Tag Archives: Lunenburg
High lobster prices push fishermen to take risk, the Captain of an all-female crew pushes for change
The F/V Nellie Row was making her return to Lunenburg, N.S., after a long night at sea, loaded with another haul of lobster, when captain Gail Atkinson lost sight of one of her crew members. When that happens, a fisherman’s mind instantly goes to dark places – out here, off the southern coast of Nova Scotia, a novice deckhand can easily be knocked off their feet, swept overboard and swallowed up by the endless black sea. Ms. Atkinson, skipper of Canada’s only all-female lobster crew, didn’t know her new employee had just gone up on top of the boat’s wheelhouse to get the docking lines ready. “I just freaked out and lost my mind,” she said. “On my boat, I need to know where everyone is at all times. I told her, ‘I’m 57 years old. You almost killed me right now.’” Commercial fishing has always been dangerous work,,, >click to read< 17:02
Coronavirus: Lunenburg lobster boat captain sells directly to consumers to stay afloat
It was shaping up to be one of Gail Atkinson’s best seasons ever, but then COVID-19 struck and the Lunenburg, N.S., lobster fisher had to get creative. Atkinson, who captains the Nellie Row, decided to keep her traps in the water even as prices plummeted. Now, she not only catches lobster, she also delivers it to customers in the Lunenburg area.,,, Atkinson is selling lobster for $8 a pound at the wharf and offering “contactless” delivery for customers near Lunenburg.,, Stephen Bond, co-chair of the Lobster Fishery Area 33 advisory committee, is taking the opposite approach. He applauds what Atkinson is doing, but said it’s not feasible for him given the size of his boat and crew. “There’s the select few, I’ll call them, that are able to follow Gail’s model or a smaller business model working with some of the local community, but it certainly doesn’t cover off the market that we’re missing,” >click to read< 19:55
Shored-up fisheries museum to emerge stronger
Windows were cracked, doors didn’t match up, floors sloped and ducks made a home out of the impromptu pond that formed on the roof after rain.,, The biggest problem was the building’s supports.,,It meant the museum had to move 34,000 of its 48,000 artifacts last year to be stored in a nearby school that had closed the previous year. Read more here 07:16
