Saving Seafood

Free training prepares fishermen because ‘every second counts in an emergency at sea’

February 19, 2019 — Fishing Partnership Support Services is offering programs in New Bedford to make life safer for those who have one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, commercial fishing.

Safety and Survival Training will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 7 at the School for Marine Science and Technology of the University of Massachusetts, 706 S. Rodney French Blvd. Drill Conductor Training will be at the same location from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 8. There is no charge for either program, and lunch is provided both days.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard investigates sunken vessel in New Bedford Harbor

February 5, 2019 — The Coast Guard is investigating what caused a 45-foot fishing vessel to sink early Sunday morning by steamship pier.

The Coast Guard received a call from the owner of the fishing vessel Moonraker at 8:17 a.m., according to the agency. The owner discovered the vessel was submerged about a half hour earlier.

The Coast Guard said there was 100 gallons of fuel within the vessel and 50 escaped into the harbor.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

U.S. Coast Guard Enforces Fisheries Regs on the High Seas

January 29, 2019 — The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mellon is in the South Pacific, conducting the kind of law enforcement patrol that isn’t often possible: stopping other nations’ ships on the high seas to ensure compliance with an international treaty.

In the ordinary course of business, a suspect vessel cannot be inspected and searched in international waters unless it either is stateless or the boarding party has the permission of the vessel’s flag state. However, the 43 nations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have pre-authorized law enforcement units from 13 enforcer nations to board and inspect any WCPFC member’s vessels for compliance with fisheries rules. Any violations found are recorded and reported to the Commission, which notifies the suspect vessel’s flag state.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Coast Guard Assists 17 Crabbers off Pacific Northwest Coast in One Week

January 29, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Coast Guard crews along the Oregon and Washington coasts assisted 17 fisherman in five responses between Sunday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 25 — just as the weather was clearing up and more fishermen, especially smaller vessels, were headed to Dungeness crab grounds.

Response efforts included crews from Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay, Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment and Coast Guard Air Facility Newport, in coordination with members at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River and Coast Guard Sector North Bend.

The two-person crew aboard the F/V Zephyr was escorted across the Yaquina Bay Bar in Oregon by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Yaquina Bay, Sunday, Jan. 20. The crew of the 31-foot fishing vessel reported taking on water 17 miles south of the bay with less than 500 pounds of crab aboard. The onboard pump and auxiliary pumps were able to keep up with the flooding as the fishing crew were escorted in. An MH-65 Dolphin aircrew from Air Facility Newport launched as well, according to the press release.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Dream was escorted across the Columbia River Bar and safely moored in Ilwaco, Wash., by a Station Cape Disappointment boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Triumph, on Monday, Jan. 21. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported experiencing fuel injector issues while attempting to cross the bar with 1,000 pounds of crab aboard.

A three-person crew aboard the F/V Miss Jessie was towed into Ilwaco by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Cape Disappointment on Monday as well. The crew of the 36-foot fishing vessel reported they lost propulsion almost 3 miles west of Ocean Park where they anchored with 1,500 pounds of crab aboard until the Coast Guard crew arrived.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Redeemer was towed to Newport, Ore., by Station Yaquina Bay boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Victory, Monday, Jan. 21. The crew of the 51-foot fishing vessel reported they lost steering while on approach to the Yaquina Bay entrance with 5,000 pounds of crab aboard.

The motor life boat Victory was activated again on Thursday, Jan. 24, when a four-person crew aboard the F/V Triggerfish was towed into Newport. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported they lost steering almost 2 miles west of the Yaquina Bay entrance with no catch aboard.

Coast Guard stations along the coast maintain ready crews in the event of emergencies, which often involve the use of the 47-foot and 52-foot motor life boats. The 52-foot MLB is unique in that they are only located in the Pacific Northwest and that they are the only Coast Guard vessels under 65 feet with names. The four vessels are stationed at Grays Harbor and Cape Disappointment, Wash.; and Yaquina Bay and Coos Bay, Ore.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

North Pacific fishing industry raising money for Alaska Coast Guard families

January 25, 2019 — Fishing companies that work off Alaska are donating money to Coast Guard workers who — despite missing paychecks — continue to conduct safety exams and patrols, and stand ready to respond to disasters at sea.

The fundraising effort was kicked off earlier this week by Chris Woodley, a retired Coast Guard captain who now serves as executive director of the Groundfish Forum, a Seattle-based trade group that represents five companies that operate 19 catcher-processors off Alaska.

The fundraiser is part of a much broader effort to help federal workers facing financial difficulties in the partial government shutdown that has resulted from the political impasse between Congress and President Donald Trump over funding of a border wall.

“As a former Coast Guardsman stationed in Alaska, I cannot overstate how much our assistance can mean to a Coast Guard family in need,” Woodley wrote in an online fundraising letter.

Read the full story at the Seattle Times

Federal shutdown effects on February NPFMC Portland meeting

January 11, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

IS THE COUNCIL IMPACTED BY THE SHUTDOWN? The Council staff is at work and conducting business as usual. However, most of our federal partners at the National Marine Fisheries Service (Alaska Region and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center), the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are on furlough during the shutdown.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS? Since many NMFS scientists and fishery management specialists are key contributors to the Council’s analyses, Plan Teams and Committees, the Council is rescheduling or modifying the agendas for several meetings where NMFS representatives were expected to provide pivotal presentations, reports, and/or analyses.

WHAT ABOUT THE COUNCIL’S FEBRUARY 2019 MEETING? The Council’s February meeting in Portland, OR at the Benson Hotel will be shortened to occur from February 4-10 and will still include meetings of the SSC and Advisory Panel. If the partial government shutdown remains in place, the Council will conduct as much business as possible given the federal furlough.

The following agenda items have been postponed to a future meeting: C2 Observer Program Fees Initial Review and FMAC report, and D4 Economic Data Reports Discussion Paper. Additionally, the following items may be postponed as well: B4 State Department Report on Central Arctic Ocean fishing agreement; D6 Economic SAFE Report; D7 Marine Mammal Conservation Status Report. Additionally, the presentation on Saltonstall-Kennedy grant results may also be postponed. The updated agenda and additional information can be found at npfmc.org.

The Council may not be able to take final action on any agenda items during this meeting unless the meeting has been announced in the Federal Register at least 14 days before the Council takes a final action. The Council could make a ‘preliminary final determination’ on these issues, and take final action at a later meeting. With respect to the Norton Sound Red King Crab Harvest Specifications, which requires timely action to open the fishery, the Council may hold a teleconference meeting as soon as the Federal Register notification requirements can be met, allow additional public comments, and take final action on that issue.

UPCOMING PLAN TEAM AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS:

Further information and updates on all Council meetings can be found at meetings.npfmc.org.

Crab Plan Team: The Council’s Crab Plan Team will meet January 23 – 25 in Nome, Alaska. The meeting has been shortened to start on Wednesday, as some agenda items have been postponed until May as NMFS staff may not be available.

Halibut ABM Stakeholder Committee: The Committee will meet on February 4th at the Benson Hotel in Portland, OR. There are no changes to the previously announced agenda.

Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee: This Committee meeting has been postponed, and will likely be rescheduled to occur during the April 2019 Council meeting in Anchorage, AK. The Committee was primarily scheduled to review the observer fee analysis (which has been withdrawn from the agenda), and other topics.

Ecosystem Committee: The Committee will meet on February 5th at the Benson Hotel in Portland, OR. The agenda will likely be modified to remove the presentation on marine mammal conservation status, unless NMFS staff are available to provide this report.

At this point, no further changes have yet been proposed to Council Plan Team and Committee meetings that are scheduled for mid-February and beyond.

3 dead after fishing boat capsizes crossing Oregon bay

January 10, 2019 — The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Wednesday morning that three fishermen who were on boat when it capsized Tuesday night were killed.

The Dungeness crab fishing boat, the Mary B II, capsized while crossing the Yaquina Bay bar Tuesday night in 12- to 14-foot seas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard was able to recover one body, 48-year-old James Lacey, from South Toms River, New Jersey, with a helicopter. He was taken to Pacific Communities Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. A second body, Joshua Porter, 50, from Toledo, Oregon, washed ashore near Nye Beach.

The Mary B II eventually ran aground on the beach near the north side of the Yaquina Bay North Jetty. The boat skipper, Stephen Biernacki, 50, from Barnegat Township, New Jersey, was found deceased with the boat.

“We did everything we could. Unfortunately, it was just a tragic outcome and our hearts and thoughts are with the family and friends of the crew,” said Petty Officer Levi Reed with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Read the full story from KATU at WSET

Prolonged government shutdown could spell trouble for coral reef in Gulf of Mexico

January 8, 2019 — As the days of the federal government shutdown increase, so, too, do the chances of an emergency happening on the coral reef system 100 miles off the coast of Galveston.

And if an oil spill or a major mortality event occur during the shutdown, those who work in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary office will be powerless to mitigate it.

“If some sort of emergency occurs … the staff will have limited capacity to respond and basically the response would occur by the Coast Guard,” said Adrienne Correa, a Rice University researcher who serves on the sanctuary’s advisory council. “But the staff have a different type of knowledge of the reef … the Coast Guard lacks the tools and place-based knowledge.”

The sanctuary is a network of federally protected coral reef systems in the Gulf of Mexico. And at a time when a quarter of coral reefs worldwide are considered damaged beyond repair, it’s home to some of the healthiest reefs in the region.

Scientists say it’s because of its location: 70 to 115 miles off shore and 55 to 160 feet deep.

But the sanctuary has had problems in the past: 2016 brought the worst bleaching year for the sanctuary in more than a decade when 2 percent of the reef, inexplicably, died.

Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle

By Land And Sea, The Shutdown Takes Its Toll On Hawaii

January 8, 2019 — On New Year’s Eve, a deadly fire broke out aboard the cargo ship Sincerity Ace in remote waters about halfway between Japan and Hawaii, killing at least four of the vessel’s crew members.

The Hawaii-based U.S. Coast Guard personnel who helped rescue the survivors by dropping life rafts, rations and other supplies from two HC-130 Hercules planes did so having no idea when they’d receive their next paycheck.

They still don’t know.

“If there’s a threat to the safety of life and the environment, we’ll be there,” Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir said Friday. “But the government shutdown does cause limitations to the service, and the longer it goes on the more impacts we’ll begin to see.”

As that partial government shutdown stretches into its third week, an analysis by the website Wallet Hub found Hawaii — and its large per-capita share of federal employees — among the states most heavily hit.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishermen

January 4, 2019 — After more than 40 hours of intensive search over an area covering 2,152 nautical miles, the Coast Guard suspended its search for two Rhode Island fishermen who went missing after their vessel capsized about two-and-a-half miles southeast of Block Island.

The search began immediately after the captain of the fishing vessel Mistress, home-ported out of Pt. Judith, notified the Coast Guard at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 1, that the vessel was taking on water. After the Coast Guard sent out an urgent request for assistance, a nearby fishing vessel, the Captain Bligh, was able to rescue one of the Mistress crew members, while the other two remained missing by the time the search was called off on Tuesday at 5:13 p.m.

Various news outlets have identified the two missing crew members as boat owner Oscar Diaz and his nephew John Ansay. The Captain Bligh rescued Tim Diaz, who has been identified in news reports as Oscar Diaz’s son.

The trouble began at around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 1: “The captain of the fishing vessel Mistress notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England at around 1:30 a.m. that the boat was taking on water. The watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast to vessels in the area to request assistance for the crew of the Mistress. The fishing boat Captain Bligh responded and rescued one crew member from a life boat. The remaining two crew members have not been located. Low visibility and poor weather conditions hampered initial searches, but multiple crews launched as visibility improved,” the press release stated.

Read the full story at The Block Island Times