Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Spring break - 2023


 















Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Lobstermen Unhappy with Value Drop and New Catch Limits

Haddock landed in a dory - Winslow Homer
Rockland Fishing Pier



Like other people in business lobstermen detest government regulation, bemoan every regulation, and every increase in costs.  But good catches yield fewer comments. Statewide the 
But the catch in our town - Friendship, Maine has been the lowest in value since 2013.  Three of the top four fishing harbors are in our county - Knox. The State's  largest landings are in Stoningtonington. with 30.4 million pounds of lobster, which wholesaled for $123.7 million - about $4/lb. at the wharf.
The Knox County towns are led by Friendship.  the total haul for Knox was 26 million pounds for a price of $ 4.22/ l. That was the lowest value catch since 2013.
Statewide the haul was worth 97.9 million lbs. which yielded $388.4 million. The drop in value is sharp.  Statewide the 2021 catch of 1110 million lbs. which yielded a dock price of $742 million in 2021.
And then there are the new catch limits and regulations.



Sunday, March 5, 2023

This Ohio Island Has a Problem: There’s No Ice - The New York Times




Climate change denialism has gone underground.  At our house in mid-coast Maine the once familiar two foot thick ice shelves in the river behind us haven't been seen for a few years.  The ice fishing huts for the smelt fishing season in February haven't been on the Creek in Thomaston for years.
And the winter season for these inhabited islands in Lake Erie has been transformed. - GWC
This Ohio Island Has a Problem: There’s No Ice - The New York Times

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — The trouble with the island right now is that it is surrounded by water.

In the summer, the water is the selling point. The village of Put-in-Bay supplies all the daiquiri-serving bars of a Key West getaway but lies a mere 20-minute ferry ride from a port on Lake Erie, about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland. Tens of thousands of vacationers pour in for a party that goes on for months.

But when the cold sets in and the ferries stop running, the few hundred people who live here year round watch intently for signs that the blue all around them is turning white. This, they insist, is the real high season: ice fishing time.

When it begins, usually at some point in January or February, dozens of ice shanties start sprouting on the glorious pavement of a frozen Lake Erie.

There are bonfires and cookouts, banquets and impromptu parties; people sail ice boats, go ice skating and drive snowmobiles across the ice to visit friends on neighboring islands.

The groups of ice fishermen who fly in to South Bass Island, where Put-in-Bay sits, bring a nice jolt of off-season cash, but that is just a side benefit. For most who live on the island year round and put up with the tourist season as an economic necessity, ice fishing is what makes it all worth it.

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