Tag Archives: F/V Merva W

Legendary Commercial Fisherman Michael D. McHenry has passed away

“You can have that boat if you want to re-float it.” That was all Michael had to hear. He began his fishing career at age 15, fishing in the summers until he graduated from Half Moon Bay High School in 1961. After that, he went full time on the water going down to Three Rocks every day and coming in with a boat full of ling cod. In 1965, Michael bought the F/V Pescadero and continued his career, now as a salmon fisherman. When his abilities outgrew that boat, he built the Merva W and launched her in 1971. The legendary “Blue Boat” was named after his mother, Merva Wilson. She is a steel, 65-foot salmon/crab/albacore fishing boat. He made a name for himself throughout coastal California and Oregon as a fun-loving Irishman and a salmon fisherman extraordinaire. Fishermen were drawn to him as a natural leader and he led a following of fishermen nicknamed “The Z Squad.” >click to read< 18:47

‘Tis the season – Commercial crabbing begins off the coast of Half Moon Bay

As the clock struck midnight, local fishermen of the coast of Half Moon Bay began eagerly reeling in the first commercially caught crabs of the season. The scene at Pillar Point Harbor’s docks the day before the official Nov. 15 opener of California’s commercial crab fishery was described simply as “a zoo.” “We’re excited. The last month or so you’ve just been working on the boat, working on the crab pots, getting everything ready. And now, you finally get to go to work, get to catch something. We’re all pumped up,” said Porter McHenry, captain of the Merva W and president of the Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association. click here to read the story 10:38