Tag Archives: Newburyport
Before tuna fishing was ‘wicked’
Before tuna fishing became “wicked,” local fishermen had been capturing and hauling giant bluefin tuna off the coast for years. The dangerous task has gone on to gain notoriety with the popular show “Wicked Tuna,” but the history of catching giant bluefins has deep roots in Newburyport going back generations. Newburyport residents Lee and Bob Yeomans are both experienced at fishing for tuna and hand-lining. “My husband, Bob, and I have a goal to preserve the history of this very dangerous, challenging way of capturing giant bluefin tuna,” Lee Yeomans said. She is leading a project to capture the stories of fishermen. Eighty-eight-year-old Newbury resident Carl Beal Jr. wrote of his experience fishing for giant bluefins with his father off Newburyport in summer 1948 in “Tuna Fishing Peril,” one of many stories about the history of local tuna fishing. >click to read< 11:02
Turf War – Newburyport fisherman ordered to stay away from counterpart
A “turf war” between two commercial fishing boat captains over dock space along the city’s waterfront has resulted in one being ordered to stay away from the other, according to Newburyport District Court records. Dean Holt, 55, of Pine Street, Newburyport, admitted a judge or jury could find him guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery during his appearance in court July 23. Holt, according to court records, threw the other captain to the ground and kicked him during a scuffle in October. The altercation was the culmination of a lengthy disagreement between the two men over dock space. >click to read< 09:31
Spiny dogfish eat small Atlantic codfish! DNA may provide some answers
Conventional observations show that spiny dogfish in the western North Atlantic rarely eat Atlantic cod. However, some believe the rebuilding dogfish populations are limiting depleted cod numbers by competition or predation. To find out what is going on, NOAA Fisheries scientists looked to genetic testing to confirm cod presence in dogfish stomachs. >click to read< 13:10
Federal grant giving ice-making equipment to Marshfield, Newburyport and Chatham fishing fleets
The USDA recently awarded $480,000 to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which will use the grant, in part, to purchase ice making equipment for three hand-selected communities, including Marshfield. Harbormaster Mike Dimeo said the GMRI reached out to him last year to check the town’s interest, which he had an easy answer for. “This is something Marshfield has been talking about for a few years now with the fishermen,” he said. “It’s a great thing.” Newburyport and Chatham will also benefit from new equipment. Currently, commercial fishermen truck in ice,.. >click to read< 12:38
Newburyport: ‘Dead in the Water’ to be screened at Custom House Maritime Museum April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
A new documentary film dealing with the devastating impact of federal regulations on the lives of New England ground fishermen will be shown at a Custom House Maritime Museum fundraising screening April 4 at 7:30 p.m. Wittkower, a graduate of the American Film Institute who has been living and working in Los Angeles since 1981, describes “Dead in the Water” as an examination of “the relentless destruction of the New England ground fishing industry through government regulations, bad science, and the growing, but mistaken, belief that everything has been overfished and there aren’t any fish left in the oceans.” >click to read<10:04
This fisherman is determined to fight the rising tide of government quotas
There’s another species in the ocean that is slowly disappearing. This one doesn’t have fins, but orange waders, heavy rubber gloves, and fishing tackle. It’s the commercial fishermen. The industry they work in is being choked by what fishermen say are unmanageable fines and regulations. Jim Ford of Lisa Ann Fisheries is one of those still standing. Fewer and fewer boats are going out to sea, to Ford’s dismay. While there used to be dozens of draggers going out of Newburyport, he’s now the only fisherman doing it full-time — pulling a net or trawling the rocky seabed to scoop up his catch. Ford, 47, disagrees that the sea is being depleted.,, On his 52-foot fiberglass boat, Lisa Ann III, Ford typically steams out at midnight for a three-hour trip to Jeffreys Ledge with two crewmen on deck and a federal observer — a third-party ombudsman — to monitor overfishing. click here to read the story 13:53
Commercial fishing: A traditional, if dangerous, business
June 02–Editor’s Note: As Newburyport celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, The Daily News is publishing a series of articles that looks back on the city’s history. Today we focus on commercial fishing, an occupation that goes back centuries. Fishing has been called one of the oldest pastimes on the North Shore. In regard to Newburyport, historians say it has had both prosperous periods,,, Read more here 15:32
