National Fisherman articles from March 2007

National Fisherman archives from March 2007

March 2007: this month's highlights.(Column)
March 1, 2007... From an editor's perspective, Jimmy Odlin did things right when he brought his 346-foot freezer-vessel American Freedom into Portland, Maine. He chartered a ferry and brought local media out to meet the boat, which he will use as a...

Fishing to live, living to fish.(VIEWS from Alaska)
March 1, 2007... As we like to say here, Lower Yukon River commercial fishermen are "fishing to live, living to fish." Many of you out there may not know the true meaning and livelihood of a Lower Yukon River Alaska commercial fisherman, so I will try to...

Our 'town'.(fishing)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... How often have you heard, "Fishing isn't a living, it's a way of life"? I've thought that since I was a youngster, daydreaming about fishing, and I think so now, even on a day like today, when Arctic sea smoke is rising off Portland Harbor...

Fishing back when.(lobstermen)(commercial fisheries)(codfishes)
March 1, 2007... 50 YEARS AGO Opinion polls in Massachusetts and Maine show the two states' lobstermen in favor of a federal bill that calls for a uniform lobster measure for interstate commerce. With 90 percent of the New England lobster production coming...

New Englander recalls his first summer of love: fishing in '51 off Cape Cod.(Codfish, Dogfish, Mermaids and Frank Coming of Age on the Open Ocean)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Codfish, Dogfish, Mermaids and Frank Coming of Age on the Open Ocean By Skip DeBrusk Reginald vanFenwick Press, 2006 Softcover, 192 pp., $19.95 www.vanfenwickpress.com After meeting with Skip DeBrusk, I had to read the dates on the back of...

Fishing in Alaska inspires budding Texas mystery writer's new series.(Baked Alaskan)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Baked Alaskan By William Scarborough iUniverse, 2006 Softcover, 276 pp., $17.95 "Baked Alaskan" is William Scarborough's third novel, but it's the first in what is expected to be a series based on the lead character, Billy Ray Dent. The...

Here we go again ...(Marine Fish Conservation Network)(Column)
March 1, 2007... In a letter to the editor of the New Bedford, Mass., Standard-Times on Jan. 3, Gib Brogan, campaign projects manager for Oceana, wrote that the paper was at fault for identifying "Oceana and other nongovernmental organizations as being the only...

Ode to those old eastern rigs.(Dock talk)
March 1, 2007... We have been icing up bad; the mast is now 4 feet thick with ice. Guys are sliding around on deck like hockey players. Good news is that we have been out here for six days already. The coffee cakes are keeping warm on the smokestack. A...

Floatation devices are key to safety on deck.
March 1, 2007... From U.S. Coast Guard reports On May 7, 2003, a 77-foot, steel-hulled dredger departed its home port Newport News, Va., for a two-week scallop trip off the Eastern Shore of Maryland with seven crew members. The vessel was equipped with...

Tragedy simmering.(From the town landing)
March 1, 2007... We have been given the opportunity to write a series of columns over the course of the coming year to provide a community-based perspective on New England's fisheries tragedy. We cannot call the current state of New England's fisheries a...

Alaska salmon fisherman decries oil drilling in Bristol Bay.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... On Nov. 22, 2006, Ted Mattson, of Palmer, Alaska, wrote this letter on behalf of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council to Renee Orr of the U.S. Minerals Management Service. He sent copies to Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens. ...

Defining 'promotion' for independent lobstermen.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... It is hard to believe the Maine Lobster Promotion Council is working for the good of lobstermen. A portion of the money each lobsterman pays for his/her license goes to support this council, but it seems the main recipients of their efforts are...

Shark fisherman discovers equanimity in fishing woes.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... As a youngster, I had an early interest in the ocean and fishing. My parents called it an obsession. As I finished high school and went on to college, I made a few bucks as a fisherman working on charter and head boats along the way. I...

Correction.(Correction notice)
March 1, 2007... In February's issue, a story on the Arctic Fox's construction misidentified its generators as John Deeres. They are Northern Lights gensets powered by John Deere engines.

Cap'n Sane says ... Saturday Cove, Maine.
March 1, 2007... Well, everybody here at the Cove is on winter vacations. All 'cept Sam Wheeler. Sam don't go anywhere. Especially this year. Damned if'n Sam didn't get 30 barrels of freebie red oil from Hugo Chavez. Seems a peanut brittle salesman up at...

Meeting new Magnuson-Stevens challenges.(A letter from Bill Hogarth)
March 1, 2007... As one of its final actions, the 109th Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Its passage is a time to celebrate--the end of one journey that began the rebuilding process in 1996, and the beginning of...

Winter migrations.(In search of the simple life)
March 1, 2007... Glad they're over, the holidays I mean. So many comings and goings makes me dizzy. Captain Hollywood left for Dutch Harbor for the Bering Sea A-season about the same time my brother Garrett arrived from Craig, Alaska, a small fishing village on...

N.C. considering review of state's Fisheries Reform Act: industry condition, climate significantly different than when law was introduced in 1997.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC)
March 1, 2007... North Carolina fisheries officials aren't letting the 10-year anniversary of the state's Fisheries Reform Act slip by. The 1997 act ushered in sweeping changes to the management of the state's marine resources, including the mandatory...

NMFS extends deadline for gulf vessel monitoring: reef fishermen must comply by March.(National Marine Fisheries Service)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... NMFS has granted Gulf of Mexico reef fishermen more time to comply with new vessel monitoring regulations. Originally scheduled to become law on Dec. 7, 2006, NMFS has pushed the deadline back to March 7. The delay is to allow red...

New study cites damage to Mass. fishing communities: finds groundfish rules issued since 1990s have crippled industry, economy in major ports.(ATLANTIC)
March 1, 2007... A new study showing that groundfishing rules passed during the 1990s devastated Bay State fishing ports has Massachusetts legislators calling for better consideration of the economic impacts of federal fishing regulations. State Sen. Bruce...

Cost-sharing plan keeps Cape Cod air station open: Coast Guard presence vital, advocate says.(ATLANTIC)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... State and federal officials delivered welcome news to Northeast fishermen last month when they announced that the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station on the upper western portion of Cape Cod would continue to operate. The base's future became...

Where we live: Douglas, Alaska.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... THE TOWN Population: 2,000 (summer and winter) Fleet size: The harbor at Douglas, which is part of the Juneau harbor system, is home to about a dozen fishing boats. Other Douglas residents moor their boats in Juneau. TOP FIVE...

Scallopers push for limits on Elephant Trunk season: NMFS agrees to postpone start, reduce trips.(National Marine Fisheries Service)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... In an industry role reversal, East Coast scallop fishermen prevailed on the federal government to scale back the 2007 opening of the Elephant Trunk, a mid-Atlantic shellfish haven 50 miles off New Jersey they see as their industry's future. ...

Integrity: scallop, conch, crab and oyster boat.(BOAT OF THE MONTH)
March 1, 2007... When blue crab prices stayed low and the cost of steel mesh and zinc for crab traps went up, Mark Hayden, 35, a third-generation Chesapeake Bay waterman decided to invest $30,000 worth of gear in the lucrative day-boat sea scallop fishery. The...

Appeals court slashes Exxon award amount by half: punitive damages total for 1989 Valdez spill cut to $2.5 billion, could divide plaintiffs.(ALASKA and PACIFIC)
March 1, 2007... In the latest chapter of the Exxon Valdez case, an appeals court reduced the punitive damages award to $2.5 billion. ExxonMobil would pay half the original $5 billion an Anchorage, Alaska-based jury awarded in 1994. Through the years,...

Corruption probe seeks ties to Alaska legislators: subpoenas issued to seafood companies.(ALASKA and PACIFIC)
March 1, 2007... A wave of anxiety swept the North Pacific fishing industry as federal authorities probing public Corruption in Alaska began asking questions of seafood companies. "The United States Department of Justice is conducting an official criminal...

Philip Lara: Corpus Christi, Texas.(Bay King Seafood)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Philip Lara, the 36-year-old owner of Bay King Seafood in Corpus Christi, Texas, bought his first boat when he was 23, right after he was married. "I grew up in the wheelhouse," Lara says, despite the fact that his father, a shoreside...

Ohio fishermen thwart commercial permit buyout bill: fleet survives 2006 bid to end Lake Erie fishery, but expects another battle this year.(NATION/WORLD)
March 1, 2007... Ohio commercial fishermen beat the odds during the 2006 legislative session when they turned back an aggressive attempt by recreational interests to torpedo their small but highly productive fleet from Lake Erie. The alliance of...

P.E.I. suit still on despite pending fisheries overhaul: province challenges DFO quota allocation.(NATION/WORLD)
March 1, 2007... While Prince Edward Island's fisheries minister says he's pleased with recent proposed changes to Canada's Fisheries Act, the maritime province is proceeding with a lawsuit against the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The suit,...

Sea urchin soup: Pete Halmay, San Diego.(GALLEY WATCH: AT-SEA CUISINE)(Recipe)
March 1, 2007... There is market for urchin than putting it on little pieces of rice, says San Diego-based urchin diver Pete Halmay. People like the taste of sea urchin. It is the texture that--for some--is the culinary stumbling block. This soup recipe gets...

Ireland, at long last, sees increase in some quotas: new group is credited with unifying effort.(NATION/WORLD)
March 1, 2007... After years of disastrous cuts in annual quotas for Ireland, Irish fishermen secured some decent increases for 2007 on important commercial species from the European Council of Fisheries. The increases should help not only the Killybegs...

News from the regional management councils.(COUNCIL UPDATES)
March 1, 2007... South Atlantic At its March 5-9 meeting in Jekyll Island, Ga., the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will consider suggested modification of eight marine protected areas it has proposed, as well as a transit provision to allow...

Successful 2006 season casts hope for recovery of biomass and demand.
March 1, 2007... A strong 2006 show of scup in Northeast waters and a modest recovery in consumer demand has some fishermen thinking this longtime pillar of the mixed trawl fleet could recover some of its strength. Big, full tows and early season prices...

Chinook scarcity, high prices posing biggest challenges for 2007 season.(PACIFIC SALMON)
March 1, 2007... The 2006 West Coast salmon season was one of the worst on record and 2007 isn't looking much better, industry officials and buyers say. "Nothing is looking red hot," says Paul Heikkila, a Pacific Fishery Management Council Salmon Advisory...

Price, stocks and demand are strong, but will red and gag survive politics?.(GULF/SOUTH ATLANTIC GROUPER)
March 1, 2007... Demand for domestic grouper remains very strong, and so does the price. Stocks are arguably in decent shape. The real question for the two primary commercial species, red and gag, is whether the fishery as fishermen have known it will survive...

Japanese yen for holiday treat wanes, triggering efforts to curtail processing.
March 1, 2007... Declining consumption in Japanese retail markets appears to have caught up with the ex-vessel end of the Alaska herring roe industry, and the cure may be to crimp supplies coming out of Alaska in 2007. In the 2006 season, ex-vessel prices...

Odlin's big bet: a Portland, Maine, fisherman will freeze herring and mackerel aboard a $24 million, 346-foot vessel.(Jim Odlin)
March 1, 2007... It was 66 degrees, unseasonably warm for January in Maine, the day the American Freedom eased away the Portland Ocean Terminal, southbound, more or less, for the waters below Long Island, N.Y. But for New England fishermen, the weather was...

Twice as nice: Jean d'Entremont's newest boat will tow twin trawls and deliver top-quality fish.(Boats & Gear: Boatbuilding)
March 1, 2007... For Jean d'Entremont, president of Scotia Harvest Seafoods of West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, the problem for groundfishing boats in the North Atlantic is simple: "The future is in efficiency and quality, and we have been lacking in quality for a...

Beating the weather: a 32-foot halibut boat gets a trip in ahead of the wind.(At sea)
March 1, 2007... Snick snick... snick snick. Two stainless steel halibut hooks-think gaff hooks--one about 12 inches and the other two and a half feet, click together in a bit of rhythm. I look toward Capt. Jeb Morrow and see him working the two hooks, one in...

Corrosion avoidance: the often-overlooked shaft brush protects machinery components from failure.(Column)
March 1, 2007... Shaft brushes provide a low-resistance, high-conductivity path to ground for shaft currents. Yet despite the potential damage to bearings, seals, gears and other components in the drive train that can result from missing or malfunctioning shaft...

Gear shifts: innovation remains the key to progress in the world's oldest industry.(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... Fishermen are always looking at equipment. Sometimes it's for curiosity's sake, but often there's good reason to be prowling trade show aisles or visiting the local fabricator or gear representative. It usually has to do with efficiency or...

Maine lobstermen need speed; 55-foot dragger goes to N.Y.
March 1, 2007... The Jarsulan 4 hit 34 mph (29.55 knots) on her sea trial, says Stewart Workman, owner of SW Boat-works in Lamoine, Maine. The boatshop finished off the 46-foot Wesmac-built hull for Brent Oliver of Stonington, Maine. Workman describes the...

Calif. gets Canadian mussel rig; new Alaska combination boat.(WEST)
March 1, 2007... Bernard Friedman's graduate work as a fisheries biologist in Nova Scotia exposed him to the province's longline mussel industry, which relies on longlines suspended horizontally in the water with ropes hanging from the longline. Mussel larvae...

Builder back to fishing roots; three scallopers from Florida.(SOUTH)
March 1, 2007... It had been a couple of years since Ronnie Carman of Carman Boats in Marion Station on Maryland's Eastern Shore built a commercial fishing boat. But in 2006, the longtime builder of fiberglass boats turned out two boats for commercial...

Digging up swordfish bones.(Mail buoy)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... It's hard to believe NMFS is concerned about the U.S. swordfish quota not being fully harvested. NMFS, through the years, has made great strides to eliminate the swordfish longline industry. Why try to reinvigorate this fishery? Why turn back...

Thermal imaging goes mainstream: Flir's new Navigator has military technology with a small-boat price tag.(Product roundup)
March 1, 2007... You are following the channel and looking for the No. 3 can. It's dark, there's no moonlight, and you can't find the can with the searchlight. It wouldn't be a good idea to drift too far to starboard because ledges run right into the shore. ...

Big-time features on new radar: JRC's new product is IMO certified.
March 1, 2007... You are running hard in not-so-great weather conditions with landmasses on your port, and the radar view shows an island ahead as you crank the wheel over, putting the boat into a hard turn. When you go into that maneuver and the radar is...

Marina protection systems, a company in Australia, has an alternative to zinc anodes.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... MARINA PROTECTION SYSTEMS, A company in Australia, has an alternative to zinc anodes. The MADDOX anode is an aluminum alloy with a specialized shape. Intended for wood or fiberglass boats, the anode's shape creates several types of sacrificial...

IMTRA is offering the AUTOANCHOR 150 rode counter, which can be used with almost any type of electric winch.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... IMTRA is offering the AUTOANCHOR 150 rode counter, which can be used with almost any type of electric winch. It measures the length of ground tack that is released or retrieved, and it can be programmed to be used with chain, rope or...

Teleflex Marine's new i6300 electronic control uses the company's actuators to bring improved control to both shift and throttle functions.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... TELEFLEX MARINE's new i6300 electronic control uses the company's actuators to bring improved control to both shift and throttle functions. Shift and throttle actuators are linked to the control head with a single quarter-inch canbus cable. No...

Poly-Planar just improved the quality of the music fishermen listen to with its ME-400 four-channel marine-grade amplifier, which provides 400 watts of audio power.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... POLY-PLANAR just improved the quality of the music fishermen listen to with its ME-400 four-channel marine-grade amplifier, which provides 400 watts of audio power. Both crossover circuits and high-pass and low-pass falters are adjustable to...

Dickson has introduced a recording device that could be used by fishermen who do their own processing and direct marketing and store their product for a short time.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... DICKSON has introduced a recording device that could be used by fishermen who do their own processing and direct marketing and store their product for a short time. The Dickson TH800 temperature, humidity and dew point chart recorder is a...

Caterpillar is making available its C4.4 genset as a Marine Classification Society--certified genset directly from the factory.(At a glance)
March 1, 2007... CATERPILLAR is making available its C4.4 genset as a Marine Classification Society--certified genset directly from the factory. That means the boatyard and owners know it meets society requirements and don't have to spend time and money...

Bulletin board.(Brief article)(Calendar)
March 1, 2007... MARCH 11-13 International Boston Seafood Show/Seafood Processing America Exhibition Center, Boston www.bostonseafood.com The International Boston Seafood Show is the buyer's choice for sourcing and selling seafood. This event,...

Ernie Ellis, president of Baltimore-based Sea-Fire Marine participated in a roundtable discussion with other entrepreneurs and President George W. Bush at the end of 2006.(ON THE MOVE)(Discussion)
March 1, 2007... ERNIE ELLIS, president of Baltimore-based SEA-FIRE MARINE, participated in a roundtable discussion with other entrepreneurs and President George W. Bush at the end of 2006. The discussion, which took place in Washington, focused on the economy,...

SIMRAD.(ON THE MOVE)
March 1, 2007... SIMRAD National Product Director TOM BURKE was elected as a manufacturers director for the National Marine Electronics Association. Burke, whose three-year term began in January, will represent the interests and perspectives of marine...

Furuno USA.(United States Coast Guard contract)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Camas, Wash.-based FURUNO USA has announced a $5.5 million multi-year contract with the U.S. Coast Guard. The contract will provide the Coast Guard with replacements for aging radar systems on patrol and rescue boats. Each boat will receive a...

Point Pleasant, N.J.(Last set)
March 1, 2007... Mike Shabalin is one of five crew members on the Melissa K., a 2,200-hp 165-foot clam dredge that was converted from an oil supply vessel after being discovered engineless on a Texas mud flat.