Whale Rescued in Cape Cod Bay a Decade Ago Spotted with Calf

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

                                                        COURTESY OF NOAA FISHERIES

Endangered North Atlantic right whales

PROVINCETOWN – A right whale rescued in Cape Cod Bay a decade ago was recently spotted with a newborn calf in the waters off of North Carolina and Florida, a good sign for the critically-endangered marine animal. 

The Center for Coastal Studies said that the calf was one of the first two right whales of the 2021 season, and the mother is right whale #4040, Chiminea. 

Chiminea was found entangled in Cape Cod Bay by the Center’s aerial survey team in April 2011, in the waters west of Truro. 

The Marine Animal Entanglement Response team cut the entangled then-juvenile whale free of a long line caught in the mouth, after which she swam away free. 

Ten years later, the mother and her newborn calf are two of about 400 North Atlantic right whales; a species with fewer than 100 breeding females left, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. 

CCS said that it remains ready to respond at a moment’s notice to protect the health and well-being of whales and other marine life. Source; Cape Cod Times  Grady Culhane 

Maine, 59th Annual Schoodic Lake Ice Fishing Derby, Feb. 13th and 14th, 2021

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

P.S. Bring your drill extenters !      Freddy is going to drill my holes for me. ( Old Man) 

Maine, 16th Annual Long Lakes St. Agatha's Ice Fishing Derby Jan. 30th & 31st, 2021

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

Just a little history to get your blood pumping. Go Fish !!!!!!!

 

Winter begins with your Snow Shoes

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photo Wayne G. Barber Library

 

For some of us in New England, winter is a time to bundle up, stay inside by the fire or head for warmer climates. But it’s really a wonderful time to get outdoors for daytime adventures like Ice Fishing, looking for fresh tracks, cross country sking or snow shoeing and nighttime stargazing.
Winter actually starts 5:02 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday. Welcome to the Winter Solstice when throughout the Northern Hemisphere we experience the shortest amount of sunlight and the longest darkness of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Summer Solstice and the longest day.

The word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” Winter Solstice is when the Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun and the sun’s daily position in the sky is the lowest. From here on out the days will get longer and the sun higher in the sky. The slow countdown to spring has begun.

This solstice is extraordinarily special. For the first time in 400 years it coincides with what astronomers call the Great Conjunction, when Jupiter and Saturn get as close as possible in our night sky. The Great Conjunction happens every 20 years, but Monday’s Great Conjunction is even greater than most. Not only is it on the solstice — a special event in its own right — but these two planets have not been this close in almost 400 years. Even in 1623, the year these giant planets last got this close, most people could not see the conjunction. It was actually last visible in 1226. Here’s hoping for a clear night. You’ll want to turn off Christmas lights and revel in our wonderful night sky for at least a few minutes – you will not see a Great Conjunction this close again until 2080, and that one won’t be on the Winter Solstice.  Be safe out there in the New England playground. Source; Bill Reid The Bulletin

Rhode Island: DEM ANNOUNCES NEW WEBSITE FEATURE PROVIDING ACCESS TO WEEKLY RHODE ISLAND SEAFOOD LANDINGS

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative, chaired by Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Janet Coit, announces the availability of a new feature on the SeafoodRI.com website that provides weekly updates of all seafood landings in Rhode Island.  This is the first time this information is being provided to consumers in a readily accessible, online format.

 

“We’re excited to offer this new tool on the SeafoodRI.com website so that Rhode Islanders can more easily find what’s fresh and available, and where they can find it,” said Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Janet Coit. “There is a strong demand for local seafood and we’re fortunate that our commercial harvesters are able to meet that demand by harvesting and landing wide varieties and large quantities of fresh seafood every day at our ports. Rhode Islanders can take pride in knowing that when they purchase fresh local fish, shellfish, lobsters and crabs, they are not only getting delicious seafood, but also helping to keep a vital part of our economy – our commercial fishing and seafood industry – up and running.”

 

The SeafoodRI.com website was established several years ago by the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative.  The website provides consumers with information on Rhode Island seafood including what’s available, where it can be purchased, how it’s harvested, and how to cook and enjoy it. Until recently, information on the availability of RI seafood was provided via an annual harvest calendar, which projected the likely availability of top local species on a seasonal basis over the course of a given year.  It provided general guidance, but was not linked to real-time landings data.

 

Now, under the “For Consumers” tab on the SeafoodRI.com website, DEM is providing cumulative weekly landings data for each species landed in Rhode Island.  The information is accessible via the “About RI Seafood” sub-tab.  The feature enables consumers to see the wide variety and amounts of fresh seafood currently being landed in Rhode Island.  With this insight, consumers can then click on the companion tab, “Buy RI Seafood,” to access listings of local seafood retailers including markets and restaurants, as well as harvesters selling directly off their boats.  Consumers can then contact local retailers to see if their favorite local seafood, just landed in the state by Rhode Island fishermen, or just harvested from Rhode Island waters by local shellfish farmers, is available to purchase.  Not all Rhode Island seafood retailers sell all Rhode Island seafood products, but as local consumer awareness and demand increase, so too is local availability.

For example, the “About RI Seafood” tab on the SeafoodRI.com website reveals that over this past week, Rhode Island fishermen landed a total of 25 species, including:

●Over 100,000 quahogs

●Over 100,000 pounds of squid and skates

●Over 50,000 pounds each of scup and silver hake

●Over 25,000 pounds of lobster and butterfish

●Over 10,000 pounds each of monkfish, black sea bass, summer flounder (fluke), Jonah crab and whelk (conch)

● Over 5,000 pounds of red/white hake and bluefin tuna

● Up to 5,000 pounds each of bluefish, bonito, cod, rock crab, winter flounder, conger eel, kingfish, weakfish, tautog, cunner and John dory

 

Kate Masury, program director of Eating with the Ecosystem, partnered with DEM and the RI Seafood Marketing Collaborative to help develop the new RI seafood weekly landings webpage.  “I am thrilled to see this exciting new initiative come to fruition,” said Masury.  “Living in Rhode Island, we are incredibly lucky to live so close to very productive marine ecosystems, which produce a diversity of local seafood species and provide a healthy food source for local consumers, while supporting many commercial fisheries and businesses.  Yet, despite this abundance of seafood produced in our local waters, as consumers, we typically eat very few local species.  Our markets, menus and plates generally do not reflect the diversity of seafood produced by our local ecosystems and caught in our local fisheries.  To keep up with traditional demand for our favorite species, such as shrimp, salmon, and tuna, we actually import more than 90% of the seafood we eat and then we export around 2/3rds of the seafood caught in our local waters.  Fortunately, that dynamic is changing, as awareness increases regarding the availability of fresh local seafood, and local demand shifts from imported seafood to the delicious array of seafood products landed locally. I’m excited that the new weekly landings webpage will be a new tool that consumers can use to learn more about their local seafood and seek these species out in the marketplace.”

 

The new weekly landings webpage adds to an ever-growing series of initiatives undertaken by DEM, the RI Seafood Marketing Collaborative and partners throughout the industry to promote and market fresh RI seafood.  To help foster the continued viability of the RI commercial seafood industry during the COVID-19 crisis, in April DEM enacted a new Direct Sale Dealer License.  It authorizes commercial fishermen in Rhode Island to sell certain species of finfish, and to sell and transport for sale live lobsters and crabs, directly to consumers and licensed seafood retailers from the vessel on which they were harvested.  In August, several partners, led by the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, launched a new smartphone app, FishLine, that connects consumers with commercial fishermen who are selling direct.  The app will soon be expanded to serve as a real-time central marketplace for all fresh RI seafood being sold by retailers and restaurants, as well as fishermen, throughout Rhode Island, complementing the listings provided on SeafoodRI.com.Source; RI DEM Media Press Release and Photos

Maine Lobster harvest gets a Worldwide Boost

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

New trade deal brings hope for Maine lobstermen

After a rough year for Maine's lobster industry, there is some hope on the horizon.

BRUSSELS, Brussels —

It has been a rough year for the Maine lobster industry, but Thanksgiving provided some very welcomed news.

The European Union parliament on Thursday approved a mini trade deal with the United States, which includes the elimination of customs duties on U.S. lobster imports. The passage with 638 votes for, 45 against and 11 abstentions was the last major political step for the deal to come into effect.

As a result, the 27-nation EU will drop its 8% tariff on U.S. lobsters for the next five years and work to make the move permanent.

U.S. lobster imports to the EU came to about $111 million in 2017 before falling off in the face of rising tensions between the trading partners, and an EU trade agreement with Canada that allowed its lobsters to enter the bloc tariff-free.

Because of it, said EU legislator Bernd Lange, “we have seen a drop in demand by 50% in Maine, which is obviously quite serious. So now we are making an offer to allow American lobster to come tariff-free into the EU.”

For its part, the U.S. agreed to cut in half tariffs on EU imports worth about $160 million a year, including some prepared meals, crystal glassware and cigarette lighters. The tariff cuts will be retroactive to Aug. 1.

A beautiful section of Maine, the Pine Tree State

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber and Photos by Wayne G. Barber & Daughter Kimberly Barber Spink

For 11 years , 1986 thru 1997 of my full time working career I had to travel to Maine for our 13 Goodyear Service Centers for counterman teaching and suppling their auto and light truck parts and cataloging,( Computers) plus a few trips to see PC Friars and the Black Bears in Hockey East battles with a good friend Roger Quimond and another trip to see my friend, President Bush heading out to catch a few bluefish from their family residence. I fished the mighty river near Bangor for my chance at a salmon and when one climbed by me I realized very quickly from bringing my lightweight Rhode Island fly rod set-up it would surely be snapped in two. Kodak moment etched in my mind. I always had a large truck with the new parts to fill the shelves and to remove to our warehouse slower moving items and new returns and cores from rebuilt items. Time wise I always got the closest room to each store and not sight seeing on the clock.

A few years ago our daughter,( first born) Kimberly and her husband Chucky Spink moved up tp Milo, Maine and two of their children soon followed. Brother in law Freddy Spink had already called Maine his home for good a few years earlier. The trip from the Northeast Quiet Corner is a little over 300 miles and we found a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Dover-Foxcroft that Becky Seltzer had used for a earlier trip to Maine to see her sister and nephew. Freedomhousebandb.com at 1-207-564-8851 Elizabeth and Mike Loomis really make you feel like part of their family with attention to all the details of your visit to a town at the foothills of the Longfellow Range. The quaint main streets and rivers and even a old movie house with one feature or a small  retail shop for browsing or just kicking back a little. I took alot of photos and Kimberly loves to use her new style phone for photos too. We get a guided tour each time we get a chance to visit and it saves alot of time and miles with family that know what you would want to take in,

in your window of daylight. Wood is still the main economic engine here with tourism a very close second. Elaine's Bakery & Cafe is also 5 star. This bridge crosses over the Sebec River and even had a float plane waiting to take off. My eye caught the dilapidated remains of a old spool factory along the banks

Our guided truck ride took us to Guilford and the famous "Low's Covered Bridge" and  hotel across the street and a little farther up the highway we found the Guilford House, bed and breakfast on our way up to the grand daddy of them all, (Moosehead Lake" shopping, minerals, lunch and then the long ride up to Roach River and the First of seven lakes Kimberly sent us some nice photos from the Katahdin Iron Works in Monson, one of the first " or last" towns on the Appalachian Trail.