Tag Archives: Menemsha Fish Market
Have Faith: A fisherman’s journey of deep belief
Stanley Larsen’s fishing boat, Four Kids, pulled up to the dock in Menemsha a little after 10 am last Thursday, under a bright blue sky. Stanley steers it so it eases up next to its sister vessel, Richard & Arnold.,, Stanley was born and raised here, and has been a fisherman since childhood; he helped his dad lobstering from the time he was a kid. His father died when Stanley was in his early 20s, and then he carried on the family tradition, going out on long trips, steaming six, eight, even 10 hours at a time in his dad’s old boat: “I’d head down to Nantucket, out to New Bedford, south of the Island. I’d have fishing magazines that I’d probably read about 10 times, and I happened to be going through [his dad’s] drawer one day, and came upon the King James Bible. I just started reading it.” >click to read< 17:06
Unmoored and unsure, fishermen make do – Direct boat sales stem the tide for some.
Saturday, folks came to Menemsha to buy directly off the decks of local scallop boats. Business was brisk. Captain Sam Hopkins, aboard the Endurance, mongered to a steady queue of masked customers. Like the nearby Martha Rose, sea scallops off the Endurance sold for $15 per pound. “It was really nice to have some local support and have people who bought scallops right off the boat,” Hopkins said. Lobsterman Jason Gale has also turned to direct boat sales. From the deck of the Watch Out at Lake Street Landing he sold lobsters at $8 apiece, regardless of weight, on Saturday. Gale said he put a 10 lobster cap per customer and sold out. photos, >click to read< 15:59
Lobsters claw their way back to freedom
At the fifth annual ceremony, Island visitors and residents stood beside members of the Buddhist center as Karma Trinlay Rinpoche blessed the lobsters with sacred water and herbs. Then folks took turns picking up the lobsters and placing them gently into the harbor, where the powerful current will carry them far away from human dangers such as lobster pots and pollution. The lobsters were purchased from the Menemsha Fish Market and cooled before the ceremony in order to make the lobsters lethargic and prevent fingers from getting pinched. >click to read< 10:10
Scarce bay scallops are costly
Last year the Vineyard bay scallop harvest boomed. Prices hovered around $20 per pound. Not so this year. Bay scallops are scant, and at Menemsha Fish Market they were retailing at $38 per pound on Monday. “Nobody went out today,” Larsen said Monday morning, “nice day, too — because there’s no scallops.” Until recently, bay scallops were $35 per pound at the Net Result in Vineyard Haven. As of Monday, they hovered at $30 per pound, which still ranked as the second most expensive seafood there after fresh lobster meat, at $50 per pound. >click to read<19:32
