Daily Archives: April 13, 2025
New gear could keep California crab fishermen on the water longer, and whales safe
After years of a shortened crab fishing season aimed at preventing whale entanglements off the West Coast, California crabbers are experimenting with a new fishing method that allows them to stay on the water longer while keeping the marine mammals safe. The state has been running a pilot program since 2023 to try out so-called pop-up gear to protect whales while finding a solution to fishermen’s woes and is expected to fully authorize the gear for spring Dungeness crab fishing in 2026. The gear, which uses a remote device to pull up lines laid horizontally across the sea floor, also is being tried on lobster in Maine, black sea bass in Georgia and fisheries in Australia and Canada. “Unfortunately, it has been six years we’ve been delayed or closed early for whales,” said Brand Little, a San Francisco Dungeness crab fisherman who is among those participating in the pilot. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:59
Classic boat review: Superb-Us DH 99
Launched in 1964, and owned by the same family since 1968, this South West crabbing stalwart, the Superb-Us DH 99, belies her six decades. Built by Mashfords of Cremyll near Plymouth in 1964 for Browse Brothers of Paignton as the Superb DH 58, this 45ft vessel is the traditional larch on oak and has a Gardner 6LXB engine. There were four Browse brothers, the sons of Ernest Browse – Maurice, Arthur, Stanley and Dennis – but it was Maurice and Stanley who created the well- known Paignton company Browse Brothers in the late 1940s. Dennis had been killed in the war, and Arthur went off to Poole to start his own lobster business. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:28
Massachusetts lobsterman says he’s under attack, rattling Cape Cod community: ‘Dictatorship!’
A lifelong Cape Cod lobsterman is fighting for his livelihood as a local zoning board looks to put an end to his family’s business that has operated out of his home for nearly 70 years, a battle that residents say further jeopardizes the town’s identity. Jon Tolley has only ever known a life of catching lobsters out of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis and then selling the fresh crustaceans from his home in West Yarmouth. The 66-year-old helped his father run the business on the same Iroquois Boulevard property as a youngster before he took over operations in 1975. As residents learned about Tolley’s fight, they became outraged. Despite an outpouring of community support since last fall, the Zoning Board of Appeals is remaining firm with its stance that the lobsterman can no longer sell his beloved product from his property. The board rejected Tolley’s second appeal on Thursday,,, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:48
“A MAN IS ONLY AS GOOD AS HIS WORD” By Jim Lovgren
When Donald Trump ran for election in 2024, to recapture the Presidency that he lost in the 2020 elections, many people voted for him because he promised to stop offshore wind projects on day one. We are still waiting. Granted, he promised to also end the Ukraine war on day one, but people are still dying there every day. Politicians say many things when they are running for office, and voters must distinguish between reality and fantasy regarding a politician’s promises. In the case of the Ukraine war, I think everybody took Donald’s “end the Ukraine war on day one”, with a grain of salt, as this war is complex in its causes, participants, and the interwoven economic and international politics’ driving it. We can forgive him for his campaign bluster. When it comes to his promise to end offshore wind on day one, well that’s another story. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:55
