In Mixed Catch, NF Senior Editor Linc Bedrosian spotlights a wide range of commercial fishing-related news items from coast to coast.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
It's pretty quiet in our Portland, Maine, headquarters today. That's because the office is closed thanks to what appears to be a nasty late winter snowstorm — apparently dubbed Ukko (pronounced YOU-ko) — that could dump about a foot of snow on our fair city and up to 18 inches to the north and west of us. Hence, most of our troops are working from home today.
However, I live just a few miles away from our office. And I have yet to see the snowstorm that has prevented me from getting in to work. It's been said that 90 percent of life is showing up. So I do.
Besides, dealing with a little snow is nothing compared to work conditions fishermen find themselves in at sea, especially so in Nova Scotia this winter. Just weeks after the February sinking that claimed the Miss Ally and her young crew of five, another Nova Scotia boat on a halibut trip was hauling back in winds gusting between 46 and 55 mph when a monstrous rogue wave slammed the Logan & Morgan.
The wave tossed two crew members overboard — yet miraculously, the two men escaped harm and were returned to the vessel. Skipper Sandy Stoddard says only divine intervention saved his men. It's a remarkable story — and thankfully, one with a happy ending.
Suffice to say that if fishermen can work in high winds, violent seas and icing conditions, then I can brush off the car, shovel the driveway and motor through the snow to put in a day's work.
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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