Tag Archives: Long hours

One fish, two fish: The local commercial fishing industry faces daunting challenges despite high demand

It’s just after noon on an unseasonably warm Friday in early spring. Naples has had a string of cold days and now this hot one, but no one standing in line in front of Mike’s Bait House in East Naples seems to mind. The line extends from the street, where cars are parked nose-to-bumper. It snakes through the parking lot and winds beside a black extended-cab Chevy. In the back of the truck, two young men from Dilly’s Fish Co, owned by Tim “Dilly” Dillingham, lean over Grizzly coolers. “What’s the difference between a lane snapper and a red snapper?” a man in line calls out. “A red snapper’s going to be a little more firm,” one of the young men in the back of the truck answers. That’s Dominick Biagetti, Dillingham’s right-hand man. Biagetti serves as boat captain and crew, and he helps with offloading and delivery. He has a seascape tattooed on his leg, an underwater reef scene with a turtle and a moray eel. >click to read< 12:10

Long hours, no breaks, tough competition … he loves being a lobsterman

FV-Blue-Moon-DennyI got to wondering if many commercial fisherman are left in Newport. You rarely see them now that the waterfront has been taken over by yachts. But it turns out about 30 commercial boats are still holding on. They’re mostly lobsterman and they park at the end of Long Wharf on the way to Goat Island on a big concrete piece of real estate called the State Pier #9. I went down and found one – Denny Ingram, 57, who’s been lobstering for 25 years. It’s hard work, long hours, and you don’t get rich so I began by asking why he’s still at it. Read the rest here (photo Newport Lobster Shack) 10:24