Tag Archives: F/V Instigator
A Call for a More Long-Term Solution to the Shoaling Problem in Ocean City’s Inlet
For commercial fishermen like Mike Coppa, getting through the inlet is not as easy of a task. “In any waterway you’re supposed to be able to come in between them buoys and have water, but right now no, no, no,” said Coppa. “You have to be on top of that red one and almost run it over to find water.” Coppa’s 75-foot fishing vessel, F/V Instigator, ran aground back in March. Since then, he said he and his crew have avoided Maryland all together. “We had to basically change our plans and fish in other states that we had quota, and then we ended up going to New England scalloping all summer,” said Coppa. Video, >click to read< 07:56
Locals Upset Over Dredging Issues at the Inlet in West Ocean City
On Wednesday morning, a 75-foot commercial vessel ran aground on its approach to the commercial dock in West Ocean City. The captain and crew say if the channel was dredged properly, this would not have happened. They also voiced their frustrations with the Army Corp of Engineers, and there is agreement locally that a more permanent solution is needed. “Maryland keeps wanting to put a band-aid on this, how many band-aids are you going to put on it before you fix the problem?” questioned Mike Coppa. Coppa is the owner of the Fishing Vessel Instigator, the boat stuck in the channel. Video, photos, >click to read< 07:55
Stuck again, fish on board
There have been meetings, there have been talks, there have been “action items” and there has been dredging, but boats are still running aground in the state’s only ocean port, and the commercial fishermen have had just about enough. “We’ve been battling this for five years, I just don’t know what to do,” said Mike Coppa of the fishing vessel Instigator. “What happened [on Friday] was a crock of crap. We’re told they have to study this, they have to study that, but in the meantime, the boat has to get from point A to point B.” >click here to read< 08:05
Coast Guard conducts multiple rescues off Ocean City, Maryland
Coast Guard crews rescued two boaters in two separate cases off Ocean City Thursday afternoon. At approximately 12:30 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region received notification from the 90-foot vessel Instigator of a 64-year-old male suffering from a possible heart attack. A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., MH-60 aircrew was diverted from training to rendezvous with the vessel almost 45 miles off Ocean City. At approximately 1:30 p.m., the aircrew hoisted the man from the vessel and brought him to Peninsula Regional Hospital in Salisbury in stable condition. Sector Maryland-NCR watchstanders received a second radio call at 12:40 p.m., from the fishing vessel Nordic Pride of a passenger experiencing pain near his kidneys since 2 a.m. A rescue boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Ocean City, with Ocean City EMS aboard, was launched. At 2:24 p.m., the boatcrew arrived at the vessel’s location 17 miles off Ocean City. The boater was brought aboard and taken back to the Coast Guard station and transferred to awaiting EMS in stable condition. link 11:41
Off the boat, in the door at Martin Fish Co.
The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times – WEST OCEAN CITY, MD. — It had been a good day at sea for the Instigator, an 80-foot trawler out of Cape May, so it was a good day at Martin Fish Co. The red-and-white fishing vessel was tied up at Martin’s dock in the Ocean City Commercial Fishing Harbor last week, unloading its catch of 30,000 pounds of porgies and 15,000 pounds of black sea bass caught that morning. continued
