mile from UMass Dartmouth.

Young people ages 6 through 16 are invited each year for the last 29 years to take a Saturday morning and head down to the pond, an isolated body of water measuring a few acres whose owner, Bob Mello, has opened the pond to the tournament since Day One three decades ago.

Ed Viveiros of the K of C said that the pond is not stocked, “Otherwise we would have to open it to the public.” Not to worry. The 24 boys and 9 girls who competed in this year’s derby had no trouble yesterday snagging the large mouth bass that seemed to be in abundant supply. This contest is catch-and-release, so it could be that the young anglers are having the fish bite the bait more than once.

In any case, the young fishermen were reeling them in all morning long, even as the day progressed and the light and warmth of an August morning slowly tapered off the number of fish being caught.

Mello’s Pond is encircled by a dirt road, which the contestants use to find a nice spot on the embankment leading to the water’s edge. Saturday’s growing mugginess was held at bay by trees and a breeze that kicked up mid-morning.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fishermen safety training involves tips on yoga, administering Narcan

July 27, 2018 –Fishing Partnership Support Services aims at focusing on the health and well-being of fishing families in New England. Sometimes that involves aid with health insurance, but Thursday in its New Bedford office at 114 McArthur Drive it meant yoga mats, Narcan and AEDs.

The organization conducted a four-hour CPR and first-aid training certification seminar for those associated with the fishing industry.

“The hard job that fishermen have to do for an extended amount of time really does put them in a risk situation,” safety training coordinator Luis Catala said. “This is a hard to reach, underserved community that really needs these services. That’s why we do our best to make ourselves accessible and bringing training to them.”

The seminar, which ended with those participating receiving CPR certification, covered everything from administering Narcan and EpiPens to dealing with amputated digits as well as performing CPR and using automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

CPR, first aid training for fishermen to include opioid awareness

July 25, 2018 — Fishing Partnership Support Services is bringing its CPR / First Aid training to New Bedford from 8 a.m. to noon Thursday at the Massachusetts Fishing Partnership Office, 114 MacArthur Drive.

Cost is $25 payable on the day of the event. However, if payment is a problem, contact Deb Kelsey, Fishing Partnership Navigator, to discuss scholarship opportunities.

Fishing Partnership Support Services is incorporating two additional offerings for free: ergonomics and opioid awareness. The ergonomics training was designed specifically for commercial fishermen and will provide information on ways to reduce pain and injury through more efficient work practices. Opioid awareness training provides information on recognizing signs of opioid addiction, understanding how to recognize an overdose, and administering Naloxone (Narcan), an opioid antagonist, during an overdose.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: One Square Mile: Opioids In New Bedford’s Fishing Industry

February 8, 2018 — Commercial fishing consistently ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, which may help explain why fishermen have been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.

In this next story in [Rhode Island Public Radio’s] series, “One Square Mile: New Bedford,” health reporter Lynn Arditi visits the Port of New Bedford. Here’s part one of the two-part story.

Captain Mario Gonsalves drove up to the docks one December morning to find his fishing boat caked with ice. A storm was coming and he wanted to get another run in before it hits. One of his crew used a sledge hammer to smash ice off the boat’s roof.

Gonsalves and his five-man crew fish for whiting, squid and scup year round — in all kinds of weather. It’s a lot of lifting and pulling on slippery decks, often at night. So he said can’t risk having someone on his boat impaired by drugs or alcohol.

“Right now we drug test all the time,’’ Gonsalves said. “We never used to do that but since a couple months back we started drug testing everybody….You don’t want somebody that’s all high and stuff playing with machinery to hurt somebody.’’

Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

 

Bill calls for task force to stem the tide of addiction in Maine’s fishing industry

December 5, 2017 — Nine years ago, a young “wrinkler” drowned when he was swept away by the rising tide in Lubec Channel.

Kristopher Fergerson, 27, was picking periwinkles, a small edible snail, with a friend to make ends meet after losing his job as a carpenter. The medical examiner labeled his death an accident, but state Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, a shellfish commissioner, blamed it on drugs. Toxicology results found morphine, Diazepam and ethanol in Fergerson’s blood, records show. The harvester stayed out too long because he needed money to buy drugs, Devin said.

“That was almost 10 years ago, and you’d hope things would have changed, but it’s only gotten worse,” Devin said. “His death has always stuck with me, but I know that it’s still happening. Fishermen are still dying from drugs. Fishermen in my district are telling me that young guys are using drugs and going out to work on the water every day, and that’s dangerous – for them, for the people they fish with and for our local fishing economy.”

Devin wants the Maine Legislature to create a task force to investigate the high rate of addiction among Maine’s commercial fishermen. Last week, a bill that Devin wants to submit to create that task force got a green light from the Legislative Council, which must approve all bills for consideration during even-numbered years when Maine tries to limit legislative debate to emergency matters. The council voted 6-4 in favor of considering the task force bill.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald