Tag Archives: Scallop fisherman

Blood pressure surging, waves swelling, Coast Guard airlifts F/V Captain John fisherman

A commercial scallop fisherman facing a medical emergency was safely airlifted from a vessel by the U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday evening. The rescue was made even more daring by the fact that the wind was blowing 35 knots and the waves were seven to 12 feet high, according to statements the boat’s crew made to the Press. The fisherman, Chris Vanbergen, 46 of Lacey, told the Asbury Park Press on Friday that he was feeling better a couple days after the ordeal. He was a few days into a 10-day scallop trip on board the F/V Captain John, which docks at Viking Village here, when he began to fill chest pain and his blood pressure rise. >click to read< 08:01

New York’s offshore wind plan faces commercial fishing opposition – $1 billion boat-to-plate industry at stake

The plan to turn ocean wind into energy calls for anchoring 15 wind turbines, each one a little taller than the Washington Monument, into the sea floor more than 30 miles off the coast of Montauk, Long Island.,,, And that’s right smack in the middle of where Chris Scola makes his living. Several days a week, Scola motors his rusting trawler – the Rock-n-Roll III — into the waters off Montauk’s coast, drops a dredging net onto the ocean floor and scoops up hundreds of pounds of scallops. Once those cables go in, Scola fears his nets will get entangled, making dredging so difficult he’ll need to find a place to fish further offshore with a larger boat, sending himself deeper into debt. >click to read<08:34

THREATENED – Scallop fishing off the coast of Long Island

Scallop fisherman Chris Scola pilots his 39-foot dredging boat out of the port at Montauk, steaming 10 miles out to sea. The bearded 44-year-old captain says if Gov. Andrew Cuomo achieves his dream of creating 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, fishermen will have to steer clear of any giant turbines placed on top of their rich scallop beds. Scallopers see offshore wind development as a threat to their livelihoods and are suing the federal government to protect their fishery, potentially throwing a wrench in Cuomo’s master plan. 14 photos >click to read<16:56