Tag Archives: Tony Hooper
Another big Maritime fishery quota cut looming
Another Maritime fishery is facing a big quota cut this year. The only question is how big. This time it is the large herring fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. The stock is in the critical zone where serious harm is occurring, but the fishery employs hundreds of people in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. What happens next will again test how far Canada’s fisheries minister is willing to go to rebuild a depleted stock. >click to read< 09:35
This lobsterman’s boat was sunk 3 times in 7 weeks. He says he knows who did it.
Tony Hooper, who has lobstered out of area harbors on and off for years, says he knows who sank his 35-foot lobster boat, Liberty, three times in seven weeks: a fellow fisherman operating out of Port Clyde, one of three villages that constitute this peninsular town that extends 15 miles south of Rockland. The fisherman, Hooper alleges, turned a routine dispute over the placement of lobster traps into an ongoing drama that’s turned heads up and down the Maine coast. “The guy has a personal grudge against me, and I don’t know why, because I’ve never done anything to the guy,” Hooper says. “He’s just a young, arrogant kid who didn’t like it when I called him out for messing with my traps.” Boat sinkings are rare in the Maine lobster fishing community, but when they occur they often result from disputes between lobstermen from different harbors over fishing turf. But sinking the same lobsterman’s boat three times in quick succession – once on the very night it was repaired and put back on its mooring – is extremely rare. Read the story here 09:48
Port Clyde Community behind him, Liberty owner vows to carry on
Whoever has been sinking Tony Hooper’s lobster boat is still out there. They have brazenly sunk his vessel, Liberty, three times since Aug. 17, with no apparent fear of getting caught. The first time, they sent the boat 30 feet underwater. Hooper hauled it out of the water, did the necessary repairs, and got back to work. Six weeks later, they cut the boat’s hoses and bilge wires and set it adrift, to be found beached on Raspberry Island. And just days after that, they did the same thing again, leaving the Liberty to wash up, after having been submerged, on another nearby island. Each time, Hooper, 37, of Port Clyde, has wasted little time repairing the boat and readying it for the work that supports his three young children and their mother. “This person ain’t going to get the best of me,” he said Read the story here 11:23
Reward offered for info leading to arrest in lobster boat sinking
Maine’s Operation Game Thief is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the sinking of Hooper’s lobster boat. “This is a senseless act that has happened to one of our own,” said Operation Game Thief Board of Directors Chairman Greg Sirpis. “The commercial lobstering community has a deep rooted tradition in Maine, and this will simply not stand. The Maine OGT Board of Directors is hopeful that someone will come forward and furnish information that will assist the Maine Marine Patrol in their investigation.” “We’re grateful for the tremendous support of the Operation Game Thief program,” said Marine Patrol Major Rene Cloutier. “While their focus is traditionally on poaching violations, their partnership with the Marine Patrol will help us pursue serious violations that undermine the ability of hard working fishermen to make a living on the water.” Tony Hooper said the whole ordeal is stressful for his family. He said he and his girlfriend just had a baby 10 days ago, and that they have “no money” because he has used up savings repairing the boat and has had limited income since mid-August. Video, read the rest here 18:02
