PHOTO GALLERY: Anatomy of a haulout
Some people do spring cleaning, fishermen tend to do a haulout in the winter when they are a bit less busy.
From the Pacific, a great case study in recovery
The year was 2000. The fisheries for the entire West Coast of the United States was declared a federal disaster. More than 90 species were in the plan and eight were in big trouble. Some of the stocks sound familiar to us, like sole or whiting or ling cod. But a lot of them were fish we don’t see; rockfish – canary, darkblotched, widow -- Pacific Ocean perch...
The lament of a Bourne shellfisherman
Rob Curtis is proud to be a shellfisherman and can’t imagine doing anything else, but when he and some fellow Bourne comrades see commercial guys from Falmouth selling an abundant catch, they cringe. “We are almost embarrassed to go into the fish market when there are other guys there,” Curtis said.
Getting old gear out of the water, and out of our waste stream too
This winter, when he’s not fishing, Tom Smith will spend time in his backyard replacing some of the webbing in his nets. The nets he uses to catch bluefish are 500 yards long, and he switches out a section of them every year. “I actually enjoy it. It’s like winter therapy,” said Smith, of Orleans. Later this winter, or maybe this spring when Smith is back on the water feeling the bite of the wind, he can take satisfaction thinking about someone being cozy and warm on account of electricity generated from his old nets...
Career fair reminds cadets about a non-traditional path to the sea
Mario Stark spends his summers helping run his uncle’s boat, the Hindsight, out of Rock Harbor in Orleans. But now he is back at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and when he saw a booth the Fishermen’s Alliance had set up at the Academy’s bi-annual career fair he immediately walked over.
Superstitions aren’t about Halloween, but it’s a fun time to remember them
Lobsterman Rob Martin was out with a crewman years ago when the fellow tried to gaff a sea gull that landed on the boat. Martin told him to cut it out. Not only was it illegal, it was bad luck. Moments later, the stern man was gone.
Alumni revisited: Catching up with Peter
A partnership between the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and the Pew Charitable Trusts has been a through line for Peter Baker’s career. Son of a commercial fisherman, Baker was raised in Portland, Oregon but moved east to work in politics. After stints with Senator Bernie Sanders in Vermont and the Sierra Club in North Carolina, Baker accepted a fisheries campaign position at the Alliance in March, 2002...
Helping the next generation jump onboard
There was a time when schools like the excellent Cape Cod Vocational Tech in Harwich had courses for aspiring fishermen, much as they do for aspiring builders, plumbers, and electricians. They taught about boats and gear, nets and line, safety and navigation. The Tech even had its own boat to bring students onboard for hands-on work.
The Vineyard’s fisher journalist, poet, and folksinger pulls the pieces together
Mark Alan Lovewell drove his silver pickup past the Edgartown Yacht Club, where swordfish used to land, past the marina at Oak Bluffs, which used to be stuffed with commercial fishing vessels, past a seasonal fish market, and on toward Menemsha, a port that has become quieter in recent years. On the way he drove by Morning Glory Farm, successful in large part because of independence and family tradition...
Gulf Stream Orphans in Pleasant Bay
When Owen Nichols and Charlie Beggs set out to study lobster settlement in Pleasant Bay, in 2014, both had already been working on the water for a long time so weren’t easily surprised. But that day they were – twice. First, they found lots and lots of lobsters under a year old, as many or more than in some areas in Maine, where lobsters are supposed to be most fertile...
