Caught under the weather
Based on U.S. Coast Guard reports
The loss of a fishing boat from capsizing or sinking often occurs very rapidly. Severe weather can cause or exacerbate the emergency, leaving the crew little time to react — to save themselves or the boat. In bad weather, there is no replacement for easy access to safety gear and the training to don or deploy it quickly.
Gulf/South Atlantic Stone Crab
Slow economic recovery will dampen U.S. demand for tasty but pricey claws
Florida stone crab claws — at $35 or so a plate and clearly a luxury item — are sold domestically and dependent on tourism dollars. Consequently, the economic troubles of the past year are hitting the fishery hard.
While NOAA fiddles
This should be a time of promise for the U.S. fishing industry.
Although we certainly have a number of real concerns — Pacific salmon and Atlantic tuna come quickly to mind, albeit for different reasons, a number of stars seem to be in alignment.
Back to basics
Oregon's Fred Wahl turns out a no-frills 48-footer
By Michael Crowley
Most everyone has probably had the experience of going out to buy a simple, basic item — nothing fancy mind you, just basic. It might be an entry-level computer or a no-frills minivan to haul the kids around and run errands with.
NORTHEAST
A wheelchair secure tunaman; Maine lobsterman's first boat
Patrick Simmons, a Yarmouth, Maine, tuna fisherman finally got the boat he wanted. Simmons had been fishing out of a deep-V hull, a "roly-poly thing," says Bruce Farrin of Farrin's Boatshop in Walpole, Maine. Such a boat wasn't the best match for Simmons, who is disabled and operates in a wheelchair.
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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