February 2013

February 2013


SAFE-BOAT SMART-BOAT: Using flares - Safe handling, firing, training

by Fred Mattera – I am often asked what to do with old, expired flares or if I want them.  Actually, I do take and use them to conduct hands-on flare training.  I also tell captains to consider keeping an expired flare kit in a container mark...


End of an era: Viking leaves Martha’s Vineyard

MENEMSHA, MA – With the sale of Viking, a 40' fishing boat that has plied the waters off Martha’s Vineyard for three generations, the island’s oncevibrant fleet of small wooden draggers is now on the brink of extinction. Craig Coutinho of Vi...


NE council scales back scallop access-area trips, possession limits for 2013 in Framework 24

NEWPORT, RI – Scallopers will be making fewer access-area trips during the 2013 fishing year but will receive roughly the same number of open-area days-at-sea. During its Nov. 13-15 meeting here, the New England Fishery Management Council finali...


Hundreds turn out for meetings on Maine lobster industry’s future

YARMOUTH, ME – Large crowds of lobster industry people flocked to meetings in January for what the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) billed as “an open and honest discussion of issues that currently affect the industry.” The DMR sch...


Dogfish research reveals migration surprises

SOUTH KINGSTON, RI – It’s been a long-held belief that spiny dogfish migrate south for the winter and return to New England each spring, so much so that the federal dogfish fishery management plan has long allocated quota based on seasons. ...


Northern shrimp test tows ‘disappointing’

WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME – Shrimp fishermen up and down the Maine and New Hampshire coastlines – and possibly a few from Massachusetts – were readying to head out to sea on Jan. 23, the first day that trawl vessels were allowed to fish during t...


The SW Boatworks crew shows off their SHARP banner.

SHOP TALK SW Boatworks of Lamoine, ME recently was recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as an approved member of the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP). To quote from a letter OSHA presen...


Scallopers: Check those turtle dredges!

GLOUCESTER, MA – In early January, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) put out a notice alerting scallopers that enforcement officials have found turtle deflector dredges that are not in full compliance with required specifications and mea...


Using flares: Safe handling, firing, training

I am often asked what to do with old, expired flares or if I want them. Actually, I do take and use them to conduct hands-on flare training. I also tell captains to consider keeping an expired flare kit in a container marked “for training purpose o...



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