Facing a pandemic, status quo at the Provincetown pier – for now
Timing is everything, the old adage goes, and in this case it was bad. In March, with COVID-19 upending businesses and knocking out markets for fishermen, the Provincetown Public Pier Corporation (PPPC), which manages the town’s wharf, sent out a notice: fees were going to change. Not only that, but the changes – which almost everyone took to mean hikes – were going to be discussed virtually...
From that other Great Depression, a writer found fishing inspiration
Only the Great Depression of the 1930s rivals this moment for damage done to our livelihoods, our sense of security, our communities. During the darkest times of that Depression, 1934, a man moved to Cape Cod with his wife and small daughter. At 31 years old he had already been a young reporter for the Kansas City Star, then lived in New York City for 10 years trying to get paid for writing magazine articles, kids’ books, you name it...
PHOTO GALLERY: Delicious dockside deliveries
If anyone knows how to deal with drastically changes circumstances, and often not for the better, it’s commercial fishermen. And, to be sure, the current moment we are in is exponentially more difficult than comparable tight spots, but fishermen have done their best to create pandemic positives. Many are still working and the following photo gallery captures several slices of life on the waterfront...
We are still here, fishing and working
The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, then called the Hook Fishermen’s Association, formed in 1991 at a crisis moment. A group of independent, forward-thinking fishermen created a united front to make sure major regulatory changes hitting the industry wouldn’t destroy the historic, small-boat fleet on Cape Cod. We are in another pivotal moment...
Fisherman Al Youngren: A personal history
In Al Youngren’s small kitchen there is a big nautical chart, covering most of a wall, nicely framed and in perfect view of anyone seated at the kitchen table. Youngren, barrel-chested and slim at 82, says it’s from 1985 or so. Still useable. “It’s been up there for 30 years,” he says, in a voice that is all old Cape Cod seaman, rarely heard anymore...
Ocean portal could be boon to fishermen
After looking at the Northeast Ocean Data Portal, a major energy company wanted to propose a wind farm in the Gulf of Maine in an area where they saw no documented fishing activity. The Portal pulls together huge amounts of information on every conceivable ocean use, from cultural resources to marine transportation to fishing activity. The fishing data is robust and includes information from dockside reports and vessel tracking systems...
The ABCs of fishing
Nick Sanchez had just hopped out of the pool at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he had spent several hours getting in and out of a survival suit and enclosed raft as fast as possible, participating in a number of safety drills. Now in his 30s, Sanchez had been a lifeguard in Florida, bounced around other places, but was now following his wife’s dream and had landed on Cape Cod...
When Louie Rivers and Miss Sandy fished 250 days a year
Louie Rivers was among the finest men I’ve known, and the times we spent aboard the Miss Sandy remain among my best memories of being on the water. Our days began before the sun, walking the dark streets of Provincetown to the pier. This was the 1980s, when the town was wilder than it is now. Plenty of young men were ending their adventures just as we were starting ours, lounging on a bench in front of town hall that came to be called “the meat rack...
PHOTO GALLERY: Crew training revealed
We were able to hold our first fishermen’s training program earlier this month. The images in this gallery give a sense of the breadth of training involved – from classroom work on gear to safety drills to boat visits. And there is a lot not pictured as well, discussions about management, insight into various scientific studies and research, navigational training, even knot-tying lessons...
Adding one more big element to our uncertainty
Uncertainty has always been a silent, unwelcome partner to a fisherman. Wild weather, the mysterious movements and actions of fish, natural patterns beyond anyone’s control, balky equipment, shifting regulations, big price swings in the market, even climate change – I could go on. And now comes another huge uncertainty, how a virus we call corona and the illness it brings, Covid-19, will change this world and our small part of it...
