Crab Fishing

Hansen of FV Northwestern Comes to CBMM

Edgar Hansen of the fishing vessel Northwestern—as featured on Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," is coming to St. Michaels, MD and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum on Sunday, August 14 for the 2nd annual Watermen’s Appreciation Day. Hansen agreed to attend the event after learning of some of the parallels both Alaskan fisherman and the Chesapeake’s watermen are facing. "With fishing being my livelihood for over 25 years,” said Hansen, “it is a pleasure any time I am able to help others in the industry and support them in the challenges they face."   “I was floored when Edgar personally returned my phone call,” said Talbot County Watermen’s Association’s event coordinator, Lisa Gowe. “He is really looking forward to coming to the museum, and getting on a couple of boats during the docking contest.”   Watermen’s Appreciation Day is scheduled for Sunday, August 14 from 10am to 5pm along the waterfront campus of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD. The event celebrates the Chesapeake watermen’s heritage and features the days catch of crabs in a Maryland crab feast;  live toe-tapping and get-up-and-dance music with Bird Dog & the Road Kings; and a spirited “Watermen’s Rodeo” boat docking contest which begins at 11am.  

Combination Boat Joins Oregon Fleet

“Don’t make me out to be anything special,” cautioned Mike Pettis over the phone, “I’m just a working man.” The challenges of winter waters off the west coast of Oregon, not to mention the care required to stay in the fishing business, are well known. So it will be hard not to feel some admiration for a man who is adding yet another boat to his fishing fleet. Pettis has an extensive history as a long-liner (halibut and black cod) as well as a crab

Fred Wahl to Build Again

Fred Wahl, whose Oregon yard built two Bering Sea aft-house crab boats last year, is starting in on a quite different pot fishing boat to work off the U.S. west coast. Design work on this forward cabin raised-fo'c'sle vessel is by Jensen Maritime of Seattle. Owners Lyle and son Scott Harzell of Florence, Ore. will fish crab, sable fish and other species with the vessel off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington states.

Peggy Jo: A Family Tradition

When pioneering king crab fisherman Oscar Dyson of Kodiak had Jensen-designed 99 ft. Peggy Jo built back in 1966, Pacific Fisherman hailed her as "the first U.S. vessel ever built specifically to fish for King crab." She was big for her day - capable of carrying 100 pots and packing 12,000 live crab. The yellowing magazine copy tells us she was equipped with the latest electronics including "a loran set which enables the skipper to establish his bearings electronically

Update #40: Assessment Complete, Kulluk Stable

Unified Command confirmed the following information:   The Kulluk remains in stable condition and there are no reports of any release.   The underwater assessment of the Kulluk drilling vessel has been completed and that data is now being analyzed.   Unified Command continues to work with the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative to put mitigation measures in place that will reduce potential impacts to the fishery during the upcoming crabbing season.  

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Big Valley Crewmen

After searching more than 1,700 square miles, the Coast Guard suspended its search for three individuals from the fishing vessel Big Valley late Monday night. The Big Valley sank Saturday morning casting the six crewmen into the frigid Bering Sea 70 miles west of St. Paul Island. The joint search operation included searches by the Alaska State Trooper (AST) vessel Stimson, Good Samaritans, a Coast Guard C-130 airplane crew

Crescent City, Calif. Tsunami Damage Report

In a fact sheet released by the U.S. Coast Guard, it was reported that the tsunami from the earthquake in Japan resulted in the sinking of 16 vessels in the Port of Crescent City, Calif.  In addition, 47 vessels incurred some damage and there was significant damage to moorings and docks.     Crescent City tsunami fact sheet #3   Location:   Crescent City Inner Basin Harbor, Crescent City, CA Cause:   Tsunami following 8.9 earthquake in Japan Dsamage:

Tanker Company Fined $1.5M

The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Departments of Interior and Commerce, and the State of New Jersey, announced today that France Shipmanagement S.A., the operator of the tank vessel Anitra-from which there was an estimated 40,000 gallon oil spill in 1996 into the Delaware Bay off the coast of New Jersey-has agreed to pay the United States and State of New Jersey a combined $1.5 million to resolve allegations that the spill resulted in injury to natural resources.

NOAA Fisheries Seize 80 Tons of Albacore

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) Office for Law Enforcement (OLE) special agents have seized 80 short tons of albacore tuna, worth over $141,000 , from a Cambodian-flagged longline fishing vessel, the Long Man Yun #66 in Pago Pago, American Samoa, for allegedly violating U.S. fishing laws. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the Commerce Department.

Fishing Vessel and Tanker Collide Near U.K.

A Brixham fishing vessel is now on its way back to Brixham after it collided with a chemical tanker 33.5 miles off Start Point. Brixham Coastguard overheard a conversation between two fishing vessels in the early hours of this morning on Channel 16 and contacted the vessels for further information. The 24 metre beam trawler ‘De Vrow Marie’ was fishing and showing its trawling lights when it was approached by a chemical tanker