On Monday, January 22nd, 2023, at about 11 AM, calls flooded 911 dispatchers with reports of a blaze at the Ilwaco Landing Cannery. The Ilwaco Fire Department, headed by Fire Chief Jeff Archer, promptly responded to the distress calls. The fire originated on the Ilwaco Landing wharf, situated over Baker…
After a two-year closure due to insufficient stock levels for fishing, the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery in Alaska is scheduled to reopen at noon on October 15, 2023. The established quota for this reopening is 2.15 million pounds, slightly less than the 2.6 million pounds set in 2020.…
Officials in Alaska have cancelled the autumn Bristol Bay red king crab harvest as well as the winter snow crab harvest. After a summer population survey showed dismal stocks, the difficult decision to cancel was announced by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Biologists and senior agency officials alike…
People all over the world have a longstanding tradition of feasting on seafood during winter holidays. Crab, salmon, lobster, oysters, shrimp, cod, carp, and lutefisk all have a place at the holiday table. It is important to remember that a courageous and hardworking man or woman braved the hazardous waters…
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that it will formally investigate the sinking of the F/V MARY B II, which capsized near Newport, Oregon along the Yaquina Bay bar on January 8th. Three men died as the result of the sinking of the 42-foot vessel. It was reported that prior…
It is with great sadness that we report the death of three crew members from the MARY B II. The vessel was returning from crabbing late in the evening on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that the 42-foot vessel overturned as it crossed Yaquina Bay Bar…
Watchstanders received a call on Monday, August 6th from the 116-foot F/V PATRICIA LEE reporting that a crewmember had been struck in the head by a crab pot. The Coast Guard duty flight surgeon recommended a medevac. However, due to the distant location of the vessel, two Air Station Kodiak…
The North Coast commercial crab season is off to an arduous start, as the U.S. Coast Guard oversaw two search-and-rescue missions this weekend. The search for one missing crabber who fell overboard has sadly been suspended. Shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, February 4th, two crew members who were tending…
The overall safety of the commercial fishing industry is becoming safer every year. Those are the findings in a report issued by NIOSH in July of 2017. However, experts agree that an area that needs improvement concerns outdated stability reports. The US Coast Guard requires all fishing and crabbing vessels…
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research Vessel has just located the wreck of the missing F/V DESTINATION that sank in the Bering Sea this past February. The vessel and its six crew members were tragically lost in the capsize. On the cold morning of Saturday, February 11, 2017, crew…