Tag Archives: Skipper Blair Alderson

Nelson-based fishing crews adrift from Coronavirus during lockdown

The crew of Nelson-based fishing vessel Ocean Pioneer has spent the last nine weeks in a boat bubble, catching scampi on the Chatham Rise as the world was changed by Covid-19. Skipper Blair Alderson and his crew of five deckhands and a chief engineer departed Nelson two weeks’ prior to the March 26 level 4 lockdown.,, Damage to the boat’s television dome on the second day of the first trip restricted their news updates to emails from home and chatter with other boats in the vicinity. The crew were able to truly grasp the lockdown situation when they unloaded their first catch at Port Nelson in the midst of level 4 lockdown. >click to read< 07:52