Alex Brown's lucky life
Alex Brown stepped out of his house in Provincetown’s West End, passed by homemade long rakes, tongs and shellfish culling boards to settle into a chair kitty corner to a rocker made of lobster pots, which he also makes. He held the book “Men’s Lives: The Surfmen and Baymen of the South Fork,” which details the disappearing way of life of Long Island fishermen...
Cooperative research will help fishermen, seals
In Sweden, fishermen, regulators, and environmental organizations work with government funding dedicated to developing fishing gear that is safe for seals. In the United States, that doesn’t happen. There is a section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that provides fishermen with opportunity to deter seals, but to avoid penalties they are supposed to abide by a list of recommendations produced by National Marine Fisheries Service...
Hookers Ball 20th brings laughter, renewed support
John Pappalardo looked out at a sea of smiling people who had just finished a traditional Cape Cod clambake, put together by Backside Bakes, under a white tent beside the historic Captain Harding House in Chatham, home of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. Quite a difference from when the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser got started 20 years ago in a 10-by-10 tent pitched in a private yard, with lobster rolls and a couple of cases of beer...
History says don’t call it ‘mayonnaise,’ use ‘custard’
“Black mayonnaise” is an evocative phrase used around harbors to describe a muck that builds in shallow waters, a thick carpet of ooze that smothers life and creates dead bottom where we’d all rather see sand, eel grass, and creatures with shells and little fins. But a good look at the history and meaning of the term suggests we’re not using it as we should...
PHOTO GALLERY: Hookers Ball, Letting the Good Tides Roll
Hookers Ball has always been about celebrating the fishing industry and the community that supports it. Although the event has looked a little different the past two years, the celebratory atmosphere and acknowledgement of the value of commercial fishing hasn’t changed. The pandemic prompted a smaller event this year, hopefully next year we will be back under the big white tent at the VFW...
A big, broad idea to get past “silos”
Bear with me – forgive me might be the better way to put it – as I invoke yet one more acronym that has become increasingly important as we try to work our way through the maze known as United States fisheries management, keep our fleet on the water, and respond to big changes like global warming: EBFM. Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management...
Peter Cole looks back on fifty years in the industry
Peter Cole was sitting in his small bungalow in Chatham, birds inches away at his feeders. “When I was fishing I never thought much about birds. Ten years ago I started caring about them. As we head toward beneath the ground our spirits follow the birds,” he mused. Then the phone rang, and Cole set up a rendezvous in Taunton to pick up bait the next morning, real early, to miss the traffic coming back...
Telltale signs of the spring survey
A 44-foot wide bottom trawl net went into the water time and again, bringing up a narrow slice of ocean life in hundreds of spots across the North Atlantic, much as it has done for close to 60 years. Jon Hare, science and research director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, went up to the bow of the research vessel Henry B. Bigelow and saw nothing but vast ocean and an enormous blood-red moon...
New recipe book showcases local fish, fishermen and chefs
Jesse Rose had been catching monkfish for years, but none of his friends ate it. He couldn’t even get his father to give it a try. “I’ve been pushing free monkfish, handing it out,” said Rose, captain of F/V Midnight Our. It took the accomplished captain a little while, but now his father loves monkfish. He just needed the right recipe...
Old school fishermen immortalized in snapshots
An old fisherman stands by the trap dock in Stage Harbor, looking to the heavens, hat in one hand, mooring chain in the other. “He was Romanian, had been a priest and was in his 90s,” said Jamie Bassett looking at the black-and-white image of a bearded man, Martin, in oilskins. “He collected cans and went shellfishing. “The chains hearkened to a hard life...
PHOTO GALLERY: Nelson Brace’s fishing community
Nelson Brace loved photography and fishing boats. He also loved creating a community. He did that in his volunteer work and by starting a Facebook page, Commercial Fishing Boats of New England, which collected and celebrated photos of commercial fishing boats. The images were beautiful, and the camaraderie and swapping of fishy knowledge added patina...
Expanding the idea of community responsibility
We’re kicking off a new initiative here at the Alliance, and at first glance the focus might surprise you but the longer you ponder, the more sense it makes: We are going to offer as much help as we can to improve dredging for the harbors and ports in our communities. Here’s why:
