National Fisherman June 2021

Reefer Rigs / The Pot That Pays / Wind Worries June / 2021

Incorporating

I N F O R M E D F I S H E R M E N • P R O F I TA B L E F I S H E R I E S • S U S TA I N A B L E F I S H

Sweet Caroline Boatbuilding trends include wing stabilizers, like those for the clammer Christi Caroline out of New Jersey

NATIONALFISHERMAN.COM

FEED PEOPLE NOT WHALES!

CodCoil collapsible traps are the original slinky pots.™ The patent pending design prevents whale predation and is a safer, cheaper and easier alternative to longlining hooks or traditional rigid frame fish traps.

Unlike some knockoffs, these are true, purpose-built commercial fishing gear.

CODCOIL 6

CODCOIL 7

CODCOIL 8

-27” diameter x 50” long -6mm spring steel frame -200g/m2 zinc galvanized coating -Original proven design -10 pounds rigged

-27” diameter x 55” long - 7mm spring steel frame, improved alloy -2 mesh options: original green, heavy black -450g/m2 zinc galvanized coating -5/16” frame line wrap -5/6” lines support the length of the trap -9” soft tunnel openings for Alaskan fishery -Four 3 1/2” escape rings standard -13 pounds rigged

-32” diameter by 60” long -8mm spring steel frame, improved alloy -Frame reinforcement on bridle side -450g/m2 hot dip galvanized zinc layer -5/16” frame line wrap -Three 5/16” lines support the trap -9” stainless welded ring entrance is standard -Four 3 1/2” escape rings standard -25 pounds rigged -Extra heavy Halibut/toothfish and custom versions with larger entrances on request

AVAILABLE FROM THESE RETAILERS: Longline Pots LLC Alexander Stubbs: (978) 798-0419 Adam Sewall: (207) 712-7394 longlinepots@gmail.com Oakland, California www.longlinepots.com

Fish Tech Inc. Pete Sawle: (402) 322-0263 Alexander Stubbs: (978) 798-0419 fishtechus@outlook.com F/V Rocky B (0217 on dispatch) www.fishtech.net

LFS Marine & Outdoor 1 (800) 426-8860 gear@lfsinc.com Anchorage, Bellingham, Cordova, Dutch Harbor, Homer, Kenai, Seattle, Sitka www.Go2Marine.com

In this issue

24

Ryan Johnson

National Fisherman / June 2021 / Vol. 102, No. 02

Slinky pots catch lots

28

36

Cool kids

Cover Story \ The next big things Successful fisheries are driving new design trends and power packages.

Features / Boats & Gear

On Deck 05

A letter from NMFS

DEME Offshore

Working with partners worldwide to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

18

Offshore wind As the Biden administration goes all in on wind energy, NMFS and fishermen flash warning lights.

42

46

Around the Yards

Market shifts from 2020 have seafood suppliers adjusting to new demands on processing and the cold chain.

06

Northern Lights More seafood consumers brought fish home to cook for the first time during the pandemic.

02

Editor’s Log

04

Fishing Back When

05

Mail Buoy

10

Around the Coasts & Markets Reports

35

Permit News

56

Last Set / Hampton, N.H.

An Oregon shrimper gets shafted; a Maine builder’s winning 25-footer; Omega adjusts its fleet.

Reader Services 48

Classifieds

Product Roundup

55

Advertiser Index

ZF Marine’s total control packages; Doppler speed log from Furuno.

National Fisherman (ISSN 0027-9250), June 2021, Vol. 102, No. 02, is published monthly by Diversified Business Communications, 121 Free St., Portland, ME 04112-7438. Subscription prices: 1 year - U.S. $22.95; 2 years U.S. $43; 3 years U.S. $62.

These rates apply for U.S. subscriptions only. Add $10 for Canada addresses. Outside U.S./Canada add $25 (airmail delivery). All orders must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. All other countries, including Canada and Mexico, please add $10 postage per year. For subscription information only, call: 1 (800) 959-5073. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Maine, and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes only to Subscription Service Department, PO Box 176 Lincolnshire IL 60069. Canada Post International Publications Mail product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40028984, National Fisherman.

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept. or DPGM, 4960-2 Walker Rd., Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. READERS: All editorial correspondence should be mailed to: National Fisherman, Portland, ME 04112-7438.

Locals Seafood

Moses Ortiz

West Coast longliners are outsmarting hungry whales with collapsible and lightweight blackcod traps.

ON DECK

Editor’s Log

Spring a trap Jessica Hathaway Editor in Chief jhathaway@divcom.com

ne year ago, when interviews via Zoom were new (and a little exciting, even), I sat down in my East Coast kitchen to talk with a fi shing family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Adam Sewall, 38, and Eleza Jaeger, 33, had spent the fi rst part of the year tracking production on their line of blackcod pots, while running their commercial and charter fi shing businesses, and managing schedules for their three young children.

The fi shing family had an early warning of what was to come for 2020 when their Asia-based blackcod pot manufacturer shuttered in January as the virus caused shutdowns in nations on the other side of the Pacific. They watched the spread of covid-19 disrupt commerce and lives around

O

the globe until it reached the shores of the U.S. West Coast.

This time last year, Sewall and Jaeger’s most remarkable real-time innovation was shifting focus from their charter business, which would be shuttered by social distancing regulations, to selling their commercial catch through a local community supported fi shery and bringing their kids onboard to start what they call their School of Fish.

But that didn’t stop the entrepreneurs from making headway with their other brainchild, now known as CodCoil or Slinky Pots. These collapsible, lightweight blackcod pots, developed with fellow fi sherman and biologist Alexander Stubbs, took off like a California wildfi re in the

On the cover Surfside Foods’ Executive VP Salvatore LaMonica with the fleet’s relaunched Christi Caroline, which went to Alabama’s Boconco yard for a total overhaul and later went to New Jersey for the addition of wing stabilizers.

Surfside Foods photo

West Coast and Alaska blackcod longline fi shery last year. And they show no signs of slowing. The product is being tweaked for use in other fi sheries and other types of gear. Read the full story from our Products Editor Brian Hagenbuch on page 24.

In this next phase of the pandemic, the industry is looking back at a full year of changes in consumer appetites and taking advantage of increased demand for wild domestic seafood. Boats & Gear Editor Paul Molyneaux reviews changes in freezing, processing and delivery capacity for smaller operations on page 36, as well as boatbuilding trends on page 28.

In my editor’s log last month, I made the regrettable error of transposing the names of the father and son who were lost with the F/V Scandies Rose in Alaska.

They were Captain Gary Cobban Jr. and his son, David Cobban. Our online and digital publications have been corrected.

My sincerest apologies to their loved ones who have been reliving the pain of the loss, following the Coast Guard hearings.

In partnership with Pacific Marine Expo The largest commercial marine trade show on the West Coast, serving commercial mariners from Alaska to California. www.pacificmarineexpo.com

PUBLISHER: Bob Callahan EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jeremiah Karpowicz EDITOR IN CHIEF: Jessica Hathaway ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kirk Moore BOATS & GEAR EDITOR: Paul Molyneaux PRODUCTS EDITOR: Brian Hagenbuch ART DIRECTOR: Doug Stewart NORTH PACIFIC BUREAU CHIEF: Charlie Ess FIELD EDITORS: Larry Chowning, Michael Crowley CORRESPONDENTS: Samuel Hill, John DeSantis, Maureen Donald, Dayna Harpster, Sierra Golden, John Lee, Caroline Losneck, Nick Rahaim ADVERTISING COORDINATOR: Wendy Jalbert / wjalbert@divcom.com / Tel. (207) 842-5616 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER: Susan Chesney / schesney@divcom.com / Tel. (206) 463-4819 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (800) 842-5603 classifieds@divcom.com SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION (800) 959-5073 or nationalfisherman@omeda.com Producer of Pacific Marine Expo and the International WorkBoat Show Theodore Wirth, President & CEO | Mary Larkin, President, Diversified Communications USA Diversified Communications | 121 Free St., Portland, ME 04112 (207) 842-5500 • Fax (207) 842-5503 • www.divcom.com

2 National Fisherman \ June 2021

© 2021 Diversified Business Communications If you prefer not to receive such mailings, please send a copy of your mailing label to: National Fisherman PO Box 176, Lincolnshire IL 60069.

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

www.nationalfisherman.com

CXO300 – The world’s first 300 HP diesel outboard

25% LESS FUEL 480 ft. lb. TORQUE 3x LONGER LIFE

Contact us for a Demo Ride DISTRIBUTOR FOR THE WESTERN USA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA

NOW AVAILABLE Call us for Details

®

BOATSWAIN’S LOCKER • 866-905-2676 931 W. 18th Street Costa Mesa, CA 92627 • w w w . boat sw ai n sl ocker . com M ar i n e Pow er S peci al i st s S i n ce 1 9 3 9

ON DECK

Fishing Back When June

By Jessica Hathaway

1971— The Beaufort Menhaden Chanteymen travel around North Carolina to celebrate the heyday of the state’s menhaden industry, before the hydraulic power block changed the face of the fishery.

1 9 7 1

1 9 9 1

2 0 1 1

On the Cover: Cod ends bulging with yellowtail flounder are becoming fewer as the fishery for the popular species faces further restrictions with decreasing biomass.

On the Cover: The Mary K, a 92foot dragger, makes her debut at the Sea Fab yard in Pascagoula, Miss., for Woods Hole, Mass., fisherman Larry Kavanagh.

On the Cover: British Columbia spot prawn fisherman Frank Keitsch enjoys a quiet moment between sets.

In February, the national fisheries service celebrated 100 years.

Spencer F. Baird was the first federal commissioner, appointed in 1871. He recruited a small, mostly volunteer staff, and set up a provisional lab at Woods Hole, Mass.

The Coast Guard reports its findings from a March investigation into the 1990 sinking of the Aleutian Enterprise and recommends a federal criminal investigation into the owner and executives of Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. for the loss of the Bering Sea factory trawler and nine of its 31 crew members.

Maine’s Boothbay Region Lobstermen buy local Harbor Crab and Lobster Co.’s 6,400-square-foot and 110-seat wharf and restaurant for $125,000.

4 National Fisherman \ June 2021

NMFS declares the Pacific Northwest Snake River sockeye to be endangered.

The industry mourns the loss of Peter Prybot, a colleague many times over, as a fisherman, photographer, author and relentless advocate for the industry he loved so well. Peter was 63 when he went overboard from his lobster boat October Sky III out of Pigeon Cove in Rockport, Mass.

Van Peer Boatworks and Harold Haynes team up to launch the 70-foot steel troller Chasina Bay, which will also work charters out of Ketchikan, Alaska.

www.nationalfisherman.com

ON DECK

Mail Buoy

Correction

Offshore shutout [The following is excerpted from an April 13 letter to BOEM’s New York Bight offshore wind task force in advance of meetings.] ajor fishing community leaders are sitting out on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Task Force meeting this week (April 13, 2021). As BOEM prepares to auction nearly 1,300 square miles of the most valuable fishery grounds on the East Coast, Task Force members must act as responsible administrators of the public trust. Fishermen have shown up for years to “engage” in processes where spatial constraints and, often, the actors themselves are opposed to their livelihood.

They have urgently advocated for the survival of their family and communities, in a context where all the rules are set (and changed) by newcomers interested only in a large-scale ocean acquisition who often don’t even treat them with common courtesy or basic respect.

This time and effort has resulted in effectively no accommodations to mitigate impacts from individual developers or the supposedly unbiased federal and state governments. Individuals from the fishing community care deeply, but the

M

deck is so stacked that they are exhausted and even traumatized by this relentless assault on their worth and expertise.

This meeting boycott is not because fishermen do not wish to be involved in decisions and research efforts about offshore wind — they’ve repeatedly come to the table in good faith. These responsible leaders actively engage in fisheries management processes, partner with environmental nonprofit organizations and government agencies, participate in seafood certification and environmental programs, conduct cooperative research to improve fisheries management, provide platforms for scientific research about ecosystem health and climate change, hold positions of authority within their own communities, donate seafood and services to civic charities, work through a pandemic to ensure U.S. food security, employ large numbers of environmental justice populations, and more... For every time they try to actively participate, there is a new roadblock thrown up in processes that is

A Letter from NMFS

IUU around the world

By Paul Doremus

ombating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a top priority for the United States. Because of the inherent nature of IUU fishing, it is almost impossible to accurately quantify the full global economic impacts resulting from these activities.

However, there is little disagreement that it is in the billions, or even tens of billions, of dollars each year. Congress recently strengthened an essential component of the fight against IUU fishing: Collaboration with our U.S. government colleagues.

In 2019, Congress passed the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement Act directing a unified government approach

C

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

The California spiny lobster commercial fishery is trap-only.

Divers can harvest lobsters but can’t sell them commercially. Trade disputes between Australia and China prevented exports of lobster from Australia to China, which increased demand and prices for lobsters coming out of California.

The description of the fishery and exports was incorrect in the May West Coast Market Report.

entirely controlled by those opposed to their interests, in which the overall structure has left no room for them to receive any compromise.

RODA has a Memorandum of Understanding with BOEM and the National Marine Fisheries Service to “effectively engage local and regional fishing interests in the offshore wind development process” and “identify the most effective ways to bring fishing industry expertise and information into planning and development processes.” In stark contrast to this MoU intended to improve fishermen’s ability to act as co-stewards of the marine environment, BOEM is now actively eliminating their ability to even participate in public processes.

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

to address IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security.

The new Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing brings together 21 U.S. federal agencies to counter IUU fishing.

Since its inaugural meeting in June 2020, the group developed a work plan on an initial set of activities as well as a framework for determining priority regions and countries.

Neutralizing IUU fishing and its impact on the seafood supply chain in the United States and globally is an immense, complex and varied challenge.

NOAA and our collaborating agencies and international partners have been — and will remain — seriously and substantially engaged in working to find solutions to this global problem.

Paul Doremus is the acting administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. He oversees the federal agency responsible for recreational and commercial fisheries.

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 5

ON DECK

Northern Lights VIEWS FROM ALASKA

Alaska Seafood’s time is now mid the past year’s unstable foodservice and retail landscape, seafood has become one of grocery’s strongest players, catalyzing strong overall category growth by offering solutions to some of shoppers’ top priorities, such as health and wellness, ease of preparation, and quality.

This interest is translating into seafood sales, according to the 2021 Food Marketing Institute Power of Seafood Report, which includes year-over-year seafood sales by department sourced by NielsenIQ. Frozen seafood sales grew an astounding 36 percent, fresh seafood sales grew 25 percent, and grocery seafood grew 21 percent! According to the report, the seafood department was a leader in the growth of grocery sales with an overall increase of nearly 30 percent,

A

6 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Datassential

By Megan Rider

As restaurants closed, more consumers prepared seafood at home.

much stronger than meat (18 percent), produce (11 percent), deli (0.3 percent) and bakery (-2 percent).

One of the hallmarks of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s retail and foodservice marketing program is our focus on operator education. Our goal is to increase the value and awareness of seafood from Alaska, and one of the best tools to achieve this is to let operators know what consumers want, through consumer research. Partnering with the

www.nationalfisherman.com

Datassential

Behringer Clamps for Brightwork and Hydraulic

The Alaska Seafood label can garner a price premium.

largest strategic food-focused research fi rm, Datassential, we gather details on seafood consumption habits and preferences of both general and affluent (ages 25-74, college educated with a household income of $100K+) consumers to determine what motivates them to increase or maintain their at-home consumption, and seek to understand how the power of Alaska’s brand motivates purchase.

The recently completed research from Datassential in March 2021 provides valuable insights into the new consumer landscape. One of the most surprising facts was that more than a quarter of general consumers purchased seafood to eat at home for the fi rst time ever during the pandemic. Meat shortages, increased emphasis on cooking at home, and a desire for new options may have prompted more consumers to try seafood in 2020. With seafood consumption generally flat year over year, this opens up an incredible new opportunity for us in the seafood industry. Not to mention that during the pandemic, nearly a quarter of affluent consumers switched from purchasing seafood from restaurants to purchasing seafood to cook from home.

We also know that nearly half (49 percent) of all consumers are trying to increase their consumption of seafood (compared to just 36 percent who are looking to increase their consumption of chicken, 23 percent beef, 17 percent pork, and 23 percent veggie burgers) resulting primarily from seafood’s health attributes and taste. In fact, consumers select seafood (73 percent) and plantbased foods (74 percent) for their healthy appeal. Yet when it comes to flavor, seafood (55 percent) outshines, while plantbased falters (24 percent).

Finding inspiration at the grocery store can help make the sale for seafood. Datassential reports that 85 percent of consumers cite easy and healthy recipe ideas as a motivator for choosing seafood over other proteins, 80 percent say knowing the origin and 78 percent cite sustainability.

Preference for Alaska There’s so much to Alaska’s story that appeals to consumers: To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

For more information on Behringer Pipe Supports for marine applications, visit our website: www.behringersystems.com Made In +1 (973) 948-0226 the USA sales@behringersystem.com

We take the heat, so you don’t have to.

Cool. Because you need it. We deliver cool based on your reality. So no matter where you operate, hot days and heavy loads will never slow you down.

GRIDCOOLER® Keel Cooler

WEKA Boxcooler®

Tranter® Heat Exchangers

fernstrum.com | 1.906.863.5553 | sales@fernstrum.com ISO 9001:2015 © 2021 R.W. Fernstrum & Company. All rights reserved. FERNSTRUM® and GRIDCOOLER® are registered trademarks of R.W. Fernstrum & Company. All other trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners.

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 7

ON DECK

high quality seafood that is wild-caught by generations of dedicated families, fishing boats surrounded by majestic snow-capped mountains, myriad wild species harvested in rugged coastal shores from pristine icy waters.

According to the research, Alaska is the most appealing region for seafood at restaurants and grocery stores.

The research shows the preeminence of the Alaska Seafood brand is indisputable. Datassential reports that a whopping 72 percent of general consumers and 77 percent of affluent consumers are more likely to purchase seafood when they see the Alaska Seafood logo. Most consumers say they’ll pay a premium for Alaska’s quality, too, with 72 percent of consumers saying they’d pay more for seafood displaying the Alaska Seafood logo.

Indeed, quality is the centerpiece for

the vast majority of seafood shoppers.

Most (82 percent) say that if a store carries seafood with the Alaska Seafood logo, they can assume that the retailer cares about the quality of seafood it sells, and 72 percent say they’d recommend

buying seafood from that retailer to others. With freshness, taste, and quality as the top three descriptors consumers associate with Alaska Seafood, it comes as no surprise that consumers consider retailers that carry seafood from Alaska the place to go for quality products.

Whether it’s at the market, online

or at a restaurant, specifically calling out the Alaska origin in the product name boosts the desirability of many seafood offerings as well. Seven out of 10 consumers prefer Alaska salmon over Atlantic salmon. And with consumers preferring wild seafood 5:2 over farmed seafood, calling out “wild” in combination with “Alaska” increases its appeal even more.

After a year of rapid category growth at retail and looking ahead as consumers slowly head back into restaurants where seafood is historically king, we are optimistic sales of seafood will continue to climb, and that Alaska Seafood will continue to meet consumers’ needs, and exceed their expectations.

Megan Rider is the Domestic Marketing director at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. She lives in Juneau, Alaska.

DURAMAX MARINE TECHNOLOGY ®

Engineered To Work As Hard As You Do. DryMax® Maintenance Free Shaft Seal System

The Original Johnson® Cutless® Sleeve and Flange Bearings

DuraBlue® Composite Rudder Bushings, Thrust Washers & Wear Plates

Custom Engineered Heat Exchange Systems

Duramax Marine® is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company

Quality Products Made in America 8 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.DuramaxMarine.com www.nationalfisherman.com

YOU FOCUS ON THE CATCH. WE’LL WORRY ABOUT THE RIDE HOME.

Dependability to not only get you there, but to get you back again. For more than one hundred years, FPT has been building engines you can count on. It’s why we use the latest CGI technologies to create our castings, which enables greater durability, reliability and longevity. It’s why we finely tune combustion and turbo charger mapping to optimize response without compromising fuel efficiency or power. And this attention to detail is also why our marine engines are able to offer longer oil change intervals for more uptime. Looks like anywhere also includes greater profitability.

Learn more at fptindustrial.com

©2021 FPT Industrial North America

AROUND THE COASTS

Atlantic Maine lobstermen seek survival under whale plan

Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative/Patrick Daly

NMFS biological opinion could require ‘complete reinvention’ of the fishery

Maine lobstermen haul traps in Stonington, the state’s lobster capital.

ith NMFS moving toward new northern right whale protections to meet a May 31 court deadline, Maine’s lobster fishing community and state officials contended the measure will fall hardest on a region that poses less danger to the endangered species.

In a Feb. 19 letter to NMFS’ Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said

W

the agency’s recent biological opinion and its call for a 98 percent risk reduction over the coming decade will “require the complete reinvention of the Maine lobster fishery as we know it.”

“After two decades and numerous regulations, the Conservation Framework now tells them that for all of their effort, they will face additional hardship and additional regulatory actions, because we can’t adequately account

MARKET REPORT: Squid

vaccinated and excited to go out to eat. Cala-

Recovery slow, but Rhode Island harvesters welcome restaurants

M

for, or frankly influence, the measures being taken by the Canadian government,” wrote Mills. “Maine, and other U.S. fisheries, should not have to pay an ever-increasing price for the risk facing right whales as they travel into Canadian waters.”

Ship strikes and crab gear entanglement have killed right whales there, and the Canadian government is trying to get better control. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, while building a war chest for legal defense of the industry, gave NMFS a list of responses on behalf of a dozen New England fishing groups pointing to legal and scientific flaws they see in the agency plan.

“How can our government hold Maine lobstermen accountable for right whale deaths that we know are happening somewhere else? It’s just not right, and it will not save the whales,” MLA president Kristan Porter said in a March 22 statement. The group says the last confi rmed whale death entangled in U.S. lobster gear was in 2002, while 12 right whales died in Canada in 2017 and another 10 in 2019.

One dead right whale recovered off South Carolina in February had been dragging a rope “far larger than that fished in the Maine lobster fishery,” as

mari — and seafood, in general — has also enjoyed year-over-year growth in retail and

ore than half of all squid landings

disruptions, and now, the Suez Canal issue,

grocery stores. The demand is very good;

in the Northeast come from Rhode

all of which have supply chain impacts for

once the supply chain has sorted itself out,

Island. But last year, as a result of

seafood and many other industries.”

we are excited for the opportunities ahead.”

the pandemic, some Rhode Island fleets saw earnings dip by 30 percent.

Two Town Dock products, says Smith,

Much of the squid catch is exported,

Rhode Island calamari (longfin inshore squid)

says Diane Lynch, chairwoman of the Rhode

Coming off a troubling year has taken

and premium domestic calamari (northern

Island Food Policy Council. But “consumer

great effort. Kat Smith, director of marketing

shortfin squid), which are both caught in

demand for local food has risen steadily," she

and communications at Town Dock, a large

Rhode Island and are Marine Stewardship

adds, "driven by many different factors but

processor distributor based in Narragansett,

Council certified sustainable, are always

most notably by the consumer preferences of

R.I., says “at this point, things are still not

popular.

millennials. As part of this, consumer demand

back to normal — although we’re glad that

“When we look at our foodservice offer-

for locally caught, locally processed, locally

the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer

ings, we are certainly better than this time

consumed fish has been steadily growing in

every day. There continues to be a global

last year — restaurants are ramping up with

Rhode Island and around the U.S.”

shipping container shortage, covid-related

states’ reopening plans, and more people are

10 National Fisherman \ June 2021

— Caroline Losneck

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

“How can our government hold Maine lobstermen accountable for right whale deaths that we know are happening somewhere else?”

Boat of the Month Lilly Rose

Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. / Northeast multispecies trawl

— Kristan Porter,

was another live right whale sighted in Cape Cod Bay in January, the MLA says.

Vessel strikes off the U.S. Southeast states are another danger to right whales on their calving grounds. The species had a very good 2020-21 season with 17 young reported, according to NOAA — but that’s only in a population last estimated at 366 animals along the East Coast.

“For MLA, step one is to make sure both rules are implemented on time so that we have a fishery, but with enough flexibility so that lobstermen can fish safely and stay in business,” said Patrice McCarron, the group’s executive director. “Step two is to fi x the sub-standard science and modeling that misdirect regulatory efforts away from activities that are actually killing right whales.”

“We are looking down the barrel of a loaded gun aimed at our lobster fishery. The MLA has expanded its whale team to make sure that we leave no stone unturned,” said McCarron.

“We urge anyone who cares about the Maine lobster fishery to support the Legal Defense Fund. Quite literally, the future of the lobster industry is at stake.”

— Kirk Moore

Looking for more news?

National Fisherman is the only publication that covers the entire U.S. commercial fishing industry. For daily updates, visit nationalfisherman.com/news To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Justin Hallam

MAINE LOBSTERMEN’S ASSOCIATION

B

ack in 2006, it was among

obsolete,” said Lovgren. The northward

a trickle of Gulf of Mexico

migration

of

steel

shrimpers

has

shrimp boats that headed up

continued (see “Former La. shrimper

the East Coast. Today the Lilly Rose is

reimagined as NJ’s Swaggy B,” NF

on its second generation operating in

September 2017).

the Mid-Atlantic trawl fisheries.

“My father basically built this boat

The Lilly Rose fishes primarily in the Northeast multispecies trawl fishery,

in 2006,” said Gus Lovgren, whose

where

father, Dennis, brought what was then

bass, scup and whiting are landed in

a decade-old Texas shrimper north

their seasons. Along with New Jersey’s

to the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative

seasons, Lovgren holds state permits for

at Manasquan Inlet. “At the time,

landing in North Carolina and Virginia.

everyone was switching their vessels over.”

summer

flounder,

black

sea

With its Caterpillar 3412 engine, the Lilly Rose is fairly matched in horsepower

The gulf shrimp fleet was on hard

with the rest of the co-op fleet, “but put

times, beset by imported shrimp

me up against any other boat and I can

flooding the markets, low prices and

get way ahead of the fleet,” he said.

rising fuel costs. But New Jersey

With continuing price instability from

fishermen had gotten into the day

the covid pandemic, landing that fish first

boat scallop fishery, and good prices

can bring an extra $1 or $2 per pound:

financed

“You’ve got five or 10 boats that can

replacing

aged

wooden

draggers.

“It made the wooden vessel fleet

come in on the same day and flood the market.”

— Kirk Moore

Boat Specifications HOME PORT: Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. OWNER: Gus Lovgren BUILDER: Williams Boat Works, Coden, Ala. YEAR BUILT: 1996 FISHERIES: Summer flounder, black sea bass, scup, whiting HULL MATERIAL: Steel LENGTH: 76 feet BEAM: 22 feet DRAFT: 11 feet TONNAGE: 96 gross/58 net PROPULSION: Caterpillar 3412, 530 hp GEARING: Twin Disc 518 6:1 PROPELLER: 59-inch bronze in 60-inch Kort nozzle SHAFT: 4-inch stainless steel GENERATOR: Kubota 4 kW SPEED: 9 knots FUEL CAPACITY: 10,000 gallons FRESHWATER CAPACITY: 3,500 gallons FISH HOLD CAPACITY: 50,000 pounds CREW: 3 ELECTRONICS: Furuno suite with radar, color sounder, GPS, plotter; Icom VHF radios; two Dell PC computers; Shipmate chart plotter.

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 11

AROUND THE COASTS

West Coast/Pacific California crabbers, activists tangle on ropeless gear

EdgeTech

Fishing advocates say technology is unreliable, would lead to more lost gear

Handling ropeless gear adds time to a day’s work. If a fisherman spends 5 or 10 minutes more per trawl, that can add up to hours in the course of a day.

coalition of California fishing and seafood groups is grappling with environmental and animal welfare activists over state legislation to mandate ropeless gear in commercial and recreational fisheries to protect whales.

The struggle is closely watched on the East Coast, where Massachusetts state fisheries officials are embarking on a one-year experiment with ropeless or “pop-up” gear aiming to reduce risks of

A

interactions with right whales.

One tack taken by California Dungeness crabbers is to portray ropeless gear as unreliable — and potentially increasing the danger that lost gear poses to marine mammals.

“We have a pretty strong argument on our side,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association. “I think the thing that resonates most is that anyone on the fishing industry side who

MARKET REPORT: Swordfish

has worked with pop-up gear thinks it is unworkable.”

“There’s at least a 20 percent failure rate,” said Platt. If used widely that could lead to “tangles of lost gear… not only a huge marine pollution issue,” he said.

The bill, AB 534, was delayed in legislative committee hearings after original sponsor Assembly Member Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) was nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom for state attorney general. Supporters and opponents of the legislation are waging campaigns by telephone and social media.

“Whales and other marine life have long been exploited by humans,nearing the point of extinction,” said Judie Mancuso, CEO and founder of Social Compassion in Legislation, a political animal advocacy group, in a statement with Bonta when the legislation was introduced in February.

“It’s time we prioritize and protect our most magnificent ocean creatures and put whale entanglements in the past.”

The bill’s backers asserted ropeless gear “is the only way to eliminate entanglement risk while permitting crabbing to continue.”

“That’s why I’ve authored this vital bill, which reaffirms California’s commitment to ocean conservation and sustainable crabbing operations, while also making the state a leader in crabbing technology

$3.89 for 2020. As a generality ex-vessel

After big 2020 drop, fleet looks to restaurants and Asian markets

prices start out higher, in the $8 per pound range when fresh swordfish start hitting mar-

estaurant openings and Asian mar-

Chugey Sepulveda, a fisherman and

re-

kets in July; then prices decline as volume in-

ket conditions will determine the

search scientists at the Pfleger Institute of

creases throughout the remainder of the year.

health of the West Coast swordfish

Environmental Research, in Oceanside, Calif.

The quality of fish caught with deep-set

industry in 2021. Last year, supply chains in

“Because swordfish are highly migratory, and

buoy gear have been fetching premium pric-

the early season were disrupted with the on-

the bulk of fish reside off the West Coast from

es, but some distributors wanting to move

set of covid-19, but as the calendar turned

about July-January, this is when we see most

larger volumes at lower prices on the retail

toward July, some markets reopened.

of the fishing activity.”

end turn to gillnet-caught fish or imports,

R

which means cheaper prices on the ex-ves-

Though the drift gillnet fishery off Cali-

According to data from PacFIN, the

fornia operates in the nearshore waters with

swordfish fleet wound up at 320 metric tons

time and area closures, the commercial fish-

for the year, down substantially from the 432

“It’s shown to be highly selective for

ing season for deep-set buoy gear doesn’t

metric tons landed in 2019. As of April 2021,

swordfish,” says Chris Fanning, a NMFS ana-

have hard start and stop dates.

landings stood at 72 metric tons, and ex-ves-

lyst in Long Beach. Catches from the deep

sel offerings averaged $3.06 per pound.

water sets have been running up to 96 per-

“As for the new deep-set fishery, there are currently no seasonal restrictions,” says

12 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Meanwhile, ex-vessel prices averaged

sel end.

cent swordfish.

— Charlie Ess

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

“I think the thing that resonates most is that anyone on the fishing industry side who has worked with popup gear thinks it is unworkable.”

— Ben Platt, CALIFORNIA COASTAL CRABBERS ASSOCIATION

that can be exported and used around the world,” said Bonta.

From the crabbers’ perspective, California should be exporting its success in managing whales and fishing.

“This should be a model of how a robust commercial fishery coexists with a recovering endangered species,” said Platt.

When the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife over whale interactions, the humpback whale population was estimated at 2,200 animals, said Platt. Now it’s revised to more than 7,200 with a population growth rate of 8 to 10 percent, he said.

The last confirmed interaction was in the 2020 season when a whale was released unharmed, said Platt.

In an April 1 statement, his association broke down the financial impact of ropeless gear at “between $720 and $2,500 per device.This means that a permit owner with a 500-trap tier allotment must spend between $360,000 and $1.25 million to switch from the existing gear to ‘pop-up’ gear. By comparison, a 500-trap allotment today, including all traps, lines, buoys, and bait jars, will cost between $80,000 and $125,000.”

The association has brought seafood dealers, retailers and even recreational and charter fishing operators into its effort.

With requirements that already surpass federal protections, California’s state policy is zero interactions.

“We are onboard with the idea of trying to get there,” with the crabbers’ ideas like longlining pots and recovery by grapple, said Platt. “But they have to let us do it.

— Kirk Moore To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Snapshot Who we are David Toriumi / Santa Cruz & Moss Landing, Calif. fishing

to the community. I don’t want it sitting

industry can be hard to break

on a shelf in a grocery store,” he says.

into, especially if you’re not

But he also notes he doesn’t always

from a fishing family. Doing so requires

catch the volume needed to make it

a high tolerance for risk, a willingness

worthwhile at the price many wholesale

to endure razor thin margins for a few

buyers offer.

T

he

commercial

years, and a whole lot of hustle. But for

Toriumi grew up working in his family’s car shop, Toriumi Auto

David Toriumi, 38, getting to

Repair, in Watsonville, and

be his own boss and fish

followed in his father’s

for a living make the

trade,

difficulties worthwhile.

becoming

an

“It’s been a struggle

auto mechanic. He’d

even to this day,” he

been an enthusiastic

says. “It used to be

sport

fisherman

the harder I worked

whole

life,

lots

the more I got paid.

of

his

spending

time

on

the

nearby Monterey Bay with

Now I can’t get enough

a rod and reel.

time on the water to put in the In

work needed to make money.”

2007,

he

was

given

an

Not to be deterred, Toriumi has

opportunity that would change the

slowly built his fishing business from the

course of his life, a deck job picking

ground up.

sockeye salmon on Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

Toriumi owns the 33-foot F/V Grinder

Toriumi would gillnet for salmon in Bristol

on which he fishes king salmon and

Bay for seven years, while still working

Dungeness crab. He also has a 25-

as a mechanic. But he had the bug. He

foot Boston Whaler, F/V Salt N Season,

wanted to be on the water instead of

which he uses to target California

in a garage, sacrificing security for the

halibut, sea bass, lingcod and rockfish.

variability of the sea.

The Grinder was an upgrade from a

“I saw a lot of opportunity in doing

22-foot Aqua Sport he first bought in

something I love,” he says. “I often

2014. But to cut costs for day trips for

question that decision, but I’m hoping I

nearshore groundfish, Toriumi added

can hang on.”

Toriumi lives in Prunedale, Calif., with

the Salt N Season last year.

He has also been a member of the

his wife and two young sons; River, 7,

Fishing

and Ronan, 3. He takes them down to

Gear Working Group working to share

the boat and shows them his craft when

best practices on how to mitigate whale

he’s tied up. Sometimes River will join

entanglement.

him for day trips, and in a few years

California

Dungeness

Crab

In recent years, he has also brought

Ronan will join, too.

his catch straight to the public to

“I love looking back at land and

increase his margins with regular dock

hearing the traffic and sirens fade away.

sales in Moss Landing on weekends.

You can’t even buy that,” he says. “The

He also sells for Real Good Fish, a

freedom and the hard work are what I

community supported fishery based in

love, watching the weather and following

Moss Landing.

water conditions, figuring out where the

“I want to know my fish goes directly

fish will be.”

— Nick Rahaim

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 13

AROUND THE COASTS

Gulf/South Atlantic NMFS delays excluder rule for skimmer trawls Agency could again consider excluders for vessels under 40 feet working in shallows

anticipated and communicated to the public,” according to a statement from the agency.

“The delay in the effective date is to allow NOAA Fisheries additional time for training fishermen, ensuring TEDs are built and installed properly,

“You’re talking about having to cut two $10,000 nets in half, add an additional section of webbing, and sew in the new TEDs to NOAA’s exact specifications.”

— Ryan Bradley, MISSISSIPPI COMMERCIAL

NOAA

FISHERIES UNITED

A sea turtle escapes through an excluder.

final rule requiring the use of turtle excluder devices in the Southeast shrimp skimmer trawl fisheries that was to take effect April is pushed back to Aug. 1 — a delay forced by pandemic restrictions, according to NMFS. The rule will require TEDs designed

A

to exclude small sea turtles on skimmer trawl vessels 40 feet and longer and amend the definition of trawl time.

However, safety and travel restrictions “have limited our Gear Monitoring Team’s ability to complete the in-person workshops and training sessions on the final rule that we had

MARKET REPORT: Yellowfin

“The No. 1 (grade tuna) is very affected

Producers foresee a good season ahead as sushi buyers return

A

and for responding to installation and maintenance problems when the regulations go in effect.”

That additional time is key to the roll-out, say stakeholders.

“The rule is quite cumbersome and costly for businesses to implement, thus the extension was warranted,” said Ryan Bradley, executive director of the Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United industry group. “There is some

because you don’t have the sushi bars opening up,” he said.

series of strong storms roiling the

tons (67,584 pounds) between Jan. 1 and

Another covid-related wrinkle is the in-

Gulf of Mexico this winter and

Feb. 28 — way down from the same period in

creased cost of shipping and handling — air

early spring coupled with a slow

2020 when 76.7 metric tons (169,137 pounds)

freight, trucking, fuel, packaging — that con-

were harvested.

tribute to lower boat prices,” Maginnis said.

reopening from covid-19-related restrictions has dampened yellowfin tuna production in

“Lately, in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s been

the Southeast, with boat prices hovering at

rough, rough, rough,” Maginnis said. “We’ve

about the same levels as this time last year.

been fighting a lot of bad weather. Does that

David Maginnis, who runs Jensen Tuna

equate to higher boat prices? No.”

“This fish is worth only what the market says,” he added.

But Maginnis believes production will pick up this spring when, hopefully, the weather calms down and more restaurants

in Houma, La. — the gulf’s largest yellowfin

Maginnis, whose fish house runs 18 tuna

producer — says boat prices for the premium

boats and supplies customers all over the

quality No. 1 tuna average $6.50 per pound

United States, said the restaurant industry is

“When the weather is good, it’s good.

while the No. 2 fish are about $3.50. Accord-

the main driver of his higher-grade product

We’re going to have a good production year. It

ing to the latest landings data provided by

— especially the white-tablecloth and sushi

might be one of our better years coming up.”

NMFS, fishermen have harvested 30.7 metric

establishments.

14 National Fisherman \ June 2021

reopen to full capacity.

— Sue Cocking

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

very specific criteria that these turtle excluder devices must meet and they have to be installed a certain way to be deemed legal.”

TEDs cost on average $1,000 or more for a pair — not including installation, net modifications and backup gear, said Bradley. His group estimates per-vessel costs at $5,000, plus less money coming in when catch efficiency declines an estimated 2 to 10 percent.

“In Mississippi and Louisiana, gear reimbursement programs utilizing BP restoration funds have been established to help vessels cover some of the costs of compliance,” Bradley added. However, fishermen contend it is not enough. A $700 maximum in Mississippi and will cover only some of the installation costs.

“It is not that easy to just throw this TED gear in these types of skimmer trawls,” he said. “You’re talking about having to cut two $10,000 nets in half, add an additional section of webbing, and sew in the new TEDs to NOAA’s exact specifications.”

Other measures to protect sea turtles in skimmer trawl fisheries may lie ahead.

NMFS is again considering expanding the TED requirements to skimmer trawl vessels less than 40 feet in length, and whether additional rulemaking is warranted.

The rule dates back to a 2015 lawsuit by the environmental group Oceana that alleged NOAA and its fisheries agency were violating the Endangered Species Act by not doing more to protect turtles from accidental capture in shrimp nets.

The final rule excluded skimmer boats under 40 feet, pusher-head trawls and wing net or butterfly trawls from the new requirements — which at the time NMFS said would reduce economic impact of the new rule by 73 percent. But in announcing the effective date delay, NMFS also indicated that decision could be revisited.

Bradley thinks that’s likely, with ongoing pressure from environmental groups dissatisfied with the To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

“The delay in the effective date is to allow NOAA Fisheries additional time for training fishermen, ensuring TEDs are built and installed properly.”

— NMFS

under-40-foot vessel exemption.

“Regardless of how the industry feels about the rule, fishermen will have no choice but to comply,” he said.

“MSCFU has and will continue to offer guidance and consultation to help Mississippi’s fishermen comply with the rule should and when it reaches final implementation if it survives potential legal challenges.”

— Kirk Moore

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 15

AROUND THE COASTS

Alaska / National Senators seek changes to Coast Guard mask mandate

Coast Guard

State’s push reflects national industry sentiment that CDC rule is unreasonable

P.O. 1st Class Nicolas Santos operates the cutter John McCormick’s small boat alongside the F/V Tenisha Rose in Alaska’s Sitka Sound during a fishing vessel safety inspection.

laska’s U.S. senators are working to revise the masking requirement for all persons aboard commercial fishing vessels.

A Coast Guard Marine Safety Information Bulletin issued on March 22 stated its officers can restrict vessel access to ports and operations if they fail to follow the rules as defi ned by the

A

Centers for Disease Control.

“Vessels that have not implemented the mask requirement may be issued a Captain of the Port order directing the vessel’s movement and operations; repeated failure to impose the mask mandate could result in civil and/or criminal enforcement action,” the bulletin says.

MARKET REPORT: Salmon

missed several tides.”

With pandemic experience, fleet gears up for 2021 harvest salmon

industry

Though fishermen worried that the higher volume of H&G product and the lower volume

stood

already starving for product in the preamble

of value-added sockeyes would hurt end

poised to fill hungry markets as

of the pandemic, and demand for canned

pricing and ripple its way back to ex-vessel

the season began. On tap for Bris-

salmon surged even higher as the world went

pricing, many processors paid retroactive

tol Bay, the Alaska Department of Fish and

into shutdown and stock-up mode. With lim-

settlements far beyond the base price of 70

Game has projected a harvest of 37.4 million

ited canning capacity among processors and

cents per pound.

sockeyes. If that pans out, the bay harvest

skeleton crews prepping salmon for fillets to

Many fishermen received icing, refrig-

will account for 80 percent of the statewide

be distributed fresh or frozen, the bulk of the

eration or delivery incentives that put them

projection of 46.6 million sockeyes.

A

laska’s

The CDC mask requirement has been interpreted by the Coast Guard to apply to “all forms of commercial maritime vessels” including cargo ships, fishing vessels, research vessels and self-propelled barges.” It requires “all travelers” to wear a mask, including those who have been vaccinated.

“Senator [Lisa] Murkowski and I have been pressing this relentlessly on a call with the Coast Guard commandant, a call with the White House guy who’s supposedly in charge of all the CDC issues. We had a meeting with the head of the CDC. We are trying to explain to them how, no offense, but just how stupid this is and how uninformed it is,” Sen. Dan Sullivan said at a ComFish virtual forum.

“And it could be a safety issue, not with regard to covid, but with having to wear masks when you’re out on the deck of a ship in 30-foot waves trying to bring in gear or pots. So, we’re going to continue to work on that one.”

“The CDC has planted their heels on this one as I understand it,” echoed Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Certainly, from a realistic standpoint, it makes no sense. So we’re on the front side of that conversation.”

Vincent-Lang added that he is

harvest went into freezers in its H&G form.

up to around 90 cents per pound. Loyalty

At a potential harvest of 124.2 million fish,

Some fishermen were forced to stop fishing

in delivering to particular companies yielded

the pink salmon season should be no slouch

until their respective processors caught up

settlements of around 20 cents per pound for

either. That’s double last year’s 60.7 million

with huge volumes that had been delivered.

fishermen delivering 100,000 pounds and up

pinks and could push this year’s harvest of all species to more than 190 million fish.

Last year’s canned salmon markets were

16 National Fisherman \ June 2021

“There were shutdowns with some processors,” says Harry Moore, longtime commercial gillnetter in Bristol Bay. “Some folks

to 40 cents for fishermen giving processors 300,000 pounds or more.

— Charlie Ess

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

“We are trying to explain to them how, no offense, but just how stupid this is and how uninformed it is.”

speaking with members of other coastal states and hopes to garner support to overturn the mask requirement.

“I think to the extent that we can form some kind of a unified position on this issue across more states, we stand a better chance of changing it.

Because this is a CDC guidance which can be changed depending upon how they get policy direction from the White House. And if they hear from other coastal states in addition to Alaska, they’ll probably be more inclined to do it,” he said.

Feedback on the masking rule can be given at wearamask@uscg.mil.

The CDC masking requirement, issued to protect operators and passengers on public and commercial modes of transportation, has been interpreted broadly by the Coast Guard to apply to “all forms of commercial maritime vessels,” even those that do not legally fall under the category of transportation — “including but not limited to cargo ships, fishing vessels, research vessels, self-propelled barges.”

The original CDC order requires “all travelers” to wear a mask, including those who have been vaccinated.

With the Coast Guard interpreting commercial fishing crew to be included in this mandate, it would follow that vaccinated crew members would still be required to mask up.

The only broad exemptions are: • When “eating, drinking or taking medication for brief periods” (but not for use of tobacco).

• When the crew member is a solitary worker in the work area (for example, when standing watch).

• While communicating with a person who is hearing impaired when To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Oregon Sea Grant

— Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska

Critics of the Coast Guard’s mask mandate say it can be a dangerous impediment to fishermen’s ability to communicate while at work.

the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication.

• When necessary to temporarily remove the mask to verify one’s identity.

• If unconscious (for reasons other than sleeping), incapacitated, unable

to be awakened, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance, experiencing difficulty breathing or shortness of breath or feeling winded may temporarily remove the mask.

— Laine Welch and Jessica Hathaway

Kodiak, Alaska Tony Pirak is neck deep in Pacific gray cod on the F/V Anthem out of Kodiak, Alaska.

This is your life. Submit your Crew Shot www.nationalfisherman.com/submit-your-crew-shots

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 17

FEATURE

OFFSHORE WIND

POWER SURGE With Vineyard Wind on approval track, 10 more reviews in the wings

By Kirk Moore

building wave for offshore wind energy surged out of the Biden administration, with March 29 announcements that set a goal of building 30,000 megawatts of capacity and opening up to 800,000 more acres for leasing in the New York Bight.

Two weeks later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management moderated the plan, withdrawing potential leasing areas off New York — acknowledging conflicts with commercial fishing, maritime traffic and tourism that will be rife in the East Coast’s most crowded waters.

But on a broad scale, it appears to be full speed ahead for BOEM. Even during the Trump administration’s fitful approach to offshore wind, the agency itself worked consistently to make leasing possible for wind power developers.

Today there are 17 active leases, comprising 1.7 million acres, says BOEM Director Amanda Lefton.

Ten more environmental reviews could be started this year, and construction and operation plans for 16 projects could be in place by 2025, Lefton said during an April 14 online meeting of BOEM’s New York Bight task force.

Now an “all of government approach” is being brought to bear, and the “New York Bight will play a central role” in reaching the administration’s 30,000-MW goal, said Lefton.

BOEM has “a steadfast commitment to do

A

18 National Fisherman \ June 2021

this right” by fishermen and other stakeholders, and the New York Bight is a place where collaboration is working, she said.

But one prominent group not in virtual attendance that day was the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a coalition of fishing groups and communities. The group has been meeting for years with BOEM planners and wind developers, but in recent weeks reacted with alarm to the Biden administration’s full-court press to expand the industry.

“Fishermen have shown up for years to ‘engage’ in processes where spatial constraints and, often, the actors themselves are opposed to their livelihood,” according to a letter RODA submitted to the task force, stating it would boycott the meetings in protest.

“This time and effort has resulted in effectively no accommodations to mitigate impacts from individual developers or the supposedly unbiased federal and state governments,” the letter says.

“Individuals from the fishing community care deeply, but the deck is so stacked that they are exhausted and even traumatized by this relentless assault on their worth and expertise.” (Read the letter in our Mail Buoy section on page 4.)

The Interior Department formally reversed a Trump-era legal opinion on offshore wind energy, with an April 9 memo by Robert Anderson, the department’s principle deputy solicitor. That opinion critiqued and reversed findings written www.nationalfisherman.com

FEATURE

in December by Daniel Jorjani, who was the department’s top lawyer when thenInterior Secretary David Bernhardt moved to shut down the approval process for the Vineyard Wind offshore project.

In that earlier 16-page document, Jorjani held that if Bernhardt “determines that either fishing or vessel transit constitute ‘reasonable uses… of the exclusive economic zone, the high seas and the territorial sea,’ the Secretary has a duty to prevent interference with that use.”

Moreover, Jorjani wrote, the Interior secretary should determine “what is unreasonable” interference from offshore wind turbines “based on the perspective of the fishing user.”That was a victory for commercial fishing advocates who had gone directly to Bernhardt with their concerns.

In the new memo — five pages dense with analysis of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and related court decisions — Anderson wrote that the act requires the Interior secretary to consider a dozen specific goals of the law when making decisions. Those factors could favor “actions to maximize low-emission and renewable electrical generation from offshore wind facilities,” Anderson wrote.

Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association

OFFSHORE WIND

Maine fishermen demonstrated against plans for a research wind turbine in state waters.

turbine towers on lease areas will be adequate. The final record of decision would include a ruling on that.

“Technically, we don’t know,” said Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, while awaiting that decision.

“They could address some of these fisheries issues (in the decision). It doesn’t look promising.”

Commercial fishing groups that at best have had a rocky relationship with

“Can you imagine if this assessment was for oil and gas (development)? How would that look? This whole thing is so upside-down. It’s not like the way we regulate any other resource.”

— Annie Hawkins, RESPONSIBLE OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE

The bureaucratic memo further paved the way for a BOEM record of decision to approve the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off southern New England, where RODA and other fishing industry advocates have pushed the developers and BOEM to include mitigation measures.

Fishermen sought 4-nautical-milewide transit lanes to ensure safe passage through wind energy areas in heavy weather. Developers and Coast Guard officials said 1-nm spacing between To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

BOEM and wind developers were shaken by the breadth of the administration’s goals. Hawkins said there was no sign of new commitment to head off potential conflicts between the industries.

“These fisheries questions have been around for a decade,” said Hawkins. “We don’t have an interagency process” for understanding and resolving them, she added: “We’re just blown away by the lack of coordination.”

Ringing White House endorsements of wind power call into question how

federal agencies will handle reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and other regulatory measures, said Hawkins.

“Can you imagine if this assessment was for oil and gas (development)? How would that look?” she said. “This whole thing is so upside-down. It’s not like the way we regulate any other resource.”

While RODA sat out the New York Bight meetings, NMFS was represented.

The agency did not hold back on its view of potential environmental and fisheries impact should more wind energy areas be developed in the New York Bight.

The region “is one of the most important areas on the East Coast for commercial and recreational fisheries,” said Sue Tuxbury, a fisheries biologist in the agency’s habitat conservation division who works on wind energy and hydropower activities.

Surf clams and scallops, two of the most valuable East Coast fisheries, have major shellfish resources on the bottom.

“The location and number of turbines” will be a major factor in whether those dredge fisheries can continue to operate around the wind areas, said Tuxbury.

She recommended that BOEM and the bight task force consult RODA’s 2019 workshop on fishing vessel transit issues — and for the agency to hold new meetings with commercial fishermen to June 2021 \ National Fisherman 19

FEATURE

BOEM

OFFSHORE WIND

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has 17 active wind leases comprising 1.7 million acres, according to Director Amanda Lefton.

discuss potential traffic lanes for New Jersey ports Barnegat Light and Cape May, close to the planned Ocean Wind and Atlantic Shores turbine arrays.

Tuxbury said unknown environmental questions include how those arrays may affect the Mid-Atlantic cold pool, the seasonal stratification of water temperatures that is influential on the life cycles of fish and other marine life. New surveys and scientific modeling are needed to anticipate how those changes may happen and play out, she said.

BOEM’s proposed wind energy areas include essential fish habitat “for nearly every species” managed by NMFS and the New England and MidAtlantic fishery management councils, said Tuxbury. Building turbines out

there “will directly impact” the agency’s ability to conduct at-sea scientific surveys that managers depend on to make decisions, she said.

Survey vessels operated by NOAA will likely be excluded from operating their trawl sampling gear in wind energy areas by spatial constraints between turbine towers. Along with the need for longer vessel transit times to get around arrays, that will reduce biological sampling, said Tuxbury.

Fishing conflicts were one reason BOEM planners cited in dropping two areas near Long Island from immediate consideration for offshore wind energy leases.

The Fairways North and South areas, named for nearby shipping approaches to New York Harbor, have scallop and

surf clam beds, issues with maritime traffic and whale feeding areas, and the potential for raising the ire of beachfront homeowners and tourism businesses on Long Island’s South Shore.

New York state officials recommended against planning for leases in the Fairway areas, saying the closest 15-mile proximity to Long Island runs counter to the state’s policy of keeping wind generation at least 18 miles from shore.

With offshore wind development gaining momentum, resistance could build on other residential shorelines.

That was evident as BOEM initiated its environmental review process for the Ocean Wind project, Ørsted’s planned 1,100-MW array off Atlantic City.

“We’re very concerned about the impact on tourism,” said Beach Haven, N.J., Mayor Colleen Lambert during BOEM’s April 15 online scoping meeting on Ocean Wind.

The Ocean Wind tract at its closest is 15 miles offshore, and turbine blades could be visible from shore on some days, according to BOEM visual simulations.

BOEM has been gauging potential developer interest in areas farther offshore, and the task force is part of its environmental assessment of those areas.

Those developments could be slowed by a shortage of wind turbine installation vessels with more projects planned in Europe and Asia. In U.S. waters, developers will need to abide by the Jones Act — the 1920 federal

“No Service” Liferafts 877-682-8354 (506) 727-5039 www.ovatek.com The ONLY rigid life rafts in the world.. Puncture proof, self-righting, unsinkable, watertight, and more. Save $600 to $1,700 annually by not having to return/inspect it. Unlimited shelf-life with a dual fiberglass sandwich hull. USCG, Transport Canada and SOLAS approved.

20 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

FEATURE

maritime law that requires using U.S.flagged vessels and crews.

Vineyard Wind’s plan is to use Belgium-based DEME Offshore’s installation vessels, teamed with U.S.flag vessels of Foss Maritime, using the “feeder” concept of a foreign-flag wind turbine installation vessel supplied onsite

by Jones Act-compliant U.S. vessels.

Virginia-based Dominion Energy is backing construction of its own 472-foot U.S.-flagged installation vessel, amid widespread concern in the industry that global demand for services of those heavy-lift vessels could slow the development of projects in U.S. waters.

All that action now is focused on the shallow outer continental shelf from Cape Cod to the Carolinas. But wind developers are already looking ahead to float anchored wind turbines in deep water like the Gulf of Maine.

“We’re trying to keep Maine waters

DEME Offshore

OFFSHORE WIND

Vineyard Wind will use Belgium’s DEME Offshore to install its wind turbines, supplied by the U.S.-flagged Foss Maritime fleet.

free from this industrialization,” said Dustin Delano, a Friendship, Maine, lobsterman who helped organize a March 21 demonstration by fishermen with more than 80 boats on the water protesting plans for offshore wind.

“This would fill the ocean with anchors, cables and chains,” said Delano.

“Maine is unique in the nation. Our entire heritage is fishing and tourism.”

The Maine Aqua Ventus project would be a 12-MW floating turbine to test the feasibility of commercial-scale wind power arrays in the deepwater Gulf of Maine.

With the Biden administration promising $3 billion in loan guarantees to jump-start offshore turbine construction, a new Sea Grant program to study impacts on fishing seems a pittance to the fishing industry. “That $1 million program for Sea Grant to find impacts of development on fishing communities “won’t understand the impact in one Maine lobster village,” said Hawkins.

Kirk Moore is the associate editor for National Fisherman.

Durability, Dependability & Quality For Over 35 Years KINEMATICS Marine Equipment, Inc.

BRISTOL BAY ROLLERS

POWER BLOCK

CUSTOM GILLNET & LONGLINE DRUMS

TWISTER PLANETARY DRUM DRIVE

TWISTER WHEEL DRIVE

ANCHOR WINCH

For Our Complete Line of Deck Gear go to www.kinematicsmarine.com 5625 48th Dr. N.E. Unit B Marysville, WA 98270 Phone: (360) 659-5415 • Fax: (360) 653-5151

22 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

“With more than 65 sets of Reintjes gears in service today, our business has continued to operate safely and efficiently with reliable and dependable service from Karl Senner, LLC. With Reintjes and Karl Senner, LLC. as our partners, we are confident that we will have many more years of operating success along America’s Inland waterways.”

Karl Senner, LLC is proud to Todd, Flicka President, Blessey Marinea Services Inc. equip the- ClarkF/V with hybrid propulsion system.

Onboard is a REINTJES WAF 665 Reverse Reduction

Karl Senner, LLC isHydraulic proudMulti-disc to supply Gearbox with an Internal Shaft Brake,REINTJES and Clutchable PTI (Power In) to make two WAF 563 Take Gearboxes the vessel hybrid-capable.

Karl Senner, LLC also onboard the M/V Daniel Wisner. provided the 300kW Electric Motor and Drive to power the Vessel in PTI mode.

propulsion system

Owner: Blessey Marine Services, Inc. Shipyard: Verret Shipyard Owner: Coastal Alaska Premier Seafoods

504-469-4000

|

KARLSENNER.COM

BOATS & GEAR

GEAR SHIFTS

Shawn McManus

BOATS & GEAR

GEAR SHIFTS

OFF THE HOOK Slinky pots revolutionize Alaska’s blackcod fishery

By Brian Hagenbuch

hen Shawn McManus, skipper of the F/V Vansee, left Seattle in the spring of 2020 to longline for blackcod in Alaska, the outlook was not good. The burgeoning pandemic had injected uncertainty into a fishery that was already struggling with flagging prices and crippling whale depredation.

On the grounds, McManus and his colleagues estimated half their catch, sometimes more, was being snatched off hooks by orcas and sperm whales. Fishermen with bigger boats and more powerful hydraulics had long ago switched to whale-proof rigid pots, but they were not an option for smaller operations like the Vansee, a 107-year-old halibut schooner with limited deck space.

Veteran fisherman Buck Laukitis was among those who had switched to rigid pots. He looked on in dismay as depredation threatened not just individual boats but the fishery at large.

W

24 National Fisherman \ June 2021

The crew of the F/V Vansee (above) preps new CodCoil, or slinky, pots. The gear is made for longliners tired of feeding whales a seafood buffet and is noted for being collapsible and lightweight.

“We needed 75 or 80 percent of the fishing done by pots, or we were going to kill the resource off by feeding whales,” Laukitis said.

In a last ditch attempt to save his season, McManus threw in 50 so-called slinky pots before he left Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal. To him, it was a new and virtually unknown product, a lightweight collapsible pot that would fold flat and stack on deck, giving boats like his a chance to get off hooks and into pots.

“After just trying a couple days, the writing was on the wall. We knew the only way we were going to catch all of our fish was to purchase more of these pots. We fully converted over. They’ve been a lifesaver for us, and really the entire fishery,” McManus said.

The pots had made their Alaska debut just a few months www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

GEAR SHIFTS

“In my 40 years of fishing in Alaska, I’ve never seen a transformation like in the last year since these slinkies came online.”

Courtesy Pete Sawle/Fish Tech

— Buck Laukitis, F/V ORACLE

Pete Sawle runs Fish Tech in Oregon and had 60 pots sent to Kodiak, Alaska. Here he outfits the F/V Rocky B, one of 50 boats he rigged.

Courtesy Ryan Johnson

“In my 40 years of fishing in Alaska, I’ve never seen a transformation like in the last year since these slinkies came online.”

— Buck Laukitis, F/V ORACLE

Sawle had 60 of the pots, dubbed CodCoil by Stubbs, shipped to Kodiak, Alaska, found they worked very well, and partnered with Stubbs and Sewall’s business Longline Pots to sell them last winter. Sawle — who runs Fish Tech out of Oregon — estimates the group has outfitted around 50 boats with the slinky pots To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Courtesy Shawn McManus

earlier in the fall of 2019 when skipper Pete Sawle saw a short video posted online by California fisherman and biologist Alexander Stubbs, who invented the slinky pot with his business partner Adam Sewall.

The crew of the F/V Devotion easily handles a lightweight CodCoil pot with live catch.

Captain Shawn McManus proudly holds a pot-caught blackcod on the F/V Vansee.

while inspiring other fishermen to send their own manufacturing to China to make knock-offs.

It all amounts to a gear shift fishermen say is unprecedented.

“In my 40 years of fishing in Alaska, I’ve never seen a transformation like in the last year since these slinkies came online,” Laukitis said. “It was almost like what the tech industry does. The June 2021 \ National Fisherman 25

BOATS & GEAR

GEAR SHIFTS

CodCoil vs. Rigid Pots ▪ Light, collapsible design lets you fish at least three times the pots.

▪ Enables pot fishing on boats as small as 25 feet.

▪ Easy substitution for any type of snap on or C-link gear.

▪ Pots stack efficiently on almost any size boat.

Shawn McManus

▪ Less than 10 pounds each for easy handling.

▪ Pots partially collapse while being hauled, reducing drag and increasing the number of pots that can be fished on a string.

The standard CodCoil is made with 6-mm hot dip galvanized steel, has a 27-inch hoop and is about 50 inches long. It weighs less than 10 pounds and can be collapsed on deck.

▪ Lower return on investment with less

change was so rapid and so profound.

You’ve got guys who have never changed anything ever, and all of a sudden, they’re using this new gear. It’s

▪ Knotless web does not damage fish,

CodCoil vs. Longline ▪ Clips directly to existing long line groundline, making for an easy conversion.

▪ Reduces bait expenses.

▪ Easy for as few as two people to run, stack and reset.

▪ Minimizes loss to whales.

EVK WATER LUBRICATED SHAFT SEAL

the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.”

And according to McManus, the collapsible pots’ opportune arrival and rapid spread is keeping people in the blackcod business.

“I think without these slinky pots, you would have had people going out of business or selling out,” McManus said.

Part of the slinky pot’s success stems from its affordability. The pots run around $75 to $150, but fishermen can use the same ground line they use for hooks and do not need expensive new haulers or hydraulics.

EVK STYLE RUDDER SEAL SPLIT OR SOLID DESIGN

KEMEL USA is the marine division of EKK EAGLE AMERICA INC.

26 National Fisherman \ June 2021

making it a good fit for fresh and live markets.

▪ Run gear with a standard Dungeness crab block and 3/8" or 5/16" line.

▪ Easy to stack hundreds of pots when going back to port for delivery.

The lightweight slinky pots — they range from around 10 to 16 pounds — are also easier to fish in heavy weather or with reduced crews, perfect for a fishery with atrophied margins.

ST-100 WATER SOLUBLE NON-SHEENING EAL

FACTORY DIRECT SALES & SERVICE

31555 West 14 Mile Rd, Suite 200 | Farmington Hills, MI 48334

expensive design.

Continued on page 41

OIL LUBRICATED SEALS FOR THRUSTERS AND STERN TUBES

CONTACT US

SALES@KEMELUSA.COM | KEMELUSA.COM GENERAL INQUIRES: 408-398-3383 *ANYTIME* TECHNICAL SUPPORT: 212-967-5575

www.nationalfisherman.com

Fishing Innovation

Nelson Street Facility 2200 Nelson Street Panama City, FL 32401 Allanton Facility 13300 Allanton Road Panama City, FL 32404 sberthold@easternshipbuilding.com 850-763-1900 ext 3216

www.easternshipbuilding.com

Riding

THE WAVE Boatbuilders, designers and fishermen take advantage of new technology and design for the times

Surfside Foods

By Paul Molyneaux

28 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

BOATBUILDING

ne indicator of the health of a fishery is the number of new boats being built for it, and design trends of those boats add more to the story. North Pacific fisheries journalist and author Peter Marsh estimates that between West Coast and Alaska boatbuilders, somewhere close to 30 new gillnetters will enter the healthy Bristol Bay salmon fishery in 2021.

“And this is a slow year, due to the pandemic,” he says.

Tom Farrell, of Farrell and Norton Naval Architects in Maine, is busy designing scallopers for the lucrative Atlantic scallop fishery. A number of his and his partner Garrett Norton’s boats have arrived in New Bedford in recent years, and more are coming.

For decades, the lobster industry has sustained fishing communities on the coast of Maine, and Moses Ortiz, owner

Moses Ortiz

O

Boricua Custom boats is building the 44-foot Grin-N-Barrett as a combination lobster boat and scallop dragger.

Boconco

Surfside Foods

of Boricua Custom boats in Harrington, Maine, has fitted out numerous hulls for that fishery. But as climate change and markets create uncertainty

Returned to service after 13 years, the Christi Caroline (above and left), was rebuilt at Boconco in Alabama, including a 72-inch prop, then came back to New Jersey for wing stabilizers.

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

for lobsters, fisherman Dean Barrett is having Ortiz build a boat for lobstering and scalloping.

“Dean is a really hard-working fisherman,” says Ortiz. “He lobsters, and then goes scalloping down in Massachusetts.”

Ortiz is fitting out Barrett’s boat to make it more efficient in both fisheries. “This boat is one of a kind. It started as a 47foot Osmond [Beal]. H&H chopped it down to 44, and I made it 48.” According to Ortiz, the boat’s 1,000-hp MAN engine had the wrong gear. “It was 1.9, supposed to be 2.2.” Ortiz has strengthened the boat for mounting an A-frame and winch.

“We’re ready to mount the winch,” says Ortiz. “It’s pretty much a plug and play system. It came from Billings in Stonington. Lonnie’s Hydraulic set up the hydraulics system.”

The Atlantic scallop fishery is a lifeline for small boats looking to diversify, and 200-pound-per-day permits for the northern Gulf of Maine are selling for upward of $80,000. Newbuilds for the general category fleet, primarily out of New Bedford, have led to many innovations. One of the most interesting is the use of wing stabilizers, as seen in the NF May ’21 story on the F/V Heritage.

“They’re very popular. We’re putting them on a few boats in the scallop June 2021 \ National Fisherman 29

BOATS & GEAR

Marinexpert Plus in Gaspe, Quebec has sold more than 500 wing stabilizer kits, including for the Boston-based longliner Iron Maiden (above) and the New Bedford scalloper Heritage (right).

fishery, and we put them on a clam boat in New Jersey, the Christi Caroline,” says Farrell.

Dorchester Shipyard in New Jersey added the stabilizers to the 55-year-old Christi Caroline, which was rebuilt in

liaison for the vessel owner Surfside Foods. “We basically took her down to the keel and built a new boat on top of her.” The new Christi Caroline, 124.5 feet long, 32 feet wide, with an 11-foot draft, is built on a mere 8 feet, 9 inches of the original. She made her first clamming trip in September 2018, and the wing stabilizers were added in 2019.

“We saw some done at Fairhaven Shipyard and thought we would give them a try,” says Dameron. “From what I hear, the guys really like them.”

Stephane Loubert, owner of Marinexpert Plus in Gaspe, Quebec, has Duckworth Boats

Marinexpert Plus

BOATBUILDING

2017-18 at Boconco in Bayou La Batre, Ala., returning to service after a 13-year hiatus.

“What happened was she caught fire and made it back to port on December 2, 2005,” says Tom Dameron, fisheries

WESTEC CAN SUPPLY YOU! Manufacturer of:

Bowthrusters ∙ Power Blocks Fish Pumps & Fish Pumping Systems Hydraulic Pump Drives and Pursing Winches

32’ x 17’ Bristol Bay Boat

We can also custom design and manufacture a wide variety of machinery, including: Fishing Winches, Specialty Purpose Winches and other Net Handling Equipment and Deck Machinery all carefully tailored to meet your specific requirements.

High Standards and Cutting Edge Technology Construction of fishing boats has been a specialty at Rozema Boat Works for more than 60 years. Building safe and reliable vessels to meet our customers’ exact specifications is our top priority. Today our fishing boats are working up and down the west coast of the United States and throughout Alaska.

1514 Bay St. North Vancouver ∙ British Columbia, Canada V7J 1A1 Tel: (604) 988-1130 ∙ Fax: (604) 988-1173 info@westecequipment.com ∙ www.westecequipment.com

30 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Contact us Today!

www.rozemaboatworks.com

11130 Bayview-Edison Rd. Mount Vernon, WA 98273 P: (360) 757-6004 F: (360) 757-6005

www.nationalfisherman.com

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Alaskan Leader Fisheries

designed most of the wing stabilizers for Farrell and other naval architects.

“I did my first one for the Fundy Leader, which was launched in 2006.

Since then, I’ve done around 500. About 95 percent of the boats around here have switched from paravanes to wings.

If they’re forward on the hull, they can help control the pitch, too.” Loubert has designed wings for 15 boats in the United States, so far. “The first one was the Iron Maiden, in Boston,” says Loubert. “Sometimes we send the files to the yards, but on six or seven, we put them together here and sent them.”

With the wings folded up in port, Loubert notes that they have to be protected. “We fabricate protectors, steel triangles that stick out from the hull on each side of the wing, or you can use those big balls. If you’re building new, you can add a place for them to fit into the hull when they are up.”

Among the advantages of the wing stabilizers that Loubert touts is fuel savings.

“Our customers tell us that they lose half a knot with the wings down. They say with paravanes, they lose a knot.”

Farrell agrees that while healthy fisheries lead to new boats being built, so does an aging fleet. “We’re also working on a couple of draggers, because at a certain point you have to replace these boats.”

While hybrid power is another innovation getting attention from fishermen and architects, so far, the boats Farrell is designing are all diesel. “It’s coming, though,” he says. “Electric systems used to be too expensive, but now the price is getting so it is becoming a viable option.”

On the West Coast, the 184-foot longliner Northern Leader splashed in 2013 with a hybrid Z-drive system.

“They saved $500,000 in fuel the first year. So their payback for going diesel-electric was four to five years,” says Jonathan Parrott, of Jensen Maritime, designers of the vessel. “If they had batteries, the capital costs would be higher, but the savings would be even greater.”

Since then, however, no other new big boats have gone hybrid. Parrott reports

The 184-foot factory longline vessel Northern Leader combines diesel electric power and a low-impact fishing method to land quality product with a lower carbon footprint.

“20 years later: 40,000 hours and 960,000 traps - total control with ZF.”

zfmarinepropulsion.com // 833-939-7362 ZFMR_12292_June National Fisherman Print Ad.indd 1

4/12/21 1:02 PM

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 31

BOATS & GEAR

Fabian Grutter photos

BOATBUILDING

By improvising his own hybrid power system for his 34-foot gillnetter longliner, the Sunbeam, Fabian Grutter believes he can get up to 80 percent fuel savings when fishing close to home.

With 10 70-kW batteries from China, Grutter’s costs are lower than a turnkey system.

no new orders for hybrid powered commercial fishing vessels.

“Most of the action is in tugs. We are currently working on a fully electric tug for SoCal, it has generators aboard, but only for long-distance travel. The

systems, but there is some action in the small boat fleet. Contrasting with the sophistication of the engineering that went into the Northern Leader, Fabian Grutter of Sitka, Alaska, combined an improvised electric power system with

batteries will supply power for day-today work, for the most part. There is talk of fuel cells, but that entails some type of fuel — either hydrogen, LNG, methanol or ammonia, or something similar.”

Big boats may not be opting for hybrid

1-800-413-6351 CommercialSales@NorthRiverBoats.com www.NorthRiverBoats.com

32 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

Maritime Fab Big Bay Roller the 350-hp John Deere on his 34-foot boat, the Sunbeam. “I melted the batteries,” says Grutter of his initial efforts, but he persisted. “I bought another 10 70-kilowatt batteries that I had made in China,” he says. “And a new BMS [battery management system]. It’s all working now. It saves me about 15 percent when I go out on long trips for halibut and blackcod, about 80 percent when I’m gillnetting close to home.”

Grutter’s idea has caught on with other small-boat owners.

Eric Jordan and Kent Barkhau of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association are reportedly preparing to go hybrid.

“They’re committed,” says Chandler Kemp, owner of Kempy Electronics in Sitka. “We’re applying for grants to help fund switching to hybrid systems.” According to Kemp, the fishermen are in talks with the Italian company Transfluid for purchasing turnkey systems.

“Transfluid has a unit that goes between the engine and the gear,” says Kemp. “It allows you to switch from diesel to electric, and allows the engine to charge the batteries and the electric motor to help the engine.”

With batteries and motor included, the Transfluid system costs as much as $150,000, Kemp notes, and he is not sure about the payback.“I don’t think you can pay it back on fuel savings alone,” he says. “Maybe if you include reduced maintenance and longer engine life. But there’s pay-offs in noise reduction.”

Fabian Grutter’s 4-year-old son agrees. “When I have him on the boat and start up the diesel, he covers his ears and tells me to turn on the little motor.”

In Alaska’s Bristol Bay, many fishermen are moving in the other direction, and are breaking the 1,000-hp barrier with twin installs of bigger engines. According to Mike Fourtner, commercial sales manager at Cummins, the company is putting twin 600-hp Cummins QSC 8.3 liter engines in dozens of Bristol Bay boats.

Stern Roller Strength Like You’ve Never Seen Before!

Heavy-duty 3/8” formed aluminum side frames 16” dia. Core for increased net traction & reduced fish knock-outs

Integral ball valve for hubless freewheeling Low profile base hinges with easily accessible locks

La Conner, WA: (360) 466-3629

www.laconnermaritime.com

Jeff Johnson and Quinn Selitsch

91’ X 41.5’ TRAWLER

9,300 CF RSW HOLD CAPACITY UNDER 79’ REGISTER LENGTH TO AVOID LOAD LINE DESIGNED FOR EQUIVALENT TO CLASS PER 46 USC 4503(E) TWIN SCREW WITH EPA TIER 3 MAIN ENGINES OR SINGLE SCREW WITH EPA TIER 4 MAIN ENGINE

Peregrine Boats launched the Smoky Point with twin Cummins QSC 8.3-liter engines that get her up to speeds over 40 knots.

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Seattle WA & Bend OR • Hockema.com 206.365.0919 • Marketing@Hockema.com

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 33

BOATS & GEAR

Mike Fourtner

BOATBUILDING

With boats getting wider and heavier, Cummins is selling twin engine packages — the QSC 8.3-liter, times two, delivers 1,200 hp.

“The boats are limited to 32 feet,” says Fourtner. “But they’ve gotten wider, a lot of them are now 17 feet, and that has increased the weight from around 20,000 pounds to 30,000. So they need the power.” That power is now available

in smaller footprint engines, Fourtner points out, and it’s making boats much faster. “In the old days, if you went 12 knots, that was normal,” he says. “Now our boats are going over 40 knots. If you are faster than the other guy it could be

the difference between a $20,000 day and a $4,000 day.”

Dirk Rozema, owner of Rozema Boatworks in Mount Vernon, Wash., has built two 17-foot-wide Bristol Bay through-pickers for the 2021 season, both equipped with twin 600-hp Cummins engines, ZF gears and UltraJet 340 jets.

“The goal is to get up to speed and plane with 10,000 pounds of fish aboard,” says Rozema. “They deliver great performance for that area. If you need to get somewhere, you have the power you need.”

Looking after the needs of fishermen, North American boatbuilders, engineers and designers continue to up the game in every aspect of boatbuilding, from safety to efficiency to productivity.

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and author of “The Doryman’s Reflection.”

PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT

Cast off to sea with the new DUNLOP SEAPRO For generations, Dunlop Boots has been making the world’s most innovative and reliable work boot for the toughest jobs and harshest environments.

So when it came time to create a work boot to conquer the seas, we did what we always do: WE GOT TO WORK. We began by talking about boots with commercial fisherman all around the globe in any port they call home. Next, this boot had to be pushed to the same limits that every fisherman endures each time they push out to sea.

For that, we created Dunlop’s Slips, Trips and Fall Innovation Center. We wanted to test this boot on every surface they are going to stand on, from the freezing cold of Alaska to the scorching temperatures of Gulf of Mexico. Then we paired Dunlop’s proprietary lightweight and durable Purofort material with our innovative Snug-fit construction to eliminate heel slippage, resulting in a sneaker-like fit.

And the results?

This testing combined with Dunlop’s innovative materials creates the most comfortable and hardest working fishing boot ever: the Dunlop SeaPRO. PRODUCT CONTACT Phone: +1 410 272 2000 Fax: +1 410 272 3346 Website: www.dunlopboots.com

+

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.dunlopboots.com/

34 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

JUNE

PERMIT NEWS

Dock Street Brokers

(206) 789-5101 (800) 683-0297 www.dockstreetbrokers.com For all the latest permit & IFQ listings please call or visit our website.

IFQ NEWS

*Price differences reflect the range from small blocks of D or C class on the lower end to unblocked B class unless ortherwise indicated.*

HALIBUT At the time of this writing, the 2021 halibut season is in full swing. Demand remains steady for 3A and 2C. 3B continues to be sought after with very little supply available. Ex-vessel prices have strengthend and the expectaion is that they will continue to improve, particularly in comparision to the 2020 season. We expect market activity to remain steady through the spring. The latest is as follows:

AREA

ESTIMATED VALUE

2C $40.00/# - $52.00/# - Increased sales activity, unblocked wanted.

3A $37.00/# - $44.00/# - Low supply of unblocked, steady sales.

3B $23.00/# - $30.00/# - Pent-up demand, sellers wanted.

4A $10.00/# - $15.00/# - Some sales activity at reduced asking prices.

4B - No activity.

$10.00/# - $18.00/#

4C $10.00/# - $18.00/# - Some activity at reduced asking prices.

4D $10.00/# - $16.00/# - Blocked and unblocked available.

SABLEFISH At the time of this writing, the season is underway and fish are hitting the docks. Quota sales remain relatively steady, with most of the activity focused in CG and BS and some sales of SE. Dock prices remain low but there are beginning to be signs of improvment with increasing global and domestic demand. It is reasonable to speculate that sales could slow down due to the extension of temporary IFQ transfers. The latest is as follows:

AREA

ESTIMATED VALUE

SE - Some recent sales.

$10.00/# - $15.00/#

WY - Slow, offers encourages.

$10.00/# - $16.00/#

CG $8.00/# - $12.00/# - Buyers remain active, recent sales.

WG - Activity remains limited.

$6.00/# - $10.00/#

AI $1.50/# - $7.00*/# (A class) - Unblocked available, no recent sales.

BS $1.50/# - $8.00*/# (A class) - Recent sales of blocked and unblocked.

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

ALASKA PERMITS

ESTIMATED VALUES

Power Troll

$26k

Area M Drift

$175k

Area M Seine

$140k

Area M Setnet

$50k

Bristol Bay Drift

$190k

Bristol Bay Setnet

$60k

Cook Inlet Drift

$22k

Kodiak Seine

$37k

PWS Drift

$125k

PWS Seine SE Dungeness (75 - 300 pot)

$140k Variable - Buyers looking

Southeast Drift

$60k

Southeast Herring Seine

$100k

Southeast Salmon Seine

$150k

SE Chatham Black Cod

$405k

WEST COAST PERMITS

ESTIMATED VALUES

California Crab Variable - Call for info Activity remains limited and permit values will begin to change as new listings come up after the season. Call for more information. The latest is as follows: - 175 pot: $30k - $50k range - 250 pot: $45k - $60k less than 40’. $50k - $100k for 40’ - 60’ + - 300 - 350 pot: $70k - $150k, low availability - 400 - 450 pot: $100k - $280k, value dependent upon length - 500 pot: $250k - $400k+, highest value in 58’ and above CA Deeper Nearshore CA Halibut Trawl

$35k - Sellers wanted $45k - $80k

California Squid

Variable - call for info

CA Squid Light/Brail

Variable - call for info

Oregon Pink Shrimp

$60k - $80k

Oregon Crab Variable - call for info Steady demand for 500 pot permits over 50’ - 200 pot: $45k - $60k - 300 pot: $100k - $200k - 500 pot: $200k - $300k for <50’ & $6k - $7k per foot for >50’ Puget Sound Crab Puget Sound Drift Puget Sound Seine

$160k - Sellers wanted $10k $85k

Washington Crab Variable - call for info Permits available, offers encouraged.

- 300 pot: $90k - $160k depending on length - 500 pot: $300k - $400k depending on length Washington Pink Shrimp

$40k - Leases available

Washington Troll

$20k - Leases available

Longline - Unendorsed $90k - $120k - Leases available at reduced prices.

Longline - Sablefish Endorsed Variable - Several recent sales, call for mor info.

A-Trawl

Variable - Call for info

See all our listings at www.dockstreetbrokers.com

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 35

BOATS & GEAR

REFRIGERATION & PROCESSING

KEEP YOUR COOL Rethinking processing, supply, and cold chains in a post-pandemic world

By Paul Molyneaux

was driving to Rhode Island on a February night in 1984 with a thousand pounds of Maine shrimp sliding around in the back of my Chevy van — some of it having been picked in a friend’s kitchen. I’d blown a fuse and without a spare, I had to choose

Locals Seafood

I

between the heater and music. I zipped up my Carhartts and plugged in Howlin’ Wolf. No chance the snow I had shoveled onto the totes was going to melt.

That would never happen today.

Aside from the Maine shrimp season being on perpetual pause, the markets now demand HACCP processing and

A mixed bag of bluefish, black sea bass, squid, flounder, monkfish, and triggerfish — Locals Seafood sells what fishermen catch off the coast of North Carolina.

36 National Fisherman \ June 2021

traceable supply chains. Ryan Speckman, who started Locals Seafood in Raleigh, N.C., in 2011, has both. He now sells around 4,000 pounds of seafood every week. While he and his partners had plans for expansion, the coronavirus changed everything.

“It kind of forced our hand,” says Speckman. “We had plans for a 13,000-square-foot processing facility.

We’re still going ahead with that. But in the meantime, we turned our oyster bar into a production kitchen and started doing value added.”

According to Speckman, prior to the pandemic, 80 percent of his business was restaurants, and 20 percent direct marketing. But in the past year, he has seen direct sales jump 61 percent.

“We were playing at it before, and very inefficient,” he says. “This year, we launched a subscription service and increased our farmer’s market sales.”

Speckman has three Mercedes Sprinter vans and a box truck that bring tuna, striped bass, summer flounder, black sea bass, tilefish and other species to Raleigh. “We make crab cakes, tuna burgers, our chef Eric Montagne developed a bloodline burger.”

Speckman is freezing and vacuum packing portions, and is getting an Electrolux freezer to increase production efficiency.

“If we want to go retail, we need a more robust facility,” he says. Besides the freezer, Speckman is using a matching grant to buy an Electrolux combination oven and smoker, to move ahead with his bigger production kitchen.

He plans to focus on quality, with a fleet of new trucks and a speedy supply chain. It’s all about getting a fish on someone’s plate in less that 24 hours.

“That’s what our customers are concerned about,” he says.

Speckman is getting his trucks from Emerald Transportation Solutions in Fayetteville, Ga. Emerald sells a variety of packages built on Ford, GM, Dodge Ram, Nissan and Mercedes vans and trucks. The company offers buyers the opportunity to put together www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

Ryan Speckman, founding partner of Locals Seafood in Raleigh, N.C., preps a delivery in one the company’s Mercedes Sprinter vans.

refrigeration and truck combinations that suit their specific needs, or choose from an inventory that ranges from a $35,000 Nissan NV200 to an $89,000 Ram 5500.

Among the truck suppliers for the seafood business, Bush Refrigerated Vans in Ohio has carved out a niche nationally and is sending small refrigerated trucks to small-scale fishmongers on every coast.

“The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2019, really opened things up for us,” says Steve Mullin, VP of marketing for Bush Refrigerated Vans. Among other things the act requires that shippers provide written specifications to the To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

“Our temperature control systems let the user prove they maintain a specific temperature during delivery. Some companies won’t accept products if they don’t have that.”

—Steve Mullin, BUSH REFRIGERATED VANS

carrier regarding required temperature controls for the food being transported.

“Our temperature control systems let the user prove they maintain a specific temperature during delivery,” says Mullin. “Some companies won’t accept products if they don’t have that.”

Bush has focused on the seafood industry, and the company’s website

sports a photo of a quintessential Maine fishing harbor.

“We go to the seafood shows,” says Mullin. “We’re focused on the small commercial segment.” According to Mullin, the Ford Transit Van is very popular, and the Mercedes Sprinter vans, as well as Dodge and Nissan, and all are usually equipped with an appropriate June 2021 \ National Fisherman 37

Locals Seafood photos

REFRIGERATION & PROCESSING

BOATS & GEAR

REFRIGERATION & PROCESSING

sized Thermo-King refrigeration unit.

“Our price points are reasonable, and we offer a lease-to-own option,” he says.

In February 2021, Bush opened a new 15,000-square-foot production facility. “We are looking at the final milehome delivery — that market is blowing up right now,” says Mullin.

Heather Sears, owner of Princess Seafood, a combination restaurant, fish

market, and wholesaler in Fort Bragg, Calif., is operating at a scale small enough to be exempted from transport requirements.

“We just put the fish in the truck with ice,” she says. Sears owns and operates her own vessel, the 44-foot F/V Princess, and sells all she can catch through Princess Seafood. “We sell local crab, blackcod, rockfish,” Sears says, noting that her all-women team fillets

Making Refrigeration Simple.

SELF-CONTAINED RSW SYSTEMS SPLIT RSW SYSTEMS TITANIUM CHILLERS LIVE AQUATIC REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS IN-HOUSE DESIGN ENGINEERING BLAST FREEZERS

10-Ton Hydraulic RSW with titanium chiller

20-Ton Electric RSW with titanium chiller

Titanium Chillers

IMS

35 HP Electric RSW with titanium chiller

50 HP Electric RSW with titanium chiller

Shrouded RSW Units 50 HP

Mount on deck, easily removable

Integrated Marine Systems Manufacturers of Refrigeration

800.562.1945 | www.IMSpacific.com | sales@IMSpacific.com | 10821 47th Ave. W., Mukilteo, WA 98275

38 National Fisherman \ June 2021

the local fish at an inspected facility that is part of the market. “We have some ladies here who work on the boat and in the market. When customers ask who caught the fish, they just raise their hands.”

The Princess fishes for albacore and salmon. “We pressure bleed all our fish,” says Sears. “Everyone is doing that now.”

She has a flash freezer onboard and can freeze up to 8 tons of albacore.“Not as much salmon because we have to glaze them and we need room to work.”

Sears freezes her fish down to minus 30 or 40 degrees, temperatures that lead to the thawed fish being virtually indistinguishable from fresh-out-of-the-water fish.

Sears notes that many fishermen have sold out, and sold quota out of the community.

“We lost access to those fish, and we’ve lost infrastructure,” she says.

“Then there’s a lot of guys who sell to the live market in San Francisco. They can get five times as much as we can pay, so I gotta fight for what’s left.” Sears also buys fillets from processors and dragger fleets farther north, as well as frozen scallops from the East Coast. “They’re great,” she says. “My customers love them.”

On the other side of the pond, Caroline Bennett, owner of Sole of Discretion, in London, and Wim Vesterden, owner of Pintafish, in Brussels, are buying Alaska salmon and selling it in England and northern Europe, competing with the glut of farmed salmon coming out of Norway.

“Wim initially bought a pallet, and they shipped it by air, just to see how it would work,” says Bennett. “Now we have 8 tons coming on a ship, this one,” she says, sending a vessel finder link to the M/V NYK Meteor, a 980-foot Japanese-owned, Panamanian-flagged containership carrying salmon from small-boat salmon fisheries in Alaska to boutique fish markets in England and Europe.

“Without Alaska salmon, my business would be tanked,” says Bennett. “I www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

Princess Seafood photos

REFRIGERATION & PROCESSING

Salmon going into the F/V Princess blast freezer. Fish are placed on a tray in front of a giant fan and freeze in an hour. The crew stacks the sashimi-grade fish in one side of the fish hold.

When the trip is done, the Princess crew heads to town and unloads.

The fish get packed carefully into 1,000-pound boxes and delivered right to cold storage.

bet I sell 20 salmon to every one local pollock. People here want to eat salmon.”

Pre-Brexit,Vesterden and Bennett were taking delivery in Liverpool and trans-shipping to the continent.

“Wim was doing me a favor, but after Brexit the last shipment was stuck with paperwork. So now the shipment will go to Rotterdam or Antwerp.”

The duo is getting Bristol Bay sockeye from Popsie Fish Co. in Homer, Alaska; chum and pinks from Northline, in Sitka; and kings from Yakobi Fisheries in Pelican.

“We get them headed and gutted,” says Bennett. “I have three to nine people working in Plymouth, and I have to keep them busy even when the weather is bad. I can’t just say, oh

well, no fish, stay home today. So, when the local boats can’t get out, we process the salmon. We just look at the weather, and if it’s bad, we start thawing. It’s really great that we can rely on this really well-frozen product from Alaska.”

Most of the frozen fish coming out of Alaska is not salmon, however, but pollock, processed by large-scale freezer-trawlers with a total allowable catch of 1.42 million metric tons in 2020. But according to Tom Kay, general manager of Kami Tech, a Seattle supplier of fish processing equipment, not a lot has changed in at-sea processing in recent years.

“The products and basic processes are basically the same,” says Kay, who started processing fish in the 1980s. What has changed is the speed.“I was on the American Empress in 1984

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 39

BOATS & GEAR

Francesca “Frankie” Mills

REFRIGERATION & PROCESSING

Honey Bowker (who wears a hairnet when handling fish) manages the processing of Alaska salmon that have been shipped by container to the fish market Sole of Discretion in London.

when we broke a record by processing more than 100 tons in a day. Now, there’s a Glacier Fisheries boat, the Alaska Ocean, that processes as much as

300 tons a day. If you were running a boat nowadays and processed 100 tons in a day you’d be getting a phone call from the office asking what’s wrong.”

According to Kay, the catcher processors upgraded about 15 years ago.

“They realized there was incredible value in the meal and oil, and they invested in creating those products.” Since then, he points out, innovations have been incremental.

From trucks carrying hand-cut fish in ice, as has been done for decades, to automated microprocessing to 1,000foot ships with half-containers of salmon, seafood continues to move around the world. While products like surimi and fish blocks travel along traditional channels, innovators are finding niches for other species, and adapting processing and supply chains to fast-changing markets.

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and author of “The Doryman’s Reflection.”

HYDRO-SLAVE SAME DAY SERVICE HAULERS AVAILABLE 8” TO 17” • ALUMINUM BACKPLATE • POLISHED STAINLESS BACKPLATE • ALL STAINLESS HARDWARE

DUAL RAM QUADRANT ASSEMBLY

POWER STEERING AVAILABLE IN 5 CLASSES • UP TO 120 FEET • STAINLESS QUADRANT ASSEMBLIES • STAINLESS HELMS

MANUFACTURING QUALITY ALUMINUM & BRONZE HARDWARE TO THE BOAT BUILDING INDUSTRY SINCE 1965

ONE TON BOOM WINCH • AvAILABLE IN POWDER COATED STEEL OR STAINLESS STEEL • AvAILABLE WITH A HyDRAULIC BRAKE CALL FOR DETAILS

5.5 HP HONDA POWER UNIT • 11GPM @ 2000 PSI 2 Stage Pump • Light, Versatile and Portable • This unit will power 10” and 12” and 14” Haulers • Ideal for outboards and other small boats • Log Splitter

• 100% Stainless Steel construction • Rudder side thrust eliminated • no stress on boat timbers

OUR NEW GENERATION SUPER BLOCKS • 4” Low LIP and HI LIP • 5” Low LIP and HI LIP • 2000 lb. Capacity • Sealed tapered roller bearings • Aluminum Sheaves • Stainless Sheaves ELECTRIC CLUTCHES HIGH EFFICIENCY VANE PUMP

Call 1-800-747-7550 • Email: marinhyd@midcoast.com • Fax: 207-594-9721

WWW.FRASERBRONZE.COM 5625-48th Dr. NE Unit D Marysville, WA 98270 Toll Free: 877-264-1064 Made in USA

40 National Fisherman \ June 2021

MARINE HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING 17 Gordon Drive • Rockland, Maine www.midcoast.com/~marinhyd/

www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

GEAR SHIFTS

B&G Gear Shifts

“With prices what they are, we went down to three people on the boat to make the percentages better.

Fishing the big pots with three guys is a challenge. Fishing the little pots is easy,” Sawle said.

Stubbs added that pots are far easier to bait than hooks, and that fishermen on the grounds have reported they are saving up to 50 percent on bait efficiency after converting to slinkies.

Plus, the biologist in Stubbs sees the advantages of keeping the target species away from predators.

“It’s good for fishermen and also good for fish stocks. We can’t be removing twice as much fish from the ecosystem and feeding half of it to whales. That’s not a good legacy,” Stubbs said, adding that the pots

Stubbs Marine

Continued from page 26

The larger CodCoil pot has an 8-mm steel frame with a heavier web. It has a 32-inch diameter, is 60 inches long and weighs about 20 pounds. Custom specs available upon request.

themselves are proving to have very little bycatch.

The traps have success catching lingcod and Pacific cod as well. Stubbs and Sewall are working on pots for

other whale-addled fisheries like tuna and halibut.

Brian Hagenbuch is the Products editor for National Fisherman.

Buyers from Alaska to California

come to Pacific Marine Expo looking for everything they need, from bow to stern, for the most important component of their business, the boat. They want the opportunity to source products and services – just like yours – all in one place.

Email Christine at csalmon@divcom.com for more information and let Pacific Marine Expo help you Stay Connected.

Produced by:

nf21_ad8_exhibit_pme .indd 2

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

11/24/20 10:51 AM

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 41

BOATS & GEAR

AROUND THE YARDS

NORTHEAST

Maine shop seems to have a winner in 25-footer; magic has its place on the lobster boat racing circuit

Eaton’s Boat Shop & Fiberglassing

By Michael Crowley

ast year, Jeff Eaton at Eaton’s Boat Shop & Fiberglassing in Deer Isle, Maine, finished off an Eaton Boat Shop 25 for a local lobsterman, and immediately it showed signs of being very popular. The 25-footer came out of a mold Eaton purchased six years ago that is about 20 years old and has gone through some name changes, from the Northern Edge 25 to the Northern Bay 25 when John Hutchins of Down East Boats and Composites had it, and now the Eaton Boat Shop 25.

This winter Eaton started building three 25s. Two are kit boats for tuna fishermen, one in New York and the other in Massachusetts. Each of those 25s will be powered by a 300-hp Yamaha outboard.

The third 25 will be a pleasure boat with a head,V-berths and a settee.

The Eaton Boat Shop 25 with a 200hp outboard does 35 mph. Eaton says with the 300-hp outboard “we are looking for the higher 40s to 50 mph.”

There’s been enough interest for next year in the 25 that Eaton is seriously thinking of constructing an addition to his boatshop that will allow him to lay up a 25 hull and deck, then move those

This Eaton Boat Shop 25 will be going to a tuna fisherman.

L

42 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Continued on page 35

Jon Johansen

to the existing shop to be finished off, while laying up another hull and deck in the new shop.

Also in the cards for next year is the possibility of raffling off an Eaton Boat Shop 25. A thousand tickets would be offered at $20 a ticket. “We’d do a raffle and then split it up, $10,000 to the fire department and $10,000 to the ambulance volunteers. If there’s something they need, they can get it,” says Eaton. “It kind

of helps the community out.”

In the meantime, Eaton is getting his own lobster boat ready for the coming season and the 2021 Maine Lobster Boat Races. Eaton’s La Bella Vita, a Northern Bay 38, is nine years old, and its 13-liter 750-hp Iveco has 11,000 hours and needs to be replaced. A new 16-liter Iveco is going in. “It starts out at 815, and we’ll see what we can get from there,” Eaton says when asked its horsepower. “You never know till you put her in.” He’s known of other boats that have replaced the 13-liter Iveco, and they’ve all gained speed, which he acknowledges would be good for racing. (La Bella Vita races in Diesel Class K 701 to 900 hp.)

Speaking of lobster boat racing, the first of Maine’s 2021 lobster boat races is set for Boothbay Harbor on June 19.

One of the new boats bound to draw a lot of attention is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a 36 Crowley Beal designed by Calvin Beal, being built at Kennedy Marine Engineering in Steuben, Maine.

If the name is familiar to those who follow Maine lobster boat racing it’s because Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was written across the bow and transom of a 28 Calvin built by Kennedy Marine Engineering’s Roger Kennedy in 2014.

“It won every race that year — beat Wild Wild West. We were the boat to beat that year,” says Kennedy. After a season of racing, he sold her “to a fellow in

Kennedy Marine Engineering is finishing off this 36 Crowley Beal with a 9-liter FPT to be a top contender in the Maine Lobster Boat Races. www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

AROUND THE YARDS

SOUTH

Omega trims Atlantic steamer fleet with conversion; pound-net skiff gets overhaul at Virginia railway

By Larry Chowning

ith the help of Ampro Shipyard in Weems, Va., Omega Protein in Reedville is busy getting its menhaden fishing fleet ready for Virginia’s 2021 menhaden fishing season. The season opened in May. Omega recently announced it’s cutting back on its Chesapeake Bay fishing fleet, as six boats will be fishing this season. Last year, the firm had seven menhaden steamers working Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Tideland, one of the largest and oldest vessels in the fleet, will leave the fishing end of the business. It will remain in the fleet, however, as a carry-away boat.

The 218-foot Tideland was launched in 1966. “She has caught a jag of fish in her lifetime,” said Omega’s Reedville Vessels Manager Harvey Hamm.

Tideland will require only a minor conversion to switch from fishing boat to carry-away boat. It will require installation of new pumps, modification of the hydraulic system and some new stainless steel piping.

The work will be done with the boat in-water at the Omega Reedville plant by way of a partnership between the Ampro work force and Omega’s boat maintenance crew. “We rely on Ampro to do a lot of our work,” said Hamm. “When we have a need we can count on them coming to our place to jump in and take care

Larry Chowning

W

The Calcasieu Pass is at Ampro Shipyard in Weems, Va., getting outfitted for the May start of Chesapeake Bay menhaden season.

Myles Cockrell

of the problem.”

The F/V Calcasieu Pass is at the Ampro Yard in Weems. It’s there for upgrades to fish screens and to the refrigeration system. The yard is also replacing black iron piping with stainless steel pipe and rusted out ladder steps. “We are just trying to bring her back to life,” said Hamm.

“If we take care of small problems at the start of seasons, it helps to eliminate larger problems in the future.”

Omega’s F/V Fleeton was at the Ampro yard before the Calcasieu Pass arrived. Ampro installed several new bridge wing doors, modified some of the hydraulics and replaced iron piping with

This 20-year-old wooden pound net skiff has been glassed over to go back to work this spring in Virginia’s pound net fishery.

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

stainless steel.

Over in Heathsville, Va., Chesapeake Bay pound net fisherman Fred Jett of Ophelia,Va., had his wooden pound skiff glassed at Cockrell’s Marine Railway.

Built by George Butler of Reedville in 2000, the 23' 8" outboard-powered wooden skiff has been worked hard in the Potomac River pound net fishery, and it took a major overhaul to get her back on the waves. The old paint, inside and out, was power washed off with a 7,500-psi sprayer. And the outside was completely covered with two layers of DBM 1808 Knytex Biaxial matt and woven.

The ribs and chine are supported with 3/4"-thick sheets of Carbon Cove Honeycomb, fastened with stainless screws, and the inside of the skiff is totally encapsulated in fiberglass.

Jett uses the flat-bottom skiff as his main fishing boat for most of the season and has a larger deadrise boat for setting and dismantling pound nets at the start and end of seasons.

Butler’s boatbuilding records show he delivered the skiff to Jett in October 2000. “I can tell you one thing,” says Butler, “Fred works his boats hard, and I know she needed a lot of something to bring her back to life.”

Cockrell says the oak ribs along the inside of the skiff were about gone.

Shoveling fish out of the bottom had just about shoveled the ribs away, he says.

“There was hardly anything holding the chine to the sides. We got her back together and I guarantee she will last another 20 years.”

Moving south to the Gulf of Mexico and to Omega Shipyard in Moss Point, Miss., Omega Protein’s Vice President of Fishing Operations Monty Diehl reported that the yard has a $7 million refurbishing project about to start on the menhaden steamer Frosty Morn. The vessel is owned by Omega and used in the gulf menhaden fishery.

The 195-foot Frosty Morn was built in 1958 for the menhaden firm J. Howard Smith by Bellinger Shipyard in Jacksonville, Fla. Frosty Morn started life fishing Continued on page 35 June 2021 \ National Fisherman 43

BOATS & GEAR

AROUND THE YARDS

WEST

Oregon shrimper gets shafted — for the better; family tradition keeps going at California boatyard

By Michael Crowley

he Prospector, a 64' x 25' shrimper and crabber built in 1973, was hauled out in March at the Port of Toledo Shipyard in Toledo, Ore., for a major overhaul. The 48-year-old Prospector had been sponsoned and lengthened in 2016, and then repowered with a 640-hp Cummins K-19 in October 2019.

When the Prospector was repowered, its 3-inch shafting wasn’t upgraded. Thus 4-inch shafting was being installed at the Port of Toledo Shipyard to allow for full use of the Cummins power. The Prospector is also getting larger cutlass bearings, larger Babbitt bearings and foundations, and new stuffing boxes at the stern tube and the engine room bulkhead. Plus the engine needed to be realigned, and at the end of that 4-inch shaft will be a new 58-inch, five-blade prop.

The “interesting thing about the shafting,” says the Port of Toledo Shipyard’s Mike Lee, is where it came from.

Last year, the 78-foot dragger Miss Sue was hauled at the yard and repowered with a 750-hp Cummins QSK19 and given a new Nautican nozzle and triple rudder. More horsepower meant the Miss Sue’s 4-inch shafting would be replaced with 5-inch shafting.

That’s when the owners of the Prospector and the Miss Sue, who already knew each other, got to talking. The upshot was the Prospector’s owner ended up buying the Miss Sue’s old 4-inch shafting, which is now in the Prospector.

Work on the Prospector wasn’t limited to its powertrain. The pilothouse is being expanded and given a new interior, after the aft bulkhead was moved back 4 feet. Down below, the galley and stateroom areas are being stripped out and remodeled.

Shaft work was on the minds of a couple of other boat owners whose 44 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Port of Toledo Shipyard

T

The 64-foot Prospector was the first boat in the Port of Toledo Shipyard’s new fabrication shop.

Makela Boatworks

vessels were recently hauled out with the Port of Toledo Shipyard’s 600-metric-ton Travel Lift. They included the Northern Ram (ex-Blue Fox), an 85-foot dragger that had its shafting checked over and got a coat of bottom paint; the Pacific, a 75foot crabber and dragger whose tailshaft passed inspection but left with a new intermediate shaft and bearings, new cutlass bearings, new reduction gear and complete engine alignment.

In addition to its repair work, the Port of Toledo Shipyard had just about finished building a new sandblasting and fabrication shop in March. The shop will be 120 feet wide, 80 feet long and 100 feet tall.

Down in Fort Bragg, Calif., Howard Makela at Makela Boatworks completed work on the 72-year-old Sea Wolf in January. Makela’s father, Fred, and uncle Nick, who started Makela Boatworks, built the Sea Wolf in 1949. She is currently a salmon and albacore troller and crabber that needed new stern deck planking.

The 51-foot Ed Monk-designed Sea Wolf had been “well taken care of over the years,” says Howard Makela. But after seven decades “there weren’t any nails left” in the original Douglas fir decking, which was also turning “soft and starting to open up.”

New Douglas fir planking — 1 7/8 inches thick and 2 1/2 inches wide — went down over the original deck beams.

The planking was fastened to the deck beams with cast, heavily galvanized, quarter-inch-square boat spikes that Makela says, are “a little heavier than a boat nail.”

Makela gets his boat spikes from Keystone Spikes in Lebanon, Penn., which, he says, “is the only place in the United States that makes them.” Speaking about working on older wooden boats, Makela adds, “you have to really search to find

Makela Boatworks replaced Douglas fir deck planking on the 72-year-old Sea Wolf, a salmon and albacore troller and crabber. www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

AROUND THE YARDS

Around the Yards: West

Around the Yards: South

Continued from page 44

Continued from page 43

any materials these days.”

The seams of the new planking were caulked with cotton and then closed off with marine glue that expands and contracts with the weather while locking in the cotton.The planking was finished off with a coating of Log Oil. Makela also replaced the coaming around the trolling pit.

He figures the Sea Wolf “won’t need any other work in the near future.”

The Sea Wolf was the second boat built by his father and uncle. In March, Makela started work on the first boat they built, the Condor. The 44-foot troller and crabber is getting new window frames and trim around the front of the wheelhouse. About 10 years ago, the Condor was at Makela Boatworks for extensive hull repairs, including new frames and refastening. “Basically it was a rebuild,” says Makela.

Fred and Nick Makela built 14 boats, all Ed Monk designs.

Most of them are still fishing off the California coast.

for menhaden off the New Jersey coast and has spent the last 50 years in the Gulf of Mexico’s menhaden fishery.

The yard also has a contract with its parent company, Cooke Aquaculture USA, to build a service barge to work in Cooke’s offshore Atlantic salmon aquaculture operations in Maine.

It takes three years for Atlantic salmon to grow to maturity.

The first 18 months are spent on land at a hatchery, and the next 18 months in ocean penstocks. The service barge will be used at sea.

Omega Protein is looking for a used offshore support vessel for potential conversion to a menhaden steamer. “We hope to do the conversion at Moss Point in 2022 to have the vessel ready for the 2023 (menhaden) fishing season on Chesapeake Bay,” said Diehl.

Around the Yards: Northeast Continued from page 42

BJ5000EX, ROLLERS, SQUID SYSTEMS, NET HAULERS, MACKEREL LINES

California.” Now Kennedy is getting back into racing with a FAST - FRIENDLY SERVICE - SAME DAY SHIPPING different Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

The first Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was powered by a 6.7-liter FPT. The new version has a 9-liter FPT that as a stock model should produce 589 hp. But as Kennedy is quick to say, “I’m going to get a lot more than 580 horses.” Asked how he was going to jack up the power, Kennedy replied: “Magic. I’ve got a couple of trick things I think will help it. Just going to massage it and play with it and see what we get. It won’t be earth shattering, but it will be a fun boat to watch.” Kennedy knows Whiskey Tango Foxtrot should hit at least 58 mph with enough power because, he says, that’s what Stevie Johnson achieved with a 36 Crowley Beal in the 1990s. email: gaskimarine@outlook.com Keeping the weight down is key to building a fast boat, and phone: 902-701-8210 ∙ www.gaskimarine.com Kennedy is doing just that. He started out with a hull, top, and engine weighing 5,500 pounds. Since then, only cored and composite materials have been used as building materials. “There’s literally not one stitch of wood in it,” he says.

Speed is important to Kennedy, but so is safety. He says Whiskey Tango Foxtrot could go 100 miles offshore and its occupants would be safe. “I’m not building a lightweight race boat just for the sake Atlantic 37’ of going fast. I’m building a sturdy workAt Farrin’s, pride in our workmanship has been continuously applied in over 45 years of building boats.

Wayne Beal 40’ boat that as a byproduct could go fast.”

Our craftsmanship in construction will give your (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot will race in Custom building and finishing to 50’ custom project the quality that has made Maine famous in the boat building industry.

Walpole, Maine 04573 • 207-563-5510 • FarrinsBoatshop.com Diesel Class J 551 to 700 hp.)

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 45

BOATS & GEAR

PRODUCT ROUNDUP

Reliable and driven ZF Marine provides long-lasting and wide-ranging commercial solutions

By Brian Hagenbuch

ver the years, Florida-based ZF Marine has used its reliable transmission, control, and propeller product lines to spread across fisheries nationwide, from lobster fishermen in the Northeast to shrimpers in Gulf of Mexico and salmon fishermen in Alaska and just about everything in between.

Drew Orvieto, the senior manager for ZF Marine’s commercial product line, said he has put transmissions in boats ranging from 16 up to 300 or 400 feet, and ZF’s propellers go from the very small all the way up to 2 meters.

The control systems come in all manner of sizes as well, with stations housing up to six joysticks with full class approval for larger boats.

“One thing that sets us apart from other suppliers in the marine market is

O

our ability to cater to all different applications, whether that’s a single screw lobster boat running down in Key West or big commercial tuna seiners out in the Pacific. We have products for anything out there that’s looking to catch fish,” Orvieto said.

ZF has also been innovating, with new products like the iDrift, a system that allows for greater control of a heading and speed while drifting.

Orvieto added that ZF’s wide range extends to its product line, where control systems, for example, can be the latest electronic setup that would go on a luxury yacht or an old-school cable system.

“We can equip the latest sport-fishing yacht or we can do the traditional push-pull cables. In fact, we have some

ZF’s iDrift helps you control drift speed and direction in windy conditions or active current.

old-school push-pull controls on the some of the “Deadliest Catch” vessels, so we like to think we have something for everyone,” Orvieto said.

Orvieto added that some fishing boats have ZF systems that have been functioning for years.

“We have control systems out in the field that are 35 years old, for example.

We have transmissions that have 400,000 hours on them. It’s really impressive stuff when you look at the longevity and the quality that goes into these products,” Orvieto said.

ZF MARINE

www.zf.com

Better speed reading A next generation single axis doppler speed log from Furuno

By Brian Hagenbuch

uruno has released its DS85 Doppler Speed Log, which is designed to provide the most accurate speed measurement possible and cover regulatory requirements for larger vessels as the next generation single axis speedometer. Beyond nature’s variance of extreme chop and heavy seas, boats create their own noise that can throw off sounding devices.

Furuno has devoted its extensive expertise to a new transducer design and coupled it with a higher operating frequency to cut through the noise. The DS85 also has more advanced processing algorithms to further clarify the signal.

“Vessel speed fore-aft is a significant factor in arriving in port, especially constricted navigation ways, and of course

F

46 National Fisherman \ June 2021

is supremely important when coming alongside the pier. The vessel master and mates need to know the speed of the vessel fore and aft to plan for all maneuvering,” said Matt Wood, Furuno’s national sales manager.

On the display side, Wood added that one of the most notable upgrades over the previous generation is a revamped LCD interface that features brighter colors and is easy to read, with an analog speed reading that leaves nothing to interpretation. Network power can accommodate up to three remote displays in the system.

A new ball valve transducer makes service — from cleaning to inspection to repair — far easier, and the valve is smaller and lighter than the previous

The speed log fulfills for vessels 150 GT and higher.

generation while still being strong.

For larger boats with long runs, the system can accommodate up to 400 meters of cable. And for vessels making a Furuno upgrade, some of the DS80 components can be used, which drives down the installation price. It has eight outputs plus ethernet, providing numerous ways to plug the DS85 into radar and other systems.

FURUNO

www.furunousa.com

www.nationalfisherman.com

BOATS & GEAR

PRODUCTS AT A GLANCE

SMARTPLUG’s 50A PIGTAIL ADAPTORS provide safe and reliable shore power in four different configurations. With 27 times more metal-to-metal contact than traditional twist AC power connectors, these plugs increase electrical efficiency while also decreasing the risk of power failure and fire. The series of asymmetrical adapters comes with stainless side clamps that lock down at multiple points and are built to withstand rocking and jarring. Silicone gaskets keep the water out.

SMARTPLUG

www.smartplug.com

Tip-toeing over cleats on gunwales can be dangerous business, business that can avoided with FLUSH MOUNTED POP-UP CLEATS from ACCON MARINE’S 202 SERIES. These stainless steel cleats provide the holding power of traditional cleats but can be stomped into the deck when at sea and released with the push of a button when pulling up to the dock or tender. There are four sizes available, ranging from 4 to 10 inches, and installation requires a small cutout and four screws. Drainable cups are available as well.

The NAVILED PRO SERIES from HELLA MARINE allows for navigation lights to be easily moved on vessels and placed where they will be most visible. A horizontal mounting adaptor enables you to move the compact, sturdy lights and place them just about anywhere. And the optic LED lenses are long-lasting and powerful, putting out 90 percent more wattage than traditional bulb lights. Highly efficient, the package of port, starboard and stern lamps together put out just 3.2 watts.

HELLA MARINE

IRIDIUM

www.hellamarine.com

www.iridium.com

Sonar imaging leader EDGETECH has released a new dual-frequency combination — 850 and 1,600 Hz — for high-resolution side-scan sonar imagery and optional bathymetry.

The combination is ideal for precise mapping by unmanned vehicles operating close to the seafloor or in shallow water. The sonar’s electronics can be independently enclosed in a pressure vessel or system that can be also be mounted on a chassis and integrated into a vessel’s dry electronics.

ACCON MARINE

EDGETECH

www.acconmarine.com

www.edgetech.com

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Keep a close eye on your product and optimize your operations with IRIDIUM EDGE SOLAR, a handheld device offering realtime GPS tracking as well as local wireless sensor reporting and communication capabilities. The device is solar-powered for remote use and standalone, making it a handy autonomous mode of remote asset tracking. The body is rugged and proven to stand up to the rigors of heavy remote work, and the software can be customized.

The BLUECOMFORT integrated climate control solution from WEBASTO provides comfortable conditions on boats up to 300 feet. The system is made up of a self-contained chiller unit and a diesel coolant heater that can quickly heat or cool cabins even in water temperatures below 42 degrees F. Both the chiller and heater use a single coolant loop, making the system smaller with a faster, easier installation, and it can be used to preheat engines or heat water for galleys and heads.

WEBASTO

www.webasto.com

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 47

CLASSIFIEDS

BOATS FOR SALE REDUCED! 31’ JC EAST COAST 1979 LOBSTER BOAT Split hull design, Wheelhouse raised about 16”, New B Series, Turbo Road 250h Cummins with 1500 hrs. Two bunks. 12” crab block and davit. Furuno radar model, a 1622 Furuno GPS navigator ICOM, ICOM 45 VHF, Garman GPS map 2006, ComNav auto pilot w/ exterior joystick, AM/FM CD player w/ interior & exterior speakers, Deck lights, new large electrical panel, 3 access points to engine room, two 8D batteries, Dripless shaft packing, Three blade bronze prop.

Price: $44,000 Engine: $8,900 Contact: Doug 805-218-0626

43’ CHESAPEAKE BAY - 1973 Build (1973) wood- Port Haywood, VA. “Margaret-Mary” documented. “Fishery”. Draft 5” – Net tons 13-17 GRTPower – Detroit, V8-71 235 HP, F.W.C., 2 ½ to Trans: 2” 5/5 shaft – 4 blade brass, enclosed head. Tow-Bar 6’ 5.5. open stern aluminum Tower Hydraulic – steer Diesel fuel tanks-100 gal-each (200.) Windlass/Bow 12 knots – 8 GAL/HR. Strong. Multi-use – Year 1991-2015, on hard restoration, fish plates. New “oak” keel – end – cutlass- skeg keel shoe. Rudder assembly rebuilt.

R/E tow boat. Fishing Parties. Cruise. Mooring details. Recreational. Search and rescue. Needs Navigational electronics, Buzzards Bay, MA. Price: Priced to sell! Reasonable offers accepted!

Contact: Earl 508-994-3575

70’ STEEL TRAWLER FREEZER 1987 70x22x8. 62” Kort Nozzle, 61 1/2X62 prop, 3408 Cat. with 6 to1 reduction gear, twin disc, 470 HP. 2 Isuzu 60 KW Gensets. 6000 gal fuel. 2500 gal water.Full Galley, 1 head, and 3 staterooms. Full Hydrolics. Loaded with Electronics! 2 radars,2 fish scopes, AIS, 2 GPS, 5 radios,AIS, 2 computers, hailer, camera system,Sat. TV,Phone,searchlight,SS anchor,spare parts and gear! Excellent condition. AND MUCH MORE! Please call for more details!

Price: $425,000 Contact: Jimmy 252-671-9161

37’ LOBSTER BOAT WITH BUSINESS FOR SALE GALEFORCE II- Lobster Boat with business for sale - Big Pine Key, Florida37’ Key West built Monzon (1988) 2015 Caterpillar C-12 705 h.p.1633 Lobster “A” Certificates and Traps (American Pine) 799 Crab “A” Certificates and TrapsExcellent well maintained 2 or 3 man boat, 2 steering stations, 4 GPS, 1 Furuno 588, 2 Icom VHF radios, Simrad Auto Pilot, Garmin Radar, Pressure Washer, Barnacle Blaster, 12” Trap Hauler Recent Survey Available.

Price: $385,500 Contact: Text for Inquires 305-797-2182

48 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

CLASSIFIEDS

Dock Street Brokers (206) 789-5101 (800) 683-0297

BB20-027 32’x12’4”x36” fiberglass flush deck, RSW, Bristol Bay gillnetter built by American Commercial in 1980. Cat 3208 rated 265 hp and Twin Disc 506 gear. IMS 7.5 ton RSW new in 2015. Updated 8” Wesmar bow thruster and 8” Naiad stern thruster.

Narrow reel and Maritime stern roller. 6 and 4.8 cube hydraulic pumps. Packs 13k lbs.

New (4) blade SS prop and shaft. Electronics include VHF, (2) sounders, (3) GPS, Garmin 151DV and updated Garmin radar. Covered fly bridge, (4) berths, fridge. Price reduced to $100,000.

SE20-008 58’x22’ steel seiner/crabber built

by Marco in 1982. Cat 3412 rated at 520 hp and rebuilt reduction gear. John Deere 65 kW and Isuzu 20 kW gensets. Updated Cold Sea titanium chiller and (2) 20 ton hermetic compressors. Packs 120k lbs salmon in (2) RSW plumbed fish holds. Marco PTO. Deck includes removable shelter deck, main boom, (2) picking booms, (2) self pursing deck winches, power block w/ gripper, seine drum and tilt ramp. 8000 gallons fuel in (6) tanks. Electronics include (2) radars, Tracphone, new computer, (2) sonar tubes and more. Head, shower, (5) berths, washer/drier. A clean, well maintained vessel. Asking $1,400,000.

CR21-002 32’x10.5’x2.5’ aluminum crabber built by LSC Performance in 2012. Twin Yamaha 4-stroke outboards rated at 300 hp each, new in 2018. Cruises at 26 kts and 45 kts WOT. Packs 2,000 lbs crab below deck.

Includes crab davit w/ hydraulic ram, 12” Hydroslave crab block, 12 hp Honda powerpack, and brand new 13 hp Honda powerpack, w/ 11 gpm pump. Complete electronics. Asking $230,000.

SE21-003 58’x19’x8’ steel seiner built by Johanson Brothers in 1972. Updated aluminum house and bulwarks. Cummins 855 rated at 350 hp w/ Twin Disc 509 reduction gear. Isuzu 4BG w/ 40 kW genset. 15 ton RSW system. Packs 65,000 in (2) insulated holds. 60/38 GPM off PTO and 25 GPM electric hydraulic pumps. Marco 28” block w/ gripper and Gig Harbor Machine deck winch.

Electronics include GPS, (2) Furuno radars, sounder, AIS, (2) VHF and new inverter. Remodeled galley, (6) berths. Asking $625,000.

CR21-006 42’x15’x6’ fiberglass lobster boat built by H&H Marine in 2007. New Cummins QSL rated at 410 hp w/ only 800 hours. ZF 301A gear. Cruises at 14 kts, 20 kts WOT. Phasor 6.5 kw genset. Packs 2,500 lbs.

Complete deck equipment for crab and salmon fisheries. Includes 300 pot CA crab permit good to 47.5’ LOA and CA salmon permit.

Deeper Nearshore permit available. Turnkey operation ready to fish. Asking $375,000.

BB21-010 32’x13’x5’ fiberglass, RSW, Bristol Bay gillnetter built by Wegley in 1989.

Volvo TAMD 71 main rated at 392 hp. Bow thruster. IMS 7.5-ton RSW system. Packs 12,000 lbs in (8) holds. Aluminum reel w/ Kinematic Twister drive, levelwind, and Maritime Fab stern roller. Redundant electronics.

Nets, spare gear and parts included. Survey available. Asking $210,000.

www.dockstreetbrokers.com To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

HALIBUT IFQ 2C-C-B: 2C-C-B: 3A-C-B: 4A-B-U:

3,800 lbs...........asking 2,400 lbs...........asking 1,400 lbs...........asking 10,000 lbs.........asking

SABLEFISH IFQ $48.00 $48.00 $40.00 $15.00

AI-B-U: 27,500 lbs...........asking $1.50 BS-B-B: 6,100 lbs...........asking $3.00 CG-B-B: 8,500 lbs............asking $9.00 SE-C-U: 5,000 lbs.............asking $17.00 WG-B-U: 600 lbs...............asking $8.00 WY-B-U: 5,800 lbs..............asking $16.00 WY-C-U: 20,000 lbs............asking $15.50

CO21-004 42’x14’x5’ fiberglass combination vessel, currently rigged for crabbing and trolling, built by Vega Marine in 1978. Cummins 6CTA8 main engine rated at 255 hp. Twin Disc 509 gear with 2.5:1 ratio. Makes (8) knots. Packs 9k# in (2) insulated fish holds.

Deck equipment includes (2) 3-spool gurdies, Junes block, Yaquina bait chopper, (180) crab pots, and (12) rigged black cod pots. California 250 pot permit and CA salmon troll. Asking $178,000.

CO21-003 56’x18’x10’ fiberglass combination vessel w/ permits, rigged for crab, shrimp, bottom trawl, and built by MTS in 1980. Cummins K19 main rated at 650 hp, new in 2020.

Twin Disc 514 gear and 120 gpm hydraulic pump. 40 kW John Deere genset w/ 50 gpm hydraulic pump, and 20 kW Northern Lights genset, new in 2020. Packs 55,000 lbs crab in (2) tanked/insulated holds. Complete deck equipment for multiple fisheries. Upgraded electronics and (3) computers w/ Rose Point & Time Zero. Completely turn-key vessel in excellent condition with OR 500 pot crab permit and shrimp permit available.

Asking $890,000 for vessel, call for package price.

CR21-005 63’x18.6’x10 combination vessel rigged for crab and albacore, Corten steel hull built by Herb Gail in 1993. Cummins 855 main rated at 380 hp w/ ZF 350 gear. Recently rebuilt John Deere 4039 w/ 30kw genset, and 30kw Detroit 3-71. Fish hold packs 40k lbs crab and 40 tons of frozen albacore. (2) live bait wells. Spray Brine system w/ (2) Carrier compressors and (2) 15-ton titanium chillers.

Includes complete deck equipment and gear for crab and albacore fisheries. Excellent electronics, too many to list. Includes OR 300 pot crab permit and (300) fully rigged trilogy pots. OR shrimp permit also available.Asking $695,000.

BB21-015 32’x16.5’x2’ aluminum, Bristol Bay jet boat, built by North River Boats in 2019.

MAN i6-730 CRM rated at 730 hp w/ ZF360 gear and Thrustmaster HI-500 water jet. Naiad 8” bow thruster. Pac West 8.5 ton RSW system. Packs 16,500 lbs in (8) Blue Seal, air-void, fish holds. Kinematic internal drum drive, levelwind and stern roller. (2) fuel tanks w/ 400 gallons combined. Electronics include full Garmin integrated network w/ radar and LED lights throughout. Head, shower, (4) berths plus wheel house bunk. Available after 2021 season. Inquire for survey. Asking $690,000.

LC21-001 64.9’x21.5’x5’ aluminum, inspected passenger/freight vessel, built in 1991 by Quite Cove Enterprises. Current COi for (28) passenger and (2) crew, sub chapter T and M stability tow boat. 12 knot cruise. Twin Lugger L6140 rated at 500 hp w/ ZF350 gears.

Northern Lights 22 kW genset. Twin catamaran hulls and (5) blade props. Refurbish by Glosten in 2015. 1,200 gallons fuel capacity.

Deck space is 65’x20’ w/ 45k lbs load capacity. Bow ramp is 10.5’x15.5’ retractable. Full electronics package. Service galley, (1) head and seating for (30). Foam extinguisher for bulk fuel transport. Asking $795,000.

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 49

CLASSIFIEDS

BOATS FOR SALE 55’ GILLNETTER Cat 3406 with a twin Disc 514 4.5 to 1 ratio.

Recently rebuilt motor and transmission.

Not many hours since rebuild.

Price: $85,000 Contact: Brian 781-724-4960

52’ CUSTOM BUILT SPORT FISHING BOAT Fifty-Two Foot Steel Trawler - ¼” Steel Plate Construction, Fresh Water Only Boat, LOA = 52’ - WOA = 16’ - Draft = 4’ GRT = 37, Dual Stations (Flybridge and Cabin) - Powered by twin Perkin diesel engines, Fuel Capacity (970 Gallons) - Fresh Water Holding Capacity (50 Gallons), Closed Head with Sink Holding tank (Integrated 70 Gallons), Four Births - Location = Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin.

Price: $76,500 Contact: Dave 262-567-5134 / dave123@att.net

HELP WANTED

We are LOOKING for Captains, Mates and Deckhands

**LOOKING FOR A USCG LICENSED CHIEF ENGINEER**

Resume can be sent to:

jeremyreposa@ksjseafood.com Please have resume list experience with references.

We are based out of Point Judith, RI. Mailing address is PO BOX 49, Wakefield, RI 02879

Place a Help Wanted Ad! Call Wendy (207) 842-5616 wjalbert@divcom.com

Seeking potential US Licensed Chief Engineers and Mates That have experience operating and maintaining large scale tuna purse seiners operating in the South Pacific. Carrying capacity of the vessel is 1600MT of Tuna and trip lengths vary from 30 to 60 days. Contract is on a trip by trip basis.

Please contact: schikami@westpacfish.com 50 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Popular Seafood Restaurant for Sale!!

Business Been Open for 25 Years!

Retailer, Wholesale & Gift Shop Located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia of the Chesapeake. Tourist Route. 4200 square feet. Quality building, 6 acres.

Gross sales $1.6 M– Selling for $1.5 M FUN BUSINESS! - RETIRING

cobbisland@gmail.com 757-709-0480

SEEKING CREW!!!

Looking for experienced purse seine crew for California spring/summer squid season.

Also looking for an experienced engineer

CALL - 562-491-2000

For an uninspected fishing vessel, a Tuna Purse Seine operation with 4000HP and 1500 MT Cargo Capacity.

Must hold a current USCG Engineer’s License, have a minimum 3 years experience with this type of operation. This Full Time position operating out of American Samoa and several other Western Pacific Ports and Requires experience and working knowledge of EMD and CAT engines, R717 Refrigeration / Freezing system, Hydraulic Systems, etc.Please submit Resume and license info to PPFisheries@ gmail.com

**** www.nationalfisherman.com

CLASSIFIEDS

LAW

BOOKS

MARITIME INJURIES LATTI & ANDERSON LLP

Over 50 years experience recovering multimillion dollar settlements and verdicts representing Fishermen, Merchant Seamen, Recreational Boaters, Passengers and their Families nationwide.

CALL 1-800-392-6072 to talk with Carolyn Latti or David Anderson

www.lattianderson.com

MARINE GEAR

MARINE GEAR

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 51

CLASSIFIEDS

MARINE GEAR

®

THE L ARGEST

COMMERCIAL FISHING SUPPLY IN USA.

●

Since 1982 we are a leading provider in quality commercial fishing supply in the United States. We warehouse a huge selection of ready to ship products

PARTS ● SALES

● SERVICE

432 Warren Ave Portland, ME 04103 Phone (207) 797-5188 Fax (207) 797-5953

90 Bay State Road Wakefield, MA 01880 Phone (781) 246-1810 Fax (781) 246-5321

SHOP NOW AT WWW.LEEFISHERFISHING.COM For further questions, please call 800.356.5464 or email graymond@leefisherintl.com

Place an Ad! Call Wendy (207) 842-5616 wjalbert@divcom

 Manufacturers of Hydraulic Deck Equipment: Pot Launchers, Crab Blocks, Trawl Winches, Net Reels, Sorting Table, Anchor Winches  Dockside Vessel Conversions and Repairs  Machining, Hydraulics and Fabrications  Suppliers of KYB Motors, Rotzler Winches, Pumps, Cylinders,

Hydrocontrol Valves, Hoses

Phone: 541-336-5593 - Fax: 541-336-5156 - 1-800-923-3625 508 Butler Bridge Road, Toledo, OR 97391

52 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Place a Help Wanted Ad! Call Wendy (207) 842-5616 wjalbert@divcom.com www.nationalfisherman.com

CLASSIFIEDS

MARINE GEAR PARACHUTE SEA ANCHORS From PARA-TECH,the NUMBER 1 name in Sea Anchors Sea Anchor sizes for boats up to 150 tons Lay to in relative comfort and safety with your bow INTO the weather Save fuel, save thousands due to “broken trips”

PARA-TECH ENGINEERING CO.

1580 Chairbar Rd. • Silt, CO 81652 (800) 594-0011 • paratech@rof.net • www.seaanchor.com

FOR SALE: Radio Direction Finder/ 3 beacon buoys complete package

Complete RDF System: Taiyo TDL-2200 RDF, 25 foot cable, antenna and 3 KATO buoys, frequencies 1942, 1962, 1992 less than 100 hours use, one buoy new still in box!

CALL—401-374-2583

$4500.00

HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD? ONLINE You can place your ad 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at nationalfisherman.com Only rely on the

STRONGEST

Rope Eye

2,0 bre 00lbs + stre aking ng th

Made in USA

888.607.4790

www.mondopolymer.com

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

(New) SpinClearView S-300 Commercial grade marine clear view 12V window. Used on yachts, fishing, police, military, commercial vessels. The SpinClearView S-300 keeps a glass disk free of rain, snow and sea water by a nearly silent and fast rotation of 1500 rpm. $1495.00 OBO view more on tinyurl.com/ycob7ruh Cell/Tx: 707-322-9720 or Contact: david@satinbiz.com

DEPENDABLE 12 VOLT ELECTRIC TRAP HAULERS

ELECTRA-DYNE CO.

quick

POWERFUL

RUGGED QUIET and in stock

P.O. BOX 1344, PLYMOUTH, MA 02362 508-746-3270 Fax: 508-747-4017

W W W. E L E C T R A - D Y N E . C O M June 2021 \ National Fisherman 53

CLASSIFIEDS

MARINE GEAR

Keel Coolers Trouble free marine engine cooling since 1927!

THE WALTER MACHINE CO, INC Tel: 201-656-5654 • Fax: 201-656-0318 www.waltergear.com

BEST BRONZE PROPELLER Sick of pitted and pink props after one session? Ours hold the pitch longer and recondition more times than the brand name props you have been buying and reconditioning every year for the few years they last. Built to your specs not taken off theshelf and repitched or cutdown. (781) 837-5424 or email at twindiscgears@verizon.net

(2) Brand N ew Volvo D11 Engines FOR SALE

COMPETITIVE PRICES!!

Commercial Longline, Troll and Tuna fishing hooks

All of our hooks are stainless steel and SHARP right out of the box!

Hooks Tested & Approved

by Alaskan fishermen!

For a list of distributors or to become a distributor go to:

www.qihooks.com

TWIN DISC MARINE TRANSMISSIONS, CATERPILLAR & CUMMINS ENGINES & PARTS. New and rebuilt, Biggest selection of used ENG & Gear parts in the world.

Worldwide shipping.

Best pricing. Call Steve at Marine Engine & Gear 781-837-5424 or email at twindiscgears@verizon.net

Includes: Drivelines, gauges, wiring and harness and one control head.

Factory set up for keel cool and dry exhaust.

D-11 625 hp, factory keel cooled ZF 305-3 1000 SAE 2 Package New- $183,000

Selling For- $160,000

Laconner, WA

⬧ Heidi -360-421-4921

Used and New CAT, Fernstrum and Other Misc. Parts Sale PART # 245-2876 44953-054 44953-054 57-1755 15658-1 Custom CN1260W-Z D1839 12105U-Z BN1254W-Z ZN5007K ZN5005K ZN5009K 2624S 1874S 2874S

ITEM Caterpillar 3500 series Coolant Tank Gilkes water pump for 3500 series Caterpillar Gilkes water pump for 3500 series Caterpillar Caterpillar gear for water pump accessory Sen-Dure oil cooler, 376 with 1" fittings Stainless Steel Resevoir Tank, 13.5 US Gal Fernstrum CuNi Grid Cooler Fernstrum CuNi Grid Cooler, 3508 Jacket Water Fernstrum CuNi Grid Cooler, 3508 Aftercooler + Gear Fernstrum CuNi Grid Cooler Fernstrum Zinc Anode Fernstrum Zinc Anode Fernstrum Zinc Anode Fernstrum Zinc Anode Fernstrum Zinc Anode Fernstrum Zinc Anode

CONDITION QTY Used, Good 2 Used, Excellent 2 New, Rebuilt 1 New 3 Used, Excellent 2 Used, Excellent 1 Used, Excellent 1 Used, Excellent 2 Used Excellent 2 Used, Excellent 1 New 6 New 6 New 12 New 1 New 1 New 2

PRICE $2,000 $3,000 $3,000 $100 $1,000 $1,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $80 $80 $80 $80 $80 $80

Contact Jim Rosenberg at (954) 654-1119 or jim.rosenberg@ringpower.com for details.

54 National Fisherman \ June 2021

Contact us (631) 377-3040 www.nationalfisherman.com

CLASSIFIEDS

MARINE GEAR

NOTICE

PROP For Sale!!

54” x 40” Right Hand Federal Shrimper 4 Blade Prop.

4” Shaft—1” Key way.

Kodiak, AK $7000.00

Call (907) 539-6048

SEAFOOD / BUSINESS PERMITS

WANTED

LOOKING FOR ANY SHIP Shrimp Boat/Trawler/Floating Steel Hull

Abandoned, unwanted, salvage or can’t afford to fix. 50ft-100ft would be best. Looking to make it my new home, not for fishing or any commercial use. Must be willing to sell for reasonable price.

CALL—774-454-4700

Covid Proof Cash Cow!

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute .. CV3

Kinematics Marine Equipment Inc........22

Behringer Corporation.............................7

Llebroc Industries ..................................15

Boatswain’s Locker Inc ...........................3

Marine Hydraulic Engineering Co Inc ...40

Dunlop Protective Footwear USA .........34

Maritime Fabrications - LaConner ........33

Duramax Marine LLC ..............................8

North River Boats ..................................32

Eastern Shipbuilding Group ..................27

Ovatek Inc ..............................................20

Farrin’s Boatshop ..................................45

Pacific Marine Expo ..............................41

FPT Industrial ..........................................9

Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op ......22

Fraser Marine Products.........................40

Propspeed - Oceanmax International ..21

Furuno USA ........................................ CV4

Rozema Boat Works Inc........................30

Gaski Marine Fishing Supplies Inc. ......45

R W Fernstrum & Company ....................7

Highmark Marine Fabrication ...............39

Stubbs Marine .................................... CV2

SEE MORE PERMITS

Hockema Whalen Myers Associates ....33

Walker Engineering Enterprises..............6

Integrated Marine Systems Inc .............37

Westec Equipment Int Ltd ....................30

Karl Senner, LLC ....................................23

ZF Marine ...............................................31

NATIONALFISHERMAN.COM

KEMEL USA Inc .....................................26

New England Seafood Restaurant For Sale Located in Southwest Florida

In business 11 years (owner retiring) selling New England Seafood. Increased gross this Covid year and still growing . We built it ready for you take it to the next level… Huge opportunity for grow…

Landlord on board for expansion lease in place.

Large New England population in area .

Asking $699,000

(401) 465-0227

PERMITS & SERVICES Wanted To Buy. Offshore Live Lobsters.

Top Dollar $$ Paid.

Call Pier 7 (located on Gloucester waterfront)

John (617)268-7797

ADVERTISER INDEX

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

June 2021 \ National Fisherman 55

Last

set

HAMPTON, N.H. New Hampshire deckhand Nicole Feldotto hauls a pot of invasive European green crabs.

“Green crabs are voracious eaters, each consuming as many as 40 softshell clams a day,” she says. “They are prolific breeders with a single female laying as many as 185,000 eggs a year.

The green crabs’ burrowing activity is weakening salt marshes and causing them to erode.”

Photo by Nicole Feldotto @thatsaltyblonde_

56 National Fisherman \ June 2021

www.nationalfisherman.com

YOUR PRIDE IS OUR PRIDE. Together, We Make Alaska Seafood Stronger.

From ocean to table, the heavy lifting doesn’t stop here. Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute works to put your product into a variety of markets, from restaurants and grocery stores to university dining halls to hospitals and school lunch programs.

This is just one example of how Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute puts all hands on deck to tell the story of wild, sustainable Alaska seafood so you and your family can focus on fishing today and for generations to come.

alaskaseafood.org Stay updated via our fleet-focused page!

@ASMINewsAndUpdates

When you're serious about fishing

GET PAID.

With all this power, you'll find, pinpoint & increase your catch like never before.

Top Picture: Elevation Bottom Picture: Hardness

FCV1900 TruEcho CHIRP™ Fish Finder

WASSP Gen 3 3D Multi Beam Sonar

CH500/600 Searchlight Sonar

Maximize your time at sea & hit your quota by targeting your catch with Furuno.

FCV1900 delivers 1-3 kW output power at 15-200 kHz freq. range

FCV1900G tracks fish size using CHIRP™*

3rd gen WASSP specifically designed for fishing operations

WASSP 120° swath displays water column, bottom contour, and hardness

CH500/600 series offers fast scan speed and high-res images *FCV1900G with TruEcho CHIRP™ Compatible transducer

SearchLight SONAR

Get the whole story at furunousa.com