Mike Abdow’s way with words, and ways on the water
Mike Abdow was born in Worcester in March, 1954. That summer he was in Provincetown in a converted milk truck at the edge of the sea. “We lived on the beach in P-town. You were allowed to do that then,” he said. Abdow spent summers, weekends during school, fishing with his grandfather, who he is named after, and when you ask where he grew up he often says Race Point...
Dan McKiernan talks COVID, whales and ports with industry
Last year, when the pandemic sent fishery revenues crashing and had the industry on the rocks, Dan McKiernan, then acting director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, got a call from John Pappalardo. “We have a big problem and we have got to do something about it,” Pappalardo, the chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, told McKiernan...
Building broader, institutional support for the local seafood movement
February is heart health month and well-known sustainable fish foodie and Chef Barton Seaver has a friend who is a doctor and dean of the Tufts School of Nutrition. He passed along three top wellness tips: “Wear your seatbelt, don’t smoke, eat more seafood.” Seaver repeated that advice to a virtual crowd gathered for the “Farm to Institution of New England Seafood Summit” earlier this month...
Remembering the Doris B., and Clarence ‘Junior’ Burgess
Tom Leach, who served as the Harwich Harbormaster for close to 40 years, has seen a lot of fishing vessels. Looking through old photos the other day he came across the Doris B. being loaded with bait at Saquatucket in 1972, a few years after the harbor was built and a year before he got there. Curious about the blue boat, he posted a request for info on Commercial Boats of New England, a Facebook page, and quickly received close to 60 comments...
PHOTO GALLERY: Fresh fish still coming in during freezing weather
We have gotten a lot of questions lately about whether fishermen fish in the winter. Absolutely they do. If the weather conditions are alright, which means not too windy (snow and bitter cold are no barrier) they’ll go. There is beauty on Cape, and off the shores of the Cape, at every given moment, but many of us are hunkered down and don’t get to experience it...
The reality of “ropeless”
“Ropeless” fishing is the hot new rallying cry when it comes to efforts to save the North Atlantic Right Whale from extinction. The idea is to get rid of all vertical lines and buoys used to mark fishing gear like lobster pots, and replace them with remote, wireless, electronic equipment that signals underwater locations and releases a pop-up tag on command so gear can get retrieved...
Small Boats. Big Ideas. January. 2021
Read our latest issue from January 2021! Read about Andy Baler's varied life as a fish buyer and restaurateur, victory for the Young Fishermen's Development Act, a photo gallery of science and fishing, a salty tale of fishermen's credit and more!
Diversification is key for Andy Baler, but it's always fishy
Andy Baler opened up his second Bluefins Sushi and Sake Bar in Falmouth a year ago in March. Three days later, Governor Baker shut much of the state down, and because the restaurant was new and without a track record, Baler didn’t qualify for COVID assistance. Something similar has happened again this year. “It’s a brutal pandemic,” he said...
From the Fishermen’s Alliance to NOAA, staying engaged in fishery science and management
Dr. George Maynard, knowing fishermen are always pressed for time, often found them at odd hours and out-of-the-way spots. “Going above and beyond what was required or expected was pretty common for George,” said Melissa Sanderson, chief operating officer. “He was willing to do whatever it took to help the fleet.” That included initiatives like creating clever dissection videos so fishermen could see what was required to gather scientific samples at sea, without wasting time training on land, as well as spending hour after hour crunching data to save fishermen time on deck...
The Young Fishermen’s Development Act makes it into law
Three years ago, when Sam Linnell was 22, he came in from monkfishing with his dad just after midnight, and a few hours later was on the way to the airport for an early morning flight to Washington, D.C. Linnell, and his dad, Tim, were two of more than 50 fishermen, many from the Cape, who took time off to ask legislators to support the Young Fishermen’s Development Act, the first federal program proposed to help train, educate, and assist the next generation of commercial fishermen...
An old-school tale of fishermen's credit
Commercial fishermen often stop by to share their thoughts on everything from policy to prices, bureaucracy to boats, what’s working and what isn’t. We value the knowledge and the connection. During COVID the “stopping by” part isn’t happening much, but there’s still sharing going on. For example, retired Captain Mark Simonitsch recently shared some advice wrapped in a tale, sent as a letter to CEO John Pappalardo...
PHOTO GALLERY: The Science of Fishermen
The Fishermen’s Alliance values science, believing it essential to making good management decisions that protect fish and fishermen. But not all science is created equal; we believe that cooperative research involving scientists and fishermen, who know the ocean best, is the best. We have known the value of fisheries research since our beginning, 30 years ago,and became involved it not long after, so we can’t share all our work in this photo gallery, but we can celebrate a few projects...
