Tag Archives: Martha’s Vineyard fishermen
Banner Bay Scallop Year Not All Good News for Fishermen
It has been a bountiful season for the Vineyard’s bay scallop fishery, one of the last places left where fishermen are still able to pull in semi-consistent harvests. But scallopers have struggled to take advantage of the strong season because the spike in supply stressed a distribution network atrophied from years of uncertainty. “The market just closed down, three out of the four main buyers in Edgartown just totally shut down,” said Arno Ewing, who works on John Conlon’s Sengekontacket-based scalloping boat. “I don’t think I’ve seen prices this low in five years.” While earlier in the season scallopers could count on getting $27 per pound for their catch, fishermen on-Island are now only getting around $15. The situation was even more dire last month, when fishermen were hard-pressed to find any buyer at all, said Net Result fish market manager Mike Holtham, who sells scallops locally and to regional distributors. >click to read< 08:03
The F/V Martha Rose: her catch, crew, and mission – As Fresh as it Gets
Three times a week, the Martha Rose sets out of Menemsha’s cozy harbor and, engine roaring, begins the 14-hour journey to the local scalloping beds. In weather fair or foul, the 77-foot fishing vessel chugs out of Menemsha Bight, rounds the nose of Aquinnah, and then charts a steady course to the southeast. The sea scallop beds currently designated as fishable lie one hundred miles out, and some thirty or forty fathoms down. Once the Martha Rose arrives, her crew of three waste no time putting out the ship’s dredge and preparing the deck to bring in the first haul. photos, >click to read< 09:26
