Columns – Fishermens News

Beyond Regulation: A Smarter Approach for Protecting Food Security

For generations, commercial fishing has been a way of life. It is how families have supported themselves, how coastal communities have been built, and how fresh sustainably harvested wild seafood with a low carbon footprint has made its way to dinner tables. Commercial fishing has long proven its ability to adapt, because in fishing if you don’t adjust, you don’t survive. The ocean changes, fish and crab move, weather shifts and regulations tighten. Fishermen always work to find a way forward because that is what they do and it is what is needed to keep domestic seafood available and accessible to the public. Yet today, adapting to ocean conditions is no longer the biggest challenge. Navigating an endless cycle of new regulations, legal threats from some NGOs (non-governmental organizat...

USCG Helicopter Rescue Procedures

Fishermen have a complicated relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard. When we are at sea and the white Coast Guard boat with a red racing stripe approaches, we are wary. But when we are in trouble at sea and the white helicopter with the red racing stripe is seen approaching, we are so happy to see them. In the Bering Sea a few years ago, the USCG was contacted to evacuate a crew member suffering from a heart attack on a factory longliner. The helicopter crew calculated their fuel consumption and realized that they only had time to make one approach to hoist the patient off the vessel and still have enough fuel to make it back to base. Everything had to go seamlessly. Once they got on the vessel’s location, the USCG pilot found the crew had the patient ready, the deck cleared and the ...

Aquaculture Opportunity Areas: A Continued Threat to Fisheries

By Mike Conroy In the September 2022 edition of Fishermen’s News, we published an article outlining the process for designating “Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs)” created in federal waters off the United States in 2020. The prospect of a widespread taking of large areas of what is currently open ocean to devote them exclusively to industrial-scale aquaculture instead of fisheries is a threat that has not gone away. As a reminder, AOAs were mandated by the first Trump Administration in Section 7 of the May 7, 2020, Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth (E.O. 13921). The second Trump administration is likely to push these designations much further. To date, two major areas (one off Southern California and another in the Gulf of Mexico) are ...

New Vessel Construction

By Jerry Dzugan, AMSEA If you’re interested in building a new commercial fishing vessel measuring 50-180 feet, this would be a good time to look at the U.S. Coast Guard’s new policy letter CG-CVC 24-02 dated Aug. 18 entitled “The Application of Fishing Vessel Construction Requirements.” A policy is an agency’s clarification of a law or regulation. In this case, the agency is the U.S. Coast Guard. Commercial fishing vessel (CFV) classing requirements are specified in Title 46, United States Code U.S.C. § 4503(a). However, in lieu of being classed, certain vessels may opt to choose an alternate-to-class option per U.S.C. § 4503(d). Specifically, this would apply to fishing vessels (FV) and fish tender vessels (FTV) that are between 50 and 180 feet overall in length with a keel laid dat...

Holiday Best Wishes from PCFFA

By Lisa Damrosch As 2024 draws to a close, I’m feeling all of the holiday feels—joy, hope, faith and, because I work in fisheries, I feel a bit Grinch-y as well. Most of all though, I find myself filled with gratitude. It’s hard to believe I’m nearing my one-year mark as executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. This year has been a whirlwind of challenges, growth and learning. At its core, it’s been a year filled with appreciation for this community and the commercial fishing families who, despite the incredible obstacles we face, continue to support our coastal communities and work tirelessly to bring sustainable, local seafood to America’s tables. I know how fortunate I was to grow up in one of those families, a family that continues to fish now...

Commercial Fishing Sleep and Health – NEC study

By Jerry Dzugan, AMSEA “To sleep perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub!” wrote the Bard. It’s unlikely that Shakespeare ever went commercial fishing. If so, he would have known that trying to get to sleep on a vessel could be the rub. The Northeast Center for Occupational Health & Safety (NEC) has been partnering with the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA), Oregon State University and George Mason University since 2019 to better understand sleep and other health risk issues in fisheries. It’s one of the most comprehensive studies of sleep and health on commercial fishing vessels. The study involved sleep surveys with 262 fish workers and free in-person health exams provided by health care teams in fishing harbor locations for 162 workers. These fish workers came ...

The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative: A New Hope for Salmon Restoration

“The development would remove part of the cost of waterborne shipping from the shipper and place it on the taxpayer, jeopardizing more than one-half of the Columbia River salmon production in exchange for 148 miles of subsidized barge route. This policy of water development, the department maintains, is not in the best interest of the over-all economy of the state. Salmon must be protected from the type of unilateral thinking that would harm one industry to benefit another. Loss of the Snake River fish production would be so serious that the department has consistently opposed the four phase lower dam program that would begin with Ice Harbor dam near Pasco.” From the state of Washington Department of Fisheries Annual Report for 1949, opposing development of four then proposed Snake River ...

Coast Guard Dewatering Pump Operations

By Jerry Dzugan, AMSEA In a flooding emergency, you can’t expect a rescue resource or good Samaritan to be waiting nearby. Vessel flooding and its often related instability are the most common source of fishing vessel losses. Consider the distance that a Coast Guard helicopter has to travel to deliver dewatering pumps. Plus, they don’t carry a pump on every routine flight due to weight constraints. It makes sense and is a good maritime practice to have your own dewatering pumps and bilge alarms. The quickest way to have a pump available is to have your own dewatering pump installed and maintained. Remember that an ordinary bilge pump is rated by the number of gallons it can pump in an hour. You want a pump that is rated for gallons per minute—a dewatering pump. The pump(s) should be ...

Facing the Challenges of Commercial Fishing: Why Your Local Port Association Needs You

Commercial fishing families have long been the quiet guardians of our seas, working tirelessly to ensure that tables are filled with wild, healthy and sustainable seafood. We weather both literal and figurative storms, adapting to environmental and regulatory changes while contributing to the economic and cultural fabric of coastal communities. Sacrifices and challenges on the ocean are simply part of the life of a commercial fisherman. We accept the unpredictable nature of the sea, long hours and tough conditions as part of the job. But today, the work of commercial fishing can’t be confined to the ocean alone. The issues facing the industry now stretch far beyond the water, threatening the livelihoods of commercial fishing families and the communities that rely on them. These are ba...

The Decision to Abandon Vessel

The decision to abandon your vessel is one of the most critical decisions you may have to make in your life. It’s also one of the hardest decisions to make, since we have an emotional and financial attachment to our vessels. It’s our livelihood, and we are responsible for crewmembers’ lives. In an emergency, the brain tends to be flooded with often conflicting emotions—‘this can’t be happening to me’, fear, guilt, shame and a flood of stress hormones, which make it hard to make decisions quickly. In 1989, 1,200 miles from shore west of Coast Rica, the f/v Butler was attacked by pilot whales that breached the 38-foot vessel’s hull and caused it to sink. ‘Bill’ made numerous trips into the vessel as it was sinking to gather more tools and supplies for the now inflated life raft. ‘Simon...