Tag Archives: Crabbing
A day in the life of 18-year-old fisherman Mat Price
When it comes to a typical day’s crabbing, it’s the buzz of the alarm clock that quickens Mat’s pulse. “I wake up at around 6am, ready to get to John’s house for 6.30am. He lives about a minute and a half away from the boat, so I’ll jump in his van, and we’ll head down to the cove.” Cadgwith’s small New Holland tractor is in high demand by the beach-launched fleet. “The first job is to get the tractor – if it’s not already in use. We’ll then go to the cold room and load the rays and gurnards which we use for crab bait. Sometimes, if the boats are close together, we get the tractor right up to the side of the boat and can load all the bait and the other equipment up.” With everything loaded, it’s then a case of getting launched. “If someone at the cove hasn’t gone yet, they’ll push us out with the tractor. The tractor has a rubber roller on the front of it which is pushed up to the bow. The tractor then drives forward, pushing the vessel backwards out into the water until you’re floating. However, if nobody is there to push the boat out, then I’ll have to put my waders on…”Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:32
VA Advised to Take Controversial Winter Dredge Crab Season off the Table Until 2026
Earlier this summer, Virginia fishery managers voted to repeal a 16-year ban on winter dredging for blue crabs, opening the door to possibly allow watermen to dredge the Bay bottom, scooping semi-dormant crabs from their winter slumber. But a state advisory committee now recommends Virginia take a step back from that possibility. The committee’s new advice could put the brakes on those earlier moves to reopen the dredge fishery that’s been closed since 2008.Virginia Watermen’s Association President J. C. Hudgins spoke in favor of the dredge fishery. Hudgins says that if there were 20 or so boats working in the fishery with three men to a boat it would provide winter jobs for 50 to 60 men. “There is still a winter market for crab meat in local picking houses,” he says.” At the last meeting, we also talked about wanting a year-round crab fishery in Virginia with potting, dredging and other gear types.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:59
Commercial Fisherman Gainhart (Bud) Samuelson Junior, 77, of Petersburg has passed away
Bud was born on February 13, 1947, to Gainhart Samuelson, Senior, and Mildred (Massey) Samuelson. A lifelong resident of Petersburg, he grew up living with his mother and siblings on Hammer Slough. Summers were spent with his father at Portage Bay, where he loved fishing and hunting and grew determined to one day run a commercial fishing vessel of his own and to be a good provider for his family. After graduating from Petersburg High School in 1965, Bud landed a job on Andy Wikan’s boat, crabbing, longlining and seining aboard the wooden fishing vessel Pacific Sea. Before long, his dream future began to clarify around the captain’s lovely daughter, Audrey Wikan. Determined to impress, Bud’s fishing career accelerated until he was crabbing, seining, tendering and longlining throughout Southeast Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Bering Sea. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 20:23
How valuable, and volatile, crabbing can be along the Oregon Coast
On a calm morning last May, the three-person crew of the FV Misty dropped into the Pacific Ocean off of Port Orford, in Southern Oregon, to catch a small piece of a large fortune. It’s not easy money though, by any stretch. A day of pulling in hundreds of crab pots is relentless and fast-paced work, requiring razor-sharp choreography from a seasoned crew. Boat captain Aaron Ashdown can remember joining the family business when Dungeness crab was worth $2.50 per pound in starting price. “My dad told me, because a crab is about maybe two pounds, ‘There’s just little $5 bills all over the bottom of the ocean and all we got to do is go out there and pick them up.’” By the 2022 season, that value had risen to a record $5 starting price, unprecedented for Oregon. Interesting video, photos, >click to read< 11:06
How an Unlucky Texas Fisherman Stumbled Upon an Environmental Catastrophe
Five years before a pair of bullets tore through his gut and heart, Billy Joe Aplin reached over the silt-smeared water of the tidal flats with a boat hook to snare a small buoy bobbing near the grassy shoreline. As he pulled it toward his skiff, the rope gathered in soggy coils by his white rubber boots. Billy Joe was a bear of a man, six feet with broad shoulders, strong nose, square jaw, and jet-black hair. Their skiff drifted calmly at the mouth of the Guadalupe River in San Antonio Bay, their favorite spot to lay traps. His wife, Judy, lit a cigarette and took a long drag in the Texas heat. His ten-year-old daughter, Beth, was already perched on her culling stool, ready to sort the catch. Billy Joe Jr. and Cheryl Ann, only five and four, huddled close to their mom. Superstitious fishermen thought it was bad luck to bring a woman on a boat, but by 1975, Billy Joe had endured such a streak of bum luck that he couldn’t afford not to bring his family out with him: they were his deckhands. >click to read< 14:09
Corey Arnold’s best shot: a horse and a cat go fishing for crab
Everyone looks forward to Halloween. You get a bunch of crabbers in a bar and it gets pretty crazy. I’d bought this horse-head costume in advance and, as we were cruising in to Dutch Harbor, my friend Matthew and I were trying out costumes. I took some pictures of him wearing the mask, then my cat came walking by and Matthew grabbed her. Kitty was seven months old. The captain had cats on the boat and I had decided to get one myself. I had gone to the pound looking for one with a mellow temperament, because I knew that, what with all the pots banging around and storms at sea, I didn’t want a pet who would be scared and hiding all the time. Corey Arnold, >click to read< 19:48
Sam “Sammy” Lee Liverman, Jr. of Colington, October 28
Sam “Sammy” L. Liverman, Jr. has gone to be with the Lord. He transitioned peacefully from his earthly life in Greenville, NC Monday October 28, 2019. Sammy was born April 18, 1968- the son of Sam and Virginia Liverman, of Colington, NC. Sammy was a proud waterman- fishing, crabbing, and shrimping out of Colington nearly his whole life. In addition to commercial fishing, Sammy was employed with NC DOT for several years as a professional equipment operator.,, Sammy will be remembered by all who knew and loved him. >click to read< 15:32
Crabbing in Oregon brings Florence’s Novelli family together
Down the dock from ICM Restaurant in Historic Old Town Florence is a metal gate that leads down to the boats on the water. In a little blue boathouse on the left of the dock is Novelli’s Crab and Seafood, owned and run by Amber Novelli and her husband Kyle — the only active commercial crabbers and fishermen who live and work in Florence. It’s about 8:40 a.m. when Amber and Kyle hop onto their turquoise crabbing boat called The Aquarius and head downriver to the fuel station, which resembles a typical gas station, except for its location on the end of a dock. Today, they are going out to check about a quarter of their 200 crab pots. >click to read<20:13
History — and crabbing — run deep in the Chesapeake Bay town of Hampton
It’s well before dawn and I’m driving through the darkness down a rutted dirt lane toward a small commercial boat marina on the outskirts of Hampton, Va. Pulling up, I can just make out the figure of Lee Smith in the light of a streetlamp. Smith is a fourth-generation Chesapeake Bay waterman who has agreed to take me out on his fishing boat while he harvests blue crabs.,,, “I’m a waterman, not a fisherman,” Smith told me, explaining that while he does trawl for fish, he does much more, including crabbing, clamming and oystering. Watermen have to be versatile to make a living, he says, and that means possessing the skills and equipment to catch whatever is both legally fishable and abundant enough to make money. click here to read the story 20:11
The brutal business of crabbing in Gladstone
The mud crabs in the Gladstone region are the best in Queensland and some local crabbers aren’t afraid of fighting, stealing, threatening and ramming each others’ boats to catch them. With no full-time boating and fisheries patrol officers in Gladstone now the crabbers sometimes have to resort to intimidation to lay claim to the estuaries and waterways where the crabs are. The small commercial crabbing community is awash with rumours, finger pointing and little trust over stealing of crabs, crab pots and cutting floats. Audio, read the rest here 19:16
Father passes down the fishing tradition
Keith Bruno loves commercial fishing and crabbing, but he hesitates when it comes to suggesting the same occupation to his sons, Zach and Ben. “It’s certainly not for everybody and being harder every day and more regulation all the time, I probably hope that they don’t get into this,” said Bruno, owner of Endurance Seafood at Oriental. “I fish because I love it and at this point in my life I really don’t know what else I can do.” Read the rest here 21:41
Stop pointing the finger at fishing, point it at polluting industries
Sandy muddy bottoms peak August and October in Georgia In the marshes, estuaries and winter beaches, you can go as far as a mile or two out searching for crabs. Crabbing has declined over the years, . Read the rest here 14:04
